Malphite Build Guide by ClutchCom

Introduction

HEY! YOU! GET READY TO STAND AND BANG! (in Low ELO!)

NOTE: In no WAY am I the best Malphite, this just happens to net me a lot of wins. Not only that, but I managed to pull it together by memory, so expect changes. Don't forget to actually READ this guide first before throwing in your 2 cents. Still, I don't expect such radical thinking to be appreciated.

Pros / Cons

Okay, so you want to play an insane jungle Malphite? Well let me break his composition down:

Pros:

• Solid Early Game (Passive is a life saver)
• Massive Survivability
• Strong Ganks
• Strong Ganks. Period.
• Very Mobile (Q it, then do it)
• Made of Stone
• Can Stand and Bang (Half-Decent DPS)
• Strong Farmer
• Efficient Jungler (allows another solo lane)

• Heavy Item Reliance
• Half Decent DPS
• Requires LOTS of Coordination
• Easily Destroyed by Garen and Himself
• Can't Solo Dragon like other Junglers
• No resistance to CC (best option is to nullify slows by using 'Q')
• Early Shutdowns are costly

Summoner Spells

Smite because, well, you're a ******** Jungler.

Ignite because you already have a built-in Flash and Exhaust, why would you need anything else? Works nicely with the Masteries as well.

Alternates:

Ghost This provides a larger speed boost than just your Seismic Shard so it really helps with chasing or escaping. Using it in tandem with your Shards makes it invaluable for mobility.

Flash Yes you do have a built-in Flash as mentioned, but in reality, you want to be able to be offensive with your ult, not defensive. Having Flash allows you to move quickly without having to put your Ult on cooldown. Can also be used offensively.

Do not use:

Cleanse Heavy CC means nothing if you can land your Ult.

Surge Only one skill scales off of AP and you don't really need more than 1 attack per second.

Clairvoyance You're not a support. So don't.

Clarity This build has some decent mana per second, so no real use to you here.

Teleport You're not solo top, you don't need this.

Runes

Marks: Armour Penetration
Why exactly Armor Pen you ask? It's to help with his DPS in team fights. Simply put, popping a W and running around kicking *** is very effective. Yes, there are probably better choices, but this is a destroyer Malphite.

Seals: Flat Armour
Self-explanatory; it's armour. It keeps you alive and it boosts your 'E', not really much more to say here. However in theory, you could go for per Level seals, but that would hurt your early jungling.

Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist
Again, it's common sense. This build is meant to counter an AD heavy team, but having just enough MR could save you.

Quints: Flat Health
Health is a strong choice for quints, it allows you take a few more shots to the stomach and nicely helps with your Atma's Impaler damage.

Alternate Quints: Cooldown Reduction
CDR, as insane as it may sound, is actually very effective. It reduces the time you need to Ult, which is what this build is based on. Maximal Ultimate Abuse, or MUA.

Masteries

Okay, this is where thousands of people will disagree with me. My masteries build is very unorthodox and arguably gimmicky, but it's remarkably efficient. Now let's see why:

ATTACK:
Simply put: Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Armour Penetration.
Attack Damage helps you out early with the farming and the 'W', so it's an obvious choice. Since you're bringing 'Smite,' you'll also want to bring the "Summoner's Wrath" for that temporary but welcome boost. And besides, Attack Speed is always great on junglers. Always.

DEFENSE:
Wait a second, there's nothing here! "But I thought this was a tanky build?!" Well you know what? Your items bring on the tankocity, you might as well invest in where it's weaker.

UTILITY:
Easily my favourite Mastery Tree, this group of passives is ABSOLUTELY necessary for this build to work. ABSOLUTELY. Passive Gold allows you to earn dosh, even when you aren't in combat, you could also buy a Heart of Gold if you want to boost the money laundering. But most importantly are the Bonus Experience effects. These get you ahead of the game, in more ways than one. Get a kill? BAM, more experience. Get an assist? BAM, more experience. Not only that but you have Enhanced Buff Duration so you don't have to worry about running out of Red when charging that Garen's backside.

Items

EARLY GAME:
Cloth Armor and TWO bottles of Ketchup, or Health Potion as they're so called. Easily put, these items are core for Junglers all around, not only that but you get a small boost to your 'E'.

Essentially, you want to build into Ninja Tabi as quickly as possible. There are no exceptions, it will be your first item. The move speed, Armour and percentage-based damage reduction (which is just a bonus really) all help you out early game. You want to be able to chase and dish out some massive AOE with the 'E'.

NOTE: They are phasing out Dodge unfortunately, but while it's here you might as well take it for the boost to Ground Slam.

MID GAME:
Rush either Frozen Heart or Force of Nature based on what your opponent's team composition is. Or you can build half and half. An early Frozen Heart is my preferred choice because you get the cooldown Reduction. Good for 70 second ultimates. Ideally you want both by the 25 minute mark, then you can whip out some massive domination. From here, build a Heart of Gold or a Phage for the health bonus. You're gonna need it.

LATE GAME:
Finish off your Frozen Mallet and start farming for an Atma's Impaler, it's a solid item that'll help you out with DPS. Even though your health pool isn't as large as, say Sion, the Atma's is really there as a defensive tool. However, you could replace it with a few different items. Once those two are done, grab a Guardian Angel to be unkillable, or pick up a Warmog's Armour up for more health AND damage.

TL;DR:
Cloth Armor
2x Health Potion
Ninja Tabi - ASAP
Frozen Heart
Force of Nature
Frozen Mallet
Atma's Impaler
Guardian Angel or Warmog's Armour

ALTERNATES:

Banshee's Veil - Great MR booster right here, helps with initiating too since they'll have to cast multiple CCs to slow you down.

Sunfire Cape - One of my other favourite items, adds some useful DoT with the 40 dmg/sec aura. Also a good health and armour booster, invaluable for chipping away at health in teamfights.

Thornmail - Another great teamfighting tool, you might as well be tanking everything. Extremely versatile for his playstyle.

Zhonya's Hourglass - This is if you're just that fed, great Armour boost, great AP boost. Useful for ramping up your ult damage as well as 'Q' damage. Not explicitly recommended though, but viable.

Leviathan - Another not explicitly recommended, but still solid item. This is only good if you're certain you can't die. This and Atma's make for a nasty pair.

Skill Sequence

'E' - Ground Slam should be maxed out after Ult, that way your team will ALWAYS out DPS them thanks to the attack speed slow. At endgame, your slams can max out at about 400+ aoe damage. This is also the best skill for Jungling with, because YOU will always out DPS the creeps.

'W' - Brutal Strikes comes second because of the nice damage amp and passive splash, it helps you clear out the camps with relative ease.

'Q' - Seismic Shard should be maxed out third, it's Malphite's second most useful skill. It saps movespeed, that means you SLOW them while making yourself FASTER. You'll want to initiate ALL ganks with this then follow up with an Ult and 'E'. Great for escaping too.

TIP: Shard the Wolves for a wicked speed boost, they are the fastest things on the map after all.

'R' - Unstoppable Force your Ultimate. MAX THIS OUT. As FAST as possible. You want to use this as many times as you can in the game. This is the ultimate single-skill initiation tool in the game, undoubtedly. You can also use it to escape through the thickest walls as well. There's a reason it's called UNSTOPPABLE.

Jungling (Short form)

Here is your Jungling Route, you must learn it, live it, love it. It's imperative that you get this down right.

1. BLUE (get a leash for this, lose passive then Ketchup)
2. Wolves
3. Wraiths (NO, do NOT smite it)
4. Mini Golems
5. RED
6. Wolves

Ninja Tabi

How To Play

Teamfighting 101:

You have 2 options:
Brutal Strikes > Unstoppable Force > Ground Slam > Seismic Shard
OR
Brutal Strikes > Seismic Shard > Unstoppable Force > Ground Slam

Literally that's all you need to do to initiate a team fight.

Farming 101:
Brutal Strikes > Ground Slam

This WILL kill a wave with a few follow up attacks, very useful for longer teamfights or one-on-one standing and banging as well.

Being a Bastard 101:
Wait in Bush > Unstoppable Force > ??? > Ask if they're Okay

No true Skill Combo associated here, but go ahead and waste your Ult to chase one guy down, with Blue Buff, you have roughly 60 seconds before your next body-check.

Other

1:43 PM 08/04/2012 - Patched the guide to accommodate the new Ninja Tabi fix.

12:39 PM 07/01/2012 - Down from 5 HPots to 2! Much more effective and allows faster ganks.

7:03 PM 25/12/11 - More Formatting edits.

3:59 PM 21/12/11 - Formatting edits.
- Made a series of changes thanks to the suggestion of LetsgoROSH. Major thanks to him BTW.
- Impossible to get FH and FoN under 20min. Now it's 25.

5:18 AM 21/12/11 - First Release! Welcome to all sorts of scrutiny.