Mallus, the Deacon of the Demons
Mallus, the Deacon of the Demons
Full Name: Mallus Macarum Role: Marksman (Unique Playstyle) Residence: Bilgewater Faction: Demons
Stats:
Health: 540 (+83 per level) Health Regen: 6.0 (+0.55 per level) Mana: 300 (+38 per level) Mana Regen: 7.0 (+0.45 per level) Range: 525 Attack Damage: 63 (+1.7 per level) Attack Speed: 0.644 (+2.83% per level) Armor: 29 (+3.4 per level) Magic Resistance: 30 (+0.5 per level) Movement Speed: 330
Damage: 3/3 Toughness: 0/3 Control: 2/3 Mobility: 0/3 Utility: 2/3 Difficulty: 3/3
Abilities:
Passive: Mortal Sacrifice
Mortal Weakness: To gain the favor of demons, a mortal must make a sacrifice. Because of this, Mallus's basic attacks do not scale off of AD, but rather level, dealing 40 (+15 per level) Physical damage per shot, up to 310 damage at level 18.
Favor of the Pantheon: Mallus's abilities that deal damage can critically strike for 150% damage. In addition, Mallus can rank up their basic abilities 6 times, and gains a free rank in Obedience at level 1, 6, 11 and 16.
Q: Unholy Blessing
Mallus fires a unholy round of ammunition from their gun, dealing 10/45/80/115/150/185 (+ Mortal Weakness Damage) (+70% Total AD) Physical damage to all enemy units it its path and applying active effects to all units at 50% effectiveness. The first enemy struck by this bullet is inflicted with Grievous wounds for 3 seconds.
Mana Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6/5 Range: 1000
W: So Below
Mallus fires their gun into the ground, arcing the bullets beneath the earth so they can resurface beneath their enemies. After a brief delay, the bullets appear at a targeted area, dealing 70/110/150/190/240/290 (+100% Bonus AD) (+50% AP) Physical damage and slowing targets hit by 30% for 1.5 seconds.
Mana Cost: 75 Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10/9 Range of Cast: 1000 Radius of Damage: 200
E: Altar for the Faithful
Mallus summons a demonic altar in the visage of his gods in a location, revealing the area around it for 1 second. The altar itself remains for 5 seconds. If any enemy units remain near the altar for 2 seconds, they will be feared and revealed for 1/1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5 seconds.
Mana Cost: 90 Cooldown: 17/16/15/14/13/12 Range of Cast: 700 Radius of Aura: 275
Ultimate: Obedience
Mallus shows their obedience to the Pantheon of Demons, and accepts one of their offers. These offers provide powerful passive bonuses, but once an offer is passed, it cannot be offered again. Mallus may accept offers from different demons, as they are not bound to one demon, but rather the entire Pantheon.
Level 1: The Pact Pact of Lust: Mallus gains 125 bonus attack range. Pact of Greed: Every 5 units killed, Mallus gains 2 (+3 per champion takedown) bonus gold. Champion takedowns automatically grant this bonus gold. Pact of Wrath: Mallus gains 10% bonus Critical Strike chance.
Level 6: The Bond Bond of Lust: If Mallus kills a unit or damages a Champion with an ability, 50% of the Mana Cost is refunded, and he gains the amount of Mana refunded as health. Bond of Greed: Mallus gains a free skill point in a basic ability. At level 11, Mallus gains an additional level in Mortal Sacrifice, bringing the total damage with his basic attacks at level 18 to 325. Bond of Wrath: If Mallus lands a Critical Strike on an enemy Champion, the attack ignores 15% of the target's total armor.
Level 11: The Covenant Covenant of Lust: Mallus amplifies the power of Unholy Blessing, negating any healing from the first two targets hit for 3 seconds, and increasing the range of the ability to 1500. Covenant of Greed: For every Champion takedown, the cooldown of So Below is reduced by 5%. In addition, the slow duration is increased to 3 seconds. Covenant of Wrath: Mallus can target an Altar summoned by Altar for the Faithful to dash to it, destroying it, refunding 65% of the cooldown and causing their next basic attack or ability to Critically Strike.
Level 16: The Commitment Commitment to Lust: Mallus heals for 25% of all damage they deal. In addition, Mallus can choose to target an individual enemy Champion every 3 minutes. Any damage Mallus deals to that target will heal them for an additional 25% of that damage. Killing the targeted Champion grants a permanent 5% bonus to lifesteal, and prevents them from being targeted for 5 minutes. Commitment to Greed: When Mallus kills an enemy Champion, they gain 100 bonus Physical damage on basic attacks and deal 20% bonus damage on all damaging basic abilities for 5 seconds. This bonus stacks and the duration refreshes on additional champion kills, stacking up to three times. Commitment to Wrath: Mallus deals bonus damage with Critical Strikes equal to 50% of their Critical Strike chance, which can increase if Mallus gains more than 100% Critical Strike chance from items and abilities. As long as Mallus is out combat, Mallus will gain an additional 10% Critical Strike chance every 10 seconds, capping at a bonus 50% bonus Critical Strike chance.
Gameplay:
Playing as Mallus
Mallus's unique relationship with the Demons of Runeterra allows him to be an incredibly flexible Champion, whether they want to play safe and poke from the back line, assassinate squishy targets with a single combo, or fight with their team in the mid to late game, they can easily get the tools to do what they need to due to their faith.
Early game, poking with Unholy Blessing and So Below can enable some easy damage on enemies, but due to the higher Mana Costs, it could leave Mallus vulnerable to counterpoke. However, thanks to Obedience, Mallus has options in the laning phase, whether they want to stay safe with Pact of Lust, get items as fast as possible with Pact of Greed, or get early kills with Pact of Wrath, their play style can change easily based on what they want to do against their enemy. Once Mallus hits level 6 and gets unlocks the Bond level of Obedience, they can choose to either continue to commit to the playstyle they chose with their Pact, or decide to mix things up depending on how the first few levels went.
One unifying aspect about Mallus is their ability to zone, both with So Below and Altar for the Faithful, as they can easily route enemies to where they want them to be so they can either continue to poke them with an upgraded Unholy Blessing thanks to the Covenant of Lust, stick or kite to them with an upgraded So Below thanks to the Covenant of Greed, or catch them out with an upgraded Altar for the Faithful thanks to Covenant of Wrath.
Tips and Tricks
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A good Mallus player knows which offers should be taken and when. If they are behind, taking offers from the Lust tree allows solid sustain and poke from their abilities and basic attacks. If they need to have an impact in team fights, taking offers from the Greed tree allows Mallus to gain items faster and deal more consistent damage. If they need to assassinate key targets, taking offers from the Wrath tree allows for immediate burst damage, even through tank lines.
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Altar for the Faithful is used best with enemies who are already slowed by So Below. Guaranteeing the fear and revealing multiple enemies allows easy shots of Unholy Blessing, and simply allowing Mallus to get close enough to start attacking.
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Mallus works best with Champions that can hold enemies still, as Unholy Blessing only applies Grievous Wounds to the first target hit, unless upgraded. Being able to access the targets that you want is key to succeeding with this champion.
Lore:
In this world, a person must take in order to get ahead. Some people take money, like the thieving pirates of Bilgewater. Some people take ideas, such as the "geniuses" in Piltover. Some people take lives, such as the violent military men of Noxus. Mallus Macarum had lived a life where everything was taken from them; their money, their shop, even a few fingers when they couldn't lose any more money. They had nobody to love, nothing to care about, and nothing to their name but the dirt they would eventually die in. That was, until they decided to go against what they knew, and gave to a powerful Pantheon full of Demons.
Mallus Macarum, one of the few decent tailors in Bilgewater, had lived a life that he would say was at least somewhat worth it. They saw the dirty bums in the alleyways, the blood-covered mercenaries, the mercenaries that never returned; they knew that these kinds of lives were the ones they did not want to live any time soon.
One thing about being good at your job in Bilgewater, however, is that people want to keep you all to themselves. Their suits, their dresses, their fancy little hats, the powerful people in Bilgewater wanted to have a person who could make them look and feel even more powerful in their pocket, and Mallus felt honored, for a time. The more people that wanted their services, the more people began to start getting aggressive with their customary practices.
Rival gangs of pirates started using intimidation tactics to keep Mallus from servicing anyone else, and when intimidation didn't work, Mallus received a few bruises and cuts and broken limbs. When Mallus was finally swayed to serve one gang of pirates, The Titanic Legion, Mallus prayed that it would be the end of the violence, the end of their troubles. They didn't know why they were getting so much attention, they were just a simple tailor that liked making clothing, they had no interest in the dealings of pirates.
And yet, despite their prayers, more would be taken from them. The Carrions, one of the rival gangs that Mallus had to politely turn down, was not fond of having their services denied. As such, they thought that if they couldn't get Mallus's clothing, nobody should. In the night, The Carrions approached Mallus's shop and set it ablaze, taking down a few neighboring buildings with their arson. When Mallus discovered their shop in cinders, they were completely devastated.
When The Titanic Legion demanded outfits for a royal event that they intended to invade, Mallus had to decline due to the lack of the proper tools and supplies. The Titanic Legion didn't take kindly to not having the services they earned, and as such decided to take the tools Mallus was gifted with but now squanders. They grabbed Mallus, strapped him down, and severed all of the fingers on his left hand. The Titanic Legion told them that unless they find a way to make clothing, they'd lose their right hand too.
Mallus didn't want to have any more taken from them, but they had no choice. They felt so hopeless, they had nothing, not even all of their fingers to make the clothes The Titanic Legion needed. They needed something to give them a reason to even keep going, and they took a walk along the alleyways they so vehemently despised to try to find one.
As Mallus walked, they heard something in the distance. Mallus heard singing, beautiful singing, from many voices. They weren't singing a happy song, it was actually somewhat dark and disturbing, but Mallus were drawn to it nonetheless. They wandered the alleys, going directions they didn't even know lead anywhere, going into deeper and darker and danker parts of the city. When Mallus arrived at the source, they didn't find a choir, but rather a series of dirty, abandoned altars, depicting twisted visages of horrible monsters.
Mallus took a step towards the altars, and they all stopped their song. Mallus called out, wondering who was singing that beautiful music, to which they were met with silence. Mallus examined these altars, brushing the dirt out of the way of each of them, looking at each face with curiosity. When Mallus finished cleaning the last altar, a voice spoke softly in their head, thanking them. Mallus whipped around, not knowing where the source of the voice was coming from, but seeing no one they assumed they were simply just tired.
Mallus turned to leave the altars, but was again spoken to by the soft, smooth voice. It told Mallus about how appreciative that it and all of its friends were that they gave their time to help them, that they allowed them all to stay remembered. Mallus felt that they should be afraid, but they weren't for a reason they couldn't explain. They continued to listen as the voice talked, explaining their situation.
They were a Pantheon of Demons, forgotten by time as mortals began worshipping Gods instead. They needed someone to help them, and in return, they would give them power in return. Money, love, power, any dreams that a person could desire. Mallus looked down at their hand wrapped in gauze and realized this could be the thing that they were looking for; a new purpose, to help these Demons.
Mallus accepted their offer, and the altars once again began to sing, as Mallus was surrounded in a sinister purple and black fog. In their right hand, a weapon formed, a revolver with six chambers, one for each of the altars. Around their body, their clothing changed, taking on the form of a more religious robe, adorned with the symbols of each of the Demons. When the fog disappeared, Mallus heard the voice one last time.
"Go now, Deacon of the Demons, prove your faith to us through sacrifice."
