Malzahar/Strategy

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Skill Usage

• Malzahar can Summon Voidlings by spamming abilities at spawn. This can be useful at beginning of game by using an ability to quickly decimate the jungle monsters or enemy minions in your lane.
  • Be aware that Voidlings grant 12 Gold as bounty. If you die while having a Voidling summoned, it will not die outright but it will stay motionless and sometimes attack an opponent very close to them, they can still be killed to grant their bounty,
  • Voidlings are the key in Malzahar's combo as they are the ones who deal damage to enemies while suppressed.
• Never underestimate Call of the Void. It is extremely effective at turning team fights, both damaging and silencing as many enemies as possible.
  • Call of the Void can turn a disadvantageous push from enemy team into a stalemate by spamming it on incoming enemy champions. Enemies who were damaged and silenced will think twice, or even retreat from the front due to the momentary vulnerability while the silence debuff is in place.
  • If there is an enemy who needs to cast his whole combo and escape with skill try to silence him after he is in range. He will be an easy target after it.
  • Remember that  Call of the Void grants vision. Use this to check bushes or over walls for enemy champions.
• Casting Malefic Visions on an enemy minion that is about to die is a good way to farm minion kills or harass safely because of its chain reaction. Malefic Vision is Malzahar's main ability to do a pentakill, stay alert of your enemies to cast it on the right position at the right time.
  • It is best to cast Malefic Visions on Caster Minions first when a new wave of minions comes. As they have lower health than Melee Minions, they typically have a higher chance of dying, thus increasing the chance of propagating. During this time the enemy Melee Minions will fight your own, causing their health to be lower and increasing your odds of killing them. If you are lucky enough and time it correctly, you can potentially chain one Malefic Visions through all 6 minions in a wave using this method.
• Malzahar will still gain gold and XP from anywhere on the map if Malefic Visions finishes off the minions. This is useful both to avoid being denied and to continue to farm aggressively all game long, but be careful as this might cost you gold and XP if the vision is blocked by enemy champions or siege minions.
• Leveling up Malefic Visions early in the game is a great way to harass enemy champions without using any mana. Simply cast it on a wave of minions near the enemy champion and auto-attack the infected minion until it spreads to the champion. This results in around 50-120 gold, almost no mana lost (you might have gained mana), and the enemy champion being out of 100-200 health. At rank 1 it takes 6 minion kills to fully refund the mana cost. At all other ranks it takes 5 minion kills to fully refund the mana cost.
• Against a single target (champion), Malefic Visions is Malzahar's most mana-efficient damage ability even if it doesn't jump, and is his only harassment method that won't push his lane.
• Malzahar is very good at harassing enemies under a turret. Call of the Void and Null Zone both have excellent range, and can be used to harass or finish off enemies under a turret. Call of the Void and Malefic Visions both take a second before they deal their damage, allowing you to get back out of turret range.
• Nether Grasp has a suppression effect; it disables the use of summoner spells and is not affected by tenacity like Mercury's Treads. However, the suppression effect of his ultimate can be canceled by Quicksilver Sash, Olaf's Ragnarok, Gangplank's Remove Scurvy or Alistar's Unbreakable Will.
• During a team fight use Nether Grasp to disable any high DPS or healers for your team to pick off quick. When carefully aimed it can be used through some walls in Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline and the Crystal Scar as well.
• A combo of Call of the Void, Null Zone, Malefic Visions, Nether Grasp, and Ignite will kill all but the toughest champions, which makes Malzahar a great 1v1 champion.
  • It's highly recommended that you use Smart cast to fire your arsenal of abilities as quickly as possible and deny your target any chance to escape.
  • Possible Bug: Ignite will interrupt Nether Grasp, so it's advisable to replace Ignite with other Summoner Spells such as Teleport of Barrier.
• Malzahar's Null Zone deals a percentage of the target's maximum health, meaning that late game Malzahar can deal tons of damage when multiple enemies stand on his Null Zone.
• Don't underestimate the power of  Null Zone; unlike many pool attacks, its damage scales off the enemy's max HP, allowing it to do potentially more damage than most other pool attacks.
  • Also, working with teammates to stun an enemy champion on Null Zone can prove to be devastating.

• Malzahar's Nether Grasp does not have to be used to kill an enemy, but can disable an enemy instead. Nether Grasp is highly advisable to use to an enemy if the Voidling is fully grown so that its damage is stronger.

• Null Zone is a great way of zoning enemies as they realize it takes away a percentage of their health.
• Unlike most burst mages Malzahar can bring down fighters without much resistance, as his combo is the most powerful in-game (balanced by the entire lack of escaping abilities) and offers the highest DPS in game during the 2.5-3.5 seconds in which most of it happens.
• Remember that Malzahar is a combo mage (NOT A BURST MAGE, as it requires him to channel it), this means:
  • He has a massive power curve at level 6 and can flash-kill almost any laning opponent.
  • He is an easy prey to anti-combo opponents, especially those with silences.
  • He is VERY ultimate dependent to kill enemy by himself, get caught without it and your best chance to kill someone is to land Malefic Visions, Call of the Void and Null Zone in the way while you run.
  • No one can safely 1v1 you without Quicksilver Sash.
  • If a spell shield is in your way try to pop in down with Call of the Void.
  • He has long cooldowns, be extra-careful during those and abuse of your Voidlings while you have no abilities, as unleashing a full combo will always get at least a Voidling.
• Malzahar excels at killing carries and mages on teamfights, as they cannot defend or attack at all because of Nether Grasp and they are too fragile to survive, but it is dangerous to do so when the enemy frontline is present and carries are more likely to get a Quicksilver Sash.
• It is usually a better idea to use Nether Grasp on fighters or initiators than on carries, as a full combo with QWER and assistance of your team can most likely take out one member of the enemy team from the beginning of the teamfight. 
• Malzahar is a great pusher with his Malefic Visions and either with his Call of the Void or his Null Zone. This allows Malzahar to help lanes in trouble by pushing his own and with his combo at level 6 can ensure a kill.
• At level 6 while pushing with your Malefic Visions and your enemy laner gets caught you can then lay down your Null Zone and then Nether Grasp for an easy kill.
• Using Nether Grasp as a way to stop an enemy for a more successful gank or to feed the jungler a kill is never a bad idea especially when the jungler is someone like Kha'Zix or Rengar who are both devastating after a few kills.

AP Malzahar

Malzahar is an AP caster who hugely benefits from ability power and high-health items to kill-and-survive by using his combo that has the highest DPS in the game.

• Although Malzahar has no mana problem in lane if Malefic Visions is chained  through the minions, outside of the lane Malzahar is mana hungry. So building one of these three : a Chalice of Harmony, a Catalyst the Protector or a Tear of the Goddess early game will solve the problem.
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a great item for Malzahar  considering he has no real escape mechanism or crowd control other than Nether Grasp and Call of the Void. However, since all of his abilities are AoE or DoT, only the 15% slow applies, making this item less effective.
• Due to being a DoT champion, building a  Rylai's Crystal Scepter and a  Liandry's Torment on  Malzahar will allow him to inflict even more damage over time. The burn effect on  Liandry's Torment will deal double damage to a slowed enemy, thanks to  Rylai's Crystal Scepter, allowing abilities such as  Malefic Visions to become devastating.
• Using a Banshee's Veil is another good idea for more survivability and prevents your ultimate Nether Grasp from being interrupted by an enemy with a stun or silence.
• Hextech Revolver is a good item as it will keep you alive with the spell vamp while you are using Nether Grasp. However, on his AoE spells, the spell vamp is diminished (33% rate). Farming minions waves with Malefic Visions and spell vamp item can restore a lot of mana and restore health.
  • Will of the Ancients offers spell vamp, ability power and cooldown reduction, which benefits Malzahar.
  • Hextech Gunblade will also give spell vamp, but also would drastically increase the power of his Voidlings, as they scale with his bonus damage.
• Void Staff is a useful item, giving you a lot of magic penetration, allowing all your abilities to deal more damage. Also use items such as Sorcerer's Shoes and Haunting Guise.  Abyssal Scepter is also a great item to get if enemy team composition is magic-heavy. Morellonomicon provides AP, CDR, mana regen and grievous wounds that will improve Malzahar's combo.
• You cannot use the Zhonya's Hourglass active in conjunction with Nether Grasp - it will interrupt the spell.
• Malzahar can be built as a pusher as well. With his Voidling, he is able to put out a considerable amount of damage on turrets. Don't be afraid to buy Lich Bane if you are feeling confident enough to push.
• Rabadon's Deathcap is a great buy for Malzahar because all of his spells have high ability power ratios.

AD Malzahar

• Malzahar has an unspoken potential as an AD caster due to the fact that Malzahar's Voidlings benefit from his AD and his armor penetration. This makes a spam-oriented AD Malzahar build fairly viable.
  • Youmuu's Ghostblade provides Cooldown Reduction, Armor Penetration, and Attack damage, as well as a handy passive that makes autoattacking more frequently a valuable asset.
  • To supplement the high mana costs regarding spamming spells, Manamune can synergize in particular with this build as it provides Mana and damage, which helps you deliver minions that are in turn stronger. Additionally, Muramana also gives Malzahar strength with his autoattacks, although it is advised to use Muramana's passive sparingly, as it will drain your mana just as fast as any of your skills.
  • The Black Cleaver provides CDR, built-in penetration, and attack damage, while also giving Malzahar more incentive to autoattack, as your attacks will passively reduce armor for all incoming sources of physical damage, including Voidlings.
  • For this kind of build, Trinity Force allows you to augment physical attacks and encourage your spell-spamming, while giving you damage for your Voidlings.
  • For a tankier AD build, Warmog's Armor can provide stellar health and regeneration.
  • The Bloodthirster can grant a spectacular amount of damage and sustain, and Malzahar is naturally good at farming minions up.
  • To make Malzahar's autoattacks potentially more lethal, Infinity Edge can grant you a potential for larger damage through critical strikes. Regardless of whether or not you're concerned with Malzahar's regular damage output, his Voidlings will still benefit from the attack damage it grants.
  • For boots, consider either getting Berserker's Greaves, Ionian Boots of Lucidity or Mercury's Treads. Greaves will give Malzahar a greater DPS output, while the Treads help keep Malzahar fairly tanky. The Ionian Boots will give Malzahar CDR, to help with his spamming potential.
  • With CDR in mind, quick and easy ways to achieve 40% CDR include Frozen Heart and Zeke's Herald.

Champion Synergies

Note: These team-ups with Malzahar may be a pretty strong team as they all have strong CCs that really make a difference in clashes.

• Talon, The Blade's Shadow. Talon's passive: Mercy, works very well with Malzahar's ultimate, Nether Grasp, suppresses one enemy champion. While unable to move, Talon can freely autoattack the enemy with his increased damage, killing the enemy very quickly, making Talon the best team-up for Malzahar.
• Warwick, The Blood Hunter. Suppression is the best way to fully disable your enemy, Warwick and Malzahar both have suppresses which mean that they can easily kill a single enemy champion (especially tanks). Warwick must first suppress the enemy so that Malzahar can properly release his first 3 abilities, then after Warwick's suppress, Malzahar can now use his and Warwick can now use his combo next.
• Shen, The Eye of Twilight. Malzahar's combo is one of the most strongest combo in the game, Shen must first taunt the enemy champion, when taunted, the enemy will attack Shen with half the damage they deal. After that, Shen will throw his Vorpal Blade at the enemy and Malzahar can freely release his full combo, while the Vorpal Blade debuff is active, the combo will increase Malzahar's health and Shen's as well.
• Kalista, The Spear of Vengeance. When Malzahar's ultimate suppresses the enemy champion, Kalista can just use her autoattack at the suppressed enemy then cast Rend to ensure a kill.

PROS and CONS

PROS:

• Silence and Suppress
• Strong DPS
• Mana-sustain
• Strong Combo
• Killer Pet
• Ranged Champion
• Hybrid
• Farms quickly

CONS:

• No Mobility
• Prone to Ganks
• Easily countered by disabling items

Recommended builds

Countering

• Nether Grasp's suppression can be removed by Quicksilver Sash, Alistar's Unbreakable Will, Gangplank's Remove Scurvy and Olaf's Ragnarok
  • A common misconception is that Quicksilver Sash will hard counter Malzahar and leave him completely helpless. While it's true that Quicksilver Sash removes the suppression from Nether Grasp, it doesn't remove the damage, so Malzahar may still kill you using the damage part of his ultimate. You should be able to either quickly burst Malzahar down, or displace him with a hard CC, otherwise this item may actually be a waste of gold.
  • In addition, Nether Grasp is not the only dangerous ability on Malzahar's kit. He has a lot of AoE abilities and the tools to destroy tanks and turn the tide of battles with his silence, so try to focus him (which should be easy, as Malzahar has no escapes).
• Quicksilver Sash and Banshee's Veil might give an enemy Malzahar second thoughts about trying to suppress you with Nether Grasp.
• Malzahar's abilities deal magic damage so getting more than 100 magic resist can severely hinder the amount of damage he puts out.
• Malzahar's one of the (if not the) most powerful 1v1 champions in game as his combo is extremely overwhelming for almost any champion, because they can't benefit from any life steal or spell vamp during the combo, due to being disabled. On the other hand, he is pretty weak if long range crowd control or tank with long range gap-closer is present.
• Take care when going 1v1 against an enemy Malzahar as Nether Grasp is usually used to combo with Malefic Visions and Null Zone. Usually this will be a kill for Malzahar .
• Keep in mind that Malzahar is essentially stunned when he uses Nether Grasp, as it has a fairly long channel time. Take advantage of this to gang up on him if he uses it in a bad position.
  • Be careful to gank  Malzahar if your partner is low on health and playing carefully, as Malzahar will smash your friend and flee (likely using Flash).
• Save a disable for when Malzahar uses his Nether Grasp.
• If you see one of your allies under the effect of Nether Grasp, you can stun or silence the enemy Malzahar out of the channeling and safe your allies.
• Be extremely careful about turret diving Malzahar even if he has very low health, he will just deliver the combo, while you are suppressed and getting killed by the turret
• If you play as a tank, take care not to stand above Null Zone for too long or else the spell will devastate your health and can sometimes kill you if you're not too careful as it deals a percentage of your health.
• Malefic Visions is Malzahar's main farming-tool and mana-sustain early game. If you stand next to a minion that has Malefic Visions on it, so that it jumps over to you and not to another minion, you can deny part of his farm early game, but beware that Malefic Visions and Voidlings still do considerable damage. This tactic is better used by high sustain champions with self-heal or huge shields like Galio whose shield allow to catch Malefic Visions and still get away pretty unharmed.

Champion spotlight

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