Maokai vs Sylas Counter Pick

A 65.8% result over 161 games on patch 16.13.1 is a wide margin, and a sample that size deserves caution about the exact figure. The direction matches how the two kits meet.

Sylas is a mage-assassin sitting in the support slot with 600 base health, 29 armor and 175 attack range. His pattern is Chain Lash into Kingslayer, which heals him against champions and rewards staying close. Against a 665-health tank with 35 armor whose passive returns health every time a spell strikes him, that conversion runs slowly. Both champions deal magic damage, so neither side buys armor here and the exchange reduces to base resistances and cooldown timing. Sylas is the quicker of the two at 340 move speed against 335, which decides who sets the distance.

Hijack complicates Maokai‘s ultimate. Sylas can steal Nature’s Grasp and send the same rooting wall back the other way, which makes casting it a decision with a cost rather than a free engage. Sylas also scales harder, reaching 2,674 health at level eighteen against Maokai’s 2,518 — the larger number of the two, held by a champion who must stand in melee range to use Abscond / Abduct offensively. A difficulty rating of 3 against 5 favors the treant again, and none of his value depends on landing a skillshot chain. A support without a marksman’s damage attached to him rarely wins that argument.