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A Morde Main's stance on the changes

Malicious Metal··100 votes·3,235 views

First of all I like that Riot didn't forget about Morde and they did plan to rework him into a bruiser starting with the proposed changes when Veigar got his changes. We all remember the backlash about these changes that intended to put him into a bruiser direction. The idea was great, but the changes didn't help his bruiser playstyle and so they said - fuck it all - and did the next logical step (sarcasm) and make him into an ADC replacement thingy-magyg??

I know my opinion doesn't matter much but hear me out, since he is literally the ONLY reason I even play the game, having amassed over 100k Mastery Points with the big metal guy. So let's get this thing off my chest. These proposed changes don't fit him thematically at all (except for the dragon clone, which is awesome by the way - especially for the reference to Dragon Force) since they want to push him into someone who NEEDS a teammate to excel. Mordekaiser (Kaiser = King/emperor) commands, he doesn't really depend on someone. He has his own agenda. Why else would he have condescending quotes regarding the summoners, who try to command him? (If I must, you only need to click once fool) Another issue with these proposed changes is that Morde would be forced into building hybrid (with these changes his q and e will have split scalings), while he was previously part of the triforce of AP toplaners (Swain/Rumble/Morde). /rant off

Now if you've read up to this point you'll probably think that I absolutely hate these changes and frankly I absolutely loathe some of them, but there are some interesting aspects, that should be incorporated into Mordekaisers kit. Let me list the things that should be incorporated:

-The dragon clone, obviously

-His Q ability change is quite interesting but should be shifted into a more bruiser-like ability, with the next 3 autos dealing magic splash damage, similarily to a hydra, increasing his shieldgain

-His W should be allowed to deal damage even if you're not standing near an ally with the shroud, but maybe make the solo damage a bit lower, in order to encourage this new duo lane concept (while KEEPING the solo lane as his primary role)

-His W had an added passive, which heals him after recasting his W to explode the shroud for damage and would be the only sustain he would need in order to excel in a solo lane as a tanky bruiser/pusher. It would also encourage him soaking damage inside the enemy team, making the most out of the AOE heal. Things I absolutely DO NOT like about the rework:

-Mixed ratios. Have we learned nothing from Miss Fortune/Evelyn? These champions are either obnoxious due to the strange itemisation, spawning things like AP MF and full AD Evelyn or are completely outclassed or useless, since they can't compete with standart scaling champions. If Mordekaisers two bread and butter spells, E and Q are turned into mixed scaling abilities, this completely ruins the AP Bruiser playstyle I've been using and excelling with.

-Base damage nerfs (Again, what?). In order to shift him more into a bruiser and not into a full ap burst mage, you'd have to hit his ratios (which you already are) but for heaven's sake, leave his base damage alone. ESPECIALLY his ult and siphon. Copying from PBE:

Mordekaiser deals 35/65/95/125/155 (+0.6AD)(+0.6AP) magic damage in a cone. For each Champion hit, he gains 15 % maximum shield. Cost: 24/36/48/60/72 Health Range: 700 Cooldown :6/5.75/5.5/5.25/5 Seconds

Mordekaiser deals 35/65/95/125/155 (+0.6AD)(+0.6AP) magic damage in a cone. For each Champion hit, he gains 15 % maximum shield. Cost: 24/36/48/60/72 Health Range: 700 Cooldown :6/5.75/5.5/5.25/5 Seconds

(Note: his ult had 24/29/34, not that much better, but now his ult is even worse than Tahm's W)

-Base Health nerf: You want a bruiser, don't nerf his base health, simple.

-Finally dont shift him to a single target mage. Now that his Q doesn't do AOE damage anymore, and his W won't deal damage unless you're in the minion wave, he will have less shieldgain overall. He relies on the shield to stay alive.

TL:DR : These changes not only ruin him on a thematic level but also on a gameplay standpoint. A lot of Morde players love him for being able to wipe out minion waves on a whim, being tanky, as well as dealing damage and like being able to stand their ground with most assassins, lane bullies etc. Please don't turn him into an ADC replacement but keep him as the Undead Metal General he truly is.

-A concerned Mordekaiser Main

37 Comments

Laraso33 votes

I'd give you +1000 upvotes if I could.

However, the cynic inside me says your pleas are falling on deaf ears. I don't trust that Riot will revert these changes. Not enough people play Mordekaiser for Riot to care.

Guess I'm going to have to find a new main after the rework. I'll try playing Morde as much as I can until then.

Goodnight Nunu15 votes

Their marketing is ingenious. They're distracting everybody with the flashy dragon clone, making everyone go "YEAH DRAGON CLONE POKEMON LOL", but aren't openly saying they're gutting his abilities. This way fewer people will complain and they can go through with their selfish little ideas. I still have faith they won't push through all of the changes though.

Birefringence1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Hentaî Senpaî,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=4pEOuRf0,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2015-08-04T22:26:21.987+0000)

Their marketing is ingenious. They're distracting everybody with the flashy dragon clone, making everyone go "YEAH DRAGON CLONE POKEMON LOL", but aren't openly saying they're gutting his abilities. This way fewer people will complain and they can go through with their selfish little ideas. I still have faith they won't push through all of the changes though.

Alas, the common man is just that dim.

ChaosThief2 votes

The only champion they have EVER pulled a rework back is LeeSin .

And that was because a giant chunk of the community thinks he was "balanced" and any nerf was gutting him. Ghostcrawler has probably had enough sh*t from lee that touching him is a no no. OH WAIT. They're buffing lee sin. Riiiiiight...

Malicious Metal4 votes

{quoted}

I'd give you +1000 upvotes if I could.

However, the cynic inside me says your pleas are falling on deaf ears. I don't trust that Riot will revert these changes. Not enough people play Mordekaiser for Riot to care.

Guess I'm going to have to find a new main after the rework. I'll try playing Morde as much as I can until then.

I'll join you on this quest T_T

GwingMaster1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malicious Metal,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=4pEOuRf0,comment-id=00000001,timestamp=2015-08-04T22:56:23.769+0000)

I'll join you on this quest T_T

Since you're a Morde main (he's my fave champ too, but I don't play often enough to consider him my "main" - i've got about 25 games on him this season), I'll ask this - what was your reaction to his vfx changes?

Personally, I freaking HATE was they did to his E. I loved the old "maces flying out of the ground" effect, and I"m really sad to see them replaced with purple fart swirls.

ArkenStorm1 votes

im with you on that one

Mr Spaceman1 votes

i want in im not in love with Mordekaiser but i respect him for being a heavy mental badass im scared of him going bot with a Udyr jungle and getting drag at lvl 4 and then going bot and insta winning lane

Chatillon2 votes

he can't do that though b/c dragon force is part of his ult....

Jungle Lux God5 votes

Technically the base damage nerf to his E is balanced out by the total AD ratio he got. 60% of his AD comes out to around 36 damage, so the new damage at level 1 is 71 damage, up from 70 damage.

Adrian Umbra2 votes

{quoted}

Technically the base damage nerf to his E is balanced out by the total AD ratio he got. 60% of his AD comes out to around 36 damage, so the new damage at level 1 is 71 damage, up from 70 damage.

Some followup to this: His E now does 35 / 65 / 95 / 125 / 155 (+ 60% AD) (+ 60% AP) from 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 60% AP) damage. At level 1, it breaks even at 58.3 AD, at level 5, it breaks even at 158.3 AD. At level 1, Morde will have 58 AD, enough to just about break even and gaining more with every level he gains. At level 18, Morde has 143 AD, which made this a nerf ONLY if you level your E. If you level it second or third, your overall E damage will increase until lategame, which makes this an example of Riot subtly pushing us into leveling his new Q first.

Hope you guys like being kited for forever though, with that MS nerf.

ArkenStorm1 votes

I always level e first :P also yeah wtf is up with that ms nerf?

Adrian Umbra1 votes

Whelp, have fun gimping your damage with the new Morde, then. Q first is apparently the only Riot overlord approved ability to level.

And the reason behind the MS nerf is a bunch of playtesters were stacking MS on him. Like Targon's -> Ninja Tabi -> Phage -> Triforce -> Raptor Cloak -> Rylai's kind of stacking. And we couldn't have a champion that built all those items be faster than people around him, could we?

ArkenStorm1 votes

i currently do this and i think the way to go is this

{quoted}

i suppose that building item 3124 item 3146 item 3065 item 3158 item 3116 item 3151 instead of item 3116 item 3151 item 3158 item 3065 item 3152 item 3157 might be ok, but i'm totally with you. i hate these changes

kappa.

Adrian Umbra1 votes

Apparently the Riot overlord approved build is item 3302 item 3047 item 3044 item 3078 item 2053 item 3116 , according to the guy designing his rework. I mean, they nerfed his MS because of this build, it MUST be good, right?

ArkenStorm1 votes

exactly

Chatillon1 votes

but why does he have targons...he is the adc...

SEKAI3 votes

Today I log on forum and at the first glance, I really thought the Morde change was overall a change for the better, I even had an argument with someone for it.

Then, only then I realise how wrong I am, god damn.

Morde was never a team player (he is just a large potential asset) or about single targets, why make him so?

JuscarTheDread2 votes

I still think personally i Want my solo lane morde i play morde mid and top and i love him personally and im against most of these changes especially the nerfing to his E burst His E did most of his team fight damage in my opinion and was his best spell Q was just more for some direct focus but less dmg.

Oh and ya the W changes stupid Rip all morde mains and morde solo lanes Morde now permentaly bot and even then i think its gonna fail.

ty rito for ruining my favorite champion

i dont get why all of a sudden there CHANGING ALL THE CHAMPIONS

Seriously soo many champion reworks being pushed out too fast this getting stupid and not enough testing or feedback from the general masses of players

would it hurt to just put out a survey?

i Feel you as a fellow mordekaiser main i hope rito actually listens and dosnt go this direction with his champ

The Chuckler1 votes

I fully agree... "EVERYONE, WE NEED TO REWORK ALL OF THE CHAMPS THAT ARE CURRENTLY NOT NEW!" (proceed to change champs to point of unrecognition). This makes me worried that they are going to change Singed, and take away his uniqueness as a champ who has no similarities with any other champ, as well as a very unique play-style. I am not for all of the changes to all of these champs, nor the identity changes.

Wheatloaf2 votes

His Q has ha hybrid scaling for a long time, and as far as I know, the total AD scaling on his E should more or less balance out the loss in base damage. They didn't nerf the AP ratio on his E, either, and actually buffed its cooldown. Also, I'm not sure, but they might have removed the reduced shield conversion for AoE spells on his passive (which would explain the shield generation ratio being nerfed overall). So, I don't see a whole lot of issue with the overarching idea of these changes. The only really awkward things, as far as I can see, are his Q no longer being AoE (though in teamfights it was often preferable to get the isolation damage to burst down your Ult target faster), and his W not having ambient DoT unless he's near an ally.

Jungle Lux God2 votes

Mordekaiser has had the hybrid scaling on Q for quite a while, but the base damage on it was gutted horribly.

If you get all three hits on a single target, you don't even come out to 1/3 of the AoE damage on live until later ranks, not to mention it doesn't even come close to the isolated damage on live.

Adrian Umbra1 votes

Actually, the ratio is much higher and is base AD as well as AP instead of bonus AD. From what I've been seeing, it means that if you hit all 3 hits on a single target at full level, you're going to be hitting really hard if you're ahead (quite a bit harder than on live's isolation, depending on build), tickling them if you're behind. The issue there is that you also need to make 3 hits happen, which by itself is iffy.

Jeƒƒ Goldblum2 votes

Always loved Morde, sorry to see that your best champ is getting bent over by Riot. My deepest condolences sir. item 3070 Mordekaiser item 3070

DreadJoker991 votes

I hope atleast the q change doesn't go through also morde belongs in a solo lane he has nothing to contribute as a support

Karn Bishop1 votes

He would be replacing the adc not the support, next time take the time to read.

Adrian Umbra2 votes

Given the number of forum posters who have made this exact same mistake, the backlash here is a little harsh. Given the number of forum posters who still haven't realized they neutered his solo laning, I'm actually applauding him for at least modest reading comprehension skills.

Karn Bishop1 votes

Backlash? i merely asked him to read instead of skimming though changes, you have no right to debate about a kit change unless you read it all and take the time to understand it.

Which is different from not liking a change in champion theme just requires knowing the theme and is not applicable here since his themes still the same.

Tohoko the Neko1 votes

Actually, morde's theme is NOT the same. he'll become a hybrid, like nidalee is, which he never was, would need more health for his shield and who the hell as ever saw a carry build any sort of health items?

His shield will become absolutely useless at soaking up damage which gives him plenty of sustain already, and despite the full xp passive on his Q, he won't get much CS because of the enemy carry's poking range. It'll only come in effect at level 2 when his wave clear is unlocked by his E which will now deal even less damage than before because of the god aweful ratios.

Think before you post idiocy next time. I don't understand why you would get upset at someone who only voiced a mildly incorrect opinion?

Karn Bishop1 votes

A: I'm not upset, you pulled that assumption out of the air for some reason i don't understand. B: Theme has nothing to do with stats or numbers, ex: ahri is the sexy fox which is a theme, Mord is the heavily armored lumbering commander of recently dead souls.

Tohoko the Neko1 votes

eh whatever you say.... I'm not giving a crap.

Blue Moon Wolf1 votes

honestly, I think if Mordekaiser becomes viable as an adc replacement, then Gnar should be just as viable bot since he would be able to keep mord at bay with his boomerang and his W. I think this is the worst idea since Thresh's lantern was only able to shield one ally and his Ult only able to damage one enemy. I'm almost certain that he's going to end up a tanky support instead of an "adc replacement", and not a good one at that.

ArkenStorm1 votes

I didn't see anywhere that they were removing the added damage to other enemies on his q. If they kept the current mechanic with the 3 hit thing added in, his q would actually be pretty useful. but I'm with you. not quite 100k mastery, but I play him enough.

Tohoko the Neko1 votes

no.. it's gone, instead they replaced that with 3 basic attacks. kind of moronic if you ask me, it should be 4 basic attacks instead since the first target is hit and THEN there's the aoe to the other 3.

Lord Boltrix1 votes

I am a Morde main myself, and I have tried him out on the PBE.

I have to say, I do have mixed feelings about it. I feel the rework was beneficial, certainly trying to fix some of his issues, and not being that horrible, horrible rework they tried on him before when trying to make him a full tank. I mean, really, full tank Morde with no cc, no form of initiation, no way to keep focus except build mix tankiness with damage - failing to do either well - and hope for the best?

Now, for my initial judgement, be warned I will put more effort into playing it out and see how it works.

First and foremost, I enjoy the idea of Morde suddenly being a viable bot lane champion, perhaps a true AP Carry in an AP counterpart to what the AD Carry must do. i have played a total of two games, one bot and one normal, and find that he can and will work with a support who can inhibit the opponent for even a brief second. On the subject of supports, I do need to point out that when you go into a game as AP Carry Mordekaiser at the bot lane, you need to direct your support a lot more than a traditional ADC.

What I mean is that most don't know how to deal with you, since Mordekaiser himself isn't as prominent as say Vayne or Ashe or Jinx at bot, or in league games in general. Most don't have any idea of how he works, ally or enemy, so in the laning phase your support - if tanky - won't often go in and engage on the enemy team even when you put your new W on them, even when doing so is basically an unspoken "okay Blitzcrank, I need you to stroll up in their faces and uppercut them, my W will help us win the trade." This is especially important as you will be taking poke, especially if facing someone who can just poke you without giving a damn, like Caitlyn or Varus, and you won't have the consistent shield needed to negate all of it, so you need the W and the damage/heal to even-off these type of bad engagements. So basically, at the beginning of the match, tell your support if they are tanky that when they have metal shards swirling around them, its time for them to go balls to the wall.

Going back to supports, I would rather not recommend a support taking Targon's Brace. The fact of the matter is, unless you are facing poke that you cannot avoid, you should be able to build up a good deal of shield and be able to damage the enemy and make them reluctant to leave themselves close enough to farm for fear of your E. You want to bully your opponent to their tower and make them miss creeps, and force the enemy jungler to respond and take pressure from the other lanes. Morde's W is worth enough to take as a first ability due to how easily imbalanced the level differential can be for you, so having a support take Targon's Brace when they would likely want the Siege Minions to maximize their own gold profit, is bad for you experience-wise, since the biggest advantage of Morde at bot is massively out-leveling your opponents even when farming at the same rate due to the changes to Morde's W.

But away from the bot-lane itself, the discussion of his abilities. First of all, his W, which everyone is on about. Like many, I agree that making it only able to be cast on an allied champion cripples one major way he has traditionally built shield i.e. put his W on the first, second, or third melee minion charging up the lane to get as much shield as possible without putting yourself in danger. It ruins the idea of Morde stomping all on his own and making trouble, but even more I regret the loss of the Armor and MR that came from the ability. The W's new features don't really feel worth it either, almost like I have a gimped W that I would rather just downgrade to movement speed boost and just boost that.

If anything, I would much rather we have the option to upgrade his W, maybe in the line of Gangplank's R upgrade, except he can choose how to empower his W beyond mere damage and speed boost. Like, here are three options he could have when choosing to upgrade, in all of these he retains the ability to self-cast and cast on a minion.

  1. Traditional W, deals damage to nearby targets, increases his Armor and MR for a bit, but improve it more so that we can make a more tankier Mordekaiser, for those who like to go to top lane and screw around.
  2. Invasive W, deals damage like normal but being in contact with the W also makes any enemy being hit become more vulnerable, letting Morde deal a bit more damage against those being injured, so that solo-lane pure damage Mordekaiser is preserved, and it helps to compensate for his nerfs without compromising the spirit of the recent changes.
  3. Cohesive W, the same W that is up on Morde now, except while dealing his damage he and his target also get a bit of minor healing from damaging nearby enemies, so that it actually feels like it does something. Anyone who gets the W on them as well benefits from this as well, making the duo-bot lane still incredibly viable.

His Q and his E I actually enjoy, sure the damage at first is not as impressive as it felt before, but the scaling of AD only gives more incentive to consider Hextech Gunblade as a first item versus Will of the Ancients. You are still allowed to go full AP, but building a Gunblade and maybe the consideration of a Rageblade as well is at least a serious consideration at worst. The R is nothing but good news, although I feel that if they are going to make a more brusier-y and less bursty Morde, the R should at least be considered in that regard. Considering my W suggestions, perhaps depending on what W you chose to upgrade towards, you would receive an additional benefit from the ghost, maybe steal some of the possessed champion's Armor and MR on top of everything else for tanky Morde, a boost to damage for Morde against any champion that his ghost has auto-attacked recently for damage Morde, and maybe a boost to his own shield generation and maybe get a bit of any lifesteal/spellvamp the ghost may have inherited from the champion, for a Morde that relies on teamwork more than usual.

Overall, I like the new changes, but agree we need something for the W or else the forced change will always carry that bad taste. It's better to have the option to go bot and have it work out as well as going top or mid, versus being gutted in a specific way that the only way to be efficient is to go bot. I would much rather this game have a meta where Morde can go wherever he wants, and nobody can say otherwise.

Tohoko the Neko1 votes

While I disagree with most of what you said, I understand that it CAN work under certain conditions but, having just about every predominant and every other adc champions out there outrange your team's melee apc is not something I think should be considered healthy even remotely.

If these changes aren't cleaned up, it'll leave a worse morde than true tank morde can ever be.

Saianna1 votes

I kind of expected juicy "fuck you" as a main article. I'm kind of dissapointed :(

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