Mordekaiser Rework: Doing it right

Alright, last thread I made about a rework I didn't like was for Fiora, and that one didn't do much except get me quoted in a Kotaku article, so instead of being a whiny nugget about CertainlyT, this time I'm going to try and show what the Morde rework SHOULD'VE been.

First let's look at the rework currently on PBE, numbers can be tweaked any time so I'm going to focus on his kit and thematics. P -Some changes to his passive. Doesn't seem too bad.

Q -becomes an on 3 hit ability, still scales with AD and AP. Kind of weird since you'd think of him more as the guy that uses one big swing instead of a bunch of tiny ones, but I can live with it.

W -gives him full experience even in a solo lane. That seems to go against Riot's philosophy on hidden power, but if you wanted people to try out duo lane Morde, this is the exact point where you should have stopped. Making it optional instead of mandatory. -can only be cast when an ally is near, only deals damage when an ally is near, has some mess of an active I'm not going to get into. Here is where the rework falls apart. If Mordekaiser ever wants to lane by himself in the lanes his players are used to playing in, he will always be missing an ability. So you're pretty much forcing him to be botlane with a support, this could have worked with a new champion, but we are talking about the Kaiser here, and Mordekaiser is Numero Uno. You should not have to keep a numero dos around to play Mordekaiser, you never had to before, and some people don't like to. All it does is shoe horn him into one specific role very few people want to play.

E -Completely unchanged, except for scaling off AD and AP. Okay so we're trying to force him to build some AD, that's just dandy, but why change EVERYTHING else about his kit except this, the one singular ability that makes laning against him annoying. Believe it or not, this isn't the sole defining feature people want to keep for Mordekaiser. You don't have to force him into a duo lane to keep the "parry" effect on this ability while still having it be fun to play against.

R -If Morde's attacks dragon and his team kills it, he gets a pet dragon. I've got a problem with this, Morde has no decisions to make here, if he just touches drag there's a huge risk for the enemy team. This just sounds like it will make him even more snowbally than he is now.

Okay, that kit has a ton of problems. It's a prime example of the flaws CertainlyT's kits tend to have. -He seems to want his champion to be the main character of the game, ignoring all the limits and design philosophies other champions have. -He does not, and has never shown to take the actual players feelings into consideration when designing. Mordekaiser's problems are that he was a pain in the ass to lane against, was kind of feast or famine, and had an unpolished kit with no real decisions or counterplay. The current rework tried to fix him being a pain in lane using the most insane way possible, by forcing players to use him botlane. There is FAR better ways to go about this, instead of changing his entire kit around his E, LET'S JUST CHANGE HIS DAMN E.

So here's my idea for a Mordekaiser rework.

P -Same as live

Q -Deals more damage when the target is isolated, has a greater AOE

W -Becomes a toggle that drains his shield. Has a larger AOE, pictured beautifully in MSpaint. Slows targets in range slightly. When cast over minions, it takes out a chunk of your shield to give them a smaller version. This also makes them try to attack the nearest enemy champion. Can also be used on allies.

E -Pictured in MSpaint. Has a small circle in melee range where Morde instantly slams down and deals damage. Then after a little while, an effect like his live E comes out and deals damage in a cone.

R -No longer deals damage, instead using that power in other areas of his kit. Can now be cast on dragon, giving him a powerful minion if his team takes it. However, Morde gets full cooldown regardless of whether or not he gets it, so he has to decide whether or not it's worth the risk.

Let's look into why I made these changes. For his Q, I'm making it so it hits harder in a 1v1 scenario, but softer when the damage is spread out. This makes Morde scary to fight alone, which is good, Morde should be a terrifying juggernaut trudging around leading a path of death and destruction to anyone who doesn't move out of the way. However, if you team up, his burst hits softer and you have a far greater chance of killing him. This opens up ways to deal with Morde. Standing in your minions when fighting him makes him deal less damage to you. Plus when you gank him, he'll have trouble 1v2ing because his damage will be more spread out. This is all about decisions the enemy team can make to counter him.

For his W, I made it drain his shield to use, in exchange for a slow and damage. This give Morde some decisions to make in combat. Does he want to keep his shield so he has a greater chance of making it out alive, or does he want the slow and damage so he has a chance to catch his enemy and kill them. This can also be used on a minion, making it so if morde built up some shield first, he can try to catch up to someone by casting this. This is all about combat decisions morde can make.

For his E, I kept the "parry" effect CertainlyT wanted, where you use E on someone right before you get hit to build up shield and negate the damage. However, you have to have something in melee range in order to get that parry effect. This makes Morde have to consider positioning when harassing in lane, that also gives a signal for his opponent that he could try to harass. Not only that, having more, instant damage in melee range makes him scary to be directly near, which is what riot said they were going to do when making the rework. The conal damage happens after a delay, so you have a chance to dodge and react to it at range, curbing Morde's crazy in-lane harass. After the instant damage goes off, morde is locked in place for a very short time, so if you're say, Vel'koz, you can try to land your E on him during this so you can trade. This is all about in-combat counterplay.

For his R, I'm spreading the damage to other areas of his kit. This makes it so Morde doesn't use it to kill. He has to use it, THEN kill you, so you have a choice, you can try to fight him and risk giving him a ghost, or you can run away and make him waste his ult. Now for it's effect on drag, this gives Morde a meaningful, game-changing decision. He can cast his R on dragon, and if his team gets it, he gets easily one of the strongest, scariest minions in the game, but if his team doesn't get it, he'll have wasted his cooldown. The Kaiser has some decisions to make here, he can look around the map, be aware of the enemy team, and make a meaningful, game changing choice on whether or not he wants to risk wasting his ult. If there's a fight around drag and morde has trust in his jungler, he could ult Drag to have a chance at winning the fight if his jungler can win the smite-war. This is all about decisions Morde can make that effect the game in a way no other champion does.

Generally Morde keep his laning pattern where he pushes you into tower, but opens himself up to ganks.

Alright, let's take a look at thematics. -Morde needs to use heavy, solid hits. No slamming his mace around like a maniac, he only needs a few hits to deal with you. -Morde has a White, Grey and Black color scheme, the green effects on his abilities should be toned down, as they don't fit well except as accents. -Morde is numero uno, his minions are disposable tools, nothing more. -Morde is scary, he's someone you should run away from if you're not prepared to kill him. -Morde is slow, but makes up for it with damage and tankiness. -Morde is confident, he needs confidence to use his R and W right. -Keep Morde's animations the same as live, on PBE it looks like he uses his crit animation for every hit, and that just looks dumb as hell. His casual swing is one of the reasons I like him. -Hue.

Thanks for listening m8ys. Hopefully, if CertainlyT's rework goes through, Morde will atleast get a larger, Sion scale one later.