Mordekaiser Rework Criticism and Suggestion

HUGE WALL OF TEXT INCOMING. Sorry if I suck at the formatting, I'm not from around here.

So I recently got back into league after being on pretty much scarce ties with it for about a year. I checked Reddit every now and then (although I generally only checked champion info and comedic pieces because holy crap communities are pretty toxic). I've never really bothered hanging around here. But I thought hey, maybe it's time I actually used the analysis I was taught in college for some good and throw some shade (and then love in that order) towards the lore and design team. Sorry guys but at least this will help if you ever see it! I put this up earlier but I realized I put it in the wrong place to I moved it here.

Recently I found out about Mordekaiser's rework. In-game. Had a friend tell me about his updates as I was getting smashed by this new third laner- the dragon? I must have missed it during my hiatus. And I have some thoughts on it from a gameplay perspective. And a design perspective. And maybe a somewhat biased perspective after he brought a third laner into lane every six minutes that had extended range and like 3k health that also boosted- nope, I'll save it for the critique on his mechanics, not gonna rage about it just yet.

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BACKGROUND AND DESIGN So first off- I'm going to open it up with the lore issues. I will be comparing it to other works that have, well, been used as a foundation to our current day fantasy. I'll take the major plot-relevant points from it to discuss with you guys. Mordekaiser is the Iron Revenant. He's an undead being held to this plane by necromantic sorcery and apparently... his own dark will. He is also a necromancer himself and has many lichs. I should point out that necromantic sorcery removes will from the enslaved and whatnot. I'll actually talk about this a little further down. He enslaves his victims' souls. He also has an enchanted mace. He looks like a giant suit of armor, which is pretty much 90% of what he actually is as he has nothing underneath.

His background says he's responsible for the creation of the Bastion that houses the Noxian empire. At the moment he's on the Shadow Isles building armies of the undead to attack Valoran after his bones were relocated there. Apparently, the dark energies around the Isles empower him (how and why, and why isn't this in effect in Twisted Treeline?). There we are, we're pretty much completely caught up! (Actually, you guys should check it out for yourselves!) My primary issues with this lore are:

0. Change his freaking name. Mordekaiser, King of Death, the Iron Revenant. Shouldn't that be reserved for Karthus, the actual lich? Kidding of course, but guys, the first few paragraphs of his lore are about him dying.

1. They don't really tie into his kit whatsoever. The Iron Revenant' is pretty meaningless as well considering he doesn't display the fact that he's a ghost or a corpse (which he is neither), and the only iron part about him is his armor- on a fundamental level, he's not very well covered. He is definitely terrifying, but the only move that actually seems to associate with his kit is his ult. They just tacked on 'enchanted mace'. I'll approach this more when I critique his kit later on. TLDR: His kit and lore don't match up.

2. His lore in itself is written entirely on coincidence. It makes no sense that Mordekaiser can turn on the sorcerors who raised him and enslave them. Wouldn't their breaking will undo the very willpower that re-raised him, considering it explained necromancy through willpower? This part is a little paradox-y. Those afflicted by necromancy are enslaved by the soul of a powerful being. This being enslaves lesser beings to their own will. In some universes, those beings can turn on them but in general are granted no new powers nor are they able to use their own as they see fit. After they are released by the sorceror's will or the sorceror is defeated, they crumble to ash once more as they have no power source. Morde also states that he chose that form by choice despite being very dead and unable to cooperate. His lore states that his will is undying but once again, it doesn't really explain this in any way even after mentioning that he could only be defeated by separating his bones or that his will could overpower the literal chains of necromantic spells. This may not be Tolkien necromancy but they are extremely potent and powerful sorcerors!
   Continuing, his necromantic powers don't lose hold even if he's completely destroyed, so his reverse-lich lich (lichs, liches, lichen, lichi?) (which also are nowhere in his kit despite quite important to his story!) are immediately drawn to his skull when it's released from its prison, even though realistically they should have been drawn to it to begin with. Undying will and all that shouldn't have an issue with magical wards. This creates significant plotholes considering the Blessed Isle's people were supposed to know that his bones were his weakness. TLDR: His necromantic powers are wonky as all hell and don't make a lick of sense.

3. How and why do the Shadow Isles grant him power? Necromantic creatures have nothing to do with Darkness whatsoever! And considering his Bastion was broken, why is it still considered 'Immortal' and why does he want to go back to it considering the Shadow Isles are eternally wrapped in Undead farts that give him even more power, making them extremely difficult to strategize around considering nobody knows their layout due to said spoopy shadows while also being a ridiculous buff that elevates him to the levels of Sauron? This goes back to the coincidences and inconsistencies. I call it 'coincidental writing', meaning that the creators accidentally said 'It happened because there are specific circumstances that allow convoluted paradoxes or otherwise impossible phenomenon to occur and they occurred specifically here'.
   TLDR: His powers and origin are semi-explained throughout it but they're done so very vaguely. In some cases, they seem directly contrary to other points in his lore.

These are my primary points- now I'm not gonna leave you guys hanging, I'll actually think up some basic brainstorming to actually work this lore to a consistent degree. Granted I'm literally pulling up this brainstorming now, but I've got some tips and tricks that might just fix Mordekaiser right up.

1. Awright, here's the deal: Mordekaiser has a few major pieces. a. His will, b. His lich minions, c. His ability to create MORE undead minions, and d. (sigh) his magical mace, sure. Build his kit around those! This subject will continue in the design section.

2. His lore is terrible. I feel like there aren't enough synonyms in the English language to properly talk about how convoluted it is. We could easily clean it up! Let's start from scratch. If we want to give Mordekaiser a will undying, make it that! Simply turn him into Sauron as you've referenced so many times already. First off, make him a lich that can inhabit bodies, Voldemort-style AND Sauron-style. Don't have him ensorcelled back to life after dying, simply make a character who was strong enough to exist after his death. His phylactery could be his skull if you want to keep with the 'Blessed Isles' storyline, or even his mace if you even want to consider keeping that tack-on. MAKE HIM PUT HIS BONES IN HIS ARMOR IF THEY'RE SO NECESSARY.

He creates lich and undead. That's a great start to an excellent piece of lore that may or may not already be pretty close to Sauron as well. This needs to be features more- perhaps his lich have been working behind the scenes since the beginning of the League's history. They could easily be a catalyst to his raising power, spying on every city-state to determine their strengths and weaknesses from the safety of the shrouded Shadow Isles. It's also a great thing to feature heavily in his kit later on!

3. Give him actual meaning to the Shadow Isles. Perhaps the army of Undead are the souls that were stranded there after the city fell. I don't know how he found bodies but apparently he did. There was a mass genocide ripe for the un-reaping! Remove the wants to return to the Immortal Bastion, he should have realized that any place not completely hidden in sorcery is bad news for his phylactery.

And that's pretty much three easy ways that took me all of ten minutes to think of that would easily clean up Morde's rough-and-tumble lore issues.

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GAMEPLAY AND KIT

First off, I'll discuss his current kit and how it relates to his kit or does not. This will be the easier part. Once again, I am brainstorming this ON THE SPOT and I can promise you it won't be balanced, but it would be a far more interesting character with more relevance to his lore and a better balance than... whatever we have now. Keep in mind that all of these are impromptu and I absolutely (and really, this!) want you all to discuss possible alternatives with me.

> Passive: Ironman Mordekaiser shields himself for 25% of the damage dealt by his abilities, halved to 12.5% against enemy minion and capped at 25% maximum health. After a 1.5 second delay, Iron Man's shield decays at a rate of 1.5% base health per second down to a minimum of 「 6.25% maximum health 」. >

Alright, so let's start off with the Iron Revenant's passive. The first question to ask is: How does it relate to his lore? Well, it doesn't. Shields have never been categorized under necromancy. One could say that he is sucking the life away from his enemies, or even the souls, which also doesn't have anything to do with necromancy.
Here I will also discuss his Health being his primary resource (I'll just consider it part of his passive). It also makes very little sense. Since his willpower is his primary source of power, mana would be more fitting. It would also create an expendable resource that he could return to his phylactery to recharge (like a reason to return to base). Neither of these fit with his lore appropriately, nor do they emphasize any part of his powers or personal history!

My issues with it are its lack of health during game- any damage he deals creates a shield for him, which makes it extremely un-fun to trade against as a melee and makes it near impossible as a squishy ranged champ. It needs to be completely scrapped. Let me think...

My recommendation: >Passive: Bound Soul (or Mordekaiser, King of Death) When a creature marked by Death's coil dies, Mordekaiser captures their soul and forces it to his servitude. The souls immediately target any enemy Morde autoattacks (immediately prioritizing any creature marked by Morde's Q), but they only have one health apiece and are equally affected by AoE's.
The Bound Soul will survive for X seconds (levels up as he levels up) and may move within Y range (levels up as he levels up) before teleporting back to Mordekaiser. These Bound Souls follow champion vision rules- if Morde is in a bush and they are not, they are visible.
>

The souls in question are almost like Thresh's souls (hey look lore consistency!) and they have a fixed %AD relative to their original host. This allows Mordekaiser to infuse one of the MOST IMPORTANT PART OF HIS BEING into his kit at a fundamental level while also allowing easy tweaking and having significant strengths and weaknesses. Those who bear no AoE are in heavy danger of the swarm and it also keeps a similar (if not entirely the same) design to his shield- if Morde positions right, he can deflect skillshots! Note that it won't deflect Auto-attacks or Aoe. This will also create a very interesting Jungle scenario where he has less souls but still has a decent shield to protect from different camps! It will also create an interesting jungle path to ensure the most souls for the initial gank. It supports him in a solo lane and makes him a valued duo laner.

When they are following him around and he is not using his Q on anything, they will inevitably time out. They autoattack anything Morde autoattacks or anything with Morde's Q on it and will not autoattack if Morde uses the Stop feature. Instead, I could picture him drawing them in around him as a shield.

This creates a toss-up during lane- the souls are uncontrollable, so the enemy has a means of strategizing against said souls. It also means that Morde will push extremely well and then could possibly feed off of jungle while he waits for the enemy laner/s to catch up (which is what he does now zzz). However, if the enemy uses their AoE's properly they can remove all of his souls in a fell swoop and deny him his speedy farming.

Now one might say: BUT THIS SOUNDS LIKE MALZAHAR! Unfortunately yes it does, however there are significant differences that really solidify the separate characters- he collects minions passively as he uses his Q to farm, and they're easily destroyed. They are lesser, insignificant, and are used merely as pawns fated to expire shortly after their enslavement. They are minigame-esque, yes, but they capture a unique piece of Morde's lore and offer interesting gameplay decisions and interactions. Think! A Mordekaiser clearing botlane and attacking Dragon.

My choice to make Bound Souls follow champion vision rules is simply because they create counterplay to a Mordekaiser support or Jungle just waiting to pop a Q off from a bush so his horde can frolick around the corpses. It creates an interesting game- if the horde is too large it's evident of his positioning, but if he plays it properly and uses Stop correctly he can still maintain a small ambush.

MOST IMPORTANT PART, SO SAYS THE PERSON NEXT TO ME READING THIS: Hey Bee tell them that the most important part is that he as a 'Morde horde'.

ONTO HIS Q.

> Q: Mace of Spades ACTIVE: Mordekaiser's next three basic attacks deal bonus magic damage. The final strike does 2 times the bonus damage of the previous strikes. This ability resets Morde's autoattack timer. >

Okay, that works. That's the tacked-on "Enchanted Mace" bit I was talking about. It has nothing to do with his undeath, but rather is a relic from before said undeath. It's alright, I suppose- encourages melee trading with his shield up after he's destroyed the enemy. But there's hardly counterplay to it other than Blinds or Jax, and THEN they have to break through his shield. It's hard to kite Morde because he's generally shielded-up if he goes for a melee engage and also has methods of attacking from afar (see his W).

My recommendation:

> Q: Death's Coil Cost: Low Range: 525, maybe?

Mordekaiser summons a coil from within his body, chaining his victim's soul to this realm and, more importantly, himself.

ACTIVE: Mordekaiser casts a spell on an enemy that deals, oh I dunno, 80/100/120/160/180 (+85% Ability Power) magic damage.
This spell marks an enemy with Death's Coil for 3/4/5/6/7 seconds. If the enemy dies during this time or dies due to the spell, Mordekaiser's passive activates. >

This is built to be a spammable yet costly spell if Morde isn't familiar with last-hitting. It is put just ever so slightly within range of ADC's to promote them positional correctly to combat his farming and to promote a trading situation so that Morde isn't completely safe behind his wave as he moves up to farm. It does pretty decent damage, but not enough to destroy anything at early levels. If Morde is good, this is only used for last-hitting and he keeps mana at the ready. If not, he wastes all his mana and ends up relying on his souls to attack as his autoattacks are melee. Why is this better? Well, it creates more of a window for both Morde and his enemies to skirmish. Instead of just relying on his Q for close-up, finishing attacks, he can use it to poke enemies while they're farming and open the looming threat of becoming another soul, or he can simply use it to play mildly defensively, relying on his support to threaten and zone the enemy and create a non-hazardous farming zone.

Removes some of his dive potential, yes. But it still increases his

ONTO HIS W.

This one's gonna be a large one to cover.

> PASSIVE: Mordekaiser gains bonus experience when killing a minion near allies equal to 50% of the experience he lost due to them being there, which totals at 82.6 / 71.73 / 66.3 / 63.04 / 60.87% of the minion's experience bounty.

ACTIVE - FIRST CAST: Mordekaiser targets an allied champion or minion and for the next 4 seconds they gain 75 bonus movement speed while moving towards each other, which lingers for 1.5 seconds. When near enough to each other, each deal magic damage in an area of effect around themselves every second for the duration (melee and caster minions have a smaller AoE). Harvester of Sorrow ends if Mordekaiser or his ally dies.

For the next 4 seconds, Mordekaiser can reactivate Harvester of Sorrow to end its primary effects and trigger a secondary effect, which triggers automatically at the end of the duration. If activated while no allies are nearby, Mordekaiser will highlight an area around him and can reactivate the ability as normal. The first ally to come in range will automatically gain the effect, too.

ACTIVE - SECOND CAST: Mordekaiser constricts the area, dealing magic damage to all enemies near himself and his ally as well as healing himself and his ally for the same amount, from up to 2 enemies hit in their respective areas. Healing is reduced to 25% when harvesting minions. >

Okay, so let's start from the beginning- Gains more experience from monsters as though an ally wasn't there? What in the hell does that have to do with necromancy, slavery, iron, or anything Morde represents? I see this as 'coincidental writing' in an attempt to push Mordekaiser into a duo lane, and literally nothing else. It doesn't relate to him in any way.

First cast- Okay, so this is a MS buff that helps them when doing their thing. They have an AoE that I suppose is metal floating around them. It ends if they die. Again, how does this have anything to do with Mordekaiser as a whole? Sure, it has 'iron' in it but it doesn't represent him in any way, and I feel it's actually kind of a filler ability in an attempt to keep a piece of the original design.

Second cast/Reactivate- Deals magic damage to closeby enemies, supporting a heavy dive or supporting a dive-friendly second champion. Also pushing him into a duo lane. And they heal from it. Why? There's no reason. Random healing to support his support support support RIOT we get it you wanted him to be in a duo lane.

This ability is a fustercluck of Riot pushing a meta into our faces. They WANT Morde to be with another person, they support from the beginning to the end of this ability the idea that Mordekaiser is all-around a high-utility character that should be built tanky and should all-in someone, giving movespeed AND health to the person that's willing to go in with him. Sure you can counterplay it with CC but let's say he goes with Leona or Malphite, Maokai, ANYBODY with a gapcloser. It's pretty much over at that point considering he's fully shielded AND they're healing from this. It's also on a twelve-second cooldown so it can be reapplied anytime an enemy gets close enough to expel gas onto an enemy minion. My guess is the only reason that it heals is to offer some method of accelerating Morde's current resource while pushing him into a duo role. Very unfun, honestly could be used on a different champion.

My recommendation:

> W: Eternal Reward Cost: Moderate Range: 700, maybe? Skillshot, most likely

Mordekaiser relinquishes one of his loyal servants. It flies towards an enemy, grasping onto them. The servant pulls them slowly towards Mordekaiser, Slowing them mildly for perhaps 3 seconds and (if they are stunned before or during) pulling them in the direction of his location. It deals a moderate DoT effect.

ACTIVE: Mordekaiser throws a spectral skillshot that (ties into his lore) grasps onto a target, slowing them. If at any point during the X seconds the target is stunned, they are pulled towards Morde. Their claws and the general magic aura surrounding them deals a DoT effect to the enemy. >

That's a really basic W. It's not really a potential poke tool because its cooldown would be MUCH longer as it's to be paired with a potential gank or a DUO partner. (I really don't hate the idea Riot, I just wish you'd make the abilities less arbitrary and more thematic/dynamic.) It is built to be a Charm almost, provided the situation is right, and is extremely powerful when properly utilized with certain champions with Hard CC that aren't knock-ups.

See, if it's a skillshot it makes it more feasible since his lichs aren't powerful beings by any means- instead, they specifically go on searching for a target.
I realize that a three second stun is ridiculous but it's meant to be a slight slow. If they are CC'd, they get Thresh-hooked a little bit closer to Morde, which could spell an enemy's doom or an unfortunately-hit Volibear's next meal. I would hope that the enemy could focus down said Voli (cough tank meta) There's counterplay, there's distinct usage and style, and there's significant advantages when working with a partner! It's everything without being Ekko/ridiculous.

It does NOT a. extend the duration of any stun, b. act like an Ahri charm in that it disables the Champion (they can still attack as though just rooted if they are rooted), c. hard cc any champ by itself. It could possibly stack with Rylai's, etc. but I feel that might put it over the top.

ONTO HIS E

> Siphon of Destruction ACTIVE: Mordekaiser deals magic damage to all enemies in a cone in the target direction. MAGIC DAMAGE: 35 / 65 / 95 / 125 / 155 (+ 60% AD) (+ 60% AP) For each enemy champion hit, Mordekaiser generates a bonus percentage of his Iron Man shield. >

This ability isn't too bad! BUT. Honestly, it doesn't really fit in anywhere. It's just an AoE cone similar to Annie's except it gives him a ridiculous amount of shield if it hits a champion. The shield part here is actually the worst bit of unbalance- it assures that in-lane he has a 6 second cooldown method of avoiding trading damage as long as there are a handful of units anywhere nearby. It also outranges champions' autoattack range at 675 so welp if he hits you not only do you take quite a bit of damage relative to both his AD and AP but you have to deal with an even STRONGER laning opponent. Let's just put his original Q here to fit with his original design of being a Fighter if that enchanted mace is absolutely necessary. IF NOT?

My recommendation:

> E: Unearthed Remains Cost: Moderate Range: 500, support mid to close combat for that 'Fighter' badge

ACTIVE: Mordekaiser raises a line of remains (eg bones) in a straight line in the target direction. These bones rise and recede in a wave from his current position for X seconds, raising as the ability is leveled. I'd most likely start it out at two seconds and continue it upward. Walking across them deals the same damage as getting hit by them and they take the same damage per second as they remain in the field. I'm running out of time so I'll input damages later possibly. I still have to do the ult before bed! >

The reason I chose this is to offer more zoning potential and more laneclear than just his Q. If he uses it to laneclear then he unfortunately has less souls but it also has a lasting effect meaning one could manipulate the minion wave into staying within the effect. It also allows Morde to potentially hit from somewhat afar and to create a difficult terrain that the enemy has to work around for the few seconds it exists.

ONTO THE ULT DEAR GOD IT'S NEARLY 2AM I NEED TO NOT START PROJECTS ON A WHIM AT MIDNIGHT.

> Children of the Grave PASSIVE - DRAGON FORCE: Mordekaiser's basic attacks and abilities curse the Dragon Dragon for 10 seconds. Enslaving the Dragon Dragon activates Dragon Force.png Dragon Force, granting the Dragon Dragon increased range and modified movement speed, and disables Children of the Grave while it remains active, killing Mordekaiser's current ghost. BONUS ATTACK RANGE: 0 / 75 / 150 BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: -50 / 0 / +50

ACTIVE: Mordekaiser curses the target enemy champion, dealing them magic damage and healing for 100% the damage done. He then applies a three times stronger effects to the target again over the next 10 seconds. INITIAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 6.25 / 7.5 / 8.75% (+ 1% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health 「 MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 1.875 / 2.25 / 2.625% (+ 0.3% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health 」 If Mordekaiser's team scores a takedown on a cursed enemy, he temporarily enslaves their soul as a controllable ghost that gains 100% of Mordekaiser's bonus AD as bonus AD and 15% of Mordekaiser's maximum health as bonus maximum health. While the ghost is active, Mordekaiser gains 25% of target's bonus health, which does not enhance the ghost's bonuses, and 30% of target's AP. >

My first thought was "What is this ungodly abomination? What does MORDEKAISER have to do with the Dragon????? Dear GOD WHAT IS THIS LIKE ON THE NEW PBE CHANGES? (The dragon changes are probably ridiculous.) It's basically Riot saying 'PUT HIM BOT FOR EARLY DRAGON CONTROL'. Once again attempting to force him into the duo lane with smite. Honestly I don't see what dragons have to do with necromancy or

Anyways, let's fix this.

My recommendation:

> Children of the Grave Cost: High! Range: 450

The non-minion enemy selected by this point-and-click spell are immediately grasped and dealt damage based on how much health the target has missing.

This enemy is immediately marked with Deathls Coil, however, instead of losing their form upon death they become a thrall to him. Their current stats are kept, however they are no longer able to regain health in any format. This thrall disappears after 45/60/75 seconds, same as the current one. The enemy might end up fighting a soulless husk of their original form if they return to the fight in time.

This one is simple. Give him the ability to keep a lich of a character he's killed. It keeps true to his origins, works with his lore, has nothing to do with Dragon and for that matter anybody but himself. SURE he can still grab the dragon. And it'll still be OP as hell. But now he isn't built for specifically one purpose or lane, and has some actual interesting mechanics. Bring the Red Buff to lane to crap on your opponents with a borrowed red buff. Lee still gets to keep his Red Buff and your thrall has his own Red Buff. COOL MECHANICAL PLAY! Or hell bring the Rift Herald. If you remember to get it. >

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So I've shared with you some of my thoughs on Mordekaiser and all of the strange things that happened during his rework. There's a little bit of salt behind the design choices, yes- I feel like the Champion wasn't reworked into a form he deserved, but more into a niche that Riot specifically wanted to push and thus imprison him into a specific playstyle that revolves around mid/bot lane.

I wanted to create a more dynamic form with alternative playstyles that could technically go anywhere (even support) and have significantly different playstyles depending! Also, it's 2AM and I'm going to head to bed.

Tell me if you liked it! I don't mind if you didn't, I'm just happy I finished this little analysis and brainstorming session. Have a wonderful day fellas, and thanks again for reading through this wall of text!