Malzahar

Laraso·Jul 11, 2015·6 votes·937 views

Why doesn't anyone play this champ? I just tried him out today for the first time and honestly he feels extremely strong. He pushes extremely hard, has very good poke, excellent range on everything except his E and he can farm with abilities for almost no cost because of his E's passive.

I was literally just spamming every single ability on the waves as soon as they came off cooldown, never came close to running out of mana once (only built chalice, no mana pots), got tons of free poke as my E transferred from minions to my enemy laner who was desperately trying to keep up with my waveclear.

Dominated lane hard against RG EZ's. He's great in teamfights with a giant AOE silence and if 1v1 can delete people better than even Veigar can.

Is it just because of his lack of mobility? Is that it?

17 Comments

SquishyArchonJul 11, 20156 votes

Mobility is probably one of the biggest reasons like you said. Also lack of hard cc outside of ult makes it hard for him to be a threat in teamfights as much as other mages like Annie, Ahri, Lux, etc., who always have the threat of locking someone down. Maybe to top it off people just don't find him that fun to play. :/

YumaS2AstralJul 11, 20151 votes

Hard CC is anything that can interrupt channels, so technically silence is a hard CC. Although it is innefective against ADCs, who just have to auto-attack, it is extremely crippling for casters.

SquishyArchonJul 11, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Hard CC is anything that can interrupt channels, so technically silence is a hard CC. Although it is innefective against ADCs, who just have to auto-attack, it is extremely crippling for casters.

There's probably different definitions but hard cc to me has always been anything that prevents you from moving your character. Stuns, snares, knockups, fears, suppresses.

Stiv1234Jul 11, 20153 votes

Funny enough, because to me hard CC is CC that stops everything (stuns, airborne, charms, fears, taunts, suppress).

xl Kirito lxJul 11, 20155 votes

SHHHHHHHHH. You're going to spoil the secret...

Move along people, nothing to see here. This champion is not OP, and you should not attempt to play him. Please stick to LCS approved Azir or Ezreal .

kile147Jul 11, 20153 votes

Basically Malzahar has tons of counterplay, almost none of which involves dodging his abilities meaning that he seems OP if you just try to go toe to toe with him. He is countered so hard by item 3140 it's not even funny, since it singlehandedly makes half of his kit useless. Also although he is a brutal laner and can at least go even with anyone, he suffers a lot more than most from ganks because he has no mobility, and since his E automatically pushes lane he can usually be ganked a lot. Later into the game he stays fairly powerful, but once again cleanses from item 3139 / item 3222 can hurt his damage and lockdown potential a lot, and he still can't escape if he gets caught out meaning that he has to be fed enough to go against multiple people at once, or he dies. He is one of my favorite champs and is what carried me out of Bronze, but his weaknesses are just as big as his strengths, and since he is hard countered by teamwork/smart building I've found he is falling off the higher up the ladder I climb.

NemeBroJul 11, 20152 votes

He's used more than most other mid laners. I see him every so often.

Stiv1234Jul 11, 20152 votes

If you ward properly, he is extremely strong. You just have to be careful not to get camped. If you are, just use you skills to clear out the wave and back off. Your other lanes are free of jungle pressure and you can still farm better than your opponent. If the jungler tries to come in from very behind, you can usually kill him before your opponent can follow up. Also, if you are fed and the enemy team also has one fed guy, you can almost always take him out instantly. If you arent fed, you can still take anyone out instantly. Last but not least, you can stomp those annoying assassins Akali Ekko Fizz Katarina Nidalee Yasuo Zed . It is incredibly fun because they just cant do shit.

kile147Jul 11, 20151 votes

Until the AD ones build item 3139 ... then you QQ :(

ErockandrollJul 11, 20151 votes

He's good for what he does. He's probably better now with the major AP item Changes. Though he doesn't cleanly fit into many of the current Team comps.

Because of his 1v1 abilities, I would use him as a split pusher. requiring the enemy to divert more resources to stop me.

kile147Jul 11, 20151 votes

The item changes are great on him, and he's actually better as an anti-split pusher I've found since anyone who thinks they can split alone is going to be sadly mistaken, and then they will be dead.

MudintheWaterJul 11, 20151 votes

Three reasons:

He pushes his lane so is vulnerable to ganks.
He is barely mobile so he is vulnerable to ganks.
He uses almost all of his abilities on the minions so he has almost nothing to keep himself safe if he is ganked.

Basically every game where the enemy team has a competent jungler you will be camped.

Craft ZeppelinJul 11, 20151 votes

because he is DoT. A lot of people dislike the bare concept of it. really If you want real lane dominance, buy three dorans or somehing. you will nuke and regen so hard it would be a nightmare

7ha7guy777Jul 11, 20151 votes

You can actually clear waves with just E and some properly timed autos until you get enough AP to clear them with E alone. He may be immobile but he has high movement speed for an immobile mage at 345. His lack of non-ult hard CC can be a huge problem when he gets ganked and any jungler who has played against a malzahar before will probably be camping you. I typically end up get rylai's 2nd or 3rd depending on how i'm doing in order to to be able to escape by placing Q or W in the way or perma slow with E.

YumaS2AstralJul 11, 20151 votes

I would like if Riot buffed the range on his abilities just a little. Just a little so that Malzahar can be more safe, and escape better from ganks.

BeerOfRoot4843Jul 11, 20151 votes

If you think Mid Malz is an asshole, try playing him support for maximum dickery. Buy item 3116 on him and permaslow people with your E, or slow multiple people with your W. Each tick of your E gives you money from item 3092 , so I fully upgrade it for maximum dolla and the bonus slow. Win every bottom lane spar with your ultimate, or use it whenever you like for free summoner spells/kills.

Ch0c0lateJesusJul 11, 20151 votes

One of his biggest problems is that his ult roots him as well as his target. Sort of like Warwick but less tanky. He can still deal lots of damage if his ult is cancled or cleansed, but he needs the enemy team to clump, and he needs a good front line. Basically Velkoz does a better job of punishing clumped teams, and has much more cc and self peel.