[2.4b] Malphite Guide - Be the Stone - Become immortal Malphite
Be the Stone - Become immortal Malphite
Pros
- Really simple mechanics
- Abilities scale with Armor(and also AP)
- Ult is one of the best in the game. Can flip teamfights
- Wins most match ups on Top lane -> reliable blind Pick
- Can build a lot of armor and still deals a lot of damage in 1v1
- After falling behind he is still useful and effective
Cons
- Mana problems in the early game
- same playstyle every game, Spamming the shard until enemy is low -> might become really boring
Malphite Build
Best Build Guide for Malphite
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
This is my most used build for top lane Malphite and it always works when the rest of the team do the damage. You become really tanky and almost unbeatable after 5 Items.
Item explanation:
Sunfire Aegis - A great item to challenge the enemy top laner. You get HP, ability haste and you burn the HP of the enemy. Ability haste is always important because of the Unstoppable Force . After this item it's tough to kill you when you play with the team
Plated Steelcaps - Thunderclap and Ground Slam scale with Armor and AP. A good option to reduce incoming damage because of the passive. But buy Mercury's Treads against heavy CC match ups
Teleport Enchant - Necessary to farm Gold on your lane and to go into Teamfights really quick
Abyssal Mask - an Item to solve the Mana problem. I would buy this item even against a full AD team. You do bonus magic damage, heal from the spent Mana(and Malphite wastes a lot of mana), restore Mana from the taken damage, get 300 Mana, 300 HP and 10 ability haste. This item isn't really there to block magic damage. The passive and the stats are just great for Malphite
Thornmail - Grievous Wounds against a lot of heal in the enemy team. Depending on the enemy team you can buy this item after Randuin's Omen
Randuin's Omen - Reduces the damage from critical strikes and reduces the attack speed. A good item when the enemy adc is ahead or when there are 2-3 adcs in the team
Liandry's Torment - Can help you a lot in the early game against the enemy if you don't feel confident enough. Buy this item first, continue with teleport and build the rest of the items. However, you won't be that tanky like before. So this Item will nerf you more or less.
Sterak's Gage - Only necessary when you die quick in teamfights. Otherwise useless
Warmog's Armor - 700 HP, 10 Ability haste, strong HP regen. Because you are so tanky after the other 5 items it's a reliable item in the end game then. Go into teamfights with full HP and go out of teamfights with full HP. It makes you more flexible because you don't have to go base once you are low
Dead Man's Plate - the extra movement speed is good against mobility champions like Vayne, Tristana or also slowing champions like Ashe. Catch them and your team will do the rest
Malphite Runes
Best Runes for Malphite
Grasp of the Undying - Because you go for full immortal Malphite this rune is just perfect. It helps you to win trades early and carries you through the early game against the enemy top laner
Brutal - Bonus AP will make your Seismic Shard even more effective
Second Wind - Malphite is not a bruiser. You will go for short trades and then proc your Granite Shield . It's a good combo with your Granite Shield because you will regen the missing HP faster and win trades even easier
Manaflow Band - Malphite has a big mana problem in the early game. It helps you to spam more Abilities early
Same rune set but with Sweet Tooth . For people who can't lane against a champion and need more sustain. On the other hand you lose your kill pressure when you have no Mana
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Combos
Learn how to maximize the champions potential
Malphite doesn't have any real combos to finish the enemy. It's pretty much ability and auto attack spam until the enemy is dead. However, this is an option how to finish the enemy
Your Seismic Shard is your engage tool because you get movement speed and the enemy loses it. You can go in with your Thunderclap, do some more auto attacks until Grasp proc and go out. Against most champions you will win the trade. Most Malphite users only spam the Shard until the enemy is dead. But that's not effective because the shard costs a lot of mana. Combos with the Thunderclap forces the enemy to recall because of your dangerous Ult
Malphite Matchups & Counters
Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters
Respect his Hemorrhage and you win. It's important to proc your Granite Shield before you go into a trade again. It isn't a problem when he hooks you, just go for the short trade, proc Grasp of the Undying and go out. Trade won but don't let him get the heal from his first Ability. To go out you save your Seismic Shard to slow him as well and run out with the bonus movement speed. Pre lvl 5 it's a really easy lane. When he has ult you always have to take care of his stacks. Go out before he reachs 5 stacks and always farm him down with Seismic Shard . That's how you win the lane. He deals 0 damage against you even later. However, his ult can still kill you in a 1v1
Early Game
Malphite's early game is pretty simple when you know your enemy. You can go the way to spam Seismic Shard only or also go for trades with the other Abilities. Your goal is to do a lot of damage to execute your enemy with the Unstoppable Force then. But here one tip for diamond+ players and also the explanation why only diamond+: The ult cooldown is really long. If you don't use the ult 10-20s after you reached lvl 5 then save it. Otherwise your ult won't be ready when the drake spawns at minute 4. You can still go to the drake but you are only a menacing looking stone with not that much impact. This tip is for diamond+ players because in lower elos nobody rushs the drake at minute 4. They take their time to do the first drake so you can use the ult when you need it on your lane. If you can't kill your enemy then just keep farming until you get teleport. When the drake begins you are always ready to tp. In the meantime it's splitpushing/destroying first tower or sometimes also playing ARAM on mid lane because the enemies thought let's do a teamfight on mid lane
Mid Game
Mid Game - Teamfights. Time to Shine. You basically want to stay with the team but keep an eye on your lane. When your opponent was a Fiora then she will go splitpush and run down the towers. After 3 items(including boots) you can also start using your ult more often because of the ability haste. Now the time arrived when Malphite becomes immortal and flips teamfights around. Malphite is actually really terrible to clear waves so ask someone to help you with your lane in case a big wave arrives. It doesn't matter if the enemy top laner got 1-2k Gold more than you. If you do your job as tank well then that doesn't matter. You are the engage and burn your HP. The team will use this chance and shred down the enemy team. After Randuin's Omen or Thornmail you are unbeatable anyway.
End Game
Reaching the end game is a bit difficult with Malphite because the game ends too fast when you have a Malphite in the team. You got around 4k HP or even more when you bought Warmog's Armor , more than 300 armor and at this stage at the game you are too tanky for a teamfight and when you reached this stage it's a win for your team. It's just impossible to kill this tank. because people don't know what the word focus means they will try to kill you and not the adcs or assassins
One Last Note
Malphite is a really reliable blind pick for Top lane. It is impossible to lose the early game. It is a draw or a win for you. You only have to know your enemy and respect him or shred him. But keep in mind that you always win the mid and end game if you don't fall behind and don't feed. As malphite it is also acceptable to fall a bit behind because the important point is the ult. In addition I want to share my opinion here about AP malphite and why I don't recommend it to buy AP items for him. You have enough damage dealer in your team. Your mid laner is an assassin who deals tons of AD or AP damage, your ADC who shreds tanks in some seconds, your jungler and support in some cases. A rammus or an Alistar will go full tank, an evelynn will onehit squishy targets, A senna will become the biggest late game bully ever. You have enough damage dealer in a team and a tanky Malphite with his S tier ult has much more impact than AP malphite who dies in a second. But I have to agree AP malphite is much more fun and he can beat most matchups then. But that's a bad trade so I recommend playing him mid lane for AP or in ARAM
Updates
- Renekton match up changed
- Garen match up changed