League of Legends - Malzahar Guide

Malzahar is a powerful anti-carry, nuker and disabler (through suppression and silence). He is a strong AP carry, capable of destroying enemies in 1v1 encounters while also packing two area of effect abilities to help his team in teamfights. Malzahar also possess % health damage, making him great to bring down durable targets.

This Malzahar guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Malzahar, it is recommended for people just starting to use Malzahar.

Abilities

• 
  Summon Voidling (Passive): Malzahar's passive is a nice addition to his early-mid game damage especially when you time its summon with your ultimate. The minion will target the person that you cast Malefic Visions on, but beyond that it is uncontrollable.
• 
  Call of the Void: An amazing area of effect disable that can turn the tide of team fights with correct placement. It is a very hard skill-shot to hit but is very important to master as a Malzahar player. It's also a great minion farming ability and can grant vision over walls.
• 
  Null Zone Another great area of effect skill that is % health based, making it very powerful especially against high health targets. Combining this skill with Nether Grasp is an extremely deadly combination.
• 
  Malefic Visions Malzahar's main form of early game harassment, this skill also has the ability to jump from target to target while regenerating your mana, making it a very powerful lane pushing skill. It also turns into a reliable slow once you have built a Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
• 
  Nether Grasp(Ultimate) This allows Malzahar to perform an anti-carry role. It allows him to take a single enemy champion out of the fight with proper timing and also punishes people for over-extending. Try to land a Null Zone under your target before casting this for maximum damage. This skill has a low cooldown and you can use Ignite while using your ultimate.

Ability Order

Skill ordering should follow: Ult > Malefic Visions > Call of the Void > Null Zone

Malefic Visions is your main harassment ability in lane and also provides powerful zoning potential so it is best maxed first. From here you want to max Call of the Void to give you strong area of effect damage and silence duration in team fights. This leaves Null Zone till last. However, if you are new to Malzahar and have trouble landing Call of the Void you may consider maxing it second.

Runes

Red (Marks) - Magic Penetration
Yellow (Seals) - Mana Regeneration Per Level
Blue (Glyphs) - Cooldown Reduction
Purple (Quintessences) - Health // Ability Power

Grabbing Magic Penetration Marks will boost your damage output and a standard for any caster. Mana regeneration Seals are vital to maintain your mana levels. Glyphs are best run as cooldown reduction, this allows you to use your skills more often, which is vital for any caster. Quintessences can either be Health or Ability Power depending on what you have available and how aggressive you like to lane.

Summoner Spells

 

Best Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Ignite

Ignite is Malzahar's best friend as it can be cast while casting his ultimate increasing his damage output significantly and scoring him alot of early game kills that he would otherwise not obtain. Flash is great to catch out an enemy with Flash + Ultimate and also doubles as a powerful escape skill.

Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Ghost

Ghost is another possible option for Malzahar either replacing Flash or Ignite depending on your preferred playstyle.

Masteries

As a caster a 9/0/21 mastery setup is your best option for Malzahar. Don't forget to grab Improved Ghost if you take it as a summoner spell.

The offensive tree gives you ability power, cooldown reduction and the all important 15% spell penetration.

While the utility tree offers reduced death timers, improved experience, mana regeneration, increased buff duration, movement speed and cooldown reduction.

Item Build

 
Final Item Build:
-Sorcerer Shoes
-Rod of Ages
-Rylai's Crystal Scepter
-Zhonya's Hourglass
-Rabadon's Deathcap
-Void Staff

Steps/Reasoning:
-Malzahar is flexible with starting items. You can start with a Doran's Ring for some health, ability power and mana regeneration. Alternatively you can start with Boots + 3 Health Potions, giving you great mobility and harassment potential.
-Next you want to build your Sorcerer Shoes and Catalyst the Protector.
-If you are doing well, rush a Rabadon's Deathcap if not then build a Rod of Ages.
-Another strong core item choice for Malzahar is Rylai's Crystal Scepter, giving you some powerful slows to give you some team utility.
-From here you'll want to build a Zhonya's Hourglass for armor and the powerful active ability. Also grabbing a Void Staff to penetrate enemy magic resistance is a great option.

Alternatives:
-Banshee's Veil (For magic resistance and the spell block ability)
-Abyssal Scepter (Good magic resistance boost if the enemy is caster heavy)
-Mejai's Soulstealer (If you have a very good early game)

General Malzahar Tips

• Always try to land a Null Zone before casting your ultimate, it will increase its damage significantly.
• Don't always use Ignite with your ultimate, save it until the end and judge whether or not it is needed to secure the kill, there is no point wasting it.
• If the enemy has a channelled ultimate keep your silence to cancel it.
• You can use Malefic Visions to grab experience and gold from minions without being near them, this is great if you need to play defensively.
• When you are hiding in a bush, be aware of your Voidling's position it may give away your hiding place.
• Don't forget you can cancel your ultimate at any time if the situation changes and you need to retreat.

Early Game (Level 1-6)

• Harass the enemy with Malefic Visions whenever they are in range, against weak opponents you can easily zone them out of minion waves (thus gold and experience). Don't forget to last hit minions with your auto-attacks while harassing.
• As you approach level 6 you want to dwindle the enemies health down for (hopefully) a guaranteed kill at level 6. You can combine your Flash & ultimate with your jungler for maximum effect.
• If the enemy is keeping its distance, you can weaken a nearby minion with auto-attacks and then land Malefic Visions on the minion (killing it quickly/instantly) and then hopefully jumping onto the enemy champion.
• When the enemy leaves their lane to recall or gank a side-lane you can punish them heavily by pushing the lane with Malefic Visions, be wary of the enemy jungler though.

Mid Game (Level 7-12)

• Place Malefic Visions on the minion that your minions are attacking and then proceed to auto-attack this minion as well. This will ensure you push the lane, while allowing Malefic Visions to jump from minion to minion restoring your mana. This will allow you to farm heavily while also pushing the lane, free-ing you up to gank other lanes.
• You should consider using Flash and your ultimate to gank side lanes with your allies, your suppression is much more powerful in 2v2 and 3v3 situations as opposed to all out team fights.
• If the enemy is pushing a lane hard with numbers you can quickly use your skills to clear the minion waves and keep them off the tower until reinforcements arrive.

Late Game (Level 13-18)

• Focus on using your ultimate against the enemy carry to take them out of the fight. You want to do this after all major crowd control has been used.
• You also want to focus on landing a Call of the Void and Null Zone in the middle of the team fight for maximum damage and disable potential (silence and slow from Rylai's). Be very careful with the placement as your likely only to get 1 casted per teamfight.
• Look out for Banshee's Veil. During the late stages of the game most champions will have one, you definitely do not want to try use your ultimate on someone with one of these active. Also note if anyone has Quicksilver Sash as it can counter your ultimate as well. 

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