What is Malignance? New LoL AP item, explained

The newest season of League of Legends has finally arrived, and with it comes a whole slew of fresh items in the shop—including a new AP mage item called Malignance.

Developed by Glasc Industries, this new item has been the talk of the town as a go-to legendary item for mid laners, whether you’re blasting enemies from afar or dishing out some damage from up close. The new item system has also prompted players to experiment with a variety of builds to see what works best with their playstyle and various team compositions.

There are plenty of different items to build out through the new year, but Malignance might be one of the strongest among the new additions to Summoner’s Rift.

How to build Malignance in League

Malignance only requires a couple of epic items to build, including an extra 800 gold on top to complete. Overall, the item costs 2,800 gold to create, but the full item build path for Malignance requires you to purchase:

• Lost Chapter (Items + 350 gold)
  • Amplifying Tome (400 gold)
  • Sapphire Crystal (300 gold)
• Fiendish Codex (Item + 500 gold)
  • Amplifying Tome (400 gold)
• 800 gold

Malignance gives 80 ability power, 600 mana, and 20 ability haste, and should be a great tool for any AP-based champions that rely on their ultimate ability to kick off a teamfight.

Why Malignance is so strong

After building Malignance, you will have a strong legendary item that you can use to deal a ton of damage over time during extended teamfights in the mid-to-late game due to the item’s passive, Hatefog. Hatefog ignites the ground underneath any enemies that have been hit by the user’s ultimate ability, dealing 60 base magic damage (plus six percent AP) to them per second.

Although this might seem similar to Morgana’s Tormented Soil, another effect that Hatefog has on its affected enemies is that it reduces their magic resistance by one to 18 (based on level) while they are standing in this burning area. Since this effect doesn’t have a cooldown, an enemy could lose almost all of their magic resistance during a teamfight if they stay in the affected area for long enough.