Hi guys,

Welcome to my Malzahar, I will be going over the basics at first, it's my first build and I'm not that great with the Moba-builder yet.
My name is Insarius and I play for fun, and playing with my friends is what I do for fun, not getting stressed over Ranked.
If you're expecting a top notch guide on that one, epic way to play Malzahar, you might want to also read other guides, since this is a rather different approach.

I've been playing Mages mid ever since I started, the other roles I usually fill are Jungle or Top.
Sometimes I play Support, but I mainly just build a mage on them aswell, because my friends know how I play, we dominate lanes. :)

Malzahar is by far my best character.

So.. Let's get started shall we?

I like to play Malzahar very passively, untill I can secure a kill.
This means I maximize my poke with Malefic Visions, thus leveling it first.

Once I know I can get the kill, I flash in, do my combo and just basicly burst someones *** so hard, even Baron Nashor gets afraid.

So it's kind of passively aggressive.

Terrificly Malefic Pros

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- A very strong DoT
- You have a very wide silence.
- % based AoE damage.
- Strong roaming presence with silence and ult.
- Suppression ult
- A fricken' void prophet!
- Awesome in teamfights because of a large AoE Nuke and Silence

The cons of the void

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- Squishy Mage
- Not very bursty without Ultimate
- Mana dependent
- No escapes/low mobility
- His ult can be canceled easily/by moving.

Edited with help by readers, they make valid points you know!

These runes have been changed in order to better reflect what other players suggest, and I stand corrected.
I took the Magic Resist runes because 90% of the time, we'll be fighting mages in mid.
Magic Penetration is a stat which makes sure that when a skill says it'll deal 500 damage, it'll actually deal 500 damage.
Only if your Magic Penetration is enough to nullify their resist, which early game, is very possible.

I took Ability Power quints and runes for the extra damage early on.
Having Athene's Unholy Grail and Malefic Visions fixes mana regen for us!

Summon Voidling
An awesome passive, every 4th cast, it summons a voidling.
This voidling attacks whatever your Malefic Visions is damaging, if none present, it attacks whatever is close.
This passive is A-MA-ZING and is so, so strong.

Call of the Void
Deals damage and silences enemies in a wide radius.
This skill is very useful, because it;
1. Silences a wide area and deals good damage.
2. The outer ends give sight and do damage immediately.
The bad sides are;
1. Can easily be dodged if not used correctly.
2. Has a delay.

Null Zone
Deals % based damage accumulating power based on Ability Power.
This skill is very useful, because it;
1. Can be used to bar off potential ganks/initiates because of the high damage if stood on.
2. Due to being % based damage, deals a lot of damage to even the most tankiest champions.
3. When used correctly in conjunction with your ult, it demolishes.
The bad sides are;
1. People can easily walk past/around it.
2. Deals damage over time.

Malefic Visions
My favorite spell, it deals damage over time and when the target dies, it jumps to a nearby other enemy target, giving you mana on every jump.
This skill is very useful, because it;
1. Refunds mana
2. High Damage
3. Awesome farming tool
The bad sides are;
1. Deals damage over time, so can be outhealed.

Nether Grasp
Deals high damage and supresses for 2.5 seconds.
This ultimate is amazing and, if used correctly, can win you almost every 1v1.
It's useful because it;
1. Supresses
2. Deals extreme amounts of damage.
The bad sides are;
1. Can be quicksilver'd/cleansed out of.
2. Leaves you vulnerable since you are standing still aswell.
3. Can be easily interrupted.

Aaaah yes...
The items, our glory.
Our power.
Our ability to laugh menacingly as we kill and maim!
Time to rewrite this part completely.

As suggested, and after thinking rationally, building into Liandry's Torment or Void Staff early doesn't secure your lane as well as a early Rabadon's Deathcap does.
What I personally like better and usually do on other mages is rush my Athene's Unholy Grail

As for boots, if you play as safe as I do whilst keeping up maximum poke with Malefic Visions, you can safely choose to itemize Sorcerer's Shoes.

If you're having a tough time laning, I'd suggest getting Mercury's Treads for the extra Tenacity and magic resistance.

After your Rabadon's Deathcap/ Athene's Holy Grail and Sorcerer's Shoes, go for either a Rylai's Crystal Scepter for the slow, or your Rabadon's Deathcap/ Athene's Unholy Grail depending on which you haven't gotten yet.

Lastly, finish up Void Staff if the enemy deems too strong for you, otherwise you can choose to get some survivability with Zhonya's Hourglass.

I level my skills as shown above because Malefic Visions is the way to go.
Nothing feels better than to get a double, triple or quadra kill by low health people running together with your dot on them.
It also makes for GREAT harass, once the other mid is out of position and catches your dot when your voidling is up, so simply run/flash up to him, throw W and Ult him, finish him off with Ignite if that didn't do the trick.

Another way of initiating is landing your Call of the Void, null zone], Put up [[Malefic Visions on him, Nether Grasp him, Ignite.
The reason I level my Call of the Void last is because I only use it for the silence.
Believe me, when you have a maxed Malefic Visions and Null Zone under them while Nether Grasped, they will die.
You'll even deal a load of damage to tankies.

I was told to emphasize my voidlings more so...

Voidlings, Voidlings, Voidlings, Voidlings...
We Malzahar players cannot stress this enough.
These deal a hell of a load of damage, and it prioritizes whatever your Malefic Visions is damaging.

The laning phase is crucial for Malzahar.
It gives him his farm, which in return gives him his power.
Depending on who you're fighting, you might need to play it safer or you can become a bit more aggressive.
I go with Malefic Visions to farm, at level 1, this isn't very efficient, but when you can reach level 2 with Malefic Visions, it'll be much easier to keep the DoT going.
I usually starts with a Doran's Ring personally, because I like the Ability Power, Health Points and Mana Regeneration it gives.

Basicly, you use Malefic Visions on a minion, try to last hit as much as possible whilst harassing a bit here and there once Malefic Visions jumps over on the enemy champion.
Once level 6, the fun starts with Nether Grasp.
What I usually do is speed up the process with Malefic Visions on a minion group, use my Call of the Void to wipe out the entire bunch when the enemy is close.
Protip: When using Call of the Void, try to hit the enemy aswell as the minions.
As soon as Malefic Visions jumps over to the enemy, I Flash in range, throw down my Null Zone and use Nether Grasp on the enemy.
The combination of W, E and R is absolutely devastating.
To secure the kill even more, be sure to keep your voidling up.
This is done by casting 4 skills, on the 4th skill, a voilding pops up and damages anything with Malefic Visions on it.

If the enemy isn't dead yet, it's likely almost dead, throw down your Ignite and walk away like a purple power ranger.

About team fights; These can be short and intensive, or can be drawn out by long poking, trying to whittle eachother down.
Team fights are a crucial part of the game.
Depending on the composition and focus of your team, and theirs, you want to stay back.
After your team initiates, Throw Malefic Visions into the mix, throw down your Call of the Void, Null Zone and use Nether Grasp on the biggest threat.
The biggest threat is usually the enemy AD Carry, champions like Ashe and Varus, or the AP Carry, champions like yourself, Ahri, Syndra or Viktor.
Malzahar's biggest pro is being able to absolutely demolish and negate someone from a teamfight.
Positioning is key for Malzahar.
If your Nether Grasp gets interrupted, you're out of position, which is bad.
You don't want to be a baddy do you?
Naw! So make sure to use your Nether Grasp from a safe position or after they've blown their Crowd Control.

Let's start summarizing the tips for every spell Malzahar has.

Call of the Void
1. The ends deal damage and silence immediately.
2. The ends of the wall can be used for checking brush, they grant vision.
3. Tricky to land at an angle due to the circular targeting area, keep this in mind.
4. Place this infront of the enemy champion, so when he starts running, he'll run into it, the spell has a small delay.

Null Zone
1. ALWAYS land this skill succesfully before ulting a full to mid HP champ.
2. Place this wisely to scare off enemies so you can make your escape.
3. Do not spam this, it's very usefull.

Malefic Visions
1. This DoT grants mana on every time it jumps.
2. Extremely strong farming tool.
3. Don't be afraid to apply it twice in a group if it means it'll jump to the enemy.
4. Land this skill before Null Zone.

Nether Grasp
1. Only use this without other skills if it's a kill 100%.
2. Use this to set up ganks.
3. Only use when, at bare minimum, your Voidling and Malefic Vision is up on the enemy.
4. Use this on high priority champions first.

Cleaned it up, used more BBCode.
Guide feels much more friendly now. :)

10:44
Cleaned up so more, made it even nicer.
Fixed typo's.

11:40
Added laning and team fight chapters.

Thanks for reading guys, I know it's a Wall of Text, but as I said, I'm new to the creator.
I'll tidy this up later on when I get the hang of it more.

Please comment and rate if you have any suggestions for me.
If you do rate it, please comment!
Thanks!

~Insarius