With Irelia's recent VGU; Musings on Mordekaiser's place in League's Ecosystem /His Gameplay niche

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So, with Irelia's VGU sharpening her identity as a Blade Dancing fighter that just shreds through the enemy lines, fitted out with an ultimate that forces people to fight or be disarmed, a passive that deals bonus damage to shields and just overall a lot more tools for a fighter to succeed, I took the chance to think about what Morde's gameplay identity should be.

Granted, this is a topic that doesn't really warrant its own thread so I lumped in some brain pickings regarding some of Morde's various gameplay elements. But I'm digressing!

#Mordekaiser's Role in a Team What should Mordekaiser bring to the table? We got burly frontline fighters like Darius, Nigh-indestructible tanks like Malphite, damage sponges like Maokai, slippery assassins like Fizz and huge AoE combo mages like Viktor and Brand.

But where does Morde fall in terms of Gameplay niche? Well, Mordekaiser was, is, and will always be a Carry-type champion. He loves being his team's main source of damage and likes duking it out in what I'd call the Mid-line, dwelling just a bit further behind the frontline but not being a backline artillery like Xerath.

The champions that I think share Morde's role in a team are , with them being huge damage threats that can take quite the beating but prefer being enabled by their team, though they very much can do stuff on their own (Unlike current Mordekaiser).

So, Tl;DR Mordekaiser thematic lends itself best for a Battlemage-like gameplay fantasy where he strikes a firm middle ground between a true frontline fighter and an AoE Mage. Mordekaiser always embodied this duality theme of having wicked strong Melee range damage but being able to dish out tons of damage in a moderately high threat range of around 500ish range.

#Bot, Mid, Top, Jungle?!! Sopportekaiser??? A very interesting topic is where people would like to see Mordekaiser being played, with some bickering why X is better than Y and why person A is a Numbnut for wanting Y instead of X.

I personally think Mid lane seems like the safest bet, for several reasons; A) It is a lane mostly associated with heavy AoE Magic damage B) Mordekaiser, as a carry, likes being the center of attention and get a lot of resources, which mid provides with XP, Gold and strategic positioning C) It just fits him thematically, being that commanding Conqueror who sees himself as being above everyone else, a true Overlord

But just like Irelia's VGU, Morde should not be pigeonholed into one position. No, Riot should look at his thematics and gameplay fantasy and just deliver on this Heavy Metal Doombringer, people will play him wherever they feel they have the most success. Just look at champions that can be played Mid, Top, and maybe after the Mid-season patch even Bot;

#Itemization?! While I love hybridity, Mordekaiser should not be built with that in mind, instead he should still be able to opt into a wide variety of items without feeling like he has just ONE core build. While I personally run something like this right now , people should be able to opt into different builds depending on the current situation and the role they want to fill

I love variety and Riot shouldn't enforce one cookie cutter build by either cutting the AP or AD ratios. Plus, total AD ratios make Morde scale naturally, even if he's feeding his ass off.

#Mechanics that should get preserved, scrapped or just reworked in general? Honestly, at this point I think ALL of Morde's current mechanics should be wiped in favor of Riot building spells off thematics. Just like Irelia, Morde's skills should embody different facets of his character identity and deliver on them in a way that doesn't feel toxic for the game's health. So, if I had to narrow it down to two aspects, it'd be; A) Soulstealing, as in ripping the very essence of his enemies out of their bodies and enslaving them This can be implemented in way more intuitive ways than his current Children of the Grave, which just fulfills too many functions at once while also being a "win more" kind of ability. B) Durability through combat. Just like Swain, Vladimir, Darius and Illaoi, Mordekaiser thrives in the thick of battle, where he leeches his foes' life-force to sustain himself, this needs to stay as it makes Mordekaiser function as a Battlemage/Juggernaut hybrid, be it through healing, shielding, or a mix of both!

#Health costs? Small subcategory here, but should Mordekaiser retain his HP costs? Currently they feel tacked on and don't serve a real gating purpose as they're all flat as well as him having a huge heal in his kit. If they were to remain they need to be either more intuitive or just work better with his kit in general. Or, you know, just make him resource-less >:/

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But that's just some of my thoughts on how Mordekaiser's Gameplay fantasy should be refined in his VGU just like Irelia got hers fleshed out and truly delivered on.

As always, let me know your own thoughts, always happy to talk about Mordekaiser.