Malzahar Build Guide by pauloxisto

First of All:

Pros / Cons

- Great Attack Damage Ratio!
- Great Ability Power Ratio!
- Great Survivability!
- Hard to counter abilities!
- He has EVERYTHING!!!!!
- And also have a pet!

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

I've already said it, but he is too good that I've said it again!

- Haters gonna hate.
- People will think that you are trolling and will ragequit.
- Can lose for an AP Malzahar
- No escape abilities
- Requires pratice (and trolling abilities)
- At Mid Game you are weaker than other champions.

Unique Skills

After casting 4 spells, Malzahar summons a voidling for 21 seconds. Voidlings have 200 + (50 × level) health and 20 + (5 × level) +

(+1.0 per FCKIN bonus attack damage)

attack damage (bonus autoattack damage isn't noticed in tooltip or voidling's stats, but it affects damage done by voidling). The voidlings benefit from Malzahar's armor penetration.

Voidlings grow after 7 seconds (+50% base damage and armor), and Frenzy after 14 seconds (increased attack speed).

- Start with Call of the Void and spam it before the minions have been summoned to start your lane with one Voidling .
- Do not spam your abilities too fast, Voidling stacks have approximately 1 second cooldown to count the next one.
- Voidlings are uncontrolable beasts. They will not obey you unless you use Malefic Visions on a target.
- Voidlings can't stack on-hit effects, such as Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Frozen Mallet.
- If you are going bot lane with Nunu, tell him to buff the Voidlings with Blood Boil.








Malzahar opens two portals to the void. After a short delay, they fire projectiles that deal 80/135/190/245/300 (+0.8 per ability power) magic damage and silence champions for 1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6/3 seconds.

- ALWAYS use Call of the Void in front of your enemy, except if he is stopped.
- If you are on a perpendicular angle with an enemy, for example, Rammus, your skill will deal the entire damage, so if you want to gank, get 90º.
- At 5, this skill deals 3 seconds of pure silence, use this when the enemy is with low health and your Nether Grasp is on cooldown.
- Call of the Void aren't a nice skill to push, because it spends a lot of mana (like all of Malzahar skills) and doesn't provide the same AoE effect than Null Zone. Try to kill the aggro with Malefic Visions if you are with low mana.
- Call of the Void fires two projectiles from the end points. If properly placed, it can pop a spell shield with the first, and silence and damage with the second.






Malzahar creates a zone of negative energy for 5 seconds. The zone damages nearby enemies for 4/5/6/7/8% (+0.01% per ability power) of their max health each second (damage to Monsters is capped).

- Early Game, try to avoid Null Zone. This skill can be a nice minion killer, but he spends a lot of mana and are not recommended to use a lot.
- The combo Null Zone + Malefic Visions costs 250 mana. If your Diesease, at lv 5, transfers to 10 minions, you will cap 260 mana. So it's a nice investment to kill big minion aggro.
- The range of his AoE is huge, so keep at mind that you are chasing and you must get this pool in front of the target.






Malzahar infects his target's mind, dealing 80/140/200/260/320 (+0.8 per ability power) magic damage over 4 seconds.

If the target dies during this time, the visions pass to a nearby enemy and Malzahar gains 10/14/18/22/26 mana.

Malzahar's Voidlings are attracted to affected units.

- Malefic Visions provides mana on each kill, remind it.
- After a battle, use Malefic Visions and start recalling, to get some extra gold for your items.
- This ability has a 0.5 seconds to start dealing damage. You can tower-dive fast and go back, getting the kill.
- Attack the infected minion to increase the effectiveness of this skill.
- Starting a battle, use Malefic Visions on minions to get extra gold and suprise the enemies with your pet !







Malzahar channels the essence of the Void to suppress his target as well as deal 250/400/550 (+1.3 per ability power) magic damage over 2.5 seconds.

- NEVER, but NEVER use this ability on Champions with CC Removers, such as Gangplank, Olaf and Alistar. This also includes Quicksilver Sash and Cleanse. If you don't have any option, try to use after he uses the Counter-CC item / spell.
- It doesn't necessary to use Nether Grasp for a fatal blow. You can start using after Null Zone, summoning the void and getting the kill.
- Take care with CC, like stuns and silences, because it will break your channel. If you have an option, supress the champion with the CC (for example, if you are against a Fiddlesticks and Katarina, you will supress Fiddle.
- Don't forget to Ignite or Exhaust the target while channeling, it won't break the channel and will increase its effectiveness.
- AND, FOR THE SAKE OF ODIN, DON'T WALK WHILE USING Nether Grasp. If you don't know what happens, you break the channel XD.

Items - Core

These items stick together like... jam with peanut butter. The extra damage from Manamune increases with your extra mana from Rod of Ages, that also gives extra damage with health for Atma's Impaler, that's also increased with Rylai's Crystal Scepter. With all this synergy, Malzahar provides tons of damage with all of his abilities, including the very useful pet !





Manamune: Your first item. Cheaper than Archangel's Staff, this sword gives tons of damage based on your mana, giving to the Voidlings a lot of damage early game. I like Archangel's Staff too, but this item is too expensive and doesn't stack mana so fast like Manamune (Staff provides mana on each skill, Manamune on each attack), so, if you don't get this item, all the synergy from Bruiser Malzahar will go down D:





Rod of Ages: You can ignore all the other items, except this. Rod of Ages aren't an item that people uses for fun. It's serious. This item gives everything that an AP Champion use, including all the types. Leona for example, she is a tanker that have all abilities increased with Ability Power, and Rod of Ages gives the tankiness for her, Health, Mana and the desirable AP. For Bruiser Malzahar also gives attack combined with Manamune and Atma's Impaler. For an AP Malzahar, it provides the survivability that a midlaner needs!





Atma's Impaler: This is your Offtank item. Malzahar will not be so affected with the extra critical chance, but the armor and extra Damage from health will help you a lot! Atma's Impaler combined with Ability Power and Health will separate the AP Malzahar from this Malzahar. Get this after Rod of Ages to get an amazing damage at mid game!





Rylai's Crystal Scepter: We cannot forget this item! For Malzahar, this item is very important, because it slows all your set of abilities, getting an amazing survivability and the capacity of slowing with your AoE Null Zone and your overtime damage Malefic Visions. I almost forgot it, The health from Rylai's Crystal Scepter increases the damage of the Voidling , thanks to Atma's Impaler!

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Health: 3088 Mana: 3135 Armor: 122 Magic Resist: 36 Attack Damage: 262 Ability Power: 178

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The Voidlings, at lv 18, will deal 110 + 156 damage on its first stage, and 165 + 156 on second stage. Call of the Void will deal 300 + 142. Null Zone will deal 8% + 1.78% of their maximum health. Malefic Visions will deal 320 + 142 over 4 seconds. Nether Grasp will deal 550 + 231.4 over 2.5 seconds.

Items - Boots

Boots are the threshold between an annoying game from League of Legends. On a normal games, people will get the same item as you, and everything will be equal everything, deleting the build strategy. On League of Legends, and all of MOBA games (I supose), boots makes the game different, varying the possibilities in just one game! "One pair of boots for each situation!"





Sorcerer's Shoes: This is the main boots for Mages. It provides the necessary for a mage early game: Magic Penetration. Against another mage, you pratically destroy his resistance, making the things easier. For Bruiser Malzahar, this is a viable item, but only if you are going mid lane. For a Bot lane or Solo Top it doesn't seems to be a viable item, unless the other team has no hard CC or Carries.





Ionian Boots of Lucidity: They are the god of boots. Ionian Boots of Lucidity can be made for EVERYONE! If you are trying to spam your abilities at maximum to summon Voidlings like a nymphomaniac rabbit, this is, with no doubts, the best option. It will be nice if you use this ability combined with the item Nashor's Tooth.





Berserker's Greaves: Normally these boots are made for DPS champions, not mages. But for Bruiser Malzahar can be an exception. It's not so useful (in my opinion), but they are cheap and give some attack speed to increase the effectiveness of your attacks (your Voidlings aren't the only who are benefited with attack ;D). Use this with the Mastety Alacrity and some Attack Speed Runes ( Mark of Attack Speed).





Mercury's Treads: The Anti-CC Boots. Mercury's Treads are the best option if you are countering a hard CC Team or an annoying mage, like LeBlanc. If you want to increase the survivability of Bruiser Malzahar, these boots are highly recommended to explore the tankiness of Malzahar. Wiith this, your 6th item could be Banshee's Veil to get some extra synergy.

Items- The Brutalizer Mid Game!

As I said at the Pros / Cons Topic, Bruiser Malzahar is weak at the Mid Game, being Early / Late Champion. The best way to avoid this weakness arround 20 minutes is getting this item, The Brutalizer. This item provides nice armor penetration and Cooldown Reduction, being an amazing item for your Crab Army! . Normally I sell this after starting the late game, or before I finish my 6th item, but if you wanna keep this, evolve it to Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Items - The 6th Item

This is the best choice if you have playing against a hard team and you need more survivability. Excluding guardian angell, all of them will contribute for extra damage, making Bruiser Malzahar even better! First you need to check the situation, so make it.





Banshee's Veil: This completes all necessities for a normal or a ranked game. Banshee's Veil has a natural spell shield and increases your magic resistance, health and mana. Everything will stack with your Atma's Impaler and Manamune, giving to you 277 damage. Health: 3463; Mana: 3510; Magic Resist: 86.





Randuin's Omen: This item is very helpful if you are playing against an annoying carry or an offtanker. It gives large Health and Armor, and also has an active effect: An AoE effect that destroys the enemies attack and movement speed, based on your total armor and magic resist. Use it after Nether Grasp to finish the enemy, or before a gank, flashing out after use to avoid your death. The extra Health provides 269 damage. Health: 3438; Armor: 197.





Frozen Heart: The 2nd best anti-carry item (Just losing for Thornmail, but in this case it will be a situational item). With a great aura debuff, your enemy Xin Zhao won't be able to deal a lot of attacks on you, decreasing his effectiveness and preventing you from certain death. The extra mana gives to Malzahar 272 damage. Mana: 3635; Armor: 221.





Guardian Angel: The Gods created this item to preventing you from the Death. Giving extra Armor, Magic Resist and a passive that ressurects you, Guardian Angel is recommended for people that have a suicidal tendency. With this, Malzahar won't give extra damage, but will make you a better suicidal! Armor: 190; Magic Resist: 74.
















Many people will think why I'm not doing Attack Damage as a 6th item. I don't see Infinity Edge and its brothers as items for a nice choice for Bruiser Malzahar. Even with large attack damage, your main source of damage is on your skills and your pet. A full AD Malzahar aren't recommended because he's not a carry, and can't stand a fight with a true AD, like Tryndamere. These options are for guys who wanna try this new style and want some traces of the real Malzahar.





Nashor's Tooth: As I said earlier, these items are just if you want a Voidling army. With Ionian Boots of Lucidity, your CCR will cap at maximum, 40%. With this, I guess, you can summon 2 or, if you were fast and lucky, 3 voidlings ! But remember, use your abilities with a break of 1 second. Soon I'll add a combo explaining how to summon the voidlings . Ability Power: 243; Attack Speed: 1,107.













Deathfire Grasp: The Anti-Tank item. If you are playing against a hard tank like Dr. Mundo or Amumu, get this. A combo of Deathfire Grasp, Null Zone, Malefic Visions, Nether Grasp and Ignite will destroy their resistance and kill them. Ability Power: 258; Cooldown Reduction: 15%.





Rabadon's Deathcap: The Infinity Edge of the mages, Rabadon's Deathcap gives a large amount of Ability Power ever! It's very expensive, so if you are planning to get this, you'll need time. You can get this on 3x3 late game or on a normal 5x5 game. On ranked I do not recommend it, because it needs time and you won't be able to attack another magic with only 36 Magic Resist. Ability Power: 413.





Zhonya's Hourglass: Armor, Ability Power and a nice active, Zhonya's Hourglass is a nice item to make pentakills with your Voidlings ! Yes, That's right! You can do this with one Voidling on game and another ready to appear. Start using the death needle combo in the middle of a teambattle, then use Zhonya's Hourglass and let your minions kill them! PS: You need your team to start a teambattle, in other words, IT'S NOT A TEAMBATTLE IF DO NOT HAVE A TEAM! Ability Power: 278; Armor: 172.

Runes

Like masteries, runes are designed especially for strategy, creating an unique style for your champion. This is your IP investment, in other words, all your other games contribute for your runes, experience for gold!











greater seal of knowledge









greater quintessence of desolation

Summoner Spells

This is YOUR contribution to the game. You, as a summoner, try to do everything to help your champion, and nothing is better than an instant investment. Wish I could have more Summoner Spells, to get more combinations and more styles for a simple champion.

That's All Folks!

Bonus: AP Bruiser Champion List

• Main Ability Power Ratio
• Offtank or Support Capabilities
• Melee Damagers or something that helps autoattacks (passive or buffs)
• And, of course, A MANA CHAMPION.

Credits

• PauloXisto, for the creation of this guide.
• jhoijhoi, for the templates and her guide of making a guide.
• All pics are from Google and their respective owners desirve their credits.
• And Siv HD for the inspiration for me.

PS: Soon I'll add my match score with this build.

Patch Notes

06/07: Added more rune options ( Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration, greater seal of knowledge and Greater Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration).
06/14: Mah Birthday Beaaatchessss!!!!!
06/17: Added "Bonus: AP Bruiser Champion List" section.
06/25: Removed Ryze from Bonus List, added Nidalee instead.