Mordekaiser Discussion
Warning! This will likely be a lengthy post. You have been warned, enter at your own peril.
To start, I'd like to thank the likes of RiotScruffy, Meddler, RiotChun, Statikk, CertainlyT, RiotRepertoir, and any other rioters associated with work on Morde or in working with community feedback, for being involved in helping to make Morde the champion we all know he can be. This post took me several hours of searching and compiling information, as well as writing and organizing, and I would appreciate it if any rioters give it a look and perhaps answer some questions.
First, I'd like to state that, as a Mordekaiser main, I am willing to make some sacrifices to ensure that Morde can exist in a healthy and supportable state in the game, even if it means making some painful compromises.
I also understand that, above all else, Riot's goals must be worked on and met in order to provide an enjoyable and sustainable game. In essence, what I currently see as Riot's primary goal for league is to increase replay value to create a more sustainable game. The ways I see Riot currently attempting to reach this goal are through: increasing champion diversity in terms of viability, making each game of League feel different from the last due to the differences between champions and variable strategies in the game, and finally an attempt to alter the meta (introducing melee bot lane carries, like morde and yasuo, or having mages being potential bot lane carries, like azir, etc.).
The major points I would like to cover/comment on in this post are as follows:
Identity a. Who is Morde?
b. Visuals.
c. What makes playing against/with Morde unique relative to other juggernauts and champions? How should Morde itemize? How the game feels different due to Morde being in game.
d. What lanes is he supposed to be in? If Morde is to fulfill the ‘adc’ role, how is he to push towers/siege? How to make him healthy when interacting with ranged champions without him becoming oppressive for melees.
Gameplay Patterns a. Hard to balance, but is he impossible to balance? Counter-play and the feast or famine nature. Does he need a Sion level rework?
b. Strengths and weakness profile. Is this healthy to have in the game and if so, what can be done to make it healthy and rewarding?
c. Buggy Ultimate.
d. Reliance on team/agency.
e. Fall back patterns. Providing usefulness when behind as well as safe patterns to follow when losing. Who should Morde prioritize when ahead/behind?
f. Emphasizing Skillful Play – What players can do to show the difference between good and great play of morde.
g. My Suggestions
Identity
As a player I see Morde as fulfilling the dark lord archetype, similar to Sauron from Lord of the RIngs, the Lich King from World of Warcraft, etc. He is the heavily armored emperor of death. He is very much supposed to be a powerful entity and commander of vast armies to supplement his reach upon the world. In this way, I can understand that the duo lane can fulfill this concept and am not against it. With that being said, I like many of you, wish for morde to be able to be played in solo lanes and even in the jungle. Reviewing many of you Rioters' posts regarding who morde is, I can see that there is a general agreement as to morde being this powerful juggernaut. I for one, am all for making morde a juggernaut as opposed to his old squishy unthematic self. As far as what abilities I would say are core to Morde's identify, it is clearly his passive and his ultimate, as any other morde player would attest. The 'magneto' aspect of morde is actually not necessarily core to his identity but does make some sense.
Concerning Morde's visuals, I understand that the resources necessary for a visual update are currently being allocated elsewhere, however, I would still like to state that, whenever the team looks to altering morde's visuals, they keep his core concept of heavy armor, dark color palate, and undead vibe.
Now, when considering what makes Morde unique relative to other juggernauts and other champions as a whole, is Riot set on morde being a bot laner primarily with heavy emphasis on dragon control? As a player, I'm actually fine with this. It helps put Morde in a unique space that definetly contributes to making the game unique for Morde being in it. My concerns with this come with how well morde can be supported in a duo lane without making solo lane too oppressive for melee matchups. I believe Riot has similar concerns and are being very careful regarding the changes they make to morde. As a side note to this section, does Riot want Morde to itemize like other juggernauts, essentially a build like: Ninja Tabi, Randuin's Omen, Deadman's Plate, Spirit Visage, Trinity Force, Sterak's Gage; or would you prefer morde to have a more hybridized build featruing Rylai's and Liandry's or Gunblade?
When it comes to how Riot is supporting Morde as a bot lane carry, I understand you had to address how Morde is to properly siege/kill towers to effectively fill the adc role. In this regard, I see that the dragon does in fact help remedy these issues somewhat. However, this power is highly situational and leaves a morde who's team cannot acquire dragons, without sufficient ability to push down towers when being directly contested. I understand this may be an intended weakness, however I feel that if morde does not have a reliable way to push down towers, he may not see very much play in the bot lane due to a reliance on snowball to grab either dragons or champion ghosts via kills to push down towers. Essentially it seems morde doesn't have a fall back pattern in terms of tower taking when behind. This leads me to the other major point concerning gameplaly patterns.
Gameplay Patterns
It seems evident that Mordekaiser is a difficult to balance champion, with a heavy reliance on snowballing, team input, and exhibits a very acute strengths and weaknesses profile. I even read that it was suggested that Morde may eventually require a Sion level rework. While you guys at Riot did a phenomenal job reworking Sion I would prefer that Morde reach a healthy game state without requiring a full rework due to the sheer amount of time I would have to wait to play my favorite champion, when I believe he isn't too far off from a balance-able state.
When it comes to Morde's strength and weakness profile, does Riot still stand by trying to make an immobile melee champion with no cc work? Do any of you feel this is a task that can actually be accomplished or is it simply bad game design to allow such a champion to exist? I personally like that morde has stark contrasts in his mechanical design, with clear cases of being strong and clear cases of weakness. I am willing to accept changes should Riot deem them necessary, however I would like to have morde have similar strengths and weaknesses. As a side note, I believe it was RiotChun who acknowledged that there was issues with pet AI and that work is being done to remedy the issues. How far along is this work if you don't mind my asking?
Back to more design based gameplay discussion. I read somewhere that it is intended that morde, being a juggernaut and being a duo lane carry, has some level of reliance on his team to play at the most optimal level. I also read that there is a degree of agency that morde must have to affect the game independently of ally input. When it comes to morde's performance in regards to reliance on team and agency, does Riot feel morde currently has a sufficient need for team input while still retaining enough agency to be satisfactory for players to play morde?
Earlier, I started on about fallback patterns. It seems that the general consensus by Riot is that morde lacks reliable fallback patterns both when playing behind in lane and when providing for his team when behind. Is this the case or am i mistaken?
When it comes to emphasizing skillful play, does Riot feel that morde players have enough tools available, as well as healthy enough gameplay patterns, to establish a difference between good and great morde players?
Finally I would like to discuss counterplay, morde's feast or famine nature, and some potential suggestions. At the core of the issues regarding healthy levels of counterplay with morde is his passive, which, by in large, can make it seem almost impossible for plalyers to play around, especially when morde is ahead. With the current state of his passive, granting shield based upon the amount of damage being dealt, it makes morde very feast or famine in nature. When morde is ahead, he can't really be interacted with, as he can just kill you while taking minimum to no damage. When morde is behind, he finds it incredibly difficult to contribute to his team as anything more than a brief distraction, as he cannot do enough damage to generate enough shield to survive long enough to be of use. I understand that some of the community was against RiotChun's idea on morde's passive in 5.4. I, on the other hand, actually think RiotChun's approach to the passive may be the only possible way for morde's passive to exist in a space where it can be used fairly both when ahead and when behind. I urge you to look more into this option as I feel it can greatly assist with morde's gameplay health issues. Also, if Riot deems that Morde cannot exist in a healthy state without having some degree of cc, I feel that the 'e' ability is the most likely candidate for cc, with appropriate cooldown timers of course. Morde doesn't need to be more powerful the more pain he inflicts, merely more powerful because he is inflicting pain. This is the way I view how the passive change would affect his identity as a champion.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I look forward to what Riot decides to do to create a healthier morde, that can be reasonably supported without detracting from the overall health of the game.
TLDR: Morde has issues with gameplay health. Issues with counterplay, fall back patterns, lane diversity, ultimate AI issues, and a feast or famine nature that puts heavy reliance on snowballing. Overall, some compromises may be required to be made in order to get morde into a healthy and supportable state.
