AD Malzahar's Current State

[SMALL NOTE: If anyone doubts the viability of AD Malza, check some videos / guides, then come back here] [WARNING: LOTS OF TEXT AND TL;DR DOESN'T HELP SO MUCH]

So, with the Season 6 changes, I feel as if has been indirectly buffed, whereas everybody looks at him as a mage, people forget about his AD side. First of all, I'd like to say I play Malzahar as an off-tank bruiser, for example ( or ) . He can be played as a full glass cannon etc. , which makes him a very good damage dealer if your team sports a lot of tanks, but I'll cover the former build path, because it is a much safer and fitting champion during the teamfight as he is quite vulnerable / medium to low range.

So, first one is . This thing is huge, and I can't express it. The AD is good, the CDR is always nice, the bleed effect makes you an even better anti mage and makes it so that assassins will have a very difficult time getting to you. But the 12% physical damage heal is so good. Just. Best thing. Your voidlings don't proc life steal under normal circumstances, but this makes it so that every physical damage you deal heals you, including the voidlings.

Riot did an amazing job with . This was an early game snowballing item for assassins and good for some bruisers. As most know, crit is useful post mid game (unless you're ), and most of the champions who bought this didn't need the crit chance. In exchange, the item got over DOUBLE the AD and now feels much more viable building it with its new components. Now Malzahar can get an insane power spike by getting this item, as its AD and arpen is amazing now in combination with his voidlings.

The Oppressor mastery is a very good thing for Malza. 2.5% extra damage across my 100-0 combo? Yes, I'll very happily take that, assuming I'm going 18 in Ferocity, then I'll also take the Deathfire Touch mastery. The DoT is very nice, 50% AD, and since I mentioned earlier I don't go with crit build and the fervor of battle is quite useless with him, and only really helps with early clears, having a bit more AD and some AP ratio damage to your combo is definitely not bad for a keystone.

. This item is quite an awkard choice, but it gives some AP as well. The thing that made me consider this is, that with the change to it, it no longer gives SV and LS, but now offers healing equal to 15% of damage dealt. All. Damage. Voidlings, ult, mid combo auto attacks, now you can heal for roughly 400~ health during a team fight, and while it might not sound like much, it's quite good in combination with and can make Malzahar a good duelist even when put against other much better melee bruisers like . Also consider getting it if the enemy noticed your trick and started stacking lots of armour.

If you're against an AP heavy team, then might be the item for you. Naturally, I'd regret that the AD based on missing health passive was removed, so now it is less useful at the end of fights for most bruisers, but for Malzahar this wouldn't be the case since you ult combo someone while full health almost all the time, after which you play more defensively unleashing rotations of spells. The fact it grants arpen and even some nice spell vamp now makes it a very good pick and you don't even sacrifice damage for getting it. The shield now also scales with level, so yeah...

Last but not least... Jungle changes. . Oh so much The mana regen it provides makes him have way more sustain in jungle. While the fact that it gives you back health when you deal any type of damage means you can let your voidlings tank later on while you are getting healed for it. Starting with x3 I've been surprised to see how good his clears can be (starting at gromp and doing a full jungle rotation). Little tip: start with Q and stack it before gromp spawns, until you have all passive stacks; use it at 1:33 so your voidling can grow up and make you take no damage.

TL;DR = AD Malzahar (jungle included) is in a very good state right now due to the changes of items and masteries in season 6. This is made with an off-tank bruiser build mostly.

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This is all I could remember for now, thank you for reading and make sure to leave your opinion about this. We are timeless.