User blog comment:Ukanlos Subspecies/Got any useful tips on how to play the Tree?/@comment-5922618-20130305204647

Well, Maokai is what we call a support jungler. You're supposed to bring utility and a good initiation to your team, not to carry them destroying everything. Because of that, build items that can benefit your teammates, like Runic Bulwark, Locket, Zeke's, FH, and try to act like the tank you are.

It's ok to have scores like these. It means you're doing things right: the more kills you give to your carries, the higher is the chance to win the game - hence the way to go is having few kills, some deaths and a sh*t-ton of assists. It doesn't really matter if you get fed, but if your Vayne does...

On the other hand, if you think that you are dying too much, it's not how you play Maokai, it's how you play in general. I don't mean to insult you, it just takes some practice to decide whether or not to towerdive in this situation, or whether or not to facechek that bush, and so on. The say LoLReplay is your friend, and that's quite the truth. But to be honest, you're the tank, and you should usually be the one jumping into the enemy team to lock down the MVP and let your carries do their job. So it's kind of normal if you die - even good if your teammates make good use of your sacrifice.

You're ganking right as well, I think. You can't always kill the enemy laner - you don't even always want to. I mean, free kills are always welcome of course, but sometimes your teammates don't follow up on you correctly, or they just don't have enough damage to make the kill happen (you definitely don't deal much damage either), but a burned Flash means a higher chance of succeeding next time, and if your foes escape with 100~ HP it's free farm time in that lane, which is almost as good as a kill!

The true secret in playing Maokai, tho, lies here: try your hardest not to be in Season 3 :) see you in the game