I am someone who has a fair amount of spare time, but unfortunately a lot of that time I can not actually play League of Legends. However with that time I can sit and read up on builds and ideas that people have.

I enjoy writing and I enjoy League of Legends and therefore I have decided that it would be a good idea to write about league of legends. Amazing stuff!

At the time of creating this guide I am level 26. So I do not have a FULL rune or mastery set up however I think by the time I am finished that I will. I'll show you my plans with regards to runes/mastery setup and you can tell me what you think or if I should change it up.

This guide is primarily for me. As much as I would like to go and say that I'm selflessly trying to show the community a better way to play, blah blah blah. It is simply not true. I am making this guide for a few reasons.
1. So that I can have a few builds ready that I can switch between while I am playing.
2. So that people will give me feedback and let me figure out different ways to play Malphite.
3. So that "I" can become a better player.

Yes I'm selfish, but who knows, in the process of trying to help myself I may unintentionally create a good guide for other people.

A little bit about the utility of this guide. Usually when I am playing League of Legends I have my browser open to a Mobafire guide. This is so that I can flip back and forth to see which items I should be getting next. You will notice that there are two "builds" to this guide. The first build is mostly the same as the second except that in one I am focusing on if I am up against a mostly AP team, and the second I am focusing as if I am mostly up against an AD heavy team. What you consider heavy is up to you. I mainly look at the carries and say 'Are they AD, AP or both?'?

I want to give special mention to PsiGuard and his Rocking Solo Top With Malphite (Jungle Guide Included!), as it was this guide that got me into Malphite in the first place. His guide creates a really well rounded Malphite able to take on both AP and AD champions. My guide specifically focuses on either AD or AP champions.

Also I want to thank JhoiJhoi's Making A Guide guide.

In my opinion, the game starts before you enter the battle arena. The game starts before you hit the play button to choose what type of game you even want to play.

The game actually starts in the Rune and Mastery selection. When I first started getting runes, I got two different rune set ups based on two different types of champions. Over time, I have come to the conclusion that I enjoy playing a tank the most. So now my rune set up is based on winning with a tank. Therefore you will note that I have two different rune set ups based on looking at your enemy team before the game starts and figuring out "Are their carries mostly AD or mostly AP".

I focus on "per level" runes as much as possible because as a tank you are not looking to get that "early" kill. You want to be a viable player throughout the entire game. Especially as Malphite, building so much health it is going to be very beneficial to have lots of Armor or Magic resist right off the bat.

AP Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
Malphite is fairly good at harassing early game and fairly resistant to harassing because of his Granite Shield. The extra Magic Penetration is specifically helpful early game when you are using Seismic Shard as it will allow you to dish out a little more damage to any of those champions who has a rune or mastery set up with Magic Resists.

Greater Seal of Scaling Magic Resist & Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
As I mentioned earlier in this guide the focus of this is to get as much Magic Resist as possible. That being said why do it over time rather than getting it all at once? While getting everything at level 1 might be beneficial for trying to get that early first blood, I don't think it is as good with a tank. Ideally you want your character to be viable all the way through the game and I believe this is the best way to ensure that.

Greater Quint of Swiftness
The extra movement speed is very helpful throughout the entire game. Whether you are trying to nail someone with Seismic Shard or if you want to try and get a team of people with Unstoppable Force
Greater Quint of Replenishment
Allows you to keep harassing so long as you have health in the early game.

AD Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
Same as above, allowing you to use that [[Seismic Shard] early on to do some good harassing and laning.
Greater Seal of Armor
Straight up more Armor to stop those AD Carries from hitting you.
Greater Glyph of Replenishment
Here I chose to get extra mana per second as there is no Glyph for armor. I follow up by replacing one of my Greater Quint of Replenishment with a Greater Quint of Defense

For my items it is fairly simple I focused on two things.
1. Health
Malphite gets a massive passive bonus for having more health.
2. Armor or Magic Resist
Since these items work with Malphite's health is ideal to have high health and high magic resists.