Mordekaiser mega thread of metal, malevolence and marvelous discussions

Mordekaiser might be one oft he most iconic champions but sadly he gets more outdated with every champion release/rework. While I trust RIOT in their decision regarding in what direction an update (be it gameplay, visual or both) should be heading I’d like to analyse what makes Mordekaiser what he is and which themes should strongly influence his design. As a Mordekaiser main I’m familiar with the Master of metal and want to share my wisdom on this maliciously unique character.

Appearance “I like my weapons how I like my music, heavy and metal.” Mordekaiser’s the quintessential deathknight. Being a wraith bound to an ancient armoured shell. In a potential VU he should retain his metallic look and heavy feel to him. Not only is his three-horned helmet and spiked carapace iconic but it also makes his armour unique and distinguishable between the simple Noxian armours and the shining Demacian ones. His lore also mentions the fact that he gets pleasure not only from the pain he inflicts upon others bit also from his own, opening up a lot of design choices like making his armour a repurposed iron maiden(Intentional reference^^) and giving the spikes a look of originating from within the armour and being bound to his soul to torment it. His armour could be a twisted version of the one he wore in life, if he ever lived that is, and should be some kind of prison to him that hurts and maims his spirit and keeps him in a vicious cycle of pain, ecstasy and misery. But the armour isn’t the only thing iconic about his look. As far as theories go we’re quite sure that he’s a high-ranking general, which should be represented with him still being a bulky warrior but having a noble, awe-inspiring stance fit for a leader matched with a flowing cape. He’s the goddamn emperor of murder and should be a figure that inflicts fear and awe upon his enemies and should mirror his former self albeit in a twisted and sinister fashion.

Themes Necromancer, Knight, first undead, General, Metal maniac, Paladin of pain; Mordekaiser’s theme is pretty noisy but gives him a lot of depth and potential for great lore. The only difficulty is to make them mesh together to form a convincing character. Being the first undead and therefore numéro uno could make him the proto-undead on which the curse affecting the SI could be based and make him a central character in the story of the isles. Was he directly responsible for the curse, the king’s friend, did he even wanted to get involved, was he bound to the armour as a punishment for releasing the spell? His theme as undead general fits him well, his ultimate being somewhat of a mini SI curse and making people revenants for your ever-growing undead army is always fun. Giving him a high rank could open up a lot of possibilities as someone who’s only in it for personal gain and looks down on his subordinates as mere means to his goal.

Metal is an essential part of Mordekaiser but combining it with his other themes is more complicated than it seems. If he’s a powerful undead and controls undeath himself why would he use metal as means to inflict pain? Is it because of his metallic shell, being attracted to shiny things or just a side-effect of listening too much heavy metal? Nevertheless it’s a vital aspect of his character and therefore should be kept at all costs. Referencing metal culture shouldn’t only be bound to his ability names but also be present in his voiceover, which brings me to the next topic: Voice “You only need to click once, Fool!” “So be it, Summoner.” Mordekaiser’s current voiceover doesn’t feature a lot of quotes but the ones he has speak for themselves, hinting on his attitude towards the “summoner” being controlled by him and not the way around. This should be kept in his new voice, indicating his disregard for anything living and his superiority complex, seeing everything as mere pawns in his grand scheme. His quotes should hint to his affliction for pain and misery and the joy he gets from inflicting them but not in a feral way like Renekton but in a sophisticatedly sadistic way. Since the release of Karthu’s VU and his Pentakill skin I’ve always thought of how they could make Pentakill Morde more metal than karthus but I have no doubt that RIOT will give it their best shot and give this skin 10 or more minutes full of metal quotes referencing milestones in metal’s history and popular songs. (Leave a comment on possible quotes, I’d like to read ‘em :D)

**Theme and Gameplay **Everthying about Zed just screams assassin but looking at Morde you can’t really tell what he really is. Is he a mage, fighter, tank, bruiser, Burdter, AOE mage? I tell you what he is; he’s all of that and this should be kept intact. While I enjoy bruiser Morde, dealing a lot of damage and still being a tanky fighter à la raidboss someone might enjoy dishing out EXTREME ammounts of damage with just one button. What I think should be kept intact when looking at his gameplay is his ultimate and passive. His passive showcases the pleasure he gets from inflicting pain and counteracts the damage he inflicts on himself to torment his enemies. It’s also way to iconic to be scrapped. HE IS IRON MAN. His ultimate is a great way to play him as a bruiser, making him extremely hard to kill and turn fights in his favour or as a mage who one-shots enemy adc’s and make them do his bidding. The whole ghost aspect of the ultimate should be kept as he’s the master of puppets and the heal helps his theme of paladin of pain, getting a real kick out of other people’s agony. All in all it’s a weaker version of the Shadow isles curse which fits his theme surprisingly well :D

His three basic abilities should still all be AOE to keep him the terror of all minions and dishing out damage regardless of who you are as long as you’re unlucky enough to be in his vicinity but should be more obvious to tell apart from single target spells. While mobility completely goes against his theme of being an undead knight and horseman of your impending doom a little bit of cc wouldn’t really go against his theme. But I’m more concerned about his thematic aspects than his potential gameplay update.

Conclusion Mordekaiser is a really iconic character whose update should expand on his core themes and don’t try to find new ones for him. His identity is set but it isn’t delivered properly and therefore should be the main focus of an update featuring the Master of Metal. But Opinions vary so tell me what YOU think about Morde.

Have a nice day, Maliciously delicious Metal.