# Malzahar Counters Who counters Malzahar? Best and worst picks against Malzahar by win rate, plus the lane counters that lead Malzahar in gold at 15 minutes. Ranked solo data by role and rank. Canonical HTML: https://baronbuff.com/champions/malzahar/counters/ Markdown URL: https://baronbuff.com/champions/malzahar/counters.md Language: en ## Breadcrumbs - [Baron Buff](https://baronbuff.com/) - [Champion Tier List](https://baronbuff.com/champions/) - [Malzahar](https://baronbuff.com/champions/malzahar/) ## Page Content [Malzahar guide](https://baronbuff.com/champions/malzahar/) [Play against Malzahar](https://baronbuff.com/champions/malzahar/how-to-play-against/) [Malzahar counters](https://baronbuff.com/champions/malzahar/counters/) Best and worst picks against Malzahar in Mid at Gold+, ranked by win rate and by gold lead at 15 minutes. Swain, Sion and Aurelion Sol beat Malzahar most often. Irelia, Fizz and Twisted Fate win the laning phase against Malzahar by the widest gold margin. ## Best picks against Malzahar Highest win rate versus Malzahar in Mid. - 1 [Swain](https://baronbuff.com/champions/swain/) 229 games 59.8% - 2 [Sion](https://baronbuff.com/champions/sion/) 443 games 59.4% - 3 [Aurelion Sol](https://baronbuff.com/champions/aurelionsol/) 718 games 57.0% - 4 [Galio](https://baronbuff.com/champions/galio/) 632 games 53.3% - 5 [Smolder](https://baronbuff.com/champions/smolder/) 990 games 53.0% - 6 [Gangplank](https://baronbuff.com/champions/gangplank/) 1,286 games 53.0% - 7 [Lissandra](https://baronbuff.com/champions/lissandra/) 913 games 53.0% - 8 [Yone](https://baronbuff.com/champions/yone/) 1,772 games 52.9% - 9 [Locke](https://baronbuff.com/champions/locke/) 1,105 games 52.9% - 10 [Xerath](https://baronbuff.com/champions/xerath/) 1,026 games 52.8% - 11 [Viktor](https://baronbuff.com/champions/viktor/) 1,578 games 52.6% - 12 [Fizz](https://baronbuff.com/champions/fizz/) 1,211 games 52.4% - 13 [Talon](https://baronbuff.com/champions/talon/) 321 games 52.3% - 14 [Kassadin](https://baronbuff.com/champions/kassadin/) 448 games 52.2% - 15 [Syndra](https://baronbuff.com/champions/syndra/) 1,277 games 52.0% ## Worst picks against Malzahar Lowest win rate versus Malzahar in Mid. - 1 [Cassiopeia](https://baronbuff.com/champions/cassiopeia/) 154 games 38.3% - 2 [Lucian](https://baronbuff.com/champions/lucian/) 102 games 39.2% - 3 [Malphite](https://baronbuff.com/champions/malphite/) 124 games 41.1% - 4 [Heimerdinger](https://baronbuff.com/champions/heimerdinger/) 117 games 41.9% - 5 [Zoe](https://baronbuff.com/champions/zoe/) 472 games 43.2% - 6 [LeBlanc](https://baronbuff.com/champions/leblanc/) 1,141 games 43.8% - 7 [Naafiri](https://baronbuff.com/champions/naafiri/) 397 games 43.8% - 8 [Orianna](https://baronbuff.com/champions/orianna/) 535 games 43.9% - 9 [Azir](https://baronbuff.com/champions/azir/) 291 games 44.0% - 10 [Mel](https://baronbuff.com/champions/mel/) 1,191 games 44.1% - 11 [Qiyana](https://baronbuff.com/champions/qiyana/) 440 games 44.1% - 12 [Yasuo](https://baronbuff.com/champions/yasuo/) 1,358 games 44.6% - 13 [Vladimir](https://baronbuff.com/champions/vladimir/) 882 games 44.8% - 14 [Ryze](https://baronbuff.com/champions/ryze/) 449 games 45.2% - 15 [Tristana](https://baronbuff.com/champions/tristana/) 1,197 games 45.8% ## Best lane counters vs Malzahar Largest gold lead over Malzahar at 15 minutes in Mid. - 1 [Irelia](https://baronbuff.com/champions/irelia/) 325 games +862 - 2 [Fizz](https://baronbuff.com/champions/fizz/) 477 games +578 - 3 [Twisted Fate](https://baronbuff.com/champions/twistedfate/) 434 games +442 - 4 [Diana](https://baronbuff.com/champions/diana/) 402 games +433 - 5 [Sion](https://baronbuff.com/champions/sion/) 237 games +410 - 6 [Mel](https://baronbuff.com/champions/mel/) 654 games +332 - 7 [Naafiri](https://baronbuff.com/champions/naafiri/) 236 games +328 - 8 [Zed](https://baronbuff.com/champions/zed/) 551 games +280 - 9 [Ekko](https://baronbuff.com/champions/ekko/) 323 games +232 - 10 [Lissandra](https://baronbuff.com/champions/lissandra/) 330 games +188 - 11 [Akshan](https://baronbuff.com/champions/akshan/) 164 games +188 - 12 [Yone](https://baronbuff.com/champions/yone/) 824 games +172 - 13 [Syndra](https://baronbuff.com/champions/syndra/) 466 games +153 - 14 [Qiyana](https://baronbuff.com/champions/qiyana/) 132 games +137 - 15 [Locke](https://baronbuff.com/champions/locke/) 146 games +124 ## How to play against Malzahar Lane and teamfight rules that hold regardless of your pick. ### In lane and in teamfights - Break his passive before committing CC or a gank. Use light damage first, then trade while the shield is down. - Kill his summons quickly and trade when E is used on the wave. Denying push keeps him from farming safely into priority. - Stand outside Flash-R range when contesting river. Bait the lock-down first, then punish while his team loses the pick threat. - Push waves after he buys mana and look for tempo elsewhere. Freezing too long lets him clear safely and match your movement. - Assign an interrupt or cleanse plan before fights start. His R should lock one target, not decide the whole fight. ## Where Malzahar is weak Exploit these in draft and in lane. - Malzahar's pick threat depends on a channel, so interrupts or cleanse effects can erase his main contribution. - Malzahar has predictable wave-focused damage, making him vulnerable when his passive shield is broken first. ## Malzahar counters: questions ### Who counters Malzahar in Mid? At Gold+, Swain (59.8%), Sion (59.4%) and Aurelion Sol (57.0%) have the highest win rates against Malzahar. ### Who does Malzahar counter? Malzahar wins most often against Cassiopeia (38.3%), Lucian (39.2%) and Malphite (41.1%). ### Who wins lane against Malzahar? By gold lead at 15 minutes, Irelia (+862), Fizz (+578) and Twisted Fate (+442) come out of the laning phase furthest ahead of Malzahar. ### How is the counter list ranked? Best and worst picks use same-lane win rate; lane counters use the average gold difference at 15 minutes between the two laners. Both come from Ranked Solo/Duo at the selected rank with at least 100 games per matchup, and are not adjusted for champion strength. - [Mid Tier List](https://baronbuff.com/champions/mid/) - [Irelia counters](https://baronbuff.com/champions/irelia/counters/) - [Fizz counters](https://baronbuff.com/champions/fizz/counters/) ## Machine-Readable References - [LLM index](https://baronbuff.com/llms.txt) - [Full LLM reference](https://baronbuff.com/llms-full.txt) - [Sitemap](https://baronbuff.com/sitemap.xml)