45 replies to this topic

[SupTang]

Hi,

I was wondering who do you guys think would be good counter to Malzahar in mid. I see Malz picked oftenly in my elo (~1500) and due to the fact that Kassadin is banned in 99% games I was wondering who do you think might be good counter to him. From the champions that I play (ashe, sivir, karthus, anivia, morgana, fiddlestick, soraka amongs others) only soraka (silence) and anivia (egg) comes to my mind however I don't really know how soraka would be in mid (I never played her in mid). I have red that she is very potent mid thanks for spammable Q and+E (silence with no cost) and self heals. Maybe also sivir thanks to her shield but it will have to be timed absolutely perfect to stop his R (stun)

From the champions that I don't own I think LeBlanc might prove herself...not really sure about other champions. What do you think.

Only constructive answers please! Have you been succesfull with any particual champion against Malzahar in mid, how did you do it? Obviously I'm interested in doing well vs good Malzahar players, if they feeded or something like that then save your e-ink.

Thanks!

[Diclonyuus]

Generally any character with a good burst potential is a good counter for Malzahar.

Edited by Diclonyuus, 10 March 2011 - 02:53 PM.

[Boozebear]

Playing Malzahar often in mid, I find it hard to play against a good swain, kennen or leblanc. If you can't kill swian before level 6, and he's decent, you find you can't kill him when he has his ult up. Kennen can harass you well and move away before your silence hits him. Leblanc has a silence of her own, and it's a lot easier than yours.

[peyo]

Diclonyuus, on 10 March 2011 - 02:11 PM, said:

Generally any character with a good burst potential is a good counter for Malphite.

except that he's looking for counters on Malzahar, not Malphite

Dodge his silence (you can start with boots), don't always move back when he casts it, move front as well
Move away when creeps affected with DoT are about to die
When his puppet spawns, let him attack some creeps a bit (so he's pushing even more) and then kill it - you'll get gold.
Outrange him.

Anivia, Karthus and Morgana should have it easy.
Sivir will be fine, since you can block the silence with shield, but she was nerfed a bit.
Ashe and Fiddle can have a hard time.
don't go mid with Soraka :x

[Split4ss]

LeBlanc (Silence, Burst, high range) , Caitlyn (crazy range & harass), Gragas (barrel roll for range, drunken rage -> infinite staying power), Janna (counters everyone??), Morgana (spellvamp, aoe, black shield) and Soraka (infinite staying power) come to my mind.

[Diclonyuus]

peyo, on 10 March 2011 - 02:28 PM, said:

except that he's looking for counters on Malzahar, not Malphite

ocrap, typo


generally I have always succeeded against malzahar with LeBlanc though, I MEANT Malzahar, not Malphite. :X

Edited by Diclonyuus, 10 March 2011 - 02:53 PM.

[1nsomniac]

peyo, on 10 March 2011 - 02:28 PM, said:

Anivia, Karthus and Morgana should have it easy.

Malz is my biggest problem on mid with Morgana actually. I run at him, want to throw my combo of doom and destruction on him, and every single time his f*cked voidling runs into my binding, as if he knew where it was. Maybe i´m just unlucky ... but after that, ofc i get raped by "ima fiiiirin mah lazorz" ...

[peyo]

1nsomniac, on 10 March 2011 - 03:29 PM, said:

Malz is my biggest problem on mid with Morgana actually. I run at him, want to throw my combo of doom and destruction on him, and every single time his f*cked voidling runs into my binding, as if he knew where it was. Maybe i´m just unlucky ... but after that, ofc i get raped by "ima fiiiirin mah lazorz" ...

you can see the counts if you click him, so you can use your Binding when he can't get it And when the DoT is used, the voidling is taunted to it, so won't block him.

Also, your soup should be enough

Edited by peyo, 10 March 2011 - 03:41 PM.

[Terribad]

What about Mord? His lack of escaping power means he'll need to ward mid to not get ganked easily but he shouldn't have troulbe unless he gets caught with his shield down while Malz has void zone under him while ulting.

[Frish]

Stay as close to full HP as possible once he is 6 by grabbing plenty of potions. Get boots soon if you have a problem dodging his Q. Most Malzahars will enter their ultimate by leading with Null Zone (circle on the floor). Be wary of this, as it gives you a split second to react.

Get MR as soon as you can to cut down his overall damage. If you can't get a Negatron Cloak then try to grab a Null-Magic Mantle at the very least. You could even get an Elixir of Fortitude for extra HP in a pinch.

[fpol]

I find that malz is not that much harder to lane against than any other character. His spells are preatty easy to avoid, and only really annoying thing is his ult. So after he hits lvl 6 I tend to stay out of his range and not to be low health. I mostly play mid with ashe, and try to harras him early, and either kill him, or at least make him go b before lvl 6.

All the champions with silence and spellshield are obvious choice so all the champions in earlier posts are good. I would maybe add xin, if you can afford to give him mid, he is tough enough to survive malz ult, and can harras strong and early.

[shijimah]

Morgana, she may not kill him but, she'll farm right in his face and there's nothing he can do about it except hang out at his turret.

[SupTang]

The problem with Morgana vs Malzahar is that once Malz hits 6 he will immediately flash, ult, ignite you and if you catched few dots before you might be say at 3/4 HP - but you will still die. You can't really dodge his dot's because of high range of spell, and in my last game Malz was playing very smart. When he was nearing me I was popping my shield on thinking that he will dot me, but he wasn't doing that. Instead he waited for sheild to dissapear and dotted me after. I found myself low on mana later. Healing from tormented soil was not enough neither. I killed him immediately when I came back to the lane, but he ganked my teammates and got fed later anyways (yes, I called mia).

I guess just before he turnes lvl 6 you should back and get some MR.

[The Hound]

Terribad, on 10 March 2011 - 03:43 PM, said:

What about Mord? His lack of escaping power means he'll need to ward mid to not get ganked easily but he shouldn't have troulbe unless he gets caught with his shield down while Malz has void zone under him while ulting.

Morde will generally start with Doran's Shield so he's best suited against AD champions earlier on. Malzahar isn't a "bad matchup" for him or anything, and he can hold his own, but he's certainly not an ideal counter.

[Daeron]

Morgana is able to handle pretty much anyone in middle lane. She can stay on full health via her passive, can push the waves back with her Soil, can negate any of his spells with Black Shield.

SupTang, on 10 March 2011 - 03:56 PM, said:

The problem with Morgana vs Malzahar is that once Malz hits 6 he will immediately flash, ult, ignite you and if you catched few dots before you might be say at 3/4 HP - but you will still die. You can't really dodge his dot's because of high range of spell, and in my last game Malz was playing very smart. When he was nearing me I was popping my shield on thinking that he will dot me, but he wasn't doing that. Instead he waited for sheild to dissapear and dotted me after. I found myself low on mana later. Healing from tormented soil was not enough neither. I killed him immediately when I came back to the lane, but he ganked my teammates and got fed later anyways (yes, I called mia).

This only means that you played significantly worse than him. Morgana has all the tools to handle the lane without any problems.

Edited by Daeron, 10 March 2011 - 04:20 PM.