Malphite/Strategy

Skill Usage

 * Due to, and , he is extremely well-suited to a tanking and initiating role.
 * is one of the best initiating abilities in the game, as it transports to the target location and knocks up all nearby enemies.  is also immune to disables during the dash.
 * Remember to allow to recharge if a team fight is about to start.
 * is a strong ability with several utilities:
 * It can be used for harassment and poking in lane, with some mana regen.
 * In a teamfight, helps  stick to the enemy's carries.
 * When escaping or chasing, will simultaneously slow enemy champions while hasting yourself.
 * can also be used on minions to gain the speed bonus to catch up to someone out of range.
 * Using will cause  to deal more damage due to the increased armor.
 * standard combo is first activating, slowing an enemy with , charging in with , then ending with . With a high amount of armor, this combo can shut down multiple enemies at once, especially if they're melee-DPS.
 * excels at being an anti-carry, designed to stop carries in their tracks with his and then destroy them with his high damage output.
 * can make a strong counter to certain solo top champions, such as, , or that have few ranged options and need to auto-attack to secure lane control. Use  to harass and  to interfere with last hits, giving you free reign to farm yourself.
 * If your enemy is on low health and they are behind a wall, can go through walls and you can pick up a kill easily.
 * Conversely, if you are low on health and are at great risk of dying, can be used to escape through a wall.
 * combined with other champions' abilities like, , and can incapacitate most or all of the enemy team members for several seconds.
 * Jungling works especially well on as his  can negate most of the Ancient Golem's damage at level one along with, meaning that  can kill the Ancient Golem on an offensive or defensive combination of starting items and potions. After acquiring  and the buff from the Lizard Elder,  can gank lanes to moderate effect, but can do so to the greatest effect against weak, autoattack-dependent AD champions like  or top lane.
 * When jungling on, it is crucial to reach level 6 quickly. A gank with  is extremely devastating and can turn even slippery laners such as  into easy kills when used correctly.

Build usage

 * It is difficult to build items that give all or even most of what he needs. Health, armor and magic resistance, attack damage, ability power, and cooldown reduction are hard to fit into six items, five items if you include boots. Items that provide any combination of these stats are useful and should be prioritized.
 * It should be noted, however, that his passive,, scales with maximum health, so planning on building a health item first, even if you are unsure what your endgame build will be, is a wise choice. This will also grant you some early game tankiness and survivability to help you through laning phase.
 * is typically built for a tank role but can be built with ability power, trading off late game utility for damage.
 * is a great item, as not only it gives ability power, but also gives health and mana. This not only boosts Malphite's tankyness, but also solves his mana problems.
 * is a possible build option, boosting his magic resistance and lowering the enemies'. Since most of abilities deal magical damage, this item can increase his damage output significantly.
 * is a good but highly situational item on, as it increases armor for and AP for  and . The active effect also allows  (as well as all of his other abilities) more time to reactivate.
 * is a strong choice if it is your goal to assassinate single high priority targets. The active can be used during  to massively increase the burst damage of 's combo.
 * In an extremely ability-power focused build, Malphite can buy . Remember, however, that Malphite has low ability power ratios, so this item is recommended most of time only as a late-game purchase.
 * Consider purchasing a or  to support the effect of his.
 * also grants mana and cooldown reduction, which are both very desirable stats on.
 * profits highly from buying armor, so purchasing items with that stat is very efficient.
 * and  are very strong choices, increasing the effectiveness of his  and.
 * When purchasing Thornmail, remember that Ground Slam reduces attack speed, therefore it actually makes this item less effective, as the enemy will attack Malphite less times, thus taking less damage from Thornmail. However, this item is still effective against some matchups such as, or if the enemy ranged ADC is fed (as he will likely not be in range for Malphite to use Ground Slam).
 * Most of time, though, it is better to buy the other mentioned items. When combined with Randuin's Omen and Frozen Heart, Ground Slam leave the enemy's attack speed ridiculously slow, making Malphite take very little damage if they are auto-attack based. Just be wary of caster champions, as they don't care about having their attack speed slowed (as they don't rely on it). If they are AD casters, however, the armor still works against them.
 * Although specializes in tanking physical damage due to his heavy focus on armor and reducing attack speed, be sure to get at least a moderate amount of magic resistance with items like  or  when facing multiple AP opponents. Your armor will have very little effect against casters like  or.
 * Look to buy items with mixed stats to maximize efficiency:,  and  all combine health and a powerful passive with a resistance.
 * is a useful item for the laning phase, allowing  to poke enemies with his  and take lane control despite the high mana costs. The magic resist component can be useful against certain matchups such as  or.
 * can later be upgraded to, which gives  valuable ability power and cooldown reduction.
 * usually doesn't have the damage to sustain himself in a fight with spell vamp or life steal. Building  can give him valuable health regeneration.
 * Note that the health regeneration is pathetically small during the actual teamfight. It will get you at most +120 health for a fifteen second teamfight. Health Regeneration is much better during the laning phase, and drops off significantly in usefulness during teamfight situations.
 * Because Malphite's abilities deal magic damage, and they have good base damage (but poor scalings, with exception of his ultimate), he benefits a lot from magic penetration.
 * Despite this, it is not recommended to buy, as this item does not give any tanky stats.
 * , however, is a great item to buy on Malphite. This item actually gives some HP, has flat magic penetration, and a passive that works well with Malphite's . This item alone will make Malphite deal a lot more damage, not to mention it works well if Malphite decides to buy . Just don't buy this item too early, as it does not give armor, magic resistance, or enough HP.
 * can build a little attack damage with the splash damage passive and attack damage steroid active from.
 * is recommendable in that case, as it has great synergy with 's kit and allows him to chase down enemies even more easily due to the haste on  and the slow and haste on.
 * is a good choice if the rest of your build includes a lot of health items such as  or.
 * Buying cooldown reduction is a priority for as the cooldowns on his abilities persist longer than his abilities' effects.
 * 's main job in important late-game teamfight scenarios is initiating via, so having it available as often as possible is highly important.

Jungling

 * Starting items, x5 OR ,  x4
 * Skill Progression: --  --  -- -- --
 * Jungle Route: Blue (smite), Wolves, Red (smite), Wraiths, Wight, Recall, Wolves, Wraiths, Golems.

Countering

 * Try to destroy before using your nukes to ensure you deal your full damage.
 * In the lane, try to harass to break his  and prevent its regeneration.
 * You might even be able to zone a little while he waits for the shield to refresh.
 * Don't even try to go against as a melee autoattacker because that is exactly what he excels against with his  armor and attack damage steroid and  attack speed reduction. These alone make him heavily favored in a trade, not to mention his.
 * 's strengths come from building a lot armor, due to his scaling off his armor, and his kit in general being very effective against AD champions. Due to this, picking AP champions will negate his strengths by forcing him to build magic resistance and making Malphite weaker overall.
 * Be wary of picking too many AP champions, however, as Malphite can counter that by asking one of his teammates to pick or.
 * Note whether or not is spamming his abilities (especially ) as he isn't exactly the most mana efficient champion around.
 * Malphite has no natural sustain. By picking a champion with sustain, you can generally counter Malphite, as you will outlast him. If Malphite decides to harass or trade damage with you, and you heal all the damage back, that means he is only wasting mana (remember that Malphite is very mana hungry).
 * When chasing or being chased, it may be a good idea to hold on to any movement speed increasing buffs you may have until after he has used, as increasing your speed will also increase the amount of movement speed he steals and essentially nullify your boost.
 * Wait until the effect of his wears off before continuing to attack  as it gives him armor.
 * If you are using a champion whose primary damage source is from auto-attacks, try to stay out of range of, as this will reduce your damage significantly.
 * will usually build armor to make the effect of his more useful. Consider getting a  to counter this.
 * is another effective anti-armor item against Malphite. By reducind his armor, you reduce the damage that deals.
 * Since is more likely to build armor than health, he will be very susceptible to high burst from magic damage. Consider this when picking champions to counter him.
 * Don't neglect the burst damage from in a 1v1. It has high base damage, not to mention a high ability power ratio.
 * Avoid grouping together with your allies to decrease the impact of an.