Hello, I'm PH45, and this is my Malzahar Guide. My real name is Patrik, but you can call me either way. I am a long time League of Legends player (started back in Season 1). I have played ranked since Season 2, but only been in higher elos for a couple years (Season 7 Diamond 5 and Season 8 Diamond 3). I'm a top lane main and a Jax main, but occasionally when I get my secondary role (most of the time mid lane) I often pick Malzahar. My OP.GG for anyone interested I also got multiple other accounts but right now I mainly play on my main. Check out my YouTube channel where I occasionally post League related videos!

Flash: Important and pretty standard summoner spell. Allows you to get out of tight spaces or potentially make a flashy flash + Nether Grasp play. In general you should always run this since without it you are really vulnerable since Malzahar lacks mobility.

Ignite: Can help you score that early kill on lane and potentially just get you snowballing. A bit risky if you fall behind but a good choice non-the-less. Will also make your opponents extremely annoyed since you already have a DoT with Malefic Visions, double DoT might surprise them.

Ghost: A bit more rarity nowadays, but in some cases Ghost can be good if you need high mobility, but most of the time I go for either Ignite or Teleport. Ghost allows you to kite a bit more and also overall just DPS around the fights a bit more safely.

Teleport: Teleport got nerfed a while back, but it's still a really good summoner spell. As Malzahar you aren't going to Teleport into the middle of the fights anyways so only thing you need to worry about is using it at the correct times. Early game just use it to get back to lane so you can scale quicker, but during mid game you can start to look for Teleport plays in other lanes since your ultimate Nether Grasp is a powerful ganking tool.

Pros + High damage, especially late game + Can avoid CC with passive + Malefic Visions can tilt your opponent + Very powerful ult (CC lock) + Easy to start playing + Can push waves pretty easily once you get a bit of AP + AoE damage and silence with Q Malzahar can be useful even when behind, just ult someone and you make them just as useless.

Cons - Pretty squishy, especially without passive - Spends a lot of mana - Ulting locks you into place as well - Your ult gets countered by Quicksilver Sash - Lacks mobility so can get caught easily

On Malzahar we go for Sorcery, as it offers us some help with Malzahar's mana issues and also gives some CDR and on a side-note we also get some damage boost.

Firstly the keystone of choice is Summon Aery. You can actually get it to hit multiple times on a target that has been hit by your Malefic Visions. This provides more damage and is a good keystone for Malzahar.

We grab Manaflow Band, simply to help with Malzahar's mana hungry abilities. Otherwise you'll be running out of mana pretty quickly during laning.

Next is Transcendence, gives you CDR which really helps with Malzahar's high cooldowns, later on if you overcap your CDR you also get more AP which is a nice addition.

I feel that Gathering Storm is your best bet. It allows you to be really strong late game due to it's scaling, and let's face it, Malzahar isn't too much of an early game champion. Other choice is Scorch, but overall it's quite weak and I really don't like using it anymore.

For the secondary tree we take Inspiration. It offers you more help with your mana issues and also some CDR once again as these are quite important on Malzahar.

Magical Footwear let's you sink 300 gold into other items instead of boots, although it can suck in some cases to not have boots early if you don't manage to get kills/assists early.

Last rune we take from Inspiration is Cosmic Insight. No explanation here needed as its CDR, super important on Malzahar, benefits your abilities, items, summoner spells which is really nice.

Doran's Ring Great starting item for any mage really, gives you some HP, AP, mana regen and also restores some mana for you when you kill an enemy unit.

CDR, CDR, CDR! Important boots for Malzahar. Gives you early CDR and also lowers the CD on your summoner spells, pretty neat.

Morellonomicon, Great item as it gives you some HP now, magic pen and 70 AP. It also applies Grievous wounds to targets you damage for 3 seconds so it's an extremely efficent buy vs opponents with a lot of healing.

Rabadon's deathcap, more AP! Great pickup once you have a couple AP items under your belt. It will increase your damage tremendously and helps you take down your opponents due to your high damage.

Luden's echo Great item as it gives you a lot of mana, some CDR and a nice amount of AP. Also the build path in general works well for Malzahar since Lost Chapter will help you with early laning mana hunger.

Zhonya's Hourglass, the golden touch Great choice as it gives you a chance to survive any assassins that come your way. Even if the opposing team doesn't have that big of an AD threat still a great pickup just because the active is so good especially in teamfights if you are getting focused down.

Void Staff, what magic resist? If the opponents are getting some magic resist this is a extremely good item to get, or even if they aren't getting any still a really good choice.

Liandry's Torment Gives you good amount of HP and AP. You mostly get this item for the passives though. Damaging an enemy champion generates one stack every second for the next 4 seconds which makes you deal 2% increased damage for each stack, up to a maximum of 10%. The other passive applies damage-over-time effect for 3 seconds that deals bonus magic damage equal to 1.5% of their max hp per second, increased to 2.5% if their movement is impaired.

Banshee's Veil Get this if you are facing a high AP enemy comp. Also good item for some burst matchups with its magic resist and the spell shield passive.

Rod of Ages If you get this early, you become surprisingly tanky in a small bit. Also gives good sustain thanks to it's passive that grants you HP when you spend mana and you gain mana back when you take damage.

Rylai's, the slowing machine Great item when you want some HP but damage and utility as well. The slow the passive grants on your abilities helps you close down some kills, although the slow only lasts for a second and is only 20% it still helps out a lot especially later on in teamfights if you manage to land your Call of the Void on multiple targets.

• Void Shift (Passive): When Malzahar hasn't recently taken damage or been crowd controlled, he gains massive damage reduction and crowd control immunity, lingering for a short period after taking damage.
  Damage from lane minions is unaffected.
  
• Call of the Void (Q): Malzahar summons two orbs at the target location perpendicular to where he is facing, after a short enemies between the orbs are damaged and silenced.
  
  
• Void Swarm (W): Passive: Malzahar gains a stack of Gathering Swarm when he casts another spell, up to a maximum of 2.
  Active: After a tiny delay Malzahar summons a Voidling at the target location plus an additional Voidling for each stack of Gathering Swarm consumed. Voidlings deal magic damage with their attacks.
  
  
• Malefic Visions (E): Malzahar infects the target enemy's mind, dealing them magic damage every half second over 4 seconds. Damaging a target with Call of the Void or Nether Grasp refreshes the duration of Malefic Visions. If the target dies during this time, Malefic Visions is passed to a nearby enemy, restoring Malzahar 2% of his maximum mana.
  
• Nether Grasp (R): Malzahar channels for 2.5 seconds, during which the target is knocked down and suppressed and dealt magic damage. A Null Zone is opened beneath the target that lasts 5 seconds, dealing magic damage every half-second to all enemies within.

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You want to take points on your ultimate Nether Grasp when possible, out of your basic abilities maxing Malefic Visions is the best since it's your key damage ability as it spreads and it's duration can be extended. After that you max Call of the Void as it is a great ability to hit multiple targets with. Lastly max Void Swarm.

Malzahar's early game isn't the worst, but it isn't the best either. Your main goal in the early levels is to attain enough gold to buy Lost Chapter since that helps your mana issues out really a lot and also grants you CDR which is super important on Malzahar. While laning you can clear out waves quite quickly by lowering the creeps HP a bit, then using your Malefic Visions on one and using your Void Swarm after that and resetting your Malefic Visions duration with Call of the Void. This combo uses a lot of mana though so that's why Lost Chapter is so important.

By pushing mid lane constantly, you will gain mid priority, which in return will grant you pressure mid lane and you can go help your jungler counter jungle, contest scuttle crabs, or just in general will let you reset for free or give you the ability to roam to another lane without losing too much CS/exp.

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During mid game, you are already quite powerful since you've gained some AP, CDR and also a bigger mana pool so you can already control the fights quite well with your AoE and DoT. During this time you need to focus on your positioning well since you create a lot of pressure for your team with your pushing power and damage, so if you die your team will lose valuable objectives/fights which in return can make you have a tough time in late game if your game goes on for long enough.

Once late game comes around, you should have your main items built, and you should be ready to go and destroy the enemy team. Sadly it isn't always that simple, but be ready anyways! Again, focus on your positioning since you are quite an easy target for your opponents due to the lack of mobility. If you can ult someone important from the enemy team, great! However if someone (like an assassin) tries to catch you and kill you, ult them instead so you can still dish out damage and silence the opponents after your team and you kill the assassin (or whoever attacks you in the first place). Sometimes it's the right call to ult the important enemy and die with that call, but most often you are better off staying alive for as long as possible to deal more damage.

Also keep in mind if there is a champion like Blitzcrank on the enemy team, you can cast your Void Swarm when he hooks to block the hook, or any other ability that you don't want to get hit by.