I've been leveling Q>W recently and it seems to help me with harassing, as long as the other team isn't playing 5 tanks for 5 champs with 3k+ hp then I think leveling Q first is probably the better option. Changed this in the skill order.

Really good build and suggestions. I've always had good luck getting Null Zone first just to max your farming potential in a lane, and most of the time you can keep melee away from you with it, if you tower hug early you can burn through minions, get MV second, I usually don't touch CotV until last, simply because the NZ,MV, Neather Grasp combo is one of the top in the game imo, and to top it off you can use ignite while using your ult if your afraid they're not going to die, which is rarely the case early game. Overall though really good build. Malzahar is my favorite toon, and I've tried a bunch of builds, and so far this is definitely top 1 or 2

I like this guide and agree with almost everything. The one thing I disagree with is the skill sequence. Null zone to me needs to bought at lvl 3, and then not touched until all the other skills are maxed out. It doesn't upgrade substantially enough from upgrade to upgrade.