Mordekaiser: Tweaks to improve upon 5.4 and revivify the Murder Emperor

Hey all, so I posted this stuff in a previous Morde balance thread and I figured for visibility's sake I should create its own on topic thread.

Mind this is all speculative changes and (hopefully) a think tank or workshop to give Morde a clearer gameplay identity to match his already iconic appearance. TL;DR is that I've proposed a few quality of life changes by expanding on the magnetic field of sorts from his buffed W, as well as giving it increased interactivity with his other skills when used in tandem, as well as being able to cast it on enemy champions for different effects. The focus is not on extremely buffing his damage as I think he's already pretty consistent in his damage department when properly built. I think he just needs to run a little smoother and have a little utility of his own to benefit his fighting style and make something more consistent with what his lore describes as a murderous undead general.

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I agree with you that mordekaiser needs a bit more love than this number change. I think it provoked more imagination and slight disappointment (I'm looking at you, health regen) than meaningful interactions and character clarity. However I disagree, or would like to modify, some of your proposed changes. Particularly W. But to really dissect and apply changes, I think it would be good for us (and riot, hint hint) to look back to mordekaiser's lore and concept.

Riot's statement about being a face smashing mobile suit gundam (totally sic) is kind of true, but he's a more cunning dude than we give him credit, and we should modify his resume (so to speak) to better reflect his lore and image. In many cases in his lore he is referred to as some kind of Leader. Whether King or Baron is kind of iffy, but definitely some kind of leader (morde-KAISER) and especially a leader of a war band like hecarim is. He controls captured souls and makes them do his bidding. Now he doesn't quite need an army (I think for clutter purpose one ghost is fine and still helps define that image) but more interfacing with his allies and enemies aside from pure damage and spell vamp would be a nice way to remind us that he is a general: someone who is experienced in leading armies not just through pure strength, but tactical prowess as well. This is already kind of supported by his great potential split push capabilities (Just by the sheer minion murder he commits) but it could be enhanced to embrace his role not only as murderer, but murder EMPEROR. Leading people into war would totally fit his style, just so long as he'd be mashing faces alongside them.

To wit: He doesn't need much help in the damage department as he still is very strong. But that strength is indeed niche without the stickiness and riot's decision to move him out of burst territory, and very much based on his AP scores to have an effect. I remember reading somewhere that his base stats are on par with Katarina when you don't count his shield. Other general and leader types are a side beefier, or at least have kits that help the image (say Jarvan and Swain and Hecarim). He doesn't need a boost to strength, but his quality of life and his public image needs a facelift. He's a general. Give him the commanding presence his lore talks about and make it clear in a manner that really emphasizes getting into battle and smashing faces in sick combat.

----------TO THE MEATY WIT------------

The passive I'm going to ignore tweaks on. It's iconic enough in concept that the number crunch for more intelligent scaling ( potentially health scaling and a more reliable in battle duration, as you mentioned ) is already touched upon and is all that is needed.

The linchpin of my idea is W, so we'll start there. It is really a targetable pseudo sunfire cape in many ways, and while the magnetism addition really tickles my fancy, I want to hone in on that. I don't think it's enough of a change to really cement morde's image, but it's a start. I disagree with making it a pure movement speed buff as that implies spammage to help him run away or get through long passages faster, and I disagree with making it self cast only. It screams for more interactivity than just an armor and damage aura. Creeping Death! Also, Mordekaiser doesn't strike me as someone who has an easy time running away, but the fact that he is drawn to sickness and battle should give him a mysterious way of getting closer to battle. The magnetism is a good answer that, but make it castable on enemies!

"Mordekaiser creates a protective cloud of metal shards to surround a target and himself for 6 seconds, increasing his armor and magic resistance and dealing magic damage each second to enemies within 250-range, with additional effects based on target. Mordekaiser and his target gain 60 movement speed when running toward each other.

If cast on an ally, they also benefit from the defensive bonuses and Mordekaiser gains shield from both damage auras (though not twice for overlapping on the same targets). If cast on an enemy champion, the metal shard shred the target's essence, sickening them and preparing them for Mordekaiser's arrival. The target receives more damage from Mordekaiser's abilities"

Needs to be more succinct, but creeping death should gain a little more utility in allowing Mordekaiser to channel his dread will defensively or offensively. Especially if he's alone or only with creeps. Using it as a vector for sickness and death could provide him a bit more power. I'm not saying it should amp anywhere close to DFG's amount. Maybe tweak his AP ratios to do a little less damage without creeping death's influence, and a totally boost in power from the amp should he use his skills effectively in tandem. To support this, a small synergistic buff to his abilities on a creeping death'd target (with or without proposed damage amplifier) could help. I should also clarify that it is not castable on enemy minions or neutral creeps.

On to the Q and E session!

Mace of Spades. Fine as written. Add the following:

"If Mordekaiser's blow connects with an enemy target of his Creeping Death, that target is stunned for [0.5 to 1] seconds. This cannot occur more than once per cast of creeping death.

If an ally is the target of creeping death, they receive a boost to their damage against enemy targets within the radius of either aura of Creeping Death (based on Mordekaiser's ability power) while mace of spades is active and for a short duration after the enhanced attack is used."

Alternatively, their attacks could ignore a small amount (either a few percent or a flat amount from 5-25 or so) of the enemies' armor and magic resist, based on the damage type of their skill. The stun length is negotiable as I'm not an official riot number cruncher, but I think that combined with his movement speed toward the enemy it can help him get into fights and keep it there as would befit a bruiser without treading into the longer stun chains of a straight tank. Also the stun does not transfer to other targets if there are any, but there are no additional benefits for an isolated target (minus the 65% damage spike). Additively it gives him a minute (and it should be kind of small) buff to his ability to direct his allies attention, if not directly allow him to lock down the enemy team aside from his personal target.

I think the offensive and defensive uses should be mutually exclusive with roughly the same cooldown on the single skill to provide morde more incentive when wading into battle, as well as more options if he is alone or with friends. The stun does not activate if he casts it on an ally, but his allies receive no benefit if it is cast on an enemy. And with the mobility of creeping death's magnetic aspect, it allows him to create smaller opportunities to maneuver himself or potentially allies. He can move more quickly into battle if cast on an enemy, or give him and his allies the ability to band together a little faster. Note that it doesn't provide any benefit to allied creeps or detriment to enemy creeps aside from the usual damage and armor buffs. Morde doesn't really need the help when fighting creeps.

Siphon of Destruction

Also pretty hard to directly tweak, as it's arguably morde's most iconic damage skill (not including his ultimate) but provide it small synergistic buffs with creeping death.

"If Mordekaiser is targeting an enemy with creeping death or one of his team's minions, all champions in the radius of either aura take additional damage over 3 seconds and any movement bonuses from their abilities or buffs is halved for that duration.

If Mordekaiser is targeting an ally with creeping death, Siphon of destruction provides a small shield (based on a percentage of mordekaiser's shield bar after the damage from creeping death is calculated) to all allied champions within the radius of his own creeping death aura. If the specific ally is in the aoe of creeping death, the same shield is applied to them and all allied champions. The shield lasts for 10 seconds and decays outside of combat."

Again, a choice. Small aoe benefit (a la Iron Solari shield) for your allies, or a way to make creeping death smart a little more. I added the DoT effect to the AoE of a creeping death- buffed allied minion simply because there is no point to having morde damage shield a whole creep wave and it is a little unfair. There is no additional benefit for minions in general aside from the single targeted minion. However it allows him to punish a tad more obnoxiously for fighting him around creeps. Or if they aggress him directly. He's always been a punisher of melee champions (he's like a living thorn mail) so the flavor of a DoT is both a visual and technical way to make that image stick.

Also if he is chasing down a fleeing opponent, I still don't want him to slow them too much (because that would be kind of cruel combined with his sheer damage and the magnetism , as well as the Q stun). However stripping away their speed buffs seems appropriate in giving him an edge against mobile fleeing champions. Champions who are innately faster than him (also Yi on highlander juice) are not affected.

I don't know if his ultimate really needs and extra interaction with Creeping Death. It's so iconic and really useful as it is. The change to the ghost fits mordekaiser well and clears up any confusion as to if he should have any AD (I used to play hybrid bravery morde back when Leviathan was still around, sue me). Perhaps in its debuff stage it could give him extra spell vamp based on the damage his team does to the target? Or amp their damage to it a little bit? It's already a pretty big target on their head, but a little extra incentive for less coordinated teams to hone in on their Metal General's target sounds like a good way to help Morde as a general and as a concise champion.

------End of Spoiling Morde Rotten----

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Thoughts? Changes?

I rather like the utility change but as I said I have no real skill in number crunching. I figure the focus should be on a unique and identifiable play style which updates the unique power mordekaiser has while bringing him back into the swing of things. The number crunch can wait until the concept is really solidly defined before being tested for OP-UP numbers.