Mordekaiser Needs a Rework

Mordekaiser is a champion very near and dear to my heart, and he's not fun to play right now. His kit is totally busted. But let me give a little background:

I first started playing League of Legends in 2011, right after the Volibear release, and soon after playing, saved up enough IP to buy my first champion, which was Jax. But when I saved up enough to buy a second champion, I carefully considered all of my options (which was looking at the champion art and reading the lore, which - let's be honest - wasn't great), and chose Mordekaiser, because he looked badass. He looked like the kind of guy who could lock you down and beat you up, while laughing in his booming voice that your pitiful little attacks could't even touch him. And when I first started playing him... that was sort of what I got. To slap some LoL terms on him, he was (and still is, to some degree) a mid-range caster with low-mobility and medium damage, with a few tanky attributes. Not great, but what I soon came to rely on as a Mordekaiser player was his element of surprise. Let me explain: most players would approach me looking to fight and thought I could be easily bursted down, but they rarely accounted for my shield passive or my regenerative properties. In other words, I relied on people not being familiar with Mordekaiser to outfight them. But as time trudged on, Mordekaiser was looking less and less appeasing to players, and it was clear changes needed to be made. I agreed. But what we got was worse than a downgrade - it was a guinea pig, and such a incomprehensible kit that he no longer fit into any role. Mordekaiser cannot play top lane in virtually any matchup, nor can he play mid well either, as his q changes made it mandatory to be in melee range with mobile assassins and long range mages. And with no dashes or cc, that will never happen. The rework to his w means that the optimal place to play him is in bot lane, but he doesn't have the range nor the damage to make that viable. Additionally, most players don't want to play with a bot-lane Mordekaiser, because it's seen as a troll pick. Now I know lots of people win with Mordekaiser, and in some of the positions that I've mentioned, and even in the jungle, but that doesn't mean he works. He doesn't have the stats to be a tank or a carry, and his damage is too small to justify having no cc or dashes at all. I know Riot thought it might be fun to break the meta with this guy, but let's be honest with ourselves. It's been two years and he's still just as crappy as he was. So I'm going to go through item by item and discuss his kit. Here goes:

Overall: Riot had an opportunity to make something interesting, and they keep screwing it up. Mordekaiser should be a close-mid range AP brawler. He's not a mage - the passive doesn't justify it, and he's not a tank. But in order for him to succeed, it is mandatory that he receive some crowd control. Maybe his ult should be scaled back, as it is arguably the only thing that makes him worth picking at this point. Getting a ghost and then staying safe in the subsequent fight is so pivotal in games that one well-played ulti from Morde can almost single-handedly win the game. Passive: The iron man passive is cool. It's arguably the most important thing about Mordekaiser's identity. I think it should stay. That's it.

Q: The mace is a nice touch. It's spiritually an improvement from what it used to be, but it's functionally worse. Morde is somewhat predictable and easy to outmaneuver 1 on 1, but thrives in teamfight environments - the more targets, the more shield - but his single-target, ramping q damage without any means of lockdown make it all but useless. Again, maybe it works better in the bot lane, but it's not an optimal place for a melee caster to be. The q should be a one shot autoattack augment with area of effect damage, perhaps with a slow or very short stun (like .25 seconds). I mean, come on. the mace is huge. It should do some damage and it should be his primary skill.

W: Ahhh the flying shards of metal... I think it's an appropriate spell for ole Morde to carry around, but it needs to keep the tank stats that it used to. Not much, but just a little armor and magic resistance that scale from his own bonuses and that should be fine. Furthermore, it shouldn't be a casted spell. It should be a one click, self-buff ability a la Shyvana's Burnout. And please get rid of the exp. thing. It's stupid. No one wants to play Morde in the bot lane. Trust me.

E: Here's where there should be some flexibility. In the past, Morde's E was his bread and butter. E the wave of minions and get a big chunk of shield. Now, it's just a cone of baby damage. I always used to think that if the E could just provide a slow, all of Morde's issues would vanish. Maybe, maybe not. What he needs here is one of three things: more damage, a dash, or a hook. Mordekaiser's #1 issue is his stickiness. Did you know that there is not one single other champion in the game of League of Legends without a dash or some kind of cc? Literally not one. I've checked, going down the list with pen and paper. That's just not acceptable. What I envision for Mordekaiser's E is similar to what it currently is, but with one of two changes: the ability charges Mordekaiser forward to deal his conical damage, or he sucks the champion he's targeting backward a few paces and into follow-up from his Q. It would actually be more perfect if it could do both, based on curser placement a la Thresh's flay. Wouldn't it be so cool if Mordekaiser could combo an enemy?? It's a beautiful vision, I must say. dash in with E, Q, get a little bit of that W damage on them, and then walk right back out. Lovely.

R: Unchanged, except for one little caveat... Rift Herald. That's all I have to say about that.

In conclusion, the changes I proposed here may make Morkekaiser a little too strong, but I'm hesitant to further support that claim. No, Mordekaiser needs to be back in the top lane where he has always belonged, a place where he can fend for himself and make the big plays with a teleport or something. He deserves the kind of power and ability that goes along with his menacing and tough persona. In other words, he deserves to be good. Not to be some misfit that fell between the ass cracks of the meta to die in ARAM games poor, underplayed wimp. Please... heed my words - my impassioned plea - Please Make Mordekaiser Good Again.