Malzahar changes: New guide and what’s different in 7.11

Malzahar has had a strange go of things since his season 6 re-work. For a minute there, he was a terror in the mid lane. Then he offered a strong presence in the jungle. Now, he is most often seen making AD Carrys sad in the bot lane.

The redesign turned Malz into a far more interesting version of his former self. That being said, his W, Void Swarm, has felt a little off for over a year. With 7.11, the goal is to make Malzahar a viable mid laner again and rework Void Swarm to make it less cheesy. By trading some power on his W, Malz is getting buffs everywhere else.

Passive - Void Shift

Completely unchanged.

Q - Call of the Void (Max second)

In order to make things easier for the purple guy, the cast time of Call of the Void is being lowered. However, there is now a slight post-cast delay before the ability itself does damage. All in all, less annoying to use as Malz and easier to respond to as the enemy. The AP ratio for Call of the Void is also going up ever so slightly.

(Updated) W - Void Swarm (Max third)

Void Swarm is changing significantly. First, the mana cost is going up over the course of the game, rather than remaining at a flat 40. The cast range is also being completely destroyed, going from 450 all the way down to 150. The ability itself is losing the timer-based charge system as well as that creepy thing where the voidlings would multiply off of each other.

Now, Malzahar will gain a stack of Gather Swarm whenever he casts another ability in his kit. He can hold up to two stacks at once. When Malzahar activates Void Swarm, he will spawn at least one voidling, regardless of stacks. However, Malzahar will also spend any Gather Swarm stacks that he currently has available to summon an additional voidling, allowing for a grand total of three voidlings per cast of Void Swarm. Because of this change, Void Swarm is now on a eight second cooldown.

E - Malefic Visions (Max first)

Malefic Visions is seeing a very small increase to its AP ratio.

R - Nether Grasp (Level when available)

Nether Grasp is getting a weird buff. The pool that is created under the target’s feet is actually being nerfed, doing far less percent of health than it was doing before. However, Nether Grasp now also does flat damage to the target being held in place. This beam damage scales off of AP.

The Build

Malzahar is going to get a little more spam-y with his abilities. So you want to make sure that you get some mana on him early and up his AP so that he can take advantage of the buffed ratios.

These are great starter items on Malz:

• Doran’s Ring
• Biscuits

This is a great build on Malz:

• Rod of Ages
• Liandry’s Torment
• Zhonya’s Hourglass
• Void Staff
• Banshee’s Veil
• Sorcerer’s Shoes