Why is Mordekaiser the only champion who has health costs without a reliable sustain?

Raid Boss Morde·Jan 19, 2015·6 votes·1,118 views

I've always wondered this. Mundo, Vlad, Aatrox, and Zac all have reliable sustain, while Mordekaiser has his R (this isn't very reliable because it's every 90 seconds or so). Mundo has his passive, his Q in a way, and his R (kind of reliable, it's every 60 seconds). Vlad has his Q, and his W for sustain. Aatrox has his every-third-attack-heals sustain. Zac has his bloblets to heal. Is it because Mordekaiser has his passive? Does that really count as a reliable sustain? If so, it doesn't really make much sense, considering it's a temporary sustain. All of the other health cost champs have permanent sustain. Just a question, not trying to say anything is underpowered or overpowered.

15 Comments

RogueWillJan 19, 20155 votes

It is because of your passive. You are supposed to trade and absorb all or most of the damage your opponent does while dishing out your superior damage. His cost aren't as heavy as well and lastly unlike the others you don't provide sustain damage, you are supposed to do a full rotation and then get out.

Kuroi86Jan 19, 20151 votes

This.

JamnonJan 19, 20154 votes

Cause LCS / esports dont play him, hes not popular. Therefore he is not a priority to rework. Not like he's Lee Sin or something.

FatesDefilerJan 20, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Cause LCS / esports dont play him, hes not popular. Therefore he is not a priority to rework. Not like he's Lee Sin or something.

they used to until he was nerfed. i remember watching old hotshot games where he was practicing morde for a tourney. his shield used to actually absorb damage and not just disappear after 3 seconds no matter if you took damage or not.

The Storm DragonJan 19, 20153 votes

He's also the only champion without some way to manipulate movement (No CC or mobility)

TheFrozenIslesJan 19, 20151 votes

I think it because he was one of the first champs to use his health as mana. Though done put money on what i said.

Jungle Lux GodJan 20, 20151 votes

Morde has health costs without any sustain because you are supposed to block the damage with your shield instead, rather than tanking it directly.

Another interesting possibility for an explanation is that Riot may have wanted to use the resource bar to show Mordekaiser's shield, but still wanted to make his abilities have meaningful costs attached to them.

OleandervineJan 20, 20151 votes

You act as is Zac's bloblets are reliable. Most of the time you have to put yourself in more danger to get to them.

TusutakiJan 20, 20151 votes

His passive is meant to absorb the trades but its so small and almost minuscule compared to the amount of damage you'll be receiving. His health costs are too much for payoff you get. With Mord, you would have to rely on the enemy creeps inorder to get a decent amount of shield and since you have rely on the enemy creeps, you will be prone to be zoned out and none of the less, highly vulnerable to ganks. His build path is also extremely narrow compared to the majority of the other mages.

He needs to have some mobility effect to even be relevant.

PentaJumpJan 20, 20151 votes

He was built at a time when spell vamp was a much stronger stat.

Ramza ParadiseJan 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

He was built at a time when spell vamp was a much stronger stat.

I remember when Morde was actually good.

It's been like, what, 2-3 years now? Morde is the red-headed step child of Riot Games next to Yorick and Urgot.

PentaJumpJan 20, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I remember when Morde was actually good.

It's been like, what, 2-3 years now? Morde is the red-headed step child of Riot Games next to Yorick and Urgot.

Three years and some months, yes. Time goes by so fast. Haha, I remember being really upset about how strong Mordekaiser was.

BeatzBoyFTWJan 20, 20151 votes

His ult does the healing, although not very noticeable.

Raid Boss MordeJan 20, 20151 votes

Every 90 seconds... and it heals as much as a health potion early game.

BeatzBoyFTWJan 20, 20151 votes

Ok, lets put that aside then, mb :p

But still, out of DrMundo Vladimir Aatrox Zac , I think the one reason why Morde doesn't deserve to have any lane sustain is usually because his shield passive pretty much protects him a lot from pokes and such, since most Mordes would buy item 1054 on first buy for that eearly HP regeneration, and then rushes item 3145 . You can call it a "detouring" lane sustain. Having Morde with some health sustain early game, especially as top lane with an example of his Q healing for 50% damage dealt, would be pretty horrifying. The lane sustainers also has their own weakpoint even with having natural health sustain:

DrMundo - W can seriously drain loads of HP, making him a little easy to kill early game. Ult is countered a hell lot by summoner 14 item 3165

Vladimir - While this can be a bs top lane champion, he doesn't have much mobility, and W could seriously injure him if he would be laning against pokey champs like Vayne