Wasn't the Morde rework meant to give him options other than maxing his counterplay free E?

Morde's Siphon of Destruction has extremely non-interactive gameplay; he walks up, pokes you in minions (pushing/farming while he's at it), and walks away until its back off CD, relying on the shield he got from it to shrug off any retaliation.

5.16 shifted much of his power from his e (base damage greatly reduced) to his w and q, which resulted in him maxing his W first. Admittedly, this was too strong - it gave him great sustain, all in damage, and melee wave clear, but in 5.18 its damage was very nearly halved, and the sustain against minions all but removed. The move speed was also nerfed.

So he went back to maxing e - his q still wasn't worth maxing first, as its bad for farming and low in base damage; its the scaling that really goes up as you level it, not the base; putting points in it only makes a noticeable difference when you already have some items.

This is just an observation, I don't have the answers. Morde needs some power shifting, but I really like the new role he serves in the game. Straight out nerfing his E to the point were something else is worth maxing would just remove him from the game, and his base stats are already so low that I have a hard time seeing lowering them to put power into his w or q would do anything but make him more binary - low base stats matters quite a bit more when you are behind than when you are ahead.

Giving Morde's Q a higher base damage, but making the scaling based on champion level in a similar fashion to Garen's E, would be a good way to make his Q worth-while to max early, while maintaining his overall power level mid to late game. Simply increasing its base damage devalues offensive itemization on Morde; he needs the bulk of its damage to come from ratios mid to late game for offensive items to be worthwhile. His Q would still probably not be worth maxing in bot lane, but it'd make him far more viable and interactive top lane.