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Why the Mordekaiser rework is "unhealthy" for the game

Macilento··23 votes·3,031 views

I'll start saying that i am not an avid morde player or soemthing like that, but i can post my opinions on this rework, for wich i was very exited about, but after many games i start to think it just doesn't cut it. Here's why:

We ALWAYS see Riot talking about having strenghts and weaknesses as a good thing to have distinct champions and stuff. But in Morde case this concept is executed TO THE EXTREME, almost creating an anti-fun champion for both who play him and who is against him.

Let's see Morde general strenghts and weaknessess: strenghts:

  • Insane damage if he can stick to a target
  • exp advantage in botlane
  • good waveclear
  • push lanes very easly

Weaknesses:

  • 0 mobility
  • hard falloff in lategame
  • no cc
  • useless if not positioned next to a target

Looking at these you would say "oh well it seems okay, general good and bad things ", but this is not the case. As i said these things are WAY TOO MUCH on the extreme side of things.

In midgame Morde is unbeatable, couse no one will be strong enough to burst you down, while you have an insane DPS after 3 Q autos. YOu can often see like ganks 2vs3 ending up in triple kills for Morde at this stage just because of that.

In lategame Morde is USELESS. I can't even find words to describe how useless this champion is in lategame. You will never, ever,ever have the time to stick to a target in lategame (when people eventually can burst you down very quickly), unless you are playing vs bots.

How can that be fun in any way? Being a god midgame just to be useless in late? ALL the morde i see do a super good kill streak early, just to die endlessly late. ALL OF THEM

Another thing Riot said is that they don't like binary character with just that 1 playstyle. Guess what morde is? HE IS THE MOST BINARY CHARACTER I CAN THINK OF.

Your only acceptable playstyle is:

  1. get in someone face
  2. Hope you kill him before he kills you.

NOTHIGN MORE, there is no depth about this champion, whatsoever. He may very well be the most plain and dull champion in league right now, not even kidding.

WHAT KIND OF DESIGN IS THAT!?!?!?

29 Comments

For Carthage10 votes

Your weakness assessment needs work.

He has no falloff late-game - he is devastating in teamfights due to his Q with his only issue being the old "If you're stunlocked you get no shield - no shield, no survivability".

He has no innate CC but Rylai's is almost a requirement for Mord because he synergizes with it so ridiculously well do to his wide, low-cooldown E and his ult basically permaslowing his desired target.

Morde's fantastic in teamfights with his only key period of weakness being his early game when he has little to no sustain other than his pathetically weak W heal and his shield - basically, if Morde is hard-countered in lane, he's going to be next to worthless from then on. Morde suffers devastatingly from any form of consistent poke - Cait/Annie bot is probably his biggest nightmare, with Ashe/Annie being a close second.

I emphasize Annie because if you bring mana pots on her, she can spam her Q to oblivion and leave Morde completely unable to stay in lane since his E poke requires him to expend health to return damage and Annie's Q has a lower cooldown than his E, so there will always be a period where you're hitting his health directly through his shield. She also moves much quicker, so Morde can't even retaliate with his own three-strike Q - he has to basically sit at range and E.

The only possible cure to that is Soraka, which just results in a largely stagnant lane.

HentRex1 votes

Two ways to tone mord back in my opinion but still keep his current state intacted.

  1. Q strikes become additive not multiplicative.
  2. Dragon Ghost Scales off Mord's level Not Dragon's getting the ghost should mean free tower after.

Also I like sivir sona into mord lanes.

For Carthage2 votes

In theory, all poke works. Just that Annie has a low cooldown with magnificent bases and a ton of pre-six utility.

Raid Boss Morde6 votes

Actually, his lategame is pretty bad. Getting to your targets lategame is extremely difficult... right now, his early game is bad, midgame is amazing, and lategame is bad.

Before the rework, it was:

Early game: Terrible Mid game: Great Lategame: Amazing

Mordekaiser was a lot better in general pre-rework though.

For Carthage2 votes

He's actually nearly unstoppable lategame unless, again, locked down for extended periods. You use void to maximize damage against all targets (since all of his damage is magic) and you build Ionian boots for the CDR so that you can spam his E far more often for the 15% shield on champ hit. Rylai's makes you sticky as hell with the constant slow, and the only reason for Trin-force is to offset his horrendous movement speed issues. Honestly, I've seen straight AP Morde with Nashor's be the most devastating thing in the game, and that was on a Morde top that was effectively shut down 0/4 in lane - he came back off a couple of kills, built Nashor's and Rylai's, Q'd everybody into oblivion, and then solo'd Baron and won us the game.

Morde's not weak lategame. Most likely case is you're forgetting to put Void Staff on him so he does dick damage to tanks and can't keep his shield up.

Macilento2 votes

[{quoted}](name=For Carthage,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=840nwglG,comment-id=000600010000,timestamp=2015-09-25T07:43:18.290+0000)

He's actually nearly unstoppable lategame unless, again, locked down for extended periods. You use void to maximize damage against all targets (since all of his damage is magic) and you build Ionian boots for the CDR so that you can spam his E far more often for the 15% shield on champ hit. Rylai's makes you sticky as hell with the constant slow, and the only reason for Trin-force is to offset his horrendous movement speed issues. Honestly, I've seen straight AP Morde with Nashor's be the most devastating thing in the game, and that was on a Morde top that was effectively shut down 0/4 in lane - he came back off a couple of kills, built Nashor's and Rylai's, Q'd everybody into oblivion, and then solo'd Baron and won us the game.

Morde's not weak lategame. Most likely case is you're forgetting to put Void Staff on him so he does dick damage to tanks and can't keep his shield up.

I am not telling that he is uselsss because of the damage he deals, he is useless because lategame

  1. You an be bursted down really quickly
  2. Unless you play vs bots, the enemy team will never allow morde to get in range
For Carthage1 votes

Most every team has at least one champ who is melee. Considering Mord can be quite sticky with Rylai's equipped, the tank will have to try and peel him away, which more often than not means getting into range. Once the tank is in range, three hits can send him packing relatively quickly.

Now you have a permaslowing bruiser that gets a speedboost when following his teammates. You put a Naut next to Morde, have Naut Q in, Morde runs up after, and you have a free train ride into the rest of the enemy team.

Sometimes you don't have an option if he gets into range or not.

DarthSpectrum2 votes

His late game is not really that powerful. Mordekaiser builds tank items to offset his weakness of dying before he gets to a target. Besides a item 3078 item 3116 and item 3053 , Mord doesn't really build more offensive items. He occasionally gets item 3146 item 3157 or item 3001 depending on the match up.

Most full build ADCs can actually rival Mordekaiser in terms of DPS. Mordekaiser can dish out tons of damage on his third Q, but the rest of his kit barring his ultimate doesn't really contribute any more damage.

During the Mid Game, Mord will be able to one shot enemy carries with a E, R, Q combo. However, since he does not continue stacking offensive items he can no longer do that late game.

D1rtFarmer1 votes

{quoted}

His late game is not really that powerful. Mordekaiser builds tank items to offset his weakness of dying before he gets to a target. Besides a item 3078 item 3116 and item 3053 , Mord doesn't really build more offensive items. He occasionally gets item 3146 item 3157 or item 3001 depending on the match up.

Most full build ADCs can actually rival Mordekaiser in terms of DPS. Mordekaiser can dish out tons of damage on his third Q, but the rest of his kit barring his ultimate doesn't really contribute any more damage.

During the Mid Game, Mord will be able to one shot enemy carries with a E, R, Q combo. However, since he does not continue stacking offensive items he can no longer do that late game.

if u build him right past your first 3 items listed, he becomes something unstoppable.

hgjkdlsaf jeldvb7 votes

I feel like I shouldn't have to beat the dead horse, but certainlyT makes everything extreme.

JedenVojak7 votes

I think Mordekaiser before the rework was pretty fun. His range of threat is just too small now, he's too slow and too squishy.

Mountain Warden5 votes

Just had a full tank mordekaiser hit me for 1600 damage with a full tank build last night. And with all that tankiness, he was really hard to put down. If anything, he felt a little overpowered. Just my 2 cents.

Macilento6 votes

[{quoted}](name=Mountain Warden,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=840nwglG,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-09-24T16:03:36.814+0000)

Just had a full tank mordekaiser hit me for 1600 damage with a full tank build last night. And with all that tankiness, he was really hard to put down. If anything, he felt a little overpowered. Just my 2 cents.

Yes but at the same time he can be totally useless, it's just feel bad either way

ZT Xperimentor5 votes

I miss the old mord, the rework is near impossible to play top lane anymore, since it's mostly mobility/cc champs (rivin, garen, teemo, ext)

Macilento2 votes

Sorry if this sound like a rant, but i am kinda frutstrated by this rework

LoLKiru2 votes

To be perfectly honest, he probably needs to be reworked from the ground up (like, Sion level where his entire kit is basically redone) to ever be possible to balance. We've already seen that regardless of any tweaks he gets Mordekaiser is a balance nightmare.

As it stands now, with how much trouble he has actually getting to someone, his reward needs to be ABSURD if he does (otherwise theres simply no point to picking him if the reward doesn't match the risk).

I think the rework did a few things right, most notably the dragon ghost, which is a really neat concept I'd like to see expanded upon if he eventually gets another rework (people will have varying opinions of what defines Mordekaiser, but for me its his ability to make the souls of the dead his slaves).

Macilento1 votes

{quoted}

To be perfectly honest, he probably needs to be reworked from the ground up (like, Sion level where his entire kit is basically redone) to ever be possible to balance. We've already seen that regardless of any tweaks he gets Mordekaiser is a balance nightmare.

As it stands now, with how much trouble he has actually getting to someone, his reward needs to be ABSURD if he does (otherwise theres simply no point to picking him if the reward doesn't match the risk).

I think the rework did a few things right, most notably the dragon ghost, which is a really neat concept I'd like to see expanded upon if he eventually gets another rework (people will have varying opinions of what defines Mordekaiser, but for me its his ability to make the souls of the dead his slaves).

Yeah pretty much agree 100%, i lvoe the dragon gost, fits with his theme also. His kit is onestly awful-anti-fun, binary skilles thing mankind ever produced

Habitz1 votes

I feel like what that did was just an experiment. I hope they can look at his kit again and put more thought into his identity

Macilento1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Aries Burst,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=840nwglG,comment-id=00030001,timestamp=2015-09-25T15:07:49.087+0000)

I feel like what that did was just an experiment. I hope they can look at his kit again and put more thought into his identity

I think the lack of depth is also big ... he is seriously so plain and dull to play

Squidsmastah2 votes

Usually when I play Morde, I get the Furor enchantment for whichever boots I'm getting. If you don't know already, Furor grants you a small move speed buff for a few seconds, but just enough so you can stick to people. This really helps with Morde's very limited mobility.

Jacknife2 votes

Not that I don't agree with what you're saying, I agree almost %100, but as far as most binary champ goes...

cough Tryndamere cough

Saianna2 votes

We all know that this Morde isn't something we'd call "finished product". Problem is: Riot doesn't seem to grasp it yet..

ks9161 votes

I agree with your points but I think a big point is you should have addressed dragon.

In it's current state Dragon is oppressive since it is very possible to snowball a game out of control once you get it since it's extremely easy to siege with it, especially early game when no one has enough damage to deal with it. Also getting 1/4 of dragon's health added rules out the option of assassinating morde to get rid of dragon, and it's unlikely your going to win a fight while the other team has dragon. So pretty much you can't fight the other team, you probably can't even defend you tower either unless your team is somehow massively ahead.

Dragon is also great when it comes down to baron, you can easily solo baron when you have your pet. The dragon thing makes him even more polarizing especially in the early game.

YoloYordle3331 votes

i still think Poppy Malzahar Galio Garen are more dull and not very exciting, but i agree with what you said.

DirkTarTar1 votes

Malz is my go to auto-win champion :) his ratios are insane, can afk wave clear, has a suppression, AoE silence nuke, AND has an AoE % health drain. On any comp with a good amount of lockdown, he absolutely pisses all over everyone ESPECIALLY with the transition from the Cinderhulk meta into the Juggernaut meta i.e. Return of Season 2: The Dawn of the Tanky DPS and the Search for Curly's Gold

Habitz1 votes

His win % does decrease with game duration but it doesn't look extreme or unhealthy: http://champion.gg/champion/Mordekaiser. It feels like the master of death got an identity crisis in development. Like his R is totally master of death but the rest of the "master of metal" identity doesn't fit in my limited/personal opinion.

The lack of a cohesive identity kills the fun for me.

Mordepool1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Aries Burst,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=840nwglG,comment-id=000d,timestamp=2015-09-25T14:18:35.480+0000)

His win % does decrease with game duration but it doesn't look extreme or unhealthy: http://champion.gg/champion/Mordekaiser. It feels like the master of death got an identity crisis in development. Like his R is totally master of death but the rest of the "master of metal" identity doesn't fit in my limited/personal opinion.

The lack of a cohesive identity kills the fun for me.

Champion.gg numbers are inaccurate BTW. They drop 20% of Morde games in botlane because when he goes famine hard and loses he doesn't have enough items to identify as an adc. Known issue to riot

Aínz Ooal Gown1 votes

I will tell it very simply ok ?

This morde rework is total letdown and fail and why ?

  1. Nobody plays him now
  2. only way how to do dmg is staying next to target ? i would liek to see that in leag where almost every champ have some kind of escape
  3. wat ?

rly why this rework exits old morde was best at all ... but nooooooooo Rito has to go and destroy all the fun

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