The Mighty Malphite

The Mighty Malphite

Over the last couple of months we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the play of Malphite, primarily in the top lane and in the jungle. This is a perfect example of the “Flavor of the Month” trend that is predominant in League of Legends. Until his recent minor nerfs, for the longest time he was the same as he ever was, and yet he was generally underplayed. He was a hidden “overpowered” champion that rose dramatically in popularity and is now a common ban in solo queue.

But why? What caused his rise in popularity and the realization of how strong he was? Why is he such a good champion and why is he banned so often? Let’s take a look.

Rock Solid Top Lane

With no puns intended (well, maybe a few), Malphite is a solid pick top lane. In the current meta of a top lane bruiser, and a strong AD Carry late game, Malphite’s abilities and play style make him a great counter to many champions that fill those roles. He’s naturally tanky and with his Granite Shield passive, he can trade very well with most champions.

He also has the ability to build a number of different ways to match up well against his lane opponent, both with his items and his abilities. Against a strong melee bruiser Malphite can stack armor which gives him good defense as well as increasing the damage from his Ground Slam. With his passive he can go in aggressively to trade every time the shield comes up and his opponent simply won’t be able to do enough damage. Against an AP top like Vladimir or Kennen, Malphite can go for items like Doran’s Ring and Abyssal Scepter and max his Seismic Shard. This way he can trade well and still gain some tankiness.

Although Malphite has always been a strong champion, we saw a huge spike in his play after MLG Anaheim. At this time pre-nerfed Jax was incredibly popular and was dominating from the laning phase to late game. In order to counter Jax, CLG.NA and Michael ‘Xhazzard’ Kuhlman (a sub for CLG) starting playing Malphite top lane as a counter pick to the Grandmaster at Arms. For the most part it very successful, and after the tournament there was a dramatic rise in his play in solo queue and in pro play.

 

Why is he so strong?

Ground Slam (E): Although recently reworked some, this still remains a strong ability and makes Malphite valuable throughout the game. It causes a decent amount of damage, scales off 30% of his armor, but most importantly slows the enemies attack speed by 50%. With Malphite’s ultimate, he can easily get to the AD Carry, slow with Seismic Shard and continue to Ground Slam to effectively take him out of the team fight. Malphite is tanky enough to be able to charge in and take damage, especially with Brutal Strikes activated, and deals enough damage that without peels the carry will die. It becomes a tough decision by the enemy team on how to deal with the giant rock.

Unstoppable Force (R): Malphite has one of the best initiates in the game. As stated earlier, this ability lets him charge in on whoever he needs to and can shut them down. His ultimate also has the nice knock-up effect, so any team that likes to group up will all get thrown in the air. It’s a perfect combo of popping Brutal Strikes, Unstoppable Force in, Ground Slam, and then Seismic Shard whoever should be focused.

His ultimate is incredibly strong in team fights, but is also dominant in the laning phase and mid-game. It deals a fair amount of damage, and coupled with Ignite is a quick one-two punch. During the laning phase, Malphite can harass aggressively until he hits six then quickly ult in with ignite and score a kill. In the mid-game, it’s the perfect ability for roaming and ganking other lanes. No one expects the rock flying in from the bushes.

Hard to lose lane: Top lane is definitely the snowball lane, and even a single kill or a small CS advantage can win the lane and then continue to dominant the rest of the match. With Malphite top, it’s harder to lose the lane than many other champions. This is due to the fact that he is tanky, has his strong passive, and with flash and his ultimate he has a number of ways to escape ganks. He also can be strong in mid to late game even when the lane was lost because of his abilities and the role he plays. Sure he won’t be as strong, but he can still provide an initiate and an attack speed debuff regardless of how poor the laning phase went.

Rock Solid Roles: Malphite can be more than just a top lane champion. Although that’s mostly what he’s known for, he is also an excellent jungler with strong ganks. While it may not be competitive in tournament play, AP mid Malphite and support Malphite can be viable in certain situations. Seismic Shard scales very well off ability power and his ultimate benefits as well. His ability to soak up damage and harass well with his Q allows him to fare decently against some typical mid champions. And his Q harass makes him an interesting support player. If played correctly, Malphite can zone the enemy AD carry out of CS, then transition well into a tank build for team fights.

 

For these reasons, as well as many more not listed, make Malphite so strong and such a rock solid pick. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave any comments or questions below.