Mordekaiser Build Guide by legend lacrimosa

Introduction

Hi guys

This is my first in depth guide here, please finish reading before rating. thanks.
i bet most of people here are searching how can a Mordekaiser smash their whole team without being fed and upset everyone with his opness.
no problem! here w're going to learn how to play Mordekaiser step by step, either if you have skills or not you can do it.
just follow the guide step by step and don't rambo (1vs3+ engage) & suicide (like most olafs who think their are superman) so let's get started!

Pros / Cons

pros

high farm ability

passive makes him very tanky for a mage

good AOE damage for teamfights

his Q will deal more than 50% hp on 1target (if you use the lich bane build)

teaming with a bad carry or bot lane is no longer a problem as their fed carry will be yours on late game 3:)

is a hard rocker!!

cons

vulnerable against CC and high nuke (leblanc, veigar ...)

5 of them will focus you!

no escape!

Alistar jungle can often outplay a morde

you will get flamed much for his opness!

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration this will boost well your damage adding that we are using Abyssal Scepter and not Void Staff (Magic resist marks are not bad too)

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed -- these will help you to clear lane and both wraiths on the same time and escape ganks more easly, also helps against area of effect mid laners (brand, cassio, malza ..)

Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp with masteries, 9% spellvamp will recover a great amount of hp with your huge AOE damage (i don't use these)

Greater Glyph of Ability Power morde is an ap char and 3ap won't be enough to farm or to harras

Greater Seal of Defense the build will lack a little bit of armor, so this may help

Masteries

in general people argue about 21/0/9 and 9/0/21 on most ap chars.
for Mordekaiser i often choose 9/0/21 because xp, cd reduce, spellvamp and of course the summoner's spells cd reduce is just too good.
you can try any other masteries, it won't make a big change

Summoner Spells

often pots can save people from your ulti's dps damage ... to make sure they won't do it with Ignite

best escape tool

can replace flash against high CC teams

take this if the ennemy team have a very weak CC or if you're choosing to go tanky

Items & uses

i play 2main builds

Build 1 :

the first build doesn't include any slow and Mordekaiser have no CC aswell that's why you should get this when you have strong CC in your team.
boots & pots are a good start to avoid ganks and dodge few skills.

as you're going to face an AP char (90%) you should get that 48MR negatron! (it is very under-rated) and few other pots for sustain.

you should get Will of the Ancients as soon as possible, you can get Giant's Belt after the revolver if you're playing against a nuker. (you don't want to get oneshoted)

why WOTA and no hextech?

Hextech Gunblade is just too expensive! you don't want to pay 1100 gold for the slow and the 70 damage boost on Q that you will rarely use! but w'll use this on the second build!

Warmog's Armor will allow morde to survive most stuns and nukes until he use skills and ulti to reverse it! (few times, when i play morde i die before i can ulti due to CC)

Abyssal Scepter this with the MRP boots and runes will often deal PURE damage on their carry!

Zhonya's Hourglass as you will get hardfocused in teamfights, ulti the ennemy carry and use zhonya! recover some hp while your teamates get down the ennemy team's carry. adding the AP & armor bonus :)

Rabadon's Deathcap this will boost your AP so well! if you think you have enough AP purchase a Rylai's Crystal Scepter or an angel guardien

after you finish your build, sell the WOTA and get a pistol, you won't need to safe gold anymore ^^

while playing this build, you should harras a lot with Siphon of Destruction, wait for ganks or for ennemy to do huge mistakes and stay in your range with 40% hp or less. if you have Flash, use it to get a beautifull Mace of Spades followed by ignite then E then ultimate.

if you don't have your Flash or you don't want to waste it. get as close as you can from the ennemy, use Siphon of Destruction then Ignite then Children of the Grave in the right order!

here is why :
your E is Siphon of Destruction is 6secs cooldown even if waste it, it's not big deal.
but Ignite and Children of the Grave are high cooldown skills and you don't want to waste any of them without getting a kill.
ultimate's range is too much better than ignite's range, if you get to use your ignite you'll be also able to insta use your ulti after that (if you have fast hands, flash won't save the ennemy)
biggest mistake will be using ultimate without being able to ignite (if ennemies are not enough low hp to die)
i'll explain more about laning phase and late game phase in next chapters.

Build 2 :

this build is for experienced morde players. this will allow you to dominate all ennemies if you team covers you but any mistake will make you die.

why do you get Hextech Gunblade on this build while you just said it is too expensive?
gunblade is a good item for Mordekaiser but if you purchase it you're going to use every single inch of it. a nuke pistol is bad, hp recover won't save you from oneshots.
with the gunblade you will have about 150damage. that's why w'll rush Sheen and later w'll transform it into Lich Bane when you AP will be at least 150higher than your AD.

why would i get sheen or lich bane on a melee safeplay AP?

lich bane's bonus damage is physical only if used with a full magic damage on hit skill like morde's Mace of Spades, poppy's Devastating Blow ..
as 80% of players have less magic resist than armor and adding that w'll have 48magic penetration (counting the abyssal) your Q will deal amazing amounts of damage!
up to 1K damage with 3seconds cooldown!

how do i get close to ennemies without being in danger, to use my sheen or my lich bane?

either you're in sheen or lich bane phase, your Q will deal incredible damage, using it in this build is a MUST!

on lane (mid) :

the key to sucess is patience. wait your ennemy to use their skills trying to harras you or to farm. use your gunblade's active! aproche them and use your Mace of Spades, Siphon of Destruction, Ignite and Children of the Grave should be enough to take them down (adding the pistol's 300damage and maybe some previous harras)

on teamfights :

offtanks like Irelia Gangplank Wukong Shyvana ... will try to reach you and take you down in teamfights. stay close enough and behind your teamates, use Siphon of Destruction to deal some damage on any in range ennemies. if any offtank reach you (and they often will) make them feel your MACE! if you feel risky (won't happen if your team are average players), ulti them! an offtank's illusion is always good!

i'm not supposed to rush the carry and ulti him?
no, catching the carry is not your mission (only if you play against noob teams)
in most cases, his team will stop you with stuns and heal or shield him and if you get caught you loose the teamfight.
you need to wait the good opportunity and stay in safe as long as possible while still dealing damage. you see the carry with 50% hp? ulti him! the carry is full hp but his team is chasing and not covering? flash & pistol & Mace of Spades & Children of the Grave & Ignite & Siphon of Destruction (if the other skills didn't already take him down)

now while you have the illusion, make his team regret they didn't cover him enough.
if you're low hp, stay away from them while still using your ulti (if you go too far, your ulti will teleport to you, take care ^^)

if you're playing against a hard nuker like Veigar or Brand! replace the zhonya by a abyssal scepter/banshees/nature. if you're enough good to use zhonya to dodge ennemy's nuke keep it (yes you can dodge veigar's ulti using a zhonya!)
in general, a game against Veigar is massive domination and a kind of 5/0 or 10/0 on lane with a huge farm gap. (of course the Mordekaiser is dominating :p)

How to use well the zhonya :

Zhonya's Hourglass is a great item but if you purchase it you need to know exactly how to use the active!
dodging skills with Zhonya is almost same as dodging skills with Vladimir's Sanguine Pool. the zhonia is even better, it blocks any incoming damage (unlike the pool). you can block 80% of skills (some skills like vladimir's Q or morde's ultimate will deal insta damage)

I don't say this is easy.

the best way to learn and master it is creating a custom game with a friend, farm & purchase a zhonya then go into the jungle and start trying to block his skills.
start with slow projectiles like sion's Cryptic Gaze. I remember with vladimir, sions can't get any stun on me if i want to dodge it (sometimes it's not worth it to loose my W for a stun)

(build in progress, updating soon)