I really wanted to play Malphite but then the other team went double ap (mid and top) with kog carry. So I couldn't go the obvious armor build for the dmg on e and the invincibility against an ad top. Malphite's ult scales 100% with ap and his q is 60% so I figured I'd try this build out. Worked like a charm. But, literally almost any other Malphite build will be more effective than this. I did this as a last resort against really terrible people mostly for fun.


USE WITH CAUTION!

Early on health is great because his passive shield is a % of health, so the more health the more pokes you can take without actually taking dmg. Mana regen is also really important so you can continue to spam q's to keep the enemy at bay and also e to farm/push the lane when necessary. Also the ability power doesn't hurt so Doran's Ring is the obvious choice. Three might be a little excessive but I was behind from a gank and against a really aggressive ryze. You can easily sneak by with just two and still have a decent amount of spamability. Abyssal is arguably the entire reason this build works.
While e doesn't scale off of ap it still deals magic dmg so spell pen is great and your team will love you for your aura!
Rabadon's could probably be taken after the zhonya's depending on if you're tanking more or actually killing people.
Zhonya's has ap as well as armor... nuff said. The passive certainly doesn't hurt either, while you can deal some pretty great dmg with this build you will probably still be the one initiating.
If you have all of that and still haven't won you should sell your Doran's rings and get something like a banshees veil or a frozen heart depending on who is doing well on the enemy team. If you're really feeling it I can't imagine DFG would be that bad of a choice either!

If you level q first you should usually at least keep up with the enemy in the poke war but any head on battle is a bad idea, especially if you choose to go teleport instead of exhaust or ignite. If the enemy is really bad you can usually poke him down to low health then just ult e q and walk out, even under the tower. Using q last will give you the movement speed you may need to escape that last tower shot. You really have to judge how much dmg your combo will do when you're going in for kills.
Where Malphite really shines in the laning phase is how gankable his lane his. Any jungler and I do mean ANY should have no trouble at all picking up free kills in your lane, as long as you call out where the enemy is warding. Even if they flash the immense range on Malphite's ult should be more than enough for a quick clean up. So, if you know that the enemy has their flash up save your ult until they use it, or if you can properly judge your dmg use it for the extra burst, ONLY if you're sure you can get the kill from it.

As previously stated, you will be doing some nice dmg, but you are still Malphite. The best initiator in the game! If you see them clumped use your ult to engage and watch your teams aoe fly! Zhonya's is great for right after the ult because you will obviously be right in the middle of anyone left standing after your team's initial burst. At this point your team should be moving closer in and the enemy will try and focus down the carries as your dmg is already done. Now your job is to peal. Someone's attacking your Vayne? Go mess them up! Slow them at the very least and stay in the bulk of the fight so that your ap carry can benefit from your abyssal.