Hello and welcome to my Malzahar build. Malzahar is a very strong and extremely fun champion to play. To me, the most fun of them all. In this build I will cover some important things that you should know about Malzahar that will help you to excel with him and have as much fun as I do. If you hate Malzahar because you have had to face one in the past and lost, please don't downvote me for it. Also, don't downvote me just because the item build doesn't seem good to you. I have descriptions for the items and why I feel they work. If you still feel you have a reason to downvote the guide, please leave a comment stating why and I might make an improvement. Please feel free to give me any tips in a comment, and I appreciate your thumbs up :D

This guide will be updated frequently as I see possible improvements or get really good constructive criticism from comments, so check back regularly.

My summoner name is LaffAtU. I am a casual player that enjoys having fun, yet intense games in League of Legends. I am by no means the master, and don't intend on ever being a master. Not everything in my guide may be perfect for you, but it works for me. I am simply passing my knowledge of what I know about Malzahar for your convenience. And I wrote all of this guide out on my own from my own head. I did not copy from any other guide. It is all written from my own experience and success with Malzahar. Please enjoy!

There are those people who rage about Malzahar that he is worthless in team fights and that he is not as good as other champions. These people are ******ed because the real reason that they hate Malz is that they've gotten destroyed by one in the past. Don't ever let another player tell you that you are worthless for playing Malz. Malz has a large area of effect silence, an area of effect that damages based on percentage of max health, and a dot that refreshes its duration and transfers to a new target when the current one dies. Also, Malz can suppress the enemy carry while the rest of his team quickly seizes the opportunity to jump on them if they survive. Malzahar is, in fact, one of the best team fighters in the game for those reasons. Every one of his abilities is useful in team fights. Just disregard anyone who says otherwise. They're just mad that they either don't own him, or are bad with him.

Many men have gone mad beneath the glare of the Shurima sun, but it was during the night's chilling embrace that Malzahar relinquished his sanity. Malzahar was born a Seer, blessed with the gift of foresight. His talent, though unrefined, promised to be one of Runeterra's greatest boons, but destiny plotted him another course; his sensitivity to the roiling tides of fate allowed other, unwelcome things to tug at his subconscious mind. In his dreams, where the veil of separation is thinnest, a sinister thing beckoned. For some time, Malzahar was able to resist its prodding, but with each passing night the voice grew louder, or perhaps deeper, until he could withstand the call no more.

He ventured into the desert without supplies, drawn by the lure of a specious charm. His destination: a lost civilization to the east, known to ancient texts as Icathia. Few believed such a place ever existed, and those who did were certain that the sands had long since devoured whatever remained. When Malzahar's cracked feet finally failed him, he found himself kneeling at the base of a bizarre crumbling obelisk. Beyond it lain the alien geometry of a ruined city and the giant decaying idols of dark and horrific gods. His eyes, seeing what others cannot, and what none should, were filled with the essence of the Void. His once shifting visions of the future were replaced with the immutable promise of Valoran beset by creatures of the Void. Standing alone, but not alone, amidst the echoing dunes, he noticed the familiar voice escape his own lips in a parched rasp, bearing three words whose weight trembled his knees: League of Legends. Now infused with the power of the void itself, Malzahar set off to the north to seek his fate.

"The land may melt, the sea may swell, the sky may fall... but they will come!" –- Malzahar

Here, Phreak demonstrates the destructive power of Malzahar. Play Video

Pros

Very good farmer
Suppression
DoT that travels when the target dies
Silence
Very powerful nuke
All of his abilities have excellent range
AoE that damages based on percentage of max health (Watch out, Mundo)
Almost invincible 1v1
He floats
One of the best dances in the game
It's hilarious to watch somebody flash away with low health, only to die by your DoT xD

Cons

Squishy
Call of the Void can be difficult to hit in a pinch
His suppression stuns Malz as well
Targeted in team fights without a good team
No escaping abilities without summoner spells
Because most of his damage is over time, your kills are easily stolen by burst unless a person flashes away with Malefic Visions on them and low health

Runes

Malzahar's runes are variable among the different standards for casters. I personally like to have the Greater Marks of Penetration. If you have some mana issues or are very aggressive, use Greater Glyphs of Clarity, otherwise I prefer to have that Greater Glyph of Potency's extra bit of ability power. Greater Seals of Clarity are great for their mana regeneration. I recommend the Greater Quintessences of Potency because they provide a rather large boost to ability power in the beginning of the game, which helps you with your farming. However, you can also use Greater Quintessences of Fortitude if you would like to have that extra bit of survivability in the early game.

Masteries

Malzahar uses a standard caster mastery setup, getting magic pen in the offense tree, then going down the utility tree, picking up improved flash and cooldown reduction. You can choose to put that one point from the Good Hands mastery into the Haste mastery if you would like to have the improved Ghost summoner spell.

If you are going to use your own item build, it is important to remember that building straight offense with ability power and magic penetration is not always the best tactic. It is important to get a nice blend of survivability with a nice offensive build as well. This is what I try to accomplish with my build. If you choose to, you may want to get the Rabadon's Deathcap before (if) you get your Rod of Ages and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. You know your own play style and sometimes it is better to build off of it before you stray off into a different play style's build.

If your following Item Build 1, it is because you don't like Mejai's Soulstealer or because you have not played Malzahar before and are unsure how you will fare with him. This build is balanced, giving plenty of health, magic resistance, the deflected spell every 45 seconds from Banshee's Veil, armor, immunity for 2 seconds from Zhonya's Hourglass, magic penetration, and plenty of ability power. Here's a description of all the items and how they benefit the build:

Doran's Ring

- Doran's Ring is a must have item to start with, using Malzahar. That extra 100 health, 15 ability power, and awesome mana regen combined with his DoT work well to retain mana.

Sorcerer's Shoes

-I prefer to rush my boots as soon as possible because I like the movement speed for chasing people who likely do not have boots at this point in the game. These boots are ideal for Malz to get that extra magic penetration. I suppose you could use the Ionian Boots of Lucidity, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Rod of Ages

-I love the RoA because it gives massive health and massive mana. The survivability that it gives you in mid game is very handy. Plus, from this point on you should have no mana issues.

Rabadon's Deathcap

-If you are not having trouble with survivability, you may want to rush Rabadon's Deathcap before Rod of Ages, as getting the massive boost to your ability power in the beginning of mid game (when this should be about time for), you will be even more horrifying. By this point in the game, you are a menace to the enemy team. Everyone should be terrified to 1v1 you and for a good reason. Your ability power is extremely high by this point and you will hit like a truck.

Banshee's Veil

-I will usually get a Banshee's Veil at this point (if the enemy team hasn't surrendered by now) because of the magic resistance and the blocking of an enemy spell. This is extremely good against a Karthus ultimate, Amumu's ultimate, or to resist Annie's stun in the beginning of a team fight. If you don't feel threatened at all, you can get a Void Staff if you don't already have one.

Void Staff

-The Void Staff is a great choice to get by this point because most people will be trying to build a Banshee's Veil. This item gives a decent boost to your ability power and the magic penetration will help to cut through everybody's increased magic resistance (including making your attacks somewhat significant to a tank who is out of place). If you feel you can spare the magic penetration for now and would prefer more ability power, you may want to choose Zhonya's Hourglass first.

Zhonya's Hourglass

-This item is great to get to finish off your build for the large boost to ability power, the decent armor to match your boosted magic resistance from Banshee's Veil, and that amazing 2 second immunity to everything. If a teamfight starts and you find yourself being the center of attention to the enemy team, just pop the 2 second immunity and the enemy team will either have to survive the onslaught of your team, or switch to a different target. Also, the 2 second immunity is handy if all of your abilities are on cooldown, so you are not just a sitting duck (even though your Malefic Visions is probably damaging an enem(y/ies) for you.

Afterward

-After you have all six items and you are on a destroying fest, get all of the consumable potions and elixers because it makes you shiny and pretty.

Item build 2 above is the build that I personally use because it helps me to succeed. Many people do not like Mejai's Soulstealer because they don't like snowballing items. You can replace the soulstealer with a Void Staff for the extra ability power and magic pen then. I'll now explain the items in my own build.

If you are following Item Build 2, it is because you are confident in your abilities to avoid death and be there to either get kills or assists to benefit from your Mejai's Soulstealer. This is my own personal build that I use (and succeed with) because it is a nice blend of huge health for survivability, slowing enemies so that they can't escape, and massive ability power potential. It is important to remember that as being Malzahar with a Mejai's Soulstealer, your most important task is to stay alive and get stacks. If your team fights seem to go badly every time, you may be able to turn them around late game if you can manage to keep your stacks up (even at the cost of your teammates dying for your cause). There have been games that I completely turned around with my massive damage output just because I stayed alive and kept getting stacks, even though my team wasn't doing too well. Here's a description of all the items and how they benefit the build:

Doran's Ring

- Doran's Ring is a must have item to start with, using Malzahar. That extra 100 health, 15 ability power, and awesome mana regen combined with his DoT work well to retain mana.

Sorcerer's Shoes

-I prefer to rush my boots as soon as possible because I like the movement speed for chasing people who likely do not have boots at this point in the game. These boots are ideal for Malz to get that extra magic penetration. I suppose you could use the Ionian Boots of Lucidity, but I wouldn't recommend it. Also, if you already have your Boots of Speed, you may want to get a Mejai's Soulstealer before you get these boots. You may also have enough money to pick up an Amplifying Tome during the same trip as your boots if you want a head start on the Soulstealer.

SITUATIONAL: Mejai's Soulstealer

- Mejai's Soulstealer is a very good item for Malzahar because if successful, it allows him to get such a huge advantage on the enemy team, that he becomes almost unstoppable unless ganked. If you don't like to use snowballing items, you can get a Void Staff instead for the magic pen and ability power. Soulstealer is just my personal preference. NOTE: If you choose to get a Mejai's Soulstealer, taking Ghost is a very nice escape mechanism to preserve your stacks if you don't mind giving up Ignite.

Rod of Ages

-I love the RoA because it gives massive health and massive mana. The survivability that it gives you in mid game is very handy. Plus, from this point on you should have no mana issues.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

-This item is very useful because of the extra ability power it gives. However, my main reason for getting it is for the increased survivability, as I will usually have around 3k health by this point. In addition, it makes escaping you very difficult for an enemy since your DoT has a very long duration and you can spam your abilities.

Rabadon's Deathcap

-By this point in the game, you are a menace to the enemy team. Everyone should be terrified to 1v1 you and for a good reason. Your ability power should be well on its way to greatness by this point and you will hit like a truck.

Banshee's Veil

-I will usually get a Banshee's Veil at this point (if the enemy team hasn't surrendered by now) because of the magic resistance and the blocking of an enemy spell. This is extremely good against a Karthus ultimate, Amumu's ultimate, or to resist Annie's stun in the beginning of a team fight. If you don't feel threatened at all, you can get a Void Staff if you don't already have one.

Afterward

-After you have all six items and you are on a destroying fest, get all of the consumable potions and elixers because it makes you shiny and pretty.

Passive: Summon Voidling

(Innate): After casting 4 spells, Malzahar summons a Voidling for 21 seconds. Voidlings have 200 + (50 x level) health and 20 + (5 x level) damage.

Voidlings grow after 7 seconds (+50% damage/armor), and Frenzy after 14 seconds (+100% attack speed).
Voidlings attack the target affected by Malzahar's most recently cast Malefic Visions.

-Not only are these guys adorable, they are very deadly too. They last for 21 seconds if they are not killed, and, while not being directly controllable, attack your most recently afflicted victim of Malefic Visions. They are also extremely useful in the early game because they will help to assure that your currently afflicted target of Malefic Visions will die and pass it on to the next minion in the wave. Many people underestimate these guys, which is unwise, because as you'll notice, they really pack a punch.

Q: Call of the Void

(Active): Malzahar opens up two portals to the Void. After a short delay, power erupts from the portals, dealing damage and silencing all enemies caught between the portals.

-This ability is very handy because of the silence, as well as the damage potential. You will get better with it, the more you play Malz until it is like second nature to you. You just need to be sure to lead your target into it, preferably the center, as the target will be hit twice by it, since there are 2 separate beams. In a team fight, just try and lay it down on as many targets as possible and it will silence them all.

W: Null Zone

(Active): Malzahar creates a zone of negative energy for 5 seconds. The zone deals magic damage to enemies that stand in it for percentage of their max health each second (damage to monsters is capped).

-This ability is very useful in early game for making sure that the bigger minions can die by your Malefic Visions. (You may also want to lay down a call of the void in the center to make sure the large minion dies, as well.) In a team fight, just lay it down in the middle of the action and people will usually not take note of it in the midst of the chaos as it takes large chunks of their health. It is also ideal to lay this down underneath an enemy before you use your ultimate on them, as well.

E: Malefic Visions

(Active): Malzahar infects his target's mind with cruel visions of their own demise, dealing magic damage each second for 4 seconds. If the target dies while afflicted by the visions, they pass the curse on to a nearby enemy unit, refreshing the duration and restoring mana to Malzahar. Malzahar's Voidlings are attracted to affected units.

-One of the coolest and most fun abilities in the game. This is your farming mechanism. It will wipe out entire minion waves. In the very early game you will also need to auto attack your target so that it dies and it will transfer. It is also very good for harassing an enemy. Especially squishy targets, such as Ryze or Vayne, as it will take almost 1/3 of their health early game. In a team fight, throw it onto a target (preferably with low health) and it will transfer to another target when they die.

R: Nether Grasp

(Active): Malzahar grips his target in an engulfing void of energy, dealing magic damage every half second while stunning and suppressing them for 2.5 seconds.

-This is why people hate you. Also known as the Face Lazer, this Nether Grasp is so useful because it destroys it's target (especially when on top of Null Zone) and it suppresses the target for 2.5 seconds. It can be used to get an easy kill in early game or can be used to suppress in the enemy carry in team fights.

Most of the time you are going to go mid, or solo top lane, so you usually won't see much action in the beginning. However, if one team decides to try and gank a jungler, Call of the Void is the best skill to start off with because it can damage multiple enemies, as well as silence them. This will make enemy casters/supports useless if your team focuses down one target.

Besides getting Call of the Void, your skill sequence priority is as follows:

R > E > Q > W

Your ultimate is obviously top priority to level when you can.

Next, focus on Malefic Visions because it does some nice damage and is your farming mechanism. Malefic Visions is so good at taking down minion waves and is handy for getting ridiculous farm for those who aren't the best at getting last hits with auto attacks.

Then, focus on Call of the Void to get extra damage on it, as it can be used to tag off runners as they're trying to escape, due to its huge range.

Finally, level your Null Zone because it is the last skill left to level, and does massive damage to the enemy team in late game team fights, while not so much in early game.

When it comes to summoner spells, I prefer to use Flash and Ghost. It's my personal preference. You can use others if you like, but this is the standard escaping/chasing combo.

Flash

-This is a must take for Malzahar because it is good for escaping when exhausted, or popping in for a surprise attack on an unsuspecting victim.

Ghost

-While also being a viable escaping tool, it can be used for quick access to a team fight or to a vulnerable turret. It is my second choice for summoner spells.

Ignite

- Ignite is a viable substitute for Ghost, as it can be cast while using your ultimate, if you want to assure a kill or reduce healing by a Soraka, a life steal jockey, or an annoying Mundo. Also, it counts as a spell toward summoning your voidling.

Teleport

-This would be my only other option that I would use to substitute Ghost with because it is useful to get back into lane, teleport to a vulnerable turret, or teleport to a Sight Wardward/ mushroom to gank someone. Warning: Teleporting to a Sight Wardward/ mushroom will reveal it even if it is in a bush. So it is ideal to teleport to one that is out of vision range of an enemy.

Clairvoyance

-This doesn't particularly help Malz besides maybe avoiding a gank or chasing a runner. Leave it to the support to take this.

Exhaust

-While viable to slow a chaser, reduce their damage, or slow a runner, I would rather have Ghost or Flash to get ahead of them.

Smite

-While it is possible to jungle with Malz, I would rather lane to use Malefic Visions to farm minions. The only other possible use would be to steal a buff but you could probably just kill the person anyway.

Clarity

- Clarity is really only useful in early game, but if you are smart with your mana and use Malefic Visions to farm minions, you should not need this.

Heal

- Heal is useful for escaping or tricking a person into having a 1v1 fight with you, but I would much rather have the escapability of Flash or Ghost.

Rally

-No

Cleanse

-Possible replacement for Ghost but since a Quicksilver Sash can be bought, I'd rather have my two escape/chase abilities.

Fortify

-Leave this to the tank, unless you are lucky enough to have someone turret dive you, then you could fortify and ult them on top of your Null Zone.

Revive

-You shouldn't be dying alot if you're smart and strategic. This is only useful if you need to defend your base after being aced late game.

You should ideally be in a solo lane, whether it is mid, solo top, or 1v2 top. Malzahar is fairly easy to 1v2 with, since his ]Malefic Visions does his farming for him. If you are in a single lane, or you are in no threat of being harassed, you may want to auto attack the target of your Malefic Visions because it does not have enough damage to kill a minion from full health in early game. It will take a rank 5 Malefic Visions and about 100 ability power to take down a minion wave (except the big minions). If your target is squishy, feel free to throw a harass onto the enemy champion, mana permitting. Your most important goal at this point in the game is to get farm so that you can get that extra head start over the enemy team. By being in a solo lane, and by having a DoT that kills minions incredibly fast, Malzahar excels at this.

This is the point in the game where you want to start ganking, whether it's your opposing champion in your own lane, or an unsuspecting one in another lane. The best way to gank is to throw down a Call of the Void to damage the enemy and silence them, preventing them from flashing away, throw a Malefic Visions onto them, throw a Null Zone underneath them, and ult (as well as put Ignite on them if you are using it). This combo is almost a guaranteed kill. However it may be a bit difficult to do ALL of this in a single gank without very fast hands and control of the situation. Plus, if you miss with Call of the Void, your target may be able to react quickly enough to Flash away from you, denying you the kill/assist. You cannot risk this, as you need to get stacks on your soulstealer, so it is generally better to just use Null Zone and ult them, while your teammate(s) should be helping to assure the kill.

If your team is in the team fighting stage, *always* stay in the back of your team. You are precious cargo (and so are your stacks). Let your team initiate and then stand by to either ult the enemy carry or a low health champion, or just stay back and harass with your other abilities. If you haven't used your ult yet and the team fight disbands, use it on one of the enemy team members as the lot of them are running away. This makes them straggle behind with the 2.5 second suppression and are a sitting duck for your team. It may also cause the enemy team to come running back in and you could get even more kills with your team.

You are a fiend at this stage in the game. Your damage is just absurd and nobody will dare approach you unless you are on your own. This is why you need to always stick with your team. As long as your tank is good, you should be perfectly fine at all moments due to your summoner spells for escaping and your extreme survivability from and . Just keep using the proper team fighting techniques and you should be good unless your enemy team has a better composition than your own. (You can avoid this by telling people to not choose worthless champs on the champion selection screen) You are a boss at pushing lanes now because your DoT will destroy minion waves. Because of this, your minions should almost always be pushing on the enemy base, rather than the other way around. If your enemy team is busy defending, go ahead with your team to go take out the Baron Nashor. Remember that he looks funny when he has a big purple bubble on his face from xD No other champion has anything nearly this cool.

While I may not have been destroying in these games, most of my assists were just stolen kills. The most important part of adding this picture isn't to brag about my "awesome match history." It's to show that the guide works for your team to get kills and help Malzahar to survive. Remember, staying alive is your most important goal. If you are smart with your attacks, you will seldom die and will get many stacks on Mejai's Soulstealer. This picture of my recent matches shows that early game dominance with Malzahar will make the enemy team surrender.

Please don't down vote my guide just because you think my match history is bad in this picture or because they aren't ranked matches. It's not to brag.

Malzahar is one of the most powerful champions, as well as the most fun to me. If you give him a chance, I am sure you will enjoy him, even if you aren't having a fantastic game. It takes practice. But you can't help but smile when you watch as your Malefic Visions takes down an entire minion wave. Or the fact that it puts a giant purple bubble on the target's face (this is particularly hilarious when cast on Baron Nashor). So go out there and show some people the wrath of the Prophet of the Void. Please feel free to give me any comments, and please thumbs up :D