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Why I think Morde's got such a low win rate currently

Malicious Metal··35 votes·3,565 views

I'm currently on my climb to platinum using Mordekaiser whenever I can, which is almost 100%, and am rocking a 61% win rate with the metal man. I never feel he's trash and actually think he's criminally underrated for what he can bring to the table but I'm digressing.

Looking over his statistics at Champion.gg made me raise an eyebrow at all these odd things I was seeing. The two things that bothered me the most were the choice of core build and starting items, two things that I deem essential for Mordekaiser's success.

Core Build Morde's core build with a stunning win rate of 47% consists of a Rylais into Zhonyas only to be followed by some tanky options. Rylais is core but sadly this is where the build goes south, getting a Zhonyas after Rylais makes Mordekaiser way too squishy to actually do anything come mid game. The build's not bad per se but the ORDER is completely off and makes Mordekaiser's performance fall short.

Starters item 1054 and item 2003

Dorans and pot...

This might just be the worst starter, even worse than Dorans ring. Mordekaiser needs to sustain himself in the laning phase but doran's simply doesn't cut it. Getting Cloth to deal with heavy ad harass or boots to escape ganks is such a better option and helps cover up some of Mordekaiser's early game problems while getting a Shield doesn't help as much

3. Lack of Mordekaiser mains in plat+ Champion.gg only includes stats from platinum and above and as far as I know high elo lacks serious Mordekaiser mains who dedicate enough time to learn the ins and outs of League's Iron Man. A lack of experience and proper champion mastery might just be the biggest factor for Mordekaiser having such an abysmally low win rate currently.

This is just something that bothers me greatly, seeing that Morde's slowly becoming a real Joke and the lobbies who flame me for picking Mordekaiser get more common by the day.

In the end I think Mordekaiser's win rate doesn't reflect his power level as it currently stands and might even lead riot to do something rash and result in Mordekaiser becoming way too strong and get trashed in the process.

68 Comments

Jbels7 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malicious Metal,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=aWnoNqQg,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-02-05T22:17:54.000+0000)

In the end I think Mordekaiser's win rate doesn't reflect his power level as it currently stands and might even lead riot to do something rash and result in Mordekaiser becoming way too strong and get trashed in the process.

You mean that thing they did to begin with?

YumaS2Astral7 votes

I just want Morde's base stats to be buffed

Azrael Jiraco1 votes

I certainly will not argue against this if Riot choose to do so, but I will change my target ELO to Diamond if they do, haha!

Rendarkan5 votes

Thats okay Malicious if you play him in ARAM his starter items are...

item 1058 and item 2003 x5.

And you have 1400 starter gold. I'll let the community do the math.

Sneakyy XD4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malicious Metal,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=aWnoNqQg,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-02-05T22:17:54.000+0000) In the end I think Mordekaiser's win rate doesn't reflect his power level

No champion's win rate reflects its power level.

Malicious Metal23 votes

Win rates around the 40% or 60% mark do indicate if a champion's either OP or Up though

Sneakyy XD1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malicious Metal,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=aWnoNqQg,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-02-05T22:27:18.954+0000)

Win rates around the 40% or 60% mark do indicate if a champion's either OP or Up though

No, they indicate how often different champions win.

Baron of Bread18 votes

It would be reasonable to conclude that high (or low) win rates have some correlation to the champion having more (or less) power than the others.

Edge of Daybreak9 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malicious Metal,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=aWnoNqQg,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-02-05T22:27:18.954+0000)

Win rates around the 40% or 60% mark do indicate if a champion's either OP or Up though

Bruh you know you are too well liked when you get upvoted for stating winrate shows a relative level of power on Gameplay. You are basically a deity at this point.

kasfas8 votes

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/f2/f2a0818bac1391b67566eaa96a951ca0710e8f594cf7b0b6f680c114cd57a575.jpg

Vistha Kai8 votes

It is common knowledge than when a champion has a very low or very high winrate something is fishy.

If he said "Winrate = Power level" then he'd get downvoted like the next dude.

A Liberal1 votes

Kind offtopic, but I have this one friend that thinks winrates are completely meaningless and will continue to call a champ OP even if they have a winrate that is literally 43% cough Azir Cough. Like yes i understand that winrate is contextual and there are a lot of factors that go into it, i.e new reworks and champs can be expected to have a low winrate, FOTM will have lower winrates, ect. but still... stats do mean something

Lohenngramm1 votes

{quoted}

Kind offtopic, but I have this one friend that thinks winrates are completely meaningless and will continue to call a champ OP even if they have a winrate that is literally 43% cough Azir Cough. Like yes i understand that winrate is contextual and there are a lot of factors that go into it, i.e new reworks and champs can be expected to have a low winrate, FOTM will have lower winrates, ect. but still... stats do mean something

In fairness, Riot themselves have said that they consider Azir to be overpowered when his win rate is higher than the 30% range. It's because of the ridiculous learning curve he has.

MKDkilla2 votes

Then why is it that Riot aims to lower/higher %win rate of champions who have high ones on the most part?

Vistha Kai2 votes

I liked when they nerfed Swain and Syndra who had sub-50% winrate to begin with and buffed Lux who already had 52% (now she scores 60% winrate aganist half of her matchups).

Saphixia1 votes

Graves is the top of the win rate last time i checked but he is very balanced

A Liberal1 votes

They never said that, in fact there are pretty heavy nerfs for him currently on the PBE.

The reverted a couple of them, but i'm assuming it was so they don't overnerf him in one patch.

MunchCrunchLunch3 votes

i bet some people have even higher winrate with worse champions. what a large sample size.

Sire Hippington3 votes

Honestly, my impression from morde is that his winrate reflects his power quite well at high elo(well ok, he's certainly better than 45%, but still not in the best spot). Once jungler and laner work somewhat well together, toplane becomes a dangerous place for morde. He has the least mobillity one can have, he has no cc, and early on he's fairly squishy. And even if he survives lane, the pay off isn't really there. Once you opponents are decent at chaining cc and focusing a target, you can't affort to built squishy. You need rylais into 2-4 straight tank items to do anything in a teamfight, and that causes your damage to fall flat, as you rarly will make you way past the frontline, and you lack the magic-pen to really do that much to the frontline. And often enough, you will just eat some CC and everyone will get out of range as soon as your 3ed Q is ready, and 2sec later when it's expired you just get ignored once again. Not even the ult is much of a saveing grace, as carries will get QSS as 3ed item. If he somehow manages to get a carryghost or a dragon ghost after a won fight, then chances are good that he will take alot objectives and snowball from there. But if that doesn't happen, he's pretty weak vs good opponents.

The only exeption to that i have seen so far is a morde with good suport, like a midlane lulu, as that allows him to built more agressive and still become a die hard while also beeing way harder to kite with the speedbuff. Though lulu is a beast in many combinations, a darius or garen with lulu sup is just as scarry, and fnatic showed today how powerfull an adc with lulu can be...

DREADN0UGHT2 votes

I always enjoy reading you, Malicious. As always you pin so many issues down and make me wanna play the damn guy.

MrBuffington2 votes

You'd think people wouldn't flame you for picking Morde when you have your name. Like if you had a Zed or Ezreal name, there'd be a big possibility you're still trash at the respective champion, but no one names their account after an under played champ like Morde unless they actually know what they're doing

BastionKross1 votes

I agree with this theory. Morde scales with many things now, and people don't know what to do with him. Do you focus on AP? Do you focus on AD? Sustain? Damage? Tanky stats? What masteries work the best with him? Does that one mastery that boosts shields work with his passive, or is it still bugged? What keystone has the best potential? What summoner spells work with him the best? What starting items are best for which matchups?

Players don't have a lot of answers to these questions. Not for lack of trying though; there aren't many guides for Morde that have been updated for his recent changes. Pros don't seem to want to touch him much. There's only one streamer that I can think of that mains Morde at the moment and he's struggling to get viewership.

In fact, Malicious Metal, you want to know why so many people want to get your advice on how to play Morde even though you're not in plat+? You're the only person around that seems to know what he's talking about when it comes to playing Mordy. There's a million Yasuo mains who will gladly give you build orders, but Morde has got next to no one explaining what works best on him and why. You, MM, are one of the few leading authorities on Morde normal players have to call upon.

...At least until the day Faker takes Morde mid, goes 12/1 in the LCS, and everyone starts maining him.

Malicious Metal3 votes

{quoted}

...At least until the day Faker takes Morde mid, goes 12/1 in the LCS, and everyone starts maining him.

Let's hope that will never happen.

I'm actually grinding towards platinum currently and reached my gold three promos today. And the only reason I want to get up there is to see if it would influence Morde's stats in any way.

A Liberal1 votes

^ Goals

Azrael Jiraco1 votes

I can testify to this. The builds people think work on Morde are generally sub-par.

I am also journeying to plat with just Morde:

http://www.lolking.net/summoner/euw/34599087

Still rocking full damage after Rylai's complete.

Hextech Gunblade is the best non-magic pen item Morde can purchase as a damage item, for example. Zhonya's? He doesn't make many plays around the active, flat AP doesn't do much for Morde and the Armour is not very tanky considering the gold investiture. It doesn't justify taking it over certain other items.

Some items in the generic build are strong (such as Sterak's Gage), but Trinity Force is not!

YumaS2Astral2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Azrael Jiraco,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=aWnoNqQg,comment-id=0008,timestamp=2016-02-06T00:04:33.379+0000)

I can testify to this. The builds people think work on Morde are generally sub-par.

I am also journeying to plat with just Morde:

http://www.lolking.net/summoner/euw/34599087

Still rocking full damage after Rylai's complete.

Hextech Gunblade is the best non-magic pen item Morde can purchase as a damage item, for example. Zhonya's? He doesn't make many plays around the active, flat AP doesn't do much for Morde and the Armour is not very tanky considering the gold investiture. It doesn't justify taking it over certain other items.

Some items in the generic build are strong (such as Sterak's Gage), but Trinity Force is not!

I take Zhonya against Zed for obvious reasons but other than him there is not much reason to get Zhonya

Azrael Jiraco1 votes

Damage to Morde's passive does not count as damage taken, therefore if you balance it correctly, Zed's ult proc will do next to no additional damage (or simply no damage at all!).

But yes, if there's a Zed that's really fed and he chooses to ult you over the ADC, Zhonya makes for a good counter item, but so does Sterak's Gage which is an overall better (and cheaper) pick.

Edge of Daybreak1 votes

In the interest of not just adding to the bad winrate what are you supposed to build on morde? I havent touched him since S3 and well life was simple back then.

Annoxis1 votes

I usually altenate between offensive Items and defensive ones. I always start with Rylai, and I think everyone herewill agree that there is no better first item on him. Then Deadman's Plate, because, since I max Q first, the damage will stay relevant a long time, even with only one damage item. Then, I build Hextech Gunblade, because it is the item that gives Mordekaiser the most damage in the game. Then I build the Spiritual Visage, for RM and sustain. The last item depend on what my opponent are, but I usually want an item that gives both survivabily and Damage, like Liandry's Torment, Sterak's Gage, Zhonya's Hourglass or Abyssal Scepter. There are four possibles boots for Mordekaiser : Sorcerer's Shoes, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Boots of Celerity, Mercury's Threads.

hi im minty1 votes

I really liked that you took the time to explain this. As a new player I really like reading about people's perspectives and experiences within the game. I appreciate learning a little more about mordekaiser and how you successfully build him. Thank you!

Mhihnj1 votes

I like taking full ad morde into blind pick. My build:item 3053 item 3006 item 3078 item 3083 item 3748 item 3153 item 2140 (oritem 2139 for taking down turrets)

Annoxis1 votes

I like your build, but haven't you ever considered Frozen Mallet on Warmog ?

Mhihnj1 votes

I dont usually use it but it's pretty good on morde

Raid Boss Morde1 votes

I'm in Plat+ and I am indeed a Mordekaiser main ;-;

Gypsyleeboy1 votes

too many people who try him for the first time and hate him cause they know how to to play him.

Not enough pro's interested in playing him anymore cause of all the new champ/meta champ hype's

#truetalk

GwingMaster1 votes

It's somewhat surprising that no pro teams have taken him for a spin. Consider that dragons are basically free in the professional game now - teams simply don't value to buffs enough to risk fighting over them. Instead they focus on pushing tower objectives and punishing teams that take time out of lane for worthless dragon buffs. Except then there's Morde. Free dragons = free tower pushing power to a ridiculous degree. If you play a comp that allows you free reign on the dragon you'll basically win bot lane outright unless you completely screw up. It would be cool to see some team take a chance and try to abuse this lack of dragon control by using a champ that can really make use of it.

Dengeden1 votes

He does a lot of things that in teamfights are more set up or followup for plays than actual plays. Alongside the champions that I like to play, this is a weak point that enemies can abuse under the right circumstances.

Also, QSS is like a hard counter to him.

SettDownShutUp1 votes

Doran's shield is very lack-luster in general.

l Helios l1 votes

Played Morde yesterday for the first time in a while with a Blitz bot. That was one of the funniest things I've done in years.

By that I mean it was fun. And broken. Not fully broken but a lot of fun.

Big Lincoln1 votes

still trying to get acquainted with him before I take him seriously in ranked

probably going to go bot/mid with him, top lane feels too problematic with 20 base armor and 325 movespeed in the longest solo lane

Sahn Uzal1 votes

First off, I think Morde's underrated as FUCK! I hadn't played LoL for like 2 weeks when I was sick.

I actually decided to play Morde when I started playing again... It did not go well. That was all my fault tho, I was horribly rusty and GAWD DAMNIT did I play bad that game. So I fed the shit out of some Nautilus.

Later in the game I realised I was not useless. I was feeding, but I had some damage. Also, I just had to ult the first person who would die, the adc by preference. I felt like I was doing something :P

I lost that game. Buuuut I deserved to lose. :P

I also remember playing a game with a Morde top who actually did well and cleaned up 4 people after a lost teamfight with his Dragon pet. It was awesome to see.

The sad part is that I feel like Mordekaiser's kit does not do his personality and character justice. But that's just gameplay depth. And it's my opinion.

Have a good day, have a good life. ''This whole ''Living thing'' is highly overrated anyway...'' Mordekaiser

summoner 31

Khâmul1 votes

I usually play him in top item 1323 item 3151 item 3116 item 3065 + (item 3143 OR item 3742 ) + (item 3146 or item 3157 or item 3053 or item 3001 (depends of the enemy team) summoner 6 summoner 14 is actually working for me. I'd was going to try summoner 6 summoner 1 but my pc is dead.

Keti1 votes

It's also because solo lane mordekaiser wears a "camp me" sign and the higher elo you get the better junglers are at reading such signs.

KGBcommunist1 votes

{quoted}

It's also because solo lane mordekaiser wears a "camp me" sign and the higher elo you get the better junglers are at reading such signs.

Sure thats why you play a bit safe early. Get strong dont die and then when that jungler comes ..."you have slain an enemy....double kill"

Tengrichan1 votes

You wish it was that simple.But actually his old issues are still there.Use skills->lose hp->push lane->get ganked Rinse and repeat.Oh you actually try to last hit?Well the enemy will just harrass you.Oh you used E to mitigate the damage and you pushed the lane.rip Also now attack speed reduction makes his Q actually useless.So you have 2 basic spells to operate with.W is easily avoidable. Let's not even talk about his abysmal armor/armor growth.It's pathetic.

KGBcommunist1 votes

I hate what they did to his ult. 25% immediate magic dmg then 75% over 10 secs. It used to be 50-50. They took the burst away from the ulti. Now the enemy laners have a chance to flash and heal instead of dying. Would it also kill riot to buff his base stats a bit? There extremely low atm. I mean shit this guy looks like a fucking villain boss in almost any video game but yet on league he's a squishy slow bruiser. I still love morde but he still needs a bit of work.

Azteryz1 votes

i feel like he also has the twitch problem pre vu

where he just looks outdated but as soon as he got a vu and no actual gameplay changes just more clarity and visual shine he was played a bunch

i feel morde is above average in terms of vu needs

Tusutaki1 votes

Starters and

Dorans and pot...

This might just be the worst starter, even worse than Dorans ring. Mordekaiser needs to sustain himself in the laning phase but doran's simply doesn't cut it. Getting Cloth to deal with heavy ad harass or boots to escape ganks is such a better option and helps cover up some of Mordekaiser's early game problems while getting a Shield doesn't help as much

Dorans Shield is a terrible start for practically all situations. Literally almost every other viable start options are superior. It doesnt even block 8 damage as its advertised.

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