Mordekaiser, Master of Metal, Mayhem, and Much More
“You thought you could protect these mortals,” said Mordekaiser. “But know that it will be you who slays them.” -Mordekaiser
"Yes, it is I, the Numero Uno" -Also Mordekaiser
While Rito has yet to admit it, I think we can all agree that the Morde rework was ultimately a failure. However, it isn't necessarily a failure because of where they wanted to take him (namely bot lane), but rather how they took him there. Morde was in need of a full-blown rework, not a simple gameplay update and I think they understand that. Live and learn I guess, no point in pointing fingers.
This is my iteration of a full rework for Mordekaiser. My Idea for how Mordekaiser should be played tries to further emphasize both his strengths (high damage, very tanky, basically a wall of pain or juggernaut) and his weaknesses (relies on allied CC, slow moving, weak to CC), as well as alleviate the inherent problems of Mordekaiser's kit by shifting how he scales throughout the game (feast or famine, either completely oppressive or completely useless) as well as where most of the power of his kit should actually lie (such as having sustained damage with the potential to burst instead of having burst with the potential for sustained damage).
This iteration of Mordekaiser places him on a team similar to that of Kog'maw, meaning that his early game is incredibly weak, and requires that he use his shield to protect himself, as well as potentially requiring allied assistance in order to survive the early stages of the game, meaning that he can be played in solo lanes, but he functions better in a duo lane due to the desired support from allies. That being said, Mordekaiser becomes an absolute monster come late game capable of obliterating towers, champions, objectives, and the like, but just like Kog'maw, he needs assistance from his team for him to be able what he does best: Be the Numero Uno.
So without further ado:
Passive: Iron Man
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Mordekaiser converts 30% of the magic damage he deals (not including items) into a temporary shield, with half effectiveness against minions.
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Shield decay INCREASES the more shield that Mordekaiser has, with a value of 0% decay at 25% shield.
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Mordekaiser only gains 30% effectiveness of bonus health gained from items, runes, masteries, etc. 70% of the bonus health gained from items, runes, masteries, etc. is converted directly to Mordekaiser's shield. (Example:
(800 HP) Mordekaiser gains 240 max HP, and 560 max shield) -
Mordekaiser also gains up to 30% movement speed if his shield is below 50%, and loses up to 30% movement speed if his shield is above 50%
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Mordekaiser takes 20% increased damage while under hard CC (stuns, snares, fears, knockups, and suppression)
The defining characteristic of Mordekaiser is his passive. No other champion in the entire game has anything like this, and it is what makes Mordekaiser who he is; and as such, this is the lever I used to better expand on Mordekaiser’s strengths and weaknesses.
As stated previously with emphasizing Mordekaiser's strengths, Mordekaiser's shield is now significantly stronger, allowing him to absorb an absurd amount of damage especially in the late game, given that he can consistently deal damage to his enemies. In emphasizing weaknesses, despite having such a massive shield, Mordekaiser actually has a fairly small health pool despite building many HP items, and if the enemy team can properly break through his shield, then finishing him off is quite easy; especially since hitting Mordekaiser with hard CC makes him take increased damage, meaning it takes a team effort to shut him down, and a team effort to keep him going.
The added movement speed allows him to potentially get away from fights he would lose, potentially get into a fight that he would normally be unable to reach, or simply reposition, ultimately making playing from behind easier. That being said, at full power (near max shield) Mordekaiser becomes increasingly reliant on his teammates to lock down his opponents so that he can work his magic. This also prevents a super fed Mordekaiser from simply walking into a 1v5 and killing everyone, as he is significantly easier to kite.
Ultimately, his passive is significantly stronger, but adds much more interaction with his allies and enemies, and also gives both Mordekaiser and his enemies more to work with whether he is ahead or behind.
Q: Mace of Spades
Active:
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After a briefly gathering energy, Mordekaiser smashes his mace into the ground, launching a wave of totally sick metal stakes from the ground in a line that deals 50/70/95/125/160 (+40% bonus AP) (+5% total HP) magic damage.
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Deals 25% more damage if hit by the mace itself instead.
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When used, this ability also consumes all of the damage Mordekaiser has stored, dealing additional damage increasing with the enemy’s missing health based on how much stored damage Mordekaiser consumed to all enemies it passes through (base 2% +0.65% per 100 stored damage consumed).
One thing that Mordekaiser lacks as a champion is decision making. There is very little way to differentiate between the good Mordekaisers and the great Mordekaisers, and most people just tend to spam their abilities the moment they are off cooldown. With this ability, Mordekaiser is now capable of making gameplay decisions that have real impact and interaction with the rest of his kit.
Currently, Mordekaiser has almost no way of actually finishing off enemies that attempt to turn tail and flee simply due to Mordekaiser’s lack of mobility and crowd control. This prevents Mordekaiser from feeling useful in lane, as whenever the enemy feels that they are fighting a losing battle, they just simply walk away. And then Mordekaiser feels sad. In lane, this gives Mordekaiser the potential to pick off a fleeing enemy at the cost of his stored damage (it is a skillshot after all, and can be missed or dodged), and in teamfights allows Mordekaiser to decide how he wants to apply his damage in the most effective way possible.
In teamfights, Mordekaiser now has to determine whether holding on to that extra damage granted by his ult is worth losing for the sake of finishing off that annoying carry. And if he does, would he be able to finish out the rest of the fight? Or will he be able to store enough damage quickly enough to continue fighting? (Remember, lower damage = lower shield gains = dying quicker in fights).
W: Creeping Death
Passive:
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Upon basic attacking an enemy champion, Mordekaiser curses them for the next 3 seconds:
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A shroud of dark mist and metal shards surround the enemy champion, reducing their magic resist and the magic resist of nearby enemies by 15% over 3 seconds (max 30%).
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The curse can only be applied to one champion at a time, and the size of the area of effect scales with bonus armor and magic resist. Basic attacking does not stack the debuff, but refreshes it.
Active:
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Mordekaiser targets an allied champion, buffing them and himself for the next 6 seconds:
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Mordekaiser casts a shield on himself and that ally, gaining 10/15/20/25/30 (+10% of Mordekaiser’s total armor and magic resist) bonus armor and magic resist and dealing 60/120/180/240/300 (+8.5% bonus HP) magic damage to all enemies in an area around them over 6 seconds.
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An enemy can only take damage from one instance of Creeping Death at a time, and the size of the area of effect increases with Mordekaiser's armor and magic resist.
This is a callback to Mordekaiser’s original W, granting Mordekaiser increased resistances, high sustained damage, and stronger shield generation when outnumbered. This is an obvious window of power for Mordekaiser, giving him an edge in battles that he would otherwise have a difficult time fighting as well as reliable waveclear.
The passive is designed to make Mordekaiser’s area of effect prowess that much more threatening, as if enemies clump together, Mordekaiser is more likely to come out on top, but if the enemy spreads out effectively, they can nullify most of the damage that Mordekaiser could do, as well as emphasizing Mordekaiser’s inherent weakness in that he would have a hard time reaching specific targets if he has people attacking from all directions, limiting him on how he can generate shield. This also gives Mordekaiser a way to deal with tankier people, whittling them down closer to his level, making him the true late game monster this rework invisions him to be.
E: Harvester of Sorrows
Active:
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Mordekaiser stretches his hand outwards, commanding tendrils of dark mist to lash out at enemies in a cone in front of him, dealing 30/60/90/120/150 (+60% AP) (6% total HP) magic damage to all enemies hit.
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For each enemy champion struck, Mordekaiser restores 8/11.5/15/18.5/21% of his maximum shield.
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When cast towards an enemy that is cursed by Mordekaiser’s Creeping Death, Harvester of sorrows gains significantly increased range (and thus width, as it extends).
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Can be cast while moving.
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In comparison to live, this version would have a much thinner cone and is slightly longer
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This ability has a travel time unlike Mordekaiser’s live version, it is not instant damage, so trying catch fleeing targets with the increased range requires timing and precision.
This ability basically speaks for itself. This is Mordekaiser’s original bread-and-butter skill, but now it gains the additional strategic advantage of positioning yourself and aiming the ability in such a way that you can hit things you normally would not be able to hit. However, due to the nature of the ability, namely, the increased range, a simple hit-or-miss would render it potentially frustrating to play against, specifically on Mordekaiser. So travel time was added to make landing and dodging the ability more interactive. This allows Mordekaiser to weaken people before attempting to execute them with his Q, to get in an extra hit or two after disengaging, or to regain shield so as to reenter a failed fight.
R: Children of the Grave
Passive:
- Mordekaiser stores a percentage of the damage he takes (up to 200-2000 damage, scaling with level and rank), empowering his basic attacks and abilities to deal bonus 2% (0.08% stored damage) of the enemy’s maximum health in magic damage over 4 seconds.
Active:
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Mordekaiser targets an enemy's corpse, channeling for 4 seconds. At the end of the channel, Mordekaiser commandeers the enemy's soul to do his bidding for 20/35/50/65 seconds.
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The ghost has the same stats as it did when the champion died.
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Mordekaiser begins with this ability at level 1
Mordekaiser’s ultimate is the defining reason that he is so hard to balance, it is the living, breathing, definition of feast or famine, so Rito decided to load even more power into it with this most recent rework.
If Mordekaiser and/or his team is ahead, securing an enemy’s ghost or the ghost of Dragon requires very little effort, and is simply a “win more” ability rather than an ability that can turn tides or come back. Getting a ghost with Mordekaiser almost guarantees another kill, an objective, or at least one tower (on a somewhat organized team). But if Mordekaiser’s team is behind, that is likely never going to become an actuality.
What this does is allow Mordekaiser to choose exactly what kind of ghost he wants (excluding dragon, that kind of ability should have been given to Yorick instead). If he needs someone to tank a tower or objective, then he can grab the enemy tank (assuming that he died in the previous fight) or if he needs to take a tower or objective quickly, he can grab an enemy carry. This actually grants Mordekaiser the ability to choose what he needs for the situation, and not simply be almost forced to ult the enemy carry every fight. Giving Mordekaiser more choices in how to use his abilities allows for healthier gameplay.
The passive is designed to make Mordekaiser lategame-oriented. As Mordekaiser absorbs damage through his shield, he grows ever stronger, killing and destroying all with no regards to the enemy's name (or tank stats, for that matter). This percent health damage is partially converted into shield just as the rest of his abilities are, making Mordekaiser naturally stronger against tankier team compositions (more enemy health = more damage = more shield). The stored damage values scales both with rank and champion level, giving Morde definite power spikes but also limiting just how strong he can be any particular point in the game.
Thus concludes my iteration of a rework for Mordekaiser. Even if it doesn't get a lot of support, I hope that a few Rioters would take a look so as to get a better understanding of what his mains think of him, so as to use that information to make him the true Master of the Shadow Isles that he is.
