Hey guys, Rollerdino here. I'm a Malzahar main and I have around ~100 games with him on my name. I wanted to share a load of things that I found the last months while playing him. So welcome to my guide to Malzahar and how to dominate games with him.

Pros:
-Very good sustained damage
-A lot less squishy than most midlaners
-Good waveclear
-A silence on his Q
-Amazing AP ratios and decent base damage
Cons:
-Immobile
-Burst damage is not that good (it needs some time to really hurt)
-Early game isn't very good, all you can do is farm with E
-Beginning Malzahars will have trouble teamfighting

Summon Voidling

This is Malzahar's passive. It's effect is that every 4 spells you cast, you summon a Voidling to fight for you (this has given Malzahar the nickname of 'Pokémon Master'). They scale with level and surprisingly with AD as well. They prioritize opponents affected by Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp, which adds to the sustained damage.

Call of the Void

This is your main burst damage ability. It does a decent chunk with a good AP ratio, and it has a silence that scales with the ability level.
This skill is a big part of why Malzahar is so good in the midlane: he can silence opponents and nullify their damage output completely, while he can lay down his combo and kill them back. It is not point and click unfortunately, and it's actually pretty difficult to land it. Only go in early game if you land this spell. Late game it can also be used to waveclear fast.

Null Zone

This ability can shred tanks incredibly quickly if they don't build Magic Resist as it does percent health damage. You won't want to max this skill early as most midlaners are quite squishy, so you won't need it. Late game however, this becomes your goto option to shred tanks with, and you'll be surprised about how much damage it does.

Malefic Visions

Your bread and butter. This spell makes Malzahar Malzahar: eraly game, it's very useful for farming and poking your opponent if they get too close. Also, it will solve any mana problems you might happen to have, as every time sonething dies while under this effect, it gives you a bit of mana back. Late game, it is an amazing cleanup spell and can quickly tear through opponents. It can also be used as a poking spell, and your enemy squishies will never get close to you again. If they do, just click this button and watch half of their health slowly drain away.

Nether Grasp

Your ultimate is pretty much the spell that makes most, if not all of your combos possible. It suppresses your target for 2.5 seconds, dealing a ton of damage in the process. It has a ridiculous 130% AP scaling, so this is yet another reason for opposing squishies to stay away from you. The suppress is also very useful in teamfights. It allows you to easily pick out an opponent for your team to hammer on. If you really want to go the extra bit, try the flash-ult play if your team follows up.

As for the skill sequence, there is a couple of possibilities, and they depend on what opponent you're facing in lane.


This is the main sequence I tend to go with. It starts with Malefic Visions for the farming potential of the skill and the mana refund. It then maxes Q for the burst damage and the silence, and lastly maxes W for your late-game prowess. It is totally up to you if you want to put an early point in W or not, but I found that it helps with early trades and farming.