Hello everybody, my goal with this guide is to create an easy guide for begginers and show them how to use and build Malzahar. This is not an experts guide, but feel free to get a look at it.

First of all, I must say Malzahar is a normally underrated character since it was nerfed, when it shouldn´t be like that. He has got a good range, a very nice amount of AP, can easily destroy tanks, and has got an excellent passive.

Now, enjoy my guide:

*Pros:

-Good AoE Damage.
-Silence.
-Incredible Passive.
-His Null Zone can melt tanks.
-Good Farmer.
-Nice Harass.

*Cons:

-Really squishy.
-You will always be focused.
-No scape skill.
-Can be countered with one item.

Nothing out of the ordinary here, except for the 3 points in Wanderer. I like some extra speed as Malzahar is a slow champion.

My favourite summoner spells are Flash and Clarity. Why I use Flash is obvious, Malzahar has no scape skills and it is a must have. But, why Clarity? Well, the answer is easy. I like to harass and push the lane as much as possible, plus, if your oponent thinks you have no mana he will play more offensive and will get closer to you. Then, you can use Clarity and Nether Grasp him to death. Even though, there will come a point in the game when you wont need it, so there are some other spells you can also use:

* Ignite: I dont consider this very useful as you already have Malefic Visions, but the good thing is that you can use it while you are Nether Grasping an oponent, dealing even more damage.

* Ghost: If you feel like you are going to need more escape skills take this one along Flash.

* Teleport: A very useful spell which alows you to move faster to your lane after ganking top or bot.

AP Build

We start as usual with Boots and 3x Health Potion, then we are going to rush a catalyst the protector. Don´t forget to ALWAYS take a few sight ward and plant them in the bushes everytime you go back to base.

After we have bought the catalyst the protector we finish our Rod of Ages and our Sorcerer's Shoes.
Then, we start to build our most powerful weapon, Magic Penetration, so we get an Abyssal Mask which reduces Magic Resistance of nearly enemies by 20 points and also provides us with a little bit or Magic Resistance and Ability Power.
(If someone else takes Abyssal Mask in your team, maybe you'd like to build Liandry's Torment to gain extra AP and deal additional damage as the Aura of the Abyssal Mask doesnt stack.)

Now, we start building a Rabadon's Deathcap to get those succulent 120 AP and 25% of our total AP. NOW YOU ARE RIDICULOUSLY STRONG

We´re finishing. Now, you get a Void Staff which gives us 70 AP and a 35% of Magic Penetration, which added to the 15% of our Sorcerer's Shoes gives us a 50% of Magic Penetration (Without taking into account the -20 MR dealt by the Abyssal Mask) UNSTOPABLE

Finally, if the games comes to such and extend, buy a Banshee's Veil if you need more MR or a Guardian Angel if you need more Armor or you are dying too much. Nevertheless, I recomend getting a Banshee's Veil.

Other Viable Items

Liandry's Torment : Gives a nice amount of AP , a 15% of Magic Penetration and burns enemies for a 5% of their total health for 3 seconds. It is great against Tanks and scales pretty good with your Null Zone

Seraph's Embrace : If you are planning on getting this item buy it ASAP, starting with a Tear of the Goddess and buying it instead of the Rod of Ages, as you will already have all the mana you need.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter : I dont really think this is a must have for Malzahar, I mean, you are not Vladimir. But if you are doing good (really good) and want to stay in lane more time you could get it.

Guardian Angel : A pretty good item if you are dying too much or you are facing an AD team.

Thornmail : Excellent if you are playing against a very heavy AD team
or you are facing a Fiora. If she ulties you, at least you'll deal a lot of damage to her.



AD Build

Ok, so we start as usual with Boots, 2 Health Potion and a Mana Potion.
Then we buy a Tear of the Goddess to start increasing our mana and finish it into a Manamune, which gives us more AD apart from that mana boost.
Then, we get Ionian Boots of Lucidity to get Cool Down Reduction and Last Whisper to get a 40% of Armor Penetration.

By that time, we will already have got enough mana, and we will get a Muramana which gives us AD, Mana, Mana Regeneration AND, a 3% of our Max Mana as AD.(We get it when we fully charge our Manamune)

Now we should get The Brutalizer and finish it into Black Cleaver.
After that we finish our build with an Iceborn Gauntlet as a defensive item and a Bloodthirster as our final item.

Other Viable Items

Rod of Ages: You can get this item instead of an Iceborn Gauntlet if you prefer to get a little bit of AP as by this point your abilities will barely deal any damage.

Frozen Heart: Sweet amount of Armour and CD . You can take this instead of an Iceborn Gauntlet

Banshee's Veil: Healt, Mana and Magic Resistance. Take it instead of an Iceborn Gauntlet

Your passive, Summon Voidling summons an uncontrollable Voidling after casting 4 spells, which has 200 + (50 x level) Health and 20 + (5 x level) AD plus the AD that your items add. That´s a LOT of AD. Those Voidlings last 21 seconds, and 7 seconds after being casted get a 50% of AD and Armour and 14 seconds after being casted get a 100% of Attack Speed.

Whenever you hit a target with your Malefic Visions, your Nether Grasp or with your autoattacks, your Voidling will follow the target and attack it.

Well, its easy. Just be sure you are always ready to cast a Voidling and cast your Malefic Visions on your target. Your Voidling will do the work for you.

Then, just play as a normal AP Malzahar and GG.

Ooook.
First of all, you must always have something in mind.

YOU ARE SQUISHY AS HELL

That means that your priority is to perfectly control the map (that means a few sight ward next to you) and keeping the distance with your enemy).

Then, your basic combo is Call of the Void to harass and silence your target, Malefic Visions, Null Zone and Nether Grasp. You can also use Ignite while using Nether Grasp. AND, if your Voidling is around, maybe you won´t even need to Nether Grasp your enemy.

Even though, a good Malzahar wouldn't need to use Nether Grasp and would use it to gank another lane.

If you gank, remember to warn your team mates. And if you gank bot and you kill bot's enemies, remember to kill the drake with your bot team mates. Nobody will gank you, as you killed your enemy in mid and bot. Maybe a jungler but, dude, it would be 3 vs 1...

Malzahar has one of the best farming abilities of the game.
He can easily farm with Malefic Visions, plus everytime Malefic Visions jumps to another enemy, you recover a little amount of mana, which, used wisely along with Clarity could sustain you with enough mana until you can get a Tear of the Goddess or catalyst the protector

At the beggining I said that i like to farm a lot. Yeah, that's right.
But remember that if you farm and push too much you'll get ganked. Be careful.

Quicksilver Sash is the item that counters Malzahar. It counters your Nether Grasp and lets you completely defenseless and useless. Be careful. The good thing is that if you are playing AD Malzahar you won´t particularly need Nether Grasp as you rely on your Voidlings.

Here I'll post some pictures of gameplays i think that were good enough and basically give me an ego boost.









(This wasnt that good, but was epic)

Yep, that´s it. I hope you liked my guide. Just excuse my poor english, I'm not a native english speaker.

Aaaand, well, GL&HF!!

;D

28/12/12
*Updated the AP Item Purchase and Viable Items.

04/01/13
*Posted pictures of some gameplays.
*Added Rylai's Crystal Scepter to viable items.
*General changes on the presentation.

27/01/13
*Updated AD Build and Masteries. (Thanks a lot, Haedrix for advice.)

*Create a List of Opponents in Mid Lane and how to counter them.