The champion most hurt by DFG's removal...

I have seen many threads demanding compensatory buffs for the likes of Ahri and Evelynn. I have seen several threads reminiscing about DFGaren. I have seen a couple threads discussing how Deathfire Grasp's removal will destroy Veigar. Yet, the boards have been virtually silent on the champion most damaged by this change.

Unlike Ahri, Mordekaiser cannot fall back on mobility or CC to escape a confrontation if his burst fails. Unlike Ahri, Mordekaiser is melee (with truly no gapcloser) and cannot as easily turn to Lich Bane as a suitable alternative burst tool to DFG. Mordekaiser cannot build as a "kiting mage."

Unlike Evelynn, Mordekaiser cannot be built as an AD or hybrid champion. Nor does he have the luxury of being able to play as an opportunistic assassin, picking off already low-health targets. Mordekaiser needs upfront damage to have kill potential and to replenish his shield so that he can survive. If Mordekaiser gets out of range of a low health target, the chances of him catching up to finish the job are slim to none. Eve, on the other hand, has quite impressive sticking power, making sustained damage a slightly more reasonable option for her. I'm not saying that AP Eve deserved the nerf, but she isn't hurting over it as badly as Mordekaiser.

Veigar is similarly hurt by DFG's removal, since like Morde, if Veigar can't successfully burst a target, there is a strong chance that he will then die himself due to his immobility. However, even Veigar relies less on DFG's burst since his AOE stun gives him a better chance to escape while also providing the opportunity for his teammates to take out the affected targets. Mordekaiser has no escape whatsoever and his only survivability is a rapidly decaying shield directly tied to his damage output... There is no denying that Veigar will need compensation for the loss of DFG, but even he is less harmed than Mordekaiser.

Mordekaiser is also much harder to itemize CDR on than the other champions mentioned in this thread. Mordekaiser cannot be expected to buy a Morellonomicon or any of the many other mana/CDR items, as he has no mana and uses health to pay for his abilities (he is similar to Vladmir in this way but has no built-in spellvamp). I am already using scaling CDR glyphs when I play Mordekaiser due to how hard it is to itemize CDR on him. The loss of 10% CDR in Morde's core kit is not as easily replaced as it is on other champions.

Now, I know that Mordekaiser is generally silently ignored due to his small playerbase, but something needs to be done in this case. What I will not consider acceptable is simply stapling him to the bottom of the rework queue. First off, it is unreasonable to expect the Morde players to wait until 2020 for their champion to receive the care he deserves. Secondly, most Morde players do not want his kit dismantled and replaced with something homogenized. Mordekaiser's current kit has clear strengths (zoning power, teamfight AOE damage, wave pushing, single-target burst with ult, objectives with controlled opponent) and clear weaknesses (he really is the ONLY champion with zero mobility or CC; and he's melee despite having short ability range... He has other weaknesses too, like a risky lane due to his tendency to push and his lack of gank escapes). His kit can be incredibly rewarding to play while still being far less overbearing than most other burst-champs like Fizz or Katarina, since at least you can typically keep your distance from the fed Mordekaiser. Morde has managed to stay on the fringe of competitive viability for years, so the evidence has shown that his current kit can be balanced.

What I would find acceptable is either the addition of a new replacement item for DFG or a direct buff to Mordekaiser. If the first route (adding a replacement item) is taken, then I suggest something along the lines of the item below:

Deathfire Grasp 3700 Gold (Needlessly Large Rod + Twin Shadows + 100g) [With this change, Twin Shadows loses 20 AP and has its price readjusted to 2,000g.] 140 AP [Keep in mind that Rabadon's provides 156 AP on its own, grants an added 30% of all other AP sources, and is cheaper than this new DFG] 10% CDR 6% MS UNIQUE Active - Hunt: Summons up to 2 invulnerable ghosts that seek out the 2 nearest enemy champions for 6 seconds. If a ghost reaches its target, it reveals the target while reducing their Movement Speed by 40% and transferring 15% of their AP to the caster for 3.5 seconds.

If a ghost cannot find a target, it tries to return to the caster. Ghosts that successfully return in this way reduce the item's cooldown by 40 seconds (120 second cooldown).

[The 15% transferred AP could be swapped out for just a 15% MR reduction, which would be more similar to current DFG's effect while still pushing the item to later game and still making it somewhat less bursty.]

With the above addition, DFG would be shifted to a lategame upgrade (price on par with Triforce and Infinity Edge) in stead of an end-of-laning purchase. DFG would go from being the cheapest Needlessly Large Rod upgrade to the most expensive. Champs like Mordekaiser would still want it but would be less inclined to rush it, leaving them less bursty mid-game but helping them have a lategame fantasy. The new item would offer less instantaneous burst potential (%health active damage is out of the equation) while perhaps giving champs like Morde some chance to actually catch opponents (it would still be very difficult). In a straightforward teamfight, the ghosts would also be most likely to strike the enemy front-line, granting the active effect some counterplay, whereas the user would really want to hit the enemy APC with it. The addition of this new item would also have the benefit of encouraging people to actually use Twin Shadows, which has a really cool effect despite the community's general neglect of it. All in all, this would be a great item for mages' duels.

I do think that the change of item identity is fitting with the title "Deathfire Grasp," which calls to mind a vision of one's victim being clutched by the souls of the damned and dragged into the infernal depths of hell (ie., Morde's foreshadowed onslaught).

Another option that I would find acceptable, though less interesting, would be a straight buff to Mordekaiser. The buff could be a simple cooldown reduction on Morde's leveled up abilities. Another option would be to give Morde a higher maximum shield and a slower decay rate, though that could be overbearing in laning.

Thanks for reading. If you have suggestions on what should be done for Morde's (or Veigar's) situation with the removal of DFG, please join the discussion and post them here! I appreciate it.