Even though you can theoretically tank all of Amumu's Crowd Control to save your team from it, he also has enough damage on his own to put you in danger if you let him operate freely, and his tankiness makes him a bad target to spend your cooldowns on. You should approach fights either by tanking his abilities so your team won't have to, or bypassing him and going straight for his backline, so that his engage won't be followed up by anyone.
Bel'Veth
Bel'Veth is highly mobile and can kite away from you, but it's easy to disrupt her whole gameplan with all the Crowd Control from your abilities. As she can easily dodge out of Unstoppable Force with Void Surge, you should always try to make your engages unpredictable by doing them from out of vision, or following unusual combo patterns.
Brand
Brand can make your life hell because of the synergy between Blaze and Rylai's Crystal Scepter, keeping you permanently Slowed during a fight if he manages to land a single ability on you. Thankfully, engaging on him with Unstoppable Force can prevent this issue altogether, and he will often be squishy enough to die to your combo, let alone if there's any follow up from your team.
Briar
Malphite is pretty much the last champion a Briar wants to go up against. She has little means to go through your Armor, is severely hindered by all of your Crowd Control and even a simple Bramble Vest will be enough to shut down her sustain, the most powerful part of her kit.
Diana
Diana can't do anything unless she fully commits into melee and will almost never have enough damage to deal with you, even more if you have built any Magic Resistance. Still, it will be hard to burst her down quickly enough and your teammates will be vulnerable to her engage if you ignore her in teamfights, so make sure to keep her in check during them.
Dr. Mundo
Dr. Mundo is a tough matchup for Malphite Jungle for the same reasons that it is in top lane: his high Health pool and massive sustain make it nearly impossible for you to ever kill him and, on top of Goes Where He Pleases, give him the ability to shrug off your Crowd Control like it's nothing. Never fight him on your own and prioritize him last after his teammates have been dealt with, as you don't ever want to spend your cooldowns on him.
Ekko
Ekko is extremely slippery, has very high damage at all points in the game and can also frustrate your attempts to lock him down with his Chronobreak. The correct way to play fights against him is to position yourself between where he is and your backline champions to turn yourself into a barrier he must get through if he wants to assassinate one of your squishies. Otherwise, as long as you build some Magic Resistance item, he shouldn't have the power to burst you down.
Elise
Elise is squishy, immobile and will never have enough damage to kill you on her own. Still, she can dodge and stall your engage with coccoon / rappelbut the good news is that even if you can't catch her, making her spend your cooldowns on you will leave her with nothing to do against your team during a fight.
Evelynn
Evelynn's stealth makes her unpredictable and hard to see coming, but any Magic Resistance item plus Mercury's Treads will make it near impossible for her to ever kill you with her combo. Still, good Evelynn players will always ignore you and go for your backline directly, and you should never hard force an engage on the enemy team while she's not on vision or, at the very least, has Last Caress on cooldown. She's a good target to prioritize first given her vulnerability to burst damage.
Fiddlesticks
Fiddlesticks is extremely immobile, snares himself while he's casting Bountiful Harvest and his only tool to keep you away is Terrify, meaning that you have free way to kill him every time you manage to catch him, even more so if you build Mercury's Treads. Still, be on the lookout for his Crowstorm during teamfights, as he is very likely to be setting it up outside of vision. If he manages to enter the fight having casted it, focus on his backline instead so they can't follow up on his engage.
Graves
Graves needs to be within close range of you to deal his damage, and is shut down by your Crowd Control and resistance to survive his burst. As long as you focus him first in fights, so that he can't become a problem for your squishier teammates, you will have the upper hand in this matchup at all times.
Gwen
Gwen will always have enough damage to deal with you single handedly and is also mobile enough to both engage or disengage from you with ease if her cooldowns are up. Trying to engage on her from vision with Unstoppable Force will always be more risk than it's worth because, while you will get to land your abilities, your teammates won't be able to follow up if she casts Hallowed Mist in time. The way to deal with her in fights is to let her engage first, debuff her with Seismic Shard and Ground Slam, then quite away until her immunity wears off.
Hecarim
Hecarim will always lose the 1 on 1 fight against you as long as he's not considerably ahead, which tends to be hard for him to achieve in the current meta. Look to fight him whenever you cross paths in the Jungle and stay on him during fights to keep him Slowed, and thus, severely crippled.
Ivern
Ivern is complicated to deal with as he's normally too hard to burst down if you engage with Unstoppable Force, and if you don't, he may suppress your mobility for an entire fight with all of his Crowd Control and slowly wear you off. Never engage in fights against him on a numbers disadvantage, and focus on his teammates to force him to decide whether to support them or focus on your own teammates; both favorable scenarios for you.
Jarvan IV
Jarvan IV can be very slippery and hard to lock down, but beyond that he has very little damage and is easy for you to kill in an extended fight, so you're never under threat in this matchup. If he focuses your backline, you are better off focusing his so that they can't follow up on his engages with Cataclysm.
Kayn
If the enemy Kayn goes Shadow Assassin then he won't do anything against you since he will both be squishy enough for you to kill, and won't have the damage to get back at you. If he goes Rhaast, he will be harder to burst down and likely to buy time for his team by stalling the fight after your engage, and his sustain means that he can slowly wear you down if you stay engaged for too long. As long as you don't ever fight him on your own, you won't be at any serious risk.
Kha'Zix
Kha'Zix only has one dash to worry about and his stealth from Void Assault is easy to play around as you can still damage him during it Ground Slam and Unstoppable Force. Make sure to not tunnel vision into attacking his backline if you know he's around and his cooldowns are ready, as he will most likely focus your squishy teammates while you're not there to protect them. If this happens, focus on him as he can very easily be killed during your ability rotation.
Kindred
Kindred is always hard to catch due to the low cooldown dashes from Dance of Arrows and her damage naturally scales with her target's Health, meaning that she can wear you down if you allow a fight to go on for too long. Think well before engaging on her with Unstoppable Force if she's at full Health because she can stall the fight for long with Lamb's Respite afterwards and, without your ultimate, you will have a hard time to position yourself correctly when engaged on her.
Lee Sin
Lee Sin follows a hit-and-run pattern during fights where he will try to go in, use his ability rotation then dash out with Safeguard / Iron Will to wait until they are back up. Thanks to the high amounts of Armor that you will have, he will lose any fights against you. You should always try to be the first to engage in teamfights, to deny him angles to kick one of your teammates into his team with Dragon's Rage out of nowhere.
Lillia
Lillia's Movement Speed earned from landing her abilities makes her extremely difficult to play around, as she can freely kite you during fights while also keeping you Slowed with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and slowly melt your Health away with Liandry's Torment and Dream-Laden Bough. Try to always be the first to engage in fights and to catch her out of position near your teammates, as your only chance of winning teamfights against her is if you manage to burst her down before her full rotation of abilities.
Maokai
Maokai is a stalemate matchup for the most part as neither of you can really wear down the other, but his Crowd Control is stronger in a teamfight where people are scattered all over, meaning that he outscales you. He becomes a sitting duck if he's solo engaging on a backline and doesn't have a considerable damage output, so the best thing to do is to focus on his weaker teammates and then dealing with him afterwards.
Master Yi
Master Yi is very complicated to deal with due to how easy it is for him to dodge your Crowd Control with Alpha Strike, his invulnerability to Slows and Attack Speed crippling during Highlander, and his extremely high damage output. It will be a skill matchup until he has hit 3 or more items, after which he will have simply outscaled you and can easily get out of control during teamfights. Hard focus him when he engages and stay with your backline until he has been dealt with.
Nidalee
Nidalee is very slippery and hard to stick to after engaging, and even though her damage isn't impressive, she can quickly wear you off if you let her land a few Javelin Toss / Takedown before a fight. Look for clear engage angles to burst her down before fights for objectives break off, as to not allow her any time to poke your team down and gain an advantage.
Nocturne
Nocturne, by default, has a hard time dealing with champions that stack Health and Armor, and is also very predictable as he relies heavily on Paranoia to pull off successful Ganks. Keep in mind that if he engages on you, you should burn his Shroud of Darkness spell shield before trying to knock him with Unstoppable Force if necessary, with any of your basic abilities or even Smite.
Nunu & Willump
Nunu & Willump is slow and easy to catch, but his sheer tankiness means it will be hard for you to get the kill unless your teammates are helping. Don't commit to a fight against him unless you have a numbers advantage, and try to save Unstoppable Force to interrupt his channeling of Absolute Zero, his most threatening source of damage.
Olaf
Olaf's true damage and immunity to Crowd Control thanks to Ragnarok mean that he will have the upper hand throughout the early and mid game. You will have to play conservatively until it's time for full teamfights, and might even have to forfeit your camps if he dares to invade your side of the Jungle. The good news is that his mobility is low and he's very reliant on his ultimate, so if it wears off you will have a long window of opportunity to punish him with ease.
Rammus
Rammus is a stalemate matchup where neither of you will really do much to the other, and it will come down to who can disrupt the enemy team's backline the best. He has less damage but more tankiness than you do, so it will be important for you to itemize optimally against his laners' damage to make sure he doesn't outlive you in fights and your team has time to deal with him. Only spend your cooldowns on him when his teammates are all out of the fight.
Rek'Sai
Rek'Sai has good amounts of damage, mobility and Crowd Control to keep up with you if you remain engaged on her for too long. Her itemization makes her hard to kill and it's hard to keep her locked down due to Void Rush, but if you can force her ultimate to disengage from you then her threat level will be reduced greatly, and your backline will be safer while it's on cooldown.
Rengar
Rengar has a few ways to bypass high amounts of Armor and doesn't really care much about the Attack Speed cripple from Ground Slam, especially if he's fighting you near Bushes. Whenever possible, fight him away from the Jungle and focus him even if he's hopping all over the place with Unseen Predator, as he can burst down most of your teammates in a blink if left unchecked.
Sejuani
Sejuani is another stalemate matchup where you won't be doing much to each other, but she's a lot less tanky than Rammus and her bonus resistances from Fury of the North can be shredded off easily by poking her with Seismic Shard before a teamfight breaks out.
Shaco
Shaco is easy for Malphite to deal with as his damage will be completely negligible regardless of him building Attack Damage or Ability Power, and the area of effect nature of your damage make it easy to kill both the real him and his clone in case he engages on you as both. Besides, you can easily chase him after he casts Deceive with Unstoppable Force, so never be afraid to fight and harass him away from your team.
Shyvana
Shyvana has dangerously high damage both in bursts and in extended fights, and can be a troublesome target to engage on due to the fact that Molten Burst largely ignores whether she's Crowd Controlled or not. She outscales you through farm but has worse Ganks and dies quicker in teamfights, so try to build a lead early by being proactive and especially while she's below the fury threshold to use Dragon's Descent after both of you have hit level 6.
Skarner
Skarner is another tank stalemate matchup, but has been nerfed so much that he's now one of the easiest tanks to deal with. The only scenario you need to be wary of is if he Impales you near enemies that have strong AoE or burst abilities, such as Miss Fortune's Bullet Time. For this reason, ignore him in fights until his backline has been dealt with, since he has little means to cause too much damage on his own if he's in the middle of a fight without any help.
Sylas
Sylas is problematic not only because he's an Ability Power with high damage, but mainly because Hijacking Unstoppable Force turns him into a better version of you for a small window of time. If this were to happen, you should focus Sylas first in fights to keep him occupied and make him have to decide whether to deal with you or use his resources on your squishier teammates. Ideally you want to be the first to engage every time, to negate him time to set up a fight with your stolen ultimate.
Talon
Talon follows a hit-and-run pattern that relies on oneshotting his target before retreating. Your large amount of Armor means that you're gonna be a low priority target for him and in this case, you should prioritize him as your first target in fights to make sure he can't threaten your backline. When he can't burst you down but also can't target your backline, he's effectively out of the game.
Trundle
Trundle thrives against tanks at all points in the game, but especially after he has unlocked Subjugate. Avoid fighting him on your own and look to countergank him, as he's less strong in skirmishes and teamfights. It is important that you keep stacking Armor as usual against him to make sure he doesn't kill you with ease while you're in the frontline. If possible, engage on his backline from a position where he's too far from you to Subjugate and then run into your team while you are away from them.
Udyr
Udyr is hard to both chase and flee from because of the strong Slow from Wingborne Storm, and both his attack damage and ability power builds are enough to beat you in most 1v1 situations due to his mixed damage outputs. Avoid duels in the early game and make sure to stack a good bit of Magic Resistance as well if you see him itemizing towards Ability Power.
Viego
Viego is easy to manage due to his low mobility, squishiness and inability to get through your high Armor. He should always be your first focus in fights to take him down as quickly as possible, before he gets to start streaking resets with Sovereign's Domination , which is where his strong snowball potential comes from.
Volibear
Volibear is a stronger stat-checker than you are for the most part of the game, both in duels and teamfights. For this matchup, you will have to move carefully and never overstep into the Jungle if your laners don't have prio and you don't have visual confirmation on Volibear, but in the mid and late game you should switch this up and be the one to start fights, unless the enemy team is clearly ahead, since his engages are stronger than yours. It's a good idea to stay on him in fights to debuff and prevent him from sustaining himself for too long with reactivations of Frenzied Maul.
Warwick
Warwick will force you into awkward decisions: either buy Thornmail to cut his healing and make fights playable, which means itemizing unoptimally, or itemize as usual and then rely on your teammates applying Grievous Wounds on him instead, or else his sustain will be too much for your damage to outdo. His Ganks are stronger early and his dueling is better, but gets outscaled very hard and underperforms in teamfights compared to you, so try to prevent him from getting fed in the early game by counterganking when needed.
Wukong
Wukong is extremely reliant on Cyclone to have any impact in fights, and once it's on cooldown, his threat level goes down drastically. Still, his damage is not to be ignored and you should play teamfights front to back, dealing with him first before moving on to his carries as to not leave your own carries vulnerable. He can shred a good chunk of your Armor with both Crushing Blow and Black Cleaver, so avoid extended fights against him and especially if his Attack Damage allies are following up on him.
Xin Zhao
The Xin Zhao matchup is straightforward as he will always have to commit to an engage to do his job, which normally means that the fights will be in your favor as he saves you the trouble of having to engage. The problem is that his damage and sustain can match you in a 1v1, and in teamfights he can shield himself from your backline with Crescent Guard, so you should try to never be caught out of position by remaining within proximity to your backline, or else you will find yourself isolated to him and his ranged teammates while he remains in relative safety.
Zac
Zac is the most troublesome tank to deal with. Like Amumu, he has a lot of Crowd Control and damage to make your life hell, but he's also very mobile and his threat range is greater thanks to Stretching Strikes and Elastic Slingshot, plus he can disengage very easily with Let's Bounce!. While his teamfighting is stronger, he's weaker in 1v1 compared to you and thus you should aggressively look for duels whenever you catch him isolated or out of position. You may not be able to kill him, but by making him waste his cooldowns and/or lowering his Health, you can dissuade him from engaging on your backline.
Ahri
The most synergetic champions with Malphite are those that have strong Crowd Control to either set up his engages or follow up on them for a long chain of it, high damage to kill Malphite's targets while they're vulnerable, and either mobility or long range to keep up with how far his engages may be triggered from.
Ambessa
These champions meet similar conditions to those from the highest tier, but have less strong options available and overall have more difficulty in keeping up with what Malphite needs from his team during his engages.
Annie
Aphelios
Ashe
Azir
These champions will rarely exploit your engages due to their lack of ranged burst damage or reliable Crowd Control to benefit from yours. Additionally, their abilities might displace the enemy champions, which might result in you missing some abilities by mere inches due to unlucky timing or minor miscalculations from your side.
Bard
Blitzcrank
These champions have displacements like those on the Low tier, but also provide little to no damage to at least complement your own Crowd Control with something, making them extremely redundant to your gameplan.
Caitlyn
Camille
Cho'Gath
Darius
Draven
Galio
Gnar
Gragas
Janna
Jax
Jinx
Kennen
Kled
LeBlanc
Lee Sin
Leona
Lissandra
Lux
Malzahar
Mel
Milio
Miss Fortune
Nami
Nautilus
Neeko
Nilah
Orianna
Poppy
Pyke
Qiyana
Quinn
Rakan
Rell
Renata Glasc
Renekton
Seraphine
Sett
Singed
Swain
Syndra
Taliyah
Thresh
Tristana
Twisted Fate
Varus
Veigar
Yasuo
Zac
Zaahen
Zoe
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Ahri
The most synergetic champions with [[Malphite]] are those that have strong [[Crowd Control]] to either set up his engages or follow up on them for a long chain of it, high damage to kill [[Malphite]]'s targets while they're vulnerable, and either mobility or long range to keep up with how far his engages may be triggered from.
Ambessa
These champions meet similar conditions to those from the highest tier, but have less strong options available and overall have more difficulty in keeping up with what [[Malphite]] needs from his team during his engages.
Annie
Aphelios
Ashe
Azir
These champions will rarely exploit your engages due to their lack of ranged burst damage or reliable [[Crowd Control]] to benefit from yours. Additionally, their abilities might displace the enemy champions, which might result in you missing some abilities by mere inches due to unlucky timing or minor miscalculations from your side.
Bard
Blitzcrank
These champions have displacements like those on the Low tier, but also provide little to no damage to at least complement your own [[Crowd Control]] with something, making them extremely redundant to your gameplan.
Hello everyone. I'm Hazardis, but also go as Sieghardt in other games/accounts. I've been playing League since season 7 and peaked at Master 300-something LP seasons ago, until unhappiness with the game led me to take a long break from it.
This time, I come with a guide for a champion that has broken into the Jungle role in the last year and has not spent a single day being weak at it ever since: Malphite. He is a very easy champion to learn, but no less of a champion capable of solo carrying games and, most importantly, being extremely fun to play. Belonging in the tank class means tha he will never be the wrong champion to pick, and can potentially be the best-in-scenario against teams that rely heavily on Attack Damage due to his nature; since this is the most likely case in the game, Malphite is a champion every Jungler should consider adding to their pool in modern day League.
Why Malphite? Pros & Cons
A massive creature of living stone, Malphite struggles to impose blessed order on a chaotic world. Birthed as a servitor-shard to an otherworldly obelisk known as the Monolith, he used his tremendous elemental strength to maintain and protect his progenitor, but ultimately failed. The only survivor of the destruction that followed, Malphite now endures Runeterra's soft folk and their fluid temperaments, while struggling to find a new role worthy of the last of his kind.
Malphite is a champion that needs little introduction. Universally known as the best tank against Attack Damage champions and one of the best overall, while being extremely easy to play and find success with, it is never wrong to have him in your champion pool and is very worthy of being mained, and even one-tricked. Malphite is all about keeping your enemies in check via tons of Crowd Control both from long range and close quarters, while also being capable of solo carrying thanks to the diversity of his builds, which allow him to dish out damage just as well as he can take it. This adaptability is also what keeps him relevant no matter the situation he's in.
PROS
+ Easy to learn + Strong early, mid and late + Easy and effective Ganks + Counters most meta champions + Can itemize as tank and damage dealer
If you ask people who is the easiest champion to play in this game, more than a few are likely to tell you that it's Malphite; and they wouldn't be wrong. His lack of skillshots, straightforward combos and ability to shrug off damage make it nearly impossible to struggle when playing as him. Even though Unstoppable Force is a big deal, it's not a make-or-break part of his kit and he's strong enough in fights before level 6, getting only stronger afterwards. His several tools to disrupt enemy Movement Speed and Attack Speed make him the nightmare of pretty much every Attack Damage champion in the game, and if you are too merciful to do this to your rivals then you can build Ability Power items, and hit them with the best form of Crowd Control instead: death.
P
Q
W
E
R
CONS
- Weak dueling - Subpar damage - Low effective range - Suffers in extended fights - Vulnerable to true damage
As durable as Malphite can be, many champions will be able to wear him down if a fight extends for too long, meaning that you rely on getting enemies killed shortly after landing your engage. Unstoppable Force has a long enough range but once it goes on cooldown, Malphite lacks any considerable mobility tool to help him keep up with hypermobile enemies, or those that are still outside of his melee range. A strong champion in teamfights, at the cost of being rather weak in 1v1s often because he won't have enough damage to deal with his opponent without teammates following up on him. As is the case with most tanks, champions that deal true damage will render most of his otherwise strong tankiness useless, although Malphite's particularly good interactions with Armor items that help counter true damage dealers to some extent, such as Randuin's Omen and Frozen Heart, make him more hopeful than ohers in this regard.
Runes
Hail of BladesRuneset
Hail of Blades has been my favorite keystone to run on Malphite ever since he became a viable Jungler. His damage pattern follows a burst-oriented approach rather than one for sustained fights, so the succession of three quick Auto Attacks empowered by Thunderclap fits perfectly into his ability rotation. The bonus damage that naturally comes on top of the hastened Attack Speed is a nifty bonus as well.
Cheap Shot will add a small but overall considerable amount of true damage on the first instance of damage you deal to a champion under Crowd Control. Since Seismic Shard and Unstoppable Force trigger it by default, and you'd also be applying the Slow from Scorchclaw Smite anyway, you will get value from this rune in pretty much every fight you engage in from the start until the end of the game.
Malphite is a rather slow champion that can be seen coming from a mile away if he walks through any warded spots when preparing to pull of a Gank or a similar situation. Your only solution to this problem is to clear enemy vision yourself with Oracle Lens, and Grisly Mementos is a massive buff to the trinket's cooldown that will allow you to pop it more often during the game, ensuring that you're never sitting in a warded Bush and disrupting the enemy's control over the map.
Little needs to be said about how important it is to have Unstoppable Force available as often as possible so you're actually capable of carrying fights. Ultimate Hunter helps you massively lower its cooldown through organic gameplay, as you will be scoring takedowns across the map anyway. At max stacks and with the itemization recommended by this guide, you should have your ultimate available for pretty much every fight that breaks out during the mid and late game.
Magical Footwear will grant you Slightly Magical Boots through normal gameplay at minute 12, and even quicker into the game if you pull off any successful Ganks or Jungle skirmishes early in the game. Saving 300 gold on Boots while also getting an extra 10 Movement Speed out of them is simply too good to pass up on, especially since Malphite can't normally reach the soft cap on Movement Speed on his own, ensuring that he will always benefit from these 10 bonus points in it at their fullest.
Approach Velocity helps you chase your targets better, and it will more often than not be your only source of bonus Movement Speed during fights, making it a necessity if you don't want to be outran by most champions. As you will be keeping your targets permanently Slowed with Seismic Shard and both the passive and active features of Scorchclaw Smite, there will hardly be a fight where you're not benefitting from this rune during every moment.
For your rune shards, Attack Speed, Adaptive Force and Health Scaling is the most optimal for making your Jungle clears as quickly as possible in the early game to get you through it comforably, and to have a small insurance for later in the game in the form of more Health to feed your shield from Granite Shield.
Summoner Spells
Flash is the most used and also the strongest spell on Malphite. It helps you close the gap for very long range engages together with Unstoppable Force and to stay in the face of mobile enemies that need to be kept in check during fights, to land Ground Slam more reliably for example. Given its several offensive uses, and the fact that it enhances your engage power so efficiently, you should try to avoid ever using it as an escape tool.
Scorchclaw Pup is the best Jungle pet choice for Malphite for two reasons. First, because the effects that come alongside it (the Slow and its maximum Health-based true damage) make your engages and overall fighting prowess all the more threatening. And second, because the other Jungle pet options are redundant to Malphite's kit: the bonus Movement Speed you get during clears from Gustwalker Hatchling is nothing you aren't already getting from Seismic Shard, and the bonus shield from Mosstomper Seedling is pretty much the same effect you get from Granite Shield, and doesn't stack together too well.
Malphite gains increased percentage size equal to 8% of his total Armor, capped at 35% increased size at 437.5 Armor.
Malphite grants himself a shield equal to 10% of his maximum Health. The shield lasts until it is broken, and refreshes after a few seconds of not taking damage.
Active: Malphite empowers his next basic attack within 6 seconds to have an uncancelable windup, gain 50 bonus range, and deal bonus physical damage on-hit.
Additionally, Malphite's basic attacks on-hit for the next 5 seconds are empowered to trigger a cone in the direction of the target that deals physical damage to enemies hit.
Malphite dashes with displacement immunity to the target location. Upon arrival, he deals magic damage to nearby enemies and knocks them up for 1.5 seconds.
As for the order in which to learn these abilities, there's two optimal paths you can follow which you will have to choose from depending on what the specific game you're in requires the most. The main variation between them is whether you will be affecting the enemy's Movement Speed more than their Attack Speed, or vice versa.
ANTI ATTACK SPEED
1 W
2 E
3 Q
4 W
5 W
6 R
7 W
8 E
9 W
10 E
11 R
12 E
13 E
14 Q
15 Q
16 R
17 Q
18 Q
You will always take Thunderclap at level 1 and max it out first as it is the main source of damage during farm, but also very relevant during fights against champions. Most of the time, the enemy team will have one or more champions that rely on Attack Speed for their DPS, so maxing Ground Slam second, for the sake of disrupting them in fights as much as possible in the mid game, is the best choice. It also deals higher damage overall compared to Seismic Shard, at the cost of leaving you a little less mobile during your Jungle clears and being easier to kite away from.
ANTI MOVEMENT SPEED
1 W
2 E
3 Q
4 W
5 W
6 R
7 W
8 Q
9 W
10 Q
11 R
12 Q
13 Q
14 E
15 E
16 R
17 E
18 E
Rarely, but often enough, you may find yourself facing teams where the enemy carries don't rely as much on Attack Speed for their damage, either because they're oriented towards Ability Power damage, or they have unconventional gameplay patterns, like Samira. Situations like this is when you want to max Seismic Shard second instead, as stealing more Movement Speed from the enemy is more consistently valuable and better fits the specific win conditions against such opponents.
Combos
Malphite has a few combos to optimize the use of his abilities, his damage output and the amount of time he gets to keep his targets disrupted by his Crowd Control.
Whenever you find yourself just outside of range to shoot Seismic Shard onto an enemy champion, make sure to use the ability on them first and then proceed to Flash. This way, it will cast instantly as soon as you have blinked into position, leaving your enemies no time to react to dash or Flash away from it.
In slow-paced fights, you may afford to Slow your target first before launching yourself into them with Unstoppable Force. The goal of this is to make their movement more predictable in the short term and reduce the chances of it being dodged either because your aim was slightly off, or because they managed to kite away from it in time with some dashing ability, like Vayne's Tumble.
When you manage to be in melee of an enemy champion without using Unstoppable Force to engage, this is the combo you should try to follow. Begin with Thunderclap and don't try to weave in a normal Auto Attack first, given how weak they are. Follow up with Seismic Shard to make sure that they can't kite away from your range just yet, and Ground Slam to further disrupt and damage them. If the target hasn't died in this time or is about to escape narrowly, don't hesitate to finish it off with Unstoppable Force.
In situations where you must cast your ultimate quickly but are just short of where your target it, hover your mouse over it and be ready to cast Unstoppable Force, but first, while Malphite is still walking towards the location, Flash in the same direction and then immediately cast your ultimate to start flying. This way, your total range will be extended and the enemy will have more trouble seeing you coming and reacting to the impact. Shattered Earth
Even if you don't purchase it directly, the game will set Stealth Ward as your trinket by default after you leave the base, and is always the best trinket to take at the start anyway. You will get one charge of it right away, and you'll gain another by the time you can Recall for the first time.
Additional notes:
Spoiler: Click to view
I suggest that you use that second charge to plant vision useful to your laners before retreating, like in the Brush closest to their lane or near the enemy Jungler's Crimson Raptor to track his position.
When you take Scorchclaw Pup as adviced, on top of dealing a bit of extra damage, you will be able to apply a very heavy Slow on any target you hit with any ability once your Jungle quest is done. This is the better path to follow as Malphite rather than the other defense-oriented Jungle pets, since you already have enough tankiness and can make up for your low Movement Speed through runes and Seismic Shard, so you're better off adding to your offensive arsenal.
First Components Options
If you are rushing Dusk & Dawn, pick up a Blasting Wand when you have 850+ gold on your first Recall, which is going to be the case on most games unless you get invaded and interrupted early. It's the best component in either of the build paths and will instantly boost your clear speed and dueling prowess.
Chain Vest is your go-to component when you're rushing Iceborn Gauntlet. 40 Armor have an immense impact in the early game and, thanks to Malphite's ability ratios, you get to turn that into damage output as well, meaning that your clear speed is increased twofold and the strong durability that enables a tank playstyle comes online as early into the game as possible.
Grab a Dark Seal early if you find yourself with 350 or more gold left to spare after buying your first component. It's fine to delay your first item powerspike every now and then by 350 gold for the sake of a small boost to your Ability Power and Health, and the possibility of snowballing some early takedowns you may get harder than normal. You can always sell it later in the game when you're running out of item slots.
Core Item Options
These items will determine what the rest of your build looks like
Dusk & Dawn is an item that Malphite has found great success with since its introduction at the start of the season. What sets this item apart from other damage items viable on him is the fact that you gain the Attack Speed necessary to make your Auto Attacks as fluid as a Jungler needs them to be, and that its Sheen effect grants you some sustain that you would not have otherwise, enhancing how capable of tanking damage you are overall.
Zeke's Convergence is a great fit for second item on either core build, but pairs particularly great alongside Dusk & Dawn to offset the impact that a 3100 gold item would have on your second item powerspike, and to make your engages with Unstoppable Force slightly deadlier with its passive effect's damage. Every stat provided by the item is of great value to a tank, and its extremely low cost make it easy to build on two or even less Recall sequences, so you can hardly ever go wrong with it regardless of game state and other conditions.
Malphite makes great use of Iceborn Gauntlet as a first item unlike most other tank champions currently. It costs slightly less than Dusk & Dawn and comes with its own Sheen for a bit of extra damage and disruption in fights, but also allows you to begin stacking Armor earlier in the game for scenarios where you really have to, like when you're facing a majorly Attack Damage team or a very threatening Attack Damage Jungler that depends on snowballing early.
Frozen Heart's lost cost make it an amazing item for second purchase on a full tank build. The 75 Armor will make a massive difference by the time you complete the item, and it's got one of the most comfortable build paths you could ask for. Its passive Attack Speed cripple will stack with that from Ground Slam, further helping you survive against champions that normally have a way to bypass your high Armor. Malphite also suffers from mana issues even as a Jungler since his mana pool doesn't allow for long stays in a lane, but this item helps offset this problem for the most part.
Tier 2 Boots Options
Only buy after your first two full items
Plated Steelcaps are the go-to purchase when the enemy Jungler (or the majority of champions on the enemy team) is an Attack Damage champion, which only becomes more efficient against Auto Attack-heavy champions like Viego, Xin Zhao or Briar. With them and the vast amounts of Armor you will stack from the rest of your items, you become capable of shrugging off most of the damage from the majority of Attack Damage champions in the game.
Mercury's Treads will become a must in many situations due to Malphite naturally being the main target of enemy Crowd Control abilities to prevent him from getting close and move around. The 30 Tenacity will help you greatly to stay on top of targets so you can dish out your damage reliably, and the small bonus to Magic Resistance is a nice plus as well.
Boots of Swiftness are undeniably a good pairing for any champion that relies on Movement Speed rather than any dashes for their movement, and interact very well with the bonus Movement Speed you gain from Seismic Shard since it will add to its % increase. I consider them less compatible with Malphite than the more defensive options because your job will be to tank as much damage and debilitating effects as possible rather than move around during a fight, so I only build them in games where the enemy has strong Slows that can't be left ignored.
Third Item Options
Choose among these to follow up on your core items
Bandlepipes gives you a lot of utility as you will be guaranteed a permanent buff during champion combat granting you extra Movement Speed and Attack Speed, which also extends to your allies. This bump to your mobility helps you stick to targets that are fleeing from you a bit better, and also dodge more skillshots than usual being thrown at you.
Critical Attack damage has been buffed considerably for this season, making most ADC marksmen but also some Junglers like Graves, Kindred and even Master Yi stronger by default. To help counter their extreme damage, Randuin's Omen is your best option. The active Slow is useful once you get on top of your enemies when engaging, helping you keep them Crowd Controlled easier and for longer than usual. Its flat damage reduction against Auto Attacks also makes it a good purchase against champions that deal true damage through them.
Dead Man's Plate is a better Armor item to run compared to Randuin's Omen only when, rather than defense against critical damage, you need extra mobility to keep up with targets. Being faster passively helps you get to fights on time and keep up with fleeing enemies more easily, and the Slow applied from your Auto Attacks will only make you more disruptive in general during fights.
Spirit Visage is a good Magic Resistance item to buy second when the enemy team has mostly Ability Power champions that you need to itemize against, and you have Dusk & Dawn. The item will passively increase the shield you get from Granite Shield but, most importantly, make the healing from Dusk & Dawn's Sheen effect better, keeping you alive for longer in fights where you get to proc it repeatedly.
Force of Nature is better purchased when you're up against two or more Ability Power champions that thrive on extended fights, such as Swain or Cassiopeia. Even though you will rarely find yourself in games where they are the main threat on the enemy team, it's still good to keep this item in mind.
Matchup-dependent
In matchups where you need a form of Grievous Wounds to counter your rival's strong sustain, mostly when you're against Warwick or Briar, picking up a Bramble Vest after your first item is a good idea since you will need it eventually anyway, and spending 800 gold for it early lets you forget about it for the time being while meeting an important need. Look to upgrade it into Thornmail only after you're done with the rest of your build, and check the items of your teammates to see if they have purchased any Grievous Wounds items themselves to decide whether to spend gold on it further, or swap it out for a more useful item.
Additional notes:
Spoiler: Click to view
When the enemy's strong sustain is on a champion like Vladimir, who is unlikely to ever Auto Attack you, you're better off letting your teammates handle him and focusing on your build as normal instead.
Fourth & Beyond Item Options
Choose items within this list to complete your build
Zhonya's Hourglass is famously one of the strongest mage items in the game and even though it doesn't fit Malphite as well as other champions, it's still worth considering in every game. The bonus Armor can by itself offset the damage from enemy Attack Damage carries and boost your own, and the stasis effect can buy precious time when you're stuck in the middle of a teamfight tanking for your team, all while sacrificing less damage output compared to other tank items.
Kaenic Rookern performs best when you're facing Ability Power champions that rely on gaining a Health advantage for their team through poke or trap damage before fights as their win condition. If you find yourself against champions like Teemo, Nidalee, Vel'Koz or Xerath, picking this up will help you stay healthier when you are contesting an area for zone control before and during teamfights, since you will more often than not be getting hit by their abilities as you traverse through the map to close distance to them.
Jak'Sho, The Protean is the best item to finish out almost any build you can put together. By the time you have to purchase your fifth and final item, you should have stacked a decent amount of Armor and Magic Resistance, meaning that this item's passive offers great value and will accomplish its function of keeping you alive through the extreme damage that is being dealt by enemy champions in the very late game.
Additional notes:
Spoiler: Click to view
One great strategy to follow with this item is to purchase either a Chain Vest or a Negatron Cloak much earlier in the game than you intend to complete Jak'Sho, The Protean, since both are components that build towards it and each provide the same amount of its respective resistance compared to the full item. This makes you tankier against the damage type earlier in the game in a very cost-efficient way.
Highlighted Matchups
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Brief Gameplay Guidelines
HOW TO GANK: Learning the blind vision spots is of utmost importance when it comes to approaching a lane quickly. Stick to the walls if you're approaching from the river, and pop your Oracle Lens as you enter the river without waiting; if the river Bush is warded and the enemy faelights are active, you will be warned about it before you even reach the Bush. If this happens, now you know to either clear the ward as soon as you approach it, or bypass it and keep running towards the enemy laner in hopes of catching them before they react to your Gank, but do bear in mind that you will have been seen coming from earlier than usual. Unstoppable Force is best used outside of vision from beyond walls near to the lane you are approaching if you can find a good angle for it, and also from the Bushes placed in the top and bot lanes that you can approach from the lane itself when the enemy wave is pushed far enough and the enemy has no vision placed inside of them.
WHEN TO GANK: As Malphite, your Ganks are extremely strong after you unlock Unstoppable Force, but nothing to write home about before then. You should aim to complete full clears of your Jungle until that point, and if you get any clear Gank opportunities before, only go for it if your laners have a high enough amount of current Health, the enemy laner is already weakened and/or Flashless, and if it doesn't interrupt your full clear sequence too significantly. Seismic Shard may help set an early Gank up to a good degree, but you really need to prioritize hitting level 6 as quickly as possible.
WHOM TO GANK: I really advice you to not waste any time ganking any laner that has died before 3 minutes, or that by the 10 minutes mark has at least 3 deaths; that's all the proof you need that they don't know how to lane properly and that they're not worth trusting with any resources. You're better off focusing on lanes near live objectives who are also even or not losing by too much, and especially in volatile matchups (melee vs melee, etc). Since my most adviced pathing involves clearing the Jungle towards bot side from the start of the game, the majority of your Ganks should and will be happening in your bot lane, where you have higher chances of success thanks to the presence of a support that can help set you up with Crowd Control or baiting fights as you approach.
JUNGLE TRACKING: In these past few seasons, tracking the enemy Jungler has lost relevancy given the discrepancy between the spawn of the first objectives in the game; however, you should still be mindful of where your counterpart is at all moments in the early game so that you can prepare your plays properly or react to theirs in an intelligent manner. At the spawn of the first Rift Scuttler is when you will find out for sure where the enemy Jungler started their clear, and if he started on the same side of the map as you did for the first clear, he will remain on the same side as you for most of the first 10 minutes of the game, assuming that 1) you are focusing diligently on farming, and 2) he hasn't wasted too much time hovering around mid or the sidelanes while his camps have respawned and are still alive. Use this information to ping your laners intelligently to warn of his presence and potential Ganks, and to assess when you should try to be on the lookout for plays in your lanes.
Jungling in the Early Game
I advice to clear towards the bot lane in every single game for two reasons. The first is that the first objective to spawn is always the Dragon, at 5 minutes in the bot lane river, and the second is that bot lane has two teammates to help and two enemies to disrupt, twice the numbers you'd encounter at top lane. At the very start of the game, you should move to the Jungle quadrant opposite to the one you start and drop a Stealth Ward near the pit where Crimson Raptor spawn if you're playing on blue side, or on the faelight spot in the river Bush if you're playing on red side. This is to defend against vertical jungling from the enemy Jungler, so that you're not caught by surprise and can respond appropriately, while also revealing his location to your laners.
First Clear - Blue Side
A full clear of your Jungle (6 camps + Rift Scuttler) is the most advisable strategy for your initial clear, and you should always do it leashless so ping your teammates away and give them an optimal start to the game instead of having them waste time leashing for you. Be wary of possible enemy invades or counterjungling while you're still in the first quadrant. The most consistent route, and my personal favorite, is to do Red Brambleback -> Ancient Krug -> Crimson Raptor, then moving on to the opposite quadrant to clear Murk Wolf -> Gromp -> Blue Sentinel, and then finish by taking or contesting the Rift Scuttler.
Note that when clearing the second quadrant, you want to stick to the logic of clearing the smaller camps before taking the buff camp. This is for the sake of making their respawn timers be as close to each other as possible, so when you go back to clear them again, you won't have to wait around for either of them to finish respawning, and be as quick and fluid as possible.
Analyze the state of your lanes after you are done taking the Rift Scuttler. If the sidelane or mid lane don't seem easy to Gank, take the downtime to explore the enemy Jungler's quadrant to gain vision of taken camps and blow the Scryer's Bloom that spawns on it, then decide on whether you will hover around for long enough to move to where you began your clear and take that quadrant camps' second spawn, or just Recall to spend your gold.
Once you hit level 6 and have unlocked Unstoppable Force is when you can be most proactive about Ganks, although this doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't pursue one or two in the early game if a good window of opportunity opens up. Every time that your ultimate is available to use, you should seek the nearest Gank opportunity as it's easy for Malphite to force Ganks when the conditions aren't fully ideal, and this way you get to retreat back to clear your Jungle camps with its cooldown ticking off. If the enemy Jungler is a champion that relies on their ultimate ability for their Ganks, such as Nocturne, be assured that they too will try to Gank the lane closer to them right after hitting level 6; if you are mirroring them because of having started on the same side of the map, you should preemptively hover near your laners after you're done farming or even before, in order to be ready to countergank.
Jungling in the Mid and Late Game
When the Dragon is alive or the next one is coming up, move to the bot side to gain vision control around it and prepare an ambush on any approaching enemies with smart uses your Oracle Lens and Control Wards. If the Voidgrub or Rift Herald are alive or coming up, play around top side on your next rotation. Your support should always move to prepare as well, so ping them to come. If they move, you can afford to be aggressive when looking to plant vision or catch the enemy Jungler to secure an advantage for the objective; if they don't move, be more conservative as you may have to forfeit the territory around the objective momentarily.
In losing situations, when you are at an items and experience disavantage and your team lost all of the Tier 1 towers, go into your own Jungle more carefully from there on. Nevertheless, it is really important that you do your best to keep your CS numbers as high as possible since you have to keep up with the enemy solo laners being really high level on average.
Your own laners are likely to abandon minion waves on the sidelanes sometimes, and it'll be your job to catch them to prevent enemy pushes, and to gain these gold and experience resources for yourself. Always keep an eye for these waves being pushed too close to your turrets, and if no allies seem on their way to capture them, prioritize going there yourself over your own camps; the minion waves are more time-sensitive than Jungle camps, after all
Once the late game kicks in (when the average champion level in the game is equal or above 13) is when hypercarry champions such as Master Yi, Kayle, Kassadin etc begin outscaling most other champions and can melt you down solo regardless of how durable you are. Your attitude towards proactive or reactiveness will depend on the presence of such champions on the enemy team, and you shouldn't be looking to initiate fights 1v1 if they have champions that can kill you much faster than you can kill them, even if you land all of your Crowd Control abilities on them.
Stick with your team's most important carry and look to catch targets in the sidelanes before an objective, and prioritize being as early as possible to the side of the map where the next objective will spawn. Malphite can create opportunities to catch enemies off guard very easily when everyone is moving to plant and clear vision before an upcoming objective, and preparing ambushes in the Jungle at the right time can quickly turn the tides of a losing game, or solidify your lead while you are winning; the enemy team will know this, so even if you can't get kills during this setup then you can at least help your teammates control the vision and space for the upcoming fight.
If the enemy team has champions that scale equally to you and your carries, or get outscaled, you can be more aggressive with an advantage when trying to close out the game. Forcing fights in the mid lane is sure to attract everyone to come contest it, and you can have the upper hand during this by looking to catch any enemy squishies out of position to either get kills on them or force their summoner spells, which will give you and your team a temporary advantage to push waves and take turrets or objectives more comfortably.
Farm becomes less important the more minutes have passed into the game, so if you find yourself with 3+ items already, it is intelligent to bypass a few camps or even an entire Jungle quadrant to go straight into an area where you are needed the most, such as a fight breaking out in the lanes or the river.
Closing Thoughts
Thank you for making it to the end of my Malphite guide. I hope that iyou gained information and tips that add to your enjoyment with the champion, and the Jungle role overall.
Malphite almost never receives balance changes from patch to patch, but his items tend to get better or worse during the season and these changes tend to alter what his optimal builds look like, so my plans to keep this guide updated will mostly consist of swapping out good items that become bad to build, bringing in new items that become good to buy on Malphite, and finding new combinations that make for strong, versatile builds while not straying away from consistent viability too much.
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