Talk:Malzahar/@comment-5211662-20140811112211

I don't know why people say Liandry is core for Malzahar. While Malzahar has damage over time abilities that will make Liandry very strong, the fact that Malzahar has high AP ratios (most champions who buy Liandry have low AP ratios, which is NOT Malzahar's situation) means that he deal more damage with items that provide more AP - Not to mention Malzahar already has an HP-based damage spell (his W).

Having to buy a Haunting Guise early game slows down my build, too. I usually like to instead rush Rod of Ages and then a Deathfire Grasp. With a Deathfire Grasp, Malzahar's combo will be lethal to anyone, even tanks (if they rush early magic resistance, a Void Staff will counter this).

I can't imagine many situations where Liandry's Torment will be better than Void Staff. One of them is when your opponent don't build magic resistance, or only one of them builds and they are not your primary target (e.g. full tanks).

I would, however, advise to always buy Liandry if you buy Rylai. Slows + DoT = Liandry's passive doing stupid amounts of damage, especially when combined with the other generic AP items (Deathcap, Zhonya, Void Staff) - The reason why I prefer to go with the RoA + DFG build path instead, is because the Liandry + Rylai build makes Malzahar very mana hungry late-game. Even though he regens mana with his E, if he spams his spells and doesn't have a mana or mana regen item, he will quickly become oom. And I usually spam my spells a lot late-game, as Malzahar. Liandry + Rylai is an amazing build for Malzahar but forces you to become very conservative with your mana pool. However, it makes Malzahar have even more utility.

TL;DR - Liandry may be a good item for Malzahar, but it's not a core item. The only actual core item on my opinion is Rod of Ages. You can also buy Athene's Unholy Grail for the CDR. If you do that, make sure to buy an HP item (I like Rylai) otherwise Malzahar will be too squishy late-game.