using Seals and quinessences that are Hp5 is absolutely crucial if u wish to play as morde and open up different item options other than starting with a regrowth pendent. with these Hp5 runes you are opend up to enter your lane with boots+x3 pots(my personal preferance for quick sorc boots) or a AP tome for a quick revolver. with the Hp5 runes there is no desperation tho to rush for spell vamp so i tend to always go for the boots first.

People tend to think morde is a tank, yes he is a tank. but his tankability comes from his passive thus his ability to dish out massive amounts of damage and keep that passive at a full shield. SO with that being said, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to build items with HP, mordekaisers passive is theoretically unlimited HP, therefore the way u build him is not tanky, and not pure dps. u want to find a comfy spot in the middle. generally abyssal scepter and frozen heart are enuf AND they both increase your damage output thus increasing the effectiveness of your passive. at times vs teams with alor of AP carries u may need to get a Force of nature just to avoid getting blown up by a tibbers for example but typically u can burst the AP carry down b4 they can burst you down

the way i build my morde is, he is one of the highest burst damage champs in the game SO, i choose flash because u see sumone in a distance, u know they can kite u or escape, but you have enuf damage to kill them with 1 rotation. activate Q>flash>swing>activate creeping death and cast siphon of destruction at the sime time>land your ult and ignite simutaneously. this is almost ALWAYS a guarenteed kill with this build. obviously there will be exceptions on sum targets like alistar for example where their ult is just god mode, but u will still cripple him badly

Morde is useless without CS and at a disadvantage early game in a duo lane. so make sure u get a solo lane everytime. he is one of the strongest laners in the game which means u will generally be pushed onto your opponents tower, so be sure to ward your river to watch for ganks.
morde is very capable of fighting ganks off 1v2 but i wouldnt try it unless there are creep waves around and both your summoner skills are up.

if u know sumone is going to peek around thru the forest, sit there waiting in the bush, unleash your combo on them and they will die before they know what hit them and give u a ghost to push a tower or kill dragon or to beat on one of his friends

The way i build morde is to rush as much magic penetration as possible so, sorc boots>abyssal scepter>haunting guise are almost always my first items of choice. if u are lanes vs AD get the haunting guise before the abyssal and vice versa if u are vs a AP.

once you have these 3 intial items, your siphons alone will be doing major chunks to peoples health bars, anywhere from 20-40% of their life in damage. its very noticable and makes u very intimidating

eventually once it gets into late game u will sell the hauting guise for the 40% spell penetration staff but thats not until way later.

there will be times, when u get ganked by multiple ppl. but dont fret, morde is very dangerous in a situation where many people come at him. run into your bush, insta burst sumone down, do your best to dodge at much incoming damage as possible by going in and out of bushes/ making sure u are getting the most out of your passive and the whole time make sure your ghost is doing exactly what it should be. and you will see your self stopping gank attempts and getting double or triple kills

make sure u have wards tho and dont fight the fight unless u are confident about the outcome

even in moments that arent a gank. in team fights, say your HP is dangerously low and the team fight is still going on, you should be staying nearby controlling your ghost to keep doing as much damage as possible and reenter the fight when u can

can also use it to scare enemies around their towers, they will try to dodge the ghost and go in front of their tower, u come around the other side, whichever way they choose to go they are still going to die.

its very beneficial to be basically two champions at once so use it to your advantage while it lasts

generally u want to aim to get a ranged AD ghost. But realistically that isnt always going to happen with his team keeping u away from him and him just staying out of your range. So, if u have to, kill whatever u have too. theres nothing wrong with having a brand ghost. it still does damage and still takes damage and is still going to help

u will be incredibly strong early/mid game and as morde its always very very easy to sell what u arent using anymore and to buy what you need. so dont forget that.

there are also builds to do more burst damage at the cost of survivability, lich bane is a very strong burst damage item on a AP morde. your Q will do literally over 1000damage. but again u are sacrifcing your survivabilty on your most diffucult ability to land.

so build pure AP at your own risk

the pro's are you are a durable bursing machine
the con's are. you are mordekaiser, one of the most easily kited champions in the game

building a rylais doesnt change the fact that your still going to get kited. so if ppl tell u to build a rylais ignore them, there are only rare situations where rylais is better thanother item options.

dont always use creeping death on yourself, u see your buddy getting ganked up on, throw creeping death on him, increase his MR and armor and get the most damage as possible out of it.

alot of people wonder...frozen heart? why? it has mana? that isnt a mordekaiser item....

WRONG!


okay, first of all it has 99 armor 1 less than thornmail. its close to the same price, it provides a aura that is beneficial to your entire team by slowing enemy attacks

but heres the big thing that makes frozen heart the best armor item for morde, the 20% CDR on it equals, ALOT shorter ult cd, noticably faster Q's and E's thus more damage output and more shield and more survivability and the big thing now, about 98% uptime on creeping death. once creeping death wears off it will have a 0.75 CD left on it. meaning if u get frozen heart, your creeping death will be up almost 100% of the time. sooo, pro tip. get a frozen heart :)

mordekaiser is very capable of jungling. with this build even, start at blue, have your teamates help and just go all the way through on normal jungle path.

i dont reccomend doing it tho as u will always be better in a solo lane, only jungle as morde if your in a ranked game and your team is baddies that didnt pick a jungler

its very viable it just isnt comparable to say nocturne