Sylas vs Malphite Counter Pick

Hijack makes Unstoppable Force a shared asset. Sylas steals an enemy ultimate and casts it freely, and Malphite’s is a long-range charge that damages and knocks up everything it lands on, the single most valuable thing Sylas can take out of a jungle skirmish, and the main reason this pairing grades easy.

• Malphite carries 28 base magic resistance, the lowest defensive figure he owns, against a champion whose entire kit deals magic damage.
• Granite Shield absorbs up to ten percent of his maximum health but only returns after a few seconds without being hit, and Petricite Burst charges strip it in passing.
• Ground Slam scales its damage off Malphite’s armor, 40 at level one and 124.2 at 18, so his answer to Sylas is defensive stats rather than offensive ones.

Malphite is the sturdier champion at 665 base health and 40 base armor against 600 and 29, and he is rated two for difficulty against Sylas’s five, which normally favors the simpler kit. Here the execution cost buys something concrete: Abscond into Abduct closes from 175 attack range, Kingslayer heals against champions, and the stolen ultimate lands on top. Seismic Shard steals movement speed for three seconds and is Malphite’s only real answer to an opponent already travelling at 340, which is not enough on its own. Over 446 games on patch 16.13.1, Sylas takes 59.2 percent against Malphite.