How to win lane as Malzahar against Vladimir · 55.86% win rate over 4,175 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Malzahar | You win level 1 — your shove and trades crush his weak early sustain. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | Level 2 reads even only because he can hunker down and farm safely. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | Still even at 3 as he plays for scaling while you hold the initiative. |
| Levels 4-5 | Malzahar | Through 4-5 you're ahead — you out-push and punish his health-costly heals. |
| Level 6 | Malzahar | At 6 your suppress plus shield kills him before Hemoplague, especially with his pool down. |
| First item | Malzahar | With first item your sustained burst out-damages his sustain and you punish every recall. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | At 2+ items it evens out — his scaling and pool-cleanse on your R level the fights. |
Level 1 is clearly yours — you out-push and out-trade a Vladimir whose early Transfusion is weak, long-cooldown, and costs him health. Levels 2-3 read as skill only because he can play safe and farm with Q, but you still hold the shove and the initiative. Keep the wave crashing into him, deny his CS, and set up your jungler; his lane is a scaling survival act and you want to make the early game as painful as possible. The 55%+ win rate reflects how hard you can bully this window.
The full Malzahar vs Vladimir 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? Vladimir vs Malzahar guide →
All Malzahar mid lane matchups →