How to win lane as Hwei against Malzahar · 54.34% win rate over 3,246 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Hwei | Malzahar has no early poke tools, so your E-Q combo wins trades cleanly at level 1. |
| Level 2 | Hwei | His Void Swarm minions haven't ramped up damage yet, letting your combo keep winning through level 2. |
| Level 3 | Hwei | By level 3 you're still freely punishing his passive-only laning pattern with your burst. |
| Levels 4-5 | Hwei | His kit still has no answer to your poke through level 4-5, extending your lead. |
| Level 6 | Malzahar | His point-blank suppress ultimate is a lethal all-in threat the instant he hits 6, flipping favor to him. |
| First item | Hwei | Once his suppress cooldown is down again, your ranged poke and combo damage retake control of the lane. |
| Two+ items | Hwei | Your item-power burst spike out-scales his DoT damage, letting you win skirmishes before he can suppress you. |
Malzahar has almost no early trading tools beyond auto-attacking behind his Void Swarm minions, so your E-Q combo lands mostly uncontested through levels 1-5. He wants to shove with his passive and roam or freeze the wave, so watch for a slow push into a gank rather than a direct fight - he simply can't out-trade your burst at this stage. Keep poking whenever his minions aren't up to punish and deny his farm.
The full Hwei vs Malzahar report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Malzahar vs Hwei guide →
All Hwei mid lane matchups →