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Mordekaiser Build Guide by Electro522

AP Offtank Living is Highly Overrated (A guide to Top Lane Mordekaiser)

AP Offtank Living is Highly Overrated (A guide to Top Lane Mordekaiser)

Updated on July 3, 2014
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Electro522 Build Guide By Electro522 13 3 73,336 Views 56 Comments
13 3 73,336 Views 56 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Electro522 Mordekaiser Build Guide By Electro522 Updated on July 3, 2014
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Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None


Table of Contents

Hello Mobafire! I am Electro522, and welcome to my very first guide featuring none other then Runeterra's very own bad-a** Iron Man: Mordekaiser! In this guide, I will be showing you on how best to build Morde when going top, who he is good and bad against, and just how to play him in general.

Before I go any further, I must stress the fact that this is my very first guide. So, do not be surprised to see errors, or elements that an experienced guide writer wouldn't use. That simply isn't me (yet). That isn't to say though that I am not open to constructive criticism, and I will slowly update this guide with anything that the community feels needs to be added.

If you have recently taken a look at this guide, you may have noticed it has gotten quite the facelift! I do know that this should belong in the Thank You section of this guide, but I have to give my sincerest gratitude to Emikadon. All of this artwork was done by her, and this guide wouldn't look even near as good as it does now were not for her. As a way to somewhat payback the favor, here is a link to Emi's Signature Cafe! I highly suggest you recruit her help, if you want some artwork done.

But, enough of this blabber already, lets see some champion details!




Pros

+ Passive blocks all incoming damage
+ Excellent farmer
+ No mana
+ Lane bully
+ Excellent mid game
+ Can turn a 5v5 into a 6v4
Mordekaiser on top can actually bully some of the biggest and most well known bullies of top lane, such as Renekton and Garen, by using Iron Man as an easy way to win trades. Creeping Death only makes trading even easier, and combining it with his other 2 abilities gives astounding wave clear. His ultimate, Children of the Grave, gives him an amazing advantage in 2v1 situations and teamfights, being able to turn the fight on the opponent with numbers.

One of the main things Mordekaiser lacks is mobility. A high mobility champ, such as Lee Sin or Riven can honestly run circles around him, and the fact that he has no crowd control doesn't help. He also doesn't become a very significant opponent until a few levels in, when he can get that wave clear really going. Also, unlike Dr. Mundo who can build just tank items and be useful, Morde has to build some damage items, or else he can't proc his passive, making him not that great of a meatshield. - No built in escapes
- Low mobility
- Poor early game
- No built in crowd control
- Has to build some damage to be useful
- Abilites cost health
Cons







Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
OR
Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18



Iron Man: Morde's passive is something that truly makes him unique among the other champions. All in all, it's a shield that is built up by damaging enemies with abilites, converting 35% of the damage dealt into a shield that slowly decays over time. However, unlike Yasuo's Way of the Wanderer, which is a one time use shield after being damaged, Morde's shield gives him more hp, similar to that of Malphite's Granite Shield, but far more effective. This makes Morde capable of taking no damage from about two (or more) turret shots. Not to mention, it is very useful in teamfights, raising Morde's effective hp by a few hundred points, and recharging every time he deals damage with abilities (which is quite often).

Tips and Tricks
  • For Morde, the best defense is a good offense. Be sure to use your abilities on enemies whenever you have them, that way you can build up and keep the shield from Iron Man up.


Mace of Spades: This is supposed to be Morde's primary damage ability, with it having the highest scaling damage of any of his abilities. If the enemy you hit is alone, it will deal even more damage. If they are not alone, then it has a small aoe effect that can spread out to three other enemies, making it quite decent in clearing waves. However, even though it is supposed be Morde's main damage ability, it is not as useful as Siphon of Destruction due to the short range on the aoe effect. In my opinion, it is best to max out Mace of Spades last, however, there is nothing wrong with maxing it out second (you really don't want to max it out first). It simply depends on what situation you are in.

Tips and Tricks
  • Use Mace of Spades as a trading tool. If you are far enough away from the minion line, you might have your opponent think twice of engaging you due to the surprising amount of damage you put out.
  • Mace of Spades is an auto-attack reset. Time your attacks carefully to have 3 attacks in quick succession.


Creeping Death: Mordekaiser's main defensive ability. Not only can you cast Creeping Death on yourself to give a large boost to your armor and magic resit, you can also cast it on allies (minions included!). However, to stick to Morde's theme of "Good defense is good offense", Creeping Death also deals damage in a small area around the target. The effect is only amplified if you buy Sunfire Aegis. In my opinion, it is best to max Creeping Death second, however, in some very rare cases, you can max it out first.

Tips and Tricks
  • Creeping Death can be cast on minions. Thus, you can really irritate your opponent by casting it on a melee or cannon minion, causing them to take damage while they are farming it.
  • Creeping Death has a significant cooldown. So, although it is fun to cast it on minions, be sure to use it wisely, because you'll be slightly more vulnerable without it.
  • Creeping Death can also be cast on allied champions. This makes it especially useful for protecting a focused carry, or giving some extra defenses to a champ that wants to engage.


Siphon of Destruction: This ability should be Morde's main damage ability, dealing a decent amount of damage in a cone in front of you. Siphon of Destruction also has a decent range, making it great for poking. In my opinion, nine times out of ten, you will want to max this first. It should also be the first ability you go to lane with. Never have I seen a situation where I need to get a different ability when going into lane.

Tips and Tricks
  • Siphon of Destruction is not a projectile ability, and has no cast time. This makes it incredibly difficult to dodge, no matter how fast your opponent is moving.
  • Siphon of Destruction deals damage to all enemies inside the cone. This makes it especially useful for clearing an entire wave of minions, or damaging the entire enemy team (if they are all clumped together)
  • Siphon of Destruction also has a short cooldown, so, do not hesitate to use it.


Children of The Grave: Mordekaiser's ultimate ability, and by far the most interesting ability on his kit. When cast on an enemy champion, it instantly deals damage equal to a percentage of their health, and then over 10 seconds, another percentage of their health every second. Couple this with Ignite, and your ult will be even better. But what makes Morde's ultimate really interesting is if the target dies.

If the target is to die, then Morde enslaves their soul for 30 seconds, essentially adding another champ to the team. Morde gains 20% of the champ's attack damage and ability power, and the enslaved champ gains 75% percent of Morde's total adjusted health, attack damage, and ability power on top of the stats that champ had at time of death. The only downside to this new pet of yours is that it cannot use abilities from that champ's kit or item abilities. The passive's from the champ's passive or item passives will work on the pet, however, such as Volibear's The Relentless Storm, or Caitlyn's Headshot.

As with every ult, take a point in it whenever you can.

Tips and Tricks
  • Use Children of the Grave with Ignite when trading. If you kill your opponent, rush their tower. Most of time, you'll have enough damage after that moment to take down their turret.
  • Children of the Grave is great for whenever you get ganked. Since you are on top lane, the squishier of the two enemies will most likely be the jungler. Throw the ult on him, and burst him down as best you can. Do this, and your lane opponent is primed to give you a double kill.
  • Children of the Grave should be used on ADCs during teamfights. If the enemy ADC is to die under your ult, you just turned a 5v5 into a 6v4 that enemy team has to run away from. If they don't, then they will be ripped to shreds from the upgraded damage coming from your new ADC whose auto attacks can be critical hits.






21 OFFENSE 9 DEFENSE
M
O
R
D
E
K
A
I
sp M
A
S
T
E
R
I
E
// This is a mastery build you will normally find on top lane carries, going 21 in offense (focusing on the ability power side of the tree), and 9 in defense. Even though you will be building slightly tanky, the stats given to you by the offensive tree help improve your poor early game.

Q: Why focus offense over defense?
// The reason why you want to focus on offensive masteries more so then defensive plays into Morde's overall theme: a good defense is a good offense. Do take note, though, that this is the mastery build I prefer. There is nothing wrong with going for a more defensive mastery build.

Other Mastery Build Choice








Runes

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Phase Rush

  • Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: All of Morde's abilities deal magic damage, and scale with ability power. These runes help give your early game damage some bite, making trading in the early laning phase much easier. Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage runes can also work, however, this is a far more aggressive choice, since you would be focusing more on using Mace of Spades (since it also scales with attack damage) then Siphon of Destruction.
  • Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Nearly all of the damage that comes out of Morde is magic damage, so, it only makes sense to get some magic pen to deal even more. Greater Mark of Ability Power runes will also work, but, you are going top, so these runes won't help you that much with getting through your opponents early defense stats.
  • Greater Seal of Armor: Since you are going top, its best to get some tank stats when going into lane, and although these runes got nerfed recently, they still help in those early trades. Also, one of your first defense items bought should be a Chain Vest, which gives armor, so you will not have to deal with their nerf for too long.
  • Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Most top lane champions deal physical damage, so, most of the time, you will not need that early magic resist. However, these runes will help when going into mid and late game when you will end up having to deal with the enemy APC. If your lane opponent deals mostly magic damage, then it might be wise to get Greater Glyph of Magic Resist runes instead, especially against champions like Teemo or Kayle.





Ideal Summoner Spells



Flash is invaluable on Morde due to him having no built in escapes. Use it to get out of tough situations like when getting ganked, or a losing teamfight.

Ignite is very useful on Morde, since it synergizes so well with Children of the Grave. Use this spell to secure kills, or to push back champs with high sustain (such as Nasus or Dr. Mundo).

Whereas I prefer to pick Ignite over Teleport, it is still a viable option for Morde due to his low mobility. I would suggest getting this if you know your lane will be a tough match up.

Not So Ideal Summoner Spells



Heal isn't useless on Morde, just not that effective since you will be building sustain items. Its better to go for a more offensive spell like Ignite then this.

Exhaust can work on Morde, but only in certain situations. Due to his low mobility, the slow from Exhaust isn't that useful, and you'll building some tank items, so the damage reduction is wasted as well.

I am not sure why, but I simply do not prefer to use Ghost on any champ, even on champs that normally use it (like Nasus or Hecarim). In my opinion, Flash is simply a far better evasion tool, especially on Morde.





Starting Items

These items are best suited for Morde when first heading into lane. Ruby Crystal gives you a bit of health to help with early trades, and Health Potions are a must have on pretty much every champ when the game starts. Doran's Shield is also a very viable start on Morde, due to the great intitial stats it gives. Amplifying Tome can work as well, but I find it more useful when going mid lane with Morde then on top.


Core

These items are your core items when playing Morde on top. Deathfire Grasp alows you to give Morde some burst damage. This item's ability not only increase magic damage on the target coming from you, but from your entire team. This allows your team to really utilize your ult, Children of the Grave, giving your team a near guaranteed chance of not only killing that champion, but adding another man to your team. Hextech Gunblade gives you the best of bost worlds, with both attack damage, ability power, life steal, and spell vamp. Not to mention its active ability is a slow, giving Morde some crowd control. But, any amount is better then none! As for the Sorcerer's Shoes, nearly all of the damage that comes out of Morde is magic damage. The magic pen from these boots allow your abilities to hurt even more. Also, every champ needs boots, there is nor arguing this.

Don't forget your trinket!


Offensive

Here are some offensive items that you can build on Morde. Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives you a much needed slow that works well with Liandry's Torment. Speaking of, Liandry's Torment is actually a great item to use if you are against team with plenty of tank, and, the damage over time it provides goes very nicely with damage from your ult. Will of the Ancients can be a good subsitute for Hextech Gunblade in some cases, but, Hextech is better in most of them.


Defensive

Here are a couple defensive choices for Morde. Since you'll playing on top, you'll need some tank items, in order to be that front line champ your team will need. Sunfire Aegis is a great choice for Morde, since it works so well with Creeping Death. Spirit Visage is yet another great choice, since it amplifies your much needed spellvamp. The additional cooldown reduction and health regeneration are very nice additions as well. Randuin's Omen can be chosen over Rylai's Crystal Scepter if you are against a very heavy attack damage team. Unfortunately, you will be lacking the extra ability power that Rylai's will give you.


Example Build

An example end game build for Morde on top lane.





Early Game

Early game, you want to focus primarily on farming. Morde is great at pushing lanes and harassing his opponent, but he has no gap closing abilities, making him a bad champ to tower dive or engage with. Whenever you have your opponent pushed to their tower DO NOT TOWER DIVE THEM. In most cases, you will die instead of your opponent. Just stand back and wait until your opponent clears out your minions. If the jungler doesn't gank you too often, you can slowly burn down the opponents tower by using your minions. Don't expect to get a first blood, unless your opponent makes some really stupid moves.

On your first return to base, its essential to start building against your opponent. If you're doing well in lane, and your opponent doesn't really want to fight you, its best to get a Hextech Revolver. If your opponent is looking to fight you, then buy an item that counters their damage type, with either a Chain Vest or a Spectre's Cowl.

Come level six, your killing potential spikes. Now that you have your ultimate ( Children of the Grave), you can go all in on your opponent. If you get the kill, great! Rush their tower (before the jungler gets there), and more then likely you will take the tower. If you don't kill them, that's fine. Go back to farming, and push the lane, because more then likely you forced your opponent to head back to base.



Mid Game

Mid game is where Morde really shines. Once you have your opponent's turret taken down, its best to roam over to another lane (preferably mid) to help to take down more towers if they are still standing. Once you get to mid, but see that bot lane could use some help, keep walking. A kill down on bot lane in this part of the game means a dead tower, and having an early front line presence for your team will more then likely bring the enemy team's turret down.

Stay with your team once mid game rolls around. This is where teamfights start happening, and since your a frontline champion that can sit in the middle of a fight and survive the entire thing, you'll be invaluable to your team. Be sure to throw Creeping Death on an ally if they ever get focused, for this may just keep them alive, especially if they're a squishy carry. If your carries are in the backline, and allowed to do their job, throw Creeping Death on yourself. This will make you even harder to kill, allowing you to fill that frontline role even more so.

Be sure to tell your teammates to focus whoever is cursed with Children of the Grave.As mentioned earlier, your ultimate can change a 5v5 into a 6v4. So, focusing that target will allow your team to win most of the teamfights. Also, be very careful with who to chose to curse. Most of the time, its best to go for the enemy ADC, but every now and then, another tank added to your team could help as well.



Late Game

Late game, Morde falls off in usefulness slightly. His damage can no longer scale as much as it did, and your opponents now understand that if they are cursed with Children of the Grave, they should back off. Not to mention, everyone is getting more and more difficult to kill, and Morde's damage can't get through the enemies front line like the carries can. Even killing squishy carries becomes a hassle, because they can simply run away from Morde.

This isn't to say, though, that he becomes completely useless during late game. Even though his damage is lacking, he can survive (and potentially win) a 3v1 situation with a full build. Stop laughing, because I'm not joking. Killing Morde is an absolute pain, no matter what point in the game you are in. Unless the enemy team focuses you, then you will survive most, if not all, engagements.






In this section, I will be showing you different match ups for top lane in alphabetical order. Do take note that I have not gone up against every possible matchup, and I will update this guide whenever I face a new matchup.

Each champion will have a certain level of difficulty associated with them. Easy matchups are cases where you would more then likely win the lane. Medium matchups are cases where it can go either way, and it really depends on player skill to determine who would come out on top. Hard matchups are cases where you want to hug your tower, because this champ can easily kill you, and will keep you pushed to your own tower for most of the laning phase.

You may have noticed that MOBAfire has a brand new matchups section for the cheat sheet. To let everyone know, it took me FOREVER to code this section, so there is no way in the world I'm getting rid of it. However, all matchups in the cheat sheet are listed and compared (to the best of my ability) with my own matchups. All details regarding the matchups are provided below.
Difficulty:8/10
Aatrox
Difficulty:2/10
Akali
Difficulty:9/10
Cho'Gath
Difficulty:6/10
Darius
Difficulty:1/10
Diana
Difficulty:4/10
Dr. Mundo
Difficulty:8/10
Elise
Difficulty:3/10
Fiora
Difficulty:4/10
Gangplank
Difficulty:5/10
Garen
Difficulty:8/10
Gragas
Difficulty:8/10
Irelia
Difficulty:???
Jarvan IV
Difficulty:9/10
Jax
Difficulty:5/10
Jayce
Difficulty:6/10
Kayle
Difficulty:7/10
Kennen
Difficulty:???
Kha'Zix
Difficulty:10/10
Lee Sin
Difficulty:1/10
Malphite
Difficulty:6/10
Nasus
Difficulty:6/10
Olaf
Difficulty:7/10
Pantheon
Difficulty:2/10
Poppy
Difficulty:7/10
Renekton
Difficulty:6/10
Rengar
Difficulty:9/10
Riven
Difficulty:7/10
Rumble
Difficulty:6/10
Ryze
Difficulty:7/10
Shen
Difficulty:4/10
Shyvana
Difficulty:6/10
Singed
camouflage
Difficulty:6/10
Teemo
Difficulty:8/10
Trundle
Difficulty:6/10
Tryndamere
Difficulty:7/10
Udyr
Difficulty:5/10
Vladimir
Difficulty:7/10
Volibear
Difficulty:8/10
Warwick
Difficulty:9/10
Wukong
Difficulty:5/10
Xin Zhao
Difficulty:3/10
Yasuo
Difficulty:3/10
Yorick
let's bounce
Difficulty:???
Zac
Difficulty:5/10
Zed






Mordekaiser is not normally a champion you would find on top, nor a champion you would see in general. Why this is, I do not know, but you can use this fact to your advantage. Several players have either forgotten how strong he is, or have yet to ever face him, especially in the top lane.

I will say though that Morde is a champ that takes some getting used to. His passive, Iron Man, is a very unique passive, and you really need to know how to effectively use his abilities in order to take advantage of it. Also, Morde has his limits, and you need to know when to back off when he reaches them. Once you master these traits about Morde, you will end up being an unstoppable killing machine up top.

This does it for my Mordekaiser guide! I hope you can see the amount of effort I put into this, for I wanted it to come out like a professional guide, even if it is my very first. If you enjoyed this guide, and found it quite helpful in learning how to play or play against Morde, give this guide an upvote. It will be highly appreciated.

In the meantime, happy hunting
Electro522




Thank You List


A big thanks to jhoijhoi for creating her "How to Make a Guide" guide. Alot of the coding that went into this came from that guide!

Thank you to Emikadon for the advice on spoilers, items, masteries, matchups section coding, and of course the guide overhaul artwork!!!

Thank you FalseoGod for a far better build!

Thank you to Double_E for the Gragas matchup and noticing the consistent spelling error.

Thank you to Janitsu for his advice on runes, items, abilities, and his views on the guide overall.



Milestones



June, 19th, 2014 - Reached Number 1 Mordekaiser Guide on MOBAfire!!!
Spoiler: Click to view





Change Log


July, 3rd, 2014 - Updated Jayce Matchup
June, 19th, 2014 - Added Milestones Section
June, 15th, 2014 - Updated Runes on cheat sheet and guide. Updated Thank you section.
June, 12th, 2014 - Added MOBAfire Matchups
June, 9th, 2014 - Established Guide Overhaul
June, 8th, 2014 - Updated Gragas Matchup, and fixed spelling errors
June, 8th, 2014 - Updated Rumble Matchup
June, 6th, 2014 - Visually updated and organized matchups section
June, 6th, 2014 - Updated Items, Masteries, and Thank You List
June, 5th, 2014 - Updated Spoilers Section and added "Thank You List" section.
June, 5th, 2014 - Updated Item Build and Mastery section
June, 5th, 2014 - Guide Published
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