Malzahar Build Guide by ch987

Introduction

I want to start off by saying this is my first guide, so please give feedback :D.

Malzahar is an awesome champion. He could wreck as an AP mid, but he could wreck just as much as an AD jungler. As you may or may not know, Malzahar's voidlings scale with a 100% ratio to Malzahar's AD, so 1,2, or even 3 voidlings can dish out TONS of damage.

Your troll alert may be beeping right now, but please at least try this out before down-voting.

Anyway, this is a really fun way to play Malzahar, so I hope you try it out!

(This guide is incomplete, but it should be enough to try it out until I finish it)

Pros/Cons

Pros Good clear time Nether Grasp (everyone likes suppression) A lot of damage if done correctly Very fun to play Doesn't need too many items

Cons Can be difficult to get the timing down Not as strong without voidlings up Low mobility Your pets die after 21 seconds

Masteries

12-9-9 masteries may look strange, but you want the best of all worlds on Jungle Malzahar.

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Offense:
The damage boosts, armor pen, and cool-down reductions help a lot on Malzahar.
Defense:
These will help you clear the jungle more easily and more safely.
Utility:
As AD Malz, you want to be spamming spells as much as possible to summon voidlings. The mana regen from this helps a lot. Also Runic Affinity will let you hold blue buff for longer, which is a great plus.

If your mid-laner doesn't need the blue and allows you to take them, then you could put the Utility points into Offense points.

Runes

-This section is not yet complete-

Because the voidlings scale off your AD and Armor Pen, you want flat Attack Damage Quints, and either flat AD marks or flat Armor Penetration marks.
I put defensive seals and glyphs, Armor and MR, but other options such as Mana Regen or CDR could be viable as well.

Summoner Spells

As a jungler you always want to take Smite.

For your other spells you have many choices:

• Flash - Good all around. Very strong paired with Nether Grasp for a surprise gank. Also good escape, etc.
• Teleport - I like to take this over Flash because you have great map control and mobility with this. Malzahar's Malefic Visions and voidlings make clearing waves a breeze, and Teleport can be used to split push easily. It also allows you to go from lane to lane in no time at all.
• Heal - Heal is a great spell to take as you can heal your voidlings, but you should be spawning voidlings fast enough that this isn't really necessary
• Exhaust - improves your gank success. A free slow. It can also save you.
• Cleanse - Your voidlings do most of your damage so it doesn't really matter if your slowed or snared or whatever, but if the other team has TONS of CC it can be a good option.
• Ignite - Good for picking up kills and against enemies with tons of healing, but your laners should have this and it's not really necessary for Malzahar.
• Ghost - Generally not as good as Flash, but can be a decent substitute in some situations.

There are more spells I did not mention, but I feel like you won't need them so... But whatever you're comfortable with is good. :D

Abilities

• Summon Voidling
  This is your passive, and your most important ability as AD Jungle Malzahar. On every 4th ability cast, Malzahar summons a voidling for 21 seconds, increasing in power every 7 seconds.
  These voidlings are your main damage source, scaling with a 1:1 ratio from your AD.
  How to use voidlings effectively will be discussed in its very own chapter.
• Call of the Void
  This spell is an extremely effective silence, as well as a great spell to charge up your voidlings.
  However, it is hard to aim and hit as there is a brief delay before it hits, so you need to predict before you place. Some practice with this spell may be necessary.
• Null Zone
  This spell covers a specific area of the ground dealing % Health damage to anyone standing on it.
  Even without AP, this spell can do tons of damage if placed correctly. But it is easy to dodge so careful placement is needed. This is also used to charge up your voidlings.
• Malefic Visions
  This spell deals damage over time, and transfers to another nearby enemy if the infected target dies. This is also one of your strongest spells, because with this you can select the target of your voidlings.
  Your voidlings are uncontrollable, but targets infected by Malefic Visions gain top priority to the voidlings, right after those affected by Nether Grasp.
• Nether Grasp
  Your ultimate. It is insanely strong and it makes your jungle ganks very effective. Make sure to have a voidling ready before you use this though, to deal maximum damage. At max rank with max CDR you will be able to use this every 48 seconds, which is a very short time for how useful it is. It gives a full 2.5 seconds of suppression.

Items

Here we go...Items! :D

Starting Hunter's Machete and 5 Health Potions is pretty standard on most junglers; it lets you clear the jungle faster and keep your health sustain up. You can upgrade the Hunter's Machete into Madred's Razors, but in my opinion this isn't absolutely necessary. However, if the enemy team has a bunch of strong AD champs, this would be a good path to follow.

Rushing Tear of the Goddess is very important, as it will keep your mana pool up. You want to be spamming skills to summon voidlings as much as possible, but to do this you need enough mana. Tear will solve that problem. It is important to get it early so you can stack it.

Also get The Brutalizer as fast as possible. It gives good damage and armor penetration, both stats you like. It also gives cool-down reduction which you like as well. It will be upgraded into The Black Cleaver. Whats amazing is that voidlings proc The Black Cleaver, so you can shred their armor easily. With The Black Cleaver your voidlings should be starting to do TONS OF DAMAGE :D

How to Start the Jungle

To spam your abilities and clear as fast and safe as possible, you should start at blue.
Take your Q ( Call of the Void) first.

First ask for a leash from your teammates.

If they give you a leash:
At the fountain use your Q ( Call of the Void) twice. Proceed to wolves. Use Q once, and auto-attack to finish the wolves. Then move to blue. Your next Q should spawn a voidling, which should tank the damage and help you clear faster.

If they don't give you a leash:
At the fountain use your Q ( Call of the Void) three times. Then move to blue. While taking blue spam your q as many times as possible. Try to save your voidling spawns for the harder jungle camps like ancient golem , lizard elder , and golem . You do not really need the voidlings to clear camps like the wraith .

Your route should be:
Blue/Wolves > Wraiths > Double Golems > Lizard > Gank/Wraiths

Use your potions when necessary. If done correctly, you should have an extra potion after your first clear, but its ok for the first few times if you need all 5 potions to clear the jungle.

Ganking

What makes Malzahar good in the jungle?
His ult: Nether Grasp

This is a suppression that deal damage over time. It gives you and the laner a full 2.5 seconds.
Once you get your ult, you should start to pick up much more kills and assists. This ult is similar to Warwick's, except for a few key differences.

• It has a longer duration
• No flash included
• Has range

You should use the range to your advantage, and this ult paired with Flash is incredibly strong.
Remember:
When you use Nether Grasp, have a voidling up or at the ready. The voidlings will prioritize the target in your Grasp, and deal tons of damage.

So, is Malzahar useless without his ult?
Of course not! Call of the Void is also an incredibly strong silence, and your voidlings can even dive towers for you. Not to mention the huge damage output you'll have. And when you finish your build, your ult should have a cooldown of only 48 seconds! That means you'll be popping your ult every fight and more.

Results

Here's just a few games... Not the best games I had, but the only ones I remembered to screenshot -_-
If you have any great successes with this build you can message me! :D