Proposed Changes to Mordekaiser - Taken from my PBE thread
Edited on 09/20/15, changes made to Harvester of Sorrow Proposition Edited again on 09/21/15, changes made to Harvester and Siphon of Destruction as well as Children of the Grave Edited again on 09/24/15, changes made to Mace of Spades Proposition Edited again on 09/25/15, changes made to all the Propositions, made proposition for Iron Man Edited again on 10/02/15, changes made to all the Propositions Edited again on 10/12/15, changes made to Mace of Spades Proposition Edited again on 10/13/15, more changes Edited again on 10/14/15, more changes
Iron Man - Reworked as a two-part passive, one part Iron Man and one part new portion. Shield cap is reduced to 17.5% maximum health, increasing by 2.5 at levels 6, 11, and 16. When Mordekaiser is above 85% health, shield gain is reduced by 50%, and when between 85% and above 70% health shield gain is reduced by 25% instead, and at 70% or less health, shield gain is normalized.
Screaming for Vengeance - When Mordekaiser is at 55% or less health, he gains the following effects. Level 1 - Mordekaiser's abilities deals an extra 0.2% damage per 1% of Mordekaiser's missing health, and Mordekaiser's base shield cap is increased by 0.1% per 1% of Mordekaiser's missing health. Level 6 - Mordekaiser's Siphon of Destruction echoes out a harsh heavy metal sound, revealing the location of enemy champions - without revealing said champions if stealthed - struck by the ability. Level 11 - Mordekaiser gains an additional 15% of his bonus Armor and bonus Magic Resist while Harvester of Sorrow is active and dealing damage to an enemy champion, reduced to 7.5% when Harvester of Sorrow is applied to an ally. Level 16 - Mordekaiser gains double the amount of shield normally gained when dealing the damage of Mace of Spades to enemy champions.
Alright, taking another look at our Master of Metal, I figured yet another thing that contributed to the toxicity of his pre-rework state was his Iron Man, and how it made any type of trading with Mordekaiser virtually worthless. In it's current state, it still doesn't solve the issue of trying to make playing against Mordekaiser more fair for anyone that doesn't have a direct kit to counter him, and while this remains, we will never see him be viable in mid or top. Iron Man is extremely powerful because it becomes a form of instant bonus health that Mordekaiser can get whenever he wants, meaning Mordekaiser can always remain topped off if he trades with his opponent. But since it is core to Mordekaiser and trying to replace it with something else would virtually destroy Mordekaiser's identity, I had to figure out something that would remain true to him and help to shift the power of his passive.
And that was when it hit me: one of the things that makes Mordekaiser, Mordekaiser... is the element of pain and suffering. That is, Mordekaiser's power of pain is what sustains him and what empowers him in a way that it would weaken anyone else that doesn't find some means to become more dangerous when closer to death. The fact of the matter is, I look at Mordekaiser's friend and band-mate Olaf, looking at his own passive, and wonder... why doesn't Mordekaiser get stronger in some form from getting injured and being in pain? And that was when I came up with the idea of being able to make Iron Man more dynamic and making Mordekaiser even more of a higher skill-cap champion, and once and for all making it so that Mordekaiser's attrition-based style should not mean 'I win the lane if I never leave.'
The nerf to the base shield cap and reductions to shield gain at higher health is to make Mordekaiser more manageable during the laning phase, to make him not so immortal and make trading with him more possible. Mordekaiser now requires himself to be injured, essentially in pain to be able to efficiently build shield, and thus Mordekaiser has to become much better at managing his health, and the health costs from his abilities take on a whole new level of importance in his kit. His pain is his power, and taking damage at the right times can show the difference between a noobish Mordekaiser and a elite Mordekaiser, this will remain throughout the game. Finally, it makes for more dynamic Mordekaiser play when enemies have to be wary of injuring you, because bringing you closer to death can make you... that much more dangerous, but at the same time... just because being at lower health would make you more dangerous, also means you are still at risk of being killed if you make one wrong move.
Mace of Spades - Mace of Spades damage multiplier changed to 1.2 / 1.4 / 1.6 / 1.8 / 2, Mace of Spades multiplier is applied upon re-activating the ability, which can be done three more times after initial activation; each time, the window to reactivate the ability shortens.
New Passive: Mind over Metal - Mordekaiser's basic attacks deals 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 (+20% AP) on-hit magic damage, and increase Mordekaiser's movement speed by 5 on-hit, up to a cap of 10/15/20/25/30. Basic attacks apply Grievous Wounds to the target for 0.5 (+0.5 per 50 AD)(+0.5 per 50 AP) seconds.
Mordekaiser, I have always felt, is someone who should have a way to deal on-hit magic damage through his basic attacks, simply by nature of who he is: a melee magical brusier, and even as AP he should function like melee ADC's do, sans the lack of attack speed, but he's a giant walking metal reference wielding a massive mace, I don't expect him to be swinging that thing around like it's a katana. It is also a reason why I am against trying to give Mordekaiser some form of attack speed steroid, since it would directly conflict with the purposely built-in limitations of Mace of Spades in its current iteration. The fact is, Mace of Spades can exist the way it does because of the fact that Mordekaiser still possesses the weakness that people can walk away from him, and a slow does not stop a champion who can cc Mordekaiser or dash away from him.
On the other hand, it is frustrating to not be able to land even the second Mace of Spades hit without either your opponent being an idiot - and I have a serious issue when Mordekaiser relies more on people being stupid than you being skilled - or your allies having means of locking-down your targets because again, people can walk away from Mordekaiser as they please. I feel my proposition not only helps to fairly make it more likely to land his Mace of Spades, but thematically it makes sense. As the Master of Metal, Mordekaiser is slow at first and has to get to you to hurt you, but he should gain momentum the more he begins to move and swing his weapon and become harder to slow down, just like how moving metal solids are in real-life. And again, a movement speed buff is not an attack speed buff, even in the split microseconds that Mordekaiser can get to you, he still has to hit you with the Mace of Spades, time in which anything can happen... this is League of Legends after all.
I personally feel that the Mace of Spades acts as one serious issue with Mordekaiser, in that it limits meaningful buffs if we allow it to seriously deal that much damage within three strikes. Yes, I liked the ability as much as the next person, and the idea of that much damage is awesome, but I feel it's too much, and it makes it more difficult to give Mordekaiser more consistent damage in a way that doesn't empower him to the point of being overpowered. Yet, I feel the damage buff should be enough and potentially significant, and I like the idea of steadily increasing damage with each attack. Rather, we should have Mordekaiser be able to deal more consistent damage, hence why the damage is now spread over four attacks instead of three. Yes, overall it might do more damage overall than the previous incarnation, but the damage is more spread out and consistent over four attacks instead of three, giving you more time to avoid the worst of the attack.
In addition, the prompted change to Mace of Spades being a re-activation ability is an issue of balance. Mordekaiser is and always has been vulnerable to crowd control, but the current state of his Q is an issue for a reason many overlook: silencing him does not affect Mace of Spades once it has already been activated. Seeing as Mace of Spades is where Mordekaiser deals the majority of his damage, this becomes a problem when silencing him is no longer as effective as it was against him pre-rework when he could was arguably more squishy and easier to deal with. The change I proposed would make it so that you could react to his Mace of Spades rotation and meaningfully silence him in an attempt to stop or at least delay it. As such, it would now be able to be dealt with and stopped without needing to resort to some sort of stun or root or something beyond having to rely on 'not getting hit.'
And finally, in regards for the Grievous Wounds, I had to consider something: how is Mordekaiser meant to deal with ADC's in the late game who build lifesteal, when Mordekaiser himself doesn't really benefit from either lifesteal or spellvamp effectively as a result of his champion design? Mordekaiser wants to build bruiser, he doesn't need that much damage because of how his Q works currently, rather he wants enough damage to be a threat, and otherwise builds health and tankiness so that he can shield in replacement of lifesteal or spellvamp. However, as I mentioned before... Mordekaiser should exist to counter not just traditional ranged ADC's, but also melee ADC's like Master Yi, Aatrox, Tryndamere, the type who could do Devourer and be a monster to deal with in the late game. And yes, Mordekaiser does fall off in the late game versus traditional ADC's, but by no means does that mean he can't have value in the late game, hence the proposition to give his basic attacks Grievous Wounds. Because really: you get hit by a spiked magical mace, and you're not supposed to be seriously wounded in some way?
Harvester of Sorrow - Magic damage over time now also scales with AD, now changed to 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 (+ 20% AD)(+20% AP), maximum single target also now 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+ 80% AD)(+80% AP). Harvester of Sorrow reactivation heal is reduced by 20% for every second the ability is active, Harvester of Sorrow reactivation damage increased by 7.5% for every second the ability is active.
Passively, Harvester of Sorrow grants Mordekaiser an aura of 250 range that passively reduces the attack speed of enemies by 2/4/6/8/10%. When activated, the aura's attack speed reduction is doubled. Mordekaiser can pass the aura onto an allied champion when Harvester of Sorrow passes onto them, but their aura's attack speed reduction is not doubled; if the auras overlap upon an enemy, only Mordekaiser's aura is applied.
Creeping Death - When no allies are nearby, Mordekaiser gains Creeping Death while Harvester of Sorrow is active. Creeping Death is lost when Harvester of Sorrow is reactivated, or when Harvester of Sorrow passes onto an allied champion. Mordekaiser deals Harvester of Sorrow's magic damage over time without an ally present, as well as dealing 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 (+ 20% AD)(+20% AP) bonus magic damage per second if Mordekaiser is within 150 range of the target. When Creeping Death is active, Mordekaiser's Armor and Magic Resist increases by 3/6/9/12/15 (+1 per 25 AP), in addition, when Mordekaiser reactivates Harvester of Sorrow when he has Creeping Death, he may heal from 4 units rather than 2.
Removed: The Exp buff from W, Mordekaiser gains experience as normal.
The proposed AoE damage and the minor resistances on re-implementing Creeping Death into Harvester of Sorrow is again, more incentive to keep Mordekaiser constantly on his opponent, and promoting the necessity to stay in melee range, while giving an opportunity for others to escape death from solo lane Mordekaiser, as well as giving back Mordekaiser a bit of his sustained defensive dueling potential. This change would also allow you to balance Morde's solo AoE damage separately from his duo AoE damage.
Also, I noticed that Mordekaiser needed more... shall we say, potential thought into his kit. See, as it is, Harvester of Sorrow is already good in trying to make Mordekaiser a more skill-based champion in how reactivating the ability at the right time can make big plays. However, the issue with Harvester of Sorrow that people have is that it favors Mordekaiser much too favorably, and still feels rather mechanically simple. My proposition, therefore, is to make people have to put more thought into how and when they use Harvester of Sorrow, and allowing balance by essentially separating the reactivation damage from the reactivation healing.
Now, you can't have your cake and eat it too when it comes to the reactivation components of Harvester of Sorrow: you can activate it at the beginning if you want a heal, but it would thus have done almost nothing in terms of damage, or you could allow it to drag as long as possible, but you won't get much of anything in terms of a heal. It's more of the give and take needed to allow meaningful changes to Mordekaiser, and it would allow for a rise in skill differential in how people use his W.
In regards to the Attack Speed Reduction Aura, it is the proposed means to encourage him to go to the bot lane as something to hold over ADC's with the loss of the effective poke on his E. The 250 range means that ranged ADC's can still poke Mordekaiser outside of the aura's range, which does not prohibit kiting him but makes it more risky, especially when he tries to make engagements. As such, Mordekaiser will effectively act as an Anti-ADC, not just against his opponent in bot lane, but for those hyper-fed Devourer Junglers who so readily abuse auto-attacks and on-hit effects.
Siphon of Destruction - Range increased to 700, and the damage dealt by Siphon of Destruction decreases by 20% for every 100 range from Mordekaiser, up to normal damage at 300 range. For every 100 range closer to Mordekaiser an enemy champion is past 300 range, Siphon of Destruction deals 25% more damage. This does not affect enemy minions or non-epic monsters.
New Passive: The Punishment Due - Siphon of Destruction now deals bonus damage based on enemy champion's missing health. Siphon of Destruction deals 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5% bonus damage when striking a wounded champion, and another 0.5% for every 1% of that enemy champion's missing health. The Punishment Due's bonus damage is not affected by Siphon of Destruction's distance-damage modifier.
This change is to deal with one issue of Mordekaiser: his Siphon of Destruction does not encourage him to fight in melee range. However, it is necessary for building shield and is critical to burst Mordekaiser builds, as well as being the move needed to execute an opponent who remains out of melee range, but is low enough for Siphon of Destruction to be the finishing blow when they would otherwise not die to Children of the Grave.
It would also, in that exact situation, give people a chance to escape with their lives if they can keep away enough from Mordekaiser, which adds to the theme of Mordekaiser being this walking monster that nobody wants to face. Basically, it promotes the mind game that you have to run away from Mordekaiser if you want to live, which I think everyone could enjoy. A final answer to the problem of Mordekaiser being broken in mid and top lane against opponents he could effectively poke and win trades through sheer attrition.
So in theory, at 500 range it deals 60% damage, at 300 range it does its basic amount of damage, and at 100 range it does 150% damage. Essentially it loses 20% damage for every 100 range of an enemy champion hit, so at the very edge of the Siphon you would be doing only a fifth of the ability's actual damage, which would obviously incentivize Mordekaiser to get closer if he wants to hit his opponent with meaningful damage, perhaps even closer if he wants to inflict the bonus damage from being closer than 300 range, which means opponents can trade with him more meaningfully than before when he could blast you from kingdom come.
Children of the Grave - Now deals 5 / 7.5 / 10% (+2.5% per 100 AP) of the target's maximum health initially, plus 0.3 / 0.6 / 0.9% (+0.1 per 100 AP) over 15 seconds. Children of the Grave now reduces the target's magic resist by 0.5 / 0.75 / 1 (+0.5 per 100 AP) per second. While Mordekaiser is within 650 range of an enemy champion cursed by Children of the Grave, Mordekaiser and his allies become invulnerable to damage from on-hit effects sourced from the cursed champion.
Dragon Force - When Mordekaiser's ghost dies from Dragon Force being activated, the ghost's leftover power is absorbed by Mordekaiser, and Mordekaiser benefits from You've Got Another Thing Comin.' Dragon Ghost now deals 25% damage to enemy structures and 50% damage to enemy champions.
New Passive: You've Got Another Thing Comin' - Mordekaiser gains 10% of his champion ghost's bonus health, and 10% of the ghost's AP for 10 seconds. Mordekaiser's movement, basic attacks and abilities, as well as the movement and basic attacks of the dragon ghost, charges the power of his next basic attack, and at 200 charges, his or the dragon ghost's next basic attack arcs magical lightning, damaging the target and up to 4 other nearby enemies for 50 / 75 / 100 (+25% AP) magic damage. When Mordekaiser battles an enemy champion and/or an enemy champion's pet, it will refresh the duration of You've got Another Thing Comin.' After You've Got Another Thing Comin' has been active for ten seconds, the next refresh will only last five seconds.
The death of a ghost feels wasted, and I don't see why Mordekaiser doesn't just take some power from the ghost to empower himself if he is going to dump them for the ghost of the dragon. I don't intend the buff to be long and heavily abused in lane, more towards promoting Mordekaiser fighting in the middle of an engagement for the dragon in the river, even an unfavorable one. The duration refresh only applies to damage that Mordekaiser directly deals or receives, his Dragon Ghost will not refresh the duration of this buff. I had thought about a simple number buff, but that felt boring, and my idea brought back a little of how the old Mace of Spades used to feel with the spread damage, while making sure it didn't become too powerful.
I wanted it to be strategic to sometimes lose your ghost on purpose so as to initiate a teamfight in the middle of the river, even if the odds would be stacked against you. It could also mean that some number changes could be done to tone down the power of the dragon ghost itself. I have admit it is a bit too effective in the power of pushing that it grants, without compromising the benefit that attempting to attain it would bring. I love the dragon, but the dragon overshadows Mordekaiser itself when attained, which should never be the case: the dragon ghost is his servant, not the other way around. Yes, the dragon is big and showy, but you should be worrying more about the lumbering juggernaut approaching you with an electrically charged mace.
Also, I felt Children of the Grave should feel like it has more of an impact and meshes more with Mordekaiser's kit. The only thing I could thing was to change the ability in some way so as to mesh more with Mordekaiser's abilities, and with the change to make his damage more consistent, I thought that the ability to literally shred through the target's magic resist not only made the DOT feel that much more dreadful the longer it went psychologically, but it also weakened the opponent and made them more vulnerable to Mordekaiser. Of course, to compensate the base damage of the ability was nerfed all around, and the dot was extended over 15 seconds versus 10, but I felt it was worth it to make the DoT itself feel like it has more into it that just dealing damage and healing Mordekaiser, but literally weakening the target until they would inevitably become Mordekaiser's servant.
Finally, the on-hit effect damage invulnerability is very specific for a reason: as I mentioned, Mordekaiser is this hulking monstrosity, and I doubt you could find a more fearsome close combatant than him. My proposed change to Children of the Grave in that regards is to make cursing a champion actually 'curse' the target, as in to weaken them and make it harder for them alone to kill Mordekaiser. This is specifically targeted against those hyper auto-attack late-game champions like Vayne, Aatrox and Master Yi, who could shred through Morde normally in a duel in situations where they should only do so through kiting him, because they can still do that. So Mordekaiser can now essentially force them to back out because he will cripple them with his ultimate, and they can choose to fight and possibly die as a result of their arrogance, or regroup away from Mordekaiser and his team. Again, Children of the Grave is meant to turn a teamfight favorable, it can now do so in a different way, especially for an ultimate that can be cleansed by the purchase of a Quicksilver Sash into a Mercurial Scimitar, which they will have to build if they want to enter the teamfight after being cursed.
