On Malzahar, we always skill the abilities in the same order as it is displayed to you. We maximize E first because that’s our main ability that we use to clear waves and deal damage. We can always renew this DOT (damage over time) with our Q and Ult.

Secondly, we maximize the Q. The silencing gets longer with every point in the ability and is incredibly annoying for the opponent. Anyone who has ever played against Malzahar knows how stressful it is to be hit by the Q. It is difficult to dodge and easy to hit. It also deals high damage and has a low cooldown.

I’ll give you a few more tips:
It should be obvious, but we definitely want to use our E first before using the Ult or the Q if possible. It is also advisable not to use the Q directly after your E, so that we renew the DOT of the E as late as possible and get the maximum damage out of it. The same applies to the Ult, provided we can wait and don’t have to hold the opponent immediately.

Malzahar’s W is very important to push properly. That’s why I’ll explain again here how best to use it:
By default, we summon a Voidling when we use the W. However, we can collect up to 2 stacks by using the other abilities. Each stack summons another Voidling when we use the W. Ideally, we want to use the W whenever we have 2 stacks. In emergencies, one stack is also okay. Therefore, the order in which we use our abilities is crucial.

For example, if we are going into a fight or simply want to push the wave and already have 2 stacks, it is advisable to use the W first and then E+Q to push. This way we have 2 stacks for the next W. I see a lot of Malzahar players make the mistake of always using E -> W, often wasting one or two voidlings on the next use of the ability. If we don’t have stacks, we want to use E -> Q -> W first. It is also advisable to stack the W with the Q outside of battles, as the Q has little cooldown and does not require a target. However, make sure you have enough mana, as your Q has a high mana cost.

Ideally, we always want to run around with 2 stacks, using the W first and then the other abilities. That way we always have 2 stacks and are optimally prepared for every fight.

Your voidlings always focus on the target that your E is on and deal big bonus damage against minions that have your E on them. And that’s how we push: we’ve already discussed how to use the W 😀 So put your W and E on the Wave and watch the Wave get wiped out while you don’t have to do anything else.