Lol Malphite Guide - Rocking Solo Top With Malphite (Jungle Guide Included!) ~ League of leagends Arena

A special thank you to everyone who has supported or critiqued my build, and thanks to jhoijhoi for the review.

Thanks to jhoijhoi for the awesome banner!

Hi, I'm PsiGuard and welcome to my guide. In this guide I will describe what I believe to be an effective way to solo top with Malphite.

This is not a short guide, and I don't refrain from describing my reasons and advice in great detail. If you're looking for a way to build Malphite and don't have time to read my guide, simply consult the build above. If you wish to learn more about how to solo top with Malphite however, or are surprised at my choice of items, runes or masteries, please read on.

Please don't downvote me without reading the entire guide. If you find my build odd, I encourage you to read the reasons I give before condemning my choice. It is possible that these builds do not fit everyone's play style. If you do not like Malphite or can't use him effectively, don't downvote me for it.

As a final note: if you'd like to jungle with Malphite, use build 2 and check out the section at the end of the guide for details.

Legend

(for any abbreviations you don't understand)

Pros/Cons

So, why do we choose Malphite?

Pros:

Granite Shield is a fun passive which makes him resistant to harass.
Deals a lot of physical and magic damage without any offensive items, even more with some armor and a Sunfire Cape.
High mobility from Seismic Shard, Greater Quintessence of Swiftness, Mercury's Treads and Force of Nature.
Brutal Strikes and Ground Slam make him a powerful pusher.
Arguably one of the tankiest champions in the game.
2 CCs and a debuff.
Build and abilities hard counter autoattackers, especially champions who rely on attack speed.
Annoyingly effective chaser.
Can tank towers almost as well as Rammus and Alistar
Unstoppable Force is one of the best initiating spells in the game.
Gold/10 items fit beautifully into the build.

Cons:

Not an actual tanky DPS, so offensive items don't synergize very well.
Deals a mix of damage, making it hard to rune for.
Doesn't have a strong escape mechanism.
Less effective against a lot of casters.

Masteries

0/21/9

MASTERIES

Since Malphite is a tank, I spec most of my points in the defensive tree. Not all tanks need to put 21 points in this tree, but I find that Malphite can use defensive masteries better than most champions in the game. All of the damage reduction and bonus health will buff your as well, giving you a much stronger laning phase. Late game, is invaluable.

Here's a quick breakdown of the mastery tree:

Resistance and Hardiness give some nice early damage resistance.
Strength of Spirit adds some sustain, which is important since Malphite doesn't have any built-in sustain unlike many solo tops.
Evasion and Nimbleness are good fillers, but also give the occasional speed boost from minion aggro.
Defensive Mastery and Harden Skin will block a bit more damage.
Veteran's Scars for extra health. Since we don't have Quints of Fortitude, this will give you some early game survivability.
Tenacity is great on tanky champions, and Malphite needs to be able to enter the fray to do his stuff.
Spatial Accuracy is a no-brainer. If you take a different summoner spell, switch this out.
Good Hands is far superior to Perseverence.
Awareness is a very strong mastery. Gaining levels will give you an advantage in a solo lane, and hitting level 6 asap is pretty important. Expanded Mind is useless anyway.
I've changed Greed to Meditation. With an easy farming lane and 2 gold/10 items, Malphite doesn't need the extra gold as much as he needs mana regen. Meditation should help your mana problems a little before you get your Philosopher's Stone.

Some other worthy masteries include:

Archaic Knowledge for some extra power on your spells. This isn't really worth the 9 points in the offensive tree though.
Meditation will help your early game mana starvation. You'll lose Tenacity if you want more than one point in it though.
Quickness works nicely on Malphite if you go down the utility tree.
Blink of an Eye is good to have if you can get it.
Presence of the Master requires a lot of points in utility. Still, it's one of the best masteries in the game. Decide for yourself if it's worth losing some survivability for this mastery.

These are great masteries, but will require sacrificing other strong ones to attain them. It's up to you if you want to change your tree to get one or more of these alternatives.

Runes

Primary Runes

: Even though Malphite is a tank, he needs his spells to do some damage if you want to counter-harass in lane. These marks will give your spells a surprising punch when harassing or bursting down opponents.
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: Cheap, good on any champion, flat armor seals have special synergy with and . Definitely pick these up if you plan on jungling.
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: Survivability is important on a tank, and these runes are effective on many champions for a low price. The more armor items Malphite builds, the stronger he gets, so these runes will help compensate for any lack of magic resist items.
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: Mobility is one of Malphite's strong points. These quints, along with and will give you a lot of mobility and chasing power.

Alternative Runes

: Works nice with and is an important tool if you plan on jungling.
: Some more armor if you don't want offensive marks.
: Some more magic resistance if you don't want offensive marks.
: Good if you have early game mana problems.
: These will allow you to use more mana all game, especially by mid-game.
: A perfectly acceptable rune if you're laning against casters. I usually use scaling runes because most solo tops are AD based.
: Great for jungling and early game ability spamming. Watch your mana consumption if you take these runes.
: Very strong quints if you need some more survivability in the early game. Works great with .
: Another defensive quint. Armor scales nicely with , and is a nice bonus for jungling.
: An optional quint if you find yourself in need of a lot of magic resistance in the early game.

Summoner Spells

Top Picks

: This is a great tool for ganking, laning and split-pushing. It's always good to have at least one on the team, and that usually falls to the solo top to pick it up. Being able to to your lane early game will prevent your opponent from pushing down your tower, and it's very useful late game for both offense and defence. If your enemy lacks hard CC, you can actually use this spell as an escape mechanism. Don't make a habit of it though, since you'll usually want it off cooldown in case of emergencies or opportunities.

: Hands-down the best summoner spell in the game, provides a much-needed escape mechanism for Malphite (yes, tanks need them too). It has a multitude of uses, including juking, jungle chases, stealing buffs, dodging lethal spells like , and surprise initiations.

: An absolute must for jungling; an absolute waste for laning. Pick this up for sure if you're planning to jungle, it'll speed up your time, allow you to counter-jungle, protect you from buff steals, and can help you secure dragon and baron. Never jungle without this spell.
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Honourable Mentions

: This spell can replace either  or . Replacing  will leave you with less map control and split-pushing abilities, but will improve your chases and escapes. Replacing  will leave you with a weaker escape mechanism, but very high mobility and map control. I don't pick up this spell because I get a lot of movement speed from my build and .

: If your team needs one, by all means pick it up. Malphite is already a hard counter to AD champions, and this spell will let you dominate them easily. It's also useful for cutting down the damage on nukes like  and .

: Not the greatest spell in the game, but it's relatively easy for Malphite to pick up . If your team demands one, or if you're facing a lot of dangerous pushers, this spell will help buy your towers some time. Generally  is enough for counter-pushing purposes though.

: This is a great offensive spell and a must-have if the enemy team has healing or regenerating champions. This is often better used by carries, so only pick it up if your team needs it, or if you're confident it'll net you kills every game.
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Avoid If Possible

: A lot of new Malphite players pick up this spell. Believe me when I say it is unnecessary. A quick  and judicious use of your spells will solve your mana problems. Your support can pick this up if your team wants it, but you shouldn't need to ever take it.

: While it's a nice spell for newer players, - is better and available at level one. Still, it's worth mentioning that  is somewhat effective since you'll have a lot more resistances than health. Grab  if you use this spell.

: Any CC you encounter should be countered sufficiently by  and your ability to tank damage. If the enemy team wastes their CC on you, your team should be able to easily win the team fight. If enemy CC prevents you from performing in a team fight, just pick up a , which is far superior to  anyway. If you're a  fanatic, remember to pick up  for the reduced cooldown.

: This is a great spell to have on the team, but it should definitely be taken by your support. Use wards to protect yourself from ganks and guard your jungler from invasion.

: Though it's not a big deal for a tank to die, this spell isn't worth losing one of the other spells. Don't use this unless you're trolling.

: You can't get the improvement and it's a mediocre spell to begin with. Just pick one of the better alternatives.

Remember to pick up the accompanying mastery for any summoner spell you choose whenever possible.

Abilities

Granite Shield (passive): Malphite's passive is actually one of the best in the game in my opinion. If you use it correctly, you become immune to all but the most aggressive harass. It's like a health pot on a 10 second cooldown early game, and late game it gives you a free shield to absorb pokes or tank towers. Since Malphite usually builds tank, your passive will get stronger the more items you build.
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Tips and Tricks:

Granite Shield scales with health, armor, and magic resist. Survivability items will improve its effectiveness.
Early game, Granite Shield will protect you from harass and minion aggro; late game, it can tank repeated tower hits after you've built some armor.
If you're hit by harass, try to avoid damage for the next few seconds until your passive recharges.

Seismic Shard (Q): A poke, a slow, and a haste, is Malphite's all-purpose tool. It deals a lot more damage than a tank should be able to deal, and is the perfect ability for chases and escapes. Since it's targeted, it's impossible to dodge and difficult to recover from. This ability combined with make Malphite a mean harasser in lane. Late game it can be used often for CC and initiation if you don't have your ult.
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Tips and Tricks:

Seismic Shard is a very effective counter-harass. Fire one at your opponent when they step forward to harass you, and Granite Shield will earn you a small victory.
Seismic Shard is a strong chasing tool. Use it to slow your opponent and walk up for a Ground Slam. It's also a helpful tool to use when your jungler ganks.
You can use Seismic Shard to escape enemies. Hit a foe when you're fleeing, and your speed will be boosted while they are slowed.
Seismic Shard steals a percentage of the target's movement speed, so hitting a fast enemy like Rammus with Powerball will give you a huge speed boost.

Brutal Strikes (W): This is a respectable steroid. It's simplest use is pushing towers (or even backdooring), but it can also be used at the start of fights for more damage and tankiness, and even to jungle. Don't underestimate this ability, and feel free to use it whenever you enter a fight or push a tower. It's mana cost and cooldown are pretty low.
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Tips and Tricks:

Activate Brutal Strikes before using Ground Slam to boost your armor, and therefore the damage of Ground Slam
Brutal Strikes only costs 50 mana at level one. Don't be afraid to use it if you're expecting some physical damage to come your way.
Brutal Strikes is one of the strongest tower-pushing abilities in the game. Activating it will allow you to take some tower hits while increasing your attack damage, allowing you to push or backdoor fairly easily.
Activate Brutal Strikes just before you initiate a team fight. This will let you tank better, improve your Ground Slam, and let you do heavy damage with your auto attacks.

Ground Slam (E): This AoE spell is great for farming, but also acts like a on a short cooldown. It's a hard counter to AD champions, and a pain in the neck for melee DPS. Constantly using this ability in fights will send the enemy carries running, hurt and crippled, while your team mates clean them up. You can also use this spell early game to counter any melee harassment.
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Tips and Tricks:

Ground Slam scales with armor, so it will start hurting after you get Sunfire Cape.
Ground Slam isn't just a damage ability, it slows nearby enemy attack speeds. Use Ground Slam in conjunction with Randuin's Omen and Frozen Heart to severely cripple enemy attack speed champions.
Using Ground Slam with the passive from Brutal Strikes will allow you to farm creeps and push lanes quite quickly.
Ground Slam leaves an imprint of the Riot Games Fist on the ground.

Unstoppable Force (R): Undoubtedly Malphite's strongest ability, and one of the best initiators in the game, dashes quite far to knock up and damage enemies at a target location. Use this ability to initiate team fights, ganks and tower dives. Once you hit level 6, your zone will get a lot larger in lane because of this ability. If you keep your enemy low, you can completely starve them of farm and/or suddenly charge them and pick up the kill, even under the tower if you like. Having off cooldown will effectively double your zone.
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Tips and Tricks:

The knockup component of Unstoppable Force isn't reduced by tenacity.
Since Unstoppable Force is both a dash and a heavy CC, it's great for initiating ganks or team fights. Wait for enemies to group together for maximum effect.
Unstoppable Force can be used to turn the tables on Jarvan IV when he uses Cataclysm. It's also great for interrupting channelled abilities like Death Lotus, Crowstorm, Absolute Zero and Requiem.
Try to always use the dash function of Unstoppable Force simply placing it on top of yourself can cause it to fail and will waste your cooldown.
Unstoppable Force can be used to dash through walls. Use it to surprise an enemy in the jungle, or interrupt a team trying to take dragon or baron. In an emergency, you can also use it to dash away from enemies, though try not to rely on this too often.

Skill Sequence

>>>

ABILITY SEQUENCE
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Always prioritize your ultimate, it's a very strong skill and does quite a lot of damage for a tank.
is important for early game harass and does a lot of damage early game. This skill is also ranged, so it'll be your main poke.
is next, since it's your other damage skill. It scales with armor, so by mid game this ability will get quite powerful. It's also a great counter to AS champions when they get their attack speed items.
I level last for late game tower pushing and tanking the enemy team. The armor and AD steroid allow you to take a lot of damage, while doing a lot of your own. is not leveled early because your damage will be mostly burst until you get to team fights. To use this ability, you either have to be tanking a lot of damage or standing there auto attacking, so it doesn't have much of a place in laning phase. Since it also boosts your stats by a percent, it's more effective late game when you have some armor items.

If you want to switch up the skill order, that's fine. Leveling up is sometimes effective if you need to counter an AD/AS champion in lane who's usually in melee range. In most cases, is your best option for the poke and slow/haste.

Starting Items

A lot of solo tops have sustain abilities. Malphite does not. Since we want to rush a quick , getting a at the start will allow you to recover from harass and lane until you want to leave. Usually you'll want the to compensate for Malphite's early mana issues. If you're not very confident, a may be a safer alternative.

Even though you'll get a lot of farm at top, gold items still very effective at getting your income going, and will give you some extra money for buying wards. should give you enough sustain to lane indefinitely, and will add to your bulk and later build into . Make sure you get early game for the mobility it offers.

Recommended Build

IMPORTANT! READ THIS!

The order of these items is optimal, but not at all set in stone. Tanks have to adapt to the enemy team composition. If you're facing an AP carry top, you may want to get your earlier. Likewise, if the enemy team lacks a strong AP carry, you may skip FoN entirely and get more armor items. The build shown is for a balanced team with average CC.

: Definitely the best boots in the game, especially on tanky champions who don't need AS or magic penetration. These will give you a bit of MR (Malphite's weaker side) and the tenacity is unmatched by other items. Even though you shouldn't be targeted by CC, you can often tank spells for your allies and shake off the CC of fleeing enemies. Of course other boots can work, but you should be using these the majority of the time.

: Malphite is one of those in-the-fray champions. He performs best when surrounding by enemies, allowing him to  to his heart's content.  provides enough offense to make your enemies think twice before ignoring you. You'll also get survivability and some power for , so it's a great item in any game.

: Even though he's an armor tank, Malphite is still going to need some magic resist. gives the most MR for one item, and the regen and move speed synergizes with his kit quite nicely. I usually pick this item over due to the higher (and better) stats. You want to pack as much MR as possible into one slot so you'll have room for additional armor items.

: Builds out of a , which is always nice.  provides more armor and health for  and even more damage for . The active also suits Malphite very well, so don't forget to use it in a fight. Move it to a slot where you'll remember the hotkey.

: A ton of armor, a ton of mana, a ton of CDR and the perfect passive for Malphite? Yes please. Between this ,  and , your enemies will be attacking slower than a ed  soloing dragon. The mana will boost your relatively small pool and fuel  for a bit more health regen. The CDR is also really important for you to be able to use your abilities often, since there aren't a lot of other places to get it.

: Adding insult to injury, by this point you'll be doing a ton of sustained AoE damage and you'll be almost impossible to even damage. Why not make you immortal too? This item will give you a bit more magic resist to absorb those stray nukes, and allow you to be even more daring in team fights. The longer the enemy team focuses you, the longer your carries are free to wreck them, so be as aggressive as possible once the team fight starts. Also, more armor = damage for .

Here is a paraphrased question from Blakhart:
Q: "PsiGuard, why do you get  on a tank? Won't that cause enemies to ignore you? Why not buy a  instead?"
//
Good question, Blakhart. I get  as my last item because of the strong mix of resistances and the passive of course. Since you'll have this item near the end of the game, when carries are at their strongest, an Ace will often decide the victors of the match. Their carries will also have built up a lot of offense and defense penetration, so your survival may be risked if you are aggressively defending your carries and focusing theirs. Often the enemy team can't help but waste spells on you if only to stop you from focusing their carry.

That said, if you do not need more survivability at all by that phase in the game, by all means, grab a different item.  will give a lot of power to your , while  will provide some regen and a helpful active. Check out the situational items below for other options.

Situational Items

Many of the following items have multiple applications, but I've ordered them according to their primary purpose for . Keep in mind that some items may have overlapping roles.

Boots

Boots of Swiftness

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These underrated boots are great replacements for if you don't have them. Mobility is one of Malphite's strengths and should be exploited. If the enemy team has little CC for you to worry about, you could even pick these up in addition to and for a total of 443 move speed, as opposed to the regular 417 move speed you'll get from the main build (credit to Temzilla for the math).

Ninja Tabi

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These boots are highly situational on Malphite. are cheap, but overall a bit weaker than other boots like . You would think that they would be core on an armour tank, but really the other boots are much better at what they do. Simply building a ton of armor items on Malphite is more than enough to counter a couple AD champions. Only get these boots if you absolutely need to tank scary crit monsters like , or if the enemy team has 3-5 strong AD champions for you to worry about.

Sorcerer's Shoes

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Great boots to have if you want a bit more damage. They're a must-have on an AP build, but they can also be helpful if you aren't facing much CC on the enemy team. The flat magic pen goes great with your and will allow you to punch through almost all of a champion's base magic resist. ThanksShadowNet for the suggestion.

Defensive Items

Quicksilver Sash

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A great, though situational item. Removes any debuff on your champion with a CD of 60 seconds. Unlike , it can remove suppression like and Infinite Durress as well as DoTs like and . Pick it up if you're having trouble with a particular CC, though usually you won't be targeted with heavy CC since you're the tank.

Banshee's Veil

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Nice to be able to block annoying spells like and , but provides better stats for the tank role. Still, if you need more MR, is a good item to consider.

Thornmail

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Armor is awesome, but there's already a ton in the build. Any AD champion would be stupid to focus you. is a good counter for squishy DPS champions who attack you if it's necessary, though it really shouldn't be. It's worth noting that provides the most armor in the game, so it'll boost your significantly if you prefer more offensive power.

Chalice of Harmony

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If you have your and still want more mana regen, just pick up this cheap item. It should permanently solve your mana problems and give you a little MR to boot. Malphite's mana problems shouldn't really be so crippling as to require this item though.

Eleisa's Miracle

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If you didn't take and want some tenacity, it's a simple matter to upgrade your to an . The additional regen will be a welcome bonus too.

Warmog's Armor

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I'm not a fan of , but it can be nice if the other team has a lot of resistance penetration or shredding. You'll notice a significant boost to your , and a huge amount of health regen.

Supportive Items

Aegis of the Legion

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This is simply one of the best items in the game. The only reason this is situational is because a lot of the time this will be picked up by your support or jungler. Since you'll spend most of early game in top lane, the aura isn't going to benefit your team very much. Pick up an if your team needs one, preferably around mid game when you'll be grouping up with allied champions.

Shurelya's Reverie

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One of the upgrades for . This item gives health, CDR, regen and a nice active, but it takes up an item slot in your final build. Usually you should just sell your late game, but is always an option. The regen is astounding and the active is not to be underestimated. Remember to use it if you pick up this item.

Soul Shroud

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More of a support item, but it can be okay on Malphite because of the CDR and health it gives. The mana regen will help you and your team quite a bit as well. may occasionally prove useful with some team compositions.

Stark's Fervor

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gives you quite a bit of AD, so this item is a possibility if your team could use the health regen and lifesteal. The aura is very helpful to allied AD based champions, though usually on a heavy AD team, somebody else will get this item.

Offensive Items

Wriggle's Lantern

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A lot of people swear by this item on jungle Malphite. I use it on most junglers, but champions like Amumu and Malphite have less use for it in my opinion. If you'd like to pick up this item, the free ward is great, the armor is helpful, and the passive proc will speed up your jungle. Remember to use the ward often to keep map control and save yourself a bit of gold on sight wards.

Frozen Mallet

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I would probably not use this item, but it's still worth mentioning. You'll get a lot of health (which will also boost ) and a really good slow on your autoattacks. This item should usually not be necessary though, since you have a lot of speed, survivability, and for a slow.

Atma's Impaler

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This item goes nicely with and/or if you want some more attack damage. The armor it gives it not to be ignored either. You can get the earlier in the game, since building a lot of health will leave you low on resistances, especially armor for .

Abyssal Scepter

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I've never put much stock in AP Malphite, but since gives MR and a supportive passive, it's worth mentioning. Your and will pack a bit more punch too. In a game with a lot of casters (on either team), this item can be very valuable. Also works well if you go for a full AP build.

Zhonya's Hourglass

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The 50 armor suits you nicely, and the AP will buff up your Q and R. The active is great for surviving dangerous ultimates or a full team focusing you. Usually the active won't be necessary if you have competent team mates, and performs a similar role a bit better. This is a great item if you build AP, but otherwise is generally unnecessary.

Trinity Force

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If you're really stomping the enemy team, your team has like 5 tanks, or you have way too much gold lying around, pick up for crazy movespeed and ridiculous offense. Your autoattacks will have a chance to slow, you'll attack faster and do more damage, you're movespeed will rival with and you'll get procs after each ability. Malphite has enough offense with just armor though, so it's usually better to just build resistances.

Warding

The following is a very quick warding guide taken from Soraka - The Babysitting Queen. Thanks Summoner for letting me use this section! It is the responsibility of everyone on the team to ward the map, but it is fairly easy for Malphite to do so, since you have two gold items built very early in the build.

Buy wards whenever possible, and watch for when allied wards by dragon or baron are going to expire. Make sure that dragon is warded once it has spawned, and ward baron constantly late game. Warding allied buffs is a good way to prevent counter-jungling. You can use vision wards to counter-ward at dragon or baron, or you can buy an for some more extensive ward sweeping. If you notice the enemy team is getting a lot of wards, this will help your own team regain some map control.

Note: This is assuming you're purple. Simply mirror the positions if you're on blue side.

These show the best, non-situational (i.e no lane brush wards) positions to place wards, assuming you are winning as thepurple side.

Mirror the positions of the wards if you need defensive wards in your jungle as well. This is especially important if you plan on counter-jungling, to prevent the enemy jungler from stealing your jungle while you are absent.

For a more detailed guide on warding, click here.

Laning Phase

As a solo top, your job is to farm like a boss, zone your opponent and prepare for ganks (whether friendly or enemy). Most importantly, try not to let your tower fall or force your jungler to help you hold the lane. This shouldn't be very difficult between , ,  and Malphite's harass skills.

Use  to counter-harass your opponent. When they walk up and smack you or use an ability, hit them back with your Q and  if they're close enough. Then play a little passively for 10 seconds and let your  refresh. Rinse and repeat, and you should be winning the lane in no time.

Let's say you're laning fine, getting some farm and shaking off harass, but the enemy has too much sustain for you to weaken enough to burst (solo top champions often have a lot of sustain). Now is the time to call for a gank. If your jungler is busy ganking bot or grabbing a camp on the opposite side of the map, don't worry. Just let them know that you're ready for a gank (preferably your ultimate is off CD) and wait for them to get to top lane. Make sure you don't push your lane if you want a gank.

Now, the enemy player may have called for their own gank, and that is why you get WARDS to cover the river. Always keep an eye out to see if your lane opponent places their own wards, so you can let your jungler know to either cancel the gank or get oracle's or a vision ward to counter ward there.

If you're ready for a gank and your jungler is lurking in a nearby push, ping the enemy champion when you're both ready. If your jungler has a good initiation (Warwick post-6), wait for him to exit the bush, then attack. If your jungler has a weak initiation (Trundle without red buff), you may initiate yourself with any combination of ,  and . Considering the amount of burst and CC Malphite has at his disposal, you should be able to net a few kills before mid game.

Pro-tip: Sudden aggression or a quick visit from your jungler is an easy way to blow your opponent's summoner spells like  or , especially if you've been winning the lane. Post-6 most players are very afraid of the threat of , so try to look menacing or have your jungler stop by for a "gank" and they'll be much more vulnerable to future kills. Your jungler can even come back in 30 seconds or so and you can get a clean gank. Just make sure you don't blow your ultimate prematurely if the enemy is just going to  out of it.

"Help PsiGuard, I'm in a 1v2 lane and the enemies aren't complete noobs. I can't harass them both enough for a kill!"
Not to worry, Malphite is an exceptionally resilient laner, and can often withstand even the most aggressive harassers without being zoned. Here are some tips to help you "win" a 1v2.

To be honest, all you have to do to win a 1v2 lane is survive it. Keeping up your farm and defending your tower, while not giving up any kills will result in the enemy "losing" the lane. Since they have two champions in lane, they will be sharing both experience and farm. If their combined presence does not result in a kill, a tower destruction or your starvation, they'll be in a very bad position by mid-game, while you'll be outleveling them and your jungler will have free reign of the enemy jungle, as well as easy ganks on mid and bot lanes. Whatever you do, do your best to make sure you don't bother your jungler every two minutes to help you hold your lane. Every minute you hold your lane is a minute your jungler has to farm or gank. If your team is at all competent, you'll have a major advantage when laning phase ends.

Laning Opponents and Aggression

I've added this section due to a good question from Wayne3100.

Q: "I do have a question, however: do you think Malphite is simply capable of holding top lane well because he isn't easily harassed or do you actually believe he is also a strong competitive pick for solo top? Would he only win a lane against squishy melee characters or also tanky champions like Irelia and Renekton (are there any champions he specifically counters and beats 9 times out of 10 in lane)? And finally, is it possible to play agressive with him in lane or would that just fail because Malphite is oom pretty quickly?"
// I think Malphite's resistance to harass contributes greatly to his success in lane. That isn't his only attribute however.

deals a great deal of damage by about level 3, and it's quite long range and gives you a speed boost while your enemy is slowed. This makes it difficult for enemies to execute aggressive harrass combos or return your Q with anything close range.

is an extremely valuable ultimate when your jungler ganks top. If your jungler has red buff or any CC, it's very easy to pick up a kill. Malphite is also a very strong tower diver, able to tank successive tower hits at early levels, and can tank a tower for a good 15 seconds easily by late game with very little health lost. This makes jungle ganks viable on a tower-hugger.

Is he only good against melee? Well, the short answer is "no," he can keep up with most champions in lane. I've soloed s quite effectively despite their range. Your Quints of Swiftness will allow you to dodge and retreat out of range at a moment's notice, and your Q is a pain in the ass for squishies with no sustain. I would say that my toughest enemy to face would be champions with their own defensive abilities or a high level of sustain, like or . If they can withstand successive Qs easily, you will have trouble harassing effectively. That said, don't worry if you can't whittle them down to low health, just farm and soak up XP because Malphite scales really well into late game.

I've been thinking about adding a large section with details about various champions you'll often face in top lane, with some tips on how to avoid their abilities and counter their playstyle. It's quite an ambitious undertaking, so I'm not sure if I'll have the time at the moment. Just wanted you to know I have thought about some of these things.

There's no specific champion that Malphite dominates, but AD and AS based champions who aren't good at taking harass are good targets. I've had success against champions like , (if played mediocre), , , , etc. Basically champions without good sustain or a defense mechanism are easy pickings if they aren't played incredibly well.

It's possible to be "aggressive" in lane with Malphite, but that basically means a liberal use of Q, E whenever they challenge you and zone them from last-hitting. Generally I play Malphite a little more passively, allowing my opponent to push close to my tower so I can make good use of my passive (it's hard to refresh the shield when you are trying to zone). This position also leaves the enemy vulnerable to a gank, and they are relatively easy to harass when they're that close to your turret. I usually just wear down their health until I get a gank, they b, or I can just ult-slam-Q them to death. It's possible to use more aggressive positioning, but it doesn't suit Malphite as well as other champions like Renekton.

I hope that answers your question.

Team fights

Team fights are fairly simple as Malphite. When the enemy overextends or groups up, initiate with , activate  and use . Target the most vulnerable champion, preferably the ranged DPS and use  to slow them. By this point, the enemy team will probably be panicking and hopefully blown a few important spells on you. While your  is busy whittling down their health and you're smacking everyone in sight while tanking a lot of damage, your team will rush in, nuke their carry and pick off the enemy team while they're in disarray. In a long team fight, try to protect your carries by blocking CC and skillshots, while disabling the AS of their AD carries (melee and ranged).

If you're team is victorious use  to slow down any fleeing champions for your team to finish off.  in for a last hit if it's appropriate. Your team can then choose to push, dragon, baron, take buffs, or recall to base and shop. Team fights near the enemy tower usually call for a push, while a victory in the jungle may leave dragon or baron unguarded.

In the event your team is losing the fight, ping the retreat and slow down dangerous champions with . You can use  to escape if necessary, but make sure you don't leave behind your carries if you can still help them. If you haven't used your ultimate, USE IT if it will help your carries escape, even if it means dashing back into the fray. The death of a tank is always worth the survival of a carry, just make sure you don't suicide if you don't need to.

Jungling

Since this guide is designed to teach you how to play Malphite in solo top lane, I won't be going super in-depth in this section. Since Malphite is a very nice jungler, use the second build and this quick guide to help you get started.
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RUNES

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These are fairly standard runes for many junglers. will help you take out the creep camps, will keep your health up (and Malphite loves armor anyway), and the extra 2 will give you more health and a tougher passive. is good for later game fights, but is also nice if you're looking for some CDR.
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MASTERIES

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The additional utility masteries are designed to make good use of for longer buffs. Since is unavailable if you get 2 points in , just get to and put the rest into more utility. and are going to be very nice to have, especially once you start handing off blue buffs.
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ABILITY SEQUENCE
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

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Prioritize your ultimate first, like always. is the focus of jungle Malphite, since it's your best tool for quickly clearing minion camps and you don't have to rely on to keep your would-be lane opponent harassed. Pick up a point in in order to gank, and max LAST! You don't need to max second because a level 5 is more than enough for clearing the jungle. still shines best late game because it increases Malphite's armor and attack damage by a percentage.
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ITEM SEQUENCE

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Start with a and 5 s. are really nice for jungling (you have too) if you can get them, though are usually still the better option. Get your gold items and continue the rest of the build normally. The only difference is that you get before . You don't need the sustain like you do in laning, and you'll have blue buff early game for mana regen. You can start passing off blue buff to your AP carry after your if you like.
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Jungle Route

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Before I give you the route, there is one IMPORTANT thing to do while jungling Malphite. Before every monster camp, WAIT FOR TO RECHARGE before attacking. If you do not do this your passive will be wasted and your health will be a lot lower after your route, if you can finish it at all. You'll know your passive has refreshed if you see the end of your health bar as a silver color.

You may recognize the following as the traditional Aggressive Jungle Route from blue golem to double golems. I encourage you to read this section anyway, so you know how to use Malphite's abilities to jungle effectively.

Start at the Blue Golem, hopefully with a leash from an allied champion. Use Ground Slam once you've engaged him then just autoattack him to death. DO NOT use a Health Potion until he has BROKEN your Granite Shield and dealt some damage to your health. If your team helps you take blue, you may not even need to use the potion at all. Use Smite to last-hit the golem so the enemy jungler can't steal it.
Move on to wolves, using Brutal Strikes BEFORE Ground Slam so your armor is increased for the damage bonus. Use a Health Potion to regen any damage you take.
Go to wraiths, using the same technique.
Head to the Red Lizard. Use the same technique as before, remembering to activate Brutal Strikes before Ground Slam, use a Health Potion when your Granite Shield breaks, and last-hit it with Smite. If for some reason your Smite will not be ready, go to double golems before red to give it some time to cool down.
Kill the double golems. Use a Health Potion to keep your health up if you want to gank soon.

You some options now. Since you took the aggressive route and you have double buffs, look for an opportunity to gank mid or the nearest side lane. You could poke around the enemy jungle if you think you can steal a creep camp or a buff, or even kill the jungler if you know he'll be weak at the end of his route. If you can neither counter-jungle nor gank, simply recall to base. I usually buy and/or a (later turned into ) at this point. If the enemy team has little CC to worry about, it's easy to upgrade your boots and cloth armor to immediately. Getting a at this point is also a good idea.
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For quick-reference, here is a quick map of the route. Simply mirror it if you're on the purple side.
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Need to see the route in action? Check out this video from Stonewall008.
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miércoles, 28 de septiembre de 2011