Mal'Ganis Build Guide “I am eternal!”

1. Mal'Ganis' Overview

Mal'Ganis is a melee bruiser 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
• Good waveclear
• 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

Bruiser Build

Talent calculator »

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Mal'Ganis' Bruiser build is designed to give him a healthy mix of damage output and survivability. Right out of the gate, Mal'Ganis will see an increase in sustain with any one of the Level 1 talent options regardless of which is chosen, although each different situation may favor one over the others. The Bruiser build contains many Talents that can be seen as a staple to Mal'Ganis' kit, with options for situational variance (such as choosing Will of Tichondrius over Black Claws if the enemy team has a strong frontline of multiple high-Health Warriors). Carrion Swarm will be the "go-to" Heroic Ability option, however, Mal'Ganis may decide to choose Dark Conversion if again he finds himself struggling to take down an aggressive enemy frontline.

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 frontline tank that can dive alongside him into the enemy team providing hard crowd-control. Mal'Ganis should be able to deal massive 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. The shielding, healing, and initiation/escape provided by Medivh makes him a great pairing to Mal'Ganis as well.

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.

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 is a solid choice whenever his allies are in need of a damage dealing "off-tank" or bruiser, similar to Sonya and Artanis. 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. Mal'Ganis is a phenomenal duelist and solo laner, and a great pick on Battlegrounds that require split objective awareness such as Sky Temple and Dragon Shire. 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