Welcome to your guide for Malphite in Season 11. As a top lane main from Season 3, Malphite was the second top lane champion I picked up and have loved him ever since. In short, he is a massive tank that deals significant damage as well as providing crowd control that has the potential to carry the game. Please following along with this guide as well as the YouTube guide provided in the link below. Enjoy!

My YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/c/remotenightowl

Coming Soon! - Malphite Visual Guide

- Below is additional supplementary material for general game knowledge

- Item Breakdowns Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfHYgmBhHLo&list=PLZoYlzZsjt2tHFWcvN6JOJUz6d8qiFuxj

- Advanced League Tips Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBOw7KeJdhI&list=PLZoYlzZsjt2tk4FZ31DpN1oUhh-3cZxMt

- The Ideal Laning Phase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rcjyw5_az8

- Basics of Auto Attacking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDQmIouSZPw

- Minions per Level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKlo4or6Sn4&t=371s

- Farm vs. Kills in Lane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGNXqgZpecA

- Rune/Item Combo for AD vs. AP Top: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFetCDPmgAY

So, for your build.

- Boots

- Typically your going to run Plated Steelcaps for boots. However, if the enemy team is AP heavy, then Mercury's Treads is your better option.

- Mythic

- Right now for Tank Mythics, Sunfire Aegis is the way to go. Iceborn Gauntlet is fun for the size and has good sticking power, but the damage from Sunfire Aegis by far out weighs Iceborn Gauntlet.

- Legendaries

- Thornmail - This is a must on Malphite every game. Armor, HP, damage and Grievous wounds all synergize with Malphite perfectly.

- Frozen Heart - In it's current state sitting at 2500g, this item gives a ton or Armor, Haste and Mana. Also it has the Attack Speed slow Aura as well as the damage damage reduction passive against auto attacks. Honestly this is an every game item just for the cost alone.

- Abyssal Mask - This is your primary MR item. Every game you do need some MR as a tank so this is the one to pick up. Besides the defensive stats, the big thing here is the damage boost from the passive. Because Malphite is all about his Ultimate Unstoppable Force, this is the ability that's going to proc Abyssal Mask.

- Gargoyle Stoneplate - As your final item, this gives you Armor, MR and Haste, so stat wise this is a good round off at 6 items. But the passive on this item is huge, giving you a massive shield and increase champion size for peeling, this is a great 6th addition to your build.

- Alternates

- Randuin's Omen - Swap out Frozen Heart for this item against crit heavy teams.
- Force of Nature - Swap out Gargoyle Stoneplate for this item against AP heavy teams
- Banshee's Veil - I used to build this 6th, but this is here more for an early Q max Situation against AP heavy teams.

So, After Double Doran's Ring...

- Against AD Top

- Rush Bramble Vest, then finish your Tier 2 Boots followed by a completed Sunfire Aegis.

- Against AP Top

- Rush Sunfire Aegis, then finish your Tier 2 Boots.

For standard runes your primary keystone will be Grasp of the Undying. Followed by this we have Demolish for tower damage and split pushing, Conditioning for additional tankiness by adding Armor and Magic Resist, and finally Overgrowth for even more health stacking. For you secondary tree you are going to run Triumph Gold on take downs, and Coup de Grace for increased damage on low hp enemies. Remember these are standard runes to feel free to experiment and find what works for you.

Malphite has a good damage kit, but with high mana costs. Maxing his abilities are also situational so let me explain. If you are against a ranged top laner max Seismic Shard first. If you do this then you must max Ground Slam second and Brutal Strikes third because of how valuable the attack speed slow is. If you are against a melee top laner, then max Ground Slam first. This then allows you the luxury of either maxing Brutal Strikes second or Seismic Shard second. Personally I max Brutal Strikes second in this scenario because you can stack armor faster and it will be worth it with your Ground Slam already maxed. Seismic Shard doesn't scale that well past early game and since you start to team fight at this point the movement speed steal from Seismic Shard isn't worth as much as the extra auto attack damage and armor buff from Brutal Strikes.

- Ground Slam -> AA -> Seismic Shard -> AA -> Brutal Strikes -> AA

- Basically this (or any of your abilities) cast in this order is a standard combo. One quick note however, your Q Seismic Shard is a good engage in lane before 6 or if your Ult Unstoppable Force is on cooldown.

Unstoppable Force -> Ground Slam -> AA -> Seismic Shard -> AA -> Brutal Strikes -> AA

- This combo includes your Ult Unstoppable Force, for hard engaging in any situation your going to use it for.

*AA=auto attack

- Pros

- Natural Tank for sustain and peel
- Hard CC for carrying game
- An Attack Speed Slow ability
- High Sustain Damage for a Tank
- Stacks armor like crazy

- Cons

- Weak against AP heavy teams
- Needs Cooldown reduction from items
- High Mana costs early
- Can be kited easily

Since your running Teleport look for roam opportunities at level 6. Your ult Unstoppable Force knocks up and stuns anyone who is hit for 1.5 seconds, so it is one of the best abilities to follow up to in the game. For team fights it will either go 1 of 2 ways, either you initiate with Unstoppable Force, or you use Unstoppable Force to respond to an enemies engage. From there you either want to focus one champion down or engage and then re-position yourself to peel for your team. If you focus down an enemy, either focus the ADC or the primary threat if it is not the ADC. Basically your job is to knock as many people up as possible and then stay on top of their team. However, always look for the best opportunity to use Unstoppable Force, rather than looking for a 4 or 5 man ult exclusively, because sometimes getting a pick is better than landing a 5 man Unstoppable Force and picking up nothing from it.

Malphite is a great Top Lane pick as both a tank and a control pick. As I have said before this guide is only meant to supplement you with the tools necessary to play Malphite effectively, as it is up to you as the player to learn and execute it to the best of your ability. I have a lot of fun playing Malphite and with some practice you will to. Good luck to you and see you on the Rift!