Literally every time this guy has showed up in my game (several times now recently) I've lost lane hard and fed. I feel terrible every time it happens and I feel even worse when the team I'm paired with blames the total loss on how bad I am. Been told several times I should just go play coop vs ai for a living.
So...what do?
It really depends on who you are playing. If you are playing a mage, then your best bet is probably to waveclear and poke him from outside of his range. Malzahar's only reliable early harass is E, autoattacks, and occasionally his voidling; his Q is delayed and can be dodged while his W is of little use without CC to keep you in it.
Malzahar is one of the better mages for 1v1-ing champions due to his kit and he's especially good at dealing with assassins. However, he is immobile and his ultimate CCs himself, so he can have issues in teamfights. In addition, he often pushes the wave in lane, which leaves him vulnerable to junglers.
I'd basically recommend keeping your distance and turning it into a farm lane. For example, as Vel'koz I'd recommend getting Athene's Unholy Grail as your first item for the mana regen, CDR, and MR and clear the waves with your W. You can safely farm from outside of Malzahar's range and poke him, so you can kite him with your slow and knockup without allowing him to get in range for his E or ultimate. Malzahar is great of locking down and killing divers in teamfights, but he isn't great at dealing with AoE CC or more than one champions at a time.
Buy QSS, win the game. end of post
save your flash maybe :l flash away when he flashes to kill you
emphasis on flash, cuz no way are you telling me this void genie walked up and killed you the problem might not be malz in that case -_-
Ban him or just go a tankier build with like athenes rod, never stand next to minions with his e on him, Don't duel his void thingy run away, and call for ganks he is immobile as hell.
You play the same way versus Malza as you play versus any hard lane control champion like Renekton.
Play safe, farm. If you are within 20-25 cs disadvantage it's still good. YOu'Ll outscale him pretty hard.
Banshee QSS gives a hard time to him.Jungler ganks also.
Main thing is just to avoid dying to him.
No offense, but I don't see Velkoz, Fizz, or most other mid laners rushing QSS as their first item and performing well enough the rest of the game to win. At what point do I invest in it? Pretty much every time he hits level 6 I'm dead. There's too many other items I'll need to carry me through early and mid game but by the time I have my first completed item I've given up and decided there's nothing else I can do but ff@20.
As I play Vel'Koz quite a lot ive also had a lot of trouble with Malzahar compared to other mid mages. Usually its because of underestimating their kill potential.
The only way to "deal" with him has been treating them as they were Zed or Fizz and staying waaaaay back when farming. This gives them free farm early game but if you dont give them any kills often the other person becomes frustrated and careless and it opens up your own kill potential. 90% of players seem to underestimate Vel'Koz ult range.
Ban malz I guess
Anyone who can out-range him can kinda make him upset.
Or god forbid farm better than him.
Anivia is stupid safe after 6 since she presses R and waits 4 seconds for +6 cs. Wall cast right before he ults interrupts it. Safe.
Xerath. Malz can't even try to touch him.
Orianna. Ravage. Pulse. Ravage. Pulse. RAVAGEPULSERAVAGEPULSERAVAGEPULSE.
Outranging Malzahar turns the lane into a farm lane... Or you could kill him by relentlessly poking him. His Q has a decent range, but it's easily avoided. Try Xerath, Ziggs, and Lux. Galio is strong against Malzahar because Malzahar's W and E do damage over time. Galio's W can actually heal him when he has Space AIDS (Malz's E) on him. Also, Galio loves MR... He works against any AP champion, really. LeBlanc is capable of killing Malzahar pre-6, but they're on a somewhat equal footing post-6 (Malz can kill her easily, but she's mobile, meaning she can just roam and get kills elsewhere). Malzahar can't hurt you pre-6 if you don't get in range of his E and dodge his Q. He can't get to you at level 6 without flashing, unless there's a major difference in movement speed between you and him. If you're playing an AD assassin, buy Quicksilver and make him cry. In fact, you can take a long-ranged ADC mid and build Quicksilver. Malzahar is almost guaranteed to push due to his AOE Q and W, Voidlings, and E. Request ganks.
