Baron Lane · Wild Rift Guide
Malphite Baron Lane
Malphite Baron Lane Guide
Malphite Baron Lane Wild Rift overview and best build snapshot
Best Build
Quick snapshot of the default setup for this guide.
Boots
Items
Summoner Spells
Spell 1
Flash
Spell 2
Ignite
How to play
Trade when your shield is ready Use your 1st ability to poke, then stay out of combat until your passive shield returns before taking another trade.
Stay healthy for level 5 Your ultimate makes it much easier to set up a kill with your jungler.
Catch damage dealers with your ultimate Wait until your teammates are close enough to follow instead of diving too far ahead.
Guide author
Royal
Royal has reached Rank 1 in EU and NA, and Legend and Sovereign on the Chinese server. Created by Royal with input from high elo and professional players and the WildRiftGuides Discord community.
Rank 1 on this champion? Help improve this guide and receive credit. Contact us on Discord.
Strengths
- Game-deciding engage: his unstoppable ultimate can win a teamfight in one cast.
- Armor scaling makes him brutal against attack-damage teams, with tank items doubling as damage.
- Comfortable, poke-resistant laning thanks to his recharging shield.
Weaknesses
- Without his ultimate he is a slow body with little threat, and everyone knows the cooldown.
- Easily kited, and weak before level 5.
- True damage ignores armor, while percent-health physical or magic damage remains mitigated but still pressures tank health efficiently.
Malphite Baron Lane Wild Rift best build, items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order
ITEM BUILD
Best Wild Rift build for Malphite Baron Lane, including items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order.
STARTING ITEM
Early health, which also grows the shield his passive regenerates, so it is defence twice over.
BOOTS
Armor and health for a lane he wins by being unkillable rather than out-damaging anyone.
CORE BUILD
Its Spellblade triggers on the empowered attack his W (2nd) already gives him, and the icy zone holds enemies where his ultimate can reach.
Build this against healing. The Grievous Wounds applies from your own damage as well as when they attack you, and his E (3rd) is already crippling the attack speed the armor answers.
Build this when the enemy team has a lot of attack speed dependent champions. It stacks with the cripple on his E (3rd).
Build this when the enemy team has two or more AP champions. The move speed also helps him reach the backline his ultimate is aimed at.
Build this when you are fighting in the middle of the enemy team and need both armor and magic resist, which his ultimate commits him to.
SITUATIONAL ITEMS
Build this against one large magic burst when Malphite can choose the engage. The shield preserves his health while he waits for an Unstoppable Force (Ult) angle instead of being poked out first.
Build this when the enemy team has multiple crit champions. Malphite already wants to dive their marksman with Unstoppable Force (Ult), and the armor also strengthens the physical-damage protection built into his kit.
Boot swap against heavy magic damage and crowd control, which lands on him before his ultimate does.
RUNES
KEYSTONE
Permanent health growth, which also grows a passive shield that is a percentage of maximum health.
PRIMARY
His ultimate lands him in the middle of their team, which is when this gives the most.
His shield blocks one hit, and this handles the steady chip that wears him off the wave instead.
He engages into the whole team, and the health is what lets him live past the knockup.
SECONDARY
His trades are mana-hungry early, and a permanent pool increase lets him keep shoving and poking.
SITUATIONAL RUNES
Take this over Overgrowth when crowd control is a bigger threat than long-term health. Its tenacity shortens most disables and grants temporary defenses while immobilized. The shorter disable helps Malphite cast Unstoppable Force (Ult) before poke and lockdown remove his engage window.
Take this over Manaflow Band against teams that require frequent grouped engages. Shorter Unstoppable Force (Ult) and Ground Slam (3rd) cooldowns help Malphite prepare another initiation and keep disrupting attack-focused opponents.
SUMMONER SPELLS
MAIN SPELLS
Flash
Must take. Flash into his ultimate is the single most reliable teamfight opener in the game, and it is why he is picked.
Ignite
Take this for early kill pressure in the solo lane, since one kill is usually enough to start snowballing it. The Grievous Wounds also makes it strong into champions with a lot of healing.
SITUATIONAL SPELLS
Teleport
Take this over Ignite when the lane is beating him. He is a tank who only needs levels and armor, so a free reset is worth more than the kill pressure.
SKILL ORDER
Skill Priority Order
- 11st Ability
Q - 23rd Ability
E - 32nd Ability
W
Malphite Baron Lane Wild Rift matchups and counters
Wild Rift matchup guide for Malphite Baron Lane, covering favorable lanes and difficult counters to prepare for in ranked.
Good Matchups
These champions are favorable matchups for this pick in Wild Rift. You have advantages against them and can play more aggressively.
Tryndamere
Your E (3rd) cuts the attack speed his whole champion runs on, your armor blunts his crits, and your Q (1st) steals the movement speed he chases with.
Jax
Counter Strike (3rd) dodges Malphite's basic attacks but not Seismic Shard (1st), Ground Slam (3rd), or Unstoppable Force (Ult). It still reduces incoming champion area damage by 25%, so Jax takes reduced damage from E (3rd) and R (Ult) while it is active; Ground Slam's (3rd) cripple remains valuable after the dodge ends.
Yasuo
Windwall (2nd) cannot block your slam or your ultimate, and your E (3rd) strips the attack speed his crits depend on. His mobility answers none of it.
Jayce
Most of Jayce's sustained damage is physical, so armor is efficient, but his Mercury Hammer (Ult) transformation adds magic damage and no amount of armor makes careless ranged poke literally harmless. Preserve Granite Shield (Passive) and engage after his acceleration gate (3rd) or knockback is spent.
Fiora
Fiora's Vital damage is percent-maximum-health true damage, so armor does not blunt it. Riposte (2nd) can also block Unstoppable Force's (Ult) damage and knockup even though Malphite has displacement immunity during the dash; bait the parry or engage another target.
Renekton
Renekton's Fury combo is mostly physical, so armor reduces it, but Cull the Meek (1st) heals him; more when it hits champions; so he does have lane sustain. Trade around Granite Shield (Passive) and avoid letting an empowered stun set up his full rotation.
Malphite Counters
These champions counter this pick in Wild Rift and can be difficult matchups. Learn how to play against them or consider banning them.
Darius
Granite Shield (Passive) absorbs Darius's bleed like other damage; the bleed does not bypass shields. The problem is that repeated ticks delay Granite Shield (Passive) from refreshing, while Apprehend (3rd) pulls Malphite back before he can reset the trade.
Garen
The silence interrupts your trade pattern, his regen refunds your poke, and the spin grinds down your small early health pool.
Dr. Mundo
Mundo's regeneration wins long poke wars, and his passive can block Unstoppable Force's (Ult) knockup by consuming the canister effect. Malphite has no other immobilize to remove that passive himself, so coordinate with an ally before spending the ultimate on Mundo.
Shen
Spirit's Refuge (2nd) blocks Malphite's basic attacks, including Thunderclap's (2nd) empowered hit, but it does not block Q (1st) or E (3rd). Shen's taunt forces attacks and prevents spell use during the disable, while Stand United (Ult) can turn a quiet lane into a cross-map numbers advantage.
Sion
Sion's health stacking and shield can outlast Malphite's lane poke, but Decimating Smash (1st) does not out-range Unstoppable Force (Ult). The real threat is Sion's long-range ultimate engage and his ability to keep scaling health through a quiet tank lane.
Malphite Baron Lane Wild Rift game strategy and teamfighting guide
Wild Rift game strategy for Malphite Baron Lane, from early lane control through mid and late game map play to final teamfights.