Malzahar Build Guide : [InDepth] Malzahar - Melting Champions under the Shurima Sun

Malzahar, The Prophet of the Void

"The land may melt, the sea may swell, the sky may fall... but They will come." - Malzahar

Many men have gone mad beneath the glare of the Shurima sun, but it was during the night's chilling embrace that Malzahar relinquished his sanity. Malzahar was born a seer, blessed with the gift of prophecy. His talent, though unrefined, promised to be one of Runeterra's greatest boons, but destiny plotted him another course; his sensitivity to the roiling tides of fate allowed other, unwelcome things to tug at his subconscious mind. In his dreams, where the veil of separation is thinnest, a sinister thing beckoned. For some time, Malzahar was able to resist its prodding solicitation, but with each passing night the voice grew louder, or perhaps deeper, until he could withstand the call no more.

He ventured into the desert without supplies, drawn by the lure of a specious charm. His destination: a lost civilization to the east, known to ancient texts as Icathia. Few believed such a place ever existed, and those who did were certain that the sands had long since devoured whatever remained. When Malzahar's cracked feet finally failed him, he found himself kneeling at the base of a bizarre crumbling obelisk. Beyond it lay the alien geometry of a ruined city and the giant decaying idols of dark and horrific gods. His eyes, seeing what others cannot, and what none should, were filled with the essence of the Void. His once shifting visions of the future were replaced with the immutable promise of Valoran beset by creatures of the Void. Standing alone, but not alone, amidst the echoing dunes, he noticed the familiar voice escape his own lips in a parched rasp, bearing three words whose weight trembled his knees. League of Legends. Now infused with the power of the void itself, Malzahar set off to the north to seek his fate.

Introduction

is my favorite champion. I fell in love with him the first time I started League of Legends over a year ago. is one of the best casters in the game, being able to dish out large amounts of damage while still keeping his distance.

Some say he is overpowered with both a suppress and a silence, and the ability to dish out large amounts of damage on top of it. While that is true, I believe that takes a lot of attention and practice to do well with, in addition he needs specific masteries and runes to give him his extra boosts. Typically those who play tend to be very good with him for that reason.

Don't be upset if you can't do well with him right away. He is a champion that takes tons of of practice to do well with. Personally, I still need to work on developing my skills with him, every day. is a complex champion, yet he is very rewarding when you give him the time for your skills with him to develop.

Pro's and Con's

Pro's:

Great early game harassment
Incredible AoE
Excellent Farmer
High AP Ratios
Deals TONS of damage
Silence + Suppresion
Kind of a badass..

Con's:

Squishy
Difficult to learn
Mana Intensive
No escape Mechanism
Susceptible to CC
Easily countered by Quicksilver Sash and Banshee's Veil

Runes

When it comes to runes, I never buy runes that don't provide the best for each categories.
For example: I would rather use the which provides .99 AP, than get use the while provides .59 AP.

Mark's usually provide the best: attack and penetration runes.
Seal's typically provide the best: mana, health and defense runes.
Glyph's often provide the best: ability power, and magic resist runes.

That being said I get the best runes for a caster in each category (in my opinion at least):
x 9 - The magic penetration amplifies all of 's attacks, making him far more dangerous.
Each rune gives .95 magic penetration, which gives us a total of 8.55 magic penetration.
Greater Seal of Replenishment x 9 - The mana regeneration makes early game easier
Each rune gives .41 mana regeneration per 5 seconds, which gives us a total of 3.69 magic regeneration per 5 seconds.
x 9 - I always choose solid AP over AP per level. In my opinion, just need's that early game power to dominate his lane.
Each rune gives .99 ability power, which gives us a total of 8.91 ability power.

Now onto Quintessences...

I use:
x 2 - This extra ability power really makes a strong presence in whatever lane he chooses.
Each quintessence gives 4.95 ability power, which gives us a total of 9.9 ability power.
x 1 - The extra magic penetration amplifies all of 's attacks even more.
Each quintessence gives 1.89 magic penetration, which gives us a total of 1.89 magic penetration.

Alternative:
Greater Quintessence of Replenishment x 1 - The extra mana regeneration makes early game ability spamming just that much easier.
Each quintessence gives 1.25 magic regeneration per 5 seconds, which gives us a total of 1.25 magic regeneration per 5 seconds.

You can if you wish replace the with Greater Quintessence of Replenishment if you feel that you use more mana early game, and often find yourself depleted OR don't really feel the effects of magic penetration.

Totals:
Ability Power:
x 9 + x 2 = 18.81 AP ~ 19 AP
Magic Penetration:
x 9 + x 1 = 10.44 Magic Pen. ~ 10 Magic Pen.
Mana Regeneration:
Greater Glyph of Replenishment x 9 = 3.69 Mana Regen. ~ 3.7 Mana Regen.

If you're using Greater Quintessence of Regeneration instead of then here are the totals.

Totals:
Ability Power:
x 9 + x 2 = 18.81 AP ~ 19 AP
Magic Penetration:
x 9 = 8.55 Magic Pen. ~ 8.5 Magic Pen.
Mana Regeneration:
Greater Glyph of Regeneration x 9 + Greater Quintessence of Regeneration x 1 = 4.94 Mana Regen. ~ 4.9 Mana Regen.

Masteries

The masteries I choose for make him a very aggressive champion, and give him the ability to do lots of damage early game.

I go 21 0 9, it allows to be a lot more of a threat.

Offense

Summoner's Wrath x 1: Improve's Exhaust, Ignite, Surge, and Ghost. Ignite gets a nice 5 AP + 5 AD bonus when used. If you decide to use Ghost, it also increases the speed bonus to 35% from 27%.
Mental Force x 4: Give's Malzahar a nice extra 4 AP, which ends up totaling to about 23 AP at the start of the game.
Sorcery x 4: Give's Malzahar 4% Cooldown Reduction, which shortens his long cooldown's just a tad.
Arcane Knowledge x 1: Give's Malzahar 10% Magic Pen., all this Magic Penetration ends up being deadly.
Havoc x 2: Give's Malzahar an extra 1% damage, making his moves just a tad bit stronger.
Blast x 4: Give's Malzahar 1 AP per level, more and more AP, making Malzahar quite deadly, even at an early stage.
Archmage x 4: Give's Malzahar 5% extra AP, the more the merrier.
Executioner x 1: Give's Malzahar an extra 6% damage when the enemy has below 40% health. Think about it this way; Ignite + Malefic Visions combo on a player with low health becomes just THAT much more deadly.

Utility

Summoner's Insight x 1: Improve's Teleport, Promote, Flash, Clarity, and Clairvoyance. Flash's cooldown is shortened by 15 seconds from 265 to 255. If you decided to use Teleport, it has its teleport time reduced by one second. Clarity also has the mana restored increased by 20% to 70%.
Expanded Mind x 3: Give's Malzahar 12 mana per level, a slightly bigger mana pool makes it a bit easier to cast more spells.
Meditation x 3: Give's Malzahar 3 mana regeneration per 5 seconds, this combined with the runes gives a nice 6.7/7.9 mana regeneration per 5 seconds.
Swiftness x 1: Give's Malzahar .5 speed buff, while it isn't much, Malzahar does need all the speed he can get.
Runic Affinity x 1: Give's Malzahar a 20% buff extension, which is quite nice when combined with the blue buff.

Although the masteries are very agressive, when combined with tanky AP items, the result is ridiculously strong .

Summoner Spells

Recommended:

Flash: Flash allows Malzahar the ability to get in and get out of situations with ease. He has no method of escape, and flash allows him to make-up for that. If you're doing well enough with Malzahar, you can also use it to land a Malefic Visions or a Nether Grasp, or both on a champion with low healh.
Ignite: Ignite synthesizes very well with Malzahar's combo. It gives him some extra damage, and is able to be put on an enemy while is using Nether Grasp. When used on a champion with low health in synthesis with Malefic Visions, it is devastating for the enemy.

Alternatives:

Ghost: Ghost gives Malzahar a nice speed boost to escape or catch up to enemies. It helps him to escape and catch up to enemies when need be.
Teleport: Teleport is typically useful during mid. If you're the kind of person who uses Teleport often enough, then be my guest.
Clarity: When you're just learning him it can be helpful to make sure you don't run out of mana. But with the 9x Greater Seal of Replenshiment and masteries, it just isn't needed.
Cleanse: If you're a strong supporter of this, be my guest, but otherwise, I never use it. I do recognize that it can be quite helpful especially because Malzahar does get focused quite a lot.

Not Recommended:

Garrison: We're not on Dominion...
Smite: Why would you even need this?
Exhaust: Malzahar already has a silence, a suppression, and with Rylai's Crystal Scepter a slow. This move simply isn't necessary.
Clairvoyance: Malzahar doesn't really have much use of the extra vision, nor is he a support champ, so I find this to be a waste.
Surge: The extra ability power is nice, but he has no use of the attack speed so why bother?
Promote: Summon Voidling already gives you minion(s), why would you need another one?
Heal: Malzahar just wont ever need this. He isn't a support mage.
Revive: Serves no real purpose to Malzahar.

Abilities

Summon Voidling: After casting 4 spells, Malzahar summons an uncontrollable Voidling to engage enemy units for 21 seconds.

Statistics:
Voidlings have 200 + 50 x lvl Health and 20 + 5 x lvl Damage. They grow after 7 seconds (+50% Damage/Armor), and Frenzy after 14 seconds (+100% Attack Speed).

Summary:
's is one of the most interesting passives in the game. If you don't know how to use it, then it might seem uselesss. But when you do, you can destroy. It is incredibly useful when it comes to farming with your , as it is attracted to Champions and Minions being hit by .

In fact, you can spam spells to the point where you can have 2 or more voidlings around you. Double the voidlings, double the damage. Most of the time you end up ignoring and letting it happen on its own. But, if you really want to, you can intentionally use enough spells to summon one specifically to help you push a tower, or to help you farm a bit.

The passive is incredibly useful, and has often saved me from having to finish the enemy champion off by myself. When used in unison with and , you literally can rip your enemies apart.

It's also great for destroying tanks. Early game, some tanks might only have armor or magic resist, the + combo does both ability power and attack damage, therefore bypassing armor, and dealing large amounts of damage.

The only thing to be wary of is that it gives away your position in bushes as it can often just stick out, making it tons easier to find you.

Call of the Void: Malzahar opens up two portals to the void. After a short delay, they fire projectiles that deal magic damage and silence enemy champions.

Statistics:
deals 80/135/190/245/300 (+0.8) magic damage and silences enemy champions for 1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6/3 seconds. It costs 80/90/100/110/120 Mana. has 900 Range.

Summary:
is an excellent intiating move. The silence can often prevent them from escaping by using Summoner Spells such as and , or escape abilties such as and . From then it usually is easy to use , land a and then use your ultimate .

does a great deal of damage, yet also costs a large amount of mana in the process. It provides a nice AoE silence. I get first to harass early game.

Because of 's short delay, it's usually tricky to land. If you move forward toward the enemy champion and then retreat while casting the spell, you can sometimes trick them into fall under the spell.

also reveals the area in which it's cast. Occasionally if you're fearing a possible gank while playing mid, you can use the ability to check once in a while. Otherwise, use when you know can hit your enemy.

should be maxed out second.

Null Zone: Malzahar creates a zone of negative energy which damages enemies that stand in it.

Statistics:
damages nearby enemies for 4/5/6/7/8% (+0.01%) of their max health each second (damage to Monsters is capped). The ability costs 90/100/110/120/130 Mana, and has as range of 800.

Summary:
should not even be used until level 6.

Enemy champions will avoid it when you cast it underneath or nearby them, that being said there is no use in using the ability unless you know you can keep them still. Using a then a is the best way to put Null Zone to use.

is not useful in farming until you have either , have the blue bluff or are playing late game. simply doesn't do enough damage early game to be worth the mana it costs. Do not spam the ability if you decide to build , as you simply do not have enough ability power to sustain using it to farm.

does a remarkable job a taking down tanks late game. Because it does a percentage of a players health, it takes down players building health items such as , or with relative ease.

is very useful at regaining health when you have . As it doesn't to large amounts of damage, simply placing it under a minion wave can cause you to regain large amounts of health with ease.

I, as should you, max out last, as it is then it will have the most effect.

Malefic Visions - Malzahar infects his target's mind with cruel visions of their demise, dealing damage each second. If the target dies while afflicted by the visions, they pass on to a nearby enemy unit and Malzahar gains mana. Malzahar's Voidlings are attracted to affected units.

Statistics:
deals 80/140/200/260/320 (+0.8) 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. costs 60/75/90/105/120 Mana, and has a range of 650.

Summary:
Oh ....How I love you so dearly. places a damage over time on the enemy champions and minions.

Casting on enemy minions is your premiere method of farming. Since gives you mana back, and passes around from minion to minion it makes for an amazing farming ability. Typically you begin auto-attacking minions and then when one is low on health cast on it and begin your farm.

Always auto-attack the minion that is attacking. If there is a minion with very low health near a tank minion, or a minion at full health, then be sure to attack the other minion first, allowing it to be easier for to pass.

Remember that 's Voidlings can help you push . Though if you are trying to regain mana, do NOT spam spells to get a Voidling to help push .

Don't use against an enemy champion very often. has a relatively high cooldown early game (around 7 seconds) and when you use it an enemy champion it has no chance to spread. Only use it if an enemy champion moves toward you while you're farming another through a minion wave.

A great counter to 's farm is . makes an already tough minion even tougher, making it difficult to spread from minion to minion. Always be wary of laning against a champion with . Thankfully it isn't seen often on Summoner's Rift.

's should ALWAYS be maxed first. Around level 4/5 at an early level can do loads of damage and just melt the enemy champions, while also pushing itself through a farm wave.

Nether Grasp - Malzahar channels the essence of the Void to suppress his target and deal damage each second.

Statistics:
deals 250/400/550 (+1.3) magic damage over 2.5 seconds. costs 150 Mana, and has a Range of 700.

Summary:
The ultimate move that everybody seems to hate but you. I adore this move. It's always a pleasure to cast this and melt peoples faces off.

You CANNOT move, or cast an abilities while using . Otherwise is completely wasted, and you can be vulnerable to attacks.

However you can cast Summoner Spells like , and . An exception to this is .

Now what do you do when it comes to towers? There are two times when you can use under towers. First is when either the enemy champion under the tower is low on health, or is so squishy and you have enough health. The latter option is tricky, and should be only used if there is only ONE enemy champion nearby or under the tower. The second time is typically defensive. If there is a player being hit or going to be hit by a tower, then nows your chance at a free kill. Typically tower damage + is enough to kill most champions. BUT, if he happens to be extremely tanky, try to land before, then and then use while he is still underneath the tower.

Sometimes, if you are being charged at by enemy champions while using on another enemy champion, sometimes its better to just run. If you are using when other enemy champions come to gank you, run. Especially character like and with moves Puncturing Taunt and Charm] that when they hit you, will not only stop [[Malefic Visions but, get you to begin auto-attacking them, at that point you might even be dead. On occasion, and I really mean on occasion, you can use defensively to stop an enemy champion from attack your teammate with 25 health left.

Quicksilver's Sash. Oh god no. You must have killed that player enough to go out and buy this scary item. Quicksilver's Sash completely shuts down . If an enemy champion does take this horrible item, do not, I repeat DO NOT focus them, or hit them with

Take points in as soon as you can get it like all other ultimates.

Items

Core Items:

Rod of Ages: Malzahar requires health and mana early game. Taking Catalyst the Protector as soon as possible can ensure an easy time of defending mid. Being a tanky caster, Malzahar needs health and ability power, and Rod of Ages does just that. Its passive is also very useful in that you can slowly gain more health and mana. In addition, whenever you level up, you regain health and mana, making staying in lane a lot easier.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This item works on Malzahar quite well. Not only does it give him a large amount of ability power, but it also gives him a good deal of health as well. In being a tanky caster, this item is essential to your build. In addition, it helps Malzahar a ton by giving him a way to escape. If you throw down Null Zone when you have Rylai's Crystal Scepter and are being followed, those who step into the Null Zone are automatically slowed, making it far easier for Malzahar to defend himself from faster enemies. The Null Zone + Rylai's Crystal Scepter combo can also be used in the reverse, and slow down enemies he's chasing to make securing a kill just that much easier.
Rabadon's Deathcap: Tanky casters in particular suffer a lack of Ability Power. Adding Rabadon's Deathcap gives any caster, especially tanky ones, a lot of the power they need to deal significant amounts of damage.

Important Items:

Will of the Ancients: A lot people find Will of the Ancients to be an accessory item, and that it should only be used on occasion. Malzahar uses his spells often enough that spell vamp on him work to be quite well.I find that it gives Malzahar a lot of sustainability in lane. Null Zone is your chief source of health regeneration. It gives you loads of health when placed underneath a mob wave or a group of enemy champions.
Zhonya's Hourglass: This item is incredibly useful. Not only does it give a squishy champion like Malzahar extra defense, and ability power, it also has the ability to turn the tide of the battle. The active on Zhonya's Hourglass is incredibly useful, when activated, you stay put, but also don't take any damage. If you time it correctly, you might be able to save yourself from enemies charging onto you in a teamfight.

Optional Items:

Archangel's Staff: When I began playing Malzahar I always used to get this item first. The seemingly infinite amounts of mana I generated were nice, but I wasn't as tanky, nor did I do enough damage. I recommend beginner players to get Archangel's Staff first, then Rod of Ages as you begin to become comfortable with Malzahar's small mana pool.
Banshee's Veil: I never take this item unless in dire circumstances. If I am facing a team with heavy amounts of abilty power, and I'm being destroyed mid, by the time I have Catalyst the Protector, I get Banshee's Veil. While it vastly reduced your damage output, you have the ability to not only block large amounts of magic damage, but to stop incoming spells while the shield is activated. It can and should help you get an advantage over your AP intensive enemies.
Mejai's Soulstealer: This item is VERY risky. I would suggest building this item ONLY if you've gotten 2 or more kills within the first 5 minutes. Typically you can get a good snowball. The thing is with Malzahar the kills can naturally come to you, getting Mejai's Soulstealer encourages you to take risks, which isn't always too good for your kill-to-death ratio. I would recommend this item ONLY for player's who know how to use it.

Laning

Fight for mid. Always. You are best in mid, and should always be mid.

Malzahar lanes mid very well against:
, , , Vladamir, , , , and .

Malzahar lanes mid decently against:
, , , , , , , and .

Malzahar lanes poorly against:
and .

This list will be updated as I play against other characters mid.

Early Game:
Buy your (Or a if you decide to build ), out a point in and head mid. If you want harass a few times if your opponent is underneath the turret, go right ahead, but be careful. Do not go under 200 mana while harassing.

When you level up to level 2, put a point in , then target enemy minions to farm. Keep farming. At level 3 take another point in . Only go back to the spawn unless you have very low health. Play defensively, only really focusing on your farm until you get to level 6. At level 4 take a point in . Keep farming and pushing them to the turret, but keep you distance. At level 5 put your point in making it rather powerful. Then when it comes to level 6, put a point into . Depending on how much health your enemy has, harass and look for an opportunity to use .

When you do recall, take a , , or depending on how well you're doing. If you're doing really well, and have over 1.6k gold, take a , and build first. With your remaining gold buy or wards and head back mid. Only buy Sight Wards if you are continually being ganked from the sides. If you're being ganked by invisible champions such as Evelyn, and , buy 's

Mid Game:
You're now level 7, you should have . Depending on how well you're doing, you should have Catalyst the Protector, or . At level 7, take a point in .

At this point your team and the enemies should begin ganking or traveling mid. You need to play it smart, and be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention to mias, and check on other lanes when you can. If you do happen to kill your enemy mid, go help out and gank other lanes.

When ganking lanes, you typically want to choose the lane thats overextending and squishier of the two. If you have the time to be ganking, then you must be getting kills while your mid. Ganking enemies becomes easy because of your level advantage from going mid, your runes and masteries, your kills + gold, them being squishy and simply just reading this guide. ;D To initiate use and be sure to trap their escape, making for some easy kills.

Finish by level 10, and put a point in at level 9. By now you should have and be working toward . If you are doing bad against a team with many AP players, you should build a instead of .

Be sure to take the blue buff when you know you can get away with it. If you see it there, try to snatch it, as with unlimited mana is quite deadly.

At level 11 you should put a point in .

Late Game:
By now you should have bought and . Finish off by level 13 and begin leveling up .

Keep on ganking and helping your team where they need it. Take the blue buff wherever you can and just farm away with . If you're ever low on health, just lay down a on a large minion wave and soak up the extra health. As every game is situational do what you think is best to do with , after all you've made it this far.

Take the last point in at level 18. At level 16 finish . By now you should have a and are finishing your build with .

Hopefully at this point, the game is ending and you have a positive kill-to-death ratio!

Beginner Skills

These are just some simple beginner skills that all players should know when using . Most of them just display how abilities work.

MV + Voidling:
Due to , when you cast 4 spells a voidling is sent out. To help you from your lane, cast 3 spells while at your home base, or in lane, and then use on an enemy minion. This combo makes farming minions a lot easier.

CoTV Vision:
can reveal parts of the map when used in dark areas or bushes.

This section will be updated when I am able to acquire all the proper footage.

Intermediate Skills

These skills are a bit harder to learn, but are not nearly as difficult nor as complex as some other skills you can do with

Basic Combo:
Your basic combo for is landing a and then when the enemy champion is above it, cast to deal large amounts of damage.

Minion Tower Push:
When pushing a tower, you can spam spells to get you're voidlings out. Voidlings deal significant damage, and can really make tower pushing a lot simpler.

Tower Defense:
Sometimes silly champions come into the range of the tower. As soon as you sense them coming to tower dive, or come into the range of the tower, use . This should do significant damage and sometimes may result in a kill.

Malefic Visions Jump:
When a champion is nearby a minion with low health, throw on the minion, and hopefully you can get it to land on the enemy champion.

CoTV Slice:
If you move to the side of a minion wave, you can cast vertically hitting many minions in the process.

This section will be updated when I am able to acquire all the proper footage.

Advanced Skills

Here I'll describe some advanced skills for playing with . If you are completely new to , I advise you to just skip over this section.

Deadly DoT:
The deadly DoT is a combination of a level 5 and . When used in unison on a champion with about 10% health, the combination is almost always able to secure a kill.

Destruction:
Destruction as I like to call is when I cast and land every single one of my spells. I land then place , then land right below them, and then cast . If you're in range, you also land . This combination gives you the maximum amount of damage and almost always guarantees a kill.

Flash-Ulting:
This skill is really for when you're fed enough that your does such large amounts of damage. If you're trying to catch up to a champion with low health running away from you, you can use and then cast . If possible land before, and after.

Advanced Tower Defense:
Like regular Tower Defense, BUT, you cast more moves. You land and and then use . Usually using this combination on a champion being hit by the tower results in a kill.

Skilled Tower Diving:
You MUST be fed to use this skill against an enemy at full health. You can if you wish use this skill on a champion at very low health, but sometimes it can be a waste as you can easily use instead. To skillfully tower dive, you cast and on a squishy champion at around full health under the turret. You must be sure that there is nobody coming to gank you, as you are VERY vulnerable. Since is a tanky caster, he is able to take much damage from the tower without dying while also dishing out nice amounts of damage. This is by far one of the hardest skills to learn on .

This section will be updated when I am able to acquire all the proper footage.

Conclusion

Here are some recent battles with my Malzahar using my build:

Note: The battles I lose I still do well in, typically they're a loss due to my teams being bad. While I play well with him, I still have a lot of skills to fine tune, so by no means am I the best Malzahar in the world. Yet I have played him long enough to know some skills and tips.

Thank you for reading my guide. I hope it helped your development toward becoming a professional Malzahar! Please feel free give me any positive feedback, correct any errors, or whatever you think could possibly improve this guide. I'm open to all your opinions.

Updates

m/dd/yyyy - Update Info
4/22/2012 - Updated the Laning Chapter
1/28/2012 - Updated the Laning Chapter
1/22/2012 - Guide Published
1/18/2012 - Guide Begun

I will always update this when I notice any errors, inconsistencies, typos, expansions, etc.

[InDepth] Malzahar - Melting Champions under the Shurima Sun

[InDepth] Malzahar - Melting Champions under the Shurima Sun

Spells:

Ignite

Flash

Ability Order

Void Shift (PASSIVE)

Call of the Void (Q)

Void Swarm (W)

Malefic Visions (E)

Nether Grasp (R)