Mordekaiser's abilities aren't metal references any longer, and I have some suggestions.
Edit: This got brought up and answered by a Rioter already. My bad for missing that. If you wanna see the response, here it is: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/fiHZaFVx-mordekaiser-looks-amazing-but-wheres-the-metal-references
Hi there!
For starters, I am so unbelievably excited for this rework. I started in League back in 2011 maining Miss Fortune and Mordekaiser, and while I haven't been a regular Morde player since 13 Pot Morde was a thing, every time someone posts something about Morde in our discord I sound like this.
That said, I noticed something about new Morde that kind of bummed me out, and it's a pretty easy fix so I figured I'd put something together about it.
One of the things that made me gravitate towards Morde when I started (other than him being on free week) was this whole Master of Metal thing and his little references to heavy metal. I totally get taking them out of his voiceover in favor of lore-fitting lines, but my favorites were always the ability names. It was a bunch of classic heavy metal names and knowing the references felt like a cool little inside thing, like this was a champ being catered to me as a metal fan specifically. I mean come on, the debuff on the enemy's ghost used to be called The Prisoner, that is badass!
The new names aren't bad, don't get me wrong. I especially like Obliterate for the mace swing, it's pretty awesome. That said, not having the metal ability names feels off, so I went through my music library and tried to find some suitably metal replacement names. The original metal names were all from really well known songs from legendary metal bands so I tried to keep that widespread popularity in mind, but I also threw in some personal favorites too where they fit.
I don't actually expect much to change, and if Morde sticks with these ability names I won't be uninstalling League or anything, but if this post got someone at Riot thinking and got the names spiced up with metal flair, that would make an awesome rework even better.
Passive: Darkness Rises Morde attacks stuff and gets a big AOE of whirling spirit energy and metal shards. It's a really cool passive, though I feel like Darkness Rises is... I guess kind of generic as a name? It sounds cool, but it doesn't speak to a whirlwind of pain as much as it could. It doesn't really speak to much of anything about Morde's playstyle. Here's some other ideas:
- Metal Storm
- Tornado of Souls
- Fury of the Storm
- Angel of Death
- The Ruiner
- Bringer of Pain
- The Thing That Should Not Be
I mean, a couple of these feel like obvious picks. Megadeth and Slayer are two bands that form the bedrock of thrash metal, and both "Tornado of Souls" and "Metal Storm" feel really fitting to what's going on in the ability. You hear the name and know pretty much exactly what to expect.
Q: Obliterate Morde swings his giant mace and does tons of damage. Like I said, I think this name is great for how huge and punchy the move feels. Obliterate seems too vague to be a metal reference, though, so maybe there are better options?
- Mace of Spades
- Oblivion
- Cleaver of Souls
- Laid to Rest
- Edgecrusher
- The Sundering
- No Remorse
- Morningstar
- Crusher Destroyer
- Bringer of Pain
The obvious classic is Mace of Spades, which is goofy for a name but still fits like a glove, especially since the ability is turning into a skillshot version of Morde's old Q, more or less. More serious ideas would be "Oblivion", which fits the Obliterate style of title but in a metal song, or "Laid to Rest", which fits with Morde's thematic and is likely to be pretty accurate, given that it's his main damage tool and will often be the cause of death for a lot of ult-stranded carries. Mastodon and Lamb of God are both newer bands, but are also pretty widely popular (especially in America) and both songs are hit singles from some of their biggest albums. Also, "Bringer of Pain" is on here twice because the singer of Battle Beast collabed with Riot already (she sung Tear of the Goddess) and the song title fits both abilities really well.
W: Indestructible Morde's old passive is back in a kinda Tahm-Kench-y shield that you can pop for health. I'm really excited for this move, I like how a similar shield feels on Nautilus, just hitting a button to get all mega tanky, so I'm excited for this on a more damage-focused champion. You could argue that "Indestructible" is a big single from Disturbed and technically qualifies, but if your definition of metal centers on Disturbed... I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
- Painkiller
- Iron Man
- Evil Never Dies
- Unending, Everliving
- Doesn't Feel Pain Like He Should
- Back With A Vengeance
Okay, look, it needs to be Painkiller. Iron Man would be a great throwback since this W is like Morde's old passive on steroids, but "Painkiller", man! Judas Priest is an incredibly influential act in metal, "Painkiller" is their biggest song and an absolute classic of heavy metal, and come on, wouldn't you want a move called "Painkiller"? That sounds so badass!
E: Death's Grasp Morde has an even cooler Swain E. Wonder if that's how Swain learned it...? Anyways, this ability name is actually fantastic, it sounds awesome and nails the idea of the ability in a concise but colorful way. I really struggled to think of songs that measured up to this name, so big props to whoever picked it, I love it.
Like I said, this one was really tricky to pick. "Black Magic" kind of works as this is his most magic-based attack, and "Creeping Death" is a classic Morde ability name that could kind of work here too. I picked "Deathbound" for what it says to the enemy player- you get caught in this, and death is where you're heading.
R: Realm of the Dead Morde SENDS HIS ENEMIES TO THE SHADOW REALM TO 1V1 BRO. God, this is the coolest thing. I love it so much. Again, the title is very good at describing what to expect. In this case, though, since the realm is called the Realm of the Dead itself apparently, it feels a little matter-of-fact. If any ability name on a champion's kit could use some flowering up, I feel like it'd be the ultimate.
- End of the Line
- Endless Night
- Fade to Black
- All Hope Is Gone
- Return of the Warlord
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- Five Minutes Alone
- World of Hurt
- Afterlife
This is another tough one, but I think "End of the Line" would be a pretty great name overall, as it really is kind of a "Hey you. Yeah you. You're SCREWED" kind of ultimate, which the name would speak to. "For Whom The Bell Tolls" is a classic Metallica track and leans on the phrase "Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee", which speaks to Mordekaiser's ult as well. Slipknot might be a really controversial pick, especially this far after their peak of popularity, but the name "All Hope Is Gone" seems very fitting for Mordekaiser's trapped opponent and Slipknot as a band is still pretty well known and widely popular, even this far from the 00's.
Like I said before, I don't expect much to come of this and if the current names stay I won't be bent out of shape. All things considered, the names are pretty great. I just think Morde's lowkey metal fandom was a fun side aspect to his character and it would be extremely cool to see that niche appeal retained in his ability names.
If it were up to me, here's the names I'd pick:
- Passive: Metal Storm
- Q: Laid to Rest
- W: Painkiller
- E: Deathbound
- R: For Whom The Bell Tolls
I'm sure I missed a bunch of good names and relied a little too hard on some bands (cough Slayer Mastodon Skeletonwitch cough), so if you have another good name in mind, I'd be really curious to hear it.
Just because Morde is the Iron Revenant doesn't mean he can't still be the master of metal, you know what I mean?
