Malzahar Guide

Introduction:
I had noticed while browsing around and playing that there aren't a lot of builds for Malzahar that worked for me, so I decided that I'll post the build that has been working pretty good for me. Keep in mind that this build is for my lvl 18 summoner and therefore is not a complete build. I am posting this guide hoping for feedback and criticism so I can improve on this build, and also get a good idea of where to go from here with my summoner as I lvl more.

Hopefully this guide will help other summers who haven't reached lvl 30 yet either.


Basic tactics:
Basically your purpose in life is to keep a distance and annoy the piss out of the other team. I would recommend (if you know what you're doing) going mid with Malzahar. Unless they've got a good ranged or heavy hitting tank you should be fine. Top or bottom is ok as long as you have a good tank with you. Mal is squishy so you need a big bouncer to absorb the impact while you cast dots and aoe from behind.

Summoner Spells:
Ghost: I went with ghost, after many failed attempts with teleport. It is the useful for getting out of tight situations. Whenever you feel like your life might be in danger, just hit ghost, and peel out of the area as quick as possible.
Ignite:
Instead of going with a regenerative spell like heal or clarity, I chose ignite. I figured, Malzahar didn't have enough dot abilities lol, and this is a great addition to Malefic Visions. Try to hit with both, then lay Null zone, and drain with Nether Grasp, guaranteed kill every time.

Abilities:
Listed in the order of which should be leveled first. I'm not going to list the descriptions for each ability. I'm assuming that the readers of this aren't brain dead, and have a good idea of what Malzahar's moves do.

Malefic Visions:
I say to go with this first. It's great for harassing the other guy, and once it's up to lvl 4 it'll eat through creep waves. This should be at lvl 5 before anything else. Plus if you've got a pesky champion following behind a creep wave, once it kills all the minions it will move to the next closest target i.e. the champion. Great dot ability.

Null Zone:
This is a great aoe ability when it gets up there in power. I have noticed that people tend to run away from null zone, so what I've started doing is using it to block off an escape rout. It really works as a wall to direct the other team where you want them. It's not much more powerful than any other aoe that I've seen.

Call of the Void (COTV):
This is a very difficult ability to master. Get use to missing a lot at first. The main problems with this ability are the delay before it strikes, and the odd shape for the aoe. But the range is huge.

The key is to anticipate your opponent's movements. Decide whether you think they'll run away or come closer. Think of the situation at hand, and lead your shot. Like in Call of Duty, just lead the shot and you'll do well.

Nether Grasp:
This is the key to really making people fear you, and to getting kills under your belt. Nether Grasp has the ability to stun an opponent for up to 2.5 seconds. The only slight drawback is that you can't move either. Well... here's where the move takes a turn. Technically you are not stunned, because you can stop it at any time by moving or casting another ability. Which is key when you need to get out of an area after sucking a little life out of an enemy. Either way it's still a devastating ability, and once you get this one people will keep their distance.

Rotation:
Now, when you're fighting, obviously you're going to want a spell rotation so you're constantly dealing as much damage as possible. The best rotation for harassing, and eventually finishing them off is...

Begin by flattening any creep waves with Malefic Visions, and Null Zone. By the time those creep waves are gone hopefully you can cast null zone again. But not yet! Lure the champion in a little bit and try to hit with Malefic Visions. If that hits, then you have 2 ways to go. Either hit him with Ignite also to double the dot, or cast null zone, remember though if you cast null zone then try to cast Nether Grasp as soon as possible so you can catch him inside the null zone. If you have an enemy with Malefic Visions, Ignite, Null Zone, and Nether Grasp all doing dot, it will take them down no matter who they are. If not it will soften them to the point where anybody can finish them with a simple melee attack. Once all the dust settles, if they do indeed survive then put up a wall with COTV and they'll probably run right into it.

Masteries:
Basically the start of a typical 9/0/21 setup, just only 18 points to distribute.

In offense only put 9 points, and only in things that affect Ability power, cooldown, and magic penetration. You need at least one point in something else so I put it in crit. My build doesn't use smite or exhaust so I figured there's no point in wasting a mastery point on those.

Defense stays at 0.

Utility gets all the rest of the points. In my build you should have ghost, so obviously that should get one of the first points, and I also figured, since Mal is rather squishy that maybe reducing his time spent dead even slightly would be helpful. I suggest not putting any points into Awareness because once you reach lvl 18 on your champion you won't need an xp boost, so it turns out to be a wasted mastery point that could've gone toward mana regen later on. I also on this build went with Greed. I had one point left, and figured that increasing my mana regen by .33/sec wasn't a big enough boost, and the extra money always helps gear up quicker.

Runes:
I'm not going to waste a bunch of time on these. Basically the idea is to get as many ability points as possible. With this setup you should have an extra 30ap by lvl 18, plus the bonuses you got while leveling.

Items:
Now here's where my built starts to change from the rest. Everyone tries to go for the big guns right away, but that's not always possible. The way I gear Mal keeps his ap rising while also keeping his health and defense on par too. Concentrating on just ap gives you a really powerful, and really squishy mal.

Mal is by far the best farmer in the game. That is of course my opinion, but when you have two malefic visions and a voidling running around, and a call of the void on the ground mal can knock out 30+ minions on his own without taking any damage.

There's a reason why mal usually has the highest minion kill count. Good example is a game I played where I was at lvl 18 while the rest of my team was between lvl 11 & lvl 13.

Mal is perfect for mid because of this. He will lvl quickly and keep your mid lane strong by dissolving counltess waves of enemy minions leaving the other team with a weak mid lane position.

Since Mal is VERY squishy though farming alone can be sometime difficult. If you have that problem then lane with someone like a tank and keep your distance. You might end up with A LOT of kill steals, but as long as the person you're laning with doesn't mind, you'll do fine.