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@Mordekaiser Mains: Analysis of Gunblade vs Rylai's

Renascent··4 votes·1,550 views

Every Mordekaiser main can agree that Rylai's is core. AP, HP, and persistent slowing is everything that Mordekaiser could ask for. However, with the release of the stats on Hextech Gunblade, I feel like there is a potential for Rylai's to be replaced as the 1st item of choice on Mordekaiser.

Let's look at the stats:

Rylai's: 3200g 100AP 400HP Slows for days

Gunblade: 3350g 40AD 80AP Omnivamp (15%, 5% for AoE) 300 (30%AP) active that slows for 2s + 700 range + 30s cd

Now, I know that I mentioned that it has the potential to replace Rylai's, but what I really mean to say is that it can provide a different playstyle for Morde.

Rylai's: Same as now, the HP provides protection against burst, which is definitely useful against league of damages. The persistent slowing is also great for making sure opponents don't escape your wrath. Overall, a generally great item for Morde because of how it fits with his kit.

Gunblade: Offers much more offensive stats than Rylai's, while still keeping a bit of slowing power. It has no protection against burst, but it offers something else, something which Mordekaiser sorely lacks: Powerful poke. On a 30s cooldown, this paired with an E could potentially half health an unsuspecting squishy, while also coming back up in time for the next minion wave.

The omnivamp is just an aside; in order to make up for the 400 hp that you're missing, you would need to deal 2633 damage. This will help against poke lanes or low-damage lanes, but burst is always something Mordekaiser has to watch out for due to his abysmal base health.

tl;dr Rylai's is still an overall great item on Morde for turning him into the juggernaut he was meant to be, but Gunblade offers big poking power for a different playstyle.

It is possible that Morde will be able to fight against his counters (Lux ) by going first item Gunblade because of the poke it offers over Rylai's. Thoughts?

16 Comments

ViashinoWizard5 votes

Morde can already rush Gunblade if he's snowballing out of control. I'm still hesitant to not get Rylai's asap, though, just because the slow is so crucial.

Big Lincoln2 votes

why not both

until riot pulls him out of the juggernaut group and puts him back in his fighter/mage category where he belongs

Pierce The Veal1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Big Lincoln,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=FQ3Qw6lr,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-04-12T17:10:01.287+0000)

why not both

until riot pulls him out of the juggernaut group and puts him back in his fighter/mage category where he belongs

Exactly what I was about to say.

ViashinoWizard2 votes

Juggernaut is a type of fighter. Morde is fine being the mage juggernaut, since that's basically what he was before anyway, his kit just needs fixing up.

Big Lincoln1 votes

juggernaut's more or less just a fancy term for bruisers without dashes

Riot wants Mordekaiser to be an AD champion and to stack health, neither of which I feel makes any sense given his identity as a heavy hitter. personal opinion he should fill more of a carry role than he does at the moment going by statistics

I'd be much happier with them encouraging primarily tanky-AP builds and giving him base stats that reflect it.

ViashinoWizard2 votes

They aren't encouraging him to be an AD champion. He still has more AP scaling than AD. He still builds like a tanky AP champion. The only AD item he gets is Gunblade.

Big Lincoln1 votes

When the rework first dropped Riot very much encouraged builds involving Trinity Force and Sterak's, with Rylai's for the utility

It was only after he got nerfed to hell and Trinity Force ruined for everyone that isn't Corki that people went back to building him full mage, which is how I believe Riot should embrace him from here on out now that their experiment failed

Azrael Jiraco1 votes

Riot want a lot of things from Morde, and almost none of those things are working. AP bruiser is still the best way to play him!

Renascent1 votes

Discussing their potential as a FIRST item, not as a replacement for the other.

Big Lincoln1 votes

I mean I would probably get Rylai's first

just because you already have a lot of sustain in your kit, so the sustained slow is more preferable unless you need MORE sustain or you want a lot of extra damage/you're snowballing hard and want to press your lead, confident you can use the lead to build rylai's quickly

DeathBurst1 votes

I'm not a Morde main, but it's still a champ I play regularly and I enjoy a lot. I mainly play him bot, though, and in that specific context, I feel you can't afford to rush Gunblade. First back, I usually take either a NLR (when ahead) or a Giant Belt (when behind) because I really need the damage/survivability, and I can't see Cutlass or the new Hextech Revolver being viable for a first back, especially with the removal of the Spell Vamp in the MYMU. The new Revolver is shit because you cannot apply the passive with your melee aa, and Cutlass is not as bad, but still underwhelming compared to Belt/NLR.

M0RDEKA1SER1 votes

I honestly don't rush either one. Either they're going to be a melee and come to me, get hit by my full rotation and die, or they're going to back. And I don't chase ranged champions unless I've got them pinned down.

Even with that slow, your move speed is still horrendous, so chasing is easier, but still near impossible with all these high mobility champions.

Mordekaiser actually has such high base damage, that I rush a defensive item first, a 2nd one if they're especially beating me, (which is rare) get whatever boots I need depending on the enemy team comp, and then I actually rush Liandry's. By that point in the game, there are team fights and everyone else can CC for me. If the match isn't over by then, I'll go ahead and get a ryali's.

I almost never build Gunblade because you're actually only getting healed ~5% of the damage done with Morde's kit. His QWE are all AoE, and his ult already gives health back. I get the little bit of sustain I need through spellvamp quints and the mastery. Pretty much saves me an item slot to build Ludens or one of the Sheen items.

Azrael Jiraco1 votes

Gunblade isn't actually that much different to before. Out of the two, I still recommend Rylai's.

However, I believe Abyssal and Seeker's Armguard are still the most efficient items for Morde to rush, despite the Abyssal changes.

CrazedPorcupine1 votes

New Morde buildpath next patch is going to be Rylai's + Rocketbelt.

Malicious Metal1 votes

I always get Gunblade as my third or fourth item anyways :P

Fat Bastard GOD1 votes

Considering how insane that buff is to the active, Hextech Gunblade is a core item. I usually bought it in my builds, but now I will definately rush it if I am snowballing. 150+ base damage makes it even more ridiculous as an early game item.

I actually might rush it (buy it first) thanks to that buff and his already snowbally early game.

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