Malphite Build Guide by Alpha Potato

Introduction

Pros/Cons

spaace

Pros + // High damage, while remaining tanky + // Slow with relatively short cooldown + // Extremely fast jungle clear time + // He's a rock

space

spaace

Cons - // Ganking is weak until 6 - // Somewhat low damage until Atma's Impaler - // Mana dependent early game - // Very Lame Dance

Runes

Masteries

A pretty standard Defense build (Picking up the jungle masteries) Then going into offense to pick up the extra armor penetration.

Summoner Spells

Cleanse You should be tanky enough to afford to take debuffs and disables. In addition, you get 10% reduction in your defense mastery, and you will probably build Mercury Treads for tenacity. Surge Attack speed - not necessary, Ability Power - not necessary. Clarity Blue buff will give you enough mana early game, late game mana issues won't be much of a problem. Ignite This could be useful to finish off kills, but it just doesn't compare to the mobility of Flash and Ghost. It may be a decent choice if the enemy team is very health regen dependent. ( Volibear, Dr. Mundo, ect.)

SE

Clairvoyance Again, rarely used, and should be used if your support. Can be used to reveal enemy jungle and buffs for counter jungling. Promote No one should ever use this except maybe a support. Heal It could be helpful, but I wouldn't really consider using it. Definitely prefer Flash. Revive Never. This is literally for someone who plans on dying a lot... Do you plan on dying a lot?

Items

The above items are going to lean towards the Offtank/Damage build, which will be more commonly used when you play jungle. (Most jungles are an AD carry and your main tank will primarily be bot support or top). When playing as an offtank, I wouldn't stray from this build too much. You basically build into your jungle utility Wriggle's Lantern, Warmog's Armor for your health and sustain, keep in mind the fact that the earlier you pick up Warmog's, the earlier in the game you can get that bonus 350 health. Then I go Atma's Impaler to build damage off the Warmog's. Finally I build a Frozen Mallet for the slow, the health, and the damage (My 3 favorite stats)

This is the point that I choose whether to build tanky or to build more damage.

Damage:

Tank:

Choosing to build Tank or Damage

After you build your Frozen Mallet, you build your final 2 items as either tank or damage (Shown in items category above).

A) You have a tank laning
B) That tank can initiate, is keeping up with levels, and getting fed in one way or another.
C) Make sure its necessary
A) You DON'T have a tank laning
B) If you DO have a laning tank and he is not keeping up in levels/feed
C) Make sure its necessary

Skills and Abilities

Malphite's passive is nothing short of awesome. You will gain a shield that gives you 10% extra health every time you let it recharge. I make sure that this shield is recharged before I start to fight blue or red buff, it makes your jungle sustain much better.

Sends a rock at the enemy and slows them. This scales well with AP. I play Malphite AD, so this spell is used mainly for early game and slows. I max it out first for the slow (and speed boost for you), and because the base damage is very good early game. Late game the damage won't be great, but the slow is still very helpful.

Awesome ability for jungling. I pick this up at level 2 and clear jungle extremely fast. This is a percent based damage, so I pick this up 1 rank, and as I gain attack damage the ability gets better. Also gives a huge increase to damage and armor for 6 seconds. Activate this in jungle only when you have blue buff. When blue wears off, you will kill stuff plenty fast with just Ground Slam and saves your mana. Also activate this when you get into the thick of a battle, especially when your being focused.

This will be your best ability for the most part. The damage is based off your armor, which is your primary stat. The more armor you have, the more damage you do. This is one of the main reasons Malphite can put out so much damage even though he is a tank, and this build emphasizes that. Use it basically as often as you can, unless your out of mana. I will typically use Seismic Shard if I have almost no mana and need to pick a spell.

You charge at enemies and knock them into the air, as well as do a good bit of damage. (Building AP makes this ability amazing for the damage, but I mostly use it as an overpowered flash and make up for the damage with my auto attacks). Keep in mind that this ability does move through walls. I normally try to save it as an offensive ability, but if its needed to escape don't hesitate to dive through a wall with it.

Jungle Route/Guide (Early-Mid Game)

1: Blue Buff:
As Malphite you are going to want to start at blue buff. Have someone leash you if possible, and ask people to protect your blue. The mid character should be at the bush in the river to be able to see any invaders before they even get into position. Have the laner(s) from bot or top lane stand by the river as well (Check yellow diamonds on map below for where to protect). Do NOT smite until the golem is under 500 health. The reason for waiting on the smite is because if they are counter jungling, it is much easier to steal your blue if they wait until under 500 health and smite it, without you even seeing them. Wait until less than 500 health, than smite.

2, 3, 4, 5: Wolves, Wraiths, Twin Golems, and Red
As long as your protection left after you started hitting blue, you should be level 2 after killing them. Train your Brutal Strikes and move to wolves (2). Activate Brutal Strikes (Only because you have blue buff) and clear them quick. Move to wraiths (3) and clear those. Run past red and move to twin golems (4). (If you are moving as quickly as you should, Smite will still have about 20 seconds cooldown by the time you get to red). Finally pick up red (5) with smite and move to wraiths again.


*The Yellow Diamonds represent where your protection should go (Mid and Laners)
*The Black Circles represent options to place wards from Wriggle's Lantern

From now on you are just going to cycle between wolves, wraiths, and twin golems. After your first route you should be level 4 and have picked up Seismic Shard. As soon as you have that ability you are ready to gank. Ganking takes a lot of practice, but basically find a lane thats being pushed towards your turret, or a lane with a weak enemy. Wait for an opportunity to have enough time to run out, cast Seismic Shard and start beating on them with Ground Slam and Brutal Strikes. Its a pretty straight forward champ for ganking and there's not anything special like some characters have. With Malphite, just time it right, run out there and slow them while you and your team mates kill them. When you get Unstoppable Force ganking becomes much easier. You can choose to engage with this and give your team a window of opportunity to use their abilities, or you can slow them with Seismic Shard, beat on them, and use your ultimate when they flash away, or to finish off a kill.

I typically have better luck using the second gank option. The enemy will have a better sense of security if you don't use your Unstoppable Force when the fight starts and may fight back. Then you have more time to beat on them before they decide to start running, which is the best time to use your ultimate. It takes practice, but just pay attention to your lanes and for people that need your help.

Blue/Red buff:
Dragon:
Baron

Team Fights (Late Game)

Late game nearly always comes down to team fight and focusing, and Malphite doesn't change anything about that.

Initiating

Focusing

Summary

I hope you enjoyed trying out my guide! Please rate and leave a comment for me. Again, i'm very open to any suggestions you might change or fix in my guide (Keep in mind its my first one!). Please don't down vote until you have tried it at least once after reading through the entire guide. Its only fair to rate the whole guide, not just the item build at the top! Thanks!


*Special thanks to 99WillPower, MrSkeletonBones, WarDeathFamineP, LeSteiny, and McCradd for their input and proofreading of this guide.

-Alpha Potato