Mordekaiser's ultimate.
Let's start by talking about my experience of Mordekaiser.
I love Mordekaiser, played him a whole lot in Season 2. When Zed and Fizz became the dominant mid-laners, Mordekaiser was my champion to pick if i just wanted to make those assassins feel miserable, especialy after a game where i got demolished by them as Viktor or any squishy mage.
So today, i want to spawn a discussion about Mordekaiser's problems...but i honestly have no clue on how to deal with his passive besides fully removing it. Maybe put it on a timer? Nah, this is Vi's passive.
Either way, i'm not here for the passive, but rather for the ultimate. I love it. I love this dumb ultimate to death. It's so much "screw you" in a single skill: you steal a massive amount of health for a very long time, and if the enemy dies, you obtain a slave.
It's so dumb. So powerful. With this, if i managed to kill a Zad and get his ghost, he'd lose two towers in A SINGLE EARLY GAME MISTAKE. Those two towers would be a massive boost to my whole team, and thus we'd either get the edge and roll over the enemy, or bring back any of ours who were behind, like a top laner who goes 0/3.
Imagine you win your lane against a Riven. The enemy Mordekaiser destroys two turrets. Riven uses that gold to get that one item she needed, but could barely afford. Now she can duel you. Also, Mordekaiser's coming top.
In teamfights, this Ultimate is a monster, but you do have to pick your target: ult the adc, and your damage is boosted to massive amounts and you can obliterate objectives if you win, but you're relatively squishy, nothing to heal on. If you ult the tank, you will NOT DIE, but unless you're fed, you don't deal a lot of damage, basically a simple wall. Ult the mage, and you get your damage, but meh.
Why do i love this ultimate? Because it really gets you immersed in your character: you are an undead commander, and you claim dominion over an enemy, making them your minion. This is, what i think, is one of the core of Mordekaiser: a very powerful undead, who doesn't only rely on brute force, but also on necromancy and such deadly magics.
It makes you feel good, it makes you look good. But it's problematic and relatively humiliating when you look at it the other way: you're Zed and you see yourself destroying your own turrets. You're Jinx and you got a quadra kill...on your own team, for the enemy. Never have i seen more people hating on their teammates than when i play Mordekaiser. They get really upset that their best bet is now against them. It's not fun to fight a 6v4 if you're the 4.
But the ultimate in itself is great, and the idea of a 6v4 is something that Mordekaiser is now recognised as. He twist the odds, makes the game unfair to his opponents. He's one evil bastard.
Another gameplay note is to control the pet while controlling Mordekaiser. It's probably the best feeling in the world to control two things at the same time and, by your wits, manage to defeat the enemy by using your strengths and your weaknesses. Sort of like a puzzle game.
So...why not keep it?
Mordekaiser's ultimate has two parts: the lifesteal and the minion. Remove the lifesteal: it's a cheap trick. It's funny to outplay the enemy, but it's not very interesting: point and click. Poof, you got a lot of health and they don't.
However, the minion mechanic is one of the best thing in the game: you control two champions. Another problem was the 6v4. It's a Mordekaiser thing, but it removes any hope for the losing team to turn it around unless their kill Mordekaiser. A smart Master of Metal will take a step back after he has claimed his prize.
So...what about a 6v5? What if Mordekaiser could immediatly summon a being, seen as a champion, but who only can use his basic attacks? Some sort of spearman, who can jump at his targets as his only bonus(can't jump on someone more than once, or at least on a timer) and fights alongside the Lord himself? We'd keep our fun mechanic of controlling a so-called champion and fight with it, all while not stealing from the enemy? Makes it a fair battle, in a sense. Mordekaiser still has one more champion to fight with, but the enemy team as a whole can fight back.