1. Introduction 2. Why play Malzahar? 3. When to pick Malzahar? 4. Pros/Cons 5. Summoner Spells 6. Runes 7. Abilities

8. Skill Sequence 9. Items 10. Early Game 11. Mid Game 12. Late Game 13. How to farm

14. Warding 15. Roaming 16. Playing from behind 17. Matchups 18. Synergies 19. What to ban? 20. Conclusion

Hello everyone and welcome to "My Malzahar's Build" guide. I am EUNE League of Legends player and my name in game is Hektor Ulmer (not my real life name, it's just what I added). My rank in other account was Diamond III, but I can't really remember my old account name because I took a break from the game for a several years but I really don't mind that and now I created new account to play for fun and not to be the best player in the game. My favourite champion in game is Viktor but I also love to play many champions such as Veigar, Malzahar etc. I play many roles but my best role is Mid and Top lane. From that being said, I am going to show you why Malzahar is the easy and fun mage champion to play. If you don't wanna read my guide and if you are only interested on items, that is fine for me because I created this guide for any players who mains Malzahar to get better in ranked or to play him just for fun. :)

Abilities

Malzahar - The Prophet of the Void Ranged Mage Champion Damage Type: Magic Mid Lane: Strong Difficulty to play: Easy Malzahar is easy and fun to play with. He can push really hard and farm well with his abilities. His ultimate Nether Grasp can prevent enemy champion to do anything for 2.5 seconds which is crazy. He also scales very well in the late game like many mages. Once you have completed your full build, you can easily kill any enemy champions with your all abilities before they can do anything back. He has some pretty decent matchups but some of them are pretty bad. From my experience, let me show you everything you need to know and how to play Malzahar.

You can pick Malzahar whenever you like to play with him. He is an easy champion and fun to play. He works in low elo but also in high elo as well. If you see that the enemy team has picked like Ahri, Akali or Twisted Fate, then you can safely pick Malzahar as it is easy matchup and you can trade them really well.

If you see that they picked like Azir, Kassadin or Orianna, then you can also pick Malzahar as well. You should play very carefuly and farm until you get few items then after that, you can trade them.

However, you should NOT pick againt long range champions such as Syndra, Viktor, Xerath or any other long range champions as they will make you hell out of you. These matchups are really horrible as you can't get close to them and they will just poke you from distance and outdamage you. If you are however picked first before them, then try your best to farm as much as you can and ask your jungler to help out. These hard lanes are still possible to win but if you have died more than 2-3 times, then the game is over for you.

Pros +Easy and fun to play +Good waveclear with Malefic Visions +Crazy AOE damage with Malefic Visions and Liandry's Torment in the late game +Good scale in mid game and great scale in the late game +Great gank setup with Nether Grasp +Crowd control immunity with passive Void Shift +Can cancel chanelling abilities with Call of the Void and Nether Grasp +Can destroy any champions with full combo with his abilities +He is the Leader of Void Malzahar has a great late game scaling thanks to his passive that can protect from CC and some damage, excellent waveclearing with Malefic Visions, damage over time, silence from Call of the Void and suppression from Nether Grasp. With his full combo with abilities, there is no chance that any champion can survive his insane damage over time in the late game without Quicksilver Sash. It's also quite easy and fun to play with him and in my opinion, he is underrated champion. :)

Cons -Like all other mages, he is squishy -Hard to master -Weak early game -Very low mobility -High cooldown/mana cost early game -Has no escapes which means he is easily ganked -Not great against scaling champions -Bad against long range champions -Easily focused in teamfights -Uselless without Nether Grasp -His Nether Grasp can be interrupted or cleansed by Quicksilver Sash, Remove Scurvy, Ragnarok etc. Unfortunately, Malzahar has many weaknesses. He is squishy like other mages, weak in laning phases, can be easily ganked since Malzahar is so immobile champion and he doesn't have any escape abilities. He has some horrible matchups especially against long range champions that can bully you out of the lane. His ultimate Nether Grasp can be interrupted and can be cleansed by Quicksilver Sash and other abilities that removes CC as well. He is also kinda uselless when his ultimate is on cooldown and can be often easily focused in teamfights. :(

FLASHFlash is the most important spell in the game. It helps you from escaping nasty situations and also for chasing and killing enemies whenever you can't reach them. Always take this every game!

TELEPORTTeleport is very good summoner spell on Malzahar. It can be used to teleport on allied towers and it has a 360 seconds of cooldown. After 14 minutes, you can cast on allied minions, wards, towers and other allied constructs and has a 240 seconds of cooldown. This is where I take 95% of the games as a Malzahar player.

IGNITEThis is a summoner spell where you wanna play aggressive for having kill pressure against champions who has a weak early game or against a champions that heals a lot such as Sylas, Vladimir etc. It works really well together with Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp. This is another great summoner spell where you wanna go play aggresive for killing pressure early.

EXHAUSTThis spell helps a lot against champions that has burst damage or reliesing on autoattacking a lot such as Yasuo, Yone etc. Having Exhaust makes great 1 vs 1 dueling but take this spell only if your ADC or Support doesn't have.

BARRIERThis is a spell where you are going to face against burst champion that deals a lot of damage or if you feel that you need safety.

GHOSTSince Malzahar is immobile, this spell also benefits on him and scales greatly in late game. This spell can also help for chasing or escaping from the enemy champions or if you are planning to roam a lot.

Keystone Summon Aery is the best Rune Keystone you can go as Malzahar. It helps you to trade well against an enemy champion especially if it's the melee in the mid lane. This is the most common Rune for Malzahar that you are going to use almost every game. Tier 1 Manaflow Band is great for any mages. When fully stacked, you gain permamently 250 bonus mana and passive that restores 1% of missing mana every 5 seconds. This is very important for Malzahar since he is really mana hungry early. Tier 2 Transcendence gives you cooldown reduction upon reaching levels. Having lower cooldowns means you can spam more abilities very often. Tier 3 Scorch is good to trade enemy champions early. It sets them fire to deal damage after 1 second. It works really well with Summon Aery Tier 1 Magical Footwear gives you free boots at 12:00 and for every takedown, it reduces cooldown by 45 seconds. This is great where you don't have to spend 300 gold in shop but keep in mind that you cannot buy boots before then. Tier 3 Cosmic Insight gives you cooldown reduction from your summoner spells and items which is really good so you can activate earlier than usual. Take both points on Adaptive. It gives you more damage early and it helps you to last hit minions with your abilities such as Malefic Visions. For defense, take magic resist against easier AP matchups. Same goes from above but with armor against AD matchups. This is where you wanna take double magic resist against hard AP matchups especially against long range champions that pokes you a lot. This is where you wanna take double armor against hard AD matchups especially against assassins where they can burst you down quickly such as Talon, Zed etc. If you are not sure who is going to be your opponent in mid lane for example if their enemy team has Ekko and Irelia and one of them can be mid, then take for defense health. Another rune page but with sustain but only go for this if you are buying Corrupting Potion: Tier 1 Biscuit Delivery gives you every 2 minutes until 6 minutes (max 3). It restores health and mana and the lower you are, it restore much faster. Consuming or selling gives permamently increase your mana cap by 50 which is really nice for mages such as Malzahar since he lack of sustain. Tier 2 Time Warp Tonic gives you much more sustain with your Corrupting Potion and biscuits and also grants you 5% movement speed while under effect. There are other viable runes for Malzahar as well: Keystone Arcane Comet is another viable Rune Keystone for Malzahar. It deals damage on the are when you use an ability on the enemy champion. This is very good especially if you are facing against ranged champions. Tier 3 Gathering Storm is very good on scaling mages such as Malzahar. It's pretty weak early but later it will become much stronger and you will be able to deal much more damage. And this is also viable but I would only go if you are palling to roam a lot: Keystone Predator is geat for those who want to roam a lot. When you have Boots, you can then acivate for extra movement speed when engaging on enemy champions. After that, you will deal bonus damage when using basic attack or abilities. Tier 1 Taste of Blood heals you when you damage an enemy champion. With this rune, you will stay in your lane for much longer. Tier 2 Eyeball Collection: Each enemy champion takedowns, you collect eyeballs for AD or AP. Tier 3 Relentless Hunter gives you movement speed out of combat. This will help you a lot when you are going for example on objectives like dragon, tower etc or if you are going in teamfights as well. Malzahar is immobile champion so this rune will defenitely help you a lot. Tier 2 Waterwalking gives you bonus movement speed and bonus Adaptive damage while on river. It's very good for those who want to roam a lot and it helps you to deal more damage for example: if you are near at dragon or baron. Other Viable Runes: Phase Rush can be optional if the enemy team has a lot of slows. Also, since Malzahar has no mobility, this rune and/or Ghost can really help you to escape or chase enemies. Perfect Timing is very good on any mages especially if you want to avoid enemy ultimates such as Fizz or Zed. Future's Market is another viable rune for Malzahar. With this rune, you will be able to buy your items much earlier. This rune is very good against hard matchups where you will get bullied a lot in your lane. Minion Dematerializer ca be sometimes good to use and clean 3 minions instantly.

Void Shift (Passive) RANGE: N/A COST: N/A COOLDOWN: 30 / 24 / 18 / 12 (BASED ON LEVEL)

INNATE: Malzahar gains immunity to crowd control and 90% damage reduction, lingering for 0.25 seconds after taking non-minion damage or negating a crowd control effect. Void Shift's cooldown refreshes whenever Malzahar takes non-minion damage or is affected by a crowd control effect, and resets upon respawning.

Call of the Void (Q) RANGE: 900 COST: 80 COOLDOWN: 6

Malzahar opens two portals to the void. After a 0.25 cast time and a 0.4 second delay, the portals fire projectiles which deal 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+55% of ability power) magic damage and silence champions for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds.

Void Swarm (W) RANGE: 150 COST: 40/45/50/55/60 COOLDOWN: 8

Malzahar gains a stack of Gathering Swarm when he casts other abilities (max 2). On cast, Malzahar summons a Voidling, plus an additional Voidling per stack of Gathering Swarm (max 3 per cast). Voidlings will fight nearby enemies for 8 / 8 / 9 / 9 / 10 seconds. Voidling attacks deal 5-64.5 (based on level) (+0.4 per bonus attack damage) plus 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 (+20% of ability power) (+0.4 per bonus attack damage) magic damage (50% damage against monsters). Voidlings prefer to attack targets afflicted by Malefic Visions or Nether Grasp and deal 300% damage to minions affected by Malefic Visions. Voidlings have 65-201 health, 16-50 armor and 8-25 magic resist (based on level). Turret and champion basic attacks kill Voidlings instantly, regardless of health. Voidlings have 400 movement speed and give a bounty of 2 gold when killed.

Malefic Visions (W) RANGE: 650 COST: 60/70/80/90/100 COOLDOWN: 15/13/11/9/7

Malzahar infects his target's mind, dealing 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+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 2% of his maximum Mana. Malefic Visions will also execute any minions below 15-45 health. Damaging a target with Call of the Void or Nether Grasp will refresh the duration of Malefic Visions.

Nether Grasp (W) RANGE: 650 COST: 100 COOLDOWN: 140/110/80

Malzahar suppresses a target champion for 2.5 seconds, dealing 125 / 200 / 275 (+80% of ability power) to the target and creating a zone of negative energy around them for 5 seconds, which deals 10 / 15 / 20% (+2.5% per 100 ability power) maximum health as magic damage over the duration to all targets in the Null Zone for the duration.

Always start Malefic Visions at lvl 1. This is your main damage ability and with this, you are going to farm minions. At lvl 2, your next ability should be Void Swarm and lvl 3 Call of the Void. Your first ability Malefic Visions must be maxd as soon as possible. After that, Call of the Void is the second maxed ability as it increases your damage and silence duration, then the last max ability is Void Swarm. At lvl 6, 11 and 16, always put point on Nether Grasp. It is the most important and powerful ultimate CC ability in the game.

Starting Items:

DORAN'S RING A standard item for most any mages. It gives you Ability Power, Health and a passive that restores mana when you damage an enemy champion. This is where you should start almost every single game.

CORRUPTING POTION Another option to start that gives a lot of sustain. Since Malzahar doesn't have any sustain abilities, it is good to stay in your lane for much longer and trade enemy champion especially against melee. If you combine together with Biscuit Delivery and Time Warp Tonic, it will give you tons of sustain so you will be able to stay in your lane for much longer.

SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL This is also viable start for Malzahar. With this item, you will get Lost Chapter earlier than before and it gives you mana since he is mana hungry champion. I don't usually start with this item since it doesn't give any AP and HP unlike Doran's Ring but if you wanna get early Lost Chapter, then this item is good to go.

TEAR OF THE GODDESS If you are having with mana trouble early especially if you are facing against manaless champion, you can start with this item. It will help you to increase your mana and you can stay in your lane for much longer and spam a lot but please do not upgrade into Archangel's Staff because, it's not good on Malzahar as it only gives ability haste, not ability power. Once you are almost full build, sell your Tear of the Goddess and buy something stronger.

STEALTH WARD You must ALWAYS start with Stealth Ward. It reveals surrounding area so you can see on the map if the enemy junglers comes to gank you or if enemy mid laners goes roaming. Later after the enemy or your tower in mid lane is destroyed you can keep it or you can buy Farsight Alteration or Oracle Lens depending what the enemy team comp looks like.

First Recall:

LOST CHAPTER You must get this item as soon as possible. This is very important item for every mages to upgrade into mythic item of their choices.

SEEKER'S ARMGUARD If you are facing against AD champion especially against harder matchups, then get it to survive their burst. Without that, you will be easily killed and they will start to snowball.

VERDANT BARRIER If you are facing against AP burst, then this item will help you to survive especially if you are behind. Later upgrade it into Banshee's Veil.

CONTROL WARD Buy this often when you are going to recall. It will help you to reveal location and invisible wards so you can clean them. This also reveals invisible champions such as Twitch. Put it in the bush near enemy red buff, players often don't see there.

Boots:

SORCERER'S SHOES My standard boots for almost every game. It gives you flat magic penetration which is good for early and mid game.

IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY Quite good for CDR. With these boots, you will be able to spam your abilities a lot.

MERCURY'S TREADS If the enemy team has a lot of CC or that deals o lot of magic damage, then these boots are must to buy. I buy this when I am facing against Veigar to reduce his stun from his Event Horizon.

Core Items:

LIANDRY'S ANGUISH This item is a MUST have on Malzahar every single game. It works really well with Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp. With this Mythic Item, your damage in the mid/late game will be insane. If the enemy champions are affected by your Malefic Visions, they will lose about 60% HP even if it is Bruiser or Tank. Malzahar loves damage over time so there is no other Mythic Items that can match Liandry's Torment.

RYLAI'S CRYSTAL SCEPTER Another very important item for Malzahar. It gives you AP, Health and most importantly, slow. Works really well with Malefic Visions. When you have bought that item, you will begin to slow enemy champions and they will have a hard time to escape or chase.

DEMONIC EMBRACE This is also very strong item on Malzahar. Like Liandry's Torment, it works really well with Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp. This item gives you AP and Health and damage over time based on max health. This item is very strong against who stacks a lot of Health. Once you have together Liandry's Torment and Demonic Embrace, your damage over time in the late game will be so satisfying.

ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS Very good and important item for Malzahar especially if you are facing against AD assassin or full AD team. This item will save you a lot especially against some ults such as Fizz Chum the Waters or Zed's Death Mark. Buy this after Liandry's Torment if you are facing AD champion if not, then this should be as a third item after Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

RABADON'S DEATHCAP Probably the most important and ultimate scaling late game item that every mage buys. The passive gives you a massive increase of Ability Power. This should be as a last 6th item if the enemy team doesn't build Magic Resist Items.

VOID STAFF If the enemy team stacks a lot of Magic Resist, then this item is a must buy. It gives you AP and Magic Penetration which is nice. This should be your last item or Rabadon's Deathcap if they don't buy any Magic Resist items.

Situational Items:

MORELLONOMICON This item is good if their enemy has a lot of team or if you are facing against healing champions such as Sylas, Vladimir etc or if they have a suppor such as Soraka or Yuumi.

SERAPH'S EMBRACE A late game upgraded item from Archangel's Staff that gives you Ability Power instead of Ability Haste since the patch of 13.1. It has a new passive that you gain a shield when your health reaches below 30%. This is good to survive some burst especially against assassins and also gives you more mana from your Malefic Visions.

COSMIC DRIVE Gives you great CDR, health, AP and a passive when you deal damage to enemy champions with basic attacks or abilities 3 times, you will gain movement speed and AP. Malzahar lacks of mobility so this item can save your life sometimes.

BANSHEE'S VEIL This item grants you a spell shield that blocks champions ability and it's very good against heavy AP team or against burst mages such as Veigar etc. Since Malzahar has already shield from his passive, this item can be good to go. It has 45 seconds cooldown to recover while your passive has from 30 to 12 seconds. Buy this if you are confident.

SHADOWFLAME I don't think this item is any good on Malzahar. It gives you really nice stats and also magic penetration based on their health. It's very good especially if the enemy team has a lot of shields from their abilities. I would not build into that but if you really wanna try that item on Malzahar, then go for it.

MEJAI'S SOULSTEALER Buy this only if you think you can snowball easily or you want to have more AP for each takedown.

Elixir:

ELIXIR OF SORCERY If your build is full, then always buy Elixir of Sorcery. It is the best elixir for any mages. It gives your AP, Mana Regeneration and it has a passive that deals True Damage to the enemy champions and turrets.

Early game, you should focus on farming in almost every matchup since you are weak early. Your goal is to farm as much as possible for late game. If you are against ranged champion, then focus on last hitting with Malefic Visions and try to avoid trading them because their trade is better than yours and you will run out of mana quickly since you are very mana hungry early. If you are against melee champion, then punish them with Malefic Visions and don't get too close to them or they will punish you back. Your first item should be Lost Chapter when you have enough gold and your farming will be much easier and faster. Make sure to always ward in bushes so you do not get ganked. Once you are lvl 6, save your Nether Grasp for a gank setup so that your jungler can help you for takedown but use your ult carefuly, some champions can cancel it and if they managed to do that, you will not be useful. At lvl 9, your waveclear will become much faster so push your wave hard if you are not behind do you can get your Mythic Item faster. If the enemy champion is his under tower, you can either punish him or you can roam other lanes to help them or get any takedowns or you can check near dragon if the enemy jungler is trying to kill so if you see him, prevent him or if you have luck, you can try to steal it but it would be just luck or fail. Once you have Liandry's Torment, your damage will be much more superior and you will start to outdamage your opponent if he is not ahead.

In the mid game, this is where Malzahar start to shine if you are not behind. However, you should still farm for late game and start taking objectives with your team like towers, dragons etc. If you are behind, don't lose your patience. You can still be useful. The reason being is that your ultimate Nether Grasp is very deadly to prevent enemy champion from moving and your team can easily get a kill. Still, you must not go first because you are very immobile and squishy so wait for your team to go first then focus someone who is very ahead to target with your Nether Grasp. In the meantime, you should have completed at least 3 important items: Liandry's Torment, Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Zhonya's Hourglass for survivability. With those items, your damage over time will be satisfiying and you will start to deal a lot of damage to the enemies especially against tanks. Fights will happen a lot and you should group and work as a team to win this game. Make sure to always take down objectives such as dragons and place wards in bushes or near at dragon and baron or if you have Oracle Lens especially if the enemy team has like Akali, Twitch etc, then you can check in the bushes to clean their enemy wards. Malzahar's full combo with abilites can easily kill squishy if you are fast enough but make sure if you can and that there are not at least 3 enemy champions around you and not baited by any hard CC.

This is where Malzahar to become extremely powerful late game champion. You want to always grouping with your team in the stage of the game. You will be huge threat to the enemy team so you should always stay far as possible and not get killed. Do NOT even think about it to split solo push as Malzahar because you will be very easily killed. If you have any strong splitpushing champions like Fiora, Tryndamere etc let them do work. As Malzahar, you need to always stay with your team and never go first. You have your ultimate to suppress important enemy champion who deals a lo of damage in the late game. In teamfights, try to spam your Call of the Void to silence them and apply them with your Liandry's Torment. If the enemy team champion wants to jump on you and kill you, then quickly unleash your combo and kill it but watch out on other enemies or they might kill you. Your goal in teamfights is to stay alive and save your ultimate to target a very important enemy who is ahead. If you have managed to target with your ultimate, then you have a chance to win the game. If you died without using your ultimate, then you might lost the teamfight and the game. Your Call of the Void and Nether Grasp can cancel the chanelling abilities such as Katarina's Death Lotus. It is wise to save it and focus on someone who is using chanelling ability first. If you are doing obejctive like baron, then try to zone enemy champions with your Call of the Void so they cannot come any closer but make sure that your are healthy enough. Once your build is full with elixir and your team is also full, then your only chance is to win the teamfight and win the game as soon as possible. Good luck with that!

Farming is the most important thing in the game. You have to make sure to always last hit minions when they are close to death. As a Malzahar player, you can easily farm with Malefic Visions. Each minion kill with Malefic Visions will give you small amount of mana and it will keep spreading until there are no around minions. Your Void Swarm will attack a minion while being affected by Malefic Visions so use them often if you want to push your wave. Don't use your Call of the Void on minions a lot as you will waste your mana and you will find yourself low on mana and you will not be able to stay in your lane for much longer. It is not advice to push your lane on harder matchups as you will be vulnerable to ganks.

Warding in League of Legends is incredibly important for every role and every game you play. It is a necessity for everyone to know when to ward, where to ward and how to become better at warding.

Without any vision control, you will find it difficult to survive the early game, win the mid game and close out the late game. When you understand the fundamentals of warding and how you can use it to your advantage, it can really help you win more.

Every player has to start (unless if they play as a jungler) with Stealth Ward. This ward is very important to reveal small area around. You can either place it if you think the enemy team is going to invade or you can place it later once around 3 minutes. Once you have first recall, you should buy at least 1 or 2 Control Wards. This ward will always stay until it's destroyed and it will reveal any invicible units and Stealth Wards as well. I have added wards in this new Mobafire map and you can see notes by using your mouse on Ward Icons:


This is probably the best places you can put your wards. The more you will put the wards, the more vision score you will gain. After you have finished your lane, you can keep your Stealth Ward if you need more wards or you can replace it with Farsight Alteration to revelar a small area from huge distance or with Oracle Lens if you wanna clear enemy wards or the enemy team has like Teemo to reveal his mushrooms. It's up to you.

Roaming is very impactful for a mid laner because it is the center lane on the map. You are always a threat to help out top or bot lane. Mid laners are also usually the closest to their jungler, and as such can make plays on the map together.

It is important to first tend to your minion wave before you roam. Ideally, you will get the minion wave pushed into the enemy turret and then look to roam. You can still roam if you clear the minion wave after the enemy mid clears theirs, but you will have lost tempo on your map movement.

You also need to be aware of the situation on the map you are moving toward. Your allies should have enough health and mana to support you in your gank. It is also helpful if your allies can communicate to you what summoner spells the enemies still have available.

You must be sure that you have a safe path to the lane you want to roam on. The enemy jungler can block your path if you do not have sufficient wards or information on the junglers whereabouts.

Every champion in Mid lane can roam even those who is immobile. As a Malzahar player, he isn't the best chmpion at roaming because how slow and immobile this champion is. You can do it if you have pushed your wave and your Bot lane is being punished. Make sure that you are healthy enough and you have a lot of mana to use your abilities. If the enemy Bot lane is retreating and you are going to roam, that means they know you are going to help your Bot because the enemy player must have placed their wards somewhere. In other words, let me show you which way is the best to roam (I drawed this myself. The white is simple way to roam, the blue when you are on the blue side and the red when you are on the red side):



White Lines: This is the simple way to roam. Going on the river and roaming either on Bot or Top way is the fastest way to roam.

Blue Lines: If you are on the blue side, there are some ways to roam. If you are planning to roam on Bot lane, you can do it by going on river, then heading near Blue buff on the red side and then going into bushes. Once you reach there and if the enemy Bot lane is near their tower, you can come to help your Bot lane to get the kills. If you are going on Top lane, first go to riven then go between the baron and Red buff on the red side and then go in the bushes. Be prepared if the enemy doesn't know you are there so you can help your Top laner to get the kill.

Red Lines: If you are on the red side, if you are going to roam on Bot lane, you can go between Red buff on the blue side and dragon and once you reach in the bushes, be quick to get there or else the enemy will retreat near the tower. Or if they are near their tower and they are low, you can try to get the kills. If going on Top lane, first go to the river and then go left where is there near blue buff on the blue side and then head to the bushes. Once you have reached there, if the enemy is completely low, help your Top laner to kill the enemy.

So everybody is asking what to do when your enemy is ahead and you are behind. Well, if you are behind, don't worry about it, the game isn't just over yet and it isn't so early to surrender. Keep your mental up. Playing from behind is something you got to learn. This extends to both in lane and out of lane gameplay. If your team is ahead and you're behind, then there is a high chance to win the game. For example, if Bot lane is very ahead and they have destroyed their enemy tower, they will likely to be fed and the enemy team will try hard to destroy them so just pray if they are good players. If you and all your team is behind, then there is a very little chance to comeback as it will be very hard to stop them unless if the enemy is completely throwing the game.


Your general focus should be on farming and avoiding fights. Also avoid roaming and utilize lane wards so you can warn your team when your opponent goes somewhere. Do not follow their roams. Even if you do get there in time, your impact will be severely limited due to being behind. Also, build defensive items to survive if you are behind. This will help you to prevent them to busrt you down quickly. It will not work every single game but at least it will give you a bit advantage.


As a Malzahar player, it's really hard to comeback especially if you have only few items and getting a lot of camped by their enemy jungler or support. A lot of players have the bad time and they struggle a lot to comeback. But still, it's not impossible to win the game. Malzahar can be still useful in teamfights thanks to your suppression. Make sure to stay back and use your ultimate wisely who deals most amount of damage.

Malzahar has some good and decent matchups, but some of them are really horrible. He struggles against gap closers, some assassins and long range abilites that will poke you from distance and you can't even get close to them. So I am going to show you some matchups in midlane. Please keep in mind that some matchups are also quite rare and I will also add matchups that for example: sometimes, ADC from bot is in mid or sometimes, Support is in mid and goes AP. I will also add difficulties and things in matchups that you will see:


Difficulty: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard or Very Hard

Recommended Runes: This will describe which runes you should use against champions. Some of the champions will have 2 or even more options but it's up to you which you will use

Which Summoner Spell you should use: This will describe what summoner spell you should use before the game starts

Which Item you should start: This will describe what item you should buy first when the game starts (you can also start with Tear of the Goddess if you need mana early or Sapphire Crystal if you wanna rush early Lost Chapter. I usually don't start with them at all and I didn't add them in every matchups but honestly it is really up to you)

Which Rune Keystone they use: This will describe which rune keystone are they using

Which Summoner Spell they use: This will describe which summoner spell are they using (I will not put Flash as a main summoner spell on matchups since everyone is using it so I will just add only what secondary summoner spell are they using). However, some players will use both summoner spells like Ignite and Teleport instead of Flash for killing pressure

Which Item do they start: This will describe which item have they started with

Can he/she interrupt your ult?: This will describe can the enemy champion stop your Nether Grasp with their abilities. If they can, then I will add which ability they can do

Their usual full build: This will describe what players have their full build when they have bought items (This is just in my opinion. Many players have their different full build what do they like or what is strong in the current meta)

I added a quick matchup tier list so you can see every champion what I added in each difficulty that there are in my opinion but every player have their opinions as well (I will soon add more matchups that rarely happens in mid lane):



Now, I will show matchups in alphabetic order from A to Z and explain how to win and survive every lane: