Hey Riot, can we have a serious discussion on why Mordekaiser had to become a duo laner

Some ground rules first! We tend to be a bit too sarcastic and tend to come off too (passive)aggressive and most threads aren't exactly the pinnacle of civilized discussion so please, let us be a bit more objective, if only for this one time. Thanks

Anyhow...

We all know there was a huge uproar about Mordekaiser becoming a duo laner and his solo lane becoming a very sore sight following the rework in patch 5.16. While recent patches tried to amend this by trying to give good ol' Solokaiser some power back Riot still adamantly thinks mordekaiser should be a duo laner and should be thus balanced around it.

So, before we lynch anyone let's try to get down the pro's and cons of his duo lane.

More healthy than solo lane(?) One of the more common arguments is the question of game health. Mordekaiser was rather unfun to lane against, there's no denying it. He had counterplay, yes, but still, playing against him wasn't really all teas, biscuits and butterflies.

Yet with his rework this pattern of E-spam and endless shield gain has been toned down. His new E not hitting as hard and him spamming it too much resulting in him pushing too hard and even "poking" himself with its rather high health cost.

Interaction between the laners is important for healthy gameplay so riot decided to put him bot where there are three more people he has to interact with. Fair enough, yet whenever Morde's a decent pick he'll be obnoxious for both the enemy and his support having to put up with his play style of being a bully.

His top lane on the other hand seems to be less oppressive than pre-rework and his duo lane. It's a one on one scenario where Morde has to rely on his own skill and strategies to come out on top. It's the place of brawlers, which is exactly where he wants to be.

Who truly wants to play as/against/with Morde? Or "where's the fun in that?"

Enemies don't like to play against Mordekaiser. And who can blame them? Most marksmen players are accustomed to farm lanes where they try to survive until late game or use their supports to engage on the enemy squishy AD and kill them. Mordekaiser is something else. He is durable, he outlevels them simply by playing the game, which seems rather unfair and he's out for blood. Paired up with a good support Morde's hell to lane against as an ADC and support.

Your allies are also negatively impacted by being forced to pick tank supports and ADC's in other positions if you don't want to lose if the game gets dragged out. A lot of people want to play what they like to. If a soraka/janna/sona main gets paired with a Morde both are going to have a bad time since their lane will be in a huge disadvantage simply because they picked something with no synergy. Other marksmen can work with any kind of support but synergize better with other supports but Morde HAS to be paired with a tank support to get the job done.

Mordekaiser players also face troubles that simply suck the fun out of the game for them. They have to live with the disadvantage of having way less range and getting AA'd from 500+ range feels bad, that's why most top laners despise ranged champions invading their territory. Morde is also relies heavily on his support, more so than any other duo laner and it sucks to have to rely on others more than yourselves especially of you don't even know your duo lane partner.

Who's the target audience? Who does Mordekaiser appeal to? He's a tanky damage dealer with no mobility and limited range. He likes to brawl, he's a bruiser.

Hmm... where are those guys played? Usually in solo lanes if I recall correctly. Top laners know their matchups up top and tend to like to brawl in a one on one scenario and yet Morde, a bruiser, has to roll bot where the dynamics are completely different than top. This is why over 60% of all Morde players play him top or Mid as it currently stands.

So what about ADC mains, they like to roll duo and carry games, right? Yeah, but they're used to having range, to be squishy and have mobility, they're damage pumps and no tanks.

It will also lead to very confusing scenarios in ranked. If I call ADC and want Morde bot and he gets banned I'm going to be forced to play an ADC even though bruisers and tanks are my speciality.

Maybe I'm just biased But I'd love to discuss the reasoning behind Duo lane Mordekaiser and if it's the right thing to do when considering what truly counts in a game; Having FUN