Talk:Maokai/@comment-78.2.132.78-20121223220800/@comment-68.109.110.108-20121224093547

Well, yeah, midgame tank items aren't as easy to get. After all, you need Spirit stone to clear fast, mobility to gank fast, and sight stone (preferably ruby) so you don't have to buy all the wards your team won't get. All that costs around 3k, and gives only a splash of HP from the sightstone, meaning you're relying on runes and masteries to stay alive.

After those items, maybe you need to reevaluate your choice in tank items. Maokai is pretty strapped for gold, so locket is a godlike buy for him, giving stupid high stats AND a shield (seriously, look it up, it's silly) for about 2k gold. Beyond that, the tank upgrade to the spirit stone (anicent golem) is only 1,400 for 30 armor, 500 HP and tenacity, meaning you're basically getting the armor and tenacity for free. Aegis and Bulwark are the obvious answer to AP teams, and if you need something offensive, iceborn gauntlet will do the job, but seeing as your issue is dying too quickly, I doubt you'll want offense.

In short, penetration changes and an increase in resistance costs made tank itemization harder. The recommended items above offer mostly HP, with enough resists to scale well, and most are support-ish items, which seams to be the way to go on tanky junglers now (even Olaf builds locket and bulwark, the tankiness and teamwide utility is hard to beat).