[Kit Idea] Mordekaiser Kit Rework

I really enjoy that his Pentakill skin is getting a VU, even if it's just a small texture update. I own all of his skins, and he was the first champion I played seriously back around the middle of Season 2.

Back then he was viable, at least in solo queue, and his model was in line with some of the most up to date models.

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Now that we're nearing the later half of Season 4, Mordekaiser is quite literally a shell of his old self. With other champions receiving VU and mobility becoming such a deciding factor for the game, he can't perform very well in either of his preferred roles. If he tried to be a sort of AP bruiser top, he would be outclassed by current "Renekton Bar" champions. Mid lane is impossible for him to compete in, Champions like LeBlanc and Ziggs, who are popular mids, would be able to effectively stop him from taking part in the game.

I understand that it is difficult to balance Mordekaiser, his Passive and Ultimate are EXTREMELY strong abilities, and his ult alone can almost redeem his lack of mobility. The problem with that is that he's almost completely reliant on getting a good ult off to be useful during teamfights beyond casting E into a crowd or shielding one of his allies.

He's also very reliant on Spell Vamp, as his health costs are very high for someone who is intended to be either a mage or tank, both roles are slightly counter productive with dealing so much damage to himself, he doesn't have the amount if healing potential that Vlad, Mundo or Zac have, and a mage that damages themselves and can be kited so easily is out of the question.

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I've thought about potential fixes a lot, and I've come up with a few ideas I'd like to bounce around with people.

I personally think his Passive and Ult are very strong abilities, and with the way his passive works, it's an alright counterbalance to his high health costs on ability casts.

The abilities I've thought need some work are his QWE. His W, in my opinion, should be scrapped altogether.

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His Q is a strong, typically single target AA modifier that also resets his AA timer. It's not very strong as an AOE attack as the tradeoff is a lot of damage and you'll likely put yourself at risk being in melee range in a group. Farming Wise, the AOE is useful, and that's where my recommended change comes in.

• Q- Echoed Maces heal Mordekaiser for a flat amount per hit scaling with ability level.

I feel that would help during his laning, but it would likely not affect his teamfighting too largely. It would also incentive maxing his Q for survivability, or his E for poke

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Mordekaiser's W is not very cohesive with his current kit, it being targeted is my main problem with it. Aside from that, it's damage is negligible. It's also on a very long CD for such a small amount of usefulness. The protection buff is very nice, but comparatively , it's not as good as other buffs, while not offering as much as others. For example, Kennen's Lightning Rush, it causes him to...

• Ignore Unit Collision.

• Deal More damage to targets in AOE.

• Restore his casting resource per champion hit.

• past level 1 of the spell, he gains more protections than Mordekaiser shield gives.

• Shorter CD at all levels.

On top of all these things, Kennen is much safer, and can become even tankier than a Mordekaiser, while offering Utility to his teammates.

With all these in mind, I've thought of a potential fix for Mordekaiser mobility issues with this as well.

• W- PASSIVE: Mordekaiser gains a flat amount of protections(10-20, number is up for debate) ACTIVE: Mordekaiser Projects a 'shell' (empty suit of armor) to target location, dealing small magic damage in an AoE around the shell. After 4 seconds the shell explodes, dealing magic damage in a medium AoE around the shell. Mordekaiser can activate the ability early to swap places with the shell, causing him to lose his passive protections for the duration of the spells cooldown.

I think this would offer Mordekaiser a few things he desperately needs, namely an escape from ganks. He's too easy to lockdown, and the vulnerability he would have afterwards would offer a trade off for using the swapping offensively. With the addition of the swapping mechanic, the CD would need tweaking, probably a flat 20 or 18 seconds.

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Mordekaiser's E has been pretty much his only skill worth maxing first, it offered waveclear, damage and a form of poke. With all that considered, there are a few changes I would recommend for it...

• Lower health cost, it's his only ranged trading tool pre 6, and it's range is fairly short to begin with.
• Add a decaying slow to it, Mordekaiser would really benefit from any type of CC, but I feel a decaying slow would allow him to capitalize better on max range hits, while not offering him too much utility like a snare or flat slow would. *When the ability was released, it empowered his shield for amount of targets hit. I think it should instead grant a %missing health heal per champion hit, scaling with Mordekaisers level. This would incentive trading over farming, and allow him some sustain in lane if he's struggling.

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This is about all I have right now, obviously with some of these proposed changes, he would need serious counterbalancing elsewhere. I'd love to see what you all think. Please try to stay constructive with your criticism, if you disagree, I'd enjoy hearing why.