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UPDATE: New patch is here and a bunch of new things is in the store, many balance changes, so now I'm just testing around.

Wai hello thar. Here I am back with another guide (after my Kassadin guide, which u can find here) to fill you in on how Mordekaiser should be played.
First of all, and the most important, Mordekaiser IS NOT A TANK, HE'S A BATTLE MAGE (a mage with some magic resist and armor and stuff)! So people who tell you that Mordekaiser should be played as tank are wrong.
And Mordekaiser is the only caster who can sustain really long (look @ the second video), and also do very much burst damage.

So in one word, Mordekaiser is OP! (He's OP because if they nerf him he becomes ****, and if they buff him he is simply OP!) People usually oversee that and that's why they lose!
And I'm going to teach u how to play Mordekaiser the right way and how to carry your team late game.

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

Pros + One of the strongest champions late game! + Can turn 5v5 fights into 6v4 fights! + His passive is what makes him tanky without any tank items! + Mace of Spades can deal over 1000 dmg late game (not kidding)! + Great farming! + Can spell vamp the **** with his Q!

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Cons - Meele. - His spells cost HP (solved with spell vamp). - Early game is very weak. - No escape skills (positioning is essential to truly master Mordekaiser).

Rewriting this because of the new masteries.

UPDATE: My rune choice changed a bit, so I'm going to rewrite this too when I have time.

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Magic Penetration, what's not to want there, btw other marks don't go good on Mordekaiser.
  
• Greater Seal of Vitality: More HP, as you level trough the game, sounds good to me.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: After a little thinking about it I figured that since you're playing mid and you level-up faster the AP/level glyphs are much better than flat but the flat ones are also viable.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Early game is very weak on him, so we're "buffing" that up with 15 AP on start.

• Greater Seal of Armor Makes you tankier, and they're a must if you're going solo top.
  
• Greater Seal of Vigor Makes your early game a whole lot easier, but I prefer armor and HP per level
  
• Greater Glyph of Ability Power Only good for making your shield charge faster early game, other than that pretty much useless since they don't scale through the game.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp More spell vamp early game is not bad, but you will miss the 15 AP I guarantee ya.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Vigor Making your early game more durable, but I still prefer AP over them.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration Not bad, but the 15 AP is a superior pick to them.

Ignite: Great synergy with your ult, helpful through-out the whole game.

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Flash: Escape ganks, LIKE A BOSS!

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Teleport: If you're going top, or like to have map control... (IMO Ignite > Teleport when going mid)

• Ghost: If you don't have Flash, also good for chasing and escaping, but I prefer Flash over it.
  
• Cleanse: If you're facing a high CC team.
  
• Heal: Don't like it, but it's good for baiting people (lol).
  
• Exhaust: It's ok to take it instead of ignite.

• Clarity: You don't have mana why in the world would you want this???
  
• Clairvoyance: You're not a support.
  
• Promote: NO.
  
• Smite: You're not gonna jungle.
  
• Revive: Morde es #1, always win, never die, never loses, huehue.
  
• Surge: NO.

• Iron Man: This ability is what makes Mordekaiser different than any other champion, and mage. For hitting his abilities he gets a shield that soaks up incoming damage (physical, magic, true damage).
  
• Mace of Spades (Q): this is your 2nd skill for poking early game (it's meele), but your main damage skill in late game, with the full it can build deal 1000 damage to targets that are alone.
  
• Creeping Death (W): Useful for some extra armor and MR and also helps you hit the pick up some creeps when you're focusing one and the other one is low HP
  
• Siphon of Destruction (E): Your main damage and poke skill early game, falls of a little at the late game, but it's really good for keeping your shield up and such.
  
• Children of the Grave (R): This skill is what makes Mordekaiser what he is, turning fights from 5v5 into 6v4 and giving you a pet that you can control. Also you can use your ghost for healing purposes when very low on HP.

Items that counter Children of the Grave

• : If you throw your ult while your target has this item it will completely negate the whole ult (it's damage and it's effect), so if you see a purple/blue bubble around someone and he has this item bought tell one of your teammates to throw a spell to bring it down (since it has a 90 seconds cooldown).
  
• : If someone has this item, and you throw your ult on that target and he dies he will revive, but not on your side, so when someone is holding onto a guardian wait for your team to get the passive of this item out of your way or just focus someone else (it has a 5 minute cooldown).
  
• : This item does NOT negate the damage of your ult, but it can "cleanse" the effect of your ultimate so you won't get a ghost. When you see that someone has this item, either wait for him to use it, or don't focus him (it has a 90 seconds cooldown).
  
• & : Both items are very good against you ult. If the target gets below 30% of his maximum HP by magic damage it generates a shield that soaks up 250 magic damage ( Hexdrinker) / 400 magic damage ( Maw of Malmortius).
  
• : If someone is holding to one of these try to finish him off fast before he can get away, because if he gets away with the ult on his head, he will just use this to gain an instant 200hp.
  
• : It sounds crazy, but this item can counter your ult at early levels if you don't have ignite on your target, so be careful!

Champions/Abilities that counter Children of the Grave

• Zilean: His ult - Chronoshift acts like a Guardian Angel so be careful!
  
  
• Morgana: Her Black Shield can just negate the effect of your ult (not the damage), it acts kinda like a active Quicksilver Sash, if she has activated the shield don't use your ult on her, also if she has ran away with the ult on her head it's only a matter of time when she activates Black Shield so be careful!
  
  
• Lux: Her Prismatic Barrier can counter both ignite and your ult!
  
  
• Janna: Another shield...Her Eye of the Storm is really annoying and can counter your ult.
  
  
• Sivir: Her Spell Shield acts like a Banshee's Veil (but on a much lower cooldown) except that she can activate it when ever she wants.
  
  
• Shaco: His Hallucinate can make you waste your ult if you're not careful, but the main difference between Shaco and Max (his clone) is that Max doesn't any buffs on himself while the real Shaco has them (I'm talking about the red buff, the blue buff, and the Baron buff), also his clone takes increased damage, so try to use that to your advantage.
  
  
• Poppy: If her Diplomatic Immunity is on you, fight her if she's low, if not, just ignore her, besides you shouldn't even focus her.
  
  
• Kayle: Her Intervention makes her (or the target she chose) completely immune to all spells and auto attacks for 3 seconds. Either wait for her to waste ult, or until it wears off.
  
  
• Tryndamere: His undying rage is something like Kayle's ult, except that he can only use it for himself, it lasts for 5 seconds, and his ult doesn't block yours. So just throw it on him (if you need to) when his ult is at half of the duration (2-3 seconds), and he should be dead.

Primary, secondary and other targets for Children of the Grave

Some examples of the Primary targets:

• Ashe
• Caitlyn
• Corki
• Draven
• Ezreal (if played AD)
• Graves
• Kennen (if played AD, usually AP, so check his items!)
• Kog'Maw (if played AD)
• Miss Fortune
• Sivir
• Teemo (if played AD)
• Tristana
• Twisted Fate (if played AD, usually AP, so check his items!)
• Twitch
• Urgot
• Varus
• Vayne

Some examples of Secondary targets:

Any meele AD ( Tryndamere and Master Yi come to mind)

Some examples of Other targets :

Pure tanks, and AP champions, although u have more profit out of AP champs than out of tanks since a percentage of their AP becomes your's (so it's more for self-powering purposes).



When to use Children of the Grave?

Use it only in two situations:

• In teamfights - Pretty self-explanatory, and you should focus the targets listed above.
  
  
• For survival purposes - That means that you should use it on the target that is nearest to you if you're really low on HP, since it gives you so much HP back, and that's how you can win even a 2v1 (when jungle comes to gank you).

Mid lane match-ups:

Ahri - EASY - This is an easy lane for Mordekaiser since I've never seen an Ahri beat me, as long as you start boots & pots, just dodge skillshots, farm, and harass with E.

Akali - MEDIUM - You have a slightly better early game since Akali is really weak before level 6, if you harass her enough early and gain an level advantage it will be easy, if not, you will need help from your jungle.

Anivia - MEDIUM - Until level 6 u beat her since you can push her to the tower, and she can't push back because of her low AD at start and bad auto-attack animation, so you will out-farm her. After level 6 is what I like to call "the freeze lane" (u push pretty much equally, and both of you are waiting for more creeps to come to lane). Be careful of her passive, it's a really good bait.

Annie - MEDIUM-HARD - She has a lot of burst and also a stun, the real problem with her is that one ability can melt your shield, and when she gets level 6 she will just tibbers stun, Q, E, and boom you're dead since u can't fight back while you're stunned. So be careful about this lane, a skilled Annie player can beat you with ease.

Brand - MEDIUM-HARD - His DOT passive melts your shield, but if you start with boots & pots, it is easier to dodge his spells, and at a moment u will possibly gain advantage, but if you don't it's kinda GG.

Cassiopeia - HARD - The hardest match-up you will see in mid lane, even if you start boots & pots, she can just spam her Q destroying your shield, an when she gets E, she will be even harder to beat, but the good thing is that she's more vulnerable to jungle ganks than you are, so tell your jungle to camp mid.

Fizz - MEDIUM-HARD - Fish-boy is really annoying he has his healing debuff that makes survive harder, but u can easily poke him with E, be sure to watch out for his ult, and his Playful/Trickster, because with his Playful/Trickster he becomes untargetable, and u can't throw your ult or ignite if he's really low.

Galio - MEDIUM - He's the only match-up that can clear minion waves as fast as you. And he builds a lot of MR, because 50% of his MR is converted into AP, making him really strong against you, but if you play your lane well he won't be a problem, watch out for his flash-ult combo.

Gragas - MEDIUM - He's something like the same as Galio (except for the building MR start), he clears minions fast, and he is oom at the early game a lot, so try to abuse it.

Heimerdinger - EASY-MEDIUM - He can push the lane with his turrets even more than you do, and his E (rockets) can burst your shield down easy, so you need to harras him because he's really squishy.

Karthus - MEDIUM-HARD - This is probably a lane you can't win and his potential in teamfights is bigger than yours, and mostly you can't win the lane because he farms with his Q usually, so it is a pretty hard lane.

Kassadin - MEDIUM-HARD - He has a huge burst, and u can easily out-farm him, but be vary of his slow and silence, as well as his ult.

Katarina - EASY-MEDIUM - You can beat her easy since she doesn't have any range abilities except Q which may not jump to you, but care about her ult since you don't have any CC to stop it.

Kennen - MEDIUM - Start boots & pots, and dodge his Q with ease, but his auto attack range is really long and when the passive from W kicks in he can burst half of your shield in one auto-attack, and care about his ult because when Mordekaiser is stunned he's pretty much useless.

LeBlanc - MEDIUM-HARD - If you harass her constantly, u will make her b several times and gain an advantage, but if you don't she will just burst you down, and the next thing you know you will be 1/7 instead of 7/1.

Lux - EASY - Start boots & pots dodge everything she throws at you, harass her, but beware of jungle ganks and her long range ult that can deal 500 damage at level 6.

Malzahar - MEDIUM - I call this a draw, if you play good against him u win, if he plays better than u he wins, be careful about his E-Q-W-R combo (or just his W-R combo).

Morgana - EASY-MEDIUM - You beat her easy, you can out-farm her and make her useless, but when you're in teamfights care for the Flash-R- Zhonya's Hourglass combo.

Orianna - MEDIUM - Her auto attacks are realy strong, and because of her auto-attack range, she can easily destroy your shield, dodging her spells is really easy if you start boots and pots.

Ryze - EASY-MEDIUM - You win in poke fights but you lose in long engagements, so just poke him and farm.

Sion - EASY-MEDIUM - Can't tell you much about this lane since I've never played Mordekaiser against AP Sion, about farming you're even, about poking you're even, it's a pretty even lane although AP Sion is an early game champion so you should win late game.

Swain - MEDIUM-HARD - He has a snare that can set you up for ganks, he has his bird mode, when you can't kill him because he keeps regenerating HP like crazy, and he also has a DOT ability, so be careful about this lane and start boots & pots to dodge his snare.

Talon - EASY - The only problem u will have with him is the bleed, but if u dodge all his pokes, and u hit him with E, you will win this lane easy, and his only real poke is easily avoided, and even if u get hit, your shield will negate most of dmg.

Twisted Fate - EASY-MEDIUM - Pretty easy lane, and you should win late game (except if he gets fed by your teammates, because of his semi-global ultimate)

Veigar - EASY - This is probably the only champion that has a worse early game than Mordekaiser if you poke him enough you will gain advantage, and you win.

Viktor - MEDIUM - His field that stuns you can set you up for ganks and his laser is the most annoying poke ever, also his Q is really annoying, you should win, but he has a massive poke.

Vladimir - MEDIUM-HARD - He probably wins this lane. If you deal damage to him he will just heal it up, and if you charge your shield he will just destroy it with one Q, but the secret to beating a Vlad is this: If he uses his W early, just throw everything you have on him and he will die easily.

Xerath - MEDIUM-HARD - His range is really annoying and you won't be able to poke him, since his range is bigger than yours.

Ziggs - MEDIUM-HARD - His auto attack range is ridiculous, but he's really squishy so if you succeed in poking him you can gain an advantage, but care about his semi-global ult.

Zilean - MEDIUM-HARD - Zilean counters your ult directly with his ult, u just can't kill him, and you can't get your ghost, also his Q is very annoying and it can burst your shield really easy, but the good thing is that he is an early game champion (something like AP Sion), so you should be able to beat him late game.

Top lane match-ups:

Cho'Gath - MEDIUM-HARD - Knockup, silence, and dat ult, play careful!

Darius - HARD - He has a DOT, a slow, and dat ult, play careful against him!

Fiora - MEDIUM - I really don't know much about this matchup but i'm sure it's kinda even, be sure to rush armor against her to shut her down completely.

Fizz - MEDIUM-HARD - Yup, there's the fish-boy again, he also appears on the top lane, same rules apply as for the mid lane.

Gangplank - EASY - You are like a hard counter for him. Let me explain it to you with more detail, when you charge your passive to max, even if his q crits it will deal 20 dmg to you since your shield ****s up his Q, and your playstyle is almost the same, but you have a better poke than him.

Garen - MEDIUM-HARD - People say he counters you, but I don't believe in that. You can counter him if you rush armor quickly, altho he still has that silence and that ult and not to mention spin-to-win...Play careful!

Irelia -

Jarvan IV -

Jax -

Jayce -

Kayle -

Lee Sin -

Malphite -

Nasus -

Nidalee -

Olaf -

Pantheon -

Poppy -

Renekton -

Riven -

Rumble -

Shen -

Shyvana -

Singed -

Sion -

Teemo -

Tryndamere -

Udyr -

Volibear -

Wukong -

Yorick -

*NOTE: Some enemies from mid may appear on top lane too!
Legend: Champion - Difficulty - Explanation

Levels 1-6:

Just try to poke your enemy, and try to get as many last hits as possible with your (E), also after level 6 take your jungler's wraiths, and levels somewhere between 1-6 take the enemy's wraiths but leave the small one. If you're top lane do the same (except your wraiths thing, but to counter jungle your enemy take the big golem from the duo golems camp (don't try to do this without your jungler). Most importantly, NEVER OVERPUSH, and you do that by only using your (E) to get the last hits that are hard to reach and auto-attacks to finish off minions that are low enough to be finished with a auto-attack. When you have 1275 gold go B, and buy the Hextech Revolver for the sustain and a ward.

Levels 6-11:

Farm some more, when the enemy jungler comes to gank if you don't have Flash stay and fight him and your lane opponent, there was so many times that I got a double kill just by doing that, because when you fight your shield keeps charging so you deal tons of damage to them and they deal almost none to you. But if you have Flash and you're low, then just Flash away.

Levels 11-18:

Stay behind and let the tank initiate, focus the AD carry first to deal the most damage you can deal, the late game is Mordekaiser's time to shine.

NOTE: The underlined part also applies for the levels 1-6 part!

This is really important, so I will give you a picture so you can see where you need to put wards (which is one of the most important things in the game after CS of course). Also try to buy a ward every time you go back to base!

Legend:
1 Primary place to ward when playing mid lane on blue side.
1 Primary place to ward when playing mid lane on red/purple side.
2 Secondary place to ward when playing mid lane on blue side (your jungler should ward there but if he doesn't, you do it).
2 Secondary place to ward when playing mid lane on red/purple side (your jungler should ward there but if he doesn't, you do it).
O It stands for optional. If you need more safety ward there too (the rule applies when playing on both sides)
T When playing top lane on the blue side ward there.
T When playing top lane on the red/purple side ward there.

I hope I taught you how to play Mordekaiser the right way, and how to have a better expirience with him.

So GL&HF on the Fields of Justice!

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.