The more I play League of Legends lately the more I’ve fallen in love with AP characters. There’s something so satisfying about using a skillset to melt opponents that doesn’t quite translate in the auto attack kills of physical carries. Every team in the Dreamhack qualifiers relied on an AP champion for the utility, control and incredible burst potential those champions offer. This week, I’ll be playing a champion that has long frustrated me as an opponent, one that I have rarely played at length, and a champion that many believe to be underrepresented This week, I’ll be playing Malzahar for my Champ of the Week.
I’ve always been frustrated to play against Malzahar, largely because it’s so hard to shut down his farm. He’s not particularly deadly at early levels, he’s just super deadly to minions and has nearly infinite mana thanks to the kill bonus on Malefic Visions. Malzahar can also melt champions like no other, thanks to the percentage based damage of Null Zone. When coupled with AoE CC like Amumu or even Jarvan, Null Zone absolutely shreds the enemy. To round out the kit, Malz has an AoE silence and a pet for extra damage. Malzahar punishes enemy mistakes with devastating efficiency and provides both push and anti-push to his own team. In short, he’s a great pick.
I’ll be focusing on build order, Summoner Spell selection, and relative power on low-CC teams. Obviously Malzahar shines when his targets are held in place, but how well can he perform in less than ideal circumstances? My guess is extremely well. I think it’s safe to say that the only caster I fear more than Malzahar is Anivia.
Posted in: Champ of the Week, league of legends
Tags: ap carry, ap champion, caster, malzahar, malzahar build, malzahar carry, malzahar guide, malzahar playstyle
The one very big issue with Malzahar is that he’s fully countered by Quicksilver Sash. You go for the combo? Cleanse that!
Luckily, almost no one buys it these days…
I’d play any champ that requires a number of characters to blow gold on QSS. That’s the definition of a game-changing pick. It’s not an issue at all. It’s a feature. When it does get bought it’s not a huge issue anyway as his whole kit packs a wallop.
A couple things of note, as to why Malz is such an incredibly strong champion.
1. He has incredible lane presence – He can farm like nobodies business and keep his mana up at the same time. Malefic Visions is a phenomenal poke in lane and can really catch the enemy off guard with its overall damage.
2. In the early game he provides one of the best 2v1 situations in the game. 2v1′s are typically high change scenarios to get kills (or so you’d hope) but they’re never guaranteed. Malzahar’s ult probably offers one of the highest % opportunities to convert kills in these situations. The overall burst he gives combined with several seconds of complete CC is monstrous. Your jungle will love ganking your lane after level 6.
3. The concerns about QSS are valid ones, but not at all as serious as you might think. Due to the fact that Malzahar doesn’t have much of a defensive setup, you really can’t afford to cross certain lines in a teamfight, which limits your options for using your ult. Typically the best thing to do is learn the range and best opportunity. Using it to early may mean an early interrupt, and using it to late may mean a missed opportunity. Regardless of his ult he still has two incredible AoE’s that are game-changing if utilized correctly and a wicked awesome DoT.
Your last line is by far the best, the only caster that outshines Malzahar, is Anivia. Although with her overwhelmingly large disparity of damage/usefulness/etc. comes a much high skill requirement.