Patch 5.16 Bruiser Mordekaiser (top) theorycrafting @RIOT
So we all know the Morde rework will at least stay with us for one patch before being tuned regarding Morde's state of balance in solo and duo lanes so I thought to myself it's never too early to do some math and hypothetical talk about the impact these changes might have on Mordekaiser's various playstlyes. I know there are as many different Mordekaiser builds and styles as there are players who main the guy so this thread will delve into the aspects of MY Morde; Top lane AP Bruiser, the build which helped me climb out of silver this season after heavily improving it over the three years I've mained Morde. That being said, let's get started.
Old vs New: Build My current build consists of rushing an early revolver and building straight into Rylais, from there building a Spirit Visage, Zhonyas, Will and Deathcap alone the way until the glorious lategame rolls about. This puts him above 3 thousand health with about 650 ability power and mixed resistances, a shield of 630 being the current maximum cap.
With the newer one you can completely disregard spell vamp and build right into a Rylais, followed by a trinity force. These two items should help him stick to people with the shortened Ultimate range and abysmal movement speed. From there I'd probably build into a Zhonyas followed by a Deathcap and Spirit visage, similar to my current build since it seems way better after patch 5.16 due to the max hp scaling on the shield as well as the need for some more survivability. Health: 3330 (With health/level seals and 9/21/0) Ad: 181 (Tri force) MR: 114 Armor: 150 AP: 580ish AS:1.24 Shield:832 MS: 400
While the new build loses about 70 ap it gains a lot of shield strength and ad, which feed into Mordekaiser's new siphon and mace of spades as well as giving him the spell blade passive. Being the champion with the highest base ad (151) makes it a must buy on him since he'd be hitting for 302 damage after each spell cast.
Overall a better bruiser build, which seems to Riot's intention with the rework in the first place.
Spell Damage comparison
Mace of Spades: 760>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(260 base+3.9 Ad(706)+2.6AP(1508)+3*AA(543))= 3017
Creeping Death/Harverster of Sorrow: 992>>>>>>648 single magic damage and 304 burst on reactivation/ 1296 damage if the two AoE touch
Siphon of Destruction:640>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>612
Children of the Grave:60% max HP>>>>>>>>>>>>>58% Max HP
2392+60%HP>>>>>>>>>>>>>5229+58%HP 2837 damage gained! (Not to mention the 300 damage sheen proc)
The new Mordekaiser will hurt like a truck lategame but his damage will be tied to being in melee range, making him a true Juggernaut similar to Nasus. His wave clear isn't going to be as strong though since his q's single target damage.
Mordekaiser's gotten a lategame buff in exchange for a less unhealthy bully pattern in lane. His wave clear took a major hit if not being near an allied champion due to his W's restriction, making SoloKaiser a very weak pusher as opposed to the current version in the game<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Suggestion: Give Mordekaiser the option to cast his W on himself to give him some more wave clear in the solo lane. The damage won't be stacking since he won't be near an ally, making me question why he won't be able to cast it on himself in the first place.
All in all he seems to be a way stronger duelist and team fighter due to the nature of his abilities requiring him to be in melee range, making him rely either on the Rylai slow, the MS from trinity force or, most importantly, HIS TEAMMATES.
In the duo lane he'll be unstoppable but really weak when solo>>>>Needs to be addressed, taking away some duo lane power in exchange for solo prowess.
Visuals: Okay... This guy's the master of Metal yet his only metal ability's his Siphon, which TBH doesn't even have a lot of metal in it. Could we maybe address this and add some more metal spikes to the ability, making it actually look like it would hurt? Also, his W looks awful: Purple mist and some glass particles? Give us a reddish-crimson glowing mist like in his splash art and make the metal shards stand out more/add more of them to make him feel more like the MASTER OF METAL
His Q's fine though, sounds HEAVY and METAL
Overall I think Mordekaiser's Rework hot A LOT of potential, especially if you address his Solo lane issues. He'd be the Heavy metal version of Nasus! God like lategame, great dueling, tanky as hell BUT prone to kiting, CC, getting focused and especially GETTING IN RANGE. Overall great Ideas but seemingly lackluster in terms of making his solo lane viable>>>> Address this RIOT and you've probably managed to rework Mordekaiser successfully; opening up more lanes to be played in, making him healthier, making him more of a Bruiser/Juggernaut than a burst mage, Improving his Solo lane without making him unhealthy, and overall opening up for different kind of players! (Top, Mid, Junglers and bot laners!)
~M.M
seems to be core for both damage and sticking power. A little bit of defense there too, but it's not going to be enough in the long run. People said that new Morde won't need much damage after those two items, so it's not a bad idea to go straight up tank items like 
. The 
seems like a perfect fit. However, if more damage is required, that new Hydra item seems to give a nice boost with all that HP Morde will be building. The new Gage item may be okay if the lane is particularly difficult.
Really, just about any item seems to be okay. New Morde scales with so many stats it's hard to go wrong without doing it on purpose. Of course, that's both a blessing and a curse.
. Make it look painful.
W is... underwhelming. I like the shards of metal flying around and wish there were more of them, but the blue/purple gas effect confuses me. Does Morde break wind while he's flinging metal around? Make it more intimidating like his old W. Make it look like something an enemy champion would want to avoid walking through.
or possibly even this if his move speed just feels really bad 
. 
might also be a good item on him now, for CDR and attack speed, although his attack speed might just be overnefed right now.
item on him it's good for him now." It's not good on him, its +20 move speed per hit but he's 15 move speed behind what he used to be - this is him being nerfed and having to pay gold to try and make up for what he's lost. The fact that he has to build a an otherwise bad item for him does not make the item "good".
) and that he seemed pretty tanky to me. I thought this was supposed to be the Juggernaut update... was his tankiness knocked down that much?
shield now.
. You can do it, and have success with it, but you're wasting parts of the kit that a more balanced build would take advantage of. (Also, you won't die in a quarter of a second in a teamfight) That's why I feel that 
more cost effective even with the wasted mana stat.
and 
or his opponent lets him. By the time he's got expensive items to try to help fix his issues, his enemies have also built expensive items to counter him, or else make themselves more awesome and delete him, or just the rest of his team, since he is still limited to slow walking toward them, only now is even slower, has less range, and does less damage at range.
exists, so no one should ever build defenses when she's in a game. Just because the enemy top laner might have %HP damage, that doesn't mean the rest of his team does.
, sit back and farm up. If you're in a duo lane, most likely with a support or at least someone with a slow, right there is your key to hitting your Qs.
barrels give him a MS boost and a slow to his opponents, exactly like what Morde receives with his items. GP can be kited, but if he blows up a barrel you're standing beside he's got you in a bad place. Morde has the same kind of situation, but he can constantly re-apply his slow and MS boost without having to worry about playing a barrel minigame.
Also, you can't look at this in a vacuum. It's not a 1v1 game. Morde can, and should, take full advantage of any CC his allies bring. Most champions at least have a slow built in their kits, and if someone dives into Morde's team to go for the kill on his squishies, that's when Morde can easily get a free Q or two off.
, and his total maximum shield value will not change a bit.
is not uncommon, and in mid, the lane is too short for you to chase anyway.
mid. If you're going to solo new Morde, it's best to try and get a melee opponent. That's not to say you won't see ranged champs up top, but they're less prevalent up there.
Bot lane you'll have a laning partner to help nullify your weakness.
, Riot basically shut that down even though you can still do it) We don't want this new Morde either, but CerT is not a man that can be told "no". As demonstrated by his champion designs.
