Rework Please: Mordekaiser
I've been playing league for some time now (4+ years) and I've seen many champions released and immediately fall out of the meta only to be reworked, be extremely "Over Powered" for about a week, nerfed, then never see the light of day again because they are now essentially useless. A prime example of this is Mordekaiser. So I'll be talking a bit about where I think Riot went wrong with his rework and getting some community opinions on the subject.
I have no quarrels with Riot over Mordekaiser being reworked. He needed it. I do however have a problem with the way the went about his subsequent nerfs. Mordekaiser's Q was his bread and butter. It was the only thing that kept him in a fight because of the insane damage output. After the insane number of damage reducing patches that hit him as hard as his Q hit scrubs close enough to flash onto he became about as relevant as Yorick (RIP). This would have blown over much better had Riot then given him a "rework" much like they did with the Mid lane bunch in early season 6. A mini rework, if you will. This is where the discussion begins. What should have been changed about him after that whole escapade?
This is my take on it;
Mordekaiser is a bruiser type champion, not a damage carry (any more). Bruiser is a nice mix of Crowd Control, Tank, and Damage. Mordekaiser has damage... A pattern seems to emerge here. If you have no mobility, no hard CC, no defensive stats, and average damage you're a pretty bad Bruiser. Instead of giving him a big balloon to hit people with, why don't we rework his other abilities instead.
** Passive - Iron Man** Oh right he has a shield
Shield Rate: 25% of damage dealt (calculated after resistances) --> 25% of damage dealt (calculated before resistances)
**Shield Cap: **25% of max health --> 30% of max health
**Shield Decay Rate: **1.5% base health (minimum of 6.25% maximum health) --> 1% max health per second (minimum of 15% of max health)
**Shield Decay Delay: **1.5 Seconds --> Until out of combat
Q - Mace of Spades Hybrid Champions are Dead
Damage: First two hits deal 10/20/30/40/50 (+50/60/70/80/90% Total AD) (+60% AP) Magic Damage. Third hit deals double damage. --> First hit deals 15/25/35/45/55 (+1/1.5/2/2.5/3% of target's max health) (+20% AP) Magic Damage. Each Subsequent hit on the same target deals twice as much damage as the last (Max 60/100/140/180/220 (+4/6/8/10/12% of target's max health) (+80% AP).
(Added): Mordekaiser gains 10/15/20/25/30% attack speed on the next 3 hits.
W - Harvesters of Sorrow Complete Overhaul
Harvesters of Sorrow can be cast on Allied or Enemy champions and neutral monsters for 4 seconds dealing 45/50/60/75/100 (+15% AP) Magic damage per second to enemies in the area and slowing them by 10/12/14/16/18%, Increasing ally movement speed by the same amount. Mordekaiser gains 10% movement speed when moving toward the target.
E - Siphon of Destruction Basically the same. Just without AD scaling.
AP Scaling: 60% AP --> 75%
R - Children of the Grave Pretty much the same as the E.
(Removed): Ghosts no longer gain 100% of Mordekaiser's Bonus AD. (Removed): Mordekaiser no longer heals for 100% of damage dealt. (Added): Children of the Grave stuns the target for 1.5 seconds on cast.
This is quite a bit of a change and a lot to digest in terms of making a balanced champion and I don't pretend to know a lot about making balanced champions but this is my take on things. I loved playing the old Mordekaiser and I would love to have a more relevant version of him in the meta.
Mordekaiser has potential to be either AD or AP or Hybrid. I personally don't think that Hybrid champions have a place in the meta due to itemization and things of the like but I'd be interested to know what everyone else thinks.
His Q in no way needs %hp damage, I delete some people with 2 hits
You gutted his survival from W for some garbo move speed