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Skill order for Support Malzahar: Q or E first?

Strawberrycocoa··2 votes·1,566 views

In the past I've been a stubborn fuck about sticking with tank and utility support champions and shitting on midlane mages "invading" the support role, but I've decided to just get with the times and start using midlaner supports like everyone else. Hate to admit this, but it reduces a lot of my frustration with the game to be playing Support but on a champion that can actually stand on their own two feet rather than having to hide behind their allies all game.

Anyway, ranting aside, I'm starting off with Malzahar Support because he's one of my favorite midlaners and he has enough utility to justify Supporting. But I'm not sure if maxing E or Q first is better for a Support role.

  • If I max Q first I can drop it and catch people by surprise, and tis also means I can E the minion waves and ask my carry to last-hit the marked minions, so they get the gold but I get the death-jump that refills my mana. And maxing E slower makes it less likely I'll leech that gold from them.

  • If I max E first I get a stronger guaranteed damage spell to harass and chunk with and don't risk wasting mana by having them sidestep the skillshot of Q. But I lose my ability to replenish my mana easily because it has a higher risk of leeching the last-hit gold from the carry.

Thoughts?

5 Comments

TrikzterzArma2 votes

Malz has no real poke or hardCC, don't play him as a support

The Beholder2 votes

{quoted}

In the past I've been a stubborn fuck about sticking with tank and utility support champions and shitting on midlane mages "invading" the support role, but I've decided to just get with the times and start using midlaner supports like everyone else. Hate to admit this, but it reduces a lot of my frustration with the game to be playing Support but on a champion that can actually stand on their own two feet rather than having to hide behind their allies all game.

Anyway, ranting aside, I'm starting off with Malzahar Support because he's one of my favorite midlaners and he has enough utility to justify Supporting. But I'm not sure if maxing E or Q first is better for a Support role.

  • If I max Q first I can drop it and catch people by surprise, and tis also means I can E the minion waves and ask my carry to last-hit the marked minions, so they get the gold but I get the death-jump that refills my mana. And maxing E slower makes it less likely I'll leech that gold from them.

  • If I max E first I get a stronger guaranteed damage spell to harass and chunk with and don't risk wasting mana by having them sidestep the skillshot of Q. But I lose my ability to replenish my mana easily because it has a higher risk of leeching the last-hit gold from the carry.

Thoughts?

Alright, Im only silver, but malz is my most played, and hes what Ive been using to climb, so hopefully my tips are helpful and arent completely wrong and my climb has been by sheer luck alone, with that said...

I never play malz support. Yes, it can work, but unlike most mage supports, his damage is more DoT and not burst, so in quick trades he can come up short compared to mages like brand, xerath, or zilean. If you want to play malz support, id max q first for the damage and since it increases the silence duration.

While using Malz mid I usually max E first as it refunds more mana that way and does more damage, meaning more often refunding said mana, but as a support you wont be using your e too often to farm, as thats the adc’s job, so maxing E isnt as important.

I could see some logic in going (hear me out, its stupid but maybe just stupid enough to work) glaical augment on malz and rushing GLP. It gives mana and complements a core malz item, Ryalis. Since Malz only form of momvment imparinf cc is his ult going for a perma slow malz (even more perma slow thanks to Glacial and GLP) would allow your adc to stick to the enemy easier and make up for his lack of other forms of cc.

So, as a Tl:dr Go glaical augment (and probably buiscuits, and whatever else you want) with sorcery as seconday (10% cdr and gathering storm for scaling)

Start q, max q then e then w, and r every time you can.

Build support item, but then GLP or ryalis in either order, if you need more hp, ryalis, if you need to catch someone more slippery, GLP, and hopefully by lategame you will have a decent anount of ap, 3 ways to slow enemies (auto, GLP (and GLP+ auto combo) and ryalis) and then obviously you have your ult.

I hooe this helps, if not, sorry to waste your time.

Jinzo Torrance1 votes

He's not good since short range DoT damage (bad poke) + permapushes because of his E and ADC might not be willing to hit minions with E on (lot of ganks, you're immobile and have no CC, tankyness in a long lane) + his ult now has 140s CD.

I would max E for less CD on it and reliability + more damage if you reset it with Q or R.

Slythrin Umbreon1 votes

Q first. E has really weak and limited use. Q can be decent poke in lane if you practice landing it and that silence can be massive, possibly game winning, in a dragon fight. Ironically, the silence can also shit on other mage "supports," seems like the right champion for you lol

Also, as a support it's really important to remember how much you can body block deadly linear skill shots with both passive and voidlings.

Crimson Zeppelin1 votes

As a malz main for four seasons, I have done this several times. In different patches. Forget about all the above comments, they did not address his real problem as a support.

Mana costs.

Malzahar is possibly one of the most costly mages in terms of mana. You just simply cannot pull it off.

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