Talk:Malzahar/@comment-75.36.241.190-20110429015538/@comment-78.182.214.32-20110502194059

First of all; Kassadin is harder to play than Malzhar. Just ask yourself which one has the ability to get a pentakill with half HP in a good hands... If you are not good; you can still get kills with faceroll combo of Malzahar, but can do nearly nothing with Kassadin. (this is my opinion, tho.) BUT Dont worry about being not good enough to play Kassadin; i started to play him when i was REALLY bad, and now i get insane kills without feeding.

Anyways; let's take an overall look. Malzahar is a DoT champ, but Kassadin is a nuker. [Actually Kassadin is a hybrid champion, but AD and hybrid builds just suck. (tried them both, watched them both; AP Nuker is the only option right now).] This difference could be a measure in your choice.

Malzahar Silence (which is a skillshot, so not guaranteed to land - but it's not hard to shoot it tho) and Suppression (with his ulti) as CC. Kassadin has Silence (which comes with a 1 target nuke ability) and AoE Slow as CC. So, Kassadin is more helpful in a team fight IMHO, because Malzahar's CC are dangerous - to himself... His ulti makes him an open target, but also can be really helpful in ganks, late game teamfights and of course, 1 vs 1 situations.

Speaking of 1 vs 1 situations; we have to accept that, Malzahar is one of the best 1v1 fighters. His faceroll combo can melt almost every opponent (if they are not, you know.. fed). On the other hand Kassadin in 1v1 situation is a challenging task. Kassadin is one of the best glass cannons. As long as you know how to approach different enemies in different ways, 1v1 situations are also easy for Kassadin. BUT Malzahar is better than Kassadin in early game. And since 1v1 figths occur more during the early laning phase, Malzahar is better than Kassadin in 1v1 situations. BUT Kassadin is GOD during mid and late game (especially late game); so the difference between them in terms of 1v1 fights is only about the game phase...

Another thing; Malzahar has NO escape mechanism. He makes you have to get at least 1 escape spell as summoner spells. Most of the time you'll want to get both Flash and Ghost. Kassadin, on the other hand, has the best escape mechanism in the game. It can also deal high amounts of damage late game (some AP and rifwalk stacks EATS your mana pool, but also rapes your opponent as well). As long as you know how to position yourself in teamfights, ganks and other stuff, Riftwalk will make you incredibly hard to kill as Kassadin), so you are free to choose your summoner spells.

Both of them go for squishy enemies first; and can kill even tanks when they are fed.

Malzahar can farm easily, but Kassadin needs to be more careful. Malzahar's E is great for farming, but Kassadin needs to harass the enemy for easier farming. Speaking of harassing; Kassadin can do it easier with his Q, btw.

Lastly; Kassadin's passive is a bit better than Malzahar's. %10 spell dmg reduction can be pretty helpful with surviving ganks and teamfights, especially against enemy nukers. But since the AP build is more viable then the other builds, the other effect of his passive is useless right now. Malzahar's passive, on the other hand, is pretty good during early game, but gets extremely useless after that.

In a lot of ways, personally, I want a Kassadin over Malzahar in my team. He can survive even the deadliest ganks, has better CC abilities, and he is awesome chaser and great nuker. Malzhar is pretty powerful, too. But he depends on a good team; team fights can be pain in the ass for him; and gets boring faster ^^

PS. One of the other reasons i'd choose Kassadin over Malzahar is the story they have in the League of Legends lore. Badass Protoss-like good guy Kassadin vs Faceroll, mad evil prophet Malzahar ^^