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wRAth, Rose, and Maw's Guide of Swag: How to Swag to the Max

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Your Total Malzahar Resource ~ Bow To The Void ~

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Malzahar Passive Ability

Malzahar ~ The Prophet of the Void

What's up everyone? wRAth here with a new guide for all of you. If, for some reason, you do not know already, this is for Malzahar. Why Malzahar?

He's boss. 'Nuff said.

If you want to learn all about Malzahar, including how to build him, how to use his ability combo properly, and more, look no further.

Be sure to leave any comments and constructive criticism below, and be sure to vote :)

ENJOY! =D

Team 1 vs Team 2 Malzahar Item Builds

Just to clarify, since the team names do not seem to show (unless something is just up on my side):

Team 1: With Soulstealer Item Build (Snowball Item)
Team 2: Without Soulstealer Item Build (uses Lich Bane instead)

If you choose to go the non-snowball item route, as some people prefer, you will get a lich bane instead; this means that you will have a little less AP compared to full Mejai stacks, but in return, you get a really strong physical attack, especially later game that could finish off someone you might not have otherwise gotten after an ability combo.

Please see the "Items" section below for more information about these two item builds, and why I get the items that I do for each build.

Abbreviations Throughout the Guide

Abbreviated Terms
CC = Crowd Control (Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc)
AP = Ability Power
AD = Attack Damage
MPen = Magic Penetration
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
OOM = Out of Mana
HP = Health/Health Points/Hit Points
DoT = Damage Over Time
AoE = Area of Effect

Pros and Cons

Pros
-Terrific farmer
-Ranged
-Deals extreme amounts of damage with his abilities, on low cooldowns
-Stun
-Great in teamfights for AoE % of max HP Null Zone and AoE silence
-Great anti-tank for the % of max HP damage with his Null Zone
-Can restore his own mana using Malefic Visions
-Amazing mid and ganker for the above reasons
-Has a pet (Voidling) that actually deals nice damage and is easy to obtain
-Boss.

Cons
-SQUISHY
-Best at focusing one enemy to kill, although has the aforementioned AoEs that are great in teamfights

Farming

Malzahar is one of the BEST farmers in the game. Not only does Malefic Visions deal a lot of damage and have a low cooldown, but if the enemy it is on dies, it passes to the nearest enemy if one is in range, and applies the DoT as if it were a new Malefic Visions being casted. If this is not enough, it also refunds a nice amount of mana every kill it gets. What does this mean?

It means, even at level 1, you can pop a Malefic Visions on a wave of minions, auto attack them a few times, and you get the last hit. And then it pops onto the next minion. And so on.

If you get a few of these on a wave of minions, they will die almost instantly, with you reaping in the gold from all of the last hits. In combination with your Voidling, which is attracted to Malefic Visions, and as such will hit whichever minion has a Malefic Visions on him, you will dominate the scoreboard in Creep Score.

If you need a little extra oomph for your Malefic Visions to successfully bounce around, especially early game when you don't have much damage from your Malefic Visions due to low AP, pop a Null Zone under the wave. This way, not only are they getting damage from your minions, your Malefic Visions, and possibly your auto attack and Voidling, but also now the Null Zone, which drops a % of their max HP. And don't worry, if you successfully take out the minions (which you will), you will be refunded most (if not all and more, depending on how many minions were in the group) of the mana it cost to cast these spells.

This is also helpful if you want to push a lane, just Null Zone, Malefic Visions, and you are at their tower before you know it.

All this gold you will be farming, from early to late game, will help you buy your items quickly, and have an edge over your enemies. Which is nice, right?

And this, my friends, is why I like to call Malzahar the "Young Money" of League of Legends. :]

Your Voidling and You

Yes, I decided to dedicate a whole section to this little bugger. Why? There is so much to say about your Voidling :)

Your Voidling spawns after 4 ability casts, and lasts for 21 seconds unless killed. It is attracted to Malefic Visions, meaning if there is an enemy with Malefic Visions on it near the Voidling, it will attack it.

As mentioned in the previous section, "Farming", your Voidling is a terrific help in farming. When you cast a few Malefic Visions and possibly Null Zones on a wave of minions, he will magically appear and attack whichever minion has a Malefic Visions on it, ensuring that it will die, refund some mana to you, and pass on to the next unlucky victim. The Voidling just lets you wipe out minions waves that much faster :]

As well, Voidlings help when ganking and attacking in teamfights. Remember, it spawns after 4 ability casts. And remember, you have 4 abilities. This means, no matter what, if you just spawned a Voilding and need all 4 more casts to get your new one, or you only need 1 more, you will get it if you perform a skill combo (see the sections titled "Skills, Skill Sequence, and Skill Combo" and "Skill Combo/Ultimate Usage Videos" for more information on your skill combo). And don't underestimate these guys, they actually deal a nice amount of damage: 20 + 5 x level damage per hit, and Voidlings Grow after 7 seconds (+50% Damage/Armor), and Frenzy after 14 seconds (+100% Attack Speed), to be exact. This results in your enemies crying.

Don't believe me? Watch the videos, and note how a Voidling spawns in EVERY ONE in which I perform a full skill combo (first 3 videos).

I must say, Malz's Voidling is one of my favorite passives in the game =] It actually finished off kills for me before that I would've not otherwise gotten! =D

Team Work/Your Purpose On Your Team

You are a VITAL part of your team in and out of teamfights. Why?

In Teamfights

You have a silence. This can be used to save teammates who are getting wrecked by someone, to silence someone such as Twitch or Kat who would be able to easily escape from your team, etc.

You have an AoE % of max HP drain. Just pop your Null Zone under the enemies to give your team the upper hand. If you are in the midst of a big teamfight, popping a Null Zone can drop your enemies, who most likely will be focusing on the fight too much to instantly notice the Null Zone. Even if they are on it for a second or two, especially late game, this can DROP their health. Null Zone is also a great anti-tank, since it deals damage based on the enemy's max HP. You can lower a tank before and during a teamfight, so that they can drop quickly and you can do away with the rest of their team.

You have a stun/suppress. If someone is chasing a teammate, you can stun. If someone is running away, stun. If you want to all focus someone and make sure they don't run away, stun. Having a total stun and disable on your team is soooo helpful for teamfights. 'Nuff said.

Out of Teamfights

You are amazing 1v1. Similar to as mentioned before, you have an ability that drops % of the enemy's max HP, a silence, and a stun, and Malefic Visions as a high-damage DoT. As you will see in some of the videos below, against a single target, especially late game with more AP, you can DROP (and I mean DROP) the life bar of ANYONE.

Same goes with ganking, you can easily gank by silencing and stunning.

Laning/Ganking

I go mid with Malzahar. Why?

-He deals a ton of damage.

-Great ganker as mentioned earlier and will mention in this section as well.

-Great farmer.

-Can push if being pushed/need be.

-Great harasser.

Harassing is easy mode for Malz. How do you harass with Malz, you ask? Your Q is a silence and long range. Just pop it when they get close enough to force them to run back (due to the silence) and get some damage dealt to them as well. Null Zone is also a great tool for harrasing: if there is an area where you don't want your enemies to stand, for instance, in front of a tower...just pop a Null Zone under them and they will be forced to either stay and lose a large chunk of their health and possibly die, or move back. Also, your Malefic Visions have a relatively short cooldown, even early game, and don't cost that much mana, so you can pop a few of those on your enemies for some nice DoT. When your Voidling spawns, that will deal a nice amount of damage to them as well, if they get close.

Please see the section "Farming" to learn how to farm with Malzahar, one of the best farmers in the game.

Of course, when your get your ulti is when the harassing phase turns into the killing phase. Please see the sections titled "Skills, Skill Sequence, and Skill Combo" and "Skill Combo/Ultimate Usage Videos" to learn and see in action how to kill using your combo with your ultimate.

All of this is what you are looking for in a mid, right? Amazing farming, damage output, and harassing abilities. You also gain a level advantage against most of the other enemies, so when you gank and attack people, it will hurt them a lot more than they can hurt you. However, if you chose to side lane, he works there too, and you can harass and make enemies cry there just as well. But, then you won't have the level advantage as well as the easy opportunity to gank when needed.

This ties in with ganking. You deal a lot of damage, and along with your level advantage, you will laugh at how quickly enemies die.

Malz is an amazing ganker, as mentioned previously, due to his silence and stun. Along with your teammates, you can gank enemies so easily it is not even funny.

How do you initiate a gank? When you get to your enemies, you generally want to wait for them to push a little. Then, when you think the time is right (up to the discretion of you and your teammates, you WILL know when the time is right), UNLEASH YOUR SKILL COMBO! Please, once again, see the sections titled "Skills, Skill Sequence, and Skill Combo" and "Skill Combo/Ultimate Usage Videos" to learn how to use your skill combo.

Runes

Greater Seal of Vitality

Greater Mark of Insight: All of Malz's abilities are dealt as magic damage, and as such you want magic penetration.

Scaling vs. Flat

Greater Seal of VitalityGreater Seal of Vitality: With these, it is quite an easy choice. Besides these being half the price of the flat Seals of Fortitude, they give around 4 times as much health at level 18. Scaling Seals of Vitality also have a larger amount of total HP per rune turnover once you hit level 5, which, since I mid, I hit quickly, and even side-laning you hit quickly. Flat HP seals are only really helpful for jungling, since they only grant more HP really early game, and we are not jungling with Malz in this guide :)

You want health seals to make him a little less squishy. In total, 9 of these seals give around 180 extra health at 18, which helps a lot considering you don't have to spend any gold in-game to get the extra HP.

Greater Glyphs of Celerity or Focus: This is a little different than the Seals. Use scaling if mid, since the turnover on these is at level 13 which is hit pretty quickly if mid. I prefer to mid with Malz, so I usually take these, but if you choose to side lane, take flats, since you will not hit level 13 nearly as quickly.

You want cooldown reduction glyphs on Malz since, in conjunction with Ionian Boots of Lucidity if using the non-soulstealer method, or, if you are using the soulstealer build, get all 20 Mejai Stacks, they allow you to constantly cast your spells, including your silence, % max HP drain, Malefic Visions which can help restore mana if you are in need of some, and your ulti almost instantly after you just did -- this helps a load for laning, ganking, and teamfights. The CDR also lets you farm with your Malefic Visions more often. You will also almost be guaranteed to always have your ulti up if you get caught in a situation where a stun and suppress would save you or a teammate, a stun is needed for a gank, in teamfights, to pick people off, etc.

Greater Quintessence of Fortitude: Yes, they were nerfed, but still prove very useful in my opinion. The extra HP helps even more with Malz's base squishiness. 3 of these quints give you an additional approximate 100 HP right off the bat, which helps beginning game to keep you in lane longer before needing to recall, and the extra early game HP makes you look scarier too =D.

Masteries

Why 9-0-21 you ask? Well, let's take a journey to words below these...

Offense Masteries

You want the extra AP from Archmage's Savvy, and a way to get to the following masteries, so put a point in Deadliness (unless you are taking exhaust or smite (jungle Malz ftw?), then upgrade those with this point). Then, you want to take the reduced CDR and the extra magic pen.

Utility Masteries

Well, so I don't bore you to death, I won't go through the reason for taking every point here. But basically, the masteries I set above increase your HP and mana regen, reduce time spent dead, increase your XP gain (Great if you are mid, so you can level up even faster and have that much more of an advantage against your enemies. Espcially if you are against someone in mid who does NOT have this mastery, they you will level up slightly quicker than them as well.), increase your max mana, increase your base movement speed, reduce the cooldown of Flash (do not learn this mastery if you are not taking flash), decrease the cooldowns of your abilities, and decrease the cooldowns of your summoner spells. The standard setup for a mage, such as Malzahar, that provides many benefits for him. The cooldown helps a lot when used in conjunction with CDR items as well, as mentioned throughout the guide.

Skills, Skill Sequence, and Skill Combo

Summon Voidling: This passive is crazy good. Please read the section titled "Your Voidling and You" to learn all about this little guy. But basically, it spawns after 4 spell casts, and deals nice damage. It also is attracted to Malefic Visions. Please read the section previously mentioned to learn more about the Voidling.

Call of the Void: This is your long range silence. The only thing that the thumbnail of Call of the Void does not mention when you hover over it is that the base cooldown is 9 seconds on all levels. However, with all the CDR you will get, you will be able to silence constnatly.

As mentioned in the section "Team Work/Your Purpose On Your Team", your silence is great for teamfights, as it is an AoE, meaning it can silence a whole group of enemies at once if you aim it correctly. This can be battle-changing, as it can prevent enemies from casting abilities that might otherwise change the whole flow of the battle against your team.

The silence is also great if you are escaping, as you can silence the enemies from behind you and deal damage while you are running away (also known as kiting) so they cannot cast on you. And, with the CDR this build gets, by the time the silence is up at max level, this ability will almost be up again. This can also be used to protect allies who are getting attacked.

Likewise, you can use this ability for chasing certain champions. For instance, enemies that have an easy escape ability, such as 's or 's , can be stopped from escaping by your silence, allowing you to go in and kill them.

For all of these reasons of the silence's benefit, I learn this ability first, in case I need to silence an enemy if they are giving me trouble or I am getting level 1 ganked. However, I only learn this ability for the silence, and I max it last, since your Malefic Visions deal more damage with the same additional AP (+0.8 of total AP) bonus, has a lower cooldown, and attracts Voidlings; and your Null Zone depletes a large portion of the enemy's max health if they stay on it, and is vital to use with your ultimate.

Null Zone: This is an amazing AoE % of max HP damage dealing ability. It lasts for 5 seconds, and deals a portion of the victim's maximum HP per second that they are standing on it. This can theoretically damage a whole team, if they don't notice it right when you put it under them, and/or if they are idiotic enough to all stand on the circle ^_^. This ability is what also makes you a great anti-tank, since it is not base damage but % of the enemy's max HP damage.

This ability has a 16 second base cooldown on all levels.

For instance, if you use it on a Veigar with 2000 health when the ability is at level 5 with no additional AP bonus damage, and the Veigar stood on the Zone for all 5 seconds, it would deal 9% of his max HP per second for 5 seconds = 45% of his max HP = 900 damage.

Likewise, against, say, a Shen with 4000 health, when the ability is at level 5 with no additional AP bonus damage, and the Shen stood on the Zone for all 5 seconds, it would deal 9% of his max HP per second for 5 seconds = 45% of his max HP = 1800 damage.

THIS is what makes Malz such an amazing anti-tank.

This of course does not account for magic resistance, however, you will have a good amount of magic penetration if you follow one of the builds in this guide.

When using your ultimate, you want to try to stun them while they are on top of the Null Zone, as most of the damage will actually be coming from this late game against beefier enemies.

For these reasons, I learn this ability early, and max it out 2nd, after my Malefic Visions, but before my Call of the Void.

Malefic Visions: Please see the section titled "Farming" for more information on this ability. This is your core damage dealer when you aren't using your ultimate, your harasser, and your farmer. In the section "Laning/Ganking", I talk about how to harass with this ability; in the section "Farming", I discuss how this ability works for farming. Please read those sections if you haven't already. Malefic Visions also attract Voidlings to them, so if your Voidling is up and an enemy has a Malefic Vision on it, it will attack that enemy. Malefic Visions also bounce to the nearest in-range enemy once the one it was on died (within the 4 seconds it stays on them). Each bounce refunds you some mana, which makes Malzahar a terrific farmer.

The cooldown on this ability is 15 / 13 / 11 / 9 / 7 seconds.

I learn this skill second but max it out first due to it being the lowest cooldown ability and most damaging other than your ultimate that has a set amount of damage (unlike Null Zone, which depends on the enemy it is being placed on). It is also your farming tool and main harasser.

Nether Grasp: Wow, is this ultimate awesome. It has a 120/100/80 second base cooldown. It stuns AND suppresses your target for a flippin 2.5 seconds, as well as deals 250 / 400 / 550 (+1.5 per Ability Power) damage. Late game I get it to hit around 1500 damage, and, with the CDR in these builds, you will get the cooldown to 48 seconds at level 3. This is main reason for the cooldown reduction glyphs, cooldown boots if you are not taking a Soulstealer, or if you are, the Mejai's Soulstealer if you get 20 stacks. Also, the Deathfire Grasp has an added benefit of CDR. See the "Items" section for more info on all of this.

You want your ultimate as often as possible so that you can constantly perform your full skill combo to obliterate your enemies. This is what makes you awesome at picking people off, both in and out of teamfights.

Please see the section titled "Skill Combo/Ultimate Usage Videos" for videos on how to use your ultimate with your skill combo.

Learn this ability when you can.

Skill Combo

This is how you should approach your attacks with Malzahar, assuming that your keybind is QWER for your abilities in that order:

1 (if you bought Meki Pendant as your starter item, Deathfire Grasp will fill this slot; use Deathfire first for the most damage possibly dealt, since it is % of their current HP) --> Q (for the silence) --> E (for the damage and your Voidling will be attracted to it when it spawns) --> W (where you will stun them on) --> R (stun to deal the damage from your stun and Null Zone) --> ignite if need be --> Q again if almost dead, and so on. Also, use flash to flash in to initiate your combo if need be and you have flash with you in battle. Ignite has 100 range less than Nether Grasp. Meaning, if you cast ignite while channeling your ulti at the farthest range you can cast it, it will break your ulti. However, feel free to cast ignite while channeling your ulti if you know you are within 600 range, if you are close enough to them that you know you won't break the channel. If you aren't sure, wait until the channeling is up to cast ignite if you need to.

Similarly, since Malz's ulti is channeled, that means any ability other than summoner spells such as ignite that are casted on an enemy will break the channel. In other words, normal spells will break the channel -- meaning, don't cast anything other than ignite if you are within 600 range while you are channeling your ultimate, OR IT WILL BREAK.

Please see the videos below to watch this skill combo in action.

Skill Combo/Ultimate Usage Videos

NOTE: The videos in which Nasus was the victim all had me using ignite. You may notice that if I didn't use ignite on him, he might not have died. Both videos with Nasus were taken EARLY GAME. This is a reason why ignite is very helpful for Malzahar, more so early game -- against tanky champions such as Nasus, your combo might just not be enough. However, mid through late game, if you follow the build(s) presented in this guide, you will have enough AP that you could down ANYONE, including a Nasus :).

How to Use Malzahar's Ultimate, with Deathfire Grasp, Full Combo and Ignite

How to Use Malzahar's Ultimate, with Flash, Full Combo, and Ignite, But No Deathfire Grasp

How to Use Malzahar's Ultimate, Earler Game with Full Combo, but No Deathfire Grasp, Flash, or Ignite Needed

Other Situations Where and How You Should Use His Ultimate

Summoner Spells

RECOMMENDED:

Great for finishing off enemies. Especially early game this is helpful, to tie in with your skill combo to finish people you might not have otherwise gotten, such as the early game Nasus in the videos. You combo might just not be enough against tanky enemies early game. However, mid through late game, if you follow the build(s) presented in this guide, you will have enough AP that you could down anyone, tanky or not. However, ignite might get you those few kills early game that you wouldn't have otherwise gotten, which gets you more gold to get your items sooner, too.

Why flash, you ask?

If you have watched the video in which I used flash...well...that wasn't really necessary...I just wanted to show how you CAN use flash for Malz. How you should actually use flash, however, can be broken up into a few different ways:

-Escape. The classic "flash-out-of-a-sticky-sitation" usage of Flash. It has saved endless lives on the League of Legends battlefield.

-Chase. Kind of like in the video, except someone is ACTUALLY running from you. Flash in, and quickly spam your combo and get them stunned. Flash can help you just get in range to land that combo and stun, and get you that kill you have always wished for.

You can also pull off a classic Fiddlesticks ulti kinda thing. Hide in a bush or somewhere in the enemy's fog of war, and if nothing is in range of your shunpo, flash in, shunpo if need be, and just like in the turret hugging example, spin to win.

So yea, flash helps. A lot.

PLAUSIBLE:

Exhaust is another nice summoner spell for Malz. Usually I take Ignite and Flash, and I still recommend taking those two, but I have tried this before and it isn't too shabby for Malz. If someone is faster than you/ghosting away when you want to perform your skill combo, and they are too fast to stay on your Null Zone long enough for you to land your ulti on them while they are on the zone, just exhaust them, and then go on wit yo bad self.

If there were a third summoner spell spot, this should be your choice. :)

Getting CCed after pwning someone's face? Cleanse and escape/flash (if you can) out of there.

This might be good if you aren't taking flash, so you can get in range of someone to use your skill combo, but if you have flash, don't take this too -- you can just flash to someone who would otherwise be out of range.

DON'T TAKE:

Why? Just pop a Malefic Visions on a wave of minions to regen mana. Fast. Both builds also have items with mana regen, as well as your masteries.

Unless you are upgrading it with the mastery located ALL the way at the bottom of the Offense mastery tree, which would give you a mastery setup not nearly as helpful for Malz as 9-0-21, JUST for the extra AP, I would not recommend taking this spell. Without the upgrade, it increases attack damage. Which...you don't really need. Unless you are building AD/DPS Malz...which would be a whole different guide, my friend.

Items

Here is where I will tell you when to get what items, explain why I use the items that I use, and the effects of them on Malzahar.

NOTE: ANY ITEMS IN THIS SECTION THAT ARE IN GREEN REFER TO THE "WITH SOULSTEALER (SNOWBALL)" ITEM BUILD SOLELY. ANY ITEMS IN THIS SECTION THAT ARE IN BLUE REFER TO THE "WITHOUT SOULSTEALER" ITEM BUILD SOLELY. IF YOU ARE NOT USING THAT CERTAIN ITEM BUILD, PLEASE IGNORE THOSE/THAT ITEM(S) IN YOUR PURCHASING ORDER.

Early Game

Meki Pendant: This is a great starter item for Malz. Not only does it regen your mana quicker to allow you to cast more early game (to farm, harass, kill, gank, etc.) but it is also cheap enough that you can get 2 HP pots along with it, allowing you to heal if you happen to take some damage. This mana regen and double health pot route lets you stay mid, or whichever lane you happen to be in, longer, and ultimately get XP quicker and gank sooner. This item also builds into your Deathfire Grasp, that you will be getting later if you follow one of these builds.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity: As stated many times previously throughout the guide, cooldown is vital for Malz. These boots, along with the CDR glyphs and deathfire grasp, provide you with about 40% CDR, allowing you to do whatever you want whenever you want. This includes spamming your skill combo with your ultimate, and the benefit of this is explained above in the "Skills, Skill Sequence, and Skill Combo" section.

Sorcerer's Shoes: These boots are only if you are using the soulstealer method, in which case you have enough cooldown reduction already, if you get 20 stacks, that is. If you do not think you are able to get 20 stacks in a certain match, feel free to swap these Sorc Shoes for the Ionian boots. However, if you feel confident in getting the 20 stacks, which would provide CDR equal to that of the Ionian boots (15%), then take these shoes. They give you extra mpen, allowing you to deal more overall damage to enemies, including tanks.

Mejai's Soulstealer: If you chose to go the riskier route, then you will be getting a Mejai's Soulstealer. Nothing else at this price (let alone most other items) can provide this much AP. Plus, with the deathcap, not even including the bonus % AP masteries, the total 180 AP from this item with full stacks turns into 234 total AP. And getting stacks, especially with Malz, isn't as hard as it may seem. Your abilities are so devastating early through late game that you are guaranteed to get a lot of kills and assists. And if you loose some, just get them back! Once you get full stacks, you get 15% CDR, which, with your Deathfire Grasp and CDR glyphs, will allow you to do whatever you want, whenever you want. This includes spamming your skill combo with your ultimate, and the benefit of this is explained above in the "Skills, Skill Sequence, and Skill Combo" section.

Deathfire Grasp: This item is terrific for Malz. Not only does it give AP and mana regen, which all help, but it also gives CDR, which, mentioned throughout the guide, is very helpful for Malzahar. The active is great too. It mskes taking down enemies, even tanky ones, much easier. It deals a % of their current HP, so you want to use it when the enemy has the most HP possible you can find them at. Then, unleash your combo. Late game, your Deathfire Grasp will do around 30% of an enemy's current HP in damage, and your Null Zone will do around 75%. Meaning, late game, if you have enough AP, and you get ANYONE, even a tank, at full HP, Deathfire Grasp them, and the perform your combo and keep them on the Null Zone, they will die. Even a lot of magic resist cannot go against this deadly combo. Please see the video using Deathfire Grasp in the section titled "Skill Combo/Ultimate Usage Videos" to see how to execute this combo.

Mid Game

Rabadon's Deathcap: This item is just amazing. It adds 155 AP plus 30% of your total AP. So, by the end of the Soulstealer, this item grants a total of around 300 AP, if you have full Mejai stacks (if following the Soulstealer build), not including masteries. The amount of bonus AP granted by this item is slightly less if not using a soulstealer.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This item is great. It gives you a great amount of AP and HP, both needed for Malz, as well as its passive. Whenever you cast a spell on someone, it slows them by 35% for 1.5 seconds (or 15% for a multi-target spell such as Malz's silence and Null Zone). What does this mean? It means that if you put a Null Zone under a group of enemy champs, they will all slow down (not much, but it's something). This slow helps you to escape or chase enemies, as well as help with your ulti. How? If you are chasing someone, pop your Null Zone first, and they will stay on it longer from the slow so that you can pop your ulti on them without needing to flash to them (if you aren't taking flash, on cooldown, etc). Your Q is also a nice AoE slow. As for escaping, you can pop a Null Zone, Call of the Void, or Malefic Visions on a pursuer/group of pursuers to slow them for a bit, which can be just enough time to get out of the situation, using flash if need be.

Late Game

Lich Bane: This item is great. It adds more AP, max mana, mres, and movespeed, all helpful things to have. Here is where this supplements for the Mejai's Soulstealer. If you are not using the soulstealer, you will be getting a significantly lesser amount of AP. However, to counter for that, for those of you who do not like snowball items, the lich bane makes your next physical attack after casting an ability deal 100% of your AP in damage. Since you are Malzahar, you will naturally be casting a lot. As such, your abilities will not be dealing as much damage due to the less AP, however you make up for that lost damage with a simple auto attack after you use your Skill Combo. Use some more abilities, pop some more auto attacks on the enemies, and you will forget all about wanting more AP. Keep in mind, Malz's standard attacks have some nice range to them, so it isn't too hard landing a few standard attacks on the enemy after performing a skill combo on them.

Archangel's Staff: This item is a terrific finish-off item. It gives you more max mana, more mana regen, and MORE mana based on the tons of mana that you already have from previous items. Plus, casting (which you do often) will increase your max mana as well, directly resulting in an increase in your AP too. In conjunction with Rabadon's Deathcap, this item gives a ton of more AP for you. If used with the lich bane, the mana from that will increase the AP you get from the Archangel's Staff as well.

Other Optional Situational Items

NOTE: THESE ITEMS CAN BE REPLACED BY ANY ITEM IN AN ABOVE BUILD THAT YOU CHOOSE. THINK WISELY, HOWEVER, OF WHAT ITEM(S) YOU CHOOSE TO REPLACE WITH THESE SITUATIONAL ITEMS. IF YOU DO NOT NEED THESE ITEMS TO IMPROVE YOUR GAME AGAINST YOUR ENEMIES, DON'T BUY THEM.

Quicksilver Sash: This item is good against enemies with a lot of CC (Kennen, Morgana, Lux, Vlad, etc) if you do not have cleanse with you. It is cheap and has a cleanse-like active. It removes ALL debuffs from your character. Yes, this includes things that cleanse won't remove, such as damaging debuffs like Vlad's ulti, Malz's ulti, EVERY single debuff to you. Just use the active and get out of there, flash if need be as well if you took it with you as a summoner spell. Keep in mind, if they CC/debuff you again right after you use the active, it won't have a reduced effect as it does with Cleanse. BE CAREFUL OF THAT. This item also gives a good amount of mres, which is nice against these types of enemies.

Mercury's Treads: This item is also great against a team of CCers, just keep in mind it would supplement your ionians, so you will have slightly longer cooldowns and lose the benefit of full CDR that I mention throughout the guide. It might be worth it to have slightly higher cooldowns, however, if it means that you can get CC reduction against a team full of CC that could mess you up otherwise.

Banshee's Veil: This item can be a lifesaver against certain enemies, such as enemies with CC like Morgana and Kennen, as well as enemies who have an "inevitable ultimate", ie Vlad's ultimate and Karthus's ulti. It blocks a negative spell every 45 seconds. 'Nuff said. Getting in a sticky situation, your Banshee's might just save you enough time to get the hell outta there. This item also grants Health and mres, both helpful against these types of enemies for Malz. It also gives some max mana, which doesn't hurt. :)

IF YOU GUYS HAVE ANY OTHER SITUATIONAL ITEM RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MALZ, PLEASE POST WHAT ITEM, FOR WHAT SITUATION, AND WHY, AND I WILL PUT IT UP HERE AND CREDIT YOU.

Ability Range Screenshots

Call of the Void

Range: 900

Null Zone

Range: 800

Malefic Visions

Range: 650

Nether Grasp

Range: 700

Scores

SOME OF MY SCORES WITH MALZAHAR USING THIS GUIDE (WILL TRY TO POST MORE SOON):

If you used my guide and got a good score (which you will), feel free to post the direct link of the screenshot of your score in the comments below. I will try to get it up here ASAP. Thanks! :)

Summary

I hope you took the time to read through my guide. Please vote and comment, and try out my build and all of the tips that I give in my guide. I hope it will give you new insight into Malzahar, and hopefully you will own with him as much as I do (or more :O). Any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I will get right back to you. Thanks, and have FUN!