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Malzahar Build Guide by Adjeye

AP Carry Jungle / 6.10 / I'm not a leader now. I'm a whole damn army.

AP Carry Jungle / 6.10 / I'm not a leader now. I'm a whole damn army.

Updated on May 17, 2016
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Adjeye Build Guide By Adjeye 107,584 Views 2 Comments
107,584 Views 2 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Adjeye Malzahar Build Guide By Adjeye Updated on May 17, 2016
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Introduction

Hello,
let me first introduce myself. My summoner name is "De Stille Killer" and I mostly play normal games with my friends. I am Dutch, so that could be a reason why my English is not always on point, and why the background noise (which is barely noticeable) in the posted videos is dutch.

I have played ranked a little, and managed to get to Gold V. Never been stuck in a division.

I love to play mages and this mid-season patch is like heaven for me. Morgana and Brand were my go-to champions when I want to win, but now I can add Malzahar to that list for when I need to jungle.

The title quote is stolen from Joss Whedon, Fray.

Because Malzahar is still new, I love to share what I think works on this crazy revamped champion.
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Pros / Cons

Pros:
  • Very easy time in the jungle
  • Good at solo'ing objectives
  • Deals both magic as physical damage
  • Passive blocks grabs/stuns that come from nowhere
    (You don't get pulled into sticky situations that easily)

Cons:
  • Doesn't have burst damage (his damage needs to build up)
  • No slows or stuns before six
  • Doesn't have any dash or "get out of jail for free" cards
  • Is screwed when taken by surprise and passive isn't up.
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Skills and Explanations

Void Shift


If Malzahar has not taken damage nor been affected by crowd control in the last 30 - 6 (based on level) seconds, he phases out, which lingers for 1 second after taking damage or blocking a crowd control effect. While phased out, Malzahar is immune to crowd control effects and takes 90% reduced damage. Damage from minions does not interact with Void Shift.
This is your free improved bashees veil. This blocks any spell/apply on hit effect you can think of (You really don't feel the 10% dmg still going through). This combined with your ult, can prevent enemies from stunning you when you're channeling.

Call of the Void

RANGE: 900 / 400 COST: 60 MANA COOLDOWN: 6

ACTIVE: Malzahar summons two orbs at the target location perpendicular to which way he is facing after a 0.5-second delay, dealing magic damage to all enemies caught between the orbs and Silence icon silencing them.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+ 70% AP)
SILENCE DURATION: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2
This is your small utility skill, which is a nice interrupt for things like a janna ult or a meditate from yi, also, this skill will reset the timer of your Malefic Visions, so that will make it last longer when you use this skill after 3seconds of MV.

Void Swarm

RANGE: 450 COST: 60 MANA COOLDOWN: 20 / 19 / 18 / 17 / 16

ACTIVE: Malzahar spawns a Voidling at the target location that deals physical damage plus bonus magic damage on its attacks. Void Swarms last for 12 seconds.
VOIDLING PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 30 / 32.5 / 35 / 37.5 / 40% AD
VOIDLING MAGIC DAMAGE: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 10% AP)
The first time a Voidling attacks a champion or large monster, or assists in killing a unit, Malzahar will spawn an additional Voidling with the same remaining duration that can in turn spawn additional Voidlings. This cannot happen if there is less than 4 seconds remaining on the swarm.
When three or more Voidling are active, they all gain 50% bonus attack speed.

Stats of the voidlings:


Attack speed
0.831

Range
100

Armor
30

Magic res.
50

Mov. speed
451

This will be your damage dealer mostly, although when full builded, all skills will deal damage, these little creeps will be the majority of your damage in the largest part of a game. This skill does, however, need to charge up. What I mean by that is, is that one voidling doesn't deal a lot of damage but 4-6 do. To utelize this skill to its maximum potential, you should steer your little army to targets that are already stunned or slowed. You can't directly command them though, this is done by using your Malefic Vision (or ult). Make sure you use this skill always right before you use your ultimate!

Malefic Visions

RANGE: 650 COST: 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 15 / 13 / 11 / 9 / 7

ACTIVE: Malzahar infects the target enemy's mind, dealing them magic damage every half second over 4 seconds. Damaging a target with Call of the Void.png Call of the Void or Nether Grasp.png Nether Grasp will refresh the duration of Malefic Visions.
MAGIC DAMAGE PER HALF SECOND: 10 / 14.375 / 18.75 / 23.125 / 27.5 (+ 8.75% AP)
TOTAL DAMAGE: 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+ 70% AP)
If the target dies during this time, they pass Malefic Visions onto the closest enemy, refreshing the duration and restoring 2% of Malzahar's maximum mana.
This little dot used to be malzahars damage skill, but isn't that good anymore in terms of dealing damage. This is however your way to steer your voidlings to the right targets. Its important to note that you can make this skill last longer by using your ultimate, or call of the void!

Nether Grasp

RANGE: 700 COST: 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 120 / 100 / 80

ACTIVE: Malzahar opens a Null Zone.png Null Zone beneath the target enemy champion, Airborne icon knocking them down and channeling for up to 2.5 seconds to Suppression icon keep them in place. The target of Nether Grasp as well as all other enemies within the Null Zone take magic damage every second, which lasts for 5 seconds.
MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 6 / 8 / 10% (+ 1.5% per 100 AP) of the target's maximum health
MINIMUM DAMAGE TO TARGET: 15 / 20 / 25% (+ 3.75% per 100 AP) of the target's maximum health
MAXIMUM DAMAGE: 30 / 40 / 50% (+ 7.5% per 100 AP) of the target's maximum health
Very long sort of stun. Now its damage comes from the pool below it, so it might be smart sometimes to use this on the most centered enemy. You want to priorotise their carries (for as long as they don't have the cleanse item), but don't be afraid to use this on tanks with lots of stuns too. It deals %health damage so when you can make sure the tank dies with its utilities, it might not be stupid to just do so.
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Runes

This might be an unorthodox runepage, but hear me about before you complain:

Quintessences: Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage x3
Glyphs: Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power x9
Seals: Greater Seal of Armor x9
Marks: Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration x5, Greater Mark of Attack Damage x4

Why this attack damage?


Well, first of, let me explain why you want to start with so much attack damage extra. First of all, which might sound silly, you will be basic attacking a lot in the jungle, because malzahar got big cooldowns.
Second, and more importantly, your voidlings scale better with AD than they do with AP, and in the jungle and out, they are your damage dealers.

100AD
(roughly 3500gold)
translates to 40 attack damage for your minions and
161AP
(roughly 3500gold)
translates to only 16 magic damage for your minions.
Values taken from Amplifying Tome and Long Sword


Where is the magic resist?


Resistances in your runebook, are mostly in order to survive early to early-mid game. Since the fact that you aren't going to show your face in lane without your passive on, you will probably not die of any magic damage.

Why do you have armor then?

    - The damage you will catch in the game will be mostly physical, because nukes get blocked.
    - With an early drake/Rift Herrald, you will need to tank a bit between your waves of voidlings.
    - Whenever they are done bursting their skills, they will start basic attacking.
Scaling Heath does work too however, so feel free to try around, and see what you like best.
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Masteries

Why the defensive tree?


As a jungler, you want to look like you are a little bit tankier than you actually are. Strength of the Ages gives already 120 max HP when you first gank (6 camps) which equals roughly 320 gold, almost a free Ruby Crystal on level 4!

What are the rest of the choices you made?


They aren't that important as the runestone, but will possibly make your life a lot easier!
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Creeping / Jungling

With Malzahar you could do all the camps easily without having to go back, so that's how I mostly start the game.

Before you move to your first camp, place your visionward here:
Mana can sometimes be tough, so I like to start with Gromp and then Blue. Then I follow up with wolves and then birds. Then Red and finally Golems. You will be level 4 now, and still full HP, ganking top/bot (depends where you start) is the most logic thing to do now.

You don't actually need any laner to help you with the first camp.

You do want to gank a lot, because your voidlings deal a lot of damage, I mostly like to just run inside the lane when I see a chance, so they can't run away before I arive (even if they've warded):
When you got your ultimate, you basically just run inside a lane and use your ult asap, because then you can't get stunned out of it because your passive is still shielding you.
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Items

Early Game


Starter items

I mostly start with Hunter's Machete Health Potion Vision Ward
The reason why I chose for the machete above the talisman, is because the Hunter's Machete gives you damage. The heal from the Talisman is useless because you won't get any damage anyway.

First Back


I generally get Skirmisher's Sabre + Boots + Vision Ward in that order. If I have money left, I get an extra Amplifying Tome

Skirmisher's Sabre vs Stalker's Blade


This is an easy one, you want Skirmisher's Sabre because of the vision. When line of sight with your target is broken, your minions will stop following it and return to you. If you don't have this smite (or don't use it), you might miss out on kills:
Also, the slow is not really worth it, you will get your slow through Hextech Gunblade and later more slows from Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
It might help at the ganks you do without ult, but other than that, Skirmisher's Sabre outweighs Stalker's Blade in everything.

Skirmisher's Sabre - Warrior vs Skirmisher's Sabre - Runic Echoes


This one is a bit harder, because AD and cd reduction are 2 very good stats on Malzahar.
The 60AD will result in a 24damage increase of your voidlings, the 60AP of echo will result in only 6damage increase of the voidlings.

Lets take an ult time as example for the damage you would deal. Also we take an average of 3,5 voidlings attacking during this time.

Skirmisher's Sabre - Warrior will deal 3.5 voidlings x 2.5 seconds x (0.831x1.5) attackspeed x 24damage = 261.765 damage in total.
Skirmisher's Sabre - Runic Echoes will 3.5 voidlings x 2.5 seconds x (0.831x1.5) attackspeed x 6damage = 65.44125 + 66 luden proc. + (Malefic visions extra damage: 60AP x 0.0875scaling x 5 half seconds = 26.25) + (Nether Grasp extra damage: 1.5%scaling x 0.6AP x 2.5 seconds = 2.25% damage) = 158 + 2.25% damage in total.

In this situation, the Skirmisher's Sabre - Runic Echoes would only be better at targets which have ((262dmg - 158dmg)/2.25%dmg) x 100% = 4622maximum health.

So if you want to be great 1vs1, Skirmisher's Sabre - Warrior is definitely better. The thing is though, because you are going to get more AP, the luden proc will scale too.
Also, the luden proc and the Null Zone of your ult are both AOE, this means that if there are 2 persons standing in the zone, they both only need to have 2311maximum health, with 3 it would be 1540maximum health. This doesn't take into account that the luden also has a chance to hit additional targets. In that case, 2 targets mid game would be worth it.

Movementspeed is also a hard thing to come by.

This is why I choose Skirmisher's Sabre - Runic Echoes, but both are viable.

Mid Game


Hextech Gunblade


I usually chose Hextech Gunblade for dualing purposes. The 40 attack damage with the active effect will give you an increase single target which is higher than any other item I have tested (feel free to prove me wrong).
It still gives you the 80 ability power (which is a lot for a hybrid item) for your other abilities.
Also, this gives sustain with the "spellvamp" (not sure if I'm allowed to call it that):

Alternatives:

Rylai's Crystal Scepter


This is here mainly for utility. This makes you able to freeze entire teams with Q, and make sure they cannot hard-engage if you poke them well. The slow also triggers on the ludens proc, so more targets are slowed, eventhough you didn't hit all the enemies with your Q. Also, your E will make it possible to keep a person slowed for a whole 5 seconds, which can bring him in a lot of trouble.

Alternatives:

  • Zhonya's Hourglass
    Gives armor, one of the best activates and CD reduction. Not so much AP now anymore.
  • Rod of Ages
    Great all rounder, but by the time you get here, you probably already deal enough damage, and RoA doesn't give any utility

Liandry's Torment


By now you should be able to just zap away any carry that comes on your path, so what you want to do now is focus on being more tanky, or focus on making other tanks vanish. Liandry's Torment is ideal for this situation! It gives health and is the item, to destroy tanks with! Also, in combination with your Rylai's Crystal Scepter the effect will be doubled.

Alternatives:

  • Void Staff
    When your team is heavy magic, you might consider this item to destroy tanks
  • Warmog's Armor
    If you have to engage, you might want to consider buying this, greatly increases your tankyness

Last item?


With all of the items above, there isn't anything you really NEED anymore. I usually build Rabadon's Deathcap, just so that I can do more damage. But most of the above shown alternatives go here:
Zhonya's Hourglass
Gives armor, one of the best activates and CD reduction. Not so much AP now anymore.

Void Staff
When your team is heavy magic, you might consider this item to destroy tanks

Warmog's Armor
If you have to engage, you might want to consider buying this, greatly increases your tankyness
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Great tricks

Tanking the turret:


When you want to ultimate someone inside enemy turret range, most of your damage gets lost because your voidlings are getting killed by the turret. One way to deal with this, and this is still a very risky way, is to tank the turret myself, so my voidlings can do what they do best (even better is when you start tanking while passive is up): Don't do this when enemies are around though. So make sure you ward properly!
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Patch Notes

6.10


Passive cooldown up.


While our balance hotfix looks to have solved much of Malzahar’s over-the-top performance (like soloing dragons at level 3), Malzahar’s still ahead of the pack when it comes to mage dominance on 6.9. Void Shift is an important tool to facilitate Malzahar wading through the midlines to lockdown a priority target, but the cooldown is so flexible during laning that it makes most aggression feel meaningless. We’re dramatically increasing the windows opponents have to pull Malzahar out of the void and back to his fountain (especially early game).

Passive - Void Shift
COOLDOWN 23-6 seconds (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 30/18/10/6 seconds (at levels 1/6/11/16)
VOID CLARITY Cooldown indicator is now also shown on buff bar

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THE GUIDE IS NOT DONE YET

I am not finished, but I wanted to share this bit already. I am currently not writing.
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Adjeye Malzahar Guide
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Jungle / 6.10 / I'm not a leader now. I'm a whole damn army.

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