I noticed in the patch notes Riot said they were working on changes to Mordekaiser (because of or at least in the section referring to DFG removal).
Anyone have any thoughts on what they may do? Morde is/was my favorite champion, but I so rarely play him lately because as a mid/top he gets pretty harshly out-shined.
One of the options we're looking at at the moment is whether we should play up Morde's tankier side a bit more. Huge guy in a full suit of armor with a passive that generates a shield suggest tough front line dude. The removal of DFG already shifts him away from bursting down a target almost instantly, our thinking is that offering him a more sustained presence might be a good approach as a result. That's very much an idea being explored right now though, not yet a proven direction.
Jesus Christ a red post that's actually a designer.
If we're looking to make Morde more durable he seriously needs to keep his shield. Shit is supposed to be metal armor not ice cream in the summer.
Personally the fantasy I imagine when playing mordekaiser is basically the exact same scene as Sauron in the beginning of the Fellowship of the Rings where I just walk up to the biggest heroes/leaders of all the other races and just thrash them around with a giant ass mace like theyre nothing.
When Im actually playing him though, I feel like a complete opportunistic coward since there is almost zero chance to quickly generate shields for a team fight so I cant just get in range and start doing damage since without my shield, if i walk in ill just get stunned or slowed and then picked apart, rather quickly might I add. Instead I have to just wait around and then burst the enemy carry and then rely on the ghost to generate the shields to keep me alive as well as do damage. However, it does feel pretty sweet clearing minion ways so easily
Seeing as Riot nowadays wants skills with counterplay and interaction for the opposing team, even though Mordekaiser's current ult is pretty darn cool it definitely needs to go. In keep with the theme of him controlling the dead and their spirits though, perhaps his new ult should be him releasing a number of spirits (determined by the number of minions he has farmed, kinda like Nasus' Q but defensively) that surround him kinda like the Necromancer's bone armor skill in Diablo 2. These spirits block incoming projectiles (both horizontal and vertical) and traps, potentially negating CC
This would facilitate his ability to do damage at close range and charge his shield to become tanky at the same time by giving him a gap closer of sorts where instead of him having increased mobility all of a sudden, he is not affected by mobility inhibitors or damage. With this mordekaiser would have a window of immense power when his ult is available but when it is not his opponents can still resort to staying outside his range and CC him so he can't do damage to generate shields.
TL:DR Change morde's ult into a a swirling shield comprised of the ghosts of minions he's killed that protects him to allow him to becoming an immobile, CC-less mage that gets tanky when doing tons of damage at close range
Morde is never going to get cc guys.
He is unique because he is the only champion in the game because he has no cc or mobility enhancment in his kit.
Riot said they would be trying to add some tankiness to him this next patch. Check surrender at 20.
They gave no specifics, but because he cannot instagib anymore without dfg, they want him to be tankier in fights, so that he can do his job, which is to deal as much damage as possible, and to stay alive by vamping off of enemies.
Complete with a huehuehuehue laugh when you spam ctrl 4 pls rito 
I love mordekaiser, he is my favorite champion and I love the idea of playing up his tankier side. I am particularly a fan of bruiser morde vs the glass cannon morde that is more common. If you decide to pursue a direction on morde, I suggest that you play up his tanky, sustained damage aspect.
Any kind of CC buff is deeply appreciated. To me, his damage is alright even without Deathfire Grasp.
Imo, either his Q or E should slow, or stun enemies.
Or you could have the option to use ur shield on enemies, slowing and dealing damage over time to them.
I've always loved morde as a Lich King (more magically oriented).
Right now other then his look he is lacking in the frontline armored guy(wraight?) departement. (He does have a "magical" shield but so does annie :))
For previous champion reworks like Sion it was a healthy change to choose between either AP or Fighter aspect and stick with one. It makes it easier to give those champions a healthy gameplay and make them up to par with the other current champions.
In this particular case I however would not do this and try to explain how you could achieve this :)
Like mentioned in a post below our beloved mordekaiser has on first glance a lot in common with the Lich King and even more to Sauron.
Suggested changes :
W : becomes now a sweeping attack with his mace, from right to left with a small knockback that stuns his enemies for 0.5secs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhjDnrw34QA watch at 3:30 for the mentioned attack.
Q : make his Q a linear skillshot where he throws his mace to his enemies, staggering them for a short time slowing them for 40/45/50/55/60 % reactivating his Q would summon his mace after a short while back to his hand (StarWars style where you summon your weapon back to your hand or even similar to Oriana) the move back could have a unique ability affecting all units is comes across on the way back.
These 2 changes are core changes I think (they don't have to be exactly like I mentioned abilities and effects could be different, I'm not a very creative person :D)
The GOAL of these 2 changes :
R is pretty fine to me and a unique and pretty much core aspect that defines current Morde so I wouldn't change anything here.
W : could use so changes but probably more on a visual side where there are weapons / undead creatures (previously slain foes ?) that whirl around him and act like a shield blocking projectiles ? The only problem I see with this is the readability of the move might make it look chaotique in team fights and I guess from a developer side it might take up to much resources making a skill like this ?
PS : my body is still ready : http://forums.euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=80276&d=1333011362
EDIT : changed the layout a bit. Sorry in advance for my bad English :)
My main Question about Mordekaiser is, what is his shield for? It's as if it serves no other purpose than to act as Temp HP.
One thing I would like to consider is adding some Mechanic to actually stacking your shield, giving him a bit more power while in the thicket of combat.
Someone suggested a slow aura when the shield is full. The problem with this is that it takes one spell or auto to negate the slow. Perhaps a passive aura that scales with shield strength.
I think the Direction was more towards Bruiser than tank. So Probably not as much CC but good trading and lane sustain.
Hi everyone out there, I hope those of you who love Mordekaiser, and enjoy playing him read this.
I'd just like to say that my favorite line of our beloved murder emperor is, "I shall bring great suffering". He may only say it once when you pick him, but I always find it his most iconic line. I just want people to remember that he is pains paladin, and making Morde a tank doesn't really fit with his whole theme. Sure he's a big suit of armor, but just his lore and kit don't suit the idea of a tank, but rather a fighter or some kind of battle mage.
At the end of the day though, what ever the changes may be, I'll just accept them and learn to play Morde a new way, I just hope that he doesn't stray to far away from what he is right now.
When there's a will, there's always a hue.
one interesting mechanic would be increasing his health-costs by a lot but letting him regain health by hitting champions. that would gate him from keeping his shield up indefinitely from minions by requiring him to get in and hit a champion occasionally. the range on E would probably make regaining health too easy so this would either be for auto-attack-range or with E's downtime being higher.
