Vladimir vs Malphite Counter Pick

The 61.1% win rate is a wide margin, but it is also the least reliable kind, since it comes from only 126 games on patch 16.13.1. The real story is a resistance gap. At level one Malphite has 28 magic resist against his 40 armor, so he is much more exposed to the damage he faces. Vladimir only deals magic damage, which means the champion built to soak up physical hits is up against the wrong kind of threat.

Granite Shield soaks up to a tenth of Malphite’s maximum health and regenerates after he has gone a few seconds without taking damage. That favors long, grinding fights over the short, intense burst Hemoplague sets up by raising the damage Malphite takes before it explodes. Ground Slam deals magic damage that grows with his armor and slows enemy attack speed. It works well against attack-based champions but much less well against the damage coming from Transfusion and Tides of Blood. Unstoppable Force launches enemies into the air when it lands, and Sanguine Pool counters it with two seconds of untargetability if it is timed correctly. Seismic Shard drains move speed for three seconds, which is his main way to pin a 330 move speed target in place while his own 335 catches up. Malphite starts out sturdier, with 665 health to Vladimir’s 600 and 40 armor to his 24. Vladimir does pull ahead by level 18, with 2,470 health to Malphite’s 2,433, and he gets into range from 450 units away versus Malphite’s 125. Difficulty is rated 2 for Malphite and 7 for Vladimir. Champion pages: Vladimir, Malphite.