Malzahar Build Guide : Malzahar: Staring at People was Never this Exciting (UPDATED

Introduction

Hello friends, and welcome to my rewritten guide on . Malzahar is a very underrated caster in the League of Legends. He is able to deal very high burst damage along with significant range and lockdown.

is a very unique mage in the aspect that he deals damage over time over burst damage, he damages before he stuns (unlike or ), and that he can shred tanks easily with . can bring a lot to teams and can be an absolute monster if left to his own devices.

I hope you will learn a lot about in my guide. He was the first champion I decided to main, I reckon I have around 400 games with .

EDIT: Yes, I changed the guide title to match my other guides.

Malzahar Champion Spotlight:

Pros / Cons

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Pros

+ Great burst damage
+ Huge AoE damage
+ Great pushing ability
+ Powerful harass due to
+ Able to shred tanks ()
+ Strong duelist if is available.

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Cons

- No escape (I solve this by taking )
- Squishy
- Requires farm to be effective
- Easily countered by one item
- Ultimate can be interrupted
- Pushing with can lead to dreadful results

Runes

In this rune setup, I aim to maximize damage and utility.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration for a synergy with Sorcerer's Shoes, which can bring you close to dealing true damage to champs with 30 MR.
Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration Since Malzahar has early mana return from Malefic Visions, it is better to settle for these seals for a better late game.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist For the extra defense in lane.
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power Even though most mages scale the best in mid-game, that does not mean you should go all out AP/lvl runes. These quintessences will help you early game to harass more.

Masteries

is a carry, therefore he must maximize his damage output. The masteries will be 21/0/9.

Skills

Summon Voidling

After casting 4 spells, Malzahar summons an uncontrollable Voidling to engage enemy units for 21 seconds. Voidlings have 200 + (50 x level) Health and 20 + (5 x level) and (+ 100% per bonus attack damage) attack 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.

This is a great passive that can assist you in many ways. One of the glaring ways is that it can aid you in restoring mana with . The voidlings are attracted to targets with . The voidling can also aid you in your nuke combo of + + + + . A round of your spell combo will summon a voidling to help you kill your target.

Another useful fact is that it can block skillshots that are coming your way. You never know when that little guy can block an incoming or .

However you will need to manipulate your voidling in a good way, as the little guy might trail behind you when you are running away, which means the enemy will know where you have went. Also, when attempting to gank people from the brush, refrain from having a voidling with you as it can give away your position.

Call of the Void

Malzahar opens two portals to the void. After a short delay, they fire projectiles which deal 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+80% of ability power) magic damage and silence champions for 1.4 / 1.8 / 2.2 / 2.6 / 3 seconds.

A great spell for Malzahar, it has many uses throughout the game. This skill is essential to learn as Malzahar, it can make or break fights. For example, if you see a coming in to kill you, cast in front of him, so that he will walk right into it and become silenced, allowing you to either get away or to unleash your full combo.

Remember to use this skill wisely early game, it will cost you a lot of mana for nothing if you use it and miss. Sometimes I put slightly behind the enemy. A natural instinct for most people is to run backwards, thus they run right into the spell.

Don't forget, reveals the fog of war. If you think there's a sneaky in the brush trying to gank you, use Call of the Void in that brush to see if he is there.

Null Zone

Malzahar creates a zone of negative energy for 5 seconds. The zone deals 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 % (+1% per 100 ability power) of the target's max health as magic damage each second (damage to monsters is capped).

A skill that is just a killer late game, can destroy entire teams if enough people stand on it for too long due to the health percentage damage. However it is underwhelming early game, so I only use this early on to combine with , or to help myself pick up kills if they have and on them.

Late game, try to use this right when your tank initiates. For example if flash/ults, you can put under the enemy to deal lots of damage to their team and proceed to kill them all.

Malefic Visions

Malzahar infects his target's mind, dealing 80 / 140 / 200 / 260 / 320 (+80% of ability power) magic damage over 4 seconds. If the target dies during this time, the visions pass to a nearby enemy and Malzahar gains 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 mana. Malzahar's Voidlings are attracted to affected units.

This is Malzahar's bread and butter ability. You can use for a lot of uses (farming, harassing, kill stealing, etc.).

is a great tool for controlling the lane due to it being able to bounce to different enemies when it has killed one. If you find yourself being pushed at, outpush your opponent back by casting on the creep wave. Keep autoattacking the minion with Malefic Visions on it so that it can pass on to the next one.

Another good thing about this skill is that it also regenerates mana as well. Simply push it through a minion wave if you need some mana back.

To harass champions, + will suffice.

Nether Grasp

Malzahar grips his target in an engulfing void of energy to suppress the target (stuns and disables summoner spells), dealing 250 / 400 / 550 (+130% of ability power) magic damage over 2.5 seconds. The damage is applied in ticks, every half second.

One of the best ultimates out there. Mainly because it is a 2.5 second suppress and it has a 1.3 AP ratio. Need I say more? It damages enemies highly and you can easily pin down targets because of it.

When you've utilized this ultimate to it's fullest, you will become one of the best players. The key to knowing how to play is mastering his ultimate. First, you need to know the skill combo, which goes something like this:

Silence with , apply , lay down , fire off on the opponent, trapping him under . Use if needed, does not interrupt .

Next, you must know that you CANNOT move during the suppression. If you do, you will cancel the suppression and lose potential damage output. Only cancel when needed. You can however, use any summoner spell except . You also need to know that even though does not interrupt , it has a shorter range than . So you must stay within 600 range to use , or else you will stop channeling and will walk up to the enemy to cast .

And lastly, remember you can use your ultimate defensively as well. For example when someone turret dives you, you can them so the tower proceeds to take a beating on them.

Skill Sequence

is taken first. Why not first? Well, first of all is AoE and has a silence, which is better for level 1 teamfights. They also deal the same damage at level 1, it's just that is better at level 1.

After that however, becomes more powerful, so we max first. It provides you high amounts of DPS with a mana return due to the pushing mechanic, also it has a very high base damage at level 5. Your harass will be significantly higher with maxed.

During levels 1-4, level up first. Put two points in before putting a point in , as it has little benefits for us early game.

We then max mainly because it nukes people hard and it has a 3 second silence at level 5, which is one of the longest silences in the game.

We max last because it is the most powerful at late game because of it's percentage health damage, therefore it is only natural that we leave one point there until maxing it last.

Summoner Spells

I usually run these summoner spells against most teams. I haven't found much moments that I had to reconsider my summoner spells, I feel that these are perfect for . is because it is the best summoner spell in the game. Use it to escape, pick up a kill, juke fast skillshots like , the possibilities are endless. is because it stacks with all your DoT damage you will be dealing.

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Flash

Pros:
+ Versatile
+ Easy escape
+ Closing gaps

Cons:
- Short range
- Countered if enemy has as well.

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Ignite

Pros:
+ Great early game damage
+ Stacks with your abilities
+ Healing debuff

Cons:
- Falls off late game
- Short range

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Optional Spells:

Only take if they have no ganking CC whatsoever, you somehow hate , you think there will be skirmishes you need to get to in game or if you just want an extra escape. Replace with if you feel that one escape is not enough. Replace with for the reasons listed above. I generally don't take over though, you are too squishy for the movement speed boost to be effective.

If no one else has this on their team, take . I don't take on AP carries however as kills people in one blow, not through sustained autoattack damage. You also have to prevent the enemy to attack you.

Take if you think you are going to need to go back a lot, or you want better map control. In this case, make sure there are wards on the map you can to.

I've never taken as since the heal won't save you from burst damage, but I suppose you can take it if you like to heal bait a lot.

Core Items

There are many ways to build . Most may build him as an AP nuker in mid-lane, some as a mid-ranged Tanky AP at top-lane, others will simply have fun building as AD .

The Core Items of AP are:

I take those items in almost every game I play. Why do I do so? Well, these items basically provide EVERYTHING you need. Malzahar needs:
- High AP
- Able to resist being focused
- Health
- Ability to shred tanks

First of all, is the core item on ALL casters. It gives a very high amount of AP when bought, and with your runes, masteries and double s with , you can reach 300 AP with no problems whatsoever. On its own give you 182 AP. Amazingly powerful for it's price. The good thing is that whenever you buy AP in the future, your AP will increase furthermore than what the future item will give you thanks to s passive.

Secondly, really help you when you get dived by the enemy. By casting DoTs on an enemy and using the active from zhonyas, you can win duels. The extra armor is also a great help to divers.

Finally, is our killer item. When the enemy starts building magic resist, you can easily negate that with . It also helps you greatly in damage due to the passive dealing DoT %health damage, which effectively stacks with and will make you a killing machine.

General Item Building

As you do not have versatile build choices unlike or . There will be lots of times where you will be building the same things all over again.

I start and 3 s. Why? This is the most versatile first item choice for almost all champions. You can run away from jungle ganks, have sustain from the 3 potions, dodge skillshots, and you can easily gank other lanes. Rarely have I ever started with something else other than and 3 s.

As , your main focus should be maximizing damage output, building items like:

These items are efficient on due to them being highly offensive in power and giving you the ability to nuke people down. When looking to build defensively, go for some items like:

These items will give you some power along with a defensive ability to help you survive fights or duels.

Build items not mentioned in the previous chapter:

These boots will help you a lot in dealing damage early game, it synergizes with your and will make you deal near true damage to squishy targets.

This item will help you a lot in both defense and offense, giving you 100 AP and 50 armor. The active however, is the most important aspect of this item as it is really gamebreaking. You can literally activate this when their jumps on you, and your team will be able to kill her before she can kill you.

A great new item for mages, combined with , you can resist other mages and win duels easily. But the real deal about this item is the active, it gives CC that doesn't stun himself.

I recommend rushing this item as soon as possible. This is because needs to spam his skills often and this item will help greatly. The CDR, MR and AP is also welcome to s overall effectiveness.

Situational Items

This item is a very good item if they have no magic resist. Thanks to its active, you can truly deal true damage on squishy targets. If that is the case, replace with this item.

This item is only good if the enemy team is very prone to kiting. Otherwise the slow is wasted since you have no escape anyway. If you need health buy .

This item is great on some champions, but is not one of them. You will already have insanely high mana regen late game anyway, and the fact that you're not or means that it will take forever for you to build up the mana. Only get this if you want it for pure power/maximum mana sustain.

Only get this item if you feel that catalyst the protector is not enough for sustain at top

Only take this if they seem to have deadly CC or ultimates that have the potential to kill you, something like , , , etc.

A decent item for skill spamming due to its high mana regen and CDR. Get this to stack with blue buff if needed. You can also get this for the new active of healing reduction it gives.

Self explanatory.

Early Game

is a dominant mid laner, able to harass easily and have excellent lane control. You should always try to balance harass and farming in order to keep yourself at an advantage against your enemy. However, sometimes you would want to harass more, since does so much damage early game. You should be able to push your opponent out of lane easily.

Always remember to LAST HIT! If you just keep hitting the minions you will indeed push your lane and make yourself an easy gank target.

When you get enough points in , always push extremely hard to the enemy tower and back off until the lane resets, so that the enemy will have less of a chance to farm.

Remember to scout brushes with if you think someone is inside trying to gank you.

Mid Game

Mid game is when truly shines. Once you've reached level 6, look for a lane to gank. Push your lane and head there. Once you've gotten to that lane, immediately unleash your entire combo against them so that your ally can kill him. has great gank synergy due to . Also, during team fights try to silence the most people with .

At this point is also a potent duelist. Look for someone to kill. Act like a scared little squishy mage when they attack you. This will make them charge straight at you. However, you can easily turn the tables by unleashing your full combo and instantly killing them.

At this point of the game, you can also try out CasterMaster's Infamous Bush Combo, by sitting in a bush and waiting for an unaware opponent to come in, immediately unleash + + + + . Guaranteed success!

Late Game/Teamfights

This is when games are truly decided. You should try to stay behind your team at all times when fighting, and attempt to deal the most damage possible. Also, NEVER GO OUT ALONE! You never know when the entire enemy team is in a brush and you end up being killed, resulting in a free inhibitor/baron for the enemy team, or even a win for them.

In teamfights, 's role is to disable the enemy team with , and attempt to nuke the enemy squishies with your range. Certain scenarios apply to what you must do in teamfights as .

Example 1:
Your initiated with a flash + . What do you do? Put down a and silence the biggest group of enemies with . Apply to their squishiest target and even them if you feel that you won't be interrupted.

Example 2:
You are losing the game, the enemy initiates with a + . What do you do? away immediately to prevent yourself from dying, behind you to silence enemy divers and make a run for it. is extremely squishy so you must avoid dying at all costs.

Example 3:
Your team and you are hiding in a brush near baron. The enemy team comes in. What do you do? You silence them with immediately, and do a + + on the closest and squishiest target. Since you've caught the opponent by surprise, there should be a small chance of you getting interrupted.

Example 4:
You've just found the enemy team at dragon, and they are all badly positioned. What do you do? Immediately silence with and put down a under enemy groups, while waiting for the right moment to pull off your combo with .

Needless to say, there are many situations to adapt to as and you should find the right moment to do something.

Lane Match-Ups

Difficulty: Easy

Try to stay farther behind minions to avoid Orb of Deception and Charm
Ahri has low movespeed, which makes Call of the Void easy to land.
If Ahri uses Spirit Rush against you, immediately unleash your combo.
Ahri is short ranged, Malefic Visions can destroy her.

Difficulty: Medium

Akali is a melee, making Call of the Void and Malefic Visions harass very easy.
If Akali shrouds herself in Twilight Shroud, lay down a Null Zone in it.
Watch out at level 6, be ready to combo Akali before she bursts you.
If Akali tries to harass you with Mark of the Assassin, return harass with Malefic Visions.

**** this champion.
Difficulty: Hard

Watch out for Flash Frost + Frostbite, it outharasses your damage early game.
Try to push the lane hard with Malefic Visions as Anivia cannot farm well under her turret pre-6.
Play passive when she hits 6, as the double damage from Frostbite will become much easier to land.
Don't get too reckless, her Rebirth can bait you into a gank.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Annie is very squishy and has short range, you can harass her hard.
Don't engage her if her Pyromania stack is available.
Watch out at level 6, she can gib you with Summon: Tibbers.
When engaging, you must silence her with Call of the Void before unleashing your combo.

Difficulty: Medium

Brand is only lethal if you don't dodge his skillshots.
Malefic Visions can damage him hard.
Since Brands combo starter is short ranged, he should be very predictable. Call of the Void if he seems like he wants to kill you.
Don't push the lane too hard, Brand works well with co-ordinated ganks.

Difficulty: Medium-hard

Stay mobile at all times to dodge Noxious Blast.
Silence her before attempting to apply Malefic Visions, to prevent a stun combo.
Immediately Flash away if she Flashes towards you, as it is likely that Cassiopeia was trying to use Petrifying Gaze.
Retreat if you become poisoned.

Difficulty: Easy

Fiddlesticks' main damage output comes from Bountiful Harvest. Silence him when he channels it.
Calls MIAs often as Fiddlesticks is a beastly ganker with Crowstorm
Fiddlesticks is a horrible farmer, push your lane often.
If Fiddlesticks does not come back to his lane after you've killed him, he might be trying to kill you with a surprise Crowstorm.

Difficulty: Easy

Fizz very squishy with low health. Malefic Visions will eat up his life quite hard.
Be prepared to dodge Chum the Waters.
Don't be afraid to use autoattacks to harass Fizz, he's very squishy.
Try to push your lane, Fizz can't farm well.

Difficulty: Extremely Hard

Request a lane switch if possible, Galio will counter you hard.
Don't try to harass him, it is a waste of mana since he stacks MR.
Be prepared to dodge Resolute Smite, it will damage you a lot if you don't.
Don't push your lane, he can Flash + Idol of Durand with an allied ganker if you are not careful.

Difficulty: Somewhat Easy

Gragas is a melee, you should harass him hard.
Be prepared to dodge Barrel Roll.
Silence Gragas if he starts channeling Drunken Rage.
Don't get caught out of position, he can Explosive Cask you to your death.

Difficulty: Easy

Always push your lane to prevent Heimerdinger to push with his turrets.
Stay behind three minions at all times to dodge his Hextech Micro-Rockets.
If Heimerdinger walks close to you, unleash your combo.
Ask your jungler to gank him often, Heimerdinger pushes too hard.

Difficulty: Easy

Karthus has no escape and is very squishy, ask for ganks often.
Harass him often to prevent the godmode Karthus everyone hates.
Don't stay around at low health for too long, he can finish you off with Requiem.
Alert your team when Karthus hits level 6.

Difficulty: Medium

Kassadin counters mages, you are not an exception.
Attempt to silence him to prevent a Null Sphere.
Push your lane hard, Kassadin can't farm well.
Be prepared to play defensively when Kassadin hits level 6, you will get raped if you don't.

Difficulty: Medium

Katarina is a melee, harass her often.
Stay behind minions to prevent Bouncing Blades
If she uses Shunpo on you, back off and silence her and her ult.
Call your MIAs, Kat is an unstoppable roamer.

Difficulty: Medium

Stay behind minions to dodge Thundering Shuriken
Don't bother harass Kennen too often, his sustain will negate it.
Refrain from using Nether Grasp if Kennen is using Slicing Maelstrom at the same time, you will get stunned.
Silence Kennen if he uses Lightning Rush towards you, it is likely that he wants to ult.

Difficulty: Medium

You must be skilled at Malzahar to have a chance of winning.
Try to harass with Call of the Void and push with Malefic Visions to prevent LeBlanc from farming and roaming.
Once LeBlanc hits level 6, be very cautious.
You need to pre-empt LeBlanc's combo. This is very hard to do so however, I recommend silencing her every now and then. If she uses Distortion to dodge it, either you Flash out or immediately Nether Grasp + Ignite her, then Malefic Visions after.

Difficulty: Easy

Lux has skillshots that are easy to dodge.
Pushing your lane will hamper Lux's gold income.
When on low health, prepare to dodge finales funkeln
Harass with Malefic Visions often, she is very squishy.

Difficulty: Depends

Malzahar can do the exact same things you can do, so you must plan ahead.
When engaging, make sure to be the first one to silence the opponent.
Don't hesitate to not use Null Zone when engaging if you fear that the opponent will Nether Grasp you quicker.
Keep pushing with Malefic Visions to balance out lanes.

Difficulty: Easy

Mordekaiser is a squishy melee early game, harass him often.
Stay out of range so you won't get constantly hit by Siphon of Destruction.
Retreat if he uses Children of the Grave on you.
Use autoattacks to deplete his shield before harassing with abilities.

Difficulty: Medium

Most Morganas will push with Tormented Shadow, counter this by pushing with Malefic Visions
If Morgana is seriously outpushing you hard for some reason, use Null Zone to help you push back.
Don't bother harassing back, Black Shield will negate your harass.
Always be alert to dodge Dark Binding.

Difficulty: Medium-hard

Orianna has superior range in this matchup, try to farm more than harass.
Be alert to stay away from the ball.
Wait until she has used Command: Protect before harassing.
Take your wraiths if you are being denied subsequent minions.

Difficulty: Somewhat easy

Ryze has no range compared to you, harass him often.
Deny Ryze farm so he can't be tanky later on.
If he rushes a Banshee's Veil, push your lane.
Try not to get caught, his Rune Prison can set you up for death.

Difficulty: Medium

Harass Swain from a distance, he has no range compared to you.
Retreat if he uses Torment on you.
If engaging for a kill, always use Ignite to counter his Ravenous Flock.
Dodge his Nevermove often.

Difficulty: Medium-hard

Harass Talon often, he's melee.
Avoid his Rake as it damages squishies by a huge amount.\
If you find yourself losing the lane, push the lane hard.
Don't let Talon get too farmed or fed, or he will one-shot you in every fight.

Difficulty: Medium

Deny Veigar farm for his Baleful Strike, or he'll one-shot everybody.
You can still move and attack inside his Event Horizon, just don't touch the edges.
If you seem to be dying too often to Veigar, consider an early Banshee's Veil.
Ask for jungler ganks often, Veigar is squishy.

Difficulty: Somewhat easy

Viktor only beats you if you stay within his range.
Harass with Call of the Void often, the range will keep you from a safe distance.
Avoid skirmishes with Viktor, he can silence your Nether Grasp with Arcane Storm if you are not careful.
Remember to check his item build to see which Augment he is building.

Difficulty: Easy

Vladimir has a terrible early game, capitalize on that by harassing him hard.
Null Zone will destroy him if you constantly combo him.
Try to bait his Sanguine Pool before attacking him.
Your DoT's last through his Sanguine Pool, so be sure to land a Malefic Visions + Ignite combo for an easy kill.

(Meet my second most played mage!)
Difficulty: Hard

You can never reach a good Xerath, so stay back and farm.
Be prepared to dodge his Arcanopulse.
Avoid skirmishes with Xerath, he can stun you while you are using Nether Grasp if you badly timed it.
Push your lane with Malefic Visions if he harasses you too often.

Difficulty: Medium

Like Xerath, you can't reach a good Ziggs most of the time.
Dodge his Bouncing Bomb often, it is his main source of damage.
Ziggs lacks a reliable escape ( Satchel Charge requires precision timing), so ask for ganks often.
Be prepared to Flash out of the Mega Inferno Bomb radius if you are low on health.

Screenshots

By: Wiz_

Closing

Thanks for reading my most in-depth guide I've ever written on my most played champion . Sometimes I consider to be my main, but I can never forget my first loved one, .

~ Phil Collins

Soon to come:
Who is Malzahar? Why Malzahar?
Screenshots (I'll try to do so on the weekend).

Credits to jhoijhoi for some of the templates, which you can find here.

Changelog

May 14 2012: Guide published
May 15 2012: Added "Changelog chapter", added changes according to feedback.
May 16 2012: Overestimated , changed her matchup section.
June 8 2012: Added screenshots
July 19 2012: Added changes according to feedback.
Sept 14 2012: Removed from the core build.
Oct 3 2012: Edited in the matchups.
Nov 19 2012: Added some info on runes.
Nov 21 2012: Changed guide title
December 12 2012: SEASON 3 UPDATE! Also, I removed all top-lane Malzahar sections as it is simply not viable now.

Malzahar: Staring at People was Never this Exciting (UPDATED

Malzahar: Staring at People was Never this Exciting (UPDATED

Recommended Items

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order

Void Shift (PASSIVE)

Call of the Void (Q)

Void Swarm (W)

Malefic Visions (E)

Nether Grasp (R)

Introduction

Pros / Cons

Runes

Masteries

Skills

Skill Sequence

Summoner Spells

Core Items

General Item Building

Situational Items

Early Game

Mid Game

Late Game/Teamfights

Lane Match-Ups

Screenshots

Closing

Changelog

League of Legends Champions: