Malphite has remained a formidable pick in the top lane meta for seasons thanks to his versatile tank builds, teamfight disruption ultimate and powerful lane bullying potential. When mastered, he can hard counter auto-attack reliant champions while also being an asset in engage and pick compositions.
However, Malphite struggles into AP matchups and his lack of sustained damage makes him relatively one-dimensional. With the right runes, mythic items and gameplay adjustments though, Malphite can smash the top lane and transition into an unkillable teamfight monster.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
- Strong trading and harass with Q poke in lane
- Powerful all-in potential post-6
- Excellent sustain with passive shield
- Scales very well due to high base armor
- Game-changing AOE engage ultimate
- Decent split push threat
Weaknesses:
- Very mana hungry
- Vulnerable to magic damage
- Low damage outside ultimate ability
- Can be kited in longer fights
- Falls off if too behind
Understanding Malphite‘s distinct strengths and limitations is key to success. While his lane poke, all-ins and team fight ultimate can decimate the right opponents, he will flounder into the wrong matchups without adapting your rune choices and in-game decisions accordingly.
Best Runes and Builds
Malphite‘s recommended runes optimize his trading patterns in lane while scaling his tankiness into the mid and late game. Here are the best setups:
Primary Tree
- Grasp of the Undying: Gives Malphite sustain in trades alongside extra HP.
- Shield Bash: Adds damage based on his W shield size.
- Conditioning: Magic resist and armor ramping up over time.
- Overgrowth: Get bonus HP as minions die nearby.
Secondary Tree
- Biscuit Delivery: Sustain and mana refresh to survive poke lanes.
- Time Warp Tonic: Instant potion healing and movement speed.
For build order, Malphite generally always wants a Tear first back for addressing his mana costs before going into an armor-stacking mythic. Solid items include:
- Manamune: Tons of AD and mana sustain with Muramana conversion.
- Plated Steelcaps: Reduces incoming attack damage.
- Frozen Heart: Massive armor spike and attack speed slow aura.
- Randuin‘s Omen: Critical strike damage reduction with an added AOE slow.
- Abyssal Mask: Magic resistance and added damage for team.
- Thornmail: Grievous wounds against healing champions.
Strong and Weak Matchups
Malphite dominates auto-attack focused melee champions thanks to his attack speed slow on E and the armor buff from W. Targets like Jax, Irelia, Tryndamere and Yasuo will seriously struggle trading into Malphite post-6.
On the other hand, AP casters can blast through his shield and force extended trades. Teemo, Mordekaiser, Sylas and Kayle in particular out-range Malphite and prevent his engage opportunities.
Here are some key matchup tips:
Good Matchups
- Fiora: Bait her Riposte with fake Qs before engaging. Save ultimate to disrupt her split push.
- Garen: Abuse his lack of gap closer by Q poking and looking for jungle ganks.
- Camille: Engage when her shield is down and dodge outer Q true damage with untargetability.
Bad Matchups
- Kennen: Rush early magic resist and give up CS to avoid endless poke harass.
- Vayne: Don‘t ult into her E condemn post-6 without jungle help. You‘ll get kited to death.
- Gangplank: Play safe, start Doran‘s Shield and outsustain his mana pool before threatening all-ins.
While Malphite can adapt his build and strategy into bad matchups, difficult ranged laners will require early jungle assistance to overcome. Communicate this need with your jungler right from the loading screen.
Gameplay Tips and Combos
Perfectly executing Malphite‘s combo and trading patterns in lane is the key to dominating games. Here are some essential combos and tips:
Trading Combos
- Q Harass: Chuck rocks from max range when the enemy tries to last hit. Use brush to drop minion aggro.
- E > Q > Auto > W Reset > Auto: Malphite‘s core trading pattern in lane. Slows attack speed before slamming Q and using W shield explosion as an auto reset.
All-In Combos
- E > R > Q > E > W > Auto: Standard burst combo, sticking to targets with repeated slows for your team to follow up.
- Flash > R: Use flash to change R trajectory for impossible-to-dodge engages on priority targets.
Gameplay Tips
- Rush Tear into armor items, don‘t finish Manamune until later.
- Use R to engage over walls and objectives like dragon/baron.
- Split push with Ult ready, joining fights anywhere on the map.
- Save R to interrupt key enemy abilities in teamfights like Katarina or Jhin ultimates.
Mastering Malphite requires learning optimal trade timings in lane while having flawless R key accuracy in skirmishes and teamfights. Take every opportunity to start fights on your terms to steamroll the enemy backline.
Final Tips and Summary
If played intelligently, Malphite can be an absolute menace in Season 13 top lane matchups and ranked play. To recap key points:
- Abuse grasp Q poke but conserve mana in losing lanes
- Itemize armor against AD or magic resist against AP threats
- Ult from fog of war into clumped up teams
- Layer CC combos and stick to priority targets
- Play around objectives by forcing uneven fights
While Malphite has obvious counters, his tankiness, disruption potential and pick threat will make you a pivotal player in solo queue compositions. He continues to succeed in higher elo brackets for this very reason as coordinated teams struggle to match his map impact.
Give the Stoneplate colossus a try if you love initiating teamfights and striving to be an unkillable frontline for your carries. And ban any Teemo onetricks looking to ruin your day!