Reworks, Gameplay Patterns & Identity, and Mordekaiser.
Hi all. Just a long post discussing the issues with Mordekaiser, and some reworks in general. Keep in mind that I'm NOT a Mordekaiser main, I've only dabbled with him both before and after his rework. Also discussing gameplay patterns and other junk. Skip to the last section if you're only interested in ideas on how to do a Morde rework right.
It's generally agreed that the Mordekaiser rework is the worst champion redesign in the game's history, and might be the single biggest design failure the game's ever had. People may disagree, but this is my feelings towards the matter, and it seems to be echoed on the forums. The Morde rework backlash has died down though as people seem to have just lost interest/hope in seeing him become viable.
*** GAMEPLAY PATTERNS ***
Before I dive into Morde's issues, lets talk about gameplay patterns. Now what makes a champion unique to play? Some of this comes down to their skills and mechanics, but more importantly it's the culmination of their skills and statistics that determines _how _they play. This creates their gameplay patterns, and this is what results in a champion feeling unique - not necessarily having unique individual abilities.
If we take Kled as a recent example, he's got some pretty basic skills which can be likened to many other skills in the game. However, because of the combination of his skills and his passive, Kled's gameplay pattern is uniquely all about going ham. Other champions want to go ham all day, but none encourage that all-in aggression that Kled's kit results in, and the fact that when you're at your most vulnerable is when you want to be even more aggressive. Kled feels unique, despite having nothing innovative about his kit except his passive.
*** Good vs Bad Reworks ***
Reworks in League's history have been met with universal praise or hatred, with very few divisive ones. A lot of this comes down to champion identity, i.e. their uniqueness which is represented in-game by their gameplay patterns. A champion can be changed significantly, but still be well-received so long as the gameplay patterns match the original fan base's perceptions of what those gameplay patterns were or should be.
In the case of Sion, he was a champion with a contradictory skill set that meant that whether you went AD or AP, 2 of his skills would be pretty useless. Arguably his strongest build was going full AP, but this didn't match his character at all. HIs rework made him into the juggernaut he was always supposed to be, and while his gameplay patterns changed massively, his new gameplay patterns lived up to what people believed he should have been in the first place. With Poppy, 3 of her skills changed significantly, but despite this she kept her identity of the tank that can find path to the enemy's back line, and gets harder to kill the lower hp she is. She's different, but she's more fun, has more counterplay, and is still the Poppy everyone knows and loves.
When you look at Mordekaiser, you get an image in your mind as to what he should do. He's big, he's covered head to toe in spiky armour, and he has a giant mace like Sauron. In the intro to Fellowship of the Ring, we say Sauron lay waste to hordes of unfortunate soldiers by smashing them to bits with his mace, essentially being a 1-man army. Morde looks like he should be capable of this, and to some degree old Morde could. All his basic skills were AOE, and dealing damage made him more tanky. Ok, cool. His ultimate stole someone's soul and made him more powerful. Also cool and on point, thematically. Getting tougher by doing magic attacks that didn't necessarily involve his mace? Eh, not quite what he looks like he should be doing. Dealing damage to get a shield is a cool idea, but needs refinement.
*** Mordekaiser's Rework ***
So what we needed was a rework that exemplified Mordekaiser's idea and gameplay patterns. Put simply, Morde was this juggernaut that was at his best when he had a horde of enemy minions to slaughter to fuel his shield, and in many ways found it advantageous to be in the midst of enemy minions while fighting an enemy champion, rather than away from them (his W often meant he could gain shield faster than surrounding minions could damage him).
What we got was a champion who is forced botlane by his skill tweaks, by making his W only work properly with a nearby ally, gaining bonus XP for having an ally, and for having lots of his power budget being put into making ghost dragons. All his skills look the same on the surface, but the difference it made to his gameplay patterns couldn't be bigger. No longer is he the juggernaut that finds strength from enemy minions and don't need no support, but instead he is this giant, fully-armoured wet blanket that literally is worse without support from his allies. It was weak, it was unviable, and worse still it was introduced despite enormous backlash from his fanbase because CertainlyT didn't want to admit to making a mistake, and was too focused on being innovative for innovation's sake again. Ghost dragon is thematically very cool, however.
I don't think any other champion in the game is explicitly weaker without having allies around, which betrays his character entirely. Worse still, being melee in a predominantly ranged lane means that he spends all lane on the defensive, when Morde was all about pushing all game because of his strong appetite for minions.
Did Morde need a rework? Yes. His design was old, and his Iron Man passive needed (and still needs) some more thought in order to make it as good as it should be, thematically. Furthermore, the loss of spell vamp means that his AP-based kit is weakened. Morde was introduced to the game when AD scaling was virtually non-existent. He was played as AP as that was how he scaled, but that's not what matters about the champion. If he scaled with AD or tank items but played the same, it wouldn't matter. In fact, I would say that keeping him AP is detrimental to the champion's identity as a whole, since he really should play and feel like a bruiser, given his appearance and giant mace.
*** What a Mordekaiser Rework Should be ***
So to wrap up, lets see what Morde should be, with a few ideas thrown in. Keep in mind this is subjective.
Mordekaiser Should Be:
- A juggernaut that excels at pushing
- Stronger when surrounded by enemy minions
- Slow, and low in CC
- Capable of dealing lots of AOE damage, but poor at peeling or reaching an enemy back line.
Sample Mordekaiser Kit Idea: Passive: Iron Man
As before, but in addition the shield's maximum capacity is increased by 2 for each minion killed. Morde's skills do not generate more shield as it grows in capacity, meaning it takes longer to fill up as it gets larger. Basic attacks generate a small amount of shield. Shield decays only when out of combat for a few seconds.
Note: This change is to encourage pushing lanes as much as possible, which is something old Morde excelled at and was a major gameplay pattern for him. The shield getting larger but consequently taking longer to fill up means that Morde potentially becomes incredibly hard to deal with in the mid-late game if he's allowed to push a lane for a significant amount of time. Usually it's a bad idea to let a top laner afk push a lane without interference, but in Morde's case it's especially bad, as he'll get even more difficult to deal with the longer he's allowed to push.
Q: Mace of Spades
Mordekaiser's next three auto attacks deal bonus damage and sweep in a wide arc, sweeping left, right, then left. All targets hit are damaged and knocked back. Enemy champions can only be knocked back once per ability cast.
Note: This fulfils the Sauron fantasy, and makes him capable of clearing out a wave quickly. Furthermore, it's his main form of peel, and can be used to briefly clear a path to the enemy backline (although he'll lack the mobility to attack the backline himself).
W: Harvester of Sorrow
Mordekaiser activates a shield of magnetic metal shards around himself, boosting his armour and magic resistance, and dragging nearby allied and enemy minions towards him. The shards deal damage over time to enemies in range. At the end of the duration or upon re-activation, the shards explode, dealing damage based on a percentage of his current shield and knocking back all surrounding minions (allied or enemy).
Note: This skill is again playing into the power fantasy, making a mockery of minions and moving them around at a whim. Additionally it will synergise with siphon of destruction. Because this skill drags in minions to Morde, it will generate more shield for Iron Man if there are more minions to drag in because it will be damaging each of them, essentially allowing him to optimise the usage of lots of enemy minions. Since his shield has potentially infinite scaling by farming CS, the explosion damage will be very damaging if the enemy team are not able to keep Morde's shield in check in a team fight.
E: Siphon of Destruction
Mordekaiser saps health from all surrounding enemies and allied minions, dealing a flat amount of damage. Mordekaiser's shield is increased for each target hit, with champions providing more shield. If Mordekaiser reaches 100% shield capacity then he regains some hp with the excess (although only half the amount he would gain as a shield). Allied minions cannot be killed by this ability.
Note: The range on this skill would be a short player-based aoe, meaning that it would be best used when preceeded by his W to bring all minions close by. It has some use in a teamfight, but is mainly used to emphasise his resilience in lane when surrounded by minions.
R: Children of the Grave Unchanged from live.
Note: Ghost Dragon is the only good thing about the new Morde, and it would be cool to keep this as an option so long as it was within his power budget. It would also lead to some interesting choices in terms of which lane he goes to, i.e. Top or Mid. Top lane is usually the most solo push-oriented lane which benefits his gameplay patterns more, but being mid means he's closer to dragon in order to capitalise on that bonus more frequently.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Discuss and stuff.
