Talk:Maokai/@comment-10258129-20130625094303/@comment-3486816-20130713235051

Leona's probably better at succeeding in a kill lane, because frankly a) she has a better defensive steroid earlier, making her less likely to die when she initiates and b) she has stronger CC that actually keeps ranged ADs from retaliating for significant amounts of time, making her and her lane partner less likely to die when she initiates. The overall lockdown between the two is similar, with Maokai possibly winning in that department with a longer snare and a knockback that carries a significant slow, but lower likelihood of death means you have more opportunities to safely initiate in the first place. The exact same reasons contribute to making Leona useful later in the game when underfed. She can go in, stun a ranged champ, and take less damage as she leaves because she has a defensive steroid and the enemy is stunned rather than snared. Maokai, on the other hand, is reduced entirely to throwing saplings and dropping his ult, since his snare won't do him any favors in escaping, and his ult isn't very useful for protecting just one person for a short period. Both of these are useful, but very mana-consuming, forcing him to choose between itemizing for tankiness and itemizing for mana, a choice which Leona doesn't really need to make.

Now, supposing both succeed, Maokai may have an edge. His initiation is indeed easier to land, and he still has the benefits of the ult and the sapling scouting, but there's still the problem of itemization. Maokai just has the build cost of a jungler, and not that of a support. Leona's just able to do more with less, and is shoehorned into the role anyways since she doesn't jungle well.

I won't say anything about his AP mid; that's not a role I play very well. I do think people underestimate his ratios though.