Well, my exams are over (yes I past them all, thumbs up) and I am back to revise my work here. I've gathered some more experience and I have to say that this build is quite a bit out-dated. I have to say that in normal games this build is destructive, but I still have to rework this for ranked and maximize it's potencial. So for now I have to say that the build is OUTDATED so down or up-voting this is just for fun. I have to do some testing before I revise all this content.

The tips are still usefull tho. When I'm done with the job I'll just erase this chapter.

Hello everyone, this is my first build guide ever so I hope you enjoy it, if there's any spelling mistake tell me and I'll try to fix it (not english native speaker ^^).

First of all I wanna point out that this is the way I play Mordekaiser Mordekaiser most times. I've got some experience on him and I tend to win most games I play with him (and when I don't I still get a very possitive kill-assist/death ratio) so I guess it actually works. Still, I'll try to keep this updated with new ideas, solutions or anything I can think of.

I wanna thank ALL Morde players that taught me how to use Mordekaiser either in-game or with their excellent guides. There are too many to name them so just thank you to all of you.

In this guide I'll try to give rookies an idea on how to own with this big guy (play with this in mid levels and own everyone, that's what big metal guys do) and some tricky hints that may help everyone if they haven't found out them yet or simply... they didn't thought about it.

I tried to put all my knowledge in this build and it ended up being pretty long. Please, read the sections you are interested in but before you flame over my item build please read the ITEM section.

Any comments are wellcome, but if you wanna troll Morde remember... you don't troll Morde; Morde trolls you! :P

I've tried some rune builds, and I gotta try A LOT more since I can find the perfect combination for my playstyle. I'd like to remark what I said about MY playstyle. I like playing very defensive on laning phase, with lots of farming and in order to do that I get my defensive runes, which are Greater Seal of Evasion and Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.

These give me high survability early game as I can dodge some auto-attacks from mele-ranged dps (and get away with improved speed but I'll talk about that later) while I also get a nice late-game dodging (best defensive seals in my opinion as you will dodge carry's attack when you're trying to blow him/her late game to get a killing pet).

Also you're gonna love those MR glyphs; laugh your *** off when that burst mage tries to harrash you and... surprise! They've wasted mana on... nothing! Your MR improved shield will absorb the damage 90% times, and the other 10% will be like... you took 1% of my health! Late game you will use this to power up your shield. They're not as good as MR scaling runes but the early-mid game survability deserves it. When you get to late game, you're probably gonna have enough MR from items so you won't notice a big difference.

But we are not playing full-tank Morde, we want survability but come one, you are a damn killing machine, lets get some power to chew up that squisy dps without even noticing resistance. For that I go Greater Mark of Magic Penetration and Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration. Free Magic Penetration! You get almost as much Penetration as you do with your boots, and as your spells don't scale HELL DAMN well with AP, these will chunk your enemies defenses early game, and late game you're probably gonna get the enemy carry to nule MR, which is free pet for you, that's always good.

These runes suit my playstyle. Want more survability early game? Flat HP Quints or HP Seals. You feel you have too long cooldowns? CDR or CDR/per level gylphs. You want some more early game damage output? AP gylphs (I feel AP/per level don't worth it 'cause of your scalling). I like my way for now, but feel free to try any others and tell me, we might find something even better! Mordentastic!

For masteries I like going in a 9/21/0 for the magic penetration and survability.

We get magic penetration and CDR from the offense tree, both things a nice boost to our ulti (this is what this build is focused in as you may notice) but won't keep going further as the rest of the masteries here are mainly for physical DPS, which this build is not.

Defence tree, oh, my favourite, we can get almost anything we may desire from this little thing. Armor, MagicRes, HP, AP % boost (I have started using this little time ago and I love it), Damage Reduction... and dodge! I think many people will be like: "You crazy man? That's only a Jax thing!" and I'm not saying it's completly neccessary but I feel it's very usefull. You'll get some dodge boost to your runes which is always nice but where this shines is in... TEAMFIGHTS! Sooner or later you'll get some shots that were just trying to hit someone else (you are big and it's hard not to click on you from time to time) and... there you go, free MS! This can help you get in the way of that nasty Caitlyn shot and make her cry like a baby when she was trying to get your carry (you are not the tank but you're resistant enough to take some skill-shots if your tank can't). This is also very helpfull when chasing, cause if u dodge... lets say... minion attacks... yei! The enemies just speeded you up and let you cast your ulti and blow that annoying Vlad away (I use as examples things that I've actually done, you won't get to do this everygame, but when you do, everyone will laugh their ***es off).

I don't put points into the utility tree as I don't need mana regen or gold buff. If you really need the cooldown go ahead, but this feels enough for me.

Summoner spells are meanly my preference as I think most of them depend on your play-style (at least when playing Morde).

Mordekaiser is, in my opinion, a not very summoner spell-dependant champion. There are some options that are more valuable than others, of course, but many of them can fit him.

My Choice

Ghost: As Morde is a slow champion, and has no mobility skills so we are very dependant on AT LEAST ONE mobility spell for both scaping and chasing. It will also allow you to put yourself in a better position in teamfights. I choose this over Flash cause it allows me to reach incomming teamfights when I am far away, get fast to my lane if I have to recall... As you are not a fast guy, it won't matter that you blink over a wall if a fast guy like Warwick, Lee Sin or Twich (with mobility boots, of course) can reach you. Ghost will put some distance between you and the oposite team, and if one of them uses its own Ghost to get to you... teach them what pain is, just turn around, and pop your spells and get a free kill on that brainless chaiser.

Ignite: Many people say that this is just for FB and mainly useless late game. I disagree with this, specially, when playing Mordekaiser. This spell is amazing when facing supporters like Soraka, Sona or Taric as they can make your ulti be a waste if you can't get the kill with the initial damage (which doesn't happen all the times, specially if you want to make it full damage (the more damage you do with your ulti, the less time your team will spend on getting the pet). You mainly want to launch this before your ulti when trying to get a kill (if they are in range for ignite, when they flash they'll be in range for your ulti). If the healer tries to save his mate, surprise! reduced healing!. It's not the ultimate solution to healers, but it bug them as much as they bug you.

Good Alternatives

Flash: Tho I prefer Ghost, it doesn't mean that flash is useless. It gives you the initiation skills you lack. If you lack a good tank with initiation skill you can get this and play more tanky. Still this is really nice to have in every champ. If you are not facing healers (you will know this before hand on ranked) or if simply you hate Ignite or prefer Flash over Ghost feel free to take it, it's a great choice and a great "****! I am getting ganked!" button.

Teleport: Want to lane forever while having your item build update? This is your thing. Recall when teleport is ready, buy, back to lane. Usefull for ganking late game. Long cooldown, I don't tend to get this BUT you can do it if you are a fan of teleporting.

Cleanse: If you hate CC as much as I do you may like this. I find myself getting very few times but if you need to play tankier and feel like you're gonna be CC focused, this is a really good choice. Always put a point into its masteie, 20 secs reduced cooldown? Yes please.

Exhaust: Need some CC? Hate when people get away from you? Pick exhaust. If you do put a point into its materie. I never used this but I feel its not a complete waste.

Okay Alternatives

Heal: You use HP to spam your spells; Heal gives HP... Easy relationship among them. Still, in my opinion, completly worthless spell. But if you are a rookie, this can save your *** at lower levels (when you don't have either Ignite, or can't get the HP masteries.

Fortify: Usefull? If your team fails. Your tank has to get this but if he doesn't (jungle Rammus) and you feel you need it. You can. But again I feel this is a worthless spell on Morde.

Clairvoyance: Same as Fortify but with support. Worthless in my opinion. Get this if you want, but I don't recommend it.

Any other spells are just stupid choices on Morde. If I ever see you playing my build with any of those spells on the Fields of Justice, I'll slap you, but that won't happen, right? Right! Oh yes, that's the way I like it.

Items, items, that thing that tends to give me more discussions with my team mates (at least until they see me triple-killing in a teamfight and getting us an ace.

First of all you might be thinking WTF! only 2 fully built items and one regrowth pendant? Let me explain this. I'm not giving you a FOLLOW THIS OR DIE! item sequence. Rilay's and Sorcs are just our core. Something that you may ALWAYS pick when playing this guide. Why?

CORE

Sorcerer's Shoes: They give us magic penetration, and that's always good. 34 Magic Pen=Insane damage. If they get no MR, they'll take true damage from your spells which is great, and if they stack MR you will get through some of it which means: MORE DAMAGE OUTPUT! Remember what we are here for: kill their carries and make their pets tear their own team. If you feel you ABSOLUTLY need Mercury's Treads , you can go for them but they'll lower your killing potencial. You have nice survability and if they focus the CC on you, your carry will be free to outdamage the enemies and win anyway. BUT if you feel you need them (or that you don't need more MP, god knows why) go for them.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This is the core of the build. We have to think, what does our build needs. We need life as we are not getting any HP from quints and very little from maestries. And of course we need AP to boost our spells. And, we are not the fastest *** on the fields of justice, we have no CC, we cry for some slow. Rylai's do this. It's just fantastic item to get. When we get this, we are ready to start both ganking and teamfights (it's expensive but you don't really need much last-hitting skills as your E will farm non-stop and make you 99% of games the most farmed champ in both teams).

SEMICORE

These are the items you want to have whenever it's possible. They are items which are somelike team-dependant. You need either a good team or an appropiate team-composition to get some of these.

Mejai's Soulstealer: Oh, Mejai... you want to get this everygame you can. It gives you INSANE AP (and CDR if you get 20 stacks but this can be tricky) while helping you taking some of the enemy team attention out of your carry (remember, you are more resistant than him and you have to help the tank whenever is possible). I get this right after Rylai's everygame UNLESS my team isn't "winning" at the time (it's not recommended to get this item if you are getting ganked non-stop as you need some stacks to make your inversion give a nice boost). If things are really aganist you (or you are winning but they are ganking you all the time, that can happen) you should skip it. If I am OWNING them (won't happen playing ranked games but you can see this playing normal from time to time) I rush Mejai's over Rylai's and get this after as I want to start getting stacks ASAP. But this is VERY uncommon (this is meant when you are already 5/0/4 by minute 20 and you mostly have gold to get Mejai and most of your Rylay's).

Abyssal Mask: This is what I tend to get after Rylai's. The MR will make you a little bit more tanky as it powers up your shield. You get some more AP and MR reduction aura. That will make you go through 50 MR. You can render almost any MR to 0 and basically do pure damage to your targets. Why is this situational? Well, first of all, if there are no magic burst casters you may want something moreusefull than this.

Will of the Ancients: I've found myself using this often lately. This is the item you will get when the game shows up with a long pre-teamfight harrashing or when the pushing is hard. It's a fairly cheap item for our farming skills and you may wanna tell mages in your team that you get this (double stack this is useless as you should be in a fight whenever help is needed) as you will everyone in your team in it's aura range. You will get a nice AP boost and the spell vamp will mainly make you cast your spells mainly for free ( Mace of Spades and Siphon of Destruction will not cover themselves but Creeping Death will cover those. Children of the Grave will have maximized its ability to keep you alive as your drain is higher (cast on Mundo to laugh your *** off and get around 1200 HP right after casting) and (still have to make sure about this) your pet's damage will be considered as "spell" damage so your spell-vamp will apply.

Frozen Mallet: (Still on test) This is an item I used to get but I read somewhere that its effect doesn't stack with our Rylai's Scepter so I think it's a VERY situational item. It gives us survability but we don't use attack and Mace of Spades is the only spell that will benefit from this. I don't get this usually but I think it deserves a space here. You have better options but THIS is not TOTALLY worthless.

Rabadon's Deathcap: Okay, I know Morde is not THE BEST option to get this item as it doesn't give any survability (well, indeed it gives A LITTLE as it powers up our ulti's drain) but instead we get a HUGE improve in our damage output. We may want to get this mid-late game (if we have Mejai's starting to have some stacks try to get this as you will just stomp the enemy team and win straight away). I usually get this item as I like the AP boost (it is completly insane) but if you feel your survability is poor you may wanna go more tanky and less bursty.

Zhonya's Hourglass: Good item. It's the "Abissal Scepter" option for heavy AD teams. It gives us armor (=survability) and AP (=damage) and a sexy active. I call this the "Woops!" button as you get this when you get ganked not far away from your team. You will be fresh when they arrived and you can tear them (tho after you will hear things like "more luck, Morde?", and they won't be completly wrong but... too bad for them if they don't get it). Another use is if you have your pet (let's say Master Yi, Xin Zao or Tryndamere) but you want stay alive enough for it to kill the enemies, press your "Woops!" button and score a double or triple kill. (This last use is just scpeculation as I haven't found myself using Zonya's Houglass a lot but I can assure that 2 seconds is more than enough to make your carry pet score you a kill or two).

Hextech Gunblade: AP, Spell-vamp, sexy active (and some AD and life-steal is nothing to hate either)... this item give us so much... and so little. Some people love these and stack them like there's no tomorrow... I personally don't like it much. The stats are poor providing we don't focus on AD. Get this if your team needs CC or if you are a fan of ganking. It's usefull but I don't like it much.

These are the items I get either usually or from time to time. I will add more if I find them usefull.

Your Skill priority is Children of the Grave> Siphon of Destruction> Creeping Death> Mace of Spades.

You want to level Siphon of Destruction at level 1. This provides you both with shield, harrashing and farming abilities. If you are playing very aggresive and attempt firstblood you can get Mace of Spades as it will do more damage. I usually don't follow this but it can work, tho you will be more vulnerable. If you do so, at level 2 put your first point into Siphon of Destruction and at level 3 put a point in Creeping Death.

When you reach level 2 put a point into Creeping Death. This will keep your shield charged and will help you harrash and farm more aggresive. You can even zone some champions but this takes A LOT of practice (so don't try to zone the enemy your first games or they will slap you and get an easy FB).

At level 3 put a point in Mace of Spades. This gives you more damage and better farming early game, but I feel that getting in melee range isn't the best idea when laning. Also, the sexy part of the spell is to slam a single champ with it, which is kinda rare so I don't putt more points in it until I have nothing else to level.

After this just follow your skill priority.

This is pretty easy with Morde. You should ALWAYS get the solo-top lane as you can 1v2 really easy, but as your ELO goes up you will end up just 1v1 + high jungle-ganking chance. You are a good pusher and a good farmer so you will end up just getting rich in your lane. You can also harrash the oposite champions. Try to keep them mid-health so when you get to level 6 you can combo them and get your first kill.

In this phase you mainly farm with Siphon of Destruction and Creeping Death keep your shield up and zone and harrash if you can.

This is where I see how many Mordes fail, specially when it's weak-free. You have a role: TAKE THE CARRY DOWN. And as an off-tank you have a secondary role: KEEP YOUR CARRY UP. How do we do this?.

TAKING THE CARRY DOWN

This looks simple but it's tricky when you get to the field. First of all the carry tends to be BEHIND their team. That's your main problem and that's why you love melee carries as they need to be in your spells range. If you face a ranged-carry you have to stand near your tank and when you think you can do it, go straight to their carry, when you are in range pop Siphon of Destruction and hit with Mace of Spades someone who's close to you, it may result in hitting the carry. When you do this, pop Ignite and Children of the Grave. If it's not death, keep hitting it with your spells and it should be down soon. After that, you have a free carry ready to tear up enemy team. Congratulation, score a triple kill.

KEEPING YOUR CARRY UP

You are not the best one doing this. Too bad, we can't do everything, but we can try. Your Siphon of Destruction paired up with your Rilay's Crystal Scepter turns out into a MASIVE slow. If you loose the teamfight, pop this and give your carrys the chance to get away from the damage. If you win, use this for keeping them close to the damage, it's simple. The other thing we can do is to block skillshots. You are really good aganist Ezreal skillshots and Ace in the Hole. You can do that job as your shield will keep your health up. It's not much but it's enough. Don't forget that you are big so you can bug the others when they try to reach your carry.

This is not a mistery. Farm the enemy creeps so your creeps stay alive as long as possible, if they are no minions around, you can tank the tower a bit (but not much, you are not the best for this). If the enemy come just go back a little bit and get ready for a teamfight. It's quite standard and simple.

If you want I will put more information in this section but I feel the guide is long enough.

Yei, finally, the end of the build. Just gonna summarize ideas.

1-You are an off-tank. You can take some damage but you have no CC. Remember, help the tank but don't expect to DO that job.

2-Spam your ulti. Keeping you alive, getting an easy kill, but remember: TAKE THE CARRY DOWN. That's its better use.

3-Adapt to the situation. Don't focus on an ALWAYS GET ALL THIS 6 THINGS. Be flexible and you will be more effective.

4-Always have fun.

This is all for now, I will put more things in this when I can.

-Tank/Morde for low-level rookies
-AP/AD Hybrid Morde. Can be done?