Maloch — Patch 1.62 Verdict
[Liquipedia RPL: B] Pro play (RPL 2026): 38 picks, 44.7% WR, 17.5% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked.
Maloch — Warrior Guide
Maloch rewards you for walking straight into the enemy team and swinging. He dives and stays, not dives and escapes, and he gets harder to kill the longer a fight runs because his kit converts damage dealt into sustain. Enemies notice the extended auto range on his passive first. They regret staying in range when those empowered autos heal him. Land a Q on two or more heroes and you are suddenly at full health in a skirmish you should have lost.
This patch he sits at A tier on a 13.3% pick rate, high enough that opponents prep for him but low enough that most players still underrate the volume of true damage his empowered passive and Q push out. His 44.7% win rate sits just under break-even, and that gap is almost entirely players misusing the ultimate, burning Shock as an opener instead of an engage-extender or mid-fight interrupt.
He is best for players who already understand tank-warrior itemization and want a slayer who scales into the late game instead of falling off at 15 minutes. If you enjoy out-trading people who think they are winning, he is your hero.
Strengths
- +Maloch's empowered Q restores up to 24% of his missing HP from a single ability cast, making him nearly unkillable in multi-hero skirmishes where the enemy team crowds together.
- +His extended attack range lets him pressure and zone enemies in the slayer lane without surrendering his own safe zone, a structural advantage almost no other melee warrior can claim.
- +The combination of Souleater's slow and Shock's knockup gives him reliable self-peel and lockdown without needing a support, meaning he functions as both initiator and frontline in one body.
- +His true-damage empowered autos cut through even stacked-armor frontlines, so he doesn't become irrelevant when the enemy responds with defensive itemisation.
Weaknesses
- −Maloch's healing is entirely conditional on hitting heroes with Q, so against heavy poke or long-range compositions he can be whittled down before he ever activates his sustain loop.
- −Shock's visible ground marker telegraphs the landing spot, and any enemy with a dash or blink can nullify the knockup entirely, making it close to useless against mobile ADCs like Laville or Fennik.
- −His damage output without the empowered state is underwhelming, if the enemy team zones him out of Q range in early lane phase, he becomes a slow, low-damage tank with no kill threat.
- −Below Diamond rank these weaknesses are masked by poor opponent mechanics, but in high-elo coordinated play his lack of a gap-closer means he can be kited to death if his Flicker is down.
Abilities
PPlunder
Maloch has extended attack range compared to other melee heroes. While empowered, auto attacks deal true damage equal to Attack Power and restore 2% of missing HP.
1Cleave
Maloch slashes his sword dealing physical damage. If the attack hits a hero, he gains weapon empowerment to deal true damage. Additionally, for each hero hit, he restores 6% of missing HP (max 24%).
2Souleater
Maloch seizes souls from nearby enemies, dealing minor physical damage and reducing their movement speed by 30% for 3s. Seized souls become a shield for him. The soul shield can absorb damage from a maximum of 4 souls.
RShock
Maloch marks a target area and leaps down to attack from above, launching all enemies in range into the air and dealing physical damage. Enemies entering or leaving the area have reduced movement speed.
How to Use Maloch's Kit
That extended melee range is not cosmetic, it lets Maloch contest last hits and poke in the slayer lane without stepping into the opponent's threat zone, a significant edge over most melee matchups. The real value activates when he's empowered from Q: every empowered auto deals true damage and heals 2% of his missing HP, which means the lower his health bar drops, the faster it climbs back. In drawn-out brawls, always prioritise landing autos over using abilities when the empowered state is active, the healing is the reason Maloch wins trades he has no business winning.
Cleave is the engine of Maloch's entire identity: hitting at least one hero with it grants the empowered state that unlocks true damage autos and the Passive heal, while each additional hero hit stacks an extra 6% missing-HP recovery (capped at four heroes for 24%). The common mistake is using Q at maximum range and clipping zero heroes, the arc is wide but you must be close enough to guarantee contact. In lane, walk into melee range first, then Q; in teamfights, aim the swing to intersect as many body positions as possible before the enemy scatters.
Souleater does modest physical damage but its 30% movement-speed slow for three seconds is long enough to keep a fleeing carry in range for two or three empowered autos. The soul shield it generates scales with the number of nearby enemies hit, maxing at four souls, so using it in the middle of the enemy team rather than at its edge squeezes out the most mitigation. A common misuse is popping W defensively while alone; save it for the moment you land in the middle of a group with R, when you can harvest all four souls instantly.
Shock marks a target location and launches Maloch into the air before crashing down, launching all enemies at the point of impact and slowing anything that tries to cross the zone's boundary afterward. The most important mechanical note: the jump has travel time, so enemies who see the mark on the ground will try to dodge, aim slightly ahead of a running target or use it on clustered enemies who can't all escape cleanly. Resist the instinct to use it as your engage opener in a cold situation; its true power is landing it mid-fight after Q has already empowered you, so the airborne frames prevent enemies from interrupting your empowered auto chain.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Cleave | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
2Souleater | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
RShock | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Golden Body
Assassinate
ProwessStandard Build
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
Standard Trade
12The bread-and-butter lane combo, Q to proc empowerment, two true-damage autos while the window is live, then W to slow the target so they can't disengage before you land a third.
Full Engage
R12Use this when diving the backline in a teamfight: R to knock up clustered enemies, immediately Q mid-air so the swing connects on landing, then W to harvest souls and slow everyone trying to flee while you pour empowered autos into the priority target.
Flicker Ambush
R12Reserved for situations where the enemy is grouped around an objective and none of them expect an engage, Flicker over a wall to place the R marker at point-blank range, eliminating all reaction time, then follow the full engage chain.
Anti-Dive Reversal
21RWhen an enemy assassin dives onto you under tower, W first to shield up and slow them, Q to empower, then R to knock them airborne and lock them under tower for tower shots while you continue empowered autos.
Gameplan
Maloch's first spike is level 4, when Shock comes online and he can threaten a kill in lane. He doesn't win every trade before that, so play safe until level 4. The item that changes games is Frost Cape: once it lands, every empowered auto after a skill hit slows the target, turning his long auto range into a permanent chase tool. He is strongest between 12 and 20 minutes, when his tank items let him dive freely but enemies haven't stacked enough armor to blunt his true damage. Ultra-late he stays relevant as a frontline but loses the window to solo-kill carries.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Use your extended passive range to auto-trade in the slayer lane without committing to full engagements — chip the opponent's HP before level 4 rather than looking for kills.
- →Prioritise reaching level 4 safely; once Shock is available, look for the first all-in only if the enemy is below 70% HP or has used their escape ability.
- →Rotate to the nearest crab camp after a clear whenever the lane opponent recalls — Maloch's clear speed is average and you want to avoid falling behind on gold before Frost Cape.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →After Frost Cape completes, start proactively joining Dragon and mid-lane skirmishes where multiple enemies cluster — this is the exact scenario your Q sustain is built for.
- →Use Shock to initiate objective contests by jumping into the back of the enemy team rather than the front; the knockup scatters their formation and lets your carries clean up.
- →Peel your own carries by dropping W on divers immediately — your slow buys your ADC enough space to kite, and the soul shield keeps you healthy enough to continue fighting.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →In late-game teamfights your job is to reach the enemy carry with R + Q before they can kite — accept that you may absorb two or three abilities en route, trusting Plunder's healing to keep you functional.
- →If the enemy team has multiple dashes that negate your R knockup, switch to using Shock as a zone tool on choke points rather than a guaranteed airborne, forcing enemies to choose between slow and reposition.
- →Never use Flicker offensively in the final push — keep it as a bail-out to survive the dive after your burst window closes, ensuring you remain a persistent frontline threat.
Matchups
Never first-pick Maloch unless you already have a support with hard lockdown. Without it, mobile assassins like Murad exploit the telegraphed R every time. Florentino and Butterfly are ban-or-dodge situations at Diamond and above: against either, your sustain loop breaks at the foundation and the lane is a slow death. In a good draft, the ideal backup is a long-range engage support like Grakk or a hard-CC mage like Alice mid, so a target knocked up by Shock eats a second layer of control before landing. Against bad matchups, play for Frost Cape timing and don't force trades until it is done.
Maloch gets countered by
ButterflyHer passive dodge chance causes Maloch's empowered autos to whiff entirely, completely shutting down his sustain loop and making every Q hit feel half as effective.
FlorentinoFlorentino's Fleur dashes sidestep the Shock landing zone with almost no effort, and his consistent burst damage in lane prevents Maloch from ever reaching a comfortable HP threshold to activate full healing.
MuradMurad's ultimate removes him from the plane of existence entirely, wasting both Shock's knockup and Maloch's empowered window, while his poke damage in early lane denies Maloch the HP deficit that makes Plunder's healing valuable.
Kil'GrothKil'Groth's burst-per-second in a straight brawl races ahead of Maloch's healing ramp, especially at levels 1-3 before Shock is available, often ending the lane phase before Maloch's sustain can kick in.
Maloch synergizes with
AnnetteAnnette's wind knockup chains perfectly after Shock's airborne, extending lockdown long enough for the full empowered auto sequence to land on a grounded carry.
VioletViolet's execute damage shreds targets that Maloch has already softened with true-damage autos, and Maloch's frontline presence ensures she never gets dove while she free-fires.
GrakkGrakk's chain pull drags an isolated carry directly into Maloch's Shock landing zone, creating a two-man setup that requires zero coordination beyond timing.
AliceAlice's slows and roots layer on top of Souleater's 30% movement reduction, making it essentially impossible for any non-blink hero to escape Maloch's empowered auto chain.
Pro Tips
- →Walk slightly past the target before casting Q, the swing arc fires in front of Maloch, so positioning yourself at maximum range means the blade passes over rather than through the enemy model.
- →In the slayer lane, deliberately let your HP drop to 50-60% before looking for a trade; your Q and passive healing return more absolute HP at lower health, meaning you out-sustain opponents most efficiently when you look like you're losing.
- →The slow zone created by Shock's landing area lingers and affects re-entrants, after jumping into a teamfight, kite backward into your own Shock zone to slow chasing enemies without using any additional abilities.
- →Against poke mages in dragon lane skirmishes, use W before closing the gap rather than after, the soul shield absorbs the burst they throw at you mid-dash and lets you arrive in melee range with your health bar intact.
Maloch is for tank-warrior players who want real outplay potential, not just a damage sponge. His sustain ceiling in multi-hero brawls is among the highest in the slayer lane, and Frost Cape keeps him a threat the whole game. The habit to build is patience with Shock: hold it until you are already empowered and inside the enemy team, not as a cold opener from the edge. Master that and his A-tier rating undersells how oppressive he feels.
Maloch — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Maloch good in the current ROV patch?+
Maloch is a solid A-tier pick on the current Thai server with a 13.3% pick rate, popular enough to draft confidently but not banned away. His 44.7% win rate sits just below break-even, mostly because players use Shock as an opener instead of a fight-extender. Mechanically sound players beat that baseline consistently.
What is the best build for Maloch?+
High-elo standard is Sonic Boots, The Aegis, Frost Cape, Mail of Pain, Medallion of Troy, Blade of Eternity. Frost Cape is the critical spike: its ability-to-auto slow chains with Maloch's long range and makes him nearly impossible to disengage from. Don't skip or delay it.
How do you counter Maloch?+
Pick heroes with dashes that sidestep the Shock ground marker. Butterfly, Florentino, and Murad are the most effective. More broadly, kite him away from grouped fights: his Q sustain only works on multiple heroes, so spreading out and poking stops him entering the healing loop that makes him unkillable.
Is Maloch hard to play / good for beginners?+
Medium. The basic Q-into-empowered-autos loop is intuitive for newer players, but his full value needs knowing when not to use Shock, which is counterintuitive. Beginners find him survivable and fun, but at Diamond the gap between average and excellent Maloch is almost all Shock placement and timing.