Hi, this is The Rock Titan and I am a Malphite OTP

I hit Master playing only Malphite!

This guide is intended to anyone that wants to learn Malphite at a High level.

This guide alone does not guarantee that you will get a high rank but will significantly raise your chances.

Other guides about top laning and general game knowledge will help you climb as well.

Disclaimer: This guide may not work in low elo (Gold and below), things like "playing for your team" can be a bad advice in low elo. Some match ups are also dependent on the skill level of the opponent.

My main account: the rock titan

For anyone that wants to climb but don't have the mechanics to do so, Malphite is your champ!

Once in a while I get called, "dumb Malphite player" or "Must be boring being a Malphite one trick" but when you win and climb, you don't care what they say anymore!

Malphite mains are humble, they know they are bad at video games so instead of trying to see who clicks the fastest, they admit defeat and play Malphite!

This is me... a 24 year old boomer that can't compete with the 16 year old gaming prodigy at this game.

Lets get a few obvious things out of the way.

Everyone is going to tell you up front, don't worry, you're a tank, you'll be good in later on in teamfights.

That is true but you need to do a lot more than that to climb high!

1. You need to know your match ups. Know what to do vs the common match ups.

Things like Camille, Darius, Shen, Aatrox, Irelia, and Fiora you must know what to do against these Champs!

1.1 Laning and Trading

Many people think lane phase for Malphite is not important because Malphite excels in teamfights. However, this is not true for high elo.
Getting to Diamond relies heavily on properly handling your match up. There are about 50 of them and lucky for you, I made a match up guide for you :)
Getting to Master means you need to stomp or hard win your winning match ups. Exploit opponent's mistakes if you're against unfavored match ups.
Then doing all that while not dying to jungle ganks and looking for TP plays.

1.2 Against Tank Match ups

I always find it unrewarding winning lane against, Sion, Cho'Gath, Ornn and even Maokai...
First of all, you lose in all these match ups, any good Sion and Cho'Gath will win this lane easily.
Now lets say you do win against them, they made a big mistake and you get a kill on them...
The problem is, if their team is better, you're going to lose anyway because Sion and Cho'Gath is never going to be completely useless...
They are also playing hoping their team is going to carry them just like you...
So I find the best way to win the game (not your lane), is to have more Kill Participating than them.
If you helped your team thrive more than him, you'll most likely win the game.

2. By knowing your match ups, you'll need to know your lane Prios

Things like telling your jungler to start top side or push your lane to gain lane prio.
Do you win top/jg 2v2s? If not, tell your jungler to never gank top!

3. Wave control.

Know how to freeze and break freezes!
This is extremely important, I really recommand watching a video on this!

4. How to farm

Most of the you are going to get bullied.
Is it worth it to trade half your HP bar for 1 range minion? NO!
Only get the CS that's worth getting! Don't take too much damage trying to get 14 gold!
Sometimes, if you think you might die for a Cannon minion, you're just going to have to let it die in front of you. Don't. Be. Greedy.
Mid game farming requires you to keep up your farming while making sure you are not late to fights!
Keeping up decent farm numbers is very necessary! Do not over roam! Before you move, ask yourself do you have over 60% chance of making the play!
While farming is not as important on Malphite but if you fall extremely behind in farming, enemy Gwen top has 10cs/m and you're at 4cs/m
That enemy top can potentially carry the game later thru csing and towering alone!
I think a good cs/m for Malphite is around 6 ~ 6.5cs/m. If anything else, you're either over farming (not roaming enough) or over roaming (not farming enough)
Perma roaming is not a literal strategy, it really means, yes, you need to roam more than other champs as Malphite but you cannot ditch infinite waves and tower/plates to do so!
Also have you ever just roam mid and nothing happens? Think about the 2 to 4 minions you're missing everytime this happens. It adds up!

5. Know what to build (Itemization)

Every game your build can be different. In my items/builds guide, I mentioned how it is very difficult to have one build fits all, or best in slot.
But in general, you should think about itemization during champ select and loading screen.
Since the Hullbreaker buff, split pushing is becoming a real issue. You'll need to match your split pusher a lot of the times.
You should strictly itemize against the split pusher. What's the point of buying MR for teamfighting when you're trying to stop a trynd for most of the game

6. Know when to ult.

Your ult is a big decision, if you're the only engage on your team, the outcome of a teamfight will depend on whether your ult is good or not.
Don't engage when none of your teammates are around. You might see a 5 man ult opportinuty but if no teammate is around, do not ult! control urges!
If you can't find a 5 man ult, don't be greedy! Just ult the best available target!*
Ideally you want your ult to always be on CD. Use it to roam all the time!
Don't forget to use your ult as an escape! If enemy jungler ganks top and you ult away? You've wasted his time! Hopefully your team can get Drake off that.
I find landing your ult more and more difficult now... So many dashes and jumps. It's so nuts...
So you don't always need to engage with your ult, you can use it to zone mid fight and ult when the enemy exposes weakness because they need to extend to do damage
* In high elo especially, people just know how to play against your ult, it'll be rare to find two carries stacked up on top of each other.
This is why I love comps that has one hyper carry, then I can single out who to ult. You should already be thinking about who to ult when you're on the loading screen

7. How to use Granite shield?

Get your W and E off before your Granite shield is gone!
Farm around your Granite shield! You don't want to get too low in lane!

1. Get your TEAM fed!

If you are winning topside, transfer your lead to the rest of the team (also known as... Carrying)!
Carrying means you've contributed the most toward winning the game. If you're ahead, you must carry as a tank, one way or another!
Give your kills to your jungler, give your kills to your adc. You don't need it!

1.5 Map awareness is very important! It gets your team fed!

Since you only play one champ so you know this champ inside out, look at the mini map more!
Your post 6 roams, hovers and TP plays are very strong and if used well, you can win games just with Map awareness alone!

2. Roaming and TP ganks

This topic is in my opinion, very advanced. I'm not even an expert at this, if you are, you should be a coach.
Roaming and TP comes with a lot of experience, if you were once a jungler, you have a better edge at this.
You need to be able to look at a lane state and/or a small skirmish and determine whether moving there or TPing is going to do anything.
In general, you should be greedy with your TPs, use your TP if your team can get at least one kill + burn the other guy's summoners or get an objective right after.
Many times, it's just better to use TP for yourself, back to your lane because you're playing a bad match up most of the time (or to your prio).
This is why if you use your TP and got nothing out of it, you just ****ed yourself even more. Be very greedy with your TP ganks, make sure you get a lot out of your TP
As for Roaming, you don't have much of a choice other than Mid. If they have Vlad mid, Ahri mid, you're out of luck...
With that being said, if there is a fight happening anywhere around the map but you are pushed into your turret, do you farm your wave or move to the fight?
The answer is as Malphite, you need to give up the farm and move to the fight or else your team loses the fight. You rather lose the wave than lose the fight!
Similar story with TP, if you're farming a wave at turret then a fight happens bot, give up the wave and TP bot immediately.
There are also sometimes in the early game where you might be shoved with 3 waves crashing. In this case, no matter what, you cannot roam!
Honestly, if this happens, your jungler or team ****ed up. Why are they fighing topside in the early game while having a Malphite with no prio?
If you have lane prio and you can't gank mid, best thing to do is to get vision control in enemy team's jungle or get free recall off if you have time
In general, Malphite doesn't need a ton of CS to succeed, always give up your waves to win high precentage fights! You'll have your R button whether you are farmed or not!

3. Split Pushing / Catching side waves

Split push generally when you have your TP up.
Grouping and Teamfighting is a coinflip, everyone is sharing gold and exp from one lane. Side waves are all going to waste.
However, you must realize that it is very hard for Malphite to split push because you have no escape!
If you can't split push, wave clear the side wave and look for fights!
Get infinite pinks and sweepers and get your team to help clear enemy vision so you can get a fight off
Here are some invisible lines on the map that you can't cross unless the nearby jungle is warded

3.5 Dealing with split pushers

Against any type of split pusher, your goal is to not fall behind or try to win against them in the early game, lane phase
In the early game, try to get the jungler to gank and finish the gank as quickly as possible so he can go back helping the rest of the team
That means set up your wave so when your jungler comes, it's an in and out gank!
Buy items to counter them, as mentioned in #5 in Micro
Always try to clear the wave as much as possible before they reach your turret

4. Teamfighting

It's almost too hard to put this in writing, many factors can affect the out come of a teamfight.
Factors such as: itemization, vision control, item advantage, team comps are things you need to consider before hand when teamfighting
A major factor for teamfighting with Malphite is your Ult useage, please refer back to #6 in Micro
The most common form of teamfighting is a "Front to Back" style teamfight.
However, Malphite is general not a great front to back teamfighter because you offer no peel and kiting abilities for your team
Sometimes you may be forced to use your ult defensively so your Jinx can live
If you need to play for backline carries, try to go everfrost. This is great against enemy team with dive comps
The best scenario for a Malphite teamfight is an early pick on a priority target
Or you are able to find a blind spot in enemy vision and get a surprise ult off

5. Vision control

Ward more! It literally saves your life!
If your lane is pushed up to the enemy's turret, don't just walk back to lane... ward first. Chances are there is a jungler waiting for you to get back to lane...
Pinks are so important, guys literally watch your replays, sometimes you feel so stupid standing in a bush that is warded the whole time lol...

Any game knowledge is going to increase your chances of achieving a higher rank!

To make up for your lack of skill, you must have very deep game knowledge!

Generally Good to Consider

Arcane Comet Best Keystone for Q max for enemies that you can poke down early game with Q

Phase Rush Phase Rush is needed into match up where you're just looking to survive lane phase and you need to run away from the enemy champ as fast as possible. For example, Darius and Tahm Kench. If they get close to you and slow you, you just phase rush away!

Manaflow Band Malphite is really mana hungry early game, you want to usually Q the enemy champ every time Manaflow band is off cooldown to proc it. You need to finish procing this ASAP, You'll have pretty good after you max Manaflow band.

Transcendence Need the CDR for your ult! Absolute Focus is not worth it!

Scorch Best for early game Q poke damage

Gathering Storm If there is a match up where you can't Q poke early game, take gathering storm, I usually take gathering storm with Phase rush

Grasp of the Undying Best for W max or E max. Generally, take this against match up where you can get close to without getting chunked. For tank Malphite, Grasp and Resolve tree is the best to go. You can farm Grasp pretty easily with W

Demolish Good when you need to surviving and trading in the early game. Take this against anyone that looks to want to take long trades with you.

Second Wind Good into surviving early game poke, against Fiora, 2nd wind is great

Bone Plating Really good when you need to surviving and trading in the early game. Take this against anyone that looks to want to take long trades with you.

Overgrowth The best, gives you around 450 gold worth of health, combined with Conditioning, you can get up to 1200 gold worth of value from Runes alone!

Unflinching Need this against heavy CC! (Anivia, TF to name a few)

Biscuit Delivery Best for Malphite, you really need it to survive lane and Mana. Paired with Manaflow Band, you almost don't have Mana problems! You can sometimes catch your opponent off guard when they think you don't have Mana but you do. Also good combo if you're taking Time Warp Tonic

Magical Footwear Good when you're starting Doran's Shield. Give you 420 gold value and faster boots later

Time Warp Tonic A must if you're going Corrupting Potion. Paired with Buscuit delivery, you can gain a large amount of health and Mana instantly to catch your opponent off guard.

Cosmic Insight TP and Flash cd is really nice for sure. Magical footwear can be better if you don't need the boots early

Greedy Runes

Conditioning Very greedy, and generally games are decided before 12mins. I'd only take this if the game is looking to scale or you're playing against some scaling tank

Ultimate Hunter Generally very greedy to go but if you want to play for your team and sac early game / lane phase, you can go Ultimate Hunter. I rarely get this rune because I think lane phase is really important

First Strike Really good in lanes where you know for sure you'll get the first strike. I wouldn't take it if the enemy has any skillshot that can potentially land on you first

More Item Notes Above in the Items Section! Hover over "NOTES" on the top right hand corner to see!

At first, I didn't want to make a guide on items and builds. It varies too much every game... But due to popular request, I decided to try my best and make one.
Right now, I think stacking armor or MR (or any defensive stats for that matter) is not optimal.
There are too many champs that do true damage or mix damage in the game... For example, Yone, Katarina, Camille, Kraken Slayer(item) or other tank buster items...
So I think, we should build some damage or items that help us engage. I wouldn't underestimate Malphite's damage if you build damage.

Have you ever been in a situation late game where you do ZERO damage and if you didn't hit a good ult,
people can just ignore you in teamfights and walk past you and go for your carries?
Then after they kill your carries, they just turn around and kill you right after...
This is why you need to build damage.

Be flexible with your builds, I try to do my best to make this item's guide 1+1=2 but every game is different, look at the enemy team and build what's good!

Bramble / Thornmail While there is a lot of healing in the game, I would not get Thornmail if you're only against one person with a shieldbow or sunderer. Most of the time, you'll need this, there is too much healing in the game. I also like Thornmail because it actually does some damage for a defensive item. I would sit on bramble then completing this after Fimbul

Fimbulwinter Finally a mana item for us. Allows you to stay in lane longer with tear and really good for survivability later on. This item really allows Malphite to sustain in extended teamfights. Also this makes other Mana items that much more efficient (Everfrost, Frozen Heart)

Force of Nature Since Patch 12.1, get FON against heavy AP dps, cassio, karthus, anivia, or against at least 2 to 3 AP champs!

Gargoyle Stoneplate Generally good, you'll have a lot of HP at this point. Really makes sure you won't get bursted or focused down in a fight.

Tech Items

After Fimbulwinter or 4th item onward, you can look to tech in some items if you see fit
Are you ahead? Are you looking to do more damage? One shot squishies or be better in the late game?
Not much healing, can I build Randuins or FH instead?

Randuin's Omen Randuins against crit champs, get this 4th item if you don't need Thornmail

Frozen Heart FH against lots of auto attack champs, get this 4th item if you don't need Thornmail

Demonic Embrace Good against High HP teams, Sion, Cho, Ornn or any bruiser comps Also very good in the late game as a 5th or 6th item, everyone is lvl18 with a lot of Max health

Shadowflame Against Karma, Lulu or anybody with a lot of shields, generally if enemy team has 3+ champs with any sort of shielding Good against squishies with small shielding

Anathema's Chains I would build this against some single target damage Hyper Carries, something like a fed Jinx, Ryze. Champs that output consistant DPS on a single target before moving onto the next and can't ignore you.

THANK YOU FOR READING!

Check out my stream! See how I play with my build! I try to be informational on my stream and answer any questions you may have.

https://www.twitch.tv/therocktitan

Join my Discord to ask me questions or to receive updates from me!
CLICK HERE FOR DISCORD

My stream usually starts everyday in the evening. I will stream more on the weekends.

For those of you that wants to read this guide on a Google sheet: CLICK HERE

Date Edits

2021-01-05
it begins...

2021-01-07
Why? #3 updated

2021-01-11
Runes updated

2021-01-12
Added Items/Builds,
Why? #7 added, #4 updated
Teemo match up note
Vlad match up changed from Unfavored to Medium (Even)
Added Swain match up

2021-01-16
Garen match up changed from Medium (Even) to Easy
Pantheon is now Easy
Updated Riven match up
Wukong match up changed to Easy

2021-01-17
Runes updated
Items/Builds Added Thornmail note

2021-01-27
Teemo match up changed from Easy to Medium (Even)
Items/Builds added notes for Chemtank with the release of patch 11.2

2021-01-30
WE ARE MASTER!

2021-02-02
Small updates on Shen, Sion and Vlad match up

2021-02-05
Yone match up changed from Unfavored to Easy

2021-02-08
Items/Builds updated for 11.3
Minor update on Runes

2021-03-06
Phase Rush Against Darius
Gnar Match up

2021-03-20
Item Sunfire notes for patch 11.6
Why? 1.1 and 1.2

2021-04-09
GP match up dated to Medium(Even)

2021-04-11
Frostfire items update

2021-04-17
Darius Match up updated

2021-05-08
Small match up update to, Camille, Fiora, Darius, Garen, Irelia, Riven, Volibear
Added Poppy Match up
Fiora match up changed from Medium to Unfavored
Gnar match up changed from Easy to Medium
Kled match up changed from Easy to Medium
Ornn match up changed from Unfavored to Medium, Take PTA!
Urgot match up changed from Unfavored to Medium
Gwen guide updated
Yone match up changed from Easy to Medium

Added PTA runes

2021-06-05
Runes, added D-ring start, Removed Absolute Focus
Items updated for patch 11.11, included Frozen Heart, Warden's Mail

2021-06-20
Added Starting items in Match up guide
Added Lee Sin Match up
Aatrox match up changed to Medium (Even)
Added Mundo Match up
Updated Items/Builds
Fiora match up changed from Unfavored to Medium
Mundo match up updated
Small match up date to Mord, Nasus, Kled, Gragas, Riven
Renekton changed from Easy to Medium
Rengar Changed from Medium to Easy
Sylas changed from Unflavored to Very Hard
Singed changed to Easy match up

2021-06-21
Sett match up updated

2021-06-22
Urgot match up updated

2021-07-03
Kayle match up updated

2021-07-10
Moved Why?
New Tab: Macro and Micro

2021-07-16
Macro and Micro: Split pushing
Items/Build updated for Anathema's Chain, Thornmail, Chemtank, Doran's Shield
Runes: updated for Doran's shield start and Doran's Ring start
Small match up date to Kled, Poppy, Fiora, Rumble, Sion, Trynd, Dr. Mundo, Ornn, Riven
Darius Match up downgrade from Very Hard to Unfavored
Sett match up downgrade from Unfavored to Medium (Even)
Shen Match up updated
Added Trundle Match up (because of Trundle Top.....)

2021-08-11
Camille changed from Easy to Medium because it can be difficult at first

2021-08-17
Added Tahm Kench Match up
Small Matchup update for Darius, Renekton
Fiora match up updated
Garen match up changed from Easy to Medium because it can be difficult at first
Riven match up changed from Easy to Medium
Items/Builds updated, added Wit's End and Abyssal Mask

2021-08-18
Added Explanation for Runes

2021-08-28
Illaoi match up updated

2021-09-17
Added Ryze match up
Micro Update, 5. Know what to build (Itemization)
Items/builds, Added AP build
Items/builds, Made Off-Tank build the main build

2021-09-18
Aatrox Match up changed from Medium to Unfavored
Added AP Malphite runes

2021-09-30
Items/Builds AP Malphite Build updated

2021-10-16
Added AP Bruiser build
Small match up changes to Fiora, Heimer, Jayce, Kled, Irelia, Volibear
Rengar changed from Easy to Medium

2021-10-21
Fiora Matchup updated
Ornn match up changed from Even to Unfavored
Macro and Micro, Macro #2, Micro #5
Added and Updated items for Preseason
Runes added First Strike, still testing for match up

2022-01-13
Macro and Micro #3 split pushing updated
Minor match up changes, Camille, GP, Jayce
Kled match up changed from Even to Unfavored
Nasus match up changed from Easy to Even
Tryndamere match up updated
Item/builds, added Frostfire Gauntlet back
Item/builds, changed notes about FH and Randuin's
Item/builds, FON notes updated

2022-01-17
Added Match up tier list and skill max info
Added Unflinching in Runes

2022-03-05
Most match up starting item changed to Doran's Shield
Small Match up changes to Trundle, Trynd, Ornn, Shen
Teemo match up changed from even to Unfavored
Added Bone Plating in runes
Grasp Runes changed
PTA runes removed

2022-03-05
Items / Builds Updated, AP Malphite removed
#5 Itemization

2022-04-30
Items / Builds Updated
Minor match up changes, Aatrox, Gwen, Gragas, Heimer, Kled, Mord, Nasus, Sion. Yorick, Vlad
Camille changed from Even to Easy
Irelia changed from Even to Easy
GP changed from Even to Unfavored
Taking ignite against certain match ups
Micro #6 Know when to ult
Added Macro #3.5 and #4 Teamfighting

2022-05-06
Items / Builds AP Bruiser, removed Fimbulwinter

2022-05-15
S12 MASTER!

2022-05-21
Added Disclaimer in introduction

2022-06-07
Match up changes, Aatrox, Camille, Darius, GP, Gwen, Jax, Mord, Rengar, Teemo, Yasuo, Yone
Jax match up changed from Easy to Even
Added Olaf Match up
Items / Builds updated

2022-06-25
Micro #4 How to farm
Macro #2 Roaming and TP ganks
Items/Builds added Rocketbelt

2022-09-16
Runes
items/builds Added Night Harvester
Fiora match up updated
Small match up updates to Gwen, Maokai, Sett