Boards›Gameplay

Can somebody explain the Mordekaiser changes?

GwingMaster·2/24/2015, 11:26:06 PM·18 votes·1,533 views
Patch 5.4 notes

I'm by no means a super experienced Morde player, but I do really love him as a champ and I'm pretty confused by these new changes.

As best I can see there's a buff to Creeping Death in terms of a little added utility and some small reductions to health costs on his spells. And then....what? A couple of nerfs to his damage and ap ratios, his base health regen slashed in half (which seems to kinda defeat the point of reducing his costs but whatever) and some clearer bonuses to his Ult ghost.

Did I miss something? Ahri's DFG compensation buffs made his her a high mobility MONSTER, what is this? Is that Creeping Death change really that significant? I mean, it's nice, but it's not gonna help his laning except in specific ganking scenarios. It make give him a little more useful in teamfights I guess, but with champ mobility as it is I don't see that as being all that impactful. They claim they want to make him a tanky scrappy fighter, but what changes did they make here that actually accomplish that? I don't understand how these changes did anything to radically alter his playstyle. At least in the original proposed changes they had a change for his passive that encouraged him to build health to increase his shield's strength. I didn't necessarily agree with that change, but at least I could see the motivation behind it. Now he just seems like he's the same as before but with less damage, worse scaling, and some new ult stats.

Riot even basically admits that they've made him kinda boring now, so I've gotta say I have trouble understanding what the point of these changes was. Any opinions welcome.

TLDR - I'm confused how the Morde changes really provide compensation buffs to the champ in a meaningful way, nor do I understand how this is suppose to re-allign him to a tanky scrappy fighter as Riot claims.

24 Comments

Zarokima2/25/2015, 2:48:57 AM3 votes

"Fuck Mordekaiser and everybody who plays him"

That's the explanation. Unpopular, underpowered champ in dire need of buffs gets massively nerfed. GG Rito logic.

Stephenizgod2/25/2015, 12:36:46 AM2 votes

Eh overall it was a nerf, but only a small one to be honest. I think they nerfed him a bit so they can see how he performs so that they can buff him in other more significant ways later on down the road.

The only real improvements are the Q range increase for isolated targets and the Creeping Death effecting 2 people, the magnet thing is pretty much useless though. I mean how often are both Morde and an ally running at each other? How does that help him stick to his target? The only situation i can see it being useful is for running away but even then its incredibly limited.

The AP ratio nerfs were a bit uncalled for though :( They should have moved some AP scaling from his E into his R.

ScurvyNave2/24/2015, 11:39:56 PM2 votes

They are probably gonna still work on changing Morde into their ideal scrappy fighter. I think this change is just to try and keep him viable and keep the boards from screaming about how much DFG removal hurt him.

ProfDrDeath2/25/2015, 12:14:19 AM2 votes

Creeping Death got a very nice utility buff. Remember, it gives 30 Armor and MR at max level...and now, you can cast it on your frontline buddy who will be in the enemy ADC's face without compromising your own defenses. Picture Morde with a diving J4, Irelia or Gnar, for example...

Reduced HP costs, along with the buffs to Gunblade, should be a boon, too.

jjookkeerr2/24/2015, 11:37:46 PM2 votes

he received compensations for dfg loss just like veigar

Retillin2/24/2015, 11:29:51 PM2 votes

"compensation" is right up there with "soon(tm)" as a pointless Riot buzz word.

Ulquiorra9952/25/2015, 11:37:45 AM1 votes

Well they wanted to buff champions who were hot by DFG changes. Unfortunately, Mordekaiser and Veigar are not as flashy as Ahri so they did what they do best: use the excuse to nerf them, throw around a bunch of buzzwords and ignore the feedback.

ArkenStorm2/25/2015, 4:26:23 PM1 votes

His cooldowns h ave been reduced. His ability costs were also reduced. His shield was buffed insanely, it doesn't decay in combat(right? Or did they change that?) He's basi Cally a sustained damage instead of burst now. His ratios we're nerfed so he couldn't do sustained burst. Creeping death means you can cast it on a minion, get it yourself, and have movespeed while doing so.

GwingMaster2/25/2015, 9:33:14 PM1 votes

Not sure where you're getting your info.

None of his cooldowns were changed

His HP costs were minimally reduced but his base HP regen was sliced in half so there's not a great benefit there (see the guy's post above explaining the math of this)

His shield wasn't touched. It's always decayed by 3% per second and has a max strength of 90 + (30 x Morde's level) which hasn't changed.

You're also misunderstanding how Creeping Death works - the movespeed only kicks in when Morde and an ally are moving towards each other. Since minions can't be induced to do this, it's useless in the context you describe.

I think you might be referring to the intially proposed PBE changes that didn't actually go through to live. Check the patch notes I included at the top. Not trying to be rude or anything, I appreciate your input on the thread, but the only thing you mentioned that actually occurred is the small buff to his spell costs (which again, came with a substantial nerf to his base HP regen) and his AP ratios were nerfed.

ModKnightsKemplar2/25/2015, 9:37:55 PM1 votes

In the notes, they mention that they wanted to make him more of a fighter, but the changes weren't working on the time frame they would've liked, it sounds like.

Honestly, if you aren't already playing a lot of Morde, I wouldn't recommend starting now. They are acknowledging that he isn't in a great place, and they will come back to him later. I wish they would take care of it now, but that's assuming anyone at Riot has some good ideas. It takes some creativity to make the RIGHT changes on champs, and while many people in boards claim to have the perfect solution, Riot rarely seems to agree with them.

I don't hold that against them. It's rough, but he'll get his due. I would rather they take the time to do it right than to rush momental changes that don't work. Others disagree. The fact is, there are limited resources at Riot, and they are doing the best they can. I think it's silly to think that we are more passionate about having a balanced game than Riot is, and they will get to it when the timing is better.

Zarxis2/26/2015, 3:20:51 AM1 votes

The health regen nerf was a little excessive— I can't keep up with his health costs when I start with 4% spell vamp from my runes. Haven't tried it with 2 rejuvenation beads (Warmog's), but I doubt it'll be enough. The Q range buff was nice (it needs a new animation for the range extension, though), and the health cost reduction is slightly helpful after the health regen nerf. It may be a Riot's way of encouraging Morde players to use his Q more because it's easier for enemy players to avoid (more "counterplay"). W didn't need its damage nerfed; it's bad enough that you can't shred enemies with 2 instances of it at once. Again, the health cost reduction is helpful, but not enough. The "magnets" mechanic is nice, but it's not enough to make Morde capable of keeping up with fleeing enemies or run from ones that are chasing him. It won't make him a fighter or a tank; he needs CC for that. The ult changes were technically a buff (typical Mordes never gave much AD to their ghosts, and the ghosts didn't really benefit from gaining some of Morde's AP because they only use autoattacks)... But it's much more difficult to get an ult ghost without DFG.

Overall, if Mordekaisers can adjust to the health regen rebalancing (health regen and spellvamp runes/masteries, perhaps starting with Doran's Shield or Rejuvenation Beads instead of Boots of Speed or an Amplifying Tome), this should be a net buff because of the minor utility enhancements and the improved ghost.

Salt Miner 49 Er2/25/2015, 12:18:52 AM1 votes

{quoted}

I'm by no means a super experienced Morde player, but I do really love him as a champ and I'm pretty confused by these new changes.

As best I can see there's a buff to Creeping Death in terms of a little added utility and some small reductions to health costs on his spells. And then....what? A couple of nerfs to his damage and ap ratios, his base health regen slashed in half (which seems to kinda defeat the point of reducing his costs but whatever) and some clearer bonuses to his Ult ghost.

Did I miss something? Ahri's DFG compensation buffs made his her a high mobility MONSTER, what is this? Is that Creeping Death change really that significant? I mean, it's nice, but it's not gonna help his laning except in specific ganking scenarios. It make give him a little more useful in teamfights I guess, but with champ mobility as it is I don't see that as being all that impactful. They claim they want to make him a tanky scrappy fighter, but what changes did they make here that actually accomplish that? I don't understand how these changes did anything to radically alter his playstyle. At least in the original proposed changes they had a change for his passive that encouraged him to build health to increase his shield's strength. I didn't necessarily agree with that change, but at least I could see the motivation behind it. Now he just seems like he's the same as before but with less damage, worse scaling, and some new ult stats.

Riot even basically admits that they've made him kinda boring now, so I've gotta say I have trouble understanding what the point of these changes was. Any opinions welcome.

TLDR - I'm confused how the Morde changes really provide compensation buffs to the champ in a meaningful way, nor do I understand how this is suppose to re-allign him to a tanky scrappy fighter as Riot claims.

Well, to be honest the only compensation buff he received which still doesn't address his main issues of lack of mobility and utility in a teamfight outside of getting an ADC ghost is that now his Creeping Death is an Armor and MR buff version of Nunu's Blood Boil. Nunu on the other hand will still be picked for his ability to easily snag the river crab with his Consume whereas Mordekaiser will continue to exist in the uncanny valley of nearly forgotten and utterly useless.

The HP cost reductions were nice, though.

This coming from a guy who played almost nothing but Morde for over two years.

WeirWulf2/25/2015, 2:31:10 AM1 votes

The buffs on his W and the Q range are going to really do a lot for him I think. Picked him up again a bit recently since he was getting attention again and i think he will be really quite strong.

PerishSoftly2/25/2015, 2:41:33 AM1 votes

I think it was something along the lines of him approaching Lee Sin in terms of top lane dueling.

No, not really. In all seriousness, he did get a large buff to damage IIRC where you can cast Creeping Death on a minion and double up the damage on your lane opponent while also gaining MS to run down that target for further QEs (The Q part of which has gained range)

agbudar2/25/2015, 2:43:44 AM1 votes

get used to it mordekaiser doesn't exist

i played him so much it brings tear to my eyes

yknow im glad all i ever put into LoL was 50 bucks or so no hard feelings for leaving.

Terff2/25/2015, 3:48:36 AM1 votes

Only his creeping death had a damage nerf and that's because you can basically have 2 up at once allowing for even more damage than before in teamfights