Champion Guide

Malzahar Guide

By LoLSuggest

Mid

Malzahar rewards wave management, positioning and smart rotations: survive a weak early lane, use your wave clear to free up time for resets, wards and roams, and use Nether Grasp to set up picks for your jungler or to lock down divers threatening your carries.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Malzahar build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

The build tab's page is Arcane Comet with Manaflow Band, Transcendence and Scorch, plus Cash Back and Triple Tonic (the written notes also cover Deathfire Touch); Resolve secondaries with Bone Plating help against burst lanes. Our favourite spells are Flash and Ghost, with Ignite to snowball, Exhaust against Zed or Diana, or Teleport. Start Doran's Ring against early threats, or Tear for Q poke and farm. For most games build Blackfire Torch, Ionian Boots, Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment, then Zhonya's Hourglass and Cryptbloom. When snowballing from an early pick, go Malignance with Sorcerer's Shoes and Void Staff. Morellonomicon, Banshee's Veil and Mercury's Treads are situational.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Strengths

Strong wave clear that turns into map pressure and rotations.
Nether Grasp gives reliable setup for picks and ganks.
Can lock down divers to protect his carries.

Weaknesses

Weak early laning; immobile and vulnerable to ganks.
Squishy, positioning-dependent, and interruptible while channeling his ultimate.
Quicksilver Sash removes the suppression, and long-range poke like Xerath or Ziggs outranges him.

Laning Phase

Respect early threats: don't fast-push into champions who want to all-in you like Qiyana, Diana, Irelia or Yasuo — let them push or just last-hit, and build up a bigger wave rather than crashing early. Dodge key skillshots, stay efficient with farm, and reach level 6, where most matchups swing in your favour. Track Quicksilver Sash and nearby enemies before committing Nether Grasp.

Mid & Late Game

Once you can clear waves quickly, use the time between waves to reset, ward, help your jungler or rotate — but only to plays you can reach without giving up too much. Use Flash into Nether Grasp to catch carries when your team can follow up, or hold your ultimate to peel divers off your carries. Collect side waves with Teleport if you took it and join objective fights in time.