Malzahar Counterplay

LechintanTudor·Jan 8, 2018·2 votes·787 views

I'm a mid lane Zed main and whenever I play against him no matter what I do, no matter how fed I get i still lose. Last game I went 5/0 in the early game, destroying the Malzahar and roaming top to help our Tryndamere who was playing against Maokai. But when the mid game came I was hopeless. Malzahar got a Zhonias and he had the unsealed spellbook rune. He kept flash ulting me and his team kept killing me. I went from 5/0 to 8/8. To kill him I had to damage him to pop his shield, then bait Zhonias, then try to assassinate him. And how could I reach their backline if he kept ulting me? His ult should have its range reduced and have a delay added so you can react to it.

5 Comments

nm1010Jan 8, 20182 votes

Most assassin's have the early game advantage in most match ups vs mages, but if you can't end the game with that advantage they will passively out scale you. I don't agree with the assassin v mage match up being balanced this way, but you should probably get used ending the game early it if you are going to play assassins.

I recommend split pushing to force 1v1's you can win then taking towers or other objectives afterwards.

LechintanTudorJan 8, 20181 votes

That match both top and bottom were losing. I couldn't help bot much because the enemy had a Blitzcrank and Kog'Maw and Blitz's ult ruins my combo and Kog'Maw was staying near Blitz. I'll try splipushing more in the future when they have a peel team comp.

CrystalyskJan 8, 20181 votes

You don't roam top to help a tryndamere vs maokai. Just go botlane next, that will help you win games.

Crede777Jan 8, 20181 votes

Malz is anti-assassin and has been even before the mage update. His point and click suppression has always been an extremely valuable anti-dive mechanism.

One thing you can do is build a second item QSS which will dissuade Malz from ulting you while it is up.

However, when Malz has his stopwatch up or a Zhonyas, Zed has 0 kill pressure on him. It's been that way for a long time. That's not unique to Malz, though Malz is probably the strongest example at the moment due to unsealed spellbook negating his immobility and ultimate hat.

While Malz will be getting further nerfs in the future, I highly recommend paying closer attention to champ matchup and itemization.

LechintanTudorJan 8, 20181 votes

I didn't get QSS that match because I was ahead in lane and he didn't deal to much damage. And even if I did they had a Maokai who could point and click root me while their Kog'Maw could one shot me from his base. I wish point and click CC was removed from the game or at least have small range and low duration.