Malphite: Rock Solid FOTM

Good afternoon summoners! Today's post is on Malphite, our favorite lovable boulder. With increased tournament play and ranked solo visibility, Malphite's gone from the guy with the ultimate that's basically Alistar's level 2 combo to a hero that's constantly banned in solo queue.

Is it worth banning him?

Let's look at some of his strengths:

• Amazing initiation with more range and damage than Alistar's combo
• 50% AOE attack speed reduction
• Good laning phase
• Ultimate has a 1 to 1 AP Ratio
• Passive + Ground slam scales with tank items

Weaknesses:

• If he builds MR he loses a lot of damage
• If he's jungling his ganks aren't as strong as other junglers at level 2
• If he's AP, he doesn't have much after his initial burst

Is he worth banning?

In combination with Frozen Heart, he deals a massive 70% AOE attack speed reduction as soon as he initiates, rendering most AD carries into spellcasters. Also, as a result of his initiation, it's very difficult (although possible) to prevent your AD carry from getting hit.

Naturally, this means a huge advantage for the Malphite team, especially at lower elos where the AD carry generally has poor positioning. 

His laning phase is also very strong, which means that shutting him down is difficult unless your mid lane is a strong aoe caster with damage over time like Karthus or Cass. Burst casters like Kassadin will be unable to stop him.

Thus, I'd say yes, Malphite is a worthy ban, possibly even over banning Lee Sin.

However, I'd say banning Shen definitely still takes priority though.

What do you guys think about the Malphite FOTM? Comment below!

Haha! It's about time people recognized my power. Rock solid.