Malphite guide: build, runes, matchups and mistakes to avoid

At a glance

Runes

Spells

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Build

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Skills

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Malphite in figures

Games in top lane

27,18770.6% of its games

Win rate

51.2%

Pick rate

≈ 10.2%

Ban rate

≈ 16.9%

The figures come from 378,251 ranked solo games on EUW (patches 16.18 to 16.21, Riot’s official API, up to 24 October 2026): the same sample as Gankademy’s champion pages. “≈”: a figure the app gives as indicative.

Strengths and weaknesses

When Malphite is strongest

The build that wins most

A build, here, is the order of the first three finished items. Out of the 4,297 Malphite games in top lane where they are known, the three most-played paths:

Build	Items	Played	Win rate
Armour	››	10%	≈ 56.1%
Magic resist	››	6%	≈ 54.4%
Full AP	››	6%	≈ 52.2%

Sunfire Aegis then Thornmail open the two most-played builds, but Malphite’s builds are spread: the first covers only 10% of games. Ending with Frozen Heart wins a little more often than with Kaenic Rookern; the full-AP build wins least of the three.

With build 1, the game most often starts with Doran’s Ring + 2 × Health Potion, and the boots are Plated Steelcaps (93% of games).

Depending on the game

What build 1’s players buy next (5% of its games or more):

Item	Bought	Why
Kaenic Rookern	21%	vs magic damage
Jak’Sho, The Protean	18%	vs magic damage
Randuin’s Omen	11%	vs physical damage

Skill order

Level by level, the most-played order in top lane: 37% of the 3,001 games where Malphite reaches level 18.

Q	1			4	5		7		9
W			3											14	15		17	18
E		2						8		10		12	13
R						6					11					16

Runes and summoner spells

The most-played rune pages of Malphite in top lane, by keystone and trees:

Page	Games	Win rate
Arcane CometSorcery + Resolve	16,616	50.7%
Grasp of the UndyingResolve + Sorcery	6,155	52.6%
Arcane CometSorcery + Inspiration	2,814	51.8%
Arcane CometSorcery + Domination	586	53.6%

Arcane Comet with Resolve is the most-played page, but Grasp of the Undying wins almost two points more (52.6% against 50.7%), on 6,155 games. If you keep Arcane Comet, Inspiration or Domination as the secondary tree do better than Resolve.

Arcane Comet, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, Scorch, Overgrowth, Second Wind

Summoner spells: Flash + Teleport in 75% of games.

Matchups: the easiest and the hardest

Malphite’s win rate against each opponent in the same role, against the usual 51.2%: the gap in points, from 200 games.

Easiest against

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Gap
Vayne	211	64.9%	+13.7
Riven	243	59.3%	+8.0
Gnar	600	59.0%	+7.8
Ambessa	258	≈ 57.4%	+6.2

Hardest against

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Gap
Sylas	642	43.8%	−7.4
Nasus	616	43.8%	−7.4
Mordekaiser	1,169	45.2%	−6.0
Yorick	398	45.2%	−6.0

Armour does little against magic damage: Sylas, who also steals Malphite’s ultimate, and Mordekaiser, whose duel he can’t escape, are among his hardest lanes — buy magic resist early and poke with your shard rather than trading up close. Nasus lowers your armour with his spirit fire and outscales you: poke him whenever he walks up to stack. Vayne, Riven, Gnar and Ambessa fight with their attacks: your ground slam slows their attacks and your armour soaks their hits — trade often.

Matchup sheet

The 12 most frequent opponents in top lane. The difficulty is the app’s: the gap with the usual 51.2%, and whether it holds.

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Difficulty
Teemo	1,388	50.3%	Even
Yone	1,350	51.3%	Even
Mordekaiser	1,169	45.2%	Hard
Sett	1,104	52.1%	Even
Garen	1,102	50.8%	Even
Darius	1,033	52.6%	Even
Dr. Mundo	747	≈ 47.0%	Hard
Tryndamere	718	56.8%	Easy
Fiora	708	54.2%	Even
Gangplank	698	52.6%	Even
Cho’Gath	664	46.1%	Hard
Jax	658	53.6%	Even

Bans to consider

The opponents Malphite beats least often in top lane, among those met at least 300 times:

Opponent	Win rate	Games
Sylas	43.8%	642
Nasus	43.8%	616
Mordekaiser	45.2%	1,169

The most frequent mistakes

Two habits measured on the 6,830 games with a timeline, then the champion’s own mistakes. These gaps go with losing without proving the cause.

• Dying before 15 minutes. 32% of games have three or more deaths before the 15th minute; they win only 45.2%, against 56.4% when Malphite dies once or less (45% of games). Instead: Malphite has no escape but his ultimate and Flash. Poke with your shard from range, and keep your ultimate as a way out when their jungler shows up.
• Falling behind on farm. At 10 minutes, games with 55 minions or fewer (27%) win 45.2%; those with 72 or more (25%), 57.3%. Instead: take with your shard the minions you are about to miss under your tower, and clear the wave with your ground slam before you back.
• Arcane Comet by default. Arcane Comet · Sorcery + Resolve is taken in 16,616 Malphite games and wins 50.7%; Grasp of the Undying · Resolve + Sorcery wins 52.6%. Instead: Grasp of the Undying, which rewards the short trades of the lane.
• Spending the ultimate on one target. Your ultimate is your team’s engage: wasted on a lane kill or a lone enemy, it leaves your team without one. Instead: aim it at a group of enemies, when your team can follow.
• Stacking armour against mages. Your armour adds to your damage, which tempts you to buy only armour — useless against magic. Instead: against a magic-damage team, take magic resist, such as Kaenic Rookern in the second build.

With Gankademy

These are the figures of Gankademy’s Malphite page: the draft compares your options against your lane opponent and imports your rune page in one click. The draft · The coaches · What it reads.

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