Malphite Build Guide by xmotoby

Introduction

ABOUT ME
Hello, I am xmotoby, a Silver 3 player who likes to do off-meta builds. I main jungle. and play Elise, Vi, and Malphite the most.

My OP.GG page

WHY DO THIS?
Malphite does plenty of burst damage with his full combo, and can follow up on engages very hard.

Champion Info

Malphite is a fun champion to play. While normally built as a tank, he has good AP scalings and with his ultimate, Unstoppable Force he can easily one-shot squishies. With this build, he is a follow-up assassin as opposed to the typical Malphite engage. His early-mid game is extremely strong with this build, but he starts to fall off late game.

Pros / Cons With This Build

Pros

+ High burst damage + Good CC + Has high base defenses + Can disengage with ult + Off-meta (low elo players don't know how to counter) + Shield keeps health fairly high in the jungle + Fun to play

AP Malphite jungle is fairly strong for a few reasons. First, while his pre-6 ganks are just OK, once he gets ult his ganks are nearly unavoidable without Flash. His abilities' AP scalings are pretty high and with max CDR, on a very low cooldown too. Full combo (REQW+smite) should kill most squishies if they have anywhere less than 80% HP or so. His passive shield lets him farm with somewhat high health, which is good in case you get invaded on or need to gank.

Cons

+ Pre-lvl 6 ganks are just ok + High mana costs + Low DPS + Falls off late-game.

With all the benefits of AP Malphite comes weaknesses too. Early game, his high mana costs limit his ability to fight/gank too well especially if you need the mana to farm with. Pre-lvl 6 ganks may net a flash, but probably not a kill unless your laner has a lot of cc or the enemy already blew flash. Also, if someone lives through your first combo, you will have a tough time killing them unless they have no sustain. As we don't build tankily, without ult or flash you can be killed pretty quickly.

Spells

Flash is the best spell in the game because it allows many plays to be made. ( Flash R can cover a lot of distance)

Smite is totally necessary for farming, getting the jungle item and Dragon/Baron control.

I wouldn't recommend taking any spells other than these.

Runes

Marks:
9x Greater Mark of Magic Penetration-I like these to amplify the amount of damage we do. More effective than AP marks in my opinion. Can be replaced with greater mark of hybrid penetration.

Seals:
9x Greater Seal of Armor-These give you the ability to survive in the jungle as well as boost the damage of your Ground Slam

Glyphs:
9x Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist-These keep you alive late game when mages such as Lux or Veigar can one-shot you too. Can be replaced with Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.

Quints:
3x Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed-These help you farm more effectively than Greater Quintessence of Ability Power, but either could work.

Masteries

Most of the masteries are variable, but we need to have Thunderlord's Decree and Intelligence .

Skill Sequence

Malphite's passive, Granite Shield allows him to take a lot less damage while farming and ganking. Typically it is worth waiting the few seconds for it to recharge before starting the next camp early.

Seismic Shard is a pretty strong ability. It has a somewhat high AP scaling for a relatively low cooldown late game. The main use of it is to proc Thunderlord's Decree , catch up or run away from/to someone.

Brutal Strikes boosts your armor a bit and gives your AAs a boost. We generally do not need this ability for damage as opposed to tank Malphite. However, it helps make farming easier and faster.

Ground Slam scales off of AP and armor, therefore Zhonya's Hourglass is strong on Malphite. It does a lot of AOE damage in a circle and slows attack speed.

Unstoppable Force has a 100% AP scaling and makes you travel very quickly to a place and knocks up the enemies. This ability is what makes Malphite so strong.

Level up E first, then W, then Q. Max R whenever possible, then E>Q>W

Items

: Stalker's Blade - Runeglaive This is the best first item for AP junglers.

: Zhonya's Hourglass is core on Malphite. It gives you AP and armor, which is exactly what we need for damage, but what makes it special is it's passive. It allows you to go full ham and then just wait for your team or dodge important spells like Requiem or Final Spark.

: Abyssal Mask gives good ability power and magic resist, but the passive of this item is what makes it strong. It reduces all nearby enemies' MR by 20, which, unless they are STACKING MR, is more than what the Void Staff gives.

Morellonomicon gives us AP, mana, CDR and the ability to inflict grievous wounds, which is strong against champions such as Swain who rely heavily on healing. I would recommend this item if you do not need any defenses.

: Generally buy Ionian Boots of Lucidity unless you already have 45% CDR or the enemy team is stacking MR, in which case you'd buy Sorcerer's Shoes. If you keep dying because of magic damage or CC, buy Mercury's Treads. If they have a strong ADC or physical damage dealer, buy Ninja Tabi.

: Rabadon's Deathcap is the strongest AP item in the game, but doesn't give any other useful stats. Only buy this if you're super far ahead.

: Void Staff gives a good amount of AP and % magic penetration. I would only buy this if the enemy generally has 100+ MR. Combined with Abyssal Mask, the enemies' MR will be nearly nonexistent.

: Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives AP and health as well as a passive that makes it easier to catch up to enemies. Buy this with Liandry's Torment for lots of damage.

: Rod of Ages gives a good amount of AP, mana and health.

: Liandry's Torment gives AP, magic penetration and health. It's passive boosts your damage by a fair bit. If building this with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, buy Haunting Guise first, build Rylai's Crystal Scepter, then finish Liandry's Torment.

: Luden's Echo gives AP and extra burst damage. Similar to Rabadon's Deathcap, it does not provide many useful stats besides flat damage.

: Dead Man's Plate gives armor and health, which is good for E damage and passive shield. The movement speed from it gives good roaming power.

: Randuin's Omen is like Dead Man's Plate, but better in teamfights for the attack speed slow combined with the movement speed slow.

: Frozen Heart is a good item with armor, CDR and mana, but it lacks health and so does not benefit Granite Shield in the same way that Randuin's Omen and Dead Man's Plate do.

: Iceborn Gauntlet gives armor, CDR and mana and a Sheen proc. If a game runs very long, I would recommened selling the jungle item, buying this and trading boots in for Sorcerer's Shoes.

: Thornmail gives a lot of armor, like Frozen Heart but gives no health. It is only good if an ADC is reaaaaaly fed.

: Zz'Rot Portal gives armor and MR and a passive than can be extremely frustrating to deal with for the other team.

: Banshee's Veil is good against champions with one very strong ability such as Malzahar. I would normally buy this instead of Spirit Visage.

: Spirit Visage would be good if you have a lot of healing on your team, like a Sona or Soraka.

: Mikael's Crucible is good against teams that have champs like Veigar, Warwick or Malzahar for your teamates.

: Locket of the Iron Solari gives you a shield for teamates as well as AOE MR for teamfights.

: Quicksilver Sash is good if you find yourself getting CCd to death repeatedly.

: Sterak's Gage is good for diving in and not dying if your team lacks a tank, but then you'd be better off playing tanky Malphite.

Early Game

IF ON RED SIDE:
Get a leash from botlane on krugs( Smite). Then go to red, take a health potion or two. Do raptors next. After that you can gank or keep farming. If you keep farming, go to wolves, gromp Smite, then blue( Smite) and recall to buy items.

IF ON BLUE SIDE:
Get a leash from botlane on gromp( Smite). Then go to blue, take a health potion or two. Do wolves next. After that you can gank or keep farming. If you keep farming, go to chickens, red( Smite), then krugs( Smite) and recall to buy items.

Mid Game

By this point you should try to keep a Vision Ward ward on drag and take it if you kill the enemy botlane and/or the jungler. You should have ult too, and so try to gank a lane whenever it's up.

Late Game

By this point you do a lot of damage but the enemy team should have more MR and an ADC able to kill you or sustain through your damage. Keep a ward on baron. You are an assassin, so DO NOT be the first one to go in. Also, if you have a very advantageous fight, go ahead and take baron.

OBJECTIVE ORDER:
Nexus>Inhibs>Towers>Baron>Drag>Kills

Only go for one of these if it will help you get to the next one.

Conclusion

This concludes my AP Carry Malphite guide. Thanks for reading! If you like it, please upvote. If not, leave a comment and I'll try to improve my guide.

-xmotoby