@Riot, the time to talk about Metal is NOW

The wound's still fresh and has to be treated in order for it to start healing or it will leave a really ugly scar, one of the wicked sort, phantom pain surging through it. We've been exposed to Mordekaiser's rework for about a month and it looks as if our suspicion was well founded; The new Mordekaiser fails to grasp the Character's identity as well as being really unfun to play against and is a pinnacle of unhealthy design, with to the enemy and the player alike.

So, I beseech thee to bless us with your attention and break the silence and barrier of distrust and disappointment that's slowly blocking out ANY form of civilized and especially beneficial discussion. I've experienced the new Morde first hand, on both ends of the spectrum, having gathered another 50 thousand mastery points with the Overlord, having seen the good, the bad and heck, the really UGLY.

From my experience he should not be allowed to exist in his current iteration without major tweaks to him as in the long run he'll be a real problem. Hovering around UP and OP, broken by design and completely falling short in terms of living up to the mantle of the Master of Metal.

Long story short, I'll be once again recapping what makes Morde the Master of Metal and share my thoughts on him, expecting you to do the same. Please, don't leave it like this, it will only get worse.

Visuals;

Hues Not what you think, no. It's his general color scheme. The current Splash art features an unique mix of cold metal-grey and reddish and blue hues, adding to the uniqueness of his character, differentiating himself from the other Shadow Isles champions with their spooky green/blue effects. It's really fitting for the Master of Metal, the cold grip of death and metal in form of blue/grey colors and the red representing him being a health based caster who inflicts pain on himself to empower himself to make his own wounds seem like a mild discomfort when compared to the destructive blows that await you. Sadly this wasn't transitioned to his rework, instead settling for a complete mess of Blue, green. purple, grey, red and so on. It's a clusterf*ck of colors and riot should focus on giving him his own style since the colors fir him and make him unique!

METAL Mordekaiser's the Master of Metal. PERIOD! His armor and weapon of choice aren't enough though. His grim manipulation of metal serves as a mean to turn the device of his own torment (His tomb-like armor serving as a real Iron Maiden) against his enemies. Empowering his destructive force with his own pain and utilizing his metal prison to viciously subdue the opposition. He should conjure metal shards to deflect enemy attacks, he should impale his enemies on metal spikes infused with his own pain and dominion over deathly magic. He should do as his bloody title suggests!

Stance His helmet's crown like horns are a dead giveaway. Morde knows he's the overlord, a General of the undead, the Master of Metal and should hold his head high, looking down on mere mortals as his broad-shouldered stance instills fear and submission in his enemies, adding to his character. He should feel as if he enjoys what he does, taking joy in the suffering he inflicts upon himself and his enemies, crushing them with precision, maiming them with metal, tormenting them and subduing their very soul. He IS conquest!

Core themes

Overlord Mordekaiser is The Overlord, League's version of Sauron! He's the unholy offspring of conquest and badassness. He's the evil force that pulls the strings in every fantasy story. He is evil and he loves it, he's not brutal, nor violent and especially not a savage brute but rather the calculating, malicious (HUE), malevolent Emperor of Murder!

Loner Morde may be affiliated with the Shadow Isles but he's supposed to be the very first undead, existing even before the shadow isles were wrought and maybe even being the very reason why the Isles are being held in a vicious Curse's grip. He has his own agenda, not letting anyone in on his plans. His Grim quest being his very own goal, using his allies to his own benefits like pawns in the game he plays.

Pain How delightfully PAINFUL. Mordekaiser not only revels in the pain and suffering he inflicts upon others but also his very own. It's his last connection to life and he uses it as his strongest weapon and as the lore put it. "Fear is confusion, pain is clarity!" He maims himself in order to inflict even greater destruction upon his unfortunate enemies as a mean to take his mind off the everlasting state of torment he finds himself in.

Metal As previously mentioned METAL should be the ironic dominion of the master of Metal. His prison and cause of his torment is also his greatest weapon. Metal is cold, like the grip of death, viciously sharp and strong. The perfect device of destruction and a conduit for Mordekaiser's unholy powers! He's the goddamn Master of Metal and should use it as his greatest weapon on his dread quest.

Gameplay patterns that he SHOULD have

Health management This was a problem with old Morde. with a hex tech revolver he was practically manaless, making laning against him a living hell. What Morde should do is empower his abilities to tremendous levels by maiming himself. Converting his lost health in a temporary shield with the heavy damage he'll deal. He should be the kind of juggernaut who juggles his durability by smartly building up a massive shield but sacrificing his own health. It may hurt him long term but he'd become unstoppable in the windows of power where he'd deal massive damage and sustain through whatever you throw his way with his shield only for him to be drained of his own life after these fights. No Pain no Gain/Drain, eh? Sustain could be incorporated for him to survive laning phase, maybe by sacrificing his shield to convert it into health but not being able to build up ANY shield for some time.

Durability Mordekaiser IS iron man and should be a really tough nut to crack by consistently dealing heavy damage and build up his shield, sacrificing his own wellbeing in order to build up his defensive resource. He should not only become tanky due to tank items but to an extend by building damage and try to keep his shield charged. His health would go down while his shield would grow.

Destruction Mordekaiser should deal TONS of damage in order to survive by skillfully converting his health into temporary shield with the help of earth-shattering blows and his unholy dominion over metal! He should be someone you'd rather keep away from, kiting him, peeling him off, playing around him because he'll obliterate anything foolish enough to stand in his way.

Mobility/CC He should have none. Yes! His greatest weakness should remain the same. He'll be a force to be reckoned with, durable as can be and deleting anything unlucky enough to be caught in his steel grip. His entire mean to escape ganks and survive team fights and skirmishes should him being able to tank through the enemy fire and deal enough damage to have them quivering in fear.

We don't need any more attempts to create other reworks as long as we don't exactly know what Morde's SUPPOSED to be. We need to flesh out his identity and character, we need to pin down his iconic aspects and expand on them. We have to work together, hand in hand, to set the stage for one of the greatest reworks we may ever get!

I may be too biased which makes your contribution even more crucial for us to truly gather enough information on the Master of Metal. This is the internet, people are bound to have different opinions and I'd love to hear them all. Especially RIOT's stance on what makes Mordekaiser who he is!

Have a nice evening; ~M.M

EDIT; Thank you for all the marvelous Ideas floating around in this thread. Just goes to show what creative people lurk around here on the boards. Truly heartwarming and the discussions we're having are really interesting, especially your own thoughts on the Master of Metal. Keep it up!