Is there a charitable soul at Riot who would accept to take a look at malzahar? <3

Hi,

Malzahar is currently 80th in terms of popularity (4,7% pickrate). I believe the changes to botlane increased his popularity slightly and put forth why the champion has been struggling even more since his rework. He's extremly team reliant and does scale as slow as an adc.

His winrate is fine, 50,9% but I don't believe this argument is sufficient enough to claim he's "okay". I don't believe he's bad but I think that he could, with some help, be at least consistent.

His R. It has the ability to lockdown a target during a fight. You may think, it's OP because it has the ability to delete a target but in reality it doesn't work really like that. Malzahar doesn't have mobility which means it's close to impossible to reach a carry so instead it has to be used a defensive-type of spell mainly directed at bruisers and others types of champions going for your carry or yourself. It is especially great to deny an assassin but it will be countered at some point with a or . I want to focus "at some point" here as ppl won't necessarely buy it until they realize you can reach them. The great thing is that affected players will have to spend 1300 gold in that instead of damage but will in return make your champion unable to perform what he's meant to do so you've to look to lock someone else which is not always easy for mobility reasons. Last, his R does lock someone but it does lock you too for 2,5 seconds. So during a fight, you're excluding yourself and your target for about 50% of the time of a fight currently. During this 2,5 seconds, you may just die and your opponent aswell. It does bring his R to some sort of coinflip as his R won't delete the target itself. This makes malzahar extremly team reliant while punishing heavily misspositioning - for both players.

His E is a point-click 650 range dot that last 4 seconds. It has very weak damage itself in early and does rely on all the other abilities to deal actual damage : Q for the refresh, W for the execute, R for the refresh aswell. Assuming you want to maximize your damage, it is the first ability you need to land on a target, hence the first ability of your combo. I want to point out the range in that regard. A zed W has a 700 range, akali dash 700, talon W 900, ahri Q 880 so it does seems to me only fair to increase the range. It does bring much more problem that one may think because it is counter-intuitive and I can't list all the time I've flash E to only not be in range to land it. The last issue being that it takes 4 seconds to deal the full damage which is 80/115/150/185/220 (+80% ability power) for a single target ability.. It leaves malza way too vulnerable if his ult is down.

His Q does silence in a line for 1 to 2 seconds with a 900 range. It is no doubt the best and the most reliable ability in malzahar kit. Althought, it is very hard to land as it is a thin line and takes 0,65 sec for the animation to end. It takes one basic boots to dodge it np so it does require then some slow or CC to hit the target which malza doesn't have himself. It does then need proc through E or a team-mate to proc a cc.

His W. I'll be quite franc. I don't understand how this constitue an ability. Voidlings are sent from malzahar onto the target if they ever find their way and if they stay alive in the process. If you ever want to cast it during ult, it cancels it. As they need to be directed, you need to cast E (650 range) on the target first hand because otherwise they'll move toward a random minion. I've personnally rarely seen my voidlings doing damage to a champion except under ult. The main use then relies in executing minions in lane and to push in early game.

His passive : I don't think it's working as intended. A simple basic attack does cancel it. Ultimately, it doesn't matter because it won't save malzahar if someone ever reaches him.

Ultimatly, what you need to do on malza : to not be wrecked in lane is Q (900), E (650), W (150), R (700) To maximize damage : E (650) ,Q (900), W (150), R (700) (no charges) or E (650), W (150), Q (900), R (700). Combo duration taking at least 7 seconds. All this pretty much needs your team to be around to be reliable and won't necesseraly oneshot someone unless fed.

It does mean that malzahar is heavily dependent on his team at all stage of the game while also having a poor laning phase. I haven't been in detailed about damage but his trading potential is extremly low, especially without his ult (140/110/80 cd - Zed will have his ult up before malza at all stages). Additionally, he feels like an ADC needing at least 2-3 items to deliver damage.

My suggestion : I would honestly remove that passive and put the voidlings as passive as it used to be or delete them. I would replace the W by a skill similar to aatrox which pulls a target at the center of a pool while dealing "some" damage, it would make the Q easier to land and give some variety and presence in lane.

Sorry for TL;DR !