Welcome everyone, and today we will be discussing about Maloch, The Ravenor. My name is TripleC or 3C and Ive been playing in the SEA servers. Maloch is a top tier pick in competitive games and ranked games. For those lucky players who had a chance to get a pendant for Maloch in EU server but didnt have the chance to learn him, heres a great place for you to start. 

Lets get on with it.

Story

"Torture brings suffering, and suffering brings power."

Clawing from the deepest pits of Hell with seething fury and vile intents for torture and suffering, Maloch would become the ruler of the Ravenors.

He knew full well the world’s most cruel and sadistic punishments. He enjoys nothing more than shattering the souls of those unfortunate enough to cross his path. The howls of pain and anguish that emerge from the torture pits within Hell are music to Maloch’s ears, and that is where he draws his power from. In this place where light cannot touch, the Ravenors are law and they serve Maloch.

“My underlings hunger for my power, but they shall never have it!” Maloch is always proud to demonstrate his cold intellect and vile schemes, and is quick to refute any rumors about his foolhardiness.

Maloch’s cruelty knows no bounds and he frequently delighted himself to torturing the Ravenors under his command until their very souls were broken. It helped pass his boredom, but Maloch gradually became tired of them as well.

“Every living soul must lay broken, weeping and pleading for death at my feet!” He thought to himself. With this new desire, Maloch left his realm and sought battle.

“I will show all that breathe what true suffering really is!”

Maloch

Maloch, The Ravenor is one of the strongest Dark Slayer solo laner in the Arena of Valor. Maloch is very powerful because he can deal a massive area of effect true damage while being a really durable tank. The Ravenor is the one of the very least tank that can deal damage in the late game without buying any damage items. He also has an ultimate that can initiate and zone the enemies. Malochs gameplay is "hit and run" because he could barely take any damage while under his shields effect and dealing a lot of damage, he could fit in any team composition. 

Pros

-High base damage

-Solid true damage

-Good initiate

-Second ability gains a lot of shield

-Great area of effect abilities

-Tank that deals damage

Cons

-No mobility except Malochs ultimate

-Get kited easily by enemies

-Cant chase down anyone

-Bad tower siege speed

Knights Plate

Knights Plate is a very cheap and effective item to buy in the early game, especially against attack damage heroes. The passive would be very useful to counter their attack speed and damage per second. It will be your first item on Maloch. If you are against magic damage heroes, you can get Gilded Greaves first.

UPGRADE

The Aegis: When you reach the mid game, you can buy The Aegis to have the attack speed + movement speed debuff whenever an enemy attacks you. I would highly recommend buying The Aegis over Shield of the Lost.

Why? 

Even though Shield of the Lost has extra health to become even tanky, it doesnt have the movement speed debuff. Since Maloch doesnt has any mobility, the movement speed reduction would help you and your teammates against the enemies. Dont forget, The Aegis also grants you 20% cooldown speed reduction which means you can spam your abilities even more now. 

Gilded Greaves

Gilded Greaves provides resistance which is needed on Maloch due to his lack of mobility. Once you get slowed and crowd controlled, its really hard to get out without your ultimate. The resistance from this item would help you plenty.

Frost Cape

Frost Cape is still one of the best items in game that can be effective on almost any heroes. No reason not to buy it. It gives you an special buff on your next attack after you cast an ability, pretty useful when it comes to the Hit n Run playstyle. Makes you even harder to kill.

Medallion of Troy

HIgh health points and also magic resists. Gains a shield to protect yourself against magic damage. Most imporantly, the cooldown speed. With Frost Cape, Medallion of Troy and The Aegis you would have maxed 40% cooldown speed reduction. No reason not to buy this. Plus, theres the Soulreaver  on marksman which deals magic damage and most heroes has magic damage. It will be more useful than spamming armor onto your hero.

Fenrirs Tooth

Its not a core item on Maloch but its very strong on him. The bonus 30% damage on low health on Fenrirs Tooth actually affects Malochs true damage, which means you could deal tons of true damage on any target below 50% health. Theres that huge 200 Attack Damage boost from this item that scales on all your abilities as well, increase both your damage and your shield. Why not? The downside would be only expensive.

Last Item - Situational

After playing a lot of games with Maloch, I barely had the chance to finish up my last item most of the time. The game always ended before it comes to that, either a victory or defeat. But if its happening to you, here are some good choices to purchase.

Mail of Pain: More armor, health and deflect damage to counter against attack damage heroes. Nothing can go wrong if you are against too much physical damage.

Crimson Banner: Gives you health, armor and restores your heros health whenever you get an assist or kill. Not very useful, it can be risky if your team doesnt get any kill before you have fallen. Still a viable item overall.

Ancestral Glory: A safe and cheaper choice, not a bad item. Grants you second chance to fight back up the teamfight. It could help you turn a losing teamfight into a winning one. Plus, your shield would be up when you resurrected most of the time. You wont be dying immediately without contributing after you have resurrected unless you are the only one left alive. 

Gaias Standard: Buy this only if you are against too many magic damage. Otherwise Medallion Troy + Gilded Greaves would be enough most of the time.

Bad Items

Ive seen many people making mistakes by purchasing items on Maloch, these items are really ineffective and would slow down your itemization and power spike phase. Highly not recommended to purchase these items.

Mantle of Ra: Malochs playstyle are suppose to be Hit N Run because of his spell sets. You wont be staying in the frontline for too long to have this items passive Burn to be useful. Thus, the attack damage on this item wont be noticeable. Doesnt has any health either.

Odins Will: It may seems good on Maloch, but actually its not. The bonus movement speed would be great but its too risky to purchase this item. It doesnt has any armor of magic resist. And again, the attack damage is unnoticeable. You wont be chasing down the enemies, its not Malochs job or objective. 

Maloch is easy to play, yeah sure I agree to that but its definitely not easy to play him right. Ive seen too many newbie mistakes when they are playing Maloch. You should always manual the abilities and aim with the ability wheel. They dont understand his skill set well enough to know what he can actually do but dont you worry, Ill be explaining them.

Cleave

Malochs first ability Cleave is your main source of damage. After successfully hitting an any hero with Cleave, your sword would be enchanted. While your sword is enchanted, your basic attacks and cleave will be doing true damage and heals your missing % amount of health. The Cleaves range is decent and its a 180 degree radius. Cleave can hit the entire enemy frontline in a teamfight, aim with both fingers. Use your movement wheel to move around and the ability wheel to aim, get a good spot to hit multiple targets.

Souleater

Malochs second ability Souleater deals a really low physical damage that you could slows down enemy movement speed and gain shield for a short amount of time. The shield increases whenever there are more targets hit by the Souleater. Souleater affects all targets including minions and enemies hero (Towers cant be affected). You could gain a huge shield advantage in lane to trade against your enemies. Be sure to target more targets with Souleater so you could get more shield in any situation.

Shock

Shock is Malochs ultimate. It deals physical damage and knocks enemy up. After the ability landed, he leaves the zone with movement speed reduction in that area of effect. Enemy can see the area of effect before Maloch lands. Its really easy to land on enemies because it has a really large area of effect. Use this ability to initiate and gank. Dont be afraid to use this ability to escape whenever you are in danger but if you want to do so, be sure to know that enemies stun or knock up abilities are in cooldown. They can cancel your ultimate while you are channeling. 

Gameplay

Maloch will take the Dark Slayer lane all by himself. Hell, sometimes he could even solo the Abyssal Dragon lane and win 1v2 easily. In the lane, all you have to do is Souleater (with minions), walk in front and cast Cleave to trade against the enemy. You will have a massive shield that the enemy hero couldnt even touch your health. After you have clearing the minion wave and ward jungle, BACK OFF. Stay under your tower. Unless youre level 4, you can roam. Pre-level 4, just stay back hiding in your tower. There is no reason going outside and risk yourself getting ganked. Dont stay in a trading face-to-face for too long, Souleater > Cleave > Basic Attack a few times > back off. Use the "Hit N Run" strategy at all times. You cant really push the tower even if enemies are missing. 

You can always initiate a teamfight or gank an enemy hero with your ultimate, Shock. When you are initiating a teamfight, try not to go too deep and NEVER EVER CHASE AN ENEMY CARRY AND LEAVE YOUR TEAM VULNERABLE. Shock > Souleater> Cleave > Basic attack for two or three > Back off and wait for cooldown > Repeat after Shock. Never stay in the front line for too long, wait till your Cleave is up. Always stay with your teammates and carries. Your job and objective isnt killing the enemies carry. Unlike the assassins, Maloch focus on the enemy front line first. You could deal massive damage due to Malochs true damage. Dont ever split push or push a lane all by yourself, Malochs pushing speed is really slow. Rule #1, always stick with your team.