Reign of Gaming

What i i know you probably left out and although might not fit the graph per se is malzahars voidlings. assuming even 50% uptime in each case that is still a lot of damage that the little thing stabs away.

and malzahar for his voidling

actually i would say swain is better with hybrid as his E increases damage he deals with auto attacks as well so its very good to use those for extra damage

i think ill be using these for malzahar now. his voidling benefits from arpen so im assuming that would significantly increase his early game harassment.

I like this post a lot and really am glad you went into detail. I find that knowing what items to build usually is hard for me as if im a damage dealer im never sure if i need defense or better positioning and if im a tank and  i see that there isnt a lot of damage should i buy more damage or get aura items/cc better so that we take less damage. You brought up some good points to think about though and would love more posts related to this if you can find an interest in it.

I'll say a few things about this article. Overall it was a good read on the takes of champions that arent in the best place. I think the GP suggestion is cool but then it would basically be a ranged irelia Q unless it ONLY reset with jungle minions, but then again it feels forced, not implied.  Not that that would be that bad, just strange. Not saying GP couldnt use the buff i ctaully was hoping he was gonna be jungle viable this season. 

Now the most important thing i must note on is the mantage video you linked although cool wasnt the highlight of this article. that song was so awesomely intense i was forced to find exactly who made it and i now found my new favourite music artist. So I have to say thank you for the amazing music. I love discovering awesome new artists.

i agree sgt, rarely does anyone point out his poke and not just his poke but his ability to shut down agression, hitting with that Q at a 900 unit range means for the next 2-3 seconds they wont be initiating.which also tends to make most people sort of stop in their tracks if they were looking for a good opening to start a fight. 

Quote from DirtySlanderer »

Point is: Malz's team fight is a joke.  It sucks.  There!  I said it.  Even a good Malz can't do a lot in a team fight unless very fed.  Hence why I said earlier that he's good in lane phase, which is great, but then he does nothing later :/

Picking Malz is very similar to picking Yorick or Darius; it's a selfish pick that will often win you the lane phase, but rather rarely win your team the game (unless your ADC is fed when playing as Yorick).  Malz is that champ where you pick him, dominate your lane phase, then when your team is losing during team fights you get to blame them because "I owned my lane."  

So, yes, Malz is strong, but his team fight is SO bad that it makes him still a bad pick.  And on the issue of the ult, the best Malz's I've seen only really use the ult as a last resort to try to save themselves or a teammate, or to pick up someone who is alone, because using a 3-second self-stun as a caster is usually suicide in a team fight. 

you realize that even in pro games people get caught out of position, and a 700 range (longer because you just have to be at 700 the second you cast it but the leash range is longer) 2.5 second long suppression makes a fight a 4v5, sure its no blitzcrank hook, but it cant miss either so all it takes is one high priority target to get even a LITTLE too close when they go to poke and then they can be instantly murdered. which yes DOES happen even at high elo. and a 3 second silence isnt selfish or useless in team fights no matter who you land it on because no one cna flash when silenced anyway unless they use qss or clense, but what are they really gonna qss/cleanse one silence on a 7 second cd? and if they qss it then suddenly oh look they are easily ulted and focused again :P

Quote from DirtySlanderer »

We all know the only way to solve this.  ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE.  Gonna have to set up a grudge match.  Let's get a team of 5 that says Malz is okay, but not strong, vs. a team of 5 that says malz is actually quite strong.  I call dibs on going mid vs. Malz :P  I'll even play a non-counter :)

who actauly counters malzahar? anyone that can beat him in lane is only gonna go even on cs and let him gank side lanes more. he's a lot like morgana in the fact that "countering" him means its a skill match up thats all. the only people that im seeing counter him are LB, galio, lux and kassadin. Now if you analyze this kassadin really does not counter him for the first 6 levels malzahar can litterally shit all over him. LB only requires you to play extremely passive during the laning phase and malz can farm from a very safe distance and after the laning phase malzahar is just better than LB unless she gets 3+ kills off him before they start.(which when playing safe shouldnt happen unless the LB is just straight up better than you) then theres galio...ok galio is strong against almost any mid that is AP. Recently ive been seeing a lot of galios and its again a lot more of a skill match up than a counter since he is melee range he is easily out traded with your E+voidling even with his W on.Thats not even counting the fact that voidlings damage is physical not magical. It all comes down to dodging his Q, if  you bait and dodge his Q then you win the fight every time. where as he can not dodge an E or a voidling(voidlings have 451 movespeed so they cant be outrun either) and thats just assuming you dont even hit once with your Q which is really easy to hit since you know exactly where he has to stand to get last hits. The last one is lux, I cant personally say she counters him or doesnt. I've laned against luxes and never "felt" countered per se. yes if you get hit by her combo then you will almost surely die, but im pretty sure thats true with nearly any mid champ. Again i would callthat a skill match since if the malzahar is good he can silence her before she finishes her combo since the range on his silence will match hers unless she is at max range, and lets be honest if you let her hit you with her combo when she is that far away you have a really low reaction time because of the missile speed of the Q.

Im not saying malzahar doesnt have weaknesses, i dont believe he is the best mid champ or anything. there is a clear reason he isnt played much in competitive play, but the only real thing separating him from being considered "viable" is player preference. If there was a really good player than liked his playstyle and played him more, then there would be more people playing him and doing very well with him. He has the opposite problem that olaf has, in high ranked play olaf takes more and more advantage of the enemy teams skill because he makes all of their  cc and team work mean nothing as he just runs in and blows people up, while malzahar is on the other end, he at low elos actaully has too much damage and insane cc when someone isnt aware they can buy qss to remove his ult or this or that, but the better people are at stoping his ult the harder it is for him to dominate, but in my honest opinion at high levels of skill is where he is balanced, and at low levels he is just really really strong. 

I play malzahar because every single part of his kit is amazing to me, i dont feel epicly strong or overpowered, but i am good at landing my Q and i know how and like to combo my spells into an ulti. he Is now and always has been my favourite champion despite being bad or good ill still play him. the point being, he needs a player like me who FEELS the kit well and knows its fullest extent, thats actaully good. I admit im at silver and never went above 1300 elo before. Im not claiming to be a god malzahar, but i know malzahar and i know what exactly what im capable of when i play him. Most pro players cant say that because they have their own champion that used to be considered "not viable" until suddenly they brought that champion to the competative scene because they could do things that other players couldnt with that champ. THAT is what malzahar needs to be viable, not buffs.

p.s. though, fuck logic, imo buff him moar becuse i like raping bitches :3 

has no one ever played malz and realized that QSS doesnt remove the damage from his ult? his ult does really high base damage on top of a 1.3 ap ratio that even if you qss it will not remove that damage. I've already proved that to be true since i used my ult on a ryze the other day who bought qss, he keeps pops it and starts running but the ult stays leashed on him doing damage. So yes someone can spend almost 1600 gold on something that will remove the suppress but not stop the very high damage that the ult still does along with all his other damage. 

as far as Olaf goes its really not hard to deal with him. 1. you buy hourglass that gives you survival, and the stasis. 2. you just pool under your feet and if you have an hourglass and any other damage is being put on him which by all rights he should be a focus target if he's in the back line of your team and isnt EXTREMELY fed since he goes down relatively easy when he isnt attacking you, but as malz you just pool under yourself E Q stasis and then he takes at least 10% of his health every second he's standing in the pool, burst from the Q, the burn from liandrys and the E while getting focused by at least 1 voidling and possibly ignite. can you honestly say that that wouldnt kill an olaf with less than 4000 health? and if he has that much health than your team was already having trouble to begin with.... 

and in case you're wondering malz with a liandrys and an hour glass will have roughly 130 armour and 2100 health and personally ill usually have a revolver at most points in the game. that means that an olaf would have to burn 2100 points of damage in the duration of his ultimate where 2.5 of those i am invulnerable and actually healing from spell vamp. yes of course its not a 1v1 but thats the thing, you're talking about an olaf which means you're assuming he is going to just barrel through your team into your back lines which puts him entirely in a position to get face fucked.

malzahar has a long range on his spells and a 3 second silence on their tanks is A LOT of utility, since tanks in general get their annoying nature from abilities. Idk if you've ever been hit by a 3 second silence as any tank, but its painful and it can get you killed because you are acting as though you can cast a hook or a knock up or a stun but you are suddenly in a position where you need to cast it but now you have to wait 2-3 seconds and then oh no the adc isnt in position.

malzahar like any apc has weaknesses, and his is that he has no escape and his cc can be negated with a qss....oh thats strange that sounds like a shit ton of other mages too.... buying a qss is good against malzahar, but its good against A LOT of mages, the only difference is that people automatically assume to buy one against malz  because they think it stops his ulti, when in fact it no longer stops the VERY high damage output of the ulti, just the supression. and while a malzahar with out his ult isnt amazing, he still has a 3 second silence on a low cd (9-7 seconds) and massive aoe and sustained damage not to mention the cd on his ulti is much shorter than a qss.(max rank with zero cdr is at 80 seconds, usually around 60 with any cdr item/blue buff)