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Malzahar DETAILED Matchup Guides + Runes and Items by Master 590LP Peak OTP.
Malzahar DETAILED Matchup Guides + Runes and Items by Master 590LP Peak OTP.
Updated on April 10, 2024
Build Guide By Halkem
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Malzahar Build Guide By Halkem Updated on April 10, 2024
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Recommended Items
Runes: Comet + Insparation info + Rune Shards
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+2% Movement Speed
+65 Base Health
Spells:
Flash
Teleport
Flash
Ghost
Items
Ability Order Regular E>Q>W
Void Shift (PASSIVE)
Malzahar Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Show All
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Naafiri
Her trading is really dangerous on the early levels and she has good poke, so look to stay healthy and stack manaflow. E bounces on her little dogs since lv1. Avoid getting hit by both her Qs, since she heals then. You have good kill threat since she gets on lethal all the time just from E bounces. Your ult and Q is super good at peeling her engage on your carries.
Sylas
Don't push the wave on the first levels. He'll freeze and keep jumping at you with his skills until you're dead. Look to block his chain with your W. Don't ego and him as he can burst you easily.
Vladimir
Tough matchup in early lane, but after LC it becomes really bad for him. The only way he kills you is if you walk way too far without summs or R and he runs you down. Your ult makes him useless entire game unless he has QSS.
Veigar
You are permastuck in his cage. Your voidlings are free AP for him and he can clear them easily with W too. Abuse your push early or lv6 gank to make plays and try to snowball before he takes over the game.
Brand
Clears voidlings with ease. His range is also annoying and he can push you out of lane if you're not careful. If he's good he can buffer through your ultimate, so care for his Q before ulting.
Neeko
Has 2 AOE spells that insta-clear your voidlings. A good Neeko will also use her clone to block your E from passing to the next minion, making your wave clear even worse. You can press TAB to see if she's transformed or not by looking if she has a "?" in her icon, if she doesn't she's in the map somewhere, don't get minion ganked in your own lane like a dumbass, pay attention. Your goal in this matchup is to try to survive the lane and look for opportunities to get into the game.
Zoe
This matchup is really abusable, she can't match your wave clear and your voidlings block all her spells. Only thing is to care for her bubble or Q off-screen when you dont have passive. With good positioning she won't ever be a problem and you might even solo kill her.
Vi
Vi mid is good against malz as she can easily clean your voidlings and perma jump on you deleting your champ with one combo. Space far from her and try to clear the wave as best as you can. Take care to not walk into fog, she will cheese you.
Aurelion Sol
He will outscale you HARD and FAST, in lane, side and tfs. So you need to get ahead as the time is ticking, farm well, get your jgler his crabs/prio and try your best to stay efficient to not get behind. Q cancels his Q. Only W in lane after his E is gone, it drags your voidlings and ruins your clear wave. He will run you down or cheese you at choke points, so care. If the game goes to late game, look to catch him with R, as he will usually be the biggest threat and clear wave from his team, often preventing you from ending the game. Look to get baron to end.
Kassadin
Kassadin becomes a real threat after 6 and you can't side lane against him. Abuse his weak early levels to get perfect CS and prio for your JG, don't hesitate to push him in and rotate. If your JG has good early gank you can try to freeze. After 6 care to not get picked off by him and try your best to prevent him from impacting the map. Only push side if you know his position otherwise only catch waves as they crash or HE WILL KILL YOU. On mid-late game team fights if he becomes a threat look to R him, but be careful as Kass usually tries to flank and kill you.
Dr. Mundo
He will outscale you and dive you over and over again as soon as you both hit 6. You have no way other than ult him to take out his passive. You might kill him after Liandry if he fucks up, but that's more on him than you.
Alistar
Just care about his gank setup. He can cleanse your ultimate so don't try to pick him off unless you just really want to burn his ult. Otherwise great target as he's short ranged and can get hit by you easily.
Amumu
His dive is dangerous in fights, position carefully.
Tryndamere
This matchup is bad, he has early prio and strenght, meanwhile you're useless. On top lane it's worse. You have to get t2 boots ASAP after LC too, as Trynd players rush t2 boots most games. Zhonya's is also really good. Playing against trynd is a coinflip, if he's garbage you have a chance if you play well. Otherwise dodging might be nice.
Olaf
It's Olaf, I don't need to get into why he's a giant counter because you already know. Get t2 boots after LC. When he ults use zhonyas, ghost away, flash away, blast cone, i don't care, just get away hoping to survive and then track his R duration to ult him afterwards.
Corki
Free lane early, but he hard outscales you. If he gets package you should predict that he might just run it down bot or top before even going to mid, so keep that in mind. Care against side lane or going into his range late game, he bursts you.
Irelia
Let her push on the first waves, sneaking E's every now and then. Don't take bad trades or she'll dive you. After 6 you can push more reliably against her and if she freezes just go do somewhere else on the map with ult or ask for help. On top this matchup is disguting, i recommend dodging unless you like burguer flipping or have a really good draft.
Shen
It's free, he has no way of ever taunting you unless he flashes or gets T2 boots before you. And to avoid that all you need to do is to wait your passive to be up again before showing and match his boots if he gets them. You perma push him, he won't ever be able to ult without losing 3 - 4 waves + plates. Look to stop his ult with Q, usually when they go into fog randomly it's when he's looking to ult. You also have TP to match his roams because you have perma prio and tempo on him.
Morgana
All she does is push waves and help her team with prio, the thing is that you do the same but much better bcuz her pool doesn't insta kill your voidlings. So you win because she's useless.
Camille
Don't stay near her turret, manage the waves to stay on your side of the map and ask for help every time you need to crash waves. If she freezes after 6 go burguer flip in bot lane or mid when ult is up.
Malphite
You melt him, have perma prio and kill potential. It's just a good matchup. Just care because he one shots you, so don't space badly and value your passive.
Garen
It's mostly a farm lane, he can't really kill you and it goes the same for you. He matches your push really well. He will be annoying on side though, you have to kill him with your team.
Sion
He's weak on first levels, but after first base you're doomed. A good Sion will just tank your E when its about to pass to another minion, negating your push and all your pressure. On side you can't deal with him too which is so bad and he will abuse that.
Poppy
Just try keeping your passive always up paired with good spacing and she can't do shit against you really. If she rushes t2 boots match it. With Liandry and Rylai's you can kill her easily.
Evelynn
Your Ult counters her, peel for your carries in team fights.
Milio
Good ban when he's meta. If he's in the game you can either ult him or wait for him to use his ult for healing or another heavy CC. Avoid roaming bot if he has ult up, look to dive top instead or play with your jungler.
Soraka
Free lane, she can't really deal with your push. Buy oblivion orb after Liandry. Her silence cancels your ultimate so track her CDs.
Tristana
Don't push against Tristana, she will jump on you and you'll die. Scaling to 6 without dying is your goal. Ping her roams because she has prio and after 6 look to kill her with your JG. Take care with R as she can buffer through your Ult.
Galio
He's a bulky anti-mage that has the same game plan as you: Push and roam. His push is a little better than yours, so ward the lane close to his tower and keep track of him always. Ping the map to help your team. You can follow his ganks usually and in the worst scenario burn TP to reach faster.
Zeri
She has prio over you in the early game, making her an annoying roamer. Track her and ping your team so they know there is a cheeser running in the map. Try to keep the game human and after 6 and LC you can match her push or kill her with JG.
LeBlanc
With statikk shiv in the game it's even/major matchup. Avoid pushing into her in the first waves, she will freeze and perma dash on you till you're dead. Don't use your W carelessly, because when it's on CD she can hit her chain on you. Care for fog, she will cheese you. Your E reveals the true LB, your W blocks her chain and your ult counters her mobility. If she engages you can just R, since your team will delete her.
Illaoi
She has no mobility and can't remove your passive easily, but her push is better in early levels. Care for her Q. Try to get her behind in lane or get your team really ahead, as in side and late game fights she's better than you and can be nightmarish to deal with because of her tankiness and burst.
K'Sante
Free scaling for you, just take care of his 200 years ult dive in mid lane. He can't reach you easily after Rylai's.
Pantheon
Care in early lane, he can proc your passive with Q and jump in with W and you're dead. After LC he can't deal that well with your push. Don't ult his E. Manage your waves and don't do bad recalls or he'll fuck your team in the ass with his ult. Make sure he has a tough time roaming and keep in mind he can follow your roams easily aswell.
Heimerdinger
He will have prio and be annoying first levels. After LC you can reliably kill his machines and you can use them to spread your E. Care for his 1v2 potential when he has all his machines set-up in lane.
Gangplank
He can't pop your passive easily and your push is better. His orange is annoying, but you can solokill him anyways with Rylai's. Pay attention to his W in tfs later, so you can ult him. Care in bushes and fog, GP players are know to cheese barrels.
Sivir
Sivir has one of the best wave clears in the game, clearing your voidlings, your minions and damaging you. She scales so well too and you have to be mindful of her E before ulting.
Kayle
Free scaling lane for both of you. Your ult is good against her on all stages of the game, so even when she becomes the late game monster she is you can ult her before she ults.
Gwen
She will dive into you easily after 6, so stay away from her and don't try to match her on side lane without help.
Rakan
His engage is deadly against malz. As a laner he's not that bad to face, because he either kills your voidlings or jump on you. He will usually look to perma trade into you so you can't lane, so thats what you should avoid playing into. He's really strong in 2v2s so care for that.
Kayn
You as champ counters him a lot. Can go Zhonya's to be even more annoying vs him. Peel for you carries in teamfights if he's fed.
Aphelios
Infernum(The AOE gun) clears your voidlings instantly with its AA, you can't ever match his push. The Severum(scythe spam thing) gives him movespeed and he runs you down so easily too. Don't stay in lane with low HP or he'll snipe you. Care in side too, because he can run you down.
Vex
Take minion demat. Vex will want to fist fight and roam nonstop, the opposite of you who wants the game to be as stable as possible to scale to 6. Try to get push in the first few waves and use demat to counter her push and roams. Stay away from the wave so she has to choose between using the spell on you or the wave. Track enemy jg so you don't get ganked while trying to keep her in lane.
Nunu & Willump
Don't push if there's a Nunu JG on enemy.
Ashe
Ashe is annoying to vs. as her W is so good for removing your passive. She has good range and can build QSS, so not easy to deal with. Your passive prevents her R, but thats it. If she hits it you're dead.
Trundle
He can only take your passive out using pillar. Take care of him when he uses W, as he will run you down. Rush T2 boots after LC, because he'll have it first or second base usually.
Zyra
Look to go straight into mid as the game starts to prevent her from setting too many plants. You instantly kill her plants with E bounces and she can't match your push that well. It's already Malzahar sided from the very start of the lane, which is good since it's your weakest point in the game.
Xayah
Hard to match her push early. She has good trades with W start and can punish when you walk up to E her. Gets easier after lost chapter. You can easily solokill her if she ever matches you on side later.
Diana
She is a dashing atomic bomb and will one shot you really easily post-6. Annoying to lane against aswell, since her passive and Q clear your voidlings with ease. Counters your roaming, because of her good clearwave and turret damage. Don't face check into her, ever.
Zed
Zed is usually countered by Malzahar, because you can lock him down and kill him. But the champ has been broken because of Ravenous Hydra/Ability Haste items.
Gnar
Just let him push early. If the wave is on his side, lv3 he'll just jump at you and run you down. If he freezes after 6 just look to roam with ult. Rush t2 boots after chapter.
Vayne
Useless early, allows free scaling for you. Also you have great kill threat on her. Later in the game just care about her running you down and track her QSS CD.
Syndra
This matchup is tricky. You need to have good movement otherwise she'll take over lane phase. Just try bating her spells as best as you can and spawn voidlings to match her push when her spells are on CD. Your ult + flash is really good at picking her off. Her stun can buffer through your ult, so care.
Orianna
Hard to get prio on her, because she has too many clear wave spells, but you're really good at keeping her in lane. You can bait her Qs with good movement. Care about her gank setup.
Viktor
Try to not get damaged too much early game, he's really strong. Match his push as well as you can. Look to W the wave and stay away, so he has to choose between clearing your voidlings or poke you. If he wastes E you have a window to push. Care about his R, it cancels yours and good Viktors will reliably hit it on your ult.
Yone
Has really good waveclear and high kill potential with minimal risk with his E. Just avoid pushing into him early, because he can freeze and then you're fucked. Good Yones will also buffer back to their body as soon as they get in your ult range, making you waste R. His R also cancels yours in the right timing. You have to make sure he's commiting with his E to R him back. He is annoying sidelane because of Hullbreaker.
Yasuo
Avoid pushing into him early levels and try your best to keep wave on your side. After chapter this matchup gets easier. If he doesn't build QSS he's easy to gank and shutdown in fights. Care for his tornado, as if he cast it before your R, it will buffer it.
Akali
Space carefully against her Qs and try to just let her push while you poke with E. After LC this matchup gets favoured towards you, as you can always get push and you counter her mobility in fights. Just never underestimate her all-in, she can still kill you easily if you ego on her. Peel your team against her.
Kennen
Your waveclear is better. You can shutdown him in teamfights really well. You outscale him in sidelane.
Jax
He can perma jump on you with little to no counterplay. Rush T2 boots after chapter. Look to R him before he activates E, if you don't it will negate a most of your teammates dmg.
Xin Zhao
You have to care against his W all times. Most lane Xin Zhaos will have HoB and just take more than half of your HP per rotation of spells, so you have to respect him. Try to survive until chapter and you should be good.
Ornn
You can get push early on him. Care about his Q when you have no passive or you'll burn flash or die. After chapter you can keep him under turret and look to move with ult.
Seraphine
She has amazing clearwave and spells to negate your push, making you so useless. Easy to gank though.
Katarina
Against Katarina you shouldn't hit the wave early, instead look to just E her when she goes for last hits. If she pushes into you, just trim the wave enough for it to freeze without getting too big. If it starts pushing towards her just build a really slow push so she can't kill you, E'ing her when she comes to cs. Trade into her when you can, as it makes it less likely she'll roam. You can punish her roams really easily because of your clearwave. After 6 if you didn't int, it should be over for her.
Kog'Maw
AP Kog has too much wave clear for you to match without going oom and it's impossible to catch unless you flash on him, which is hard aswell. Unless your team has hard engage it's unplayable vs him.
Swain
Swain has an oppressive laning vs malz with a low CD aoe spell to insta-clear your voidlings. He's also really bulky and can run you down easily post-6 if you're not careful.
Azir
Space away from his soldiers. He can't get prio on you easily so as long as you don't get ganked or poked by him it's easy scaling to chapter or 6. Care when his R is up, he's really good at setting up ganks on you with it, that's the only way you lose this lane.
Vel'Koz
Good clearwave to match yours and high range poke, which can be dangerous. Respect his R solokill potential and track his spells' CDs so you can get push and roam. Can rush boots.
Xerath
Take biscuits and don't take free boots so you can rush t2 after chapter. Major/Extreme, depends on his skill. Space away from the wave so he has to choose between poking or pushing. If you roam he will follow with R, so keep that in mind when going for plays. You can flash R into him if he spaces badly, just make sure to ping your team that you are looking to do it.
Akshan
Tricky to play around. You have no prio on this matchup before chapter and he will look to gank your teammates. He can jump easily at you and take more than half your HP, so respect his stealth and accept that you won't always be able to contest his push or touch the wave when his missing. Look to ward the middle of the lane and use pings to warn your team of his roams. You can push and follow, but its important to setup vision for it beforehand or he will kill you from fog. Your ultimate is useful against him in fights, so if he gets fed it's not the biggest problem later, can win.
Ziggs
Too much poke and clear wave for you to deal with early. Look to survive and scale, since it gets a little bit easier when you reach your power spikes. Mind his ultimate when roaming or going for plays. His W can cancel your R, so care.
Jayce
Unless he cheeses you or you fuck up he can't really kill you, even early. Just avoid pushing into him before first base and you should be fine.
Lissandra
Can't match her push, so if she's good she can push and impact map before you become a champion. Has enough range to bully you really hard early without much counterplay. You just have to survive and scale to powerspikes so you can start matching her plays. If you have ultimate she's an easy kill for your team and your Q doesn't let her recast her E.
Teemo
Not that useful vs you. Care about his shroom placement and go red trinket and it's fine.
Annie
Keep in mind that her auto range is big and she can get your passive before you get into E range. Not really big kill threat until 6. Pay attention to her stacks so she can't setup ganks. Respect her all in 6. Your waveclear is greater than hers so you should have prio to roam over her. Mercs are good if vs double AP.
Anivia
If she's good she will zone you off the wave lv1 with auto Q and play really aggro. You just have to respect her. Most of the time you're gonna have to just try to keep up with her push as best as you can without dying. Avoid getting into her all in range and look to silence her ultimate if possible. Post 6 gets worse, but you can look to kill her with jg.
Kled
He is dangerous with his all-in and later in the game can dive you really easily with his team. For lane its just dodge his Q and keep the wave to your side early. After you both are 6 it's mostly playing waves and map, while avoiding to get killed by him. With liandry if he doesnt have MR you have great kill potential, just know that his dismount cleanses your R. If you R him unmounted he's dead.
Talon
Tricky to play against as he make the game quite chaotic with his roams. Look to make the game stable by forcing him to stay in lane, crashing waves in his turret and trading with him without dying. He can fake roam to cheese you in lane though, so be careful in your positioning. It can be worth taking a bad trade if it means he'll stay in lane, as long as you dont go into lethal. Cover for your team with vision in the middle of the lane and control wards. You can cover even your jg when he's missing as he can invade and assassinate him. Your R is good at locking him down so abuse that and peel your carries in fight.
Cassiopeia
On top lane its Major/Extreme. Don't get the wave on her side as she will easily run you down. If you get hit by Q immediately back off or she'll melt you. Care about your body language, dont make obvious that youre going to ult her as she can ult before your input and cancel your R.
Ekko
He has insane wave clear to match yours, but you counter him a lot as a champion and in fights. For laning just care lv1, he can E start and jump at your over and over again, so you have to respect. If he starts Q it's fine just space away from it. Care to not R in his W, unless you can kill him before his stun connects.
Fizz
Take stopwatch in runes. Don't push into him early. A good Fizz can E your E when he sees animation, so don't make it obvious when you're going to do it. Unless you facecheck him its hard to die to him, especially with your passive. Can get Zhonya second if they have other annoying ultimates/AD dive. Banshees is also good vs him.
Lucian
Really strong lane bully. Survive as best as you can and scale to 6. You can use your W to block part of his ultimate. He's easy kill with R and jg.
Nasus
Nasus will just take D.Shield and second wind, making your poke useless, just use E on him until you stack full manaflow band. He will just scale for free against you, the best you can do is impact map, but he becomes too tanky and strong to deal with eventually. Can look to R him before his R. Don't contest him on side alone, you'll get run down.
Karma
Will bully you really hard early, just don't get damaged too much and look to keep her in lane. After 6 your game plan is the same as hers, push and roam. Wave clear is kinda even, just try to make it harder for her to kill your voidlings. If looking for solokills wait for her Q before using W > R, as if she kills your voidlings your dmg is gone. Your R counters her mobility a lot.
Qiyana
Don't push into her if possible or build a really big wave to crash while bullying her. You can play very agressive against her in the first 2 levels. When the wave is bouncing and she's lv3, it's really dangerous for you to step up, you just have to respect. Once the wave is close to your turret its fine taking trades as she can't hard commit. Make sure to track her roams and ping your team, it's the only way she can build a lead on you, because after 6 your R counters her mobility too much.
Zilean
Doesn't have that great early game so it's not hard to scale vs him. After that he will just play exactly like you, pushing and roaming. He has only 1 spell to clear voidlings, his bombs, so if he wastes them it's prime moment to get push. Match his plays and look to impact map more than him. Can R him before he ults.
Quinn
Try to not push into her early. After 6 it's just a macro game about tracking/predicting her roams and matching them so your team can play the game. Setting up good vision is key vs her. Don't disrespect her when she's on fog aswell, she can just loop around mid and kill you with jg.
Aatrox
He can be annoying, but with good spacing you can't die vs him. Another thing to keep in mind is that he can cheese you from fog and bushes whenever he wants, so you have to respect that.
Singed
Singed is not that dangerous on mid as he can't run you down. After chapter you can match his push really well and he can't roam too much. You can look to lock him down with R on fights if he dives too deep in your backline.
Rumble
He has tons of damage, but can't reach you that easily. As long as you don't die and play to your spikes it's not bad matchup. It's important to track his roams.
Twisted Fate
Doesn't have that strong laning. He can set up for ganks with yellow card so watch for that. The troublesome part of this matchup is that he has 2 aoe spells: red card and Q. So you have to try avoinding using W when they are up as best as you can so you can match his push. His R is his biggest tool to impact the game, so match his push if possible and look to ward the middle of the lane so you can know where to ping away and to follow. Trading into him is also very important so he's less likely to roam or dies while doing it. Try your best to have good tempo so he can't have free timers to move. Another thing to care, if a fight is going to happen and he's on fog with ult up, you have to path towards it as he's very likely to ult it.
Lux
She has really good laning vs you early and will look to poke you a lot. Try to get push without getting damaged too much. Use your voidlings so she has to choose between using spells on them or you.
Twitch
Don't get cheesed by his Q. Ward the middle of the lane when possible to track his roams and respect when he's on fog. After 6 and LC you can match his push really well and it's easy to kill him with jg or sup.
Draven
Opressive early, but not much more than that. As long as you don't feed him he won't be more useful than you. He just can't match your push after LC.
Gragas
Has a lot of ways for killing your voidlings, but realistically can only use Q to kill them without taking damage. Your biggest worry should be his gank setup early. You lock him down really well in fights preventing him to perma CC your team.
Kai'Sa
Not as opressive as other ADC on solo lane so you can look to get push. Use your W to block hers. Overall her range isn't that high other than W so it's easy getting spells on her and even possibly setting up solokills, your R also makes her an easy target for your team. The only problem is that she scales really well with her W poke later, try your best to block it with W and look to Flash + R if she positions badly.
Ryze
He wants to scale too so it's not that bad getting to your spikes against him. You both have similar pushing power, but his is a little bit better so he usually will get to move first. This matchup in the end is a lot about following him when he goes for R plays. Warding the lane helps vs him.
Ahri
Ahri is really tough early. Avoid trading unless its really free and stay healthy. She can match your push really well. You scale really well against her mid and late game, since you can lock her down with R, negating her mobility.
Karthus
Take stopwatch on runes. You shouldn't contest Karthus early, as he's much stronger and has kill potential on you from level 1. Your goal is to survive until chapter. Your W can make his Q not have isolated damage, but his W passive makes him get mana from the voidlings. After LC the matchup gets playable. You have great kill potential on Karthus if he face checks you, because your full combo is enough to kill him if you're not behind.
Sett
Sett doesn't have a dash and can only get to you if you don't space his Q movespeed or if he has boots advantage. Can't match your waveclear or remove your passive easily. Your silence and R counter him a lot aswell, since he can't use his W for both damage and shield, making him an easy target for your team.
Taliyah
Has better waveclear than you, so this matchup usually revolves around matching her waveclear as best as you can and following her ult roams. Make sure to care when she's fogging with ult up and try to think ahead where she's more likely to ult to. She can also gank you mid with her ult and jg.
Renekton
I recommend letting the wave be on your side early so he can't double dash into you. Renekton can't really get to you easily on mid lane, so usually it's not hard to scale to chapter. If you R him before he ults he's really easy to burst with your team.
Cho'Gath
He can match your push early, but after lost chapter it's hard for him to keep up with you. He's really immobile and not much tanky early so you can kill him easily with ganks. You do decent damage vs him later due to Liandry.
Nautilus
He is useless against Malz in mid, can't stop your scaling or roaming. Just care for his gank setup.
Shaco
Shaco can't really punish Malz' early game too much or match his push. If he's enemy jg just don't push vs him early, as you're gonna get ganked. E bounces on his boxes and shows the real shaco if he ults after it has been applied to him.
Nocturne
Lane Nocturne has really good waveclear from the start of the game. He will look to perma shove you in, just try to setup the minions for you to last hit under turret. After chapter you can match his push better. Look to ward the middle of the lane to provide info on where he's looking to ult after he shoves. Make sure to ping and communicate with your team on his roam timers. On fights you have to peel your backline as he can dive easily. Recommend to buy Zhonya's so you can peel yourself if he dives into you.
Graves
You can't really contest him early without dying or getting close to lethal. He is really oppressive in lane, but you scale fine into him as the game progresses. Just look to ward well and ping so your team can know what he does if he abuses his early prio.
Varus
Varus is hard to deal with since he hard outranges you and is able to one-shot without getting close. Trading with him is not really possible reliably due to his range, so look to setup last hits mostly, unless he positions badly, then you can sneak E on him. When you have flash up he's a free kill with your JG.
Darius
Can just zone you off the wave in top, try to get him to push the wave so he can't run you down. Can take ghost to match his' on top. On mid he's fine as long as you keep the wave on your side and don't walk into his range without passive up. Sidelaning vs him is scary before Rylai's, so care.
Master Yi
Can't ever reach you in lane with good spacing. Q cancels his meditate. Your ult counters him a lot.
Zac
Has not much kill threat on you early, so you can scale for free. But his tankiness and dive potential get really scary as the game goes on. You can't ego on him if he hasn't jumped yet.
Yorick
Weak early, but he can just trap you and melt you with his ghouls. Matching him on side alone is not an option, he kills you easily.
Mordekaiser
In lane he's useless if you play around your passive CD. He only gets dangerous if he ults you in fights, space away from him to avoid that. Zhonya's is very good into him.
Udyr
Has insane waveclear to match yours. His damage is disgusting for how tanky he is, so you have to avoid 1v1s with him usually, as he can tank your combo and then run you down. Pay attention to when he uses empowered E, as he becomes immune to CC for 1.5s.
Pyke
He can't match your push. Your passive gets a lot of value since he can't proc it easily. All he can do is look to trade with you, flip roams and cheese on fog. Your ult locks him down so you can burst with your team.
Fiddlesticks
He has to stand in the wave to push while also being still, so he's an easy target for Q while also getting the E bounces from the wave perma. Your waveclear is better aswell. You can get mercs vs him, especially if they have other AP dmg sources or CC. Look to find him with blue trinket when skirmishes are happening.
Viego
Don't push into him early as he can look to jump on you for trades perma. After LC your push is just better, so look to play map. Just don't ego vs him on 1v1s and side since he can kill you easily if he plays well. They know this, so they can cheese you from bushes/fog. Zhonya's can be good if he's fed.
Shyvana
Completely useless early game, so free scaling. Can't match your push aswell. Just care for her dive when she is on full rage bar.
Wukong
Don't push into him early, as he can kill you if he jumps in. He gets revealed by your E dot, so thats good to keep in mind. Your ult doesn't let him abuse his kit too much, which is very good in fights. Just care to not get your ult canceled by his R.
Samira
She can't kill you in the first 2 levels and also gets out-pushed by you. All she realistic can do is jump at you for trades when you go for waves, you just have to care about it. Your R is good vs her.
Jhin
Jhin mid is only a problem really early, as your waveclear is better and he can't deal with your voidlings. Just care against his 4th shot and ultimate.
Master Yi
You can ult even an annoying tank and Yi will MELT it, getting a reset and destroying the rest of enemy team. He's just good at abusing malz' R.
Nocturne
You press R and noc comes in from 10 miles away into enemy and deletes him.
Senna
Her kit provides good utility and sustain for Malzahar in bot lane early levels.
Zilean
Double bombing at the end of malz R is just brutal ammount of dmg and CC. Movespeed is also nice. Good synergy.
Shaco
RIP enemy mid or fed adc post 6.
Ashe
Free max duration arrow. Her slows also help hitting you Q even when you don't have Rylai's.
Amumu
Ult is good setup for his spells. His CC is good for hitting your Q.
Yorick
Malzahar has decent waveclear and also can be annoying stopping bases with his Q so Yorick can take more turrets.
Tryndamere
Malzahar has decent waveclear and also can be annoying stopping bases with his Q so Trynd can take more turrets. You setup him well in TFs too.
Karthus
Free Qs for him.
Skarner
Enemy carries have another supression to cleanse, meaning you or him can punish it. But your team needs good damage to be able to take advantage in this.
Karma
Karma is a great support to have as Malz. Her movespeed buffs can you help you reach enemies to ult. Also great to setup vision with her and pick an enemy facechecking.
Warwick
Double supression.
Rek'Sai
Good setup for her knock-up.
Viego
Good setup for his stun and burst.
Sejuani
Disgusting CC chain, also nice having another big CC for them to QSS.
Caitlyn
Can abuse your R a lot.
Rengar
Good for picks in general.
Briar
Can setup her R and also leave her free hitting a target.
Lux
Helps her with skillshots.
Vayne
Free hits and E for her. Malz is good at peeling for her aswell.
Synergies
Master Yi
You can ult even an annoying tank and Yi will MELT it, getting a reset and destroying the rest of enemy team. He's just good at abusing malz' R.
Nocturne
You press R and noc comes in from 10 miles away into enemy and deletes him.
Senna
Her kit provides good utility and sustain for Malzahar in bot lane early levels.
Zilean
Double bombing at the end of malz R is just brutal ammount of dmg and CC. Movespeed is also nice. Good synergy.
Shaco
RIP enemy mid or fed adc post 6.
Ashe
Free max duration arrow. Her slows also help hitting you Q even when you don't have Rylai's.
Amumu
Ult is good setup for his spells. His CC is good for hitting your Q.
Yorick
Malzahar has decent waveclear and also can be annoying stopping bases with his Q so Yorick can take more turrets.
Tryndamere
Malzahar has decent waveclear and also can be annoying stopping bases with his Q so Trynd can take more turrets. You setup him well in TFs too.
Karthus
Free Qs for him.
Skarner
Enemy carries have another supression to cleanse, meaning you or him can punish it. But your team needs good damage to be able to take advantage in this.
Karma
Karma is a great support to have as Malz. Her movespeed buffs can you help you reach enemies to ult. Also great to setup vision with her and pick an enemy facechecking.
Warwick
Double supression.
Rek'Sai
Good setup for her knock-up.
Viego
Good setup for his stun and burst.
Sejuani
Disgusting CC chain, also nice having another big CC for them to QSS.
Caitlyn
Can abuse your R a lot.
Rengar
Good for picks in general.
Briar
Can setup her R and also leave her free hitting a target.
Lux
Helps her with skillshots.
Vayne
Free hits and E for her. Malz is good at peeling for her aswell.
Champion Build Guide
Malzahar DETAILED Matchup Guides + Runes and Items by Master 590LP Peak OTP.
By Halkem
I won't write a full guide yet because I haven't reached Challenger, so I don't want to teach delusional or bad info if I'm not able to apply it against the best ranked players(even though I've laned against some GM/Chall players from my region). I still wanted to share my matchup knowledge from months of playing and watching high elo vods. Sadly i won't be climbing there anytime soon as I won't be able to play for atleast 4 months from now, so I'll leave a good playlist with selected replays and gameplays from the best Malzahars in the world, played in high elo, that you can use to learn and improve yourself.
Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAiRIk03hFtM5wky7__nDWgJzZid50FWc&si=YNGSXYvLFSBZfeVX
Educational Gameplay i did on D1 vs a Master Vlad: https://youtu.be/YWj77ainR5c
Also check out my Malzahar Montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBXSIKpAa7U
EDIT 4/11/2024: I am back to league right now so I'll try updating this guide slowly. I'm still kinda washed up and not much motivated to climb as I've just come back, but I have update what i believe to be the most optimal build and runes. If any matchups have outdated info hit me up and I'll try fixing. Some like Hwei I haven't played enough to give tips yet.
My socials
Feel free to contact me if you want.
Discord: halkem
Twitch: halkem
Twitter: @HalkemAlecrim
Youtube with some English gameplay,but not fully since my main language is portuguese:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC42ndEI0ZqhvVsnUNpWY8BA
English only YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrqTPm2k6UE5YX1Lcpz8KWw
Thanks!
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