Malphite is a straightforward and beginner-friendly champion for top lane, jungle, and support. His kit is fairly direct as his existence is most notable for his ultimate, the Unstoppable Force.
This game-changing ultimate is capable of dictating results of teamfights- all for a press of a single button.
He can be built into both an AP glass cannon whose whole burst is enough to make your health bar disappear, or a tank which can render the role of an ADC obsolete.
This ult-bot of a champion would always give me a play worth highlighting at the end of every match.
Here is a list of his best builds in different roles.
5. AP Jungle Malphite
Jungle Malphite is a pick you don’t often see in high elo. Because the jungle meta prioritizes fast clear of jungle camps for a more efficient pathing and rotation, this is the case. This is something that Jungle Malphite lacks in the early game, prior to level 6.
It might get easier at level 3 when he gets all of his skills and upgrades his smite. What lacks in this spike however is ganking impact. He doesn’t have much to offer apart from his Seismic Shard to slow the enemy and that’s if he even reaches them.
It will truly start to get better once he reaches level 6 and gets his ultimate. By this stage, his ganks are almost always a sure kill because of the crowd control and damage it brings.
For the rest of the game, his ultimate would be something that’s always feared. As a jungler, this allows him to exert pressure around objectives, which is a vital component to have.
Most champion information sites including Mobalytics, op.gg, and champion.gg recommend an AP build more than a tank build. This is because Malphite won’t be doing much tanking.
Instead, he would gank with the element of stealth, and surprise the enemy with the Unstoppable Force (R) to burst the enemy down.
This build obviously has the jungle item to have the smite upgrade upon killing jungle creeps and objectives. Hailblade is more preferred because of its utility from its slow assisting in ganks. It chooses Night Harvester instead of the mana regenerating mythic items since he has easy access to the blue buff giving him the mana he needs. It’s followed by Cosmic drive and Zhonyas for the Ability Haste, making the downtime of his crucial ult shorter. It’s then followed by AP items to increase his damage output.
For the runes, the one recommended is Domination+Sorcery with Dark Harvest or Electrocute as keystone. The purpose of this is to boost his burst.
What AP Jungle Malphite Excels In:
- Decent camp clear at level 3
- Has a fair objective control due to the pressure exerted by his ultimate
- High chance of a successful gank at level 6 and above due to his impactful ultimate
Top 4: AP Support Malphite
For most, SM is a troll pick because it puts bot lane in a disadvantageous position before Level-6, regardless of how strong an adc is in the early game. This is due to Malphite's lack of usefulness as a support before his ultimate. The best he can do is poke with his Seismic Shard (Q), slow the enemy, while the carry backs up the trade.
However, things would be turned around if bot lane holds well until they reach level-6. By this stage, Malphite can just use his ultimate against his enemies and it's an easy double skill due to its combined large AOE, crowd, control, and burst damage.
This build particularly the Relic Shield since its minion execution assists in lane controls. Spellthief’s edge is also a great choice because of its mana regen, often being used if Malphite is used to poke pre-level 6. It takes Night Harvester as the mythic item due to its passive giving Malphite Ability Haste making the downtime of his crucial ult shorter. After that, AP items are used to boost his damage output.
For the runes, the recommended one is Sorcery + Domination with Arcane Comet as keystone. Scorch is also taken to increase poke damage. Lastly, ultimate hunter is a priority to increase Ability Haste.
What AP Support Malphite Excels In:
- Decent poke in bot lane pre level-6 with his Seismic Shard
- High chance of winning bot lane fights at Level-6 due to his high impact ultimate Unstoppable Force (R) plus his other skills. Combine this with the follow up from the carry.
- Provides a good setup for the team for the entire duration of the game.
Top 3: Magic Pen AP Mid Malphite
Middle Malphite surprisingly has a good win rate at 51.5% according to op.gg and champion.gg. However, he is a very niche pick. He loses hard to matchups that can abuse him early on. Once he gets his full combo, his burst is easy to pull off.
This build variance has Luden’s Echo as its mythic item since Lost Chapter helps with his mana problems in the early game. Moreover, it also utilizes its passive being magic penetration to increase his burst potential against the squishies in the early game. This makes him a terrifying glass cannon.
The rune combination is Sorcery+Inspiration with Arcane Comet as keystone. Tonic and Biscuit are taken to alleviate his mana problems in the early laning phase.
What Mid Magic Pen AP Mid Malphite Excels In:
- Bursting down squishy targets with full combo
- Peeling for the entire team if Unstoppable force is used to initiate
- His ultimate has short down time
- Overall reliable high damage
[TIED] Co-Top 1s: Sunfire Armor Malphite Top and Frostfire Armor Top Malphite
Malphite is mostly found in the top lane. Because of its length, the top lane is usually about lane control. It's commonly referred to as a "island" since it's mostly isolated because the priority is the easily gankable mid lane, and bot lane where the dragon is vital.
As a result, top lane is all about endurance and survival. Malphite excels at the latter because he has tankiness built into his kit, particularly in terms of how he scales with armor. He fares well against AD-scaling champions as a result of this, and these are typical champions you see in top lane.
Because his passive, Thunderclap (W), and Grand Slam (E) all scale with armor, it's only logical to build him that way. Since not only does it give you armor for your overall tankiness, it also increases your damage on the aforementioned skills.
The co-top builds of this list are variations of his builds in Top lane, particularly in his mythic items. The core items include Thornmail for maximum armor, and Randuins and Frozen Heart for combined Ability Haste and more armor (since we can’t get enough of that).
Both take Sorcery+Inspiration as runes with Arcane Comet being the keystone. This is to spam his Seismic Shard as constant poke in top lane while constantly regenerating mana through potions (from Biscuit and Tonic).The rest of course is flex.
The debate that comes in then is about which mythic item to pick, as it is perhaps the most significant item in a champion's build. It would be a choice between ice and fire.
Sunfire Armor Malphite Top
Flametouch: Your basic attacks explode around you at maximum stacks, burning adjacent enemies for 3 seconds for your current Immolate damage.
Mythic Passive: Grants other items 5% slow-resist and tenacity.
What Sunfire Armor Malphite Top Excels In:
- Tankiness and armor Malphite needs to hold against carries.
- Higher damage from Sunfire compared to Frostfire
- Ability Haste so that the ult has lesser downtime
Frostfire Armor Top Malphite
The ice counterpart, it immolates nearby enemies with its freezing aura. It also gives the same tank stats necessary plus Ability Haste.
Snowbind: Basic hits create a frost field with a radius of 250 units that slows foes for 1.5 seconds, scaling with HP.
Mythic Passive: Grants other Legendary items with 100 bonus health and 6% increased size.
What Frostfire Armor Malphite Top Excels In:
- Tankiness and armor Malphite needs to hold against carries.
- Utility (Slow) from Frostfire
- Increased tankiness from bonus health
- Increased size for higher aoe for Immolate
