I've been playing Malzahar for a long time and just recently joined Mobafire so I'm a little bit late on the discussion, but this guide is very good. I have a few critiques however. And bare with me because I main mid Malz, he is my favorite champ, and your Malz guide is the best.

Malzahar's utility in 1v1, 2v2, etc. is his ability to do a massive dps based on the health percent of his opponents. That's why I agree with building a Liandry's. 3 of his abilities do dps damage, and it would be insane to not take advantage of its passive, including the additional 2% when ulting. On that note, building a Void Staff instead of a Deathfire Grasp is ludicrous because of this same fact.
Here's my reasoning and feel free to disagree:
Deathfire Grasp's active does 15% base health damage to any champ regardless of armor or MR. With Malzahar's kit, popping this active, then Malefic Visions, then Null Zone, then Nether Grasp would finish any enemy(ANY ENEMY)- Plus the Deathfire also increases spell damage to the afflicted target by 20%! So spell damage from the above W, E, and R abilities would increase by 20%.

So let's say we have a tank at 100% health, a Banshee's Veil, and 4500 health. Malzahar has 400 ap. Doesn't matter. Pop your Q for the Banshee's, pop the Deathfire, then do the E, W, R combo. 15% gone with the Deathfire, add the 20% bonus effect on all subsequent abilities. Null Zone will now do 35% total health damage while they are tethered by the ult. Malefic will do 850 magic damage. Nether Grasp will do 850 magic damage. Liandries will do ~12% total health damage with the passive over 3 seconds. Now with the standard sorcerer's shoes magic pen anyone would be dead.

I like the addition of zhonya's for survivability. I do not like Athene's. It should only be rushed if you are laning against an ap counter like Kassadin or Fizz. Any other ap champ would be better countered with a Rod of Ages. Rushing a Rod of Ages is standard first item for my Malz simply because you should not be having mana sustain issues if you play Malz right. And in most cases the 20% cooldown reduction is not beneficial enough for such an expensive item. Rod of Ages gives my Malz more sustain(since he is squishy) and scales with every minute giving good mana, health, and ap bonus stats. Plus the passive restores health on every level up. If I rush this item first I usually don't have to return to base until I'm ready to build a Liandry's.

A few other situational items you should add are Hextech Gunblade and Mercurial Scimitar. These items should not be used most of the time but have utility with high poke enemy sustain. I know on multiple occasions I've had to build either to increase the damage output of my voidlings while also adding utility with spell vamp or the quicksilver debuff.

Also, your guide would be flawless if you added strategies on how to be a good Malz AP hyper carry. Like upgrading Malefic Visions first, utilizing the 7 sec cooldown to spam this ability on minion waves by enemies to chip away their health, saving Q for teamfights, etc.

Thank you! Fixed.

In your alternative skill secuense there is 19 points instead of 18.

hello, here's my requested feedback

I think your notes are a little long with personalization. You use words when pictures show item concepts much better imo. You're looking to accommodate to newer players so armguard, sorc boots, zhonyas, item build makes more sense. same with the vs ap route. in notes put "If then" statements versus asking a question. more efficient and direct.

your table of contents is difficult to read. when first loading up it's hard to get an overall idea of what you're going to be covering in your guide. bigger font or something would be really nice and make it a much better first impression as well as navigating your guide from the TOC.

ability sequence isn't truly explained. of course putting in another block of text would ruin the aesthetic. the best way i see would be at the end of each ability throw in something along the lines of "max E first because THIS____" and "max W last because it freaking sucks early game" or something like that.

I would reiterate the importance of buying two dorans rings in your items section. readers frequently skip the notes section especially if the notes are long. double doran's is a key feature to farm based champions as it gives them tons of mana back while remaining a threat to turret dive and newer players need to know it

overall theres a lot of extra wording mostly in the form of words that control idea flow. you type like you talk which can be both a blessing and a curse.





It LOOKS like a lot less but gives the same amount of information. this reduces attention fatigue, presents your ideas faster and also opens a spot for another tip. being direct makes your statements and ideas carry more weight as well as look refined and official.

Additional examples (fictional; based on ideas in your guide):

In my opinion, Buy abyssal if the enemy team is packed with burst AP.

In the early game it is hard to farm with malzahar's high mana cost and low amount of damage pre 3. Buying more items Doran's Rings will increase your mana regen and allow you to farm with malefic visions more effectively.

If the enemy mid laner runs teleport I like to run teleport as well. If you see the enemy using teleport to roam use your teleport to follow them and counter gank.

a teamfight section would be nice to have. while malzahar is a pretty straight forward teamfighter it is important to understand pre teamfight positioning since you only get one shot and one choice on who you want to ult.

this guide is really beautiful. the aesthetic and organization of this are really well done. the only problem I have with it is the choice of words sometimes (which I understand can't always be helped since you are not a native speaker.) well done

In my opinion, Malzahar is a hard counter for Ahri because when Ahri has used the first part of her ultimate I usually throw Call of the Void, Null Zone and Malefic Visions followed by Nether Grasp. You should start using smart casting, if you don't already use smart casting.

Malzahar is a hard counter for Ahri. After first ult charge use a full combo and hold her down with Nether Grasp. You should be using smart casting as it dramatically increases combo speed.

I'm a pretty big noob, but I registered on here just to say a few things...

I have to wholeheartedly disagree with Rylai's being optional. One of Malzahar's big appeals is his ability to nuke down tanks. Since his only movement CC is his ult, you aren't getting the full benefit of Liandry's unless you're ulting someone, which severely limits your usefulness. The double % health damage from the combo is well worth picking up a Rylai's, so that if everyone isn't going all in, you can actually land some meaningful poke on the enemy tank just by landing a malefic visions.

I start Dorans, build a tear, rush a complete Liandrys, Sorc Boots, then Rylais, and by this point if I'm close to being even with my lane, I begin eating them alive. Every dot you land is doing 12% of their current health, in addition to whatever the base damage is + your AP, with a decent amount of magic pen (usually more than they'll have in MR at this level.)

Sorry if this is kind of muddled, I'm tired. Just wanted to offer my bronze input, as someone who's played a lot of Malzahar (although not as much as you guys, I'm sure.)


Oh, also, I don't consistently max Q or W second. It's all based upon their team comp for me. If they have a squishy jungler, I'll max Q first, if they have tankiness, I max W. I don't really have much of a problem landing them. I also don't build Athene's anymore, since Tear got buffed. I find that the overall AP boost + the occasional utility of the shield (saved my bacon a few times while ulting) make up for the lack of CDR and MR. If I need CDR I usually end up building a Frozen Heart (Although Banner of Command is a good look, might have to try that out.)


Edit: I ALWAYS Max E first... I meant first after the dot, if that wasn't obvious, when talking about Q and W.