Mordekaiser is too metal to cry (so I will)

This is an edited/revised post that I had originally made as a response to someone's comment about the Mid-Season Update.

The summary if you don't feel like reading it all Morde went from being a champ that scaled on ap only, who could deal large chunks of damage and was viable in two lanes, to being rendered largely useless due to the mobility of the champs that came out after him. With his rework, he's no longer a mage/ap off-tank, but a melee hybrid ap/ad/tank champ who is still rendered largely useless due to the mobility of the rest of the champs in the game and the near-mandatory items you have to build on him. With the new mage items revealed for Mid-Season, I still can't see him straying from the near-mandatory builds that leave him less-than-versatile and ineffective compared to almost all other champion's kits. In most cases, your opponent has to make mistakes for you to come out ahead, even if you do everything right. What is his role in the game as envisioned by Riot, or is he a failed experiment that has been discarded? While I know his rework was rather recent, I think the wonderful folks at Riot have to seriously consider how he's supposed to be a viable Champion in the game.

The whole she-bang

When I first started playing LoL Mordekeiser was the first champion that I purchased after trying out stuff in a free rotation for a week. He was fun, had a simple kit (which was great while I learned the game), and was relatively versatile in that you could play him mid or top and he'd be rather impactful in either role. Indeed, within the first six months or so of playing I got several pentakills with him.

Morde used to have innate tankiness resulting from his shield being fueled by a percentage of damage he did to champions or minions. Scaling on AP items, his E hit hard, his W gave him some resistances and damage, and his Q was a savage blow in one quick shot (moreso if his opponent was isolated). If he chunked an opponent and then burst them to followup quickly with his ult, he then had a handy little ghost to help in his spooky, armored adventures. His weakness stemmed from his complete lack of mobility and very slow movement rate, and as more and more champions came out with dashes and utility he was rendered rather obsolete

The rework did next-to-nothing to impact his kit in a way that made him a viable champion on the rift. His E still hits hard, but doesn't do much to build his shield when it strikes minions; something that was/is necessary if he is going to attempt to lumber in and close the gap, particularly against ranged opponents. His W gives him some additional mobility, but this is entirely dependent on the location of the ally targeted. If it is a minion, the speed buff is rapidly lost, and if it is an ally champion the buff is still rather minimal. Nevermind that in Solo Q most people do not begin to understand how it works. His Q has become his main damage dealer, but to deal that damage you now have to land three auto attacks. It also scales most heavily off of AD at the later levels, meaning that to get the most of it you have to build some AD items than AP focused gear (upon which your ult and W scale exclusively).

This creates an awkward situation where it is nearly mandatory to build some sort of CC to allow you to close gaps and catch opponents, build AP to scale all of your abilities, build AD to scale two of your abilities and get the most bang for your buck out of your Q, and somehow build tanky enough to survive getting up close and personal with the enemy while having natural HP and resistances that are comparable to most marksmen and mages.

So what is Morde supposed to be? Even after his rework he is rather less than viable, even in the lower tiers of play where I slum it. Is he a mage? Is he a tank? Is he a melee champion or is he focused on mid-short range ap burst? If so, why does he scale off of AD? What is Morde's role?

Morde is a terrible tank/bruiser But he has a shield, you might argue; the shield that makes everyone believe that Morde should be some sort of uber-tank. Heck, his E can immediately fill it in a team fight with a bit of good aim. Otherwise, he gains 25% of the damage he does to enemy champions back as his shield But how much does his shield absorb? A maximum of 25% of his max health. Before items, Morde's max health at 18 is only about 1700, giving him a shield of roughly 425 hp. Sure, he can refill it. Provided he can get close enough to hit with his Q, or lasts long enough to use his E again. Hitting minions to build up the shield is also not terribly effective until he's doing oodles of damage, because his shield actually charges less from damaging them. This means that before engaging he must close while being as squishy as a mage or marksman. If he lands his E while closing against a single opponent, he'll gain a bit over 100 or so HP on his shield; assuming he has maxed his E and has no HP items. Just enough to absorb one or two auto attacks before he can wade in and hit with his Q. If he can catch them, that is, as he has no CC that would make him an effective tank-oriented Champion for team fights. Nevermind that his abilities all take away from his tiny pool of health every time that they're used. Nothing in his kit makes for a useful initiation for a team fight, and with the exception of his W he may well have difficulty staying with a team fight once it starts.

Morde requires expensive, specific items to be at all useful, so he must be a carry, right?

With minimal HP and a kit that is purely damage focused, that must mean that Morde is somewhat of a carry. With enough Creep and a few kills, he's going to be the brutal lord of destruction that he's depicted as, or so we'd assume. If we build spell vamp on him (or the new items after the mid-season changes), he can overcome the health-cost of his abilities. If we build health his shield gets bigger and by virtue of greater HP he can take more punishment. So he's slow and has no CC? We can get some items for that, so that Morde can catch enemies to do damage to them. But then we need AP and AD to do that damage, too. And then without an escape outside summoners he's vulnerable to CC, and as a short-range/melee champ he's going to have to get close to his enemies... so he'll probably need tenacity too. Hmm. This is getting quite expensive.

Out of the gates, we're going to need something like the Hextech Gunblade to mitigate the health-cost of his abilities, provide CC, and do damage. Then a Rylai's gives him some CC, a good amount of AP, and a decent amount of health. Merc treads can round it out, helping him escape ganks and CC. So with those near-mandatory items you're going to spend 7700 gold. And then you're still stuck with the dilemma as to whether you're going to attempt to make him do damage, as his kit is built to do, by buying ap/ad items, or go more tanky and build health, armor, and magic resist. Well, we've already established that his base kit is rubbish for a tank build, so we would rather need to go damage. Which means that he's going to have to spend a ton more gold on top of those initial items, which were purchased just to allow him to do what most other champion's base kits provide.

**So what kind of damage does Morde actually do? **

Let's look at the damage Morde would have at level 9. We'll assume Morde is being played by a filthy casual like me, and you've only acquired his Merc treads, Rylai's, and and Hextech Gunblade. In terms of damage, these items give you 180 AP and 40 AD. As per standard Morde nonsense, you've maxed your E (so as to rapidly charge your shield and have a little bit of ranged poke), have two points in Q, and one in W. Your natural AD is roughly 170 at level 18, so at level 9 (with the addition of the gunblade) we'll estimate it to be around 90. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure. Your AP is boosted by items + runes to roughly 195. So your maxed E is going to do 324 damage or so before magic resist. (155 + .6 ad + .6 ap ). Your w isn't going to do much at all in a solo lane if your opponent has AoEs (or the minion you cast it upon dies). Your q will do 191 damage (20 + .6 ad + .6 ap plus attack damage) in the first two hits, and then 382 dmg (40 + 1.2 ad + 1.2 ap) on the third, all before resistances. I think that there's the additional damage from auto attacks as well, but I'm uncertain so we'll leave it out for now. This gives us a total of 1088 damage. Then you've got your ult to hit for 7.25% of their maximum health (145 damage if they have 2000 health, before MR), with another 2.175 % of their max health done over the next ten seconds. (425 damage total, before MR and tenacity, if they have 2000 health). Quite a respectable 1658 damage before other factors, such as MR, death fire grasp, thunderlord's, items' active functions, etc. That is to say, it's respectable IF the exchange allows you to land three autos with your Q and your other abilities perfectly. On paper it looks great.

Let's say that you're in top lane fighting a melee champ. We'll go with Wukong, who is also level 9. Wukong has a Ravenous Hydra, Phage, and Hexdrinker which he built because his item-set is less set in stone, allowing him to react better to laning against you. He has spent over 1,000 less gold than you and likely has just under 200 AD (we'll say 175?). His rotation is going to hit for approximately 1595 damage, He does this with a gap close, AoE knockup, then a quick Q and W (which might well take a hit from your Q or, if you screw up, waste your ult). He's also got a good chunk of MR preventing some of your damage, and a shield that will prevent even more if you get close to killing him, as well as movement speed buff. During this fight, your abilities are costing you health, your shield absorbs some damage (maybe 30-40% of your max health if you're lucky), and hextech gunblade gives you some health back. Chances are solid, however, that you still lose the exchange and/or are going to die with Wu's next rotation. That rotation, after cool downs, will take place over a period of time of a second or two, meaning you might get off a q's auto and your E; never having a chance to successfully land all three strikes from your Q.

Sure, you can alter this build to provide some armor or otherwise adapt to fighting Wu. But without the Hextech Gunblade your own abilities will slowly wear you down, and without the Rylai's you're dependent on the Gunblade's active ability alone to provide any form of CC.

So what does this mean?

It means that even with a slight gold advantage, and all other factors being equal, your ability to do damage takes longer and is potentially going to be impaired by CC in any exchange, even though you have to get close to do it and have no CC or utility to assist you beyond what you acquired from your items. If you build damage, you're still not going to be as powerful as many other similar Champions because you have to build somewhat tanky just to survive long enough to get close enough to deliver the damage that you've built. Even if you've done this, a more mobile opponent, or one who is able to focus on a specific role, has to make mistakes for you to win the fight simply by out-tanking you or by being able to kite and/or out damage you by taking advantage of your slow movement and lack of gap-closer. These are the exact weaknesses that made the original Mordekaiser an unviable champion to play,way back when. In short, your opponent has to make a mistake for you to win with Morde; even if you've done everything right.

** Solo xp? Ghost dragon?!?**

In the above example, Wukong will likely win the fight against Morde even though Morde had a slight gold lead. Without a support-champion effectively locking down both a marksman and that marksman's support, Morde would do even worse in a bot-lane scenario where his opponent can simply kite. So his W gives less of an experience penalty for sharing kills? This means that with ganks or going bot he will level slightly faster. At least if he is winning in the first place. This passive from his W seems rather superfluous, as it is rendered nearly completely useless if he is playing in any lane but Bot, where smart players will ruin him. What does this passive even really have to do with his lore and concept as a character? How does it enhance his gameplay, and improve his viability within the current fast paced metas?

Which brings me to the Ghost Dragon. Admittedly, this is an awesome idea. It's neat to see, and it can potentially be a game changer. It also effectively requires that Morde be in the dragon pit for every dragon-play if he is truly going to make the most of it. This is definitely not going to happen readily unless you are pitting Morde up against the long-ranged poke and kiting potential of a marksman in bot lane. What's more, the dragon is quite glitchy, sometimes getting caught up in simple pathing and otherwise seemingly getting stuck. All while being slower than Morde is himself. It's an awesome idea, and definitely possessing a great deal of potential, but the real-world application of this ability is somewhat stunted. Aside from being a nod at Morde's ult and his lore, what was the intention behind this? It certainly doesn't make him any more of a contender in the competitive games of League.

Why do we have these gimmicks instead of aspects of his kit that would make him truly viable within the fast-paced, maneuverable metas that have existed for quite some time? Morde's kit, lore, and descriptions effectively suggest that he is a brawler; that he is supposed to get up close, in the face of his opponents and go toe to toe with them. Somehow, he is supposed to do this a shield which scales with his health. Health that, before items, is the 7th lowest HP value among all of the champions in the game at level 18, and only slightly better than Zigg's at level 1. He is supposed to do this without any gap closer outside of flash or ghost. He is supposed to do this without any CC unless he builds an item with an active slow, or a Rylai's (which is less than optimally effective for him because his only ranged damage comes from AoE and DoT). If he builds tank he lacks the damage to make the most of his kit. If he builds AP, he will not have the attack speed or higher scaling damage necessary for the brutal potential of his Q. If he builds attack speed/ad he spends a great deal of gold that takes away from the magic pen, and AP scaling that makes his ult the terrifying finisher it is meant to be. Morde's kit splits him in three direction and leaves him struggling to effectively produce results in any of them.

Riot, your foresight and planning in fitting so many diverse champions and items into such an active and competitive game never ceases to impress me. But, seriously, how is Mordekaiser supposed to compete?