Mordekaiser in 2015

It's been one hell of a year, especially for League of Legends. Another season of competitive Esports, various reworks, champion releases and enough change to make Kha'zix proud. Mordekaiser himself has seen a lot of direct and indirect changes over the year, be it good, bad or ugly.

Fresh out of season 4 Season 4 had marked the very first patch Mordekaiser had seen any balance changes made to him ever since season two, one having been a poorly thought out rework on the PBE, which thankfully didn't go through. Riot did the right thing back there and reverted it but not without seizing the opportunity to give Morde some love. His Creeping Death now gave a small MS boost and latched itself on BOTH Mordekaiser and an ally. His ultimate got some changes as well, removing the AD ratio Morde gained from the clone and the ratio adding to the clone's AD power. It was replaced by a flat 50-150 damage and even given a %bonus HP ratio, which was very useful back in the day of the "tank meta" (Not to mention his hp/5 being reduced to 3.5 from 8.5 but oh well^^'')

The rest of the season was rather uneventful for the Master of Metal, being still quite the oddball pick and like a rare pokemon only appearing once in a blue moon.

But everything changed when season 5 attacked! Season 5 seemed to be just as devoid of Mordekaiser changes as the previous few seasons, Mordekaiser not being affected by most of the changes. He did struggle a bit against mega tanks seeing that he either nuked the hell out of his opponents or blow his load and hope for the best. Still, it was a quiet few patches and Mordekaiser spent his days making mid and top a living hell for all those pesky assassin players out there.

Then patch 5.13 Hit and by god were my jimmies rustled. The great AP itemization changes were a dream come true for Mordekaiser! Core items like Rylais, Liandries and Will of the Ancients had changes made to them that made Mordekaiser's mouth water. Rylais had more AP and the slows on AoE's was changed from a measly 15% to a FULL 40% I wasn't a fan of the mask back then but Liandries was finally not so undesirable to pick up

And WoTa... Oh my! The change from flat SpellVamp to 15% of the damage dealt being converted into a heal calculated BEFORE resistances gave Mordekaiser a lot more sustain when fighting against bruisers and tanks while cutting down his sustain on minions, one of his problematic gameplay patterns. A WotA, Spirit Visage, Rylais, Zhonyas, Deathcap build did make Morde become this unstoppable ball of death and destruction. Never dying, blasting the heads off squishies with a stern look.

It was truly Mordekaiser's high point, still not as brutal as season one Mordekaiser and the 13 pot Mordekaiser start but it was bliss. During this time I had a 80% ranked win rate with Mordekaiser top and his win rate did settle on a solid 52% during this time

Mere 3 patches later...

The Juggernaut patch! The moment I saw the changes I felt all my happiness turn to ashes. Mordekaiser was in a pretty solid spot back then. I won't sugarcoat it, he had issues of game health and he was never allowed to be competitive but he was a niche pick with a dedicated fan base and memes attached to him.

My hopes were high that Riot would change their mind and not go through with all the proposed changes like they did back in patch 4.5. I was positive Mordekaiser could benefit from a handful of these changes to truly push his Juggernaut/Bruiser vision. With the right amount of feedback it would certainly be as beneficial as the last attempt at a rework for the Tin man...

fast Forward to the end of season 5 Mordekaiser's pick rate was never something to marvel at but it plummeted ever since his rework and a lot of former Mordekaiser mains have lost faith they'll ever get to play him again. His win rate's an eyesore and his notorious reign of terror during the world championship was a testament on how broken his new design was.

Mordekaiser's a mess.... And yet I feel a sense of melancholic relief at the dawn of a new season. The rework had a lot of good intentions behind it, set on cementing Mordekaiser as a Juggernaut. It gave Mordekaiser the ungodly amount of damage one would expect from a no cc, no mobility Fighter. It showed us that reworks could go south pretty easily if not well thought out and done with not nearly enough effort (looking at you Cass...) It showed us that as hard as Riot tries to force a meta shift and to try and push their agenda of a Duo lane Mordekaiser the PLAYERS will still play him top, mid and Jungle since it's simply more fun, something riot doesn't seem to realize as being the issue of this whole bot lane Mordekaiser fiasco.

Season six is knocking on the door and it's time to close another chapter in the book of Mordekaiser. It was one hell of a rollercoaster ride. In the end we can all agree that Mordekaiser is on the right track, his Movement speed's abysmal but he'll get to the finish line eventually.

Because in the end, as much as Morde gets changed he has seen worse. He's been through ups and downs while flying under Riot's radar and now with his rework still leaving a bitter taste in everyone's mouth I'm certain he'll get the proper treatment to finally make things right.

Here's to a new season for League of Legends and hopefully a brighter chapter in the book of Morde.

http://img02.deviantart.net/6a16/i/2010/301/f/d/mordekaiser_vs_teemo_by_artsed-d31nfvv.jpg