Malzahar Build Guide by Intoccabil3

Introduction

Hey guys, welcome to my Malzahar guide. I will explain you how to play Malzahar really offensively, pushing a lot in mid and building a huge gold and level advantage. Here we go, let's start! I would recommend you to read the whole guide to understand gameplay, etc. etc.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• nice CC
• crazy ap ratios
• has DoT
• does well against stationary targets

• has trouble with CC removers
• need skills and practice to be played correctly

Spells

• Your passive is: Summon: Voidling. It's an undervalued passive and it can be really useful if you use this correctly. Remember you can command it only with malefic visions.
• Your q is Call of the Void. You will need some practice to land this, but remember to aim this a bit behind your target, so if they retreat tododge this they will go straight in the middle of it! You max this skill the second, at level 13
• Your w is Null Zone. Since it deals damage basing of your tater maximum health, it's more useful late game than early, so you max this the last. Keep in mind that this is easily dodged after the first second, so it's ideal for farming(if you have blue), on stationary targets like Fiddlesticks during Drain or Xerath during locus of power. Lastly, it's great with your or ally's crowd control.
• Your e is Malefic Visions. It's your main damage source so you max this first. It's great for farming since if the target dies during this, you have some mana back and it jumps on a nearby enemy.
• Your ultimate is Nether Grasp. It's a 2.5 seconds suppress which deals thons of damage with a 1.3 ap ratio. Obiouvously take this at level 6, 11 and 16.

Runes and masteries

Let's start with pregame choices, runes and masteries. You may use your caster runes but masteries are pretty the core of this build, without them it won't work.
I take 9x Greater Mark of Attack Damage, mainly because I can last hit better and because your voiding will benefit from them, too.
9x Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power and Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power, to have nice power at all stages of the game.
3x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power, to start with decent ap. You may change these into quintessences of wisdom(to understand why see goals chapter)
Masteries Are 9/0/21 my goals are mainly the gold over time , cooldown reduction , and mainly bonus experience .

Goals

Now that we are ready to start let's see which are our goals with this build:

• build great level advantage thanks to bonus experience from masteries and maybe runes
• deal a lot of damage at all stages of the game
• kill their offtank(see gameplay chapter to understand why)

Game style

What's the gamestyle with Malzahar? Just kill a lot of creeps with Malefic Visions and your passive, and harass only if Malefic Visions jumps to your enemy. When you can push their turret, spam skills to get your voidling to action and activate Promote if possible. Before recalling you may even use Promote to go on killing creeps.
When mid game starts you should have Boots of Speed and kage's lucky pick This is when teamfights start. Your role in a teamfight is standard, rape their carry possibly without using ultimate if they have an offtank, simply because you lay down Null Zone and ulti him. That will probably kill him if he hasn't full hp, but mainly he can't defend their carry when he is suppressed.
Little hint, don't use ultimate on someone that has a cc remover like Gangplank's Remove Scurvy, Alistar's Unbreakable Will or Olaf's Ragnarok, or just someone with Quicksilver Sash. Keep in mind that Cleanse does NOT remove your ultimate.

Items

I personally like starting with a Doran's Ring and an Health Potion, but if you wanna start with an amplyifing tome take an Health Potion and a Mana Potion. For boots I like Ionian Boots of Lucidity, since these with your masteries and blue buff(ask your jungler to let it to you) you already have 40% cooldown reduction. I don't say: "buy them now or later on", the time when you buy Boots of Speed TOTALLY depends by who you are facing in lane. If they have great mobility, buy them quickly, if they don't, they are good after Giant's Belt. Now it's time for some hp, i buy Giant's Belt to build a Rylai's Crystal Scepter later on. Now Rabadon's Deathcap is what you need for damage. At this point you can choose some items: I recommend this order: Rylai's Crystal Scepter then Deathfire Grasp(if you don't use the active buy Morello's Evil Tome instead) and lastly a Zhonya's Hourglass. This order can be modified depending on your needs. If you wanna sell Doran's Ring you may buy a Void Staff or a Lich Bane(with this one you need great timing, I recommend this only to veterans). If you still have money don't sell your boots! You will lose move speed and you do nothing without that, personally tested ;) if you like pots, you can buy an Elixir of Brilliance, an Elixir of Fortitude and if needed an Oracle's Elixir at every stage of the game.
Late game with full build always have at least an Elixir of Brilliance on.

Spell combos!

Usually you try to start with Call of the Void, to silence the target, then quick Malefic Visions, lay down a Null Zone and last use Nether Grasp. With this combo you have probably killed anyone if you didn't target the tank, don't do this! Anyway if they aren't dead chase with Call of the Void and Malefic Visions. If it isn't a teamfight and this is before you recalled even only once, don't use Flash to chase, make them recall and use your Health Potion if you need. Now... Push! Do all what you can: icon=malefic visions size=50, icon=promote size=50, your icon=summon: voidling size=50, you should take out at least half their turret if they haven't any Teleport.

Last hints

Lastly, keep in mind that with your build you push a lot, so you will be ganked often, try to always have sight wards in the river for that and don't overextend if you haven't Flash ready. A thing I want to underline is that when you fight against an enemy Malzahar you should never use ulti first, wait till the enemy lays down Null Zone then Call of the Void him. Before the damage and silence enemy Malzahar will start channeling Nether Grasp, but it will be blocked by Call of the Void's silence so he won't be able to win the fight. If he waits, too, wait use it before you are sure he has Call of the Void on cooldown. As you probably understood my summoner spells are Promote and Flash. Promote is really important on this build, then I like Flash for escaping, but you can swap this to Ghost if you prefer. I don't recommend other spells because without a way to make it out you will die to every gank, trust me :) this build may be used on ranked games, but in that case you shouldn't push a lot or you will be punished if you haven't warded, so buy some sight ward, you will lose some money but it is surely worth it!
That's all guys, I hope you enjoyed this and that you will do well with my strategies. Please leave a comment below and tell me if i made some mistakes and, surely, upvote!