Mordekaiser is in desperate need of some help.
I'm sure someone is working on this somewhere, but I think what has become of the Master of Metal Iron Revenant is important. With the recent drop in winrate - see link - of Mordekaiser due to the last few patches, he's in dire straights. While the Juggernaut Update was primarily successful, the idea of giving Morde sustain damage and survivability has flopped. I believe this has to do with the interaction between his passive and his Q, and the potential for his passive Shield mechanic to succeed vs. its actual success. What has followed with these changes is an almost complete revert of his rework, sans his Q's new application - this has become even more apparent in the more recent patches with his W becoming cast-able on creeps.
The idea of more damage = more Mordekaiser (i.e. living longer) is an idea that can be a lot of fun and has seen success in the past (see Darius and Aatrox). However, his kit fails to have any synergy with this idea any longer. A bit over 6 months have passed since the 'Naughts were let back onto the Rift and prior to this Morde's passive felt intuitive because of his kit's straightforward design. The Morde player knew - if he/she were to hit the enemy with insertspellrotationhere while hiding in a bush, helped by supports or during a teamfight it was VERY possible to gauge how much Shield would be created and how it could be applied it to the current situation. Due to the removal of his burst (and of course, the direction in which you guys want to take him) his passive now feels irrelevant and unintuitive.
Therefore, I suggest a few things as a Morde main since Season 3, sticking with him through this wild ride:
- Looking over his passive altogether. This option is pretty self explanatory because it can address a few problems with his champion concept and interaction with abilities all at once.
- Giving his passive a unique exception or interaction with his Q. This change could fix (what I can tell to be) his most prominent issue right now, in relation to his sorta-bursty, sorta-tanky, sorta-sustained damage-y confused state.
- Altering his Q once more. This might change the idea of "absolutely insane mega-damage" which you have already toned down and create something that works better with his passive or that influences that rest of his kit.
- Trying to take his kit into a more Mage oriented direction, as many players still prefer to play/find success with. Many players still prefer to use this sort of a build for Mordekaiser - Healthy AP Bruiser with items such as Zhonya's, Gunblade and Rylai's. Most players that I have played and talked with who enjoy/used to enjoy Mordekaiser reminisce about the kind of fun they would have as a somewhat bursty one-armor-army and Pentagod.
While this Mage-esque change includes a smidgen of personal bias and is probably the least intuitive as it seems** to clash with the idea you have Mordekaiser as a champion** I can tell you one thing - the majority of Morde players (as niche as we have become once more) would be made plenty happy.
Tl;dr PLEASE FIX OUR BABY AND MAKE HIM FUN AGAIN
Hue-ge thanks to anyone who took the time to read this!
