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Malzahar Build Guide by xblademojo

Middle [S14] Rank 1 Malzahar Complete Guide | By Coach xblademojo

Middle [S14] Rank 1 Malzahar Complete Guide | By Coach xblademojo

Updated on June 23, 2024
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League of Legends Build Guide Author xblademojo Build Guide By xblademojo 288 20 676,750 Views 13 Comments
288 20 676,750 Views 13 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author xblademojo Malzahar Build Guide By xblademojo Updated on June 23, 2024
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xblademojo's Featured Video
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Runes: Split 2 Test

1 2 3 4 5
Inspiration
First Strike
Magical Footwear
Biscuit Delivery
Cosmic Insight

Sorcery
Manaflow Band
Scorch
Bonus:

+8 Ability Haste
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

1 2 3 4
Efficent & Map Pressure
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Teleport

Teleport

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None



XBLADEMOJO


Hi! I started my adventure in season 3 and pushed my way towards the goals in the game.

Started as top lane main and transitioned to Mid and Jungle to carry my games easier.
Currently, I enjoy playing mid and support the most.

I played a lot of Kassadin and was Rank 1 with him, and
Rank 1 Annie World.

I have peaked at Challenger EUNE and after that, I focused on growing my coaching services, because I find myself passionate about helping others and being their Mentor.

Currently, I’m playing on EUW in my free-time aiming to get Challenger and help people achieve their goals in the game ❤️
I also create free content to help others with the game on my youtube and Twitch. Feel free to join my discord to become part of my community, a friendly corner for all of us!


Malzahar is an amazing champion to learn mid-lane in the depth in terms of macro game and laning phase. He isn’t too hard of a mechanical champ and offers so much for your teammates with his Nether Grasp. I personally enjoy playing him a lot and he is my most picked champion currently. I consider him an amazing champion to climb, even to reach Challenger.







Please remember that a guide can only help you understand Malzahar and give you a nudge towards achieving your goals but the final decisions you make, your playstyle and what you like the most from runes and items is up to you! To become the best you try everything here, test it and then try to see what feels the best for you. That’s how you can become a complete Malzahar player with good game sense. Good Luck!
Unlock the secrets of Malzahar with exclusive coaching content – all at a price that's fair for everyone!

BOOK A FREE CALL WITH XBLADEMOJO!

CLICK ME: Here!


● Students Results: Here
● Educational Videos: Here
S14 INFO!
Hey! I'm still testing Malzahar Items for the Current Season. - Give me some more time please for the whole guide update.

For now, you can go with what I recommend in Item Section Above.

If you wanna stay up to date please follow my Twitch.tv and Youtube - I stream Daily, and I'm also about to release soon HUGE S14 Guide.

Click Here for Youtube Content <3

I'm playing every day Malzahar on stream lately so feel free to come by any chance to test s14 stuff!
PROS


+Simple Mechanically
+Always Useful for The Team
+People don't know his Potential
+Amazing Wave Clear
+Scales Insanely Well
+Great in every situation


Malzahar is a Champion that most of the players don’t respect and have a chance to play against him often. His early levels aren’t that great but starting from Level 6 once he gets Nether Grasp he becomes one of the most useful champions in the game. A lot of kill potential, chances for a pick and to change the game on our note. We are capable of killing the waves with 2 spells later which allows us to rotate around the map and apply amazing pressure. There are barely any champions that counter Malzahar that much. and he himself will fit into every team comp. His scaling potential is Amazing so the longer the game takes the stronger he becomes!
CONS


-Weak Before level 6
-Can be easily punished
-Squishy
-Requires Good Positioning
-Can be countered by QSS
-Can be outranged by some champions


Malzahar biggest problem is in the early game and team fights, he is quite a nonmible champion which makes him vulnerable to ganks during the laning phase and fights. He doesn’t offer that much of a burst potential early so his trades with opponents are not the best. We need to be really careful while playing him and develop a good game sense. He can get countered by Quicksilver Sash which can cancel his root on an opponent. Malzahar gets countered the most by long-range champions like Xerath. Viktor, Vel'Koz, Ziggs.

Flash and Teleport


Flash is in general one of the best summoners spells in the game, it is helping us avoid death in many ways like; while getting a gank from enemy jungler, during team-fights and while fighting with enemy laner. We can dodge spells with it and outplay our opponents if we time it well. Malzahar needs it a lot since he isn't that mobile champion which makes him quite vulnerable during the game. Our Nether Grasp is a game-changing ability, moreover when we have Flash we can most of the time get a free kill with our jungler or during a fight by making a pick on an opponent with it.
Because how would you counter Malzahar flashing on you and doing this amazing outplay with Nether Grasp!


Teleport will help you go through the early game, sometimes we are in a situation when we don't have that much mana or health left and the wave is impossible to fix for us. Sometimes we will get ganked and lose most of our health unable to lane anymore. That's why we have Teleport to keep us efficient with gold and experience income from minions. Later on in the game we will be using Teleport to pressure the map and help our teammates, for example we can be on the bot lane pressuring the waves, while our teammates would start a fight around the baron, in this situation we have you ready to help us with Teleport while meanwhile making amazing pressure so far away from us.



Ignite


Why? Ignite gives us more of a snowball possibility, and allows us to impact the early game, when Teleport doesn't offer anything like that. Helps your jungler get early priority and offers the both of you a stronger 2 vs 2 potential.

Starting from level 6 you are able to burst opponent with full-combo, while having Arcane Comet.
I would take Ignite only when you have easy matchups, and you are good in wave management, otherwise you might get stomped. Keep in mind, the better the players the harder to punish them and they are better at punishing you, that's why we won't see often Malzahar with Ignite on higher divisions.


Exhaust


We can take Exhaust against assassins like Zed, Qiyana, the one that can easily jump on us and kill. It will counter most of their burst making them unable to one-shot you. Take it only if you are not feeling that much confident with Malzahar, because we can still play with Teleport while having Resolve or Seeker's Armguard

Ghost


In the matchups that I can control opponents well, I would honestly consider Ghost due to the mobility it offers.
Ghost + Flash would pressure opponents the most and you would be more mobile. They wouldn't have a chance to run away from you. As I said before, another summoner spell would cost you the Teleport so we will really need to focus on setting up efficient recalls and we wouldn't be able to sit on a side lane far away from our teammates. In my opinion Ghost seems way better compared to Ignite or Exhaust. I could take it against Veigar, Vladimir, basically matchups that opponents have to scale and their shove potential with the wave isn't the greatest.
Comet offers highest burst potential than Summon Aery. I'm taking it when opponents are squishy which might lead me to kill them starting from level 6 once I get my Nether Grasp. I would take Summon Aery when I can auto-attack opponents a lot on the lane for more efficient poke or when their team-comps are too tanky.
Another choice from Sorcery would be Manaflow Band for better mana sustain and increasing our mana cap in the end by 250 mana. There is no better choice than that.
Malzahar benefits the most from cooldowns, which leads him to his next spells rotation faster. We are more useful for the team with our cc like Call of the Void and Nether Grasp and we want it as soon as possible. We are not that much of a lane bully so don't go for a Absolute Focus
Why? It allows Malzahar to scale for free and the champion isn't that much of an early game champion either for Scorch. Games on lower divisions tend to take from 30 up to 40 minutes, when the Gathering Storm gives you abnormal value compared to Scorch. Invest more in your scaling than a little bit more of a poke on the lane.

Magical Footwear is a great choice in terms of saving 300 gold for your power spikes. Additionally, you are going to get +10 Movement Speed. Get Cosmic Insight instead when an opponent has a lot of poke on lane because you will need to dodge his spells all the time. When enemy jungler and midlaner are magic damage, as well skip the Magical Footwear because you will a good angle for a Mercury's Treads early to counter them.
Future's Market is one of the most broken runes in-game and allows you to get your power spike items as soon as possible which allows you to snowball faster. Use this rune to buy
Lost Chapter on your first base, then rush Liandry's Torment.
Legally cheating in a video game!


Resolve - This is one of the most comfortable laning phase options if you struggle. Take Bone Plating when the opponent is combo dependent or can easily initiate trades with you by jumping Qiyana, Zed, Irelia. Bone Plating will counter his burst and he will be forced to play around its cooldown. Second Wind when the opponent has abnormal poke like Viktor, Xerath, Anivia for additional health regeneration. Overgrowth when opponents doesn't have that much CC like Leona, Sejuani. Lissandra and for additional health bonus, amazing rune. Unflinching when opponents are heavy CC so we can reduce the crowd control time (That means we can move soon after we got for example stunned)
Few more choices from a Inspiration, take Cosmic Insight when we can't have Magical Footwear due to the opponent poke or double ability power mid & jungle.
Take Perfect Timing against Zed and other assassins while you could look for Zhonya's Hourglass the second item. Biscuit Delivery instead of Future's Market while opponent is forcing you to trade like LeBlanc, Zoe, Anivia for even more sustain and survability

Most of the time take atleast one Attack Speed which will allows us to push and manage waves better.

Other Options

VS Easy AP matchups.
Take one Tenacity and Slow Resist against magic damage opponents in easy matchups, like; Veigar, Vladimir, Kassadin since they are not that strong early or auto attack you a lot.
VS Hard AP matchups.
Double Tenacity and Slow Resist in hard matchups or if the enemy jungler is AP aswell. Azir, LeBlanc, Viktor
VS Heavy AD matchups.
Shield Against physical damage opponents or double Shield depending on how hard is the matchup, or if they are heavy AD for example mid/jungle. Qiyana, Zed, Rek'Sai

Void Shift


Void Shift is Malzahar’s passive, which gives him a barrier similar to Banshee's Veil. Barrier has it's own cooldown and whenever it's active it gives Malzahar immue to crowd control for the first 0.25 after it touches him, aswell it reduces the damage by 90% during the duration. Your opponent have to deactive it first by attacking/using spell to hurt you.

For example Poppy's Keeper's Verdict wouldn't knock away Malzahar if his Void Shift was active.


Call of the Void


Call of the Void is a Malzahar basic ability to help him last hit minions when its impossible to walk up and to poke our enemy. It's a AOE Spell (Area Of Effect) that hits all the targets within the range. Your Call of the Void can prolong duration of Malefic Visions by the whole duration.

Most broken thing about the ability is that it silences opponents, making them unable to cast their spells during the silence. It gives you amazing outplay possiblity because you can aswell cancel all the channeling's in the game like; Katarina Death Lotus, Fiddlesticks Crowstorm, etc. Because of that, make sure to use it wisely and save it for game-changing situations as a clutch to prevent enemies from casting their core abilities.


Void Swarm


Void Swarm is hidden Over Powered spell. Malzahar spawns voidlings depending on the amount of the stacks he has (From 1 to 3). Voidlings will focus the closet target unless there is a target posioned by Malefic Visions then they will focus on him dealing additionaly 300% more damage for minions and monsters only.

That makes Malzahar one of the most annoying champions in the game, because he can shove the waves with 3 Spells; Malefic Visions --> Call of the Void --> Void Swarm voidlings will do the rest with the wave.

At some point you will be pressing those abilities and you can recall instantly, that makes you so efficent in the income and xp. Your voidlings are applying Manaflow Band, Liandry's Torment, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Demonic Embrace which means people shouldn't underestimate them.


Malefic Visions


Malzahar Applies dot (Damage Over Time) on the opponents or minions, which is going to cause them to take damage over 4 seconds duration. If the target dies it bounces to the another closest one (Prioritzing Champions). Ability works the best connected with Void Swarm since the Voidlings are gonna focus the poisoned target. Malefic Visions synergies incredibly well with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Liandry's Torment, Demonic Embrace.




Nether Grasp


Malzahar Supresses opponent for the duration of 2.5 seconds making them unable to move and leaving barerly any counter play. That's your triumphant card that will help you win the game the most. Amazing pressure that can even cause opponents to Flash away before you even walk to them. Whenever you have your ultimate try to look for a play, asking your jungler to gank you and keep it for the most important fights.

During the game you are going to often pick opponents with Flash --> Nether Grasp which will lead you to win team-fights before they even start, you are able to peel your teammates with it from the ones that go on your carries same as you are able to supress the most important carry from the enemy team.

Don't forget during your Ult you are vulnerable to death, that's why your positoning is the most important thing, you can cancel your ultimate whenever you want.


Here I will explain some fundamental combos starting from the laning phase to teamfights.
Everything is going to be on the video below the description of combinations.

A.) Your first basic combo is Auto Attack (AA) → Malefic Visions Call of the Void.
That's your basic combo to apply some early pressure on opponent, pay attention to your mana and trade around your Manaflow Band stacks. You are not an Assasins or one-shot champ.


B.) Malefic Visions Call of the Void Void Swarm. Combo focused on shoving the waves fastest wave possible. Make sure to kill minon that has Malefic Visions applied so it can bounce to the other target before the duration ends. Pressing two other spells before Void Swarm will result in having maxium amount of voidlings spawned.

C.) Malefic Visions Call of the Void Void Swarm Nether Grasp. This is Malzahar’s full combo focused on the highest damage dealt possible in 1 vs 1 or in fights when you can ensure that they won't Flash away or dash from you. Always make sure to press Void Swarm before casting your ultimate because its cast time is 0 seconds. You can keep your Call of the Void after your duration of Nether Grasp ends to prolong even longer Malefic Visions.

Malzahar Doesn't have insane combos and everything depends on how much time does he have on casting certain spells since Malefic Visions has castime, same as Call of the Void while Void Swarm and Nether Grasp can be casted instantly. You need to be aware if your opponent can Flash before you finish casting your full combo, because sometimes just Nether Grasp is enough while making a pick on someone.

Combat


As Malzahar in teamfights your are incredibly strong, due to your Nether Grasp and the pressure it offer, moreover with your Rylai's Crystal Scepter you are able to kite opponents well especially the tanks to the point your utility value is amazing. I'm really not afraid of tanks but the champions that can assasinate me like Zed, Rek'Sai, Qiyana, Akali etc. Anything that can't jump on you with one-shot is fine for us.

Be aware of the opponents highest threat and their items, if they have for example Quicksilver Sash.In fights it's usually about if we use ultimate to peel ourselves or teammates or if we ult enemy carry. That's your most important question which depends on how close you can get to the opponent, how dangerous they are, often im even ulting the tanks that jump on my team so we can clear him quite fast and reach enemy carries after wards. Kill the enemy gorilla and you can go futher :D!

Consider Zhonya's Hourglass if you need even more peel for yourself than the ult, example would be Akali with Quicksilver Sash.

1. Knowing Enemy wincondition in fights and threats. Who shall I ult? Do I peel or get a pick?
2. Positoning in fights. Can I reach opponents? Or they need to go-in on us?
3. Getting to know your champion limits by playing him a lot.



Currently Malzahar doesn't have many options of maxing order.

Most of the time you want to max Malefic Visions for a good damage over duration and pressure. That's your main spells which can reset everytime target dies. Second ability to max is Call of the Void for good AOE damage and longer silence duration that gives amazing value in fights.

Void Swarm is last one to max due to how easly it dies, and we only need it to shove the waves or during our full combo before pressing Nether Grasp

Malzahar benefits from longer fights due to his damage over duration and Liandry's Torment. That's why Malefic Visions offer him the most and its resets.

Doran's Ring

Doran's Ring is a most common Malzahar choice. Offers you good amount of Health and decent mana sustain. Moreover helps you last hit better with its passive. Health is so valuable in the early game especially against dangerous champions like LeBlanc, Sylas, Qiyana.

Sapphire Crystal

Sapphire Crystal most greedy starter for the Lost Chapter rush. Buy it only if you have Future's Market in the runes and you are playing against scaling opponent like; Kassadin, Kayle, or any weak midlaner that won't be a big threat to you Veigar. It only gives you mana so you are quite weak early and should prioritize farming till you can cheat Lost Chapter with debt.

Corrupting Potion

Corrupting Potion against heavy poke lanes and hard matchups. Xerath, Viktor, Zoe, Ziggs, Anivia. Noone buys Corrupting, but it's a good item in the hardest matchups when the only thing you can do is to survive and get your items. Because the longer you can lane the more gold you can get before the first base, commpared to only 2 Health Potion with Doran's Ring

Dark Seal

Dark Seal is one of the most efficent items in terms of saving gold, because with it we are getting Refillable Potion. You can get early stacks from getting kills on it which will give you Ability Power. I would take it at first base while I can’t get Lost Chapter. If you want to be greedy but still have some impact early then get Dark Seal instead of Sapphire Crystal


Here I will explain some of Malzahar item choices → when and why you need them.

Liandry’s Anquish

Liandry's Torment The best item on Malzahar in 95% of the games. Burning passive from it constantly refreshes with your Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp so it synergies so well, your voidlings are applying burning as well. Item is good against tanks and people with a lot of magic resist because it offers so much damage per second but we gonna buy it even against squishier team comps.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Rylai's Crystal Scepter Offers so much utility to your team and allows you to kite opponents so well. They are getting constantly slowed from its passive and Malefic Visions refreshes it all the time making Call of the Void easier to land. Opponents can’t reach you, same as it's hard to run away from your team once applied. Item is gold efficient since it's cheap.

Demonic Embrace

Demonic Embrace Makes you even more tankier and melts tanks due to its passive that burns for the maximum health. Synergies with Liandry's Torment and your abilities; Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp

Void Staff

Void Staff In most games, every mage should consider getting it as the fourth or fifth item once opponents start building magic resist from items. Why not too early? Because Void Staff Magic Penetration is % which means the more magic resist the enemy stacks, the higher value it gives. For example, if the opponent has 200 Magic resist, 40% is -80 Magic resist. If the opponent has 50 magic resist then it only penetrates an additional 20 Magic resist.

Rabadon's Deathcap

Rabadon's Deathcap If you don't need any situational items to buy or defensive ones like Zhonya's Hourglass then deathcap is going to give you the highest value possible. Why last item? Because at this time your amount of Ap is good enough to get huge value out of the Rabadon's Deathcap passive.

Luden's Tempest

Luden's Tempest Gives you Flat Magic penetration and splash damage from passive. Flat penetration works amazingly against squishy champions that are not buying magic resist at all. I would ONLY but it if I'm the only AP in the team and no one in the enemy team is tanky and won’t buy magic resistance. If all factors from above are reached, you can buy it which will cause in one-shotting opponents.

Zhonya’s Hourglass

Zhonya's Hourglass This item doesn’t offer great statistics but might counter many champions like Zed Death Mark, Fizz Chum the Waters, Karthus Requiem. Malzahar isn’t too mobile champion in team fights and his Nether Grasp puts him in a really dangerous spot often, that’s why Zhonya can be really useful. Buy it against assassins and when you know you are vulnerable in fights when they can easily go in on you.

Morellonomicon

MorellonomiconSometimes you will need to get Oblivion Orb mid-game which will build into Morello’s, however, I would l prefer to sell this item late game because it doesn’t offer great statistics. So let's hope for Mortal Reminder or Chemtech Putrifier on your teammates. This item obviously works great against Kayn, Sylas, Vladimir and many more champions

Banshee's Veil

Banshee's Veil consider if enemy win condition is some kind of mage or they are heavy in magic damage as a defensive item against some fed LeBlanc, Zoe. If you are able to counter one-shot champions by preventing their burst it's a win for you. I would try to avoid the item, but of course there is gonna be a game when it is going be to worth buying it.

Mejai's Soulstealer

Mejai's Soulstealer It is an efficient upgrade. Mejai’s forces you to play better and offers you an even stronger snowball potential. I would look for a Mejai on the 2nd or 3th Item depending on how many stacks you have on Dark Seal (10 the best) and how much gold you need to complete another legendary item etc. Think wisely.

Sorcerer's Shoes

Sorcerer's Shoes Most aggressive choice for mages due to its Flat Magic penetration which improves your damage by ignoring certain about on magic resist (18). I personally prefer them the most, I wouldn’t take them if my team was heavy in magic damage and opponents were to stack a lot of magic resistance. Works the best against squishes and champs that won’t buy MR.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Ionian Boots of Lucidity I would go Ionian’s if the opponents are planning on building a lot of magic resistance in the game and are quite tanky. As I mentioned, Cooldown Reduction value is better when opponents are stacking Magic Resist. It offers us way more utility. It’s a good purchase when your summoners are still up. For Malzahar having Flash sooner is one of the most important things which makes them a really good choice due to the passive that reduces summoner spells cooldown.

Mercury's Treads

Mercury's Treads If opponents have a lot of CC like Lissandra, Sejuani, or Leona then it’s an amazing counter item especially if the enemy mid laner and jungler damage is double AP.

Before start, I want to mention to you that league of legends is as well a mental game. Without a proper mindset to climb and get better, you might become easily frustrated, depressed, and pressured. there are many factors to it. Like: comparing yourself to friends and social pressure, not seeing any results within a certain period of time, people flaming and judging you and way more.
- There is nothing wrong with comparing yourself if you can use it as Motivation and energy, but not to feel even more down.


That's one of the biggest demons many players are struggling with. Letting go of those emotions and working on it is the key.

It's your quality time, your own journey, goals and story. Don't compare yourself to others to feel even worse about your rank or anything. Everyone progresses in their own time. Never blame other teammates, because it won't help you at all.

The only thing you can truly do to improve as a player is to become open-minded and to fall in love with the process of changing what you can control → Yourself.

I have been doing a lot of motivational speeches about league the in past and during my coachings. I have to admit it, without the proper mental you might not enjoy the game to the fullest, but instead feel bad about it.

It's only you who can change yourself for the better. Focus on it and spend your energy on it. There is no such thing as "My Teammates are keeping me in this elo" that's an illusion. Because if that was the case, there wouldn't be any challenger, master, or grandmaster players.

Would you really be happy with just accepting something like "yeah I'm just unlucky with teams" ? Because I would never. Don't quit, just take it all on your chest and MOVE ON my Friend.

COMING UP WITH CONCLUSIONS FROM YOUR GAME IS THE KEY!!!

Here I'm gonna insert the link for a small Mindset document I made back in 2021 for my Students.

CLICK ME TO HER REDIRECT TO THE GOOGLE DOCUMENT :D

If any of you ever feel mentally lost in this game, don't hesitate to text me with your case on my discord; xblademojo#9742 for free. We all been there before ;)
Here I will tell you about some of the stuff I always share with my students in order to improve their fundamental knowledge for the Mid-Lane.

I always recommend these following 3 rules:


This is the base that will help you become a more consistent player in your games. That doesn't mean you always have to follow these rules, because League of Legends is a way too dynamic game for a single game pattern. Of course in future you want to limit-test what your champion is capable of, trying out different playstyles and coming up with new conclusions.


Students often ask me what I have to do in order to climb? You can climb without amazing mechanics as long as you can improve your Map Awareness and Laning Phase. The ability to analyze your map dynamically connected to your decisions is one of the keys to start winning more. Being proactive means: noticing opportunities on the map and analyzing what’s the best decision to make with current circumstances. Chances like: Roams, Priority to join your jungler, Invading, Efficent Recalls, helping team and way more.
The more you see, the more you are capable of doing. League is not only about beating your opponent 1 vs 1. I recommend making your map slightly bigger in HUD.



For everyone with a locked screen.

I can already tell you this is the thing we gotta work on. You don’t need the whole vision around you while playing with locked camera. For example you don’t need to know what’s happening behind you when you move forward towards your opponent. This sometimes even makes you lose track of what’s happening right in front of you like what spells were used in a teamfight, just simply because your camera is centred around your Champion instead (I know even worse cases from coaching experiences). My recommendation here is to unlock your camera completely and start using your thumb on the spacebar to hold and direct the camera on you. Whenever you wanna see some more, just let go of the spacebar and expand your vision of the camera with mouse. Trust me on this and Good Luck.



You want to know where the enemy jungler is starting, same goes for your jungler.

Which scuttler on the map are they gonna path towards and contest? Are they going to meet on the same side river?

Every good Jungler is going to be on the river at around 3:15 mins into the game, which is the spawn time of the Scuttlers. Gank is going to have a place before or after this timer. The optimal ward time is around 2:40.

Before that time you should ward the side he is pathing towards. Trying to get priority for the river around 3:15 timer for your jungler sounds great, but don’t force it if you can’t.

Most importantly = be rational.

4:20 is the time where the jungle camps again. If the enemy jungler did Blue Sentinel into Gromp at the beginning, then Gromp is gonna spawn at 4:20. This means, starting from 4:15/20 both junglers are going to start the pathing and clearing from the same side on which they started their jungle clear on. The whole conclusion is that they are going to recall and come back to the side they started at, because that’s the order of the camps spawning after their first clear.


What is Mid-lane? Mid-lane is one of the most impactful and the hardest role to play. You have many ways of impacting the game in your favour thanks to the possible rotations it offers. Keep in mind the lane is hard to play because of the many angles you can get ganked from.

Winning doesn’t necessarly mean killing your opponent 1 vs 1 on the lane.There are way more possibilities to get a lead on the Mid-Lane:

1. Wave Management
2. Proper Lane Warding
3. Rotations aka Roaming
4. Trading


First of all, I would like you to get in touch with the basics of waves management like: My video :)

-Slow Pushing (Building up the wave to achieve something: dive, recall, longer rotations / roam, or to feel safer against the opponent inside of your huge wave)

-Fast Pushing (Getting priority for X reason like a dragon / fight,roam, setting up a fast recall, making opponent stuck under the turret)

-Freezing (Zoning opponent from resources and keeping wave away from him, denying his cs, forcing him to walk to you; Aswell used while you are behind)

-Handshake Wave / Equal Wave (Using equal waves esp. Cannon ones to recall or rotate when the wave is literally on the middle of the lane)

Being aware of those basics will help you. The Video on top of the guide includes further explanations which will help you to understand those principles.


People are overthinking too much about how warding around Mid-Lane works. What you need to know is Jungle Tracking (Chapter Above). It will make you more capable of working on a solid and safe vision around your lane. How and where you ward depends on your goal, priority, vision and the state of the map. Sometimes you might die trying to put a ward somewhere without any other priority or clue where the opponents might possibly be. In my opinion warding should come naturally to you, but there are a few great places to ward around the Mid that I put in the screenshot below.

Green = Good Warding Spots
Red = Not Enough Vision
Purple = Ways the Enemy Jungler could path towards you


After you push the wave and gain some time, it’s recommended to think about what you can do right now. And here comes Map Awareness. I often see people standing and doing circles on the lane, without even seeing an opportunity to go for vision / rotation / efficient recall or helping your teammates by making a play with your jungler for example – fundamentally missing out on those.

Roaming is basically the meaning of using your time efficiently to impact the map while still being rational - seeing a chance doesn’t mean you have to take it.
You really need to consider:

-What is my wave state? How much would I lose if I roamed?
-Is it efficient to still roam while I have so much gold?
-Maybe opponents are too strong and I could die while roaming?

Most importantly I can tell you to be rational and don’t force things. Be open-minded about possibilities and don’t be tunnelled vision on your lane only. The safest and longest roams are while the cannon wave is coming to lane or when the wave already crashed and plenty of allied minions are under your opponent’s turret.


Basically, that’s called fighting with your opponent on the lane- making trades. A lot of this stuff should come naturally with experience, and I’m not a fan of making people a “zombie” of following patterns, but I will share some tips with you on what to look for.

How to trade well and what to consider?

Usually you can easily look for a trade when an opponent is busy executing a minion. That’s the time his moves are usually easier to predict and he won’t be able to answer back due to his auto-attack/spell animation on the minion. You can also get punished that way while getting a minion. How well you can punish and trade with your opponent depends mostly on how well or how bad you guys are clicking. Positioning and dynamically adjusting clicks for the best results is the golden key.

In “League of Legends”-Language it’s called spacing: to either achieve the most comfortable position for you to be in or causing the biggest discomfort to the opponent. Pay attention to how you click and position yourself. Minions are as well a huge factor to consider, the amount of them could simply give you an advantage or disadvantage.

That’s why the one who is able to push early and gets priority in the number of their allied minions is usually the one who can trade more freely without worrying about getting too much aggro from the enemy. To put it simply, the more minions you have compared to the opponent, the safer and stronger you are. If your opponent is pushing into you with a bigger minion wave, that's his moment to win trades most of the time.

Another trading pattern is when the opponent uses his important spell on the wave. For example Syndra uses Dark Sphere on the wave which causes her to become vulnerable to the opponent, forcing a trade on her. Another example would be Orianna Command: Attack the wave, leaving Yasuo or Irelia a chance to jump on her. Look for those simple factors to use them in your advantage.

Firstly, they are few types of Malzahar Laning Phase depending on an enemy champion.


Even matchups would be against Veigar, Vladimir, Twisted Fate, Ryze
What do I mean by even? Matchup where I can stay as much efficient as possible, having free farm since usually their champions can't punish me that well. They don’t have huge kill potential early if you play well enough.

Basically, those matchups simply focus on getting your items like; Lost Chapter as soon as possible, don’t force too much. Starting from level 6 the real game starts for Malzahar once he gets his Nether Grasp, that’s the moment when we can look for a play with our jungler or teammates, maybe even a solo kill?

Keep in mind you don’t have to necessarily kill the opponent to win your lane.
For Malzahar its a lot about using his amazing wave clear to pressure the map, by making rotations, clearing wards or putting some and in general being ready for the action while the opponent is busy with the wave that Malzahar just pushed into him with his Void Swarm.
Your Golden Key for winning as Malzahar is to be as efficient as possible and your triumphant card is that you can literally one-shot the waves once you get your Lost Chapter. You can setup all the time good recalls than the enemy and have an items advantage.


Passive lanes are for me the ones that opponents can be insanely aggressive towards me, especially in the early laning phase and have kill potential.

Ahri, Lucian, Akshan, Cassiopeia be aware of how aggressive those champions can be, pay attention to how you click and position because they will look for a chance to punish you. Pay attention to the level 2 window (When the first minion dies of the second wave it's level 2), give them enough respect and try to farm as much as possible.

It’s okay to give up on some minions, the longer the game takes the stronger you will be getting to the point that they won't be able to play the game well at some point. You are the champion that offers abnormal amounts of utility and crowd control and will still do so much.

The most important advice from me would be; you being even or a little behind it's still okay, you can be even 0/5 but still have a chance to win the game, don't underestimate your champion. Relax, give some respect to the opponent and try to feel your strong sides of Malzahar that is team fights, getting picks, and being efficent.


Have you ever thought that melee matchups are easy and you can poke the opponent so much? I did too and then I died million times :D.
You are going to encounter often champions like; Qiyana, Irelia, Sylas, Fizz, Diana etc. and often if you will push too much towards their turret they will look into go-in at level 2 not leaving to you much of a counterplay.
Why and how? Simply their champion can do that and yours even tho is ranged still can’t really answer to their go-in which might lead to you burning your Flash.

You are more useful than most of those champions but you need to survive and manage the waves to the point they can’t fully go in on you. I would only push hard into them when I made them low enough to the point if they contest me, they might die. Often the worst you can do in most of the games is to crush the second wave under the enemy turret which will lead them to have good pressure at the third wave which is cannon wave. (I’m talking about the first second wave in the game)

What we can do against those matchups is to connect together wave second with the third and build up Slow-push towards them to the point they wont be able to contest you and you will be able to safely recall/join the river with the jungler.

Please keep in mind that the amount of things that can be done pre-6 depends on how good/bad the opposing laner is, as each player’s skill-level differs


One of my first milestones for the lane would be to ask myself if I can get early priority, especially on the river around the 3:15 timer which is scuttler spawn and that’s usually the time your jungler would like to contest it. If I am able to control and pressure lane well enough to help him secure it or maybe contest a 2 vs 1 fight.

Malzahar doesn’t offer that much of a damage in early game, that’s why I wouldn't like to force much early. I’m happy enough if I can stay efficient and farm well till at least I get my Nether Grasp

Buy the Lost Chapter as soon as possible which will help you manage the waves better and control the pressure.

Pay enough respect to your opponents and question yourself; What they can do to me? and what I can do to them? What’s their win-condition in the fight with me? The more you question the more you learn.

Your positioning is most important because you are easy to punish, be careful and always be aware of the enemy's biggest threat.

Once you get your Nether Grasp try to communicate with the teammates more and jungler to look for the chances but don't overforce. Ping often that your Flash and Nether Grasp are ready, so your jungler will understand there is huge kill potential.

At some point the longer laning will take, it will become like a ping-pong between both mid laners exchanging the waves. That’s the moment when you need to be proactive on the map, and notice chances faster than the enemy.

The longer the game takes, the higher the chance of you one-shooting enemy with a full combo.
Check Combos

The midgame is the moment when your teammates are slowly starting to group and mid-lane isn’t a 1 vs 1 lane anymore.

Malzahar is the champion that doesn’t like to sit on the sideline for too long and prefers to group with his teammates the most. It’s because of his team fight potential, especially with Nether Grasp.

They are gonna be moments in the game when you will need to go on the side-lane to catch the wave and pressure it while your botlane and support are rotating to mid. That’s most of the time having a place when they took the Tier 1 bot lane turret and would like to implement pressure on other sides of the map, because for them overextending on botlane too deep could lead to death.

What we should do is to often fill our teammate's rotations, especially as the ones that have Teleport and can easily teleport to the team if they start fighting or need a cover.
Question yourself

Farsight Alteration will be really useful at this phase of the game because we can track easily enemies going after us through the jungle or other lane. Moreover, we can easily check Baron and Dragon without face-checking it while there is no vision.

If I were about to describe mid-game in words of mine then;

1. You as a Teleport user need to understand that pressuring side-lane can lead us to opportunities on the map and will allow opponents to make a mistake while trying to rotate to you. Usually, it’s a pattern where you are pushing the lane and rotating to your teammates looking for a play while the enemy laner has to catch the wave you just pushed. That can lead you to openings on the map and opponents splitting.

2. I must ask myself can I win the sidelane? Is there someone that can kill me? Or I am the one unstoppable on the side. Sometimes sidelane will be like a ping-pong between the players exchanging the waves.
There will be games where your team is winning hard and all you need to do is just to group with them to close the game, that’s why don’t go too far away if you consider the game already won because your teammates might do a stupid mistake. Make sure you have Teleport

3. There will be games while your team is so behind that grouping with them won’t change anything and you pressuring the side-lane will be like taking the burden away from them, since one of the enemy players will need to stop you.
Be rational, question a lot what's going on in the game, don't overforce stuff. Let opponents do a mistake.

4. In some games it's impossible to do a 5 vs 5 or siege opponents due to their great wave clear potential like Xerath, Ziggs, Anivia that’s the moment where your sidelane understanding does a great job.

Mid-game is all about rotations, staying efficient and playing for the objectives, picks and enemy mistakes.

I highly recommend watching the video at the Top of Guide of how I played and adapted to the game.


Late game is the time when each decision might cost us the game, death timers are long and objectives are the most important. One lost fight and opponents can finish the game.

Malzahar late game is incredibly strong, that's his peak of impact due to amazing damage over time that Liandry's Torment, Demonic Embrace and Malefic Visions does.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Nether Grasp are making you even more useful due to the number of slows and crowd control they offer.

At this phase of the game you are capable of pressing 2 spells on the wave to clear it. Malefic Visions and Void Swarm allows you to implement the pressure on sides lanes quickly and then rotate back to your teammates.

Prioritize staying grouped with your teammates and getting control over the map; like controlling vision around the dragon or baron, playing for the win condition like a Soul Dragon, or Baron.

One good opening with your Flash Nether Grasp and the game can be on our note. Don’t waste it for a empty kill that changes nothing or doesn’t open any opportunity!

The games in late-game are all about proper positioning and knowing your standing in the game, if the opponents are the ones that will be going in on us, or are we actually that strong to do so. A lot depends on team-comps and who has the advantage with objectives, pressure and in gold.

Always check opponent’s items, same as if they have Quicksilver Sash.

Ask yourself many questions and analyze the following;

1. Is there someone who can potentially kill me? Do I need Zhonya's Hourglass?
2. Who is the enemy win-condition? How do we deal with him
3. Does my teammates need more peel? Shall I use my Nether Grasp to help them with killing front-lane? Or Shall I keep it for backlane?

In short words you are strong, but as well easy to punish, you are so valuable for the team and can pressure waves and opponents incredibly well. You dont wan’t to do some crazy split-push away from the team, and be there for them, unless the game factors are telling you that joining them wouldn’t be anything good for us. Keep your Flash for the game-changing momentum, know everything about your opponents, try to control the most important objectives and don’t force, allow opponents to make a mistake first.

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide. I believe all of you can achieve what you want if you stay truly dedicated to the knowledge from the guide. Believe in yourself, don’t give up, and always push! Remember that growing as a better player is a marathon not a sprint. It takes time and practice.

If you would like to see me playing Malzahar or want to learn useful game tips, feel free to follow me on Twitch Channel and join my Discord Server !
Twitch.TV and Youtube!.

Big thanks to the Maniouz for the amazing graphics!
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