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Why Malzahar is so unpopular?

YumaS2Astral··3 votes·1,394 views

He may not be the best champion, and has some flaws, but I thougth that with the new tank meta and the fact that even Urgot and Yorick were used on the LCS, Malzahar would finally see some competitive play; yet, he is still unpopular. Can someone explain why?

It's because item 3140 counters his ultimate? While this is true, forcing your opponent to rush QSS delays his powerspike by a lot, especially if he is an AP champion, since there is no good QSS upgrade for AP champions and they are just purchasing this to counter Nether Grasp. Also, some champions such as tanks and bruisers, should not be purchasing this; targeting a tank/bruiser with Nether Grasp isn't always a bad idea, it can be used to peel them off your ADC.

It's because he lacks mobility? Well, indeed this is a serious problem; though it can be somewhat remedied. For example, sometimes I use movement speed quintessences on him. I always build AP/HP items such as item 3027, too. I don't use item 3165 because it leaves Malzahar too squishy, even though the cooldown reduction is an amazing stat to have.

But what are the actual reasons to why only a few people use Malzahar?

22 Comments

Gengar3 votes

I personally find Malzahar to be hidden OP.. I'm just as surprised to see him be so unpopular. Someday people will realize.

I think the issue is his squishyness/no escape. However an AOE silence is very useful (and really stupid to play against).

Raging Kittens1 votes

He also relies way too much on his ulti for kill potential. After his ulti is up, or gets cc'ed during it, he's pretty useless.

stealthfox941 votes

That is so not true at all. His damage with Q rivals some champions ults and it has a silence. And once you get item 3151 and/or item 3165 you're E will hurt a lot. Just going to take a guess and say you've never played him, because that statement you just made is far from the truth. And as for the QSS thing, it's not a very good item to rush I'll just say that.

YumaS2Astral2 votes

Forcing the opponent to rush QSS just to counter Malzahar is a reason why one can argue that QSS isn't really a weakness for Malzahar. Once the opponent has it, just don't ult him. Targeting a tank/bruiser isn't a bad idea due to the massive damage that Nether Grasp has.

Raging Kittens1 votes

It's true that both of those items give him a strong advantage. But lets be honest, I can go off a list of champions that can rush those items with dots and have the same capability as malz and still have a gap closer / escape. Its his overall kit that makes him extremely weak in competitive play.

Volgaria1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Raging Kittens,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fbAxEyy2,comment-id=0000000000000001,timestamp=2015-06-05T04:52:39.415+0000)

It's true that both of those items give him a strong advantage. But lets be honest, I can go off a list of champions that can rush those items with dots and have the same capability as malz and still have a gap closer / escape. Its his overall kit that makes him extremely weak in competitive play.

Competitive play, yes. But I do think he is still fairly strong in solo queue. Or maybe its just because I'm in the gold / silver area, but I've caught out the enemy ADC a ton from them over extending before a team fight. Just need to wait for the right time, and pay attention to what CC is used by the enemy or how quickly someone can get to you

Volgaria1 votes

{quoted}

That is so not true at all. His damage with Q rivals some champions ults and it has a silence. And once you get item 3151 and/or item 3165 you're E will hurt a lot. Just going to take a guess and say you've never played him, because that statement you just made is far from the truth. And as for the QSS thing, it's not a very good item to rush I'll just say that.

Have you seen his Q damage with a ludens? Its nuts, massive damage + you can silence multiple people some what safely. If you are quick enough you can silence them and run out for some poke.

Orbv1 votes

His Malefic Visions followed by voidlings and % health damage are what really kill you. His ult is really for getting a kill in lane or catching someone out who is trying to dive you/a carry during a teamfight.

YumaS2Astral2 votes

Well, there are many champions just as immobile as Malzahar, and they aren't as unpopular, ex: Xerath Chogath Orianna Viktor Annie

And Malzahar has many advantages over them. For example, he has an AoE % damage skill, he has an easier time against tanks, has less issues with mana (except in case of Xerath), and is less reliant on skillshots (except in case of Annie).

Raging Kittens1 votes

Xerath : His range Cho : He has a strong pressence in team fights Orianna : range Viktor : range, slow, hard cc Annie : hard CC for A PASSIVE (hint the passive is op as fk), a built in thornmail that is pretty broken late game and potential to CC an entire team with a stun.

All the champions you listed bring a TON to the team. Teamfights end just as fast as they start. DoTs are practically useless in these type of situations.

But I will give Malz a pro that he does excel at dmg when it comes to long teamfights.

DropFill2 votes

His lack of sustain His lack of early trading potential His easily countered ultimate His lack of a good optimal first item build ( I play malzahar, and the first item I get on him is usually zhonyas, because mana regen leaves him too squishy, and rod of ages limitates his rylai-liandry build ) He is also immobile and can't burst people as fast as lb can do while being mobile.

Volgaria1 votes

{quoted}

His lack of sustain His lack of early trading potential His easily countered ultimate His lack of a good optimal first item build ( I play malzahar, and the first item I get on him is usually zhonyas, because mana regen leaves him too squishy, and rod of ages limitates his rylai-liandry build ) He is also immobile and can't burst people as fast as lb can do while being mobile.

Early trading potential is insane if you get your Q at level 1 and use it like annie W to get your voidling up.

DropFill1 votes

{quoted}

Early trading potential is insane if you get your Q at level 1 and use it like annie W to get your voidling up.

When I play him, I spam Q in base and than I go to lane with 3 stacks of his passive. But as soon as I reach lvl 2 and E them, they will run away from the voidling.

67chrome1 votes

Why Malzahar is so unpopular?

The same reason ~90% of champions are unpopular. Only a small minority of champions are popular.

Unless a champion is one of the best ~3 picks for a given lane within the meta, they aren't going to be a popular champion. That's just how popularity works.

WarlockLaw1 votes

Malzahar is essentially a solo que hero. In coordinated play like at the lcs when he ults he basically kills himself and he doesn't contribute a significant amount to team fights compared to other ap carries (think cass/ori/xerath) In solo que he is not very likely to be hard focused once he starts his ult so he can get away with taking somebody out of a fight

YumaS2Astral1 votes

Yet Malzahar isn't as popular on SoloQ as he should be

DrNova1 votes

The MAIN reasons are (in my opinion)

  1. Almost extreme lack of mobility/saftey. No slows, no dashes, naturaly slow moving.

  2. His ult locks him down as well, which in this mobile age is a dangerous thing

BluePolarizer1 votes

Malzahar is one of the best peelers in the game.

I can see a place for him in competitive: non-mid solo laner in a 1v2 lane because he can AFK farm with his E while sitting under tower, then transition to become one of the best peelers in the game for a hypercarry who now also is freefarming since the hypercarry is now in a 2v1 lane.

snowday4201 votes

i think hes a pretty good ap champ i thought he was op cause of the stuns silence and ap burst

HorusEye1 votes

Because they are waiting for LCS to pick him up, and then take this opportunity to play Malz in Rank games right away as an excuse.

DoFr

it's because you will almost always be forced to push your wave due to your voiding, malefic visions, and pretty much all of your AoE it will leave you in a constant pushing state, which means you're almost always a free ganking station for all junglers

that and the fact your ult get interrupted with every hard/soft cc, and let's not forget it also cc's you for the duration aswell

you want the most of mal? you're going to be forced to always push due to the nature of his kit

manage that part, and then you're good to go, however in competitive scene, you push, they will freeze the lane, forcing you to get close in an attempt to get either exp or gold, and boom, junglers there

last thing: it's league of mobility now, and malz lacks it

Volgaria1 votes

{quoted}

it's because you will almost always be forced to push your wave due to your voiding, malefic visions, and pretty much all of your AoE it will leave you in a constant pushing state, which means you're almost always a free ganking station for all junglers

that and the fact your ult get interrupted with every hard/soft cc, and let's not forget it also cc's you for the duration aswell

you want the most of mal? you're going to be forced to always push due to the nature of his kit

manage that part, and then you're good to go, however in competitive scene, you push, they will freeze the lane, forcing you to get close in an attempt to get either exp or gold, and boom, junglers there

last thing: it's league of mobility now, and malz lacks it

I'm going to start by saying I'm trash, but any time I have voidling up I use my space aids + void on who ever I'm laning against. I've found that I'm not pushed that often, but it is very easy to push lane if you aren't paying attention. I like being able to push out the lane and go roam, considering your ult is like a guaranteed kill

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