Vayne vs Malphite Counter Pick

The difficulty ratings give away the matchup before the win rate does. Malphite sits at 2 out of 10 and Vayne at 8, yet across 1,493 games on patch 16.13.1 the easier pick comes out ahead, with Vayne ending at 39.3%. Malphite starts with 40 base armor and climbs to 124.2 by level 18, the steepest armor growth in this pairing, which leaves little room for a purely physical damage build. His 665 base health is also the biggest starting pool on either side. Granite Shield adds a free shield equal to a tenth of his maximum health whenever he has gone unhit for a while, so any poke that isn’t committed to a kill simply gets handed back to him.

Ground Slam hurts you in two ways. Its magic damage scales with his own armor, meaning every defensive item he buys also boosts his offense, and its attack-speed slow goes after the one stat this marksman depends on most. Seismic Shard drains movement speed for three seconds, which edges out Night Hunter‘s approach bonus of 330 against his 335, and Unstoppable Force lands as a knockup you can’t dodge. His 28 base magic resistance is the only defensive figure where he falls behind, and it does nothing against physical damage. That leaves Silver Bolts, whose max-health portion ignores armor and is the most reliable way to chew through 2,433 health at level 18. Saving Condemn for the ultimate instead of the shard completes the plan.