Malphite might be rock solid, but this League Of Legends tank has finally started rolling again. For the last few seasons, Malphite has been a D-tier top laner, outclassed by nearly everything in the game. Now he’s finally starting to build up some momentum. As of patch 7.23, Mecha Malph has a nearly 53 percent win rate, according to OP.GG and shows no signs of slowing down. Why has Malphite, the champion whose kit has barely changed since League was in beta, suddenly become one of the strongest champions in the game?
Malphite has always been my favorite champion in League Of Legends . With his spells that require no aim, easy wave clear and a semi-depressed demeanor, I fell in love with the rock god almost immediately. For most of seasons five and six, I was a top lane main who stood by Malphite even when others called him trash tier. It didn’t matter that my teammates would flame me in champion select asking me “to pick a champion that didnt suck,” I stuck with my granite boy. I would laugh as AD opponents like Irelia or Jax would duel me, or rub my hands in evil glee when I was up against a Tryndamere. Without Malphite, there’s no way I would have hit Gold for the first time, and for that I will always be indebted to him.
Unfortunately, my loyalty isn’t as important as my win rate, and I started to play the champion less and less. His mana costs were too high to trade, he would constantly get pushed under tower by bruisers like Darius and Illaoi. I just wasn’t having any fun with Malph. Once I discovered Sion after his rework, who could scream at minions and actually win lane, I retired my Shamrock Malphite skin and relegated him to the bottom of my champion pool.
Gbay99, another relic of League Of Legends’ past, just released a video detailing what’s going on with Malphite. Patch 7.22 brought the Preseason, the crazy time of year where Riot Games implements massive changes to force players to relearn a bunch of in-game mechanics. Riot reworked Runes and Masteries into the Runes Reforged, which transformed Malphite from a chunk of granite into a masterpiece work of art.
Malph’s biggest problems were his use of mana and shitty laning phase. The Grasp Of The Undying Keystone mastery gives him some sustain, allowing him to heal up and actually win trades. Iron Skin and Overgrowth give him more armor and health, attributes that scale incredibly well on his champion abilities, like Ground Slam, and his shield passive. To help his trading potential, you can use Arcane Comet, which lands nearly every time thanks to Seismic Shard’s slow, alongside Scorch and Manaflow Band. My favorite buff to my buddy has to be the Transcendence mastery, which permanently increases his ultimate cooldown by upwards of 15 percent, allowing him to have his game-changing Unstoppable Charge up every 45 seconds at max rank.
Amazingly, one patch turned Malphite from a troll pick into one of the strongest champions in the top lane. It just goes to show you that you should never make fun of the ugly, awkward kid in high school, you never know who they’ll grow up to be. Here’s hoping king Malphite has a long and prosperous reign.
