@morde is a mage-juggernaught or ap-ADC . his winrate will be fine after rylais nerf

morde was classified by riot as a "juggernaught" but it doesnt really work like that. hes not a juggernaught in the way garen and darius are juggernaughts

garen and darius are melee juggernaughts. morde is a ranged juggernaught

riot may have "called" morde a juggernaught, but the truth is after his kit settled and the numbers were fixed to produce a 50% winrate, something other than a juggernaught was ultimately created

morde is NOT a "juggernaught". after his kit was tuned numbers-wise, it ultimately turned out that he is more of a "ranged damage" force. hes like a "ranged AP juggernaught".

morde is sort of a "melee mage" and i think thats a very fun and cool concept for a champion. and i dont think it should be changed much. hes like a syndra, but way tankier, hes a juggernaught mage and ill explain why

the way mobas work is you design and create a kit that seems fun and unique and seems to "synergize well with purpose"

then you buff/nerf its numbers to give it a 50% winrate, and after thats done the balance team cant really do much more. their job is done

after fixing mordes numbers, his kit ended up becoming what i view as sort of a "melee mage" a "juggernaught mage"

so lets see what we have with mordes current kit

passive - a shield to make him tankier that converts damage into shield

Q - massive melee damage

W - a light aoe shield to you and a ally, with a light healing aspect

E - long range cone damage with good scaling, that refills your shield

R - huge %hp damage click-and-forget nuke that heals morde for the damage

so some might say "see. mordes Q. massive melee damage. hes a juggernaught!"

and i say no. not exactly. morde also has insane damage/power pumped into his E and R. this gives morde very high ranged damage ability

garen/darius dont have ranged damage ability like morde does. garen/darius are true juggernaughts. morde is not a true juggernaught. hes a mage juggernaught. hes a melee mage

in fact morde has SO MUCH DAMAGE stuffed into his E and R, that it allows him to have his 50% winrate as a "melee mage". and i dont think its a bad thing. I DONT WANT MORDE TO BE A JUGGERNAUGHT, i like the "melee mage" that morde is. its very fun to me and i think its a cool champion concept

when you play morde, you dont want to play him as a "juggernaught". that will just make you lose because thats not what he is. you dont want to run in trying to land your Q. youll just get blown up by their adc+mage

no. as morde, you just want to stay back and spam your E range while your tanks are tanking. there is so much damage stacked in your E and R

also. mordes R is so powerful when you build heavy damage. mordes R is a tank busting ultimate. it deals %MAXHP damage.

when you press R on the enemy tank you damn near delete him. where as if syndra presses R on the enemy tank she feels like she wasted a ultimate. syndra has to move PAST the frontline to ulti the backline, where as morde can just press R on the enemy frontline and delete them and make the fight a 4v5 while his tank is still alive

morde is a tankbusting mage-juggernaught. just press your R on the enemy tank in a teamfight and gg free teamfight victory

you might be saying "thats lame. so mordes Q is useless then? how unfun"

and to that. i say no. mordes Q should be seen as a "punishing tool". if any melees try to break past your frontline and reach your backline, you can punish them with your Q

syndra would punish melee who reach her backline with stuns/cc

morde on the other hand, punishes melees who reach his backline with FUCKLOADS OF DAMAGE

that is what mordes Q is. mordes Q is his "peeling spell". however instead of peeling with CC, ,mordes peels with fuckloads of damage to kill you

and to top it off. what remains is mordes W. mordes W provides very little, but it has its uses. sure mordes W is lackluster and weak overall, but its fine in his KIT. think of garens W. garens W and mordes W are like "fill in" parts of a kit that are there to "fill in" and just exist while the rest of the kit is strong and loaded with power

so mordes W is used best i feel just casting it on your tank. and it gives your tank decent self-aoe and it heals him for a decent heal for 2 nearby enemy champions. its pretty decent overall

i think mordes best build next patch will be

gunblade, deathcap, ludens, liandry, deadmans, visage iron elixir

mastery: 2% damage, feast, natural talent, battle trance, magic penn, deathfire. 5% armor, bush speed, 8% healing, fearless

attackspeed reds, scaling hp yellow, scaling CDR quints, for blues im not sure (either scaling CDR or MR blues. probably scaling CDR)

this build will give morde +1000 health (300 elixir 220 runes comes out to 3300 endgame hp) , gunblade sustain, perma high movespeed from deadmans/ludens . very high damage, about 500 AP lategame + natural talent + 40AD for around a 40 damage per second deathfire

the rylais nerf hurts morde. but it hurts every champ that built it. i think a new item should be made (tanky, no AP, with ability slows) for people like morde / amumu / rumble. however thats for riot to decide on. i think it would be fair to make a "AP mallet" since AD tanks get frozen mallet. well see