Counterplay
Patch 26.16SketchCounter Malzahar
The opponents who give Malzahar trouble, and how to handle each one.
Where these numbers come from
They are pulled from the mode's own files for patch 26.16, the one currently live. The source is community-run rather than an official Riot API, and the game shifts with community votes, so a gap with your own game is always possible.
Before his ultimate you own him: his spells are expensive, he doesn't clear the wave, and Malefic Visions pushes him off his own minions. Cash that in, shove non stop and take the tower. Afterwards he silences you on arrival and your whole sequence evaporates. Never walk forward for a solo Nether Grasp again: let him jump on you, eat the silence, then suppress him once a teammate is already on the way. An item that strips crowd control off you is worth more here than a third power item.
Before his ultimate you own him: his spells are expensive, he doesn't clear the wave, and Malefic Visions pushes him off his own minions. Cash that in, shove non stop and take the tower. Afterwards he silences you on arrival and your whole sequence evaporates. Never walk forward for a solo Nether Grasp again: let him jump on you, eat the silence, then suppress him once a teammate is already on the way. An item that strips crowd control off you is worth more here than a third power item.
She sidesteps anything with travel time and outranges you doing it. Forget Call of the Void as poke: hold it for the moment she dashes in, because a silence caught mid leap kills the rest of her combo. Clear waves with Visions and refuse the duel until your ultimate. After that there's one rule, never suppress her at full health, she gives it back to you as damage. Chip her first, then click once she's spent her dashes coming to get you.
She sidesteps anything with travel time and outranges you doing it. Forget Call of the Void as poke: hold it for the moment she dashes in, because a silence caught mid leap kills the rest of her combo. Clear waves with Visions and refuse the duel until your ultimate. After that there's one rule, never suppress her at full health, she gives it back to you as damage. Chip her first, then click once she's spent her dashes coming to get you.
A wave clear race you both win, decided by positioning mistakes. Her egg steals your kills: suppress her without the means to kill her a second time and you simply gave away your ultimate for nothing. Save Nether Grasp for after she hatches, when she has nothing left. Keep moving so you never stand in the line of her stun, and drop your silence the instant she raises the wall, because that is the moment she's most exposed.
A wave clear race you both win, decided by positioning mistakes. Her egg steals your kills: suppress her without the means to kill her a second time and you simply gave away your ultimate for nothing. Save Nether Grasp for after she hatches, when she has nothing left. Keep moving so you never stand in the line of her stun, and drop your silence the instant she raises the wall, because that is the moment she's most exposed.