During the winter solstice, on the darkest day of the year, a being like no other emerged from the forgotten alleyways of Noxus. Standing eight feet tall, and concealed within a razor-sharp armored shell, he came to be known only as Mordekaiser. The nature of what lies beneath his carbonized carapace is a popular subject of speculation. Many allege that he is a mortal man with a heart that has hardened to iron. Others insist that he is a dark specimen of the undead. But there are some who whisper warnings that he is merely a foreshadowing of something terrible and unprecedented yet to come. Despite the public conjecture and curiosity, none have discovered what lies beneath his alloyed exterior. What is known is this: Mordekaiser arrived unannounced at the Institute one day and, with a rasp that crept ice up the spines of all within earshot, requested to join the League of Legends.

Upon glimpsing his fearful visage, most keep their distance, fortunately unaware that his touch bears a sinister scourge. Those who stumble within his grasp fall victim to incurable maladies. In fact, Mordekaiser seems mystically attuned to sickness, as if it feeds and comprises part of his chilling essence. He now stalks the slums of Noxus, drawn to the plague-ridden and diseased. However, there is something in his clever tactics, something in his noble stance, something in the tone of his unearthly commands that has led many to believe that Mordekaiser is more than just a foot soldier. Some see the distinguishing characteristics of a general. While many have learned to accept the evidence of this unsettling possibility, a lingering question keeps them wary at the witching hour: If Mordekaiser is a general, what nightmarish legion lurks at his command?

"The common perception is that the encompassing armor protects him, I fear that -- for the fragile time being -- it actually protects us."

Hello to my unbelievable guide of AD Mordekaiser. In this guide, I will explain how this kind of Morde works and how effective it is. But please don't forget the following: This is a fun build and not a competive one.

Well, I hope you will enjoy this guide :D

AD Morde has many pros, but also some cons. Read them now ;D

Pros

- Very high lategame damage
- very good pusher
- good farmer
- fast
- in fact, depends on just two items
- insane damage on a single target
- WOAH ultiamte
- best extra-AD scaling ingame
- may onehit a squishy (rofl xD)
- alternative build

Cons

- not so valuable early-/midgame like AP or mpen Morde
- compared to other Morde builds squishy (but still though^^)
- no CC
- no close-up-skill
- really depends on items
- really slow without items
- only one AD scaling
- team depending

Why AD Morde? Let me explain this to you, I'll make a little list.

AD Morde:

- Higher burst against single targts then AP Morde
- Won't fall down late game, AP Morde will because of low scalings
- Way funnier imo^^

AP Morde:

- Farms like a god
- Very strong early and mid game
- Still very funny


It is just a short list, but I hope it helps.

V. 1-0-0-109
*Shield decay reduced to 3% from 5%

This is a slightly buff for Morde. It will help you to stay longer in lane and to resist harassment better then before because your shield won't disapear so fast so that the enemies damamge scratches your hp.

Iron Man

20/25/30% of the damage dealt from abilities is converted into a temporary shield. Maximum shield strength is 620 health. The shield decays by 5% per second.

A quite useful passive. It allows you to stay very long in lane and will block annoying attacks like Karthus' ultimate. Well, this passive is quite more useful on an AP playstyle, but still nice.

Mace of Spades

On next hit, Mordekaiser swings his mace with such force that it echoes out, striking up to 3 additional nearby targets, dealing 80/110/140/170/200 magic damage.

If the target is alone, 140/192.5/245/297.5/350 damage is dealt instead.

This is what makes AD Morde a viable playstyle. On a single target, it will deal insane amounts of damage, taking half of the life of a squishy! With Trinity Force and about 150 AD you will deal over 800 damage to a single target and that every 2.5 seconds! Isn't that nice? I think so.

What to do with it? Smash your enemies with it!
They don't remember your damage? Smash them!
They want to fight you? Smash them!
They want to run away? Smash them!
They want to kill a mate? Smash them!
You just want to smash them? Smash them!
You want to fear them? Smash them!
I hope you know what I mean, huh? Smash them! Smash them! Smash them!

Creeping Death

Unleashes a protective cloud of metal shards to surround an ally, increasing their armor and magic resistance by 10/15/20/25/30 and dealing 24/38/52/66/80 magic damage per second to enemies in the cloud for 6 seconds.

Decent dmg to surrounding units, but the additional defense is quite nice. Plus, you can put it on an ally to protect him. Combined with a Sunfire Cap, it will deal nice damage and is a good way to protect yourself of melees. I max this out second, because I don't need the extra damage of SoD, but the extra defense.

Save your allies with it, save your life with it, just save everything you want to save!

Siphon of Destruction

Mordekaiser damages enemies in a cone in front of him, dealing 65/105/145/185/225 magic damage.

For each unit hit, Mordekaiser's shield absorbs an additional 1/3/3/4/5 health.

It is better on a more magic build. Put one point in it so you can use to farm and max. it out last. You just don't need this skill so much.

Some tips of me what to do with this skill:
1.) farm
2.) farm
3.) did I mention farm?
4.) farm

Children of the Grave

Steals 24/29/34% of target champion's maximum Health (half stolen initially and half over 10 seconds; deals Magic Damage).

If the target dies while cursed, their soul is enslaved and will follow Mordekaiser for 30 seconds. Mordekaiser gains 20% of their ability power and attack damage, and the pet's stats are enhanced.

Woah. This skill is SOOOOO awesome! It deals 34% of the maximum health of the target and half of that is initial! This skill is because of its insane range a perfect finisher and additional, you will gain a strong ghost, that can do almost everything: Tank turrets, kill champs, farm for you and so on. Plus it increases your stats. Kill as many enemies as possible with this baby and you will success in most cases.
It can turn the tides of a fight: Turn a 5v5 into a 6v4 or turn a 3v3 into a 4v2. Both ways are quite awesome and will help your team alot.

Btw, you can use it for almost everything. Initiate a fight, end a fight or what else. It is just awesome, just don't forget to put it on a lowlife-target to get the ghost! The ghost is a very strong ally, never forget this!

Second Part

There may be some questions because of my order of skilling and WHY THE HELL I don't max Mace out first. But there are two easy reasons: Mace has a great AD-scaling, but it scales with bonus damage and NOT with the initial damage, so it won't deal so much damage if maxed out first. Siphon is a great farming skill and because you may not get so much kills early on you have to farm like a bersercer and that's the biggest strength of Mordekaiser. He can farm and farm and farm ... and farm and farm and so on. You can get so much gold just with farming minions.
Here is a short sequence of this skill order and what happens with it:

farming -> gold -> bonus damage -> highly effective mace -> kills

Morde has no CC, but alot AoE. Because of this, he will deal very high damage in teanmfights, but not in 1v1 if creeps are close (you want your mace just to hit one target, YOUR target). Because of this, you will often get no kills without a mate that can stun. So you need to farm, as said above. Well, I am repeating^^

A very important thing for AD Morde. As said above, Morde is very depending on items, especially on AD items, if played like in this guide.

Well. In fact, AD Morde is based on just 3 items: boots, trinity force and one bloodthirster. With this build, you will deal insane single target damage, push like a god and will twohit every squishy. The bloodthirster will be full stacked very fast because of your extreme good farming. If you and your team is doing well, you will have this gear after around 30-35 minutes. But hey, it's a lategame playstyle so this is ok. You can't have an awesome early game if you want to have brutal lategame damage. With this build, your mace will hit with OVER 1000 damage! And this every 2,5 seconds without any costs. Combined with your ultimate, squishies like Shaco die after two spells and one autohit if not healed. Really nice.
The other items are there to improve your surviveability. With the build offered above, you won't die, but you will kill every champ in a 1v1 and also deal high damage in team fights plus your ultimate.

And don't forget the following: This sequence is not made in stone and you don't have to follow it like an emeperor. Adapt it if necessary, depending on the enemies and what your team needs (yes, your runes and masteries also allow an AP build, use it if necessary, but I won't go into this section. Take another guide for this.). Tanky chars can adapt best I think, so use it.

For runes, I usualy take the following ones:

Marks: Magicpenetration (must have, your primary damage is magic)
Seals: Flat armor (to be more harder to kill or to get out of the lane)
Glyphs: Magic resist per level (very good against casters)
Quints: Flat health (nice for some earlygame advantage)

Also viable are the following ones:

Marks: Armor penetration (if you want to autohit, I won't recommend these)
Seals: Dodge (take it if you want, I just like the armor seals more)
Glyphs: CDR (hmm, I am a friend of defensive runes, but if you want ... ^^)
Quints: Magic penetration (it will help you more in the lategame then as flat health quints, but I like to have a good earlygame)

I usualy take 9-21-0.
There are more possibilities, but I would recommend this one. You may also take increased Ghost, but therefor you have to miss eihter the magic penetration or the damage reduction.

In my opinion, there are many ways to take the masteries, but I think, that 9-21-0 is just the best.

For summoner spells, I take ghost and flash because they are both very good and in combination, they are one of the best abilities to flee/kite/chase.

Skills, I would recommend too:

Exhaust
You have no CC, but you want to catch up to the enemy. In this case, you can take exhaust, because it offers you much more then just a slow, it gives you a cool damagreduction!

Ignite
It has the perfect synergy with your CotG. The extra dot will give an almost sure kill if correctly used and also it reduces the healing of the enemy inflicted by this skill. Plus, the damage is true. One tip for using it with you ultimate: Use it BEFORE you use your ultimate on your enemy. Ignite has a short range instead of your ulti. If you use your CotG first, you may not be able to you use you ignite too. Think about that.

Cleanse
You want to deal damage and a stunned Morde won't do this. This helps you out of such a situation. Recommend.

Spells, you may take if you want:

Fortify
You are tanky and a tanky char may take it. I really like this spell because it is really useful for the team and awesome in premades.

Teleport
If you want to get back on your lane fast ... this won't be necessary if you recall wisely, but ok, if you want.

I won't recommend these ones:

Heal
You have your shield, you are tanky and you are no supporter. I won't recommend this one in any kind.

Clairvoyance
I just don't like it plus it is a supporter skill and not a DPS skill.

Rally
This skill is for pushing and to support your team. You are no supporter and you can push very fast without it, you really don't need this.

Never, never take these ones:

Clarity
If you don't know the reason, please uninstall.

Revive
It is good on Eve or Panth or other first targets which can engage a teamfight really fast after dying, but you are normally not the first target and you can't get into a teamfight very fast after dying. Maybe if it is in your base, but this should not happen^^ (btw, four words with two letters, beginning with an "i" in a row, yay xD)

Smite
Are you a jungler? No.

I will list up some combos here. First, your basic combo:

1v1/2

Creeping Death on yourself -> Mace of Spades -> Children of the Grave -> Autohit -> Mace of Spades (-> Siphon of Destruction if necessary)

1v3+

Run away if you are not fed like hell^^

Teamfight combo

Creeping death on the squishiest ally -> Siphon of Destruction -> Mace of Spades -> Children of the Grave on the enemies DD -> spam Mace and autohit

Early Game

This is pretty easy with AD Morde, with any kind of Morde. Just use your skills on the creeps and look how your money goes up. Because you have no mana problems, you can spam your skills if you want but you can also just lasthit like with every other char. Do what you want.
If you can, hit the enemy champions and the creeps at the same time so you can farm AND harass at the same time. With a good lane partner, you will be able to take some kills early on.
If it is needed, buy some pots to stay longer in the lane. You only need to kill two creeps to get the gold back.
Buying wards should be normal, otherwise do it! You are a great farmer and the little decrease of your gold won't hurt very much, a kill because you didn't see the gank does. So buy wards and place them in the bush at your lane. It will help.

Mid Game

Morde is slow, so he is not such a good ganker. Because he misses every kind of CC, he really needs some mates with good CC. You can also farm some jungle creeps and, for gods sake, take the lizard buff! You really need the extra slow that it provides and with this buff, you can gank way better. With your boots +2, zeal, ghost and flash you are extremely fast and viable to catch and slow an enemy.
In this phase, you should place wards at important tactical positions. Way crosses should be warded, the dragon should be warded and the buffs should be warded. You can destroy an enemy by stealing them everything and gank them everywhere.

Late Game

You will deal insane amounts of damage, you can make a ghost and you deal only AoE. Isn't this nice? You just need to spam your skills on the squishies and lowlifes and hit many enemies with your skills. Put a CotG on a lowlife and make it a 6v4, yay!

As said in the previous topics, wards and generally map awareness is very important., especially to someone who cannot escape easily. Here are some videos (not made by me), which may help you with this topic.
Play Video Play Video Play Video
You may not understand the language, but the pictures are speaking for themselves.

There is not much to say. Take some extra gold in the jungle, grab the red buff and feel good with it. Morde is extremely viable to kill creeps in the jungle because of his multiple AoE and his insane single-target nuke, so he can solo the dragon very early and very fast.

Boots

Sorcerer's Shoes
My first choice of boots. Since your damage is mainly magical because of your Mace of Spades, you will benefit the most from this shoes imo.

Swiftness
This boots give you movement +3. I won't prefer them since you will be fast enough with your items and ghost. You benefit more from the magic penetration of the Sorcerer's Shoes.

Mobility
If you really need to gank/push, you can take this ones. They will help you to get quick to the other end of the map so you can push a tower. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend these.

Ninjatabis
If they got heavy physical damage, especially autohitters, you may take this pair of boots. They may save your life more then once. Recommend against massive autohitters.

Mercuries
Best choice for melees imo. The extra magic resistance will save you really often and the lowered effect of enemies CC is awesome. If they got heavy CC and/or strong casters, take this one. IN that case I would prefer them over Sorcerer's Shoes.

Bersercers
If you want to push and to autohit, you can take this item. Otherwise, I would let it be.

Lucidity
You already have very low CDs, you don't need this amount of CDR. I won't recommend this item for AD Morde.

Offensive Items

Trinity Force
As often said above, this is your main item. If you read the guide, you won't need an explanation.
Otherwise, here it is^^ Your damage output with your Mace of Spades is insane if you hit with the Trinityproc. Thats all and thats very much. Highly recommend.

Atmas Impaler
If you got over 3k life, you can take this item. I really like it, especially on Olaf and it can be good for AD Morde in some situations. It is only situational, but if you need armor+dmg, you can take this one.

Bloodthirster
It gives almost the highest amount of AD in one item and you need the extra AD for your Mace. Highly recommend so it's in the core build. I would take this one in almost every game.

Frozen Mallet
Slow on hit, massive extra life and a little amount of damage. Togheter with Atmas Impaler, it can be devastating. Otherwise, I wouldn't take this one. You can get the slow from the red buff and because of some other tanky items and your shield you already have very high health. And do you want to pay 3k gold for 20 AD? Not really^^

Defensive Items

Randuins Omen
It gives you almost everything you want in defense. High defense, good lifereg, slowing the attacking enemies and a very useful active, and don't forget theCDR. I highly recommend this item against all kinds of AD in the enemy team.

Force of Nature
It gives movement, mres and lifereg which are all stats Morde needs. Do I have to say more about it then recommend?

Banshees Veil
I won't prefer this over FoN. Don't understand me wrong, this item is quite awesome against casters, BUT for AD Morde you will need the higher mres and especially the movement. Banshee's offers you a shield that blocks ONE negative spell on you (also TF's ulti^^). It will help pretty much against casters like Karthus who can deal insane damage with a single spell or casters which are based on one single spell. If this is the case, you can also take this.

Warmogs Armor
Yes. Many Mordes take this item first. Personally, I don't like Warmogs on Morde. Because of his shield he can block high amounts of damage and I see his shield equal to life (or something like that^^). Remember: If you have your shield 10 times full and afterwards empty in one teamfight, you will have about 6000 hp more only because of your shield! You don't really need the extra life, you see?

Quicksilver Sash
A highly underrated, but very useful item. It offers mres and one of the best actives in this game. It removes ALL debuffs from you, also supression! If the enemy got a Malzahar I would almost always take this item (if the Malz sucks really hard, then you can let it be, but against a good Malz, you will need it to be sucessful).

To-Do-List
- Add an item discussion (WIP)
- Add icons
-
-

Changelog
- 20110112 Added the To-Do-List and the Changelog
- 20110112 Fixxed something in the item sequence
- 20110112 Changed title
- 20110122 Put some chapters together
- 20110122 Started adding the item discussion
- 20110122 Added an opening Pentakill Morde, wuhu *.*
- 20110122 Added "Patch Log"
- 20110125 Worked on the item discussion
- 20110125 Changed the last chapters heading
- 20110218 Added "Why AD Morde?"
- 20110218 Changed s.th. in the intro

Hey, that was my guide. I am still working on it and testing AD Morde in some games, with other starting items and other item sequences, but this one is far the best I found yet.
If you really read this guide and not just scrolled to the end, you may find some ideas here to test something new on your Master of Metal. It is really fun :D

Well, sorry if you don't like my English and so on, but it is not my mother language^^

I hope you liked my guide, rate, subscribe and see you on the Fields of Justice.