I think allies should be a tool to extend Mordekaiser's sphere of influence

instead of hindering him without one nearby.

I think my biggest issue with the rework, by far is his W. It just confuses me from a design perspective; at first, the reasoning for it only being usable if an ally was nearby was that the damage would overlap. This was.. shaky reasoning, to be frank, but it somewhat made sense. But they removed this, and Mordekaiser is still without a damage spell. Why this hasn't been corrected is beyond me.

But that's not the main issue. The biggest thing is that they drastically changed the requisites for a spell without adding meaningful interaction with it. There's really no decision-making to be had; this spell is just as one-note as it used to be, except there's a very annoying requirement to actually use it (you need an ally.) I respect that Riot wants to encourage him to interact with his team, and I actually want them to do this, but this is a poor execution; too much of him suffers from this symptom. Instead, I would like to encourage something else; thematically, it makes sense that Mordekaiser wants to inflict pain and suffering. But he is limited in his range; SO, he uses his allies to 'extend' this range (similar to his old W) for him, but with a difference.

Thus, my proposal is this; W can now be either self-cast or allied cast. When self-cast, Mordekaiser gets the damage of the DoT around himself and the heal on the recast. This gives him an incentive to use it selfishly; for sustain. It's a strong tool for trading and dueling, and it offers -some- decision making in going for the full damage or cashing out early for a heal.

When cast on an** ally**, however, the recast is different; Mordekaiser creates a tether between him and the ally he's W'd onto, with a line between them to show the direction of the recast. When recast, Mordekaiser calls the metal to him, creating a 'pull' that fires from his ally's model, dragging any enemies caught closer to Mordekaiser. Mordekaiser does not heal from this.

And there; Mordekaiser now has a strong, flexible skill that functions for him both in solo and duo lanes, as well as giving him more synergy with more champions. Instead of relying on the front line, Mordekaiser can now properly fit into multiple comps, W'ing onto divers for mini-wombos, W'ing someone behind him while a support speeds him up to initiate on his own, and returns his ability to push and farm and trade by himself. It's also a good thing for everyone; Mordekaiser has more load to his kit, solving the previous issues of it being too simple to balance easily. Mordekaiser now has utility, which gives him more purpose than 'ult-bot' when behind, and all of this adds extra levers to balance him with (pull distance, tether range, the DoT does reduced damage if it's on Mord AND an ally, etc.) It has counterplay because you know what they're going to do if he throws his W onto their initiation, you know that you can evade the pull and safely avoid a metallic death, and so on.

I know it's probably not going to be considered but I liked the idea and figured it'd be worth bringing up again.