Guide · Mid

Malzahar Guide

the Prophet of the Void

Mage

Tier B Mid

Malzahar, the Prophet of the Void, is a mage champion of medium difficulty. Across our 501 analysed ranked games, Malzahar is mostly played in Mid (89% of its games), and more rarely in Top (11%), with a 51.2% win rate in that role: tier B among Mid champions (#17 of 42, ranked by win rate). Malzahar's damage is mostly magic (96%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 55.5% in short games (under 25 min, 110 games) versus 45.8% in long games (over 35 min).

Averages measured over 445 Mid games played with Malzahar, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Malzahar is a control mage: Call of the Void silences, Malefic Visions deals damage over time and spreads on death, and Nether Grasp suppresses a champion. His passive gives him a huge damage reduction and immunity to crowd control if he takes nothing for a while.

Harassment

E › Q › W

When: An enemy is within range.

Malefic Visions deals damage over time and attracts the Voidlings, Call of the Void silences, Void Swarm adds attacks.

The suppression

E › Q › R

When: A carry is isolated.

Nether Grasp suppresses a champion in a zone of negative energy dealing damage: set it up with Malefic Visions.

The spread

E › Q › W › E

When: An affected enemy is about to die.

If the target dies under Malefic Visions, the visions pass to a nearby enemy unit and you regain mana.

Laning phase

Take advantage of your passive: take no damage to gain immunity to crowd control. Malefic Visions is refreshed by your other spells on the target.

Common mistakes

• Taking damage for no reason: you lose your passive's reduction.
• Casting Call of the Void without anticipating the portals' delay.
• Using the ultimate on a target who can break free.

Riot's official tips for playing Malzahar

• Wait to cast Void Swarm until there are nearby enemies for the Voidling to attack or kill.
• Use Call of the Void and Nether Grasp to renew the duration of Malefic Visions on enemies.
• Avoiding damage in lane maximizes the uptime on Void Shift, increasing Malzahar's safety dramatically.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Blackfire Torch, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and Liandry's Torment (209 games, 52.6% win rate), usually with Spellslinger's Shoes (53.1% over 309 games).

Blackfire Torch+Rylai's Crystal Scepter+Liandry's Torment

209 games · 52.6%

Blackfire Torch+Rylai's Crystal Scepter+Zhonya's Hourglass

59 games · 54.2%

Rylai's Crystal Scepter+Zhonya's Hourglass+Liandry's Torment

57 games · 47.4%

Boots

Spellslinger's Shoes53.1% · 309 games

Crimson Lucidity52.2% · 92 games

Summoner spells

Flash + Teleport52.0% · 367 games

Flash + Ignite51.4% · 35 games

Flash + Ghost46.7% · 30 games

Most-played runes

Deathfire Touch + Inspiration

49.8% · 241 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band98%

Transcendence93%

Scorch85%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight92%

Magical Footwear83%

Shards

Adaptive force88%

Adaptive force92%

Health scaling83%

Deathfire Touch + Precision

49.2% · 61 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band95%

Transcendence72%

Scorch88%

Secondary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind61%

Cut Down54%

Shards

Adaptive force75%

Adaptive force82%

Health scaling72%

Summon Aery + Precision

56.1% · 41 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band98%

Transcendence100%

Scorch100%

Secondary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind90%

Coup de Grace88%

Shards

Adaptive force95%

Adaptive force98%

Health scaling95%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Malzahar's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team55.5% · 119 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Blackfire Torch 54.5% ▲

Liandry's Torment 56.5% ▲

Rylai's Crystal Scepter 61.0% ▲

Shadowflame 47.6%

Malignance 66.7%

Zhonya's Hourglass 56.2%

The item that stands out most is Rylai's Crystal Scepter: 61.0% win rate, +9 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team46.1% · 128 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Blackfire Torch 42.7% ▼

Liandry's Torment 47.0% ▼

Rylai's Crystal Scepter 46.0% ▼

Zhonya's Hourglass 36.0% ▼

Shadowflame 44.4%

Malignance 66.7%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team52.0% · 198 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Blackfire Torch 52.6%

Liandry's Torment 52.7%

Rylai's Crystal Scepter 51.1%

Zhonya's Hourglass 62.8% ▲

Malignance 58.5% ▼

Shadowflame 55.0% ▲

The item that stands out most is Zhonya's Hourglass: 62.8% win rate, +9 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Malzahar in Mid

Yasuo Malzahar: 46.7%15 games

Yasuo has the edge in 53% of the 15 Mid duels against Malzahar. See the Yasuo guide.

Vladimir Malzahar: 46.7%15 games

Vladimir has the edge in 53% of the 15 Mid duels against Malzahar. See the Vladimir guide.

Katarina Malzahar: 80.0%15 games

Katarina has the edge in 20% of the 15 Mid duels against Malzahar. See the Katarina guide.

Who Malzahar is strong against

Katarina80.0% · 15 games

Yasuo46.7% · 15 games

Vladimir46.7% · 15 games

How to play against Malzahar

• When Malzahar hits a spell on enemies affected by Malefic Visions, the Visions are refreshed.
• Avoid minion waves that have been affected by Malefic Visions. You never know when they may die and pass the Visions onto you.
• Malzahar is especially dangerous when he has built up his Void Swarm.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Malzahar's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveVoid Shift

When he hasn't recently taken damage or been crowd controlled, Malzahar gains massive damage reduction and crowd control immunity, lingering for a short period after taking damage.

QCall of the Void

Malzahar opens up two portals to the Void. After a short delay, they fire projectiles that deal Magic Damage and silence enemy champions.

WVoid Swarm

Malzahar summons Voidlings to attack nearby enemies.

EMalefic Visions

Malzahar infects his target's mind with cruel visions of their demise, dealing damage over time. Using Malzahar's other spells on the target will refresh the visions.

If the target dies while afflicted by the visions, they pass on to a nearby enemy unit and Malzahar gains Mana. Malzahar's Voidlings are attracted to affected units.

RNether Grasp

Malzahar channels the essence of the Void to suppress an enemy champion over a zone of damaging negative energy.

Frequently asked questions

Full Malzahar page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides