LoL Wild Rift Malphite Build & Guide (Patch 5.0) - Runes, Counters, Items, Ability Analysis

S Tier

Class: Tank

Recommended Lane: Baron

Best Malphite Wild Rift build guide for Season 11 Patch 5.0 of WR. With our Malphite guide you will learn which items to build, runes to select, skill order, who counters Malphite, and how to use abilities properly.

Recommended Builds

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Malphite is a massive living stone with tremendous elemental strength. Malphite is a tank champion with one of the strongest initiation ultimate in Unstoppable Force. He is a popular pick because of his strong team fighting and his unshakable defenses against physical damage.

Malphite Wild Rift Build Recommendation

Here are Item Build Recommendations that works on this champion and which are the best build for Malphite Wild Rift in this patch.

Unbreakable Stone

This is the standard Malphite Wild Rift build which focuses on increasing his armor stat which is his biggest defensive strength. If facing an AP heavy team, some changes should be made because Malphite is not naturally as strong against AP champions.

Sunfire Aegis – Increases your overall damage output just by sticking close to the enemy team thanks to its Flame Touch passive that grants AoE magic damage per second to its wielder that increases over the duration of the fight.
Plated Steelcaps – Provides armor and lowers the damage you receive from auto-attacks. Build Mercury Treads instead if facing AP heavy team compositions or those with lots of crowd controls. Upgrade with the Stoneplate Enchant for its active that grants bonus max HP to survive clashes you initiate or upgrade with the Glorious Enchant which can be used to increase your movement speed for chasing or escaping. It also releases a shockwave upon contact with an enemy champion during its effect which further increases your initiation capabilities. If you are playing on the top lane and your team has difficulty on clashes in the early game, you can opt to buy an early Teleport Enchant so you can always quickly back up your team.
Iceborn Gauntlet – Grants a good amount of mana and armor and the Spellblade passive which increases your damage output as well as slow down enemies around the attacked enemy. Iceborn Gauntlet also grants a good amount of ability haste which is important for Malphite because his ultimate has a long cooldown.
Amaranth’s Twinguard – In-combat durability
Searing Crown – Attacks and damaging abilities burn enemies
Thornmail – Deals back a portion of the enemy’s damage who auto attacks you and it scales with your armor so you’ll deal a good amount of damage against ADCs with this item. It also applies Grievous Wounds to your attackers.

Nuclear Stone

Void Staff [This item has been removed from WR]

This item build is excellent when playing as a mid-lane Malphite AP carry. This item build will make you deal extreme amounts of damage against the enemy team in a short while.

Luden’s Echo – Grants additional magic damage to your abilities. Especially useful for harassing when combined with your 1st, Seismic Shard.
Infinity Orb – Abilities deal bonus damage
Ionian Boots of Lucidity – Increases your ability haste and spell haste as well which reduces your summoner spell cooldowns.
Rabadon’s Deathcap – This item provides the highest AP so your damage output will skyrocket after building this item.
Awakened Soulstealer – Grants additional ultimate haste for every unique takedown. Ultimate haste works just like the ability haste but it only affects your ultimate’s cooldown which is enough because Unstoppable Force has a long cooldown.
Void Staff – Grants the highest amount of magic penetration which raises your damage output against tanks to another level.

Runes for Malphite in Wild Rift

Grasp of the Undying – Easy to proc since you’ll be using Malphite’s 1st, Seismic Shard often so this Keystone Rune’s timer will always be ticking. Once it’s ready, you should take an aggressive stance and deny the enemy their last hits. If they fight, you proc the heal and bonus damage. Aery is a good alternative rune because you’ll harass your enemies non-stop in the laning phase using your 1st, Seismic Shard.
Weakness – Increase the damage received of the enemies you slow or knock-up. Brutal can be a substitute if you are going to play as a mage because it will give you additional damage and penetration.
Second Wind – The bonus HP regeneration and HP refund when you are damaged will make it hard for enemy’s to strategize against both your shield and your regeneration at the same time.
Hunter – Genius – Grants additional ability haste per unique takedown. This is important because your ultimate, Unstoppable Force has a long cooldown.

Spells

In our Malphite Wild Rift Guide, here are the best champion spells that you can equip on him.

Ignite will allow you to finish off enemies who survive your combo because Malphite lacks mobility after using his ultimate.

Flash grants Malphite additional offensive and defensive options. Remember that Flash cannot buffer Unstoppable Force so if you want to do a long-range set-up, do the Flash first because casting your ultimate.

Skill Order

1st, Seismic Shard, is acquired at level one for harassing or last hitting but it is maxed last if going for the tank build. But if you are going to play with the AP build, you’ll want to max this ability first. 2nd, Thunderclap, is maxed first because of its armor bonus so you’ll become tankier fast but it is maxed last when playing with the AP build. 3rd, Ground Slam, is maxed last in either build. Put a point in your ultimate whenever possible.

Abilities

Granite Shield

Passive

Shield 65 damage (10% maximum HP) after not taking damage for 8s.

Seismic Shard

Active

Launches a shard that deals 70 magic damage (70 + 50% AP), slowing the target by 15%, and hasting Malphite by 15% for 3s.

Thunderclap

Passive | Active

Passive: Gains 7 Armor (15% Armor).

Active : For the next 6 seconds, attacks deal 15 physical damage (10 + 20% AP + 10% Armor) in a cone. The first attack is empowered to deal 39 bonus physical damaage (30 + 40% AP + 20% Armor) to the target.

Ground Slam

Active

Slams the ground, dealing 66 magic damage (50 + 50% AP + 35% Armor) to nearby enemies and reducing their attack speed by 30% for 3s.

Unstoppable Force

Active

Charges to the target area, dealing 200 magic damage (200 + 90% AP) and knocking up nearby enemies for 2s.

Abilities Analysis

Innate: Granite Shield

Malphite passively gains a shield based on his max HP after a short while away from battle.

Take advantage of his passive by waiting for the shield to return before engaging in a trade against. Repeat over the course of the early game to gain an HP advantage over the enemy before reaching level 5 so you’ll have a big advantage once you have an ultimate so you can decide if you want to go on an all-in to kill your enemy laner.

Q | 1st: Seismic Shard

Seismic Shard is a single target spell that deals magic damage and slows the enemy and hastens Malphite for the same amount.

This ability is great for poking in the early game as it is unavoidable once cast.

In the later stages of the game, it is best to use it against the enemy’s ADC or bruiser so you can kite them out or kill them outright.

W | 2nd: Thunderclap

Thunderclap is the core ability of Malphite’s defense because it passively grants bonus armor.

Its active component grants bonus damage, more on the first attack, and makes your auto attack deal damage in a small conal area.

Thunderclap is also an auto-attack reset so if you are in melee range of an opponent, attack once then activate this ability to land another attack in quick succession.

This ability works against towers and you can clear the minions under the tower quickly as well by adjusting your attacks towards the turret to hit the minions as well while Thunderclap is active.

E | 3rd: Ground Slam

Ground Slam is an AoE ability that slows down the attack speed of affected enemies at the same time.

Use this ability to impair the damage output of their ADC especially after using your ultimate, Unstoppable Force. If you are going to do this, wait until the very last second the knock-up ends so you’ll make full use of the debuff.

Ground Slam’s damage scales with your armor so its damage increases even if you are building as a pure tank. Due to this, leveling up your 2nd, Thunderclap, will also help with Ground Slam’s damage.

R | Ultimate: Unstoppable Force

Unstoppable Force is a near-instant dash that damages and knocks up all enemies around the target area. Like its name, this ability cannot be stopped.

Hitting all five champions of the enemy team is the ideal scenario but it is a rare sight because as you rank up, players will try to avoid sticking together so they won’t be knocked up by Unstoppable force.

Because of this, hitting two or more champions is usually enough just make sure that you hit the enemy’s ADC or priority target.

You can use Unstoppable Force to move over walls which is especially useful when trying to contest Drakes or Baron.

Malphite Combos:

Burst Damage Combo: 1st + 2nd + Ult + 3rd (Quickly burst down a single target. )

High Utility Combo: Ult + AA + 3rd + AA + 2nd + 1st (Deal continuous damage and makes full use of your debuffs.)

Malphite Early Game Guide

Malphite in the early game can easily create an unfair advantage against the enemy champion he is laning against using the harass from his 1st, Seismic Shard, and innate tankiness from his passive, Granite Shield and 2nd, Thunderclap.

Patiently lower your opponent’s HP so you can kill them with an all-in once you acquire your ultimate, Unstoppable Force.

If the enemy fights back, use 2nd, Thunderclap, and 3rd, Ground Slam to deal some damage then use 1st, Seismic Shard to disengage with the movement speed slow on them and buff on yours once you have used your abilities.

Stay behind minion lines as you wait for your passive to refresh then play aggressively again.

Malphite Late Game Guide

In mid to late game fights, Malphite has one job. Land his ultimate on as many enemy champions as possible. If you landed on three or more champions, congratulations, you have turned the tide of battle into your team’s favor.

After using your ultimate, focus on the enemy’s ADC so you can slow their attack speed using your 3rd, Ground Slam, and their movement speed using 1st, Seismic Shard.

Synergies

For our Malphite Wild Rift Guide, we highly recommend using him with the following champions as they synergize well with him.

Yasuo‘s Last Breathe is an extremely strong follow-up to Malphite’s Unstoppable Force because it extends the duration of the knock-up which leaves no room for the enemy to counter attack your initiation.

Diana‘s Moonfall is another ultimate that is a strong follow-up to Malphite’s Unstoppable Force as the long knock-up duration is enough to fully charge Diana’s ultimate.

All Malphite Wild Rift Counter Champions

In this section, we’ll specifically show champions that can easily counter Malphite in Wild Rift.

Gragas is a tough matchup for Malphite because he deals magic damage, he can toughen up himself and heal himself. And he can mess up your initiation because his ultimate is a good counter initiation ability that works by damaging and scattering your team.

Janna is another hard counter to engage champions. If you fail to include Janna in your ultimate range, she’ll nullify your initiation.

Pros & Cons About Malphite

Here are some pros and cons if you are playing with Malphite in Wild Rift.

Pros

Malphite has one of the strongest initiation abilities in the game. It is near instant and reacting to it is a tough task. One ultimate is enough to win the game when landed in the right place and time.
Malphite has one of the highest armor in Wild Rift and it makes him extremely strong as a tank and peeler for his team.
He has wide range of offensive utility with the knock up and slow and he has defensive utility in his attack speed reduction debuff.

Cons

Malphite has no innate defenses against AP champions which makes him vulnerable against them.
Malphite has limited pressure when his ultimate is on cooldown and it is a long cooldown. If you miss your ultimate, your contribution to the team drops significantly.

FAQ's About Malphite in Wild Rift

How good is Malphite in Wild Rift?

Malphite is an (Tier S) champion. He is a great pick on a team fighting composition and a safe counter to AD heavy teams thanks to his passive armor buffs.

What role / lane should I play with Malphite in Wild Rift?

Malphite is traditionally played as a Baron laner who hard counters AD champions like Fiora and Camille. He can also be played in the middle lane as a team fighting-oriented AP/tank hybrid. Some like to play him as a support but there are far better supports compared to him.

What abilities do I level up with Malphite?

What items should I build with Malphite?

Malphite’s core items are Sunfire Aegis and Iceborn Gauntlet when playing as a tank. Both of these items provide balanced amounts of damage and utility. When played as an AP carry, Luden’s Echo and Rabadon’s Deathcap grants the highest amount of burst damage possible.

What Runes should I use when playing as Malphite?

Grasp of the Undying offers bonus damage, healing, and bonus HP on attacks while Aery grants bonus damage to his 1st, Seismic Shard pokes. His other runes are Weakness, Backbone, and Hunter – Genius.