Mal'Ganis Build Guide “I am eternal!”

1. Mal'Ganis' Overview

Mal'Ganis is a melee Tank who relies on heavy amounts of self-sustain to stay alive when deep within the enemy backline. This sustain is provided by his Trait ability, Vampiric Touch, which causes Mal'Ganis to be healed for a percentage of all damage he deals to both enemy Heroes and non-Heroes. Although Mal'Ganis can only deal damage to enemies in close proximity to him, his kit is full of reliable gap-closers that allow him to easily stick to his desired target(s). Mal'Ganis is very suceptible to crowd control, as any form of movement impairment will make it difficult to deal damage and benefit from the self-healing of Vampiric Touch. Although Mal'Ganis is easy to pick up and play for those newer to the character, his rapid-fire kit leaves plenty of room for showcasing high-level mechanical skill.

2. Mal'Ganis' Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Reliable, sustained damage output
• Strong utility in the form of self healing, crowd-control, and gap-closers
• Viable solo-laner and great duelist
• Decent waveclear for a Tank
• Easy to pick up for newer players

Weaknesses

• Crowd control prevents self-healing from Vampiric Touch and significantly reduces survivabilty
• Requires heightened awareness of positioning and character limits for survival
• Easy to over-commit in engagements when attempting to tunnel on a single enemy Hero

3. Mal'Ganis' Talent Build Cheatsheet

Standard Tank Build

Talent calculator »

Level 1 ?

Level 4

Level 7 ?

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16 ?

Level 20 ?

Mal'Ganis' Standard Tank Build is designed to give him a healthy amount of survivability and crowd control. Right out of the gate, Mal'Ganis will see an increase in sustain with Time to Feed at Level 1, giving him strong health regain when hitting different Heroic targets with Fel Claws. Alternatively, especially against Basic Attack dependent team compositions, Winged Guard can be a great pick-up due to the Physical Armor it provides. At Level 10, Carrion Swarm is the more viable option, as it gives Mal'Ganis huge freedom of how to use it while usually netting more health gain and damage than Dark Conversion. Level 13 marks the crowd control tier for Mal'Ganis, as both Deep Sleep and The Night Beckons severely cripple the enemy team's mobility. At Level 16, we usually prefer Plague Bats thanks to its reliability and burst damage it provides. However, if you find yourself in a premade group with good communication and/or on a map with lots of tight corridors and choke points, such as Cursed Hollow or Towers of Doom, Blind as a Bat can be a situational yet rewarding pick. At Level 20, Seeker Swarm is the natural choice, since it adds some fantastic crowd control to an already great Heroic Ability. Alternatively, Alone in the Dark can cripple the enemies' combat performance drastically, reducing their vision quite noticeably.

See our Talents page for further information »

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4. Mal'Ganis' Synergies and Counters

Mal'Ganis synergizes with

Mal'Ganis performs best with a secondary frontline Bruiser that can dive alongside him into the enemy team providing hard crowd-control. Mal'Ganis should be able to deal good amounts of multi-targeted damage to all caught within the crowd-control. Having an ally that can also help prevent Mal'Ganis from being immediately focused down is invaluable.

Mal'Ganis is countered by

Mal'Ganis is highly susceptible to enemy Heroes that can easily interrupt his abilities that require channeling (such as Night Rush, Carrion Swarm, and Dark Conversion), and lock him down with long durations of hard crowd-control. Since Mal'Ganis relies heavily on self-healing to survive, enemy Heroes that have healing reduction abilities (such as Ana's Biotic Grenade) also severely inhibit his effectiveness in battle. Furthermore, nimble Assassins like Zeratul or Tracer can usually kite Mal'Ganis quite easily, rendering the Hero quite unimpactful.

5. Mal'Ganis' Maps

Mal'Ganis's stronger maps

Mal'Ganis's average maps

Mal'Ganis's weaker maps

None

Mal'Ganis excels both on maps that have narrow passageways and corridors (allowing him to get amazing AoE value from his abilities) as well as maps that force the enemy team to split focus between objectives, such as Sky Temple and Towers of doom. When playing on a Battleground that requires the team to split up, Mal'Ganis should confidently be able to hold his own in duels. On smaller maps, Mal'Ganis should roam with his team looking for opportunities to catch a group of enemies off guard with the Sleep effect of Night Rush.

6. Mal'Ganis' Tips and Tricks

• Charges of a single Fel Claws cast can be spaced out to maximize mobility and counter-play opportunities.
• Use the Bonus Armor of Necrotic Embrace to mitigate incoming damage upon engaging in a teamfight or skirmish.
• Night Rush can be used offensively to track down and set up kills or defensively to peel away aggressive enemy Heroes from Mal'Ganis or a vulnerable ally.
• A well-timed Carrion Swarm can prevent Mal'Ganis from being taken down by otherwise lethal enemy focus-fire.
• Dark Conversion can be used at low Health to immediately cripple seemingly impenetrable enemy frontline.

7. Mal'Ganis' Role in the Current Meta

Mal'Ganis can be a solid choice whenever his allies are in need of a damage dealing "off-tank" but also holds his own as a traditional Main Tank. He excels when paired with a team that can follow up on his engagements with burst damage, and protect him from being burned down by the enemy focus-fire upon initiation. During teamfights, he is able to dive the enemy back-line, wreaking havoc on vulnerable enemy Heroes while providing distraction for allied Assassins to do their work.

8. Changelog