Best Malzahar Build & Guide (2026) — League of Legends

Malzahar is League of Legends' Prophet of the Void — a mid lane mage who summons Voidlings to swarm his enemies, spreads Malefic Visions that jump from target to target as they die, silences entire teams with Call of the Void, and locks down the most dangerous enemy carry with Nether Grasp's unavoidable suppression. Malzahar excels at controlling team fights through point-and-click lockdown that guarantees picks on priority targets, pushing waves effortlessly with Malefic Visions and Void Swarm so he can roam or pressure objectives, and melting tanks and squishies alike with sustained damage-over-time from his abilities and burn items. Whether you're a mid laner who wants a reliable champion that can neutralize assassins and hypercarries with a single button press, a player who enjoys watching Voidlings swarm over helpless enemies while DoT effects burn through their health bar, or a beginner looking for a straightforward mage with massive team fight impact, this guide covers everything you need to dominate with Malzahar in 2026.

Malzahar Overview

Malzahar operates as a DoT-based control mage who builds ability power and burn items to spread damage across the enemy team while locking down key targets with his ultimate. His kit revolves around pushing waves safely with Malefic Visions and Void Swarm, scaling into the mid game when his item spikes transform him into a team fight threat, and using Nether Grasp to suppress the enemy's most important champion during critical fights — creating a window where Malzahar's team can collapse on a helpless target who cannot move, cast abilities, or use summoner spells.

Void Shift (Passive) activates after Malzahar avoids taking direct damage for a period of time (30 seconds at level 1, scaling down to 12 seconds at higher levels). While active, Malzahar takes 90% reduced damage from the next instance of damage and is immune to crowd control. Void Shift is what makes Malzahar deceptively hard to assassinate — the damage reduction shield means that burst combos from assassins like Zed or Fizz lose most of their damage on the first hit, giving Malzahar time to respond with his own abilities or reposition. Enemies must pop Void Shift with a low-damage ability or auto-attack before committing to an all-in, which telegraphs their intent and gives Malzahar's team time to react. The shield's visual indicator (a purple shimmer around Malzahar) is visible to both teams, so smart opponents will try to break it before engaging.

Call of the Void (Q) opens two portals to the Void that fire projectiles after a short delay, dealing magic damage and silencing all enemy champions hit for 1 to 2 seconds based on rank. Call of the Void is Malzahar's most impactful basic ability in team fights because the silence prevents enemies from casting abilities, using summoner spells, or activating items during the silence duration. Landing Q on multiple enemies during a team fight shuts down their ability to respond to Malzahar's engage for up to 2 seconds — enough time for his team to burst a priority target. In lane, Q is used to refresh Malefic Visions on enemies, poke through minion waves, and zone enemies away from CS by threatening the silence.

Void Swarm (W) generates stacks of Zz'Rot Swarm whenever Malzahar casts another ability, up to a maximum of 2 stacks. When activated, Malzahar summons Voidlings at the target location — one base Voidling plus one additional Voidling per stack consumed. Voidlings deal magic damage with their attacks, deal 200% increased damage to minions affected by Malefic Visions, and deal reduced damage to epic monsters. Void Swarm is Malzahar's primary waveclear tool when combined with Malefic Visions — casting E on a minion and then W spawns Voidlings that focus the infected target and shred through the wave. Voidlings also provide extra damage during all-ins and serve as a body-block shield against skill shots. In team fights, Voidlings swarm enemies affected by Malefic Visions and contribute meaningful sustained damage.

Malefic Visions (E) infects a target with damage-over-time that deals magic damage over 4 seconds. If the target dies while affected by Malefic Visions, the visions jump to a nearby enemy unit and Malzahar restores mana. Casting Malzahar's other abilities on the affected target refreshes Malefic Visions' duration. Malefic Visions is the core of Malzahar's kit — it provides reliable waveclear when cast on minions (the DoT kills them, jumps to the next minion, and refunds mana), sustained damage in fights when refreshed with Q and R, and a target marker that makes Voidlings deal triple damage. In lane, E on the caster minions followed by W creates a self-sustaining push pattern where Malefic Visions bounces through the wave while Voidlings accelerate the kills. The mana refund on kill makes this Malzahar's most mana-efficient waveclear.

Nether Grasp (R) channels for 2.5 seconds, suppressing and revealing the target enemy champion while dealing magic damage every 0.25 seconds. A Null Zone forms beneath the target, dealing additional percentage maximum health magic damage per second to enemies standing in it. Nether Grasp is one of the most powerful single-target lockdown abilities in League of Legends — suppression cannot be cleansed by Cleanse or reduced by tenacity, and the target is completely unable to move, attack, cast abilities, or use summoner spells for the full 2.5 seconds. The only counterplay is Quicksilver Sash (which removes the suppression) or an ally interrupting Malzahar's channel with crowd control. Landing Nether Grasp on the enemy ADC or mid laner during a team fight is often an instant kill because 2.5 seconds of suppression plus Null Zone's percentage health damage plus Malzahar's team's follow-up damage is more than enough to eliminate any champion.

Strengths

• Nether Grasp is a point-and-click suppression that locks down any single target for 2.5 seconds with no counterplay except QSS or allied interruption — landing R on the enemy carry during a team fight guarantees their death because suppression cannot be Cleansed, reduced by tenacity, or escaped with dashes or Flash — The ability to remove the enemy's most important champion from a fight for 2.5 seconds with a single button press is extraordinarily powerful. Even if the target survives the suppression damage, they are locked in place for Malzahar's entire team to focus fire. Nether Grasp forces the enemy team to either buy QSS (delaying their power spikes by 1300 gold) or draft around Malzahar's ability to delete their carry from every fight
• Malzahar's waveclear with Malefic Visions and Void Swarm is one of the safest and most efficient in the game — E on the caster minions plus W spawns Voidlings that shred through the wave while Malefic Visions bounces from target to target refunding mana, allowing Malzahar to perma-push without ever running out of resources — This wave control lets Malzahar shove waves into the enemy tower and roam, deny CS to melee champions who cannot match his push speed, and create priority in the mid lane that his jungler can leverage for objective control. Malzahar can push waves from a safe distance without ever being in range of enemy abilities
• Void Shift makes Malzahar deceptively difficult to assassinate or burst down — the 90% damage reduction and crowd control immunity on the first instance of damage means that assassins must waste a low-damage ability to pop the shield before committing their burst combo, telegraphing their all-in and giving Malzahar time to respond — Champions like Zed, Fizz, and LeBlanc rely on landing their full combo quickly for a kill. When Void Shift absorbs the opening ability's damage and CC, the assassin's remaining combo deals reduced total damage and Malzahar can retaliate with E-W-R for a counter-kill. This passive single-handedly makes Malzahar one of the safest mid laners in the game
• Malzahar's sustained DoT damage from Malefic Visions, Liandry's Torment, and Blackfire Torch melts through tanks and squishies alike — the combination of percentage health damage from Null Zone, flat DoT from E, and burn item passives creates layered damage that bypasses the burst-resistance approach of building health and shields — Against tanky compositions, Malzahar's damage ramps up the longer enemies stay in fights. Malefic Visions' refreshing mechanic means the DoT never expires during combat, and Liandry's burn continues ticking on top of it. Teams that rely on sustain and shielding cannot effectively counter Malzahar's persistent damage

Weaknesses

• Malzahar is highly immobile with no dashes, blinks, or significant movement speed abilities — without Flash, Malzahar cannot escape ganks, reposition in team fights, or dodge skill shots, making him vulnerable to junglers who gank through Void Shift and to teams with multiple gap-closers — Malzahar's only defensive tool is Void Shift, which only blocks one instance of damage. A coordinated gank where the jungler pops Void Shift and the laner follows up leaves Malzahar with no escape tools. In team fights, Malzahar must position carefully because he cannot reposition once the fight starts — he plants and channels R, making him a stationary target
• Nether Grasp requires Malzahar to channel for the full 2.5 seconds, rooting himself in place and making him vulnerable to enemy interrupts — any crowd control that hits Malzahar during the channel cancels his ultimate and wastes his most impactful ability, effectively removing Malzahar's primary contribution to the fight — Smart teams will save a CC ability specifically to interrupt Malzahar's R. Champions like Thresh, Leona, Alistar, and any champion with a reliable stun can cancel Nether Grasp, turning what should be a kill into a wasted cooldown. Malzahar must wait for enemy CC to be used before ulting, which requires patience and awareness
• Malzahar's early game is weak with poor base damage, high mana costs, and minimal kill pressure before his first item completion — aggressive laners who push into Malzahar before level 6 can deny him CS, poke him through Void Shift repeatedly, and establish a tempo lead that delays Malzahar's scaling — Before completing Blackfire Torch, Malzahar's abilities deal relatively low damage and his waveclear is slow. Champions like Syndra, Xerath, and Orianna can bully Malzahar in the early levels, poking him and pushing waves faster than he can clear them. Malzahar needs to survive the first 8-10 minutes without falling too far behind in gold
• Quicksilver Sash hard-counters Malzahar's entire identity for 1300 gold — once an enemy carry builds QSS, Nether Grasp's suppression is instantly removed, reducing Malzahar from a champion who guarantees kills on priority targets to a champion whose ultimate can be negated by a single item purchase — QSS is the most efficient counter-purchase in the game against Malzahar. When the enemy ADC completes QSS, Malzahar can no longer guarantee kills with R, and the threat of his ultimate is dramatically reduced. This forces Malzahar to either ult targets who have not built QSS (often tanks or supports) or bait the QSS activation before ulting

Recommended Runes

Primary — Arcane Comet (Sorcery)

• Arcane Comet — Launches a comet at enemies when Malzahar damages them with an ability, dealing adaptive damage. Arcane Comet synergizes perfectly with Malzahar because Malefic Visions' damage-over-time keeps enemies in combat and increases the chance that the comet lands — the slow from Rylai's Crystal Scepter later in the build makes Comet nearly guaranteed to connect. In lane, every E cast triggers Arcane Comet for bonus poke damage that chunks enemies over time.
• Manaflow Band — Grants permanent bonus mana when hitting enemy champions with abilities, up to a cap, then grants mana regeneration. Manaflow Band is essential for Malzahar because his early game mana costs are punishing — Malefic Visions and Call of the Void both cost significant mana, and Malzahar needs to cast both frequently to push waves and trade. Once fully stacked, the mana regeneration sustains Malzahar's push pattern through the mid game.
• Transcendence — Grants ability haste at levels 5 and 8, and reduces remaining basic ability cooldowns by 20% on champion takedowns. Ability haste is valuable for Malzahar because it reduces the cooldown on Nether Grasp, his most impactful ability. The takedown cooldown reduction is particularly useful because after Malzahar suppresses and kills a target, his Q and E come back faster for continued fight contribution.
• Gathering Storm — Grants increasing ability power every 10 minutes of game time. Gathering Storm provides free AP scaling that makes Malzahar's DoT damage increasingly lethal as the game goes on. Since Malzahar is a scaling champion who wants games to reach the mid and late game, the unconditional AP from Gathering Storm ensures that his damage continues to ramp up even if he does not get ahead early.

Secondary — Inspiration

• Magical Footwear — Grants free Slightly Magical Boots at 12 minutes (reduced by takedowns). Magical Footwear saves Malzahar 300 gold on boots and provides 10 bonus movement speed compared to regular boots, which is meaningful for an immobile champion who needs every bit of speed. The gold savings accelerate Malzahar's first item completion, getting him to Blackfire Torch faster and reducing his vulnerable early game window.
• Cosmic Insight — Grants bonus item haste and summoner spell haste. Cosmic Insight reduces the cooldown on Flash and Teleport, both critical summoner spells for Malzahar. Lower Flash cooldown means Malzahar can survive ganks more frequently, and lower Teleport cooldown gives him more opportunities to impact side lanes. The item haste also reduces Zhonya's Hourglass cooldown, giving Malzahar more frequent access to his defensive active.

Recommended Item Build

Based on data from over 10,000 ranked Malzahar matches tracked on dodge.gg, here's the highest winrate build path.

Early Game (0–10 min)

• Doran's Ring — Grants ability power, health, and mana regeneration when killing minions. Doran's Ring is the standard starting item for Malzahar because the mana regeneration helps sustain his early waveclear pattern, the AP increases Malefic Visions damage for faster wave pushing, and the health provides a small buffer against poke and all-ins. The mana restore on minion kill works particularly well with Malzahar's waveclear pattern since he kills many minions quickly with E bounces.
• Sorcerer's Shoes — Grants magic penetration that increases Malzahar's damage against targets who have not built magic resist. Sorcerer's Shoes are Malzahar's optimal boots because his entire damage profile is magic damage — Malefic Visions, Call of the Void, Voidling attacks, and Nether Grasp all deal magic damage. Magic penetration amplifies every source of damage Malzahar deals, making his DoT effects burn through base magic resist more effectively.
• Blackfire Torch — Grants ability power, mana, and ability haste, with a passive that deals bonus magic damage over time to enemies damaged by abilities. Blackfire Torch is Malzahar's highest priority first item because it amplifies his entire DoT identity — Malefic Visions triggers Blackfire Torch's burn, which layers on top of E's existing damage-over-time for devastating sustained damage. The mana and ability haste solve Malzahar's resource problems and reduce Nether Grasp's cooldown. Blackfire Torch's burn passive also stacks with future burn items.

Core Build (10–20 min)

• Liandry's Torment — Grants ability power and health, with a passive that deals bonus percentage maximum health magic damage over time to enemies damaged by abilities. Liandry's Torment is the natural second item for Malzahar because it stacks with Blackfire Torch and Malefic Visions to create three simultaneous layers of burn damage. The percentage health damage is particularly effective against tanks and bruisers who build health to survive burst damage — Malzahar's sustained DoT bypasses that strategy entirely. Against teams with multiple high-health targets, Liandry's is Malzahar's highest damage item.
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter — Grants ability power and health, with a passive that slows enemies damaged by abilities by 30% for 1 second. Rylai's Crystal Scepter transforms Malzahar's damage into a permanent slow field — Malefic Visions' ticking damage reapplies the slow every half-second, making it impossible for affected enemies to escape or reposition. The slow also guarantees that Arcane Comet lands every time, increases the time enemies spend standing in Null Zone during Nether Grasp, and helps Voidlings chase down their targets.
• Zhonya's Hourglass — Grants ability power, armor, and ability haste, with an active that makes Malzahar invulnerable and untargetable for 2.5 seconds. Zhonya's Hourglass is essential for Malzahar because he is an immobile mage who channels in place during Nether Grasp — after his ultimate ends, enemies often focus Malzahar immediately. Zhonya's active lets Malzahar survive the retaliation by going golden, buying time for his team to finish off the suppressed target and for his cooldowns to come back up.

Late Game (25+ min)

• Rabadon's Deathcap — Grants massive ability power and increases total AP by 35%. Rabadon's Deathcap is Malzahar's premier late-game damage spike because the percentage AP increase amplifies all of his other AP items multiplicatively. With Blackfire Torch, Liandry's, and Rylai's already providing AP, Deathcap's 35% bonus pushes Malzahar's total AP to extreme levels where Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp deal devastating damage.
• Void Staff — Grants ability power and 40% magic penetration. Void Staff is the optimal choice when enemies have built magic resist items to counter Malzahar's damage. The percentage magic penetration cuts through Force of Nature, Spirit Visage, and other MR items, ensuring that Malzahar's DoT damage remains lethal against tanks and bruisers who itemize defensively. Combined with Sorcerer's Shoes, Void Staff ensures that no amount of magic resist completely negates Malzahar's damage.
• Banshee's Veil — Grants ability power, magic resist, and a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. Banshee's Veil is the defensive alternative when the enemy team has AP threats or pick-making CC abilities that could prevent Malzahar from channeling Nether Grasp. The spell shield layers on top of Void Shift to give Malzahar two instances of damage absorption — enemies must pop both Void Shift and Banshee's shield before their abilities can fully damage or CC Malzahar, making him extremely difficult to burst or lock down.

Ability Priority

1. Nether Grasp (R) — Level at 6, 11, and 16. Each rank increases the base damage per tick and the Null Zone's percentage health damage, while reducing the cooldown. Higher-rank R deals significantly more damage during the 2.5-second suppression and comes off cooldown faster, giving Malzahar more frequent windows to pick off priority targets and force fights around objectives.
2. Malefic Visions (E) — Max first. Each rank increases the damage per tick and the mana refund on unit kill. Maxing E first is essential because it is the core of Malzahar's waveclear, trading, and damage identity — higher damage makes Malefic Visions kill minions faster so it bounces through waves more reliably, and the increased mana refund sustains Malzahar's push pattern. In fights, max-rank E with burn items deals devastating sustained damage.
3. Call of the Void (Q) — Max second. Each rank increases the damage and extends the silence duration from 1 second at rank 1 to 2 seconds at max rank. The silence duration scaling is the primary reason to max Q second — a 2-second AoE silence in team fights shuts down enemy ability casts during the critical opening seconds of an engagement. Q also refreshes Malefic Visions, and higher damage makes it a meaningful poke and waveclear tool.
4. Void Swarm (W) — Max last. Each rank increases the Voidling damage and health. While Voidlings provide supplementary damage and waveclear, a single point in W is sufficient for the early and mid game — the Voidlings already deal 200% bonus damage to targets with Malefic Visions, and additional ranks add incremental damage that is less impactful than maxing E and Q first. Voidling scaling improves naturally with Malzahar's AP from items.

Playstyle Tips

Early Game / Laning Phase

Malzahar's early game focuses on surviving the laning phase with Void Shift and Doran's Ring sustain, pushing waves safely with Malefic Visions and Void Swarm once mana allows, and scaling to level 6 and Blackfire Torch where his kill pressure and map impact spike dramatically. Malzahar is one of the weakest early laners in mid, and should not force trades before his first item.

In lane, start E on the caster minions to begin your waveclear pattern. Once E kills the first minion and bounces to the next, cast W to summon Voidlings that focus the infected targets and accelerate the wave push. This E-W pattern clears waves efficiently while refunding mana through Malefic Visions' kill passive, but be careful about mana management in the first few levels — without Manaflow Band stacks and a mana item, each rotation costs a significant portion of Malzahar's mana pool.

Let Void Shift serve as your early defense. Do not waste mana trading with the enemy laner unless you can land a meaningful E that bounces through their minion wave and touches them. If the enemy pops Void Shift with an auto-attack or ability, play safe and farm from range until the shield regenerates. Against aggressive assassins like Zed or Fizz, Void Shift's 90% damage reduction on the first hit often survives their initial burst, giving you time to retreat under tower.

At level 6, Malzahar gains enormous kill pressure with Nether Grasp. If the enemy is at 50-60% health from E poke, the full combo of E-W-Q-R deals devastating damage — Malefic Visions ticks during the suppression, Voidlings attack the suppressed target, and Null Zone deals percentage health damage beneath them. Communicate with your jungler for ganks at level 6 — Malzahar's point-and-click suppression makes ganks essentially guaranteed kills because the target cannot Flash, dash, or use any ability for 2.5 seconds.

Mid Game

Mid-game Malzahar with Blackfire Torch and Liandry's Torment is a team fight controller who pushes waves to create pressure, groups with his team for objective fights, and uses Nether Grasp to eliminate the enemy's most important champion during every engagement. The mid game is where Malzahar's impact peaks because his burn item synergies are online and his ultimate has the longest effective lockdown in the game.

In team fights, identify the enemy's primary damage threat and save Nether Grasp for that target. Do not ult the enemy tank or support unless they are the only target available — suppressing the enemy ADC or mid laner for 2.5 seconds while your team focuses them wins the fight. Before ulting, ensure that enemy CC abilities that could interrupt your channel have already been used. Champions like Thresh (Flay), Leona (Shield of Daybreak), and Alistar (Headbutt/Pulverize) can cancel Nether Grasp, so wait for them to commit their abilities to your frontline before stepping forward to R.

Use Malefic Visions and Call of the Void to soften enemies before committing Nether Grasp. Cast E on the enemy team's frontline and let Malefic Visions bounce — the DoT plus Blackfire Torch plus Liandry's burn deals surprising damage to anyone the visions touch. Land Q for the AoE silence to disrupt enemy positioning, then R the priority target once they are in range. The full combo of E-Q-W-R with burn items ticking simultaneously outputs enough damage to kill most champions during the suppression duration.

Push side waves with E-W before team fights to maintain map pressure. Malzahar clears waves almost instantly with Malefic Visions bouncing through the entire wave while Voidlings accelerate the kills. This push pressure forces the enemy team to either send someone to catch the wave (creating a numbers disadvantage at the objective) or let the wave crash into their tower (losing gold and creating a slow push for your team).

Late Game

Late-game Malzahar with full build is a DoT damage dealer who wins team fights by suppressing the enemy carry for his team to burst down, spreading Malefic Visions across the entire enemy team through bounces and refreshes, and melting health bars with layered burn damage from Blackfire Torch, Liandry's Torment, and Malefic Visions that stacks percentage health damage over time. The late game requires careful positioning and patience — one good R wins the game, but getting caught without Void Shift loses it.

In late-game team fights, positioning is everything. Stand behind your frontline and apply Malefic Visions to enemies at the edge of the fight. Let the DoT spread and soften targets while you look for the moment to Flash-R the enemy carry. A Flash-Nether Grasp on the enemy ADC in a late-game team fight is often an instant kill because 2.5 seconds of suppression plus Null Zone percentage health damage plus Malefic Visions plus two burn items ticking simultaneously is enough to eliminate any champion regardless of their build.

After ulting, immediately Zhonya's if enemies are targeting you. The 2.5 seconds of invulnerability buys time for your team to win the fight after you've removed the enemy carry. If Zhonya's is not needed, continue casting E on new targets and Q for the AoE silence to disrupt the remaining enemies. Rylai's Crystal Scepter ensures that every instance of your DoT damage slows enemies, making it impossible for them to disengage or kite your team.

If the game reaches a decisive Baron or Elder Dragon fight, Malzahar's Nether Grasp can decide the outcome. Position on a flank or behind your frontline, wait for the enemy carry to step into range, and commit the full E-W-Q-Flash-R combo. A suppressed carry in a 50-50 Baron fight cannot smite, cannot reposition, and cannot contribute to the fight for 2.5 seconds — which is often the difference between winning and losing the game.

Matchups

Favorable

• Cassiopeia — Cassiopeia is a DPS mage who relies on sustained damage from Twin Fang and Noxious Blast over extended fights. Malzahar dominates this matchup because Cassiopeia's short range forces her to play within Nether Grasp range, and her sustained damage pattern means she cannot burst through Void Shift before Malzahar retaliates. Nether Grasp suppresses Cassiopeia for the full 2.5 seconds, preventing her from casting Twin Fang or kiting, and Malzahar's push with E-W outpaces Cassiopeia's early waveclear. Cassiopeia also cannot build boots (due to her passive), making it harder for her to dodge Call of the Void's silence.
• Ryze — Ryze is a short-range battlemage who builds mana items and combos Overload, Rune Prison, and Spell Flux. Malzahar counters Ryze because Ryze's short cast ranges require him to walk into Nether Grasp range, his Rune Prison root does not interrupt Malzahar's R channel (only displacement or airborne effects can), and Malzahar's push with Malefic Visions outscales Ryze's waveclear in the early game. Void Shift blocks Ryze's opening ability in trades, and Malzahar can shove Ryze under tower where Ryze struggles to last-hit with his early mana limitations.
• Vladimir — Vladimir is a sustain mage who heals through damage with Transfusion and becomes untargetable with Sanguine Pool. Malzahar counters Vladimir because Malefic Visions' sustained DoT applies constant damage that prevents Vladimir from freely healing (the DoT keeps ticking even between Vladimir's Q cooldowns), Nether Grasp suppresses Vladimir for the full 2.5 seconds and he cannot use Sanguine Pool during suppression, and Malzahar's push pressure forces Vladimir to use abilities on the wave instead of trading. Vladimir's weak early game gets punished by Malzahar's level 6 all-in potential.

Even

• Syndra — Syndra is a burst mage with strong laning pressure from Dark Sphere poke and Scatter the Weak stun. The matchup is even because Syndra's long range lets her poke Malzahar and pop Void Shift safely, but Malzahar's push with E-W matches Syndra's waveclear and Nether Grasp's suppression prevents Syndra from using Unleashed Power or Scatter the Weak during the channel. Syndra can bully Malzahar early but struggles to kill him through Void Shift without jungle assistance, and post-6 Malzahar can all-in Syndra if she wastes her stun.
• Orianna — Orianna is a utility mage who zones with Command: Attack and provides team fight value with Command: Shockwave. The matchup is even because Orianna's auto-attack poke and ball zoning chip away at Malzahar's health, but Malzahar's push speed with E-W forces Orianna to use abilities on the wave instead of poking. Both champions scale well into team fights — Orianna provides AoE utility while Malzahar provides single-target lockdown. Neither can reliably solo-kill the other without jungle assistance.
• Viktor — Viktor is a scaling mage who becomes increasingly powerful with Hex Core upgrades. The matchup is even because Viktor's Death Ray matches Malzahar's push speed once upgraded, and Viktor's range keeps him safe from Nether Grasp engage in lane. Both champions want to farm, scale, and impact team fights — Viktor with Chaos Storm and gravity field zoning, Malzahar with Nether Grasp suppression and DoT damage. The lane is typically a farm-fest where both champions push and look for opportunities to roam.

Unfavorable

• Fizz — Fizz is a melee assassin who becomes untargetable with Playful/Trickster and bursts with Chum the Waters and Urchin Strike. Fizz counters Malzahar because Playful/Trickster's untargetability lets Fizz dodge Nether Grasp if timed correctly (he can E before Malzahar finishes the R cast), his burst combo can pop Void Shift and still kill Malzahar with the remaining damage, and Fizz's roaming pressure punishes Malzahar's immobile playstyle. Once Fizz hits level 3, he can trade aggressively by popping Void Shift with Q, backing off, then all-inning with the full combo when Void Shift is down.
• Aurelion Sol — Aurelion Sol is a scaling mage who outranges Malzahar with Breath of Light and creates zone control with Singularity. Aurelion Sol counters Malzahar because his extreme range lets him poke and waveclear without entering Nether Grasp range, his scaling outpaces Malzahar's in the late game, and Singularity's zone control disrupts Malzahar's positioning in team fights. Aurelion Sol's stacking mechanic means he eventually deals enough damage to burst through Void Shift and kill Malzahar before he can respond.
• Ekko — Ekko is an AP assassin with high mobility from Phase Dive and a safety net from Chronobreak. Ekko counters Malzahar because Phase Dive lets Ekko pop Void Shift and dash back out safely, Chronobreak provides an escape that Malzahar cannot prevent even with Nether Grasp (Ekko can ult before being suppressed to reposition), and Ekko's waveclear with Timewinder matches Malzahar's push. Ekko's mobility and Chronobreak's safety make it nearly impossible for Malzahar to punish mistakes or secure kills with R.

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