Malzahar Build Guide by Malaguti
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Ability Sequence
Not Updated For Current Season
The masteries shown here are not yet updated for the current season, the guide author needs to set up the new masteries. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Brief Introduction
Malzahar is one mage who can and must be very agressive.This guide will try to solve malzahar weaknesses and boost his strong points in order to build a versatile,long living and high damaging champion.
Summoner Spells
That should not be hard to explain:
As I shall show further, Malzahar is a champion with few scaping options so 
Flash is not a must but is one of the best choices, take it;
Ignite is a MUST.It will raise your Ability Power and auto-atack so that will make it easier for Malzahar to farm. He also dealts some decent TRUE damage and can be used while Malzahar is using its ultimate.
Teleport is also usefull if you are not sure of how you will maintain your mid lane and if your new at malzahar ,remove Flash if teleport is choosen.
All other summoner spells are not so usefull and I wont explain all one by one.
Exhaust:Your damage is not based on auto attacks , you are not a support and as you can suppress your enemy, reducing attack speed is at least dumb.
Clarity:Pointless, your Malefic Visions can restore your mana.
Heal: If you use it and your not support or ad carry ,you are noob, and there is nothing else to say.Learn how to keep your hp under control.
Four Main things you must learn about Malzahar
is one of the best AP carrys ,or whatever you wanna call him , in game. This guide will show you how to play him in a way you will be able to kill enemys, or at least reduce their life so your team can pick up the kill,without dieing too much ,which is a must for any decent player.
1)FARMING
The first skill you must develop when playing Malzahar is the farming.Malzahar is an excelent farmer due to his Malefic Visions which deals a good amout of damage,refunds your mana for each enemy killed (minion, champion, whatever )even if he does not hit the killing blow and will jump to the next enemy close by.
Another good farming device is your passive, the voidling that you summon will hit the enemy with the Malefic Visions with fisical damage some times even greater then your own auto-atack and faster so know how to use it well.
Needless to say that farming is one of the most fundamental skills you should have with all heros.
At level 11/12 under normal conditions(so to speak, 2 ganks from enemy jungler , 1 or 2 recalls) you are expected to be close to 100 cs and at least one champion kill.
2) Nether Grasp + 
Null Zone + Ignite COMBO.
Thats your main killing device, and the second most important thing you must learn.Your ult is ridiculously usefull because it can deals a good amount of damage, supress the enemy for 2.5 seconds and has a decent cooldown.HOWEVER you cant trust him to kill your enemy alone mainly if he has full hp. It is known that a good malzahar combo can devour many 100% life champions in 3 seconds not allowing reaction, but the greatest mistake you can perform is to relly the ult alone.
Dont ever cast your ult only at one enemy ,no matter how squishy he is, at 100% hp because I can assure you that your going to waste it.
The only way you will reduce a 100% life enemy to 0% is with your nule zone under his feet.
Finally use your ignite while your ult is on (WARNING: IF YOUR NOT AT IGNITE'S REACH DON'T USE OTHERWISE IT WILL STOP YOUR ULTIMATE)
When you reach level 6, it is expected for you to have 100 ability power due to all the masteries, runes, dorians ring and blasting wand.----so your combo must be hitting (250 + 130 from ult ) + 5% from nule zone each second (x 4 = 20%) since your mid enemy will be around 1k hp at level 6 its a 580 hit so far...add the ignite damage and you have 750 damage dealt in 4 seconds and no counter hit.
Now you could say: HEY! You promissed me 100% damage not 75%, im leaving this guide!!!! Well its true, you are not likely to kill one full life enemy at level 6 with this combo, BUT as mid lane is a dinamic lane it is not likely that your enemy will stay at full life forever and if he does, just pop Malefic Visions at him 30 seconds before you decide to use the combo and it shall be enought.....Another thing, it may not kill but you still have 2 spells to cast at him and I havent counted the Voidling damage while the enemy is supressed.
At level 11 you should be about to take 
Rabadon's Deathcap so one combo AT A SQUISHY CHAR (don't do it at tanks, off tanks, you can reduce a good ammount of hp but you are not likely to kill him) like ap carrys, ad carrys, supports and so on...is a free kill.
3)YOU ARE NOT A TANK, DON'T ACT LIKE ONE.
That may sound obvious but many malzahars get killed at teamfights by standing there after the combo and autoatacking or idk what.At team fights you must behave this way: let your team engage first and then use your Call of the Void at the most players you can reach and then cast the Null Zone find the enemy's team AD carry ult at him to pick up a kill use Malefic Visions if needed and LEAVE the teamfight until Null Zone and Call of the Void are back.}Get close and cast both again ....
4) Call of the Void delay
That is the spell that most people think of as a secondary one because at one 1 versus 1 fight its dodgeable and has a high mana cost at early game.That is true but at high levels he is a much better farming device than Malefic Visions as he can take down minion waves within 1 second . That is not my point.
This spell is the one with longest range of your possibilities and deals a high amount of damage if you can take your enemy at the center of it. Despite, it is a colective and long silence that can turn teamfights if well casted.So to speak, the last main thing to master with malzahar is the timing of his silence so that you can harras enemys running away or chasing you.
Pros / Cons
PROS:
-Nice farmer
-Wonderfull teamfighter
-Great zone control
-One of the best 1v1 char
-Best mid-ganker
-Even when ganked can take one enemy with him
-Doesn't need to recall often
As I always say: Give me full hp , all spells out of cooldown and a Rabadon's, if I lose a 1v1 agains any AD carry no matter how fed he is, I retire from LoL.
Cons:
-Slow
-Squishy
-Mana dependent and Mana hunger
-Not good at chasing or scaping
-Get exposed while ulting
Items
Starting with 
Doran's Ring is an almost 100% sure choice (dont do it if your enemy is Urgot because he can deal tons of damage early game and there is nothing you can do about, so just take boots and 
Health Potion in this case).
I think that 
Boots of Speed as a second iten isn't arguable mainly because as I said, Malzahar is pretty slow and boots are the only speed options you will have.
Rush a 
Blasting Wand so you can start to deal real damage and make a more secure path for your Malefic Visions to work without losing many minion kills.
End 
Sorcerer's Shoes and get ready for Rabadon's Deathcap which is another MUST HAVE item for any mage.When you purchase rabadon (let's hope it is not at level 15,16 but 11/12 at most) you will be killing any squishy char just like I said, so try to gain most kills you can.
Next stop : 
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Malzahar is , a very fragile champ so taking this iten will make you last even longer in lanes, wont let you get killed with 3 hits from an enemy ad carry, will provide a decent amout of ability power ( remember that you have Rabadon's Deathcap and
Archmage
so add 35% to it ) and will help you chasing and fleeing as now you can slow your enemy.
Athene's Unholy Grail: Now that you have a good damage and durability this item will provide ,apart from another good amount of ability power, a great cooldown reduction and mana regen that are weak points on this champion .+40 magic resist isn't a bad thing aswell so take it.
Void Staff and 
Zhonya's Hourglass are itens that can be changed. Void Staff should be acquired when you are facing a high defensive team (eithar high amounts of hitpoints or magic resist) it can be replaced by one 
Abyssal Mask so that you can resist more damage and still gain some magic penetration.
Zhonya's Hourglass is also replaceable....It grants some armor and a good amount of ability power(135 with boosts) and can save your life at teamfights (if you havent learned yet how to avoid them) but can be changed by 
Mejai's Soulstealer ( buy it as a 5th item ) if the game is going well or go for 
Will of the Ancients ( I don't like it but some people just can't live without spellvamp so do as you wish)
Archangel's Staff I don't like this item at malzahar and there is a good reason.
You may say: ******ed it can supply you with plenty of mana, and master your ability power.
Indeed! However if you are taking it, 
Tear of the Goddess must be your first item which means that you will lose damage at ealy game that will bind yor farm and killing possibilities because Rabadon will be far away.
Mercury's Treads are also an option, you should take it when ur facing a very good veigar or any ap char at mid that is kicking your *** off.
Possible counters
Urgot is the worst that can happen to you.If you see one at the enemy team and there is no mid char, dont pick malzahar.His 
Noxian Corrosive Charge is hard to be avoided because malzahar is slow, and after that he can cast 
Acid Hunter Twice without missing, and that will bring your life to 50% at level 2 and he can do it every 15 seconds . If you are facing him just dance around all the way and if he hits you with Noxian Corrosive Charge dont run, just hit him with all your spell as there is no way to dodge acid hunter.
Not a massive problem , he can't farm better then you , just be aware of cutthroat because after that he can avoid your ult by stealthing , to sum up, stay a little bit further than you would be agains another champ.
Galio is not a counter farmer or a counter damage like urgot....Galio is a good farmer but is mana hunger as hell and has no mana regen to supply it.The problem about him is that you wont damage him due to his high magic resist. However it is easy to avoid 
Resolute Smite. 
Righteous Gust isn't that easy to dodge but does not hit so much ......Just don't tower dive him because he can kick your *** with 
Idol of Durand
Some say she counters Malzahar. I don't agree, it is true that using combo at her may be hard because of her 
Distortion can save her once you placed Null Zone.Apart from that she is a bad farmer and you can avoid her combo staying away, and even if she does, just combo back,you can hit more ^^ .
She is a little bit hard.Her passive makes she heal from any hit ,phisical or spell and she has no mana need. Apart from that she can jump at you and deal a good damage with her ultimate 
Shadow Dance every 1 second , hide at 
Twilight Shroud and harras you with 
Mark of the Assassin
Against her just avoid fighting as you can farm better , and try to harras her before using your combo.
Mordekaiser will only be a problem if he knows how to play well.
He can cast 
Mace of Spades and hurt you quite often wheter you are not aware ,just like 
Siphon of Destruction. Another problem is that he is likely to build health regen and health items so you combo may not work well. The last problem is Mordekaiser's passive 
Iron Man that if well used can even cancel your Malefic Visions job.
Your hardest enemy, cast anything before ulting or you are going to cry
Some "advanced" tactics
1) The Malefic Visions helper...You will see that to be able to farm, enemys will stand close to the 3 minions that stay behind the wave and move far away from them when your Visions reach the 2 minions remaining so they wont get hit. Just autoatack the last minion Malefic Visions will jump to and use Call of the Void right away so you kill all at once and the enemy wont be able to dodge.
2)Another tip: Nether Grasp can cross walls if you can see your enemy.If your team mates move the ulted dude, your ult will remain JUST DON'T MOVE.
3) Call of the Void can be used to check bushes
4)When beeing chased , cast Call of the Void under you , and run the dalay will be enought to catch your enemy most of the times.
5)Don't be a ability power freak. If you follow this build, when it is done you will have 750 AP wich means ----
Call of the void will be hitting 900 if only one missile hits you, and twice if u manage to cast it properly
Null Zone will deal 15% hp each second
Malefic Visions 900
Nether Grasp 1550 damage
Void Staff +
Arcane Knowledge
+ Sorcerer's Shoes + 9 
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration can remove almost all magic resist your enemy may have so it is almost all raw damage
That proves that your not gonna lose because of low damage, so respect the build and you shall be ok
6) Use Null Zone for stoping enemy run, throw it behind you when beeing chased so he will take damage in the attempt to reach you, and maybe just be lured into your saving ultimate.
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