Welcome to the League of Legends champion guide featuring Malphite - The Shard of The Monolith. Malphite is a tanky top laner who is strong in 1 vs. 1 situations and team fights with his ultimate's knock up. His abilities scales off armor which makes him tanky and deal damage at the same time. If you are new to League Of Legends, pay a visit to Beginner's Guide for better understanding of the game. The goal of this guide is for it's readers to use Malphite to his full potential. I believe in Embracing's ideology - that there is an absolute best way to build (runes, masteries, items, spells, etc.) a champion, and that it should be followed for maximum winrate. And for all those players who think that the only way to carry is to deal a lot of damage: “Life's not about how hard of a hit you can give... it's about how many you can take, and still keep moving forward.” ― Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa

Pros

+ Huge amount of CC + Game deciding ultimate + Wrecks AD teams + Comebacks are more often + Unables enemy comebacks

Malphite, often underestimated because of damage dealing champions, will improve your decision making and map awarness, as you focus on when and where to Teleport, as well as warding. In teamfights you will learn the importance of how and when to engage, how to peel for your adc, and not to throw; you will be the one to call Baron and Dragon, all of which will improve your game and help you climb ranks.

Cons

- No sustain - Weak early game - Countered by AP - Bad ultimate throws the game - Ulti can be countered

The laning phase might be sometimes quite painful, because there are lots of champions that counter you. Malphite can be easily harassed early game, so much so that you won't be able to farm. Also, keep in mind that there are numerous ways to counter Unstoppable Force; some of them being, for example, Sivir's Spell Shield, Morgana's Black Shield and Banshee's Veil, all of which ignore your ultimate.

- The only spell that can be used for escaping, other than your Unstoppable Force. It also makes it easier to catch the opponents off guard, considering the Flash + Unstoppable Force combo.


- Apart from helping you get back to your lane, it can, with good team communication, provide unexpected ganks on bot in combination with Unstoppable Force. If done correctly, taking dragon and winning bot lane is possible.


- Increases your killing potential during laning phase. When it comes to Malphite, however, Teleport is far more useful spell.

U N K I L L A B L E

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D E M O N

// We want to use this page if we are gonna be tank. If you are going for AP Malphite, than offensive tree is preferable. The page recommended is standard tank page. Q: Yo man are you sure keeping offense tree empty is fine? // Taking 6-6-18 in masteries is another interesting idea. With Sorceryand Double Edged Sword you will have those 5% increased damage you would get from Merciless . It's quite bit better because Merciless is limited to 40% of enemy HP. The only downside of picking 6-6-18 is that you will lose Dangerous Game which can make a difference between life and death. Conclusion: 6-6-18 if you are trying to dump on your lane. 0-12-18 if your goal is to farm and wait for jungler to gank.

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CUNNING TREE Tier 1 // Savagery - This makes easier to last hit. Notice that it doesnt increase AoE ability damage against minions and monsters. Tier 2 // Secret Stash - Improved health potions can save your day, as early game is not where we will shine. It also helps survivng ignite pitch. Tier 3 // Merciless - Gives Malphite little bit more damage to targets after initiation, as he has no killing potential. Tier 4 // Dangerous Game - Restored health will save you so many times in close 1 v 1 situations when ignite almost kills you. It's also great in teamfights.

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RESOLVE TREE Tier 1 // Unyielding - Makes you really tanky as game goes on. Tier 2 // Though Skin - Damage reduction stacks up in the long run against AA champions like Vayne or Jax. Tier 3 // Runic Armor - Improves Granite Shield and scales with Perseverance. Tier 4 // Perseverance - Sustain gained from and enables you to stay longer in the lane. Tier 5 // Swiftness - It's important to not let enemies kite you. Tier 6 // Bond of Stone - Really important as you can survive longer in lane, and in teamfights you redirect part of damage dealt to your teammates to yourself.

Skilling Order

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Choosing what to max can make huge difference in lane. Here is when you want to max each ability:

Seismic Shard - Q is maxed mainly for lanes you can safely poke, but the poke falls off later in the game.
-You get more MS the higher target has MS.
-Use it on minions or monsters to get boost of speed if you are being chased or you are chasing out of reach champions.

Brutal Strikes-It scales with bonus Armor making total armor really big number
-Activate it do deal extra damage. Be careful as it costs a lot of mana making it not worth it in the early game. It doesn't reset your auto attack animation, so use it on every attack possible.

Ground Slam - Usually maxed as it's low mana cost ability used for waveclear.
-E is the biggest AS slow in the game, it often makes people completely miss multiple seconds of autos because they cancel them. Most of melee champions get destroyed by it.

Unstoppable Force - Put a point in this ability whenever you can. It is one of the best CCs in the game as it can knock entire teams airborne. You can also fake it, burning enemy flashes.

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Granite Shield: // After not taking damage for a few seconds Malphite regains the shield that lasts until it gets destroyed.

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Seismic Shard: // He sends out the rolling piece of earth that crashes with it's target dealing damage and stealing percentage of movement speed.

• // Using it on a minion or monster will grant you MS needed to cathch up/flee from enemy.
• // Don't spam it early game as it has high mana cost.
• // You can Q over wall if you have vision on your enemy (put down the ward) - it passes through the walls.

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Brutal Strikes: // Passively it gives him armor, and when activated makes his AA do AoE damage.

• // It scales off armor - more armor you have, more damage it deals.
• // Activating it procs Iceborn Gauntlet, slowing enemy down.
• // It displays a visual effect that indicates the effective area, so you can hit multiple targets after engaging with Unstoppable Force.

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Ground Slam: // He slams down the area around him damaging and slowing the Attack Speed of all enemies around him.

• // It has bigger AoE area than Unstoppable Force so when you hit your ulti, you are sure to hit it too.
• // It scales off armor - more armor you have, more damage it deals.
• // When used, Riot's logo will appear on the ground.

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Unstoppable Force: // He dashes to the targeted location and knocks up all enemies in the area.

• // With good timing Azir can repell it with his Emperor's Divide.
• // Using it over wall is always effective, as it usually can not be predicted.
• // Great synergizes with Miss Fortune, Ziggs, Lux, Yasuo etc.

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When doing combo as Malphite you want to initiate with Unstoppable Force, use Ground Slam to slow down their attack speed and Seismic Shard to slow down their carry. Finally, while waiting for cooldowns use Brutal Strikes to increase damage of your auto-attacks.

Armor

Health

Magic Resist

Really good item on Malphite because it fits in his playstyle. But dont rush it always because with it you will passively pushing lane which is not the best thing sometimes. What i like to do is to come to the wave and kill it really fast with maxed E and Sunfires and than go do camp or Rift Scutler while enemy turret destroys my wave.

Randuins and Frozen Heart has the same role. Its to make enemy adc worthless. It gives you HP and armor which are nice stats. But it also gives passive to reduce critical hits, and it slows enemies attacking speed when hitting you. Also its active slows everyone around you. This is must-have item.

It cures all mana issues that Malphite could have, also 20% CDR makes your q permanent slow and Unstoppable Force comes off the CD quicker. Also passive reduces attack speed with enemies which can ruin day to enemy ADC or to that fed Master Yi.

Very solid option because of armor it gives as well as the slowing field which scales off aremor synergizing with Malphites kit. Rushing this item is good as it also gives more dmg.

It gives you huge amount of armor and its really cheap and easy to build. Its passive is just too good to be true for any tank. Never rush this item as you need to have enough HP to make it works. So buy at least 2 HP items before it like Sunfires and Randuins.

After you take few defensive items you might need this to deal more damage with Unstoppable Force as it's base damage is not that well late game.

Its not only a tanky item with HP and armor, but it gives you extra movement speed to get clean ultimate off, it makes you hit harder , and slow combined with your q is really scary.

This is probably the only MR Item you will ever need. It gives nice stats together with awesome passive. It gives you magic shield which blocks one spell. Also , its active makes Twisted Fate, Rengar, and Nocturnes ultimates not detect you.

Really weak stats with active that makes engaging with Unstoppable Force easier. If you think your team really needs it, ask jungler or support to buy it, as it just takes away place where really useful item would come.

If you are dumpstering lane you can start with it. It gives you no resistances, but it makes up with its Health and AP. If you think you can afford trading tankiness for damage this is the real item for you.

Gives resistances and passive that can give you self confidence, and you will no longer fear of death. It will also make sure you survive through whole teamfight, and it will discourage enemy team even more when they know they can't kill you.

MEDIUM FIORA Focus on farming and wait for your jungler, as she is strong duelist. You shouldn't have problems surviving because when trading Ground Slam will make her cancel few auto-attacks. Here is one example of how SKT T1 Bengi tamed Fiora: Play Video

EASY JARVAN He deals only physical damage and is quite reliant on AA. Be aware that his Dragon Strike reduces % armor, which makes stacking armor less efficient against him. But you shouldn't have problems with him at all as he cant really stop you from farming. Buy few potions early game.

MEDIUM GNAR Be careful with his rage bar as he will engage you in Mega Gnar form. Trade with him when you got shield. You want him to come close to you so you can catch up to him with Q, use your E and few AA on him. Start with Doran's Shield. Here is one example: Play Video

EASY RIVEN Whenever your shield is up go to trade with her. You shouldn't have problems with her, but be careful because she has a lot off cc which combined with nice gank can be deadly. Example of how to play: Play Video

EASY AKALI Pre 6 she is really weak so you can zone you with your Q. Make sure she doesnt lvl up to 6 lvl before you as she gets huge powerspike with ultimate.

EASY MASTER YI Its rare to see Master Yi top because he doesnt benefit as much on long lane. He got no disengages so your jungler should be really happy with this matchup. Rush Frozen Heart as it will make his right clicking on you useless.

EASY IRELIA Trade when your shield is up, max your Ground Slam and go for Sunfire Aegis and Frozen Heart Example: Play Video

EASY JAX Max Ground Slam to slow down his attack speed and trade when your shield is up. Be aware of all in at 6 lvl as it's when he is the strongest. Example: Play Video

EASY OLAF You shouldn't underestimate his true damage with Reckless Swing. I recommend rushing 2 armor items like Sunfire Aegis and Frozen Heart Example: Play Video

EASY HECARIM This will be farming lane, as all he wants is to farm. You like that playstyle as you need farm too. Kill him if you ever get opportunity and be afare of ganks. Using your ultimate to run from gank is not bad option.

MEDIUM TRYNDAMERE You must not give this guy an early game. New meta is all about snowballing making this monster able to carry games. Play safe, max E and rush Frozen Heart. Defensive start like cloth armor and 5 health pots are recommended if you are not used to laning against him. If you fall behind he will spam his spin whenever its available zoning you really hard. Even in that situation dont panic, all Tryndamere players like to push, and ganking him is quite easy as you just have to bait his E.

EASY XIN ZHAO This is probably one of the easiest match as all you need to do is stack armor. You can choose what you want to max from Skill Sequence Chapter. Just dont let him take kills early game and you are fine. You can even rush Sunfires and Iceborn to try and dive him with your jungler as he got only ulti as disengaging ability afterwhich you can ult in.

EASY POPPY She is AA reliant but her Devastating Blow deals magic damage. Also she can be quite tanky so you cant outpoke her. Max E because of low mana cost and spam it. also its smart to shove lane as she doesnt have a way to cleanwave fast.

EASY WUKONG This is another really easy lane. Follow your orthodox build path and max E. Wukong top is rarely seen because of his weak stats making him vulnerable. Be aware of ganks, and ward well.

MEDIUM YASUO This matchup is more skill based. If you are playing against decent Yasuo hitting him with Seismic Shard will be impossible as he can block it with Wind Wall. Max E and you should be fine. If you ever get ahead it will be impossible for him to catch up as he got no disengaging abilities and your full combo will kill him.

MEDIUM AATROX He is AA reliant making you max E. He deals magic damage with Blades of Torment and he has insane sustain making trading with him impossible. Your goal should be to farm and whenever he engages you use E right away as he needs AS to deal dmg. If he is trying to deny your farm call your jungler as it will be easy gank.

MEDIUM EKKO He has no dmg early game so you can outtrade him. His passive gives him a lot of movement speed so using your Q on him kinda counters it. You should not have hard time against him.

EASY ZED Dont play passively in this matchup as he can poke you. Instead hit him with your Q than E than AA. You should max Q as he will use his w to run away from E

HARD Cho'Gath He deals magic damage. His E stops your passive and he got insane sustain as he gains mana and HP whenever he last hits. You should rush Mercurys Treads to be able to dodge his Q. Boots of Speed and 4 Potions is good start against him making you able to stay in lane longer. Only positive side in this matchup is that he cant run from you making ganks success rate really high.

HARD DARIUS His hemopharge stops your passive and he can zone you with q. Stacking armor is also not the best because his Noxian Guillotine deals true damage. Again the only good thing is that he has no way to run from ganks. But be careful to not get hit by outer part of his q when your jungler comes. When you see him spinning an axe go closer to him so he hits you with grip.

MEDIUM GANGPLANK He can stop your passive with Grog Soaked Blade combined with low CD Parrrley. Rush armor and max either Q or E. Just let him poke you while you farm. Also ganks are good against gp.

HARD Dr. Mundo You can never kill this guy. Try to farm and after 6 lvl look to roam to mid or teleport bot. In teamfights you are more useful. Max E and rush sunfires so you can shove minions wave really hard.

HARD HEIMERDINGER Prepare your mind as it will be really hard laning against this guy. His turrets will zone you so hard, and you must learn to last hit under turret to be effective. Call jungler and let him know that there is free kill on top before he makes Zhonyas. Alone you cant do anything. Start Corrupting Potion and max E.

HARD GAREN He has high sustain with Perseverance. Also Courage makes your abilities worthless. He will try to engage in fight, and your goal should be to farm and not fight with him. Your really only option to win this matchup is to have better jungler.

HARD JAYCE he will poke you really hard as he has range AA. Max Q and poke him at 6 lvl and go all in when you think you can kill him.

HARD KAYLE She deals magic damage and has range attacks. Max Q for poke and tell your jungler to gank as post 6 lvl u can all in.

MEDIUM KENNEN He is range and he deals magic damage. Thats the worst combination for Malphite. Keep calm and try to farm. Build some early MR items and all in after 6 lvl either after some poke or with gank.

MEDIUM NASUS You will have easy early game, but you cant stop him from farming as you dont deal enough dmg. Try to push lane under turret with maxed E and roam to other lanes. Your best chance is to make sure other lanes win.

HARD LEE SIN He is strong early game. He can safeguard your Q making it useless. He also gets lifesteal from it. His Tempest deals magic damage making your armor less worth. Rush HP in this match up and farm. I advice you for maxing E in this matchup.

HARD SHEN He deals magic damage and Vorpal Blade has short cooldown making it spammable. He cant get you out of lane as you can defend. Try to use ultimate on bot even before he uses ultimate. Max E for wave clear and rush Sunfires and Mercurys Treads.

HARD RUMBLE If you can go jungle because you cant beat this guy. He will get you out of lane with his Flamespitter which has only 6 seconds cooldown. He will bully you, and if you try to return he will just use Scrap Shield. This is lane which you cant not lose. Pray to God of LoL that your other lanes win.

HARD SHYVANA She deals a lot of magic damage and her E stops your passive. You still can farm in this matchup with some potions and hold your ground under turret. You will get used to playing against champions like this with experience.

HARD TEEMO The little devil thinks he is funny. Go full AP and show him who is a boss. Now lets be serious. You really need early gank from jungler. Teemo has no escaping abilities making him vulnerable to your CC and gank. He can poke you out of lane really easily. You cannot even farm under turret in this matchup.

HARD YORICK Nobody plays him anymore, but if you see him you should probably dodge game or laneswap or simply go jungle. Not even ganks helps as he can kill one of you for sure. His sustain is amazing and his ultimate makes 2 v 1 possible. And he can poke you with ghouls whole laning phase.

HARD CASSIOPEIA His poisons and twin fangs can force you out of lane so easily. Start Boots and 4 pots and max Q so your jungler has easier time ganking as she has no escapes. 1 vs 1 you cant win against good Cass, but with jungler like Rengar or Elise it will be really easy.

HARD DIANA She will farm and deny your farm with Q. I like Corrupting potion against her. Try to get experience and use time she isnt in lane to shove it. Also look for opportunity to teleport on bottom, or roam to mid.

HARD ELISE she will try to deny your farm, but you can hurt her too. Max your Seismic Shard, and feel free to all in at lvl 6. Taking ignite as summoners spell can be beneficial for increasing your kill potential in this match up. Start with Corrupting potion so you can heal most of her dmg back.

HARD FIZZ He has a lot of kill potential. Rush MR Items, start with Corrupting potion if you are not experienced with assassins, play safe and dont Ultimate on him before he uses trickster. If you are confident enough you can start Dorans shield and potion, as all his spells are single target.

HARD GALIO His plan is to harrass you with e and q and to force you b. Start with Corrupting potion so you can stay longer in a lane. Galio is the strongest against AP champions as he gets AP when building MR, so dont try AP Malphite against him. Just turtle in and farm.

MEDIUM GRAGAS If he is AD rush Sunfires and Ninja Tabi and farm well. If he is going AP start with Corrupting Potion and focus on last hitting. He will try to deny you a farm, so you should bait his spells before 3rd lvl so he is low on mana before he maxes out his spells. Once you survive early game you will be fine. But be careful as his ultimate counters yours.

HARD LISSANDRA Again caster who deals a magic damage with spammable abilities with low CD. It makes your life a living hell. She will deny your CS, so your only option will be to try to farm as much as you can early without dying, and when she starts to completely deny your cs, go with your jungler and do dragon, or roam mid and bot. Also the guy instead of Baron can make your life easier in the lane.

HARD KARMA you will not be able to catch up to her as she will use snare. She can poke you for free, as your Q will be met with a shield. Get Specters Cowl ASAP so you get that 150% increased health regen, she will deal less dmg because of MR and you will have a little bit more HP making you able to stay in lane for longer.

You should focus on farming and teleporting bot at lvl 6. Also you should not push your lane so your jungler can gank. It means not rushing sunfires cape sometimes.Also use your passive efficiently for trades as it saves you 10% of HP every 10 seconds. Together with potions laning phase should feel easy for you. After you destroy enemy turret with help of your jungler go roam or take enemy buff. Your ultimate is perfect for roaming.

You can Ground Slam before flash so you surprize your enemy.
Using Unstoppable Force when enemy is in tower range guarantees at least two more tower shots.
These 2 tricks are well explained in Pants are Dragon's video:





You are the best teamfighting champion in the game so you should seek teamfights and group at dragon. Also you can splitpush really fast with your e and sunfires cape.




You want to be that Rock which no one can destroy and you want enemy attention on you. Also ulting 3 or more people is really important. If your carries are ahead you could try to peel for them, or if they are behind just go kill enemy carries.

One example of this way of playing Malphite is Scraps's game analysis - he explained everything so much better than writings could ever do.

Top lane is the most vulnerable lane because of it's length and there is no support who would ward for you. Also it's far from the Dragon's Pit making ganking and roaming top risk of losing Dragon. Because of that Top Lane is often called an Island. All of that can easily lead to snowball of your opponent. That's why preventing enemy ganks, and denying their wards is so important on the top lane. Here is a quick guide on how to do it.



There are two main entrances to the top lane. If you are on bottom side then ward tribush, else ward entrance from river. If you are dominating in lane place a Vision Ward into river bush. That way you can always have vision on both entrances, and you will deny enemy vision of entrance from river.

If you for some reason didn't ward you must conclude where enemy jungler is. If an enemy tried to keep a distance between you and then suddenly goes in – it’s very likely that there is a jungler nearby.

Put the first ward from warding totem at 3:30 as this is time when junglers finish their camps and start looking for gank.







Map control is controlling the map so your allies can roam the map safely, and denying enemy from doing the same. Getting towers gives you more control of the map, but the key are wards. Wards are limited to 3 sight wards and 1 Vision Ward per person. It means that you must know where to put them to be effective.





This is map when you are playing as blue team. If you are playing as purple team just swap green and red ones.

Green => your team winning and pushing an enemy back into the base.
Yellow => even game when no one is being pushed.
Red => you are losing and/or are being pushed back into the base.

01/07/2016 - Added "Warding" Chapter
02/02/2016 - Added CheetSheet and update to Summary

This is my first guide so i know there are a lot of mistakes and i wish to improve, so please feel free to leave a feedback telling me what you think about guide, which errors i made, and which parts are good. If you have interesting ideas about guide make me know. By doing so you can help me improve myself, this guide and time spent together with Malphite. You also help players listening to this guide. I will reply to all questions and probably there is going to be Q & A section soon.
Special thanks to:

jhoijhoi for her guide on how to make build.
Seth346 and his review shop for evaluation of this guide and for telling what's in particular wrong and how to improve it.
MrMad2000 for constructive advices.
Zyad for idea about 6-6-18 masteries.


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