Malzahar ARAM Build and Guide

Updated for patch 26.22. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch; ARAM balance numbers come from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion data.

A Malzahar ARAM build is burn and Ability Haste on a champion the mode hits twice: Malzahar deals 90% damage and takes 110% damage on the Howling Abyss. Malefic Visions that jumps from corpse to corpse and a silence that catches a whole line are the reason, so you build to keep the curse spreading and to shorten the wait on Nether Grasp.

Items are ours, taken from what they do in patch 26.22. Win-rate tables didn’t enter into it.

How is Malzahar changed in ARAM?

Malzahar deals 90% damage and takes 110% damage in ARAM, which is a firm pair of modifiers for a mage. Why both ends? Because Malefic Visions is a curse that passes to a nearby enemy when its host dies, and on a map where minions and champions die in a heap, “nearby” always exists, so the spell can run through a whole wave and into the team behind it. Call of the Void silences everyone its portals catch, and five people standing in a line are five people silenced (the Abyss is generous that way). The damage-taken half targets Void Shift: the passive’s damage reduction and crowd control immunity are worth more when nobody can reach you, and on the Abyss everyone can. A real cut, to be fair. It just doesn’t touch the thing that makes him good here, which is where the curse goes after its first host dies.

Why does Malzahar fit the Howling Abyss?

Because his spells spread, and the Abyss gives them things to spread to. Riot’s data for patch 26.22:

• Void Shift (passive): massive damage reduction and crowd control immunity when he hasn’t recently taken damage or crowd control, lingering briefly after a hit.
• Call of the Void (Q): two portals that fire projectiles after a short delay, dealing magic damage and silencing champions. Cooldown 6 seconds.
• Void Swarm (W): Voidlings that attack nearby enemies. Cooldown 8.
• Malefic Visions (E): damage over time that his other spells refresh; when the host dies it passes to a nearby enemy and refunds Mana. Voidlings are drawn to affected units. Cooldown 11/10/9/8/7.
• Nether Grasp (R): a channel that suppresses an enemy champion over a zone of damaging energy. Cooldown 140/110/80.

Watch what Malefic Visions does to a minion wave on the Abyss. It lands on one minion, the minion dies, the curse jumps to the next, and because the enemy champions are standing where their minions are standing, it ends up on a champion without Malzahar ever casting it at one. Void Swarm’s Voidlings follow the curse, so they arrive at the champion too. Then Call of the Void silences the line and Nether Grasp holds the one who mattered. Where does it go wrong? He has 500 range, no mobility and 110% damage taken once Void Shift breaks, and a team of five pokers breaks it every few seconds whether they mean to or not.

What should a Malzahar ARAM build focus on?

Damage over time that stacks with the curse, Ability Haste aimed at a 140 second ultimate, and Mana, since there’s no fountain trip to refill. Four items from the current patch.

Malignance opens the build, and it’s the item built around Nether Grasp: 90 Ability Power, 600 Mana and 15 Ability Haste, with Scorn granting 20 Ultimate Ability Haste and Hatefog burning the ground beneath any champion your ultimate damages for 3 seconds, dealing magic damage per second and reducing their Magic Resist. Nether Grasp is a channel that keeps the champion in contact with the ultimate for its whole duration, so Hatefog burns under them the entire time and cuts their Magic Resist for the curse ticking alongside. Honestly, the 600 Mana alone would justify the slot on a map with no recall.

Liandry’s Torment is second, 60 Ability Power and 300 Health, with Torment burning anyone your abilities damage for 2% of their maximum Health per second for 3 seconds and Suffering adding up to 6% bonus damage the longer you stay in combat with champions. Malefic Visions already ticks. Put Torment on top and every cursed champion carries two burns, and when the curse jumps to the next host, Liandry’s goes with it. The 300 Health is the first concession to 110% damage taken (there will be more).

Rylai’s Crystal Scepter is third: 65 Ability Power and 400 Health, with Rimefrost slowing enemies by 30% for 1 second whenever a damaging ability hits them. The curse ticks are damaging ability hits, so a cursed champion is a slowed champion for as long as the curse lasts, which keeps them near the Voidlings and near each other. In practice Rylai’s is what turns Malefic Visions from a number into a leash, and 400 more Health is the second concession.

Rabadon’s Deathcap finishes it with 130 Ability Power and a 30% increase to total Ability Power through Magical Opus, since every burn, curse and Voidling scales with it. Sorcerer’s Shoes go on his feet: 12 Magic Penetration plus 45 Move Speed. The catch is that none of this makes him tanky in the way the modifiers ask for, so against a dive-heavy team the fourth item becomes Zhonya’s Hourglass and the Deathcap waits.

How do you play Malzahar on the Howling Abyss?

• Curse the wave, not the champion. Malefic Visions passes to a nearby enemy when its host dies, and a dying minion wave is a conveyor belt into the enemy team.
• Portals across the line. Call of the Void silences every champion its projectiles touch, and the Abyss stands people in a line.
• Nether Grasp the carry who stepped forward, not the tank who’s always there. The channel suppresses one champion; make it the one that matters.
• Stay behind your front line. Void Shift lingers only briefly after you take damage, and at 110% damage taken the passive is the difference between a mage and a corpse.
• Max E. Malefic Visions drops from an 11 second cooldown to 7 by rank 5, and the Voidlings follow wherever it lands.

How do shopping and Mark change the game on the Howling Abyss?

Here, the fountain is the whole shop: you buy at the start and after each death, and the relics heal you in between. For a Mana mage that puts the Mana items first, which is why Malignance leads this build and why Lost Chapter is the first full component you buy. Malefic Visions refunds Mana when its host dies, and on a map where hosts die constantly that refund adds up (it’s the closest thing to a fountain he gets). Buy the Mana first. Then the burn, then the Health. Dying with a finished Lost Chapter in your pocket is the most common Malzahar mistake on this map, and it comes from standing too far forward to show off the curse.

Mark is the summoner spell you only see in ARAM: a snowball that, if it hits, lets you dash to its target. Spells lock before the game loads (no changing your mind). On Malzahar the dash is almost never the right button, since dashing forward on a 500-range mage with 110% damage taken ends predictably, and nothing in his kit rewards being close. Funny enough, the snowball still earns its slot without the dash: a hit on a retreating champion tells you where to drop the portals, and Nether Grasp doesn’t need you to move at all. Put simply, throw it and stay put.

Is Malzahar good in ARAM?

Yes, as long as he stays behind the wave. 90% damage and 110% damage taken take a real toll, but the map hands his curse an endless supply of hosts and his silence an endless supply of lines, and Nether Grasp on the one champion who stepped up decides more Abyss fights than most ultimates. What he can’t do is survive being reached: 500 range, no mobility and a passive that breaks on the first poke make him the easiest target on the map once the shield is down.

The mid laners who break it best are in the Malzahar counters guide, and most of them are just as effective here. Our guide to LoL roles says what mid lane wants from a control mage in a normal game. Patch history and stats for each item named above live in the item database, and the Malzahar skins page has his cosmetics.

Long story short: Mana first, curse the wave, portals across the line, grasp the one who stepped up. That’s the Malzahar ARAM build doing what the modifiers couldn’t stop. Then you respawn, finish the Health item, and send the curse back down the lane.

FAQ

Is Malzahar nerfed in ARAM?

Yes, on both ends. For patch 26.22 the Wiki’s champion data has him at 90% damage dealt against 110% damage taken.

What items does the Malzahar ARAM build use?

Malignance, Liandry’s Torment, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter and Rabadon’s Deathcap with Sorcerer’s Shoes, taking Zhonya’s Hourglass fourth against dive.

Does Malefic Visions spread on the Howling Abyss?

Yes, and better than on Summoner’s Rift: when the cursed unit dies the curse passes to a nearby enemy, and on a single lane there is almost always one.

Why Malignance on Malzahar?

Scorn gives 20 Ultimate Ability Haste for a 140 second Nether Grasp, and Hatefog burns under any champion the ultimate damages for 3 seconds while reducing their Magic Resist, which lines up with a channeled suppression.

Is this build based on win rates?

No. Malzahar’s patch 26.22 ability text plus the item data, and that’s the entire basis.