Mordekaiser Build Guide by VKZ95

Introduction

This is my second guide for mordekaiser but this time I want to focus on summoner's rift. tell me in the comments if you find this guide helpful and what could I do to improve it.

I would like to explain why I play morde as a caster and not as a tank or an off-tank. Morde doesn't have CC so he can't save his teammates and after he has used his ult and with little to no AP, people can just ignore him that's why I decided morde needs a high damage output to become a viable champion

Because my build hasn't changed a lot I'm going to implement some of the chapters I had in my last guide.

I will be updating this guide soon but for now I'm going to update items my masteries and items

Pros / Cons

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____________Cons ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ -Morde has no escape mechanism. -He doesn't have CC. -He is constantly focused by CC. -little utility

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____Pros ______________ ___________ +Great at farming. +Controlling lanes. +Hard to kill with shield up. +Can turn games around.

Masteries

I went 21/0/9 but you can use 21/9/0 I will try explaining the most important choices when i have done further testing

Runes

My offensive runes are meant to deal as much damage as possible especially early game because once you buy Sorcerer's shoes you will have 34 + 10% magic pen and you will be able to deal true damage to people around 38 MR forcing them to build differently and more defensive.

my defensive runes are better for the laning phase but they won't be as useful late game

The runes you are going to use depends on the champion you are going to lane against. For example; when you are going to play as mordekaiser against someone like gp mr glyphs won't be as effective as they would be with someone like annie.

Summoner Spells

I think Ignite and Flash are a great spell choice for Morde, ignite can be used with Morde's ult for easy kills and flash can be used to escape or to get close to the enemy


Ghost Another great spell for Morde, you can get 35% movement speed if you take summoner's wrath

Exhaust not highly recommended, ignite is a must for Morde and replacing your only ability that allows you to escape isn't very smart (it would be a replacement for ghost or flash), but a well timed exhaust can always save you, or it can get you a kill

Cleanse Not my first choice however Morde is very vulnerable to CC specially to silence and stuns, cleanse may save you if you use it correctly.

Clarity NO

Other than the spells I just mentioned above I don't think ap morde can find any other spells useful.

Skill Sequence and use

Even tough morde doesn't have any skill that has CC, he is really powerful and can control a lane easily, it doesn't matter if it's mid on rift, or top on TT, this is because of his ability to harass using Siphon of Destruction to generate shield and deal damage to enemy champions, the sequence I use is r>e>q>w with the exception of leveling up w at level 4, (having another ability available is always helpful) you may level it up until level 13 or a little sooner depending on your needs.

Iron Man Morde's passive this is why morde is hard to lane against, you can try harassing enemy champions when its over 60% of its capacity. To understand morde's shield you have to think of it as a temporary spell vamp, it will generate shield from the magic damage you deal including your ghost but unlike spell vamp you wont heal you just make a shield that will be reduced over time, your passive is not affected by aoe reduction, this means you have a 35% spell vamp against champions and 17.5% against minions and your damage wont be reduced based on the amount of enemies you hit. at level 1 sod can generate 38 shield from 3 minions dealing 73 damage to each

siphon of Destruction This is the main tool for morde lane control and farming, I always level up this ability if it's available, (it's not available at level 6 and it's already maxed at level 9) you can also use SoD to prevent ganks by using it on a brush before going in, it also works if you are trying to find someone who is using a stealth skill.

Creeping Death Great for farming when used at a high level and ap, even before, it can be used as some sort of weak basic attack which deals AoE to nearby minions, using this on an ally minion can be very effective to leave enemy minions vulnerable for last hitting with SoD.

Mace of Spades This ability isn't as powerful as sod early game and it's not recommended to harass unless the enemy champion is melee and is trying to harass you but you can use it to last hit minions that were hit by sod and have a small amount of hp. I level it up before creeping death because it will be one of your main sources of damage mid and late game especially if you are fighting 1vs1, spell vamp is also more effective with mace of spades so you can use this skill to heal yourself.

Children of the Grave Morde's ult is my favorite ult in LoL and not only because it has spell vamp or because of the max hp damage, but because it has the potential of turning an enemy carry against his own team, using this wisely can win team fights. There are different ways of using it, using the ignite/ult combo for early kills, saving yourself using it with someone with a lot health, and my personal favorite, using it to obtain ghosts.

Note
Ghosts are controlled by using the alt key.

Ghosts

Depending on who you kill your ghost can be useful in different ways

Tanks: You can use them to dive a turret or kill powerful monsters as baron.

Casters: Can buff your own AP making you a bigger threat during its duration.

DPS: this is what morde is known for, DPS ghosts can deal great damage to their own team champions and turrets,this is the only ghost i would try to get during team fights. when I say DPS I'm talking about champions that deal high amounts of ad in a few seconds like Tryndamere or Vayne (in this meta vayne would be your priority since she has range)

DPS ghosts: Ranged (the ones you should be focusing 90% of the time) Ashe Caitlyn Corki Ezreal Graves Kog'Maw Sivir Tristana Twitch Vayne Urgot (Only when he builds ad) Kennen (Only when he builds ad)

Melee Focus when the enemy team doesn't have one of the ranged champions above, when he is missing or when the melee DPS is their main source of damage. Fiora Gangplank (Glass cannon or low hp gp only) Master Yi Olaf Pantheon Tryndamere Xin Zhao

Countering morde's ult: There are certain champions, items and spells that can prevent morde from using his ult against them:

Nocturne can use Shroud of Darkness to completely block morde's ult just wait until the end of the duration to use your ult

Sivir can use Spell Shield wich is is like noc's shield

Banshee's Veil If you see someone with banshee's aura around them just hit them once with your e and they wont be able to block any other spells for 45 seconds.

Quicksilver Sash (QSS) This item can remove your ult as well as ignite that means you have to use your ult when the enemy is low enough to die in 1 hit.

Guardian Angel (GA) Don't use your ult unless GA has already Revived the enemy champion. If you use your ult with someone wearing GA they will revive and you won't be able get a ghost from him.

Zilean He can use Chrono Shift which works like a GA but he can use it after you used your ult. Wait until he uses his chrono shift, If he uses it on your target hold your ult until he dies or until the effect wears off, and if he used it in someone else you are ready to ult. If he hasn't used chrono shift make sure you can kill the target in 1 hit before ulting

Wukong He can use Decoy to make a copy of himself and bait your ult when he is low in health.

Shaco His ult is Hallucinate, it's similar to Wukong's decoy but you can see when shaco makes the copy (unless he made the copy when he wasn't in your range of vision) and unlike Wukong he can control his copy.

LeBlanc she can make a copy of herself just like shaco or wukong using Mirror Image

Items

Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions since the preseason 3 patch regrowth pendant is no longer available

Amplifying Tome + Health Potion At your own risk

Doran's Shield This option can be used if you like the extra hp and you are laning against strong ad champs

Early Game

After I buy my first item I get a revolver. With these item you should have enough sustain to stay in lane for long periods of time. Once you have farmed enough you can get your choose between two boots:



Once you buy boots you will buy Kage's Lucky Pick for the GP5 and to start DFG after kage's you will get Will of the Ancient and you will be more ready to do some serious damage

Spell Vamp

Since spell vamp was nerfed I was having trouble deciding whether to implement Will of the Ancients (WotA) + revolver to my new build or just replace revolver. Spell vamp is necessary for morde but revolver only has 12% spell vamp, (not like the good old days with 20%) so I got to the conclusion Hextech Revolver isn't worth buying anymore and WotA should be the only spell vamp item for morde.

Mid/Late game

The items you buy at mid and late game may change depending on the enemy team and your own. For example if you are using morde at mid most of the times it's a good idea to buy Abyssal Scepter for the mr and the extra magic pen and ap.

In terms of priority there are items that are more important than others for morde ( I don't include early game items because those must not be changed except for kage's if you are not going to buy DFG.)

Alternative items

In this chapter I'm going to talk about the different items mordekaiser can use, I mentioned a few items in the last chapter but now I'm going more in-depth in the defensive choices:

Farming/Laning

Early game

During this phase you will be weaker than most champions, don't get too close to the enemy champion especially if he has some kind of CC or gap closer. last hit minions to farm and use sod on a minion wave to generate shield that way you will be able to harass and take 1 or two hits from the enemy without losing much hp.

Mid game

Once you hit level 5 and you can deal a lot more damage with sod try to harass the enemy and get them ready for your ult. If they drop below 30% and you have your ult use flash to dive his tower and use your ult/ignite combo also remember to use e, this is not viable unless you are above 50% of your health.

At this level you also have a lot of AoE damage, one thing you can do is use your w to get creeps at low health and then use sod to clear the wave with this you can generate a lot of shield and at the same time you farm.

Late game

Now you have real damage and one of the towers in your lane should be destroyed, try to roam and see who needs help, where is the next time fight going to be and when is dragon or baron coming up. go back to your lane if you see a big minion wave but try to spend more time with your team. Don't take your time to carefully last hit just use sod and you should be able to kill the whole wave.

Tips

• Buy wards and pots every time you go back. greed can ruin your lane
  
• coordinate with your jungler to pick up kills or enemies' buffs.
  
• taking the enemies wraiths is dangerous but rewarding, the extra exp and gold can give you an advantage and you will slow down the enemies' jungle
  
• try to freeze lane when you are having trouble with the enemy. If the enemy champion sits at your tower he will be vulnerable to ganks.

Team Work

Advantages

One of the great things about morde is that its never too late to turn around games when the enemy carry is fed, if you coordinate an attack with your teammates you can get the enemy carry ghost and put the team fight in your favor.

Disadvantages

Morde has no CC so he can't help his teammates escape unless he stops or kills the champion following them and if you are at low in health there is nothing you can do to save your teammates.

Suggestions

• use sod to hit as many champions as possible, your AoE can be a huge threat to the enemy team.
  
• Let someone else initiate especially if you are using my AP build. You have to survive to kill the enemy carry
  
• Don't be afraid to use your ult as a heal, in some situations is better to use your ult against tanks or champions with a lot of health to survive.

Lane and jungle matchups

Top

Counters

Wukong This champion can very aggressive against morde because of the small amount of armor morde has early game it's better to play safe until level 6-9 when you can take him 1vs1

Tryndamere He has a lot of sustain because of his heal and its hard to escape from him because of his spin and slow, it is also easy for him to disengage whenever he wants to.

Riven Take your distance harass when it's possible and don't take risks, she only needs to stun you once to beat you in lane

Kennen he doesn't have as much damage as wukong early but he will be constantly harassing you and trying to stun you.

Warwick The problem with ww is that he has a lot of sustain and will be constantly healing the damage you deal and it's very common for warwicks to stack mr items such as Mercury's Treads and Wit´s End

Garen Be careful with this one, one silence and spin and you will be sitting at your tower for the rest of the laning phase. Like with riven take your distance but don't harass into level 5 or 6 he is one of the strongest counters for morde in my opinion.

Yorick He has great sustain and damage you will probably end up sitting at your tower you will have to ask your jungle for help
to get and advantage

You Counter

Vladimir Your harass is better than his just keep using sod into he falls back to his tower

Malphite he is countered by almost every caster because he has to stack armor to be effective.

Dr. Mundo 1.-stay behind minions 2.- use sod 3.- repeat 4.- profit

Singed Don't step on his poison, try not to get flinged and use your q afterwards if he does, use sod to harass and that's about it

Gangplank stay away from him when your shield is down and use sod when it's above 50% use you q if he gets too close then use w on yourself and go back. eventually he will be low enough and he will have to keep his distance, when that happens focus on last hitting and don't push lane.

Nasus Same as gp wait for your shield to be up to harass and hit him with your q every once in a while

There are other counters I could talk about but those are the main ones

Warding

when you are playing top you can't forget to place wards, the place where you put them varies depending on the side you are on but always remember to place the ward near the exit of THEIR jungle.

Mid

Counters

Kennen Yes, it's him again kennen can be either top or mid (bot too) like morde, and like in top just be careful.

Annie Don't get too close to her or she might stun you and half of your hp will be gone, try to farm safely.

Cassiopeia You can be sure she will try to harass the s**t out of you, pray for her to be oom soon and for her jungler not to give her the first blue. if you are having a hard time staying in lane buy Negatron Cloak and lots and lots of Health Potion. Don't get hit by her poison abilities, she will attack you with her e twice otherwise

Anivia You can harass anivia early if you do you will waste your health just to see her turn into an egg, the best thing to do is ignore her, farm safe and look out for her stun.

You counter

Morgana stay behind minions so she can't use her bind on you but not too close so she cant get you with her w, hit her with sod when she is near her minions or when you get with by her bind (this will give you shield to block damage from her w).

Kassadin He is a melee champion you should have an easy lane against him, hit him with sod very often on early and focus on last hitting when he is at his tower. Fall back if he hits you with his silence.

Ahri she is hard to lane against if you don't shut her down early but if you do you will have a free farm, you have until around level 3 or 5 to harass her after that she will deal too much damage and a single charm can mean death, especially if they have a jungle with some type of CC or gap closer. Get as close to her as possible use sod then fall back and always keep moving, she will hit you with her skill shots otherwise


Now I will focus on something morde has to be especially careful: Ganks
But specifically I'm going to talk about which junglers are better for early ganks and which junglers barely gank until level 6.

Early Ganks

( Boots of Speed recommended)
Lee Sin Most of the lee sins i have played against gank at early level like level 3 or 4. If you see a lee sin coming out of the bush run to your tower and move towards the opposite side from where he came from and try to stay behind minions or he will use his Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike on you.

Udyr Because of his movement speed and stun he can start ganking lanes early. if you see udyr is jungling in the enemy team buy Boots of Speed to prevent ganks.

Shaco this jungler is dangerous because of the fact that he has stealth and a small flash on his q so you can be farming and in the next second you will have a shaco throwing his Two-Shiv Poison at you, you can try to run but if you are in lane with someone with CC you are going to end up using Flash you will have to ward your lane if you don't want him to sit at your lane and gank you every time you are trying to farm

Alistar I have started to see him more often as a jungle and its because he has really strong ganks, if you see him in front of you (when you are facing your tower) use flash to prevent him from using Headbutt and throwing to away from your tower.

Rammus you don't see him very often now but his Powerball and Puncturing Taunt combo is very effective.

Post level 6 junglers

These junglers lack CC or gap closer in early level and can't gank or will barely try until level 6

Warwick He is the perfect example he doesn't have any kind of ability that helps him gank pre level 6. You don't have to worry much about him, even if he hits level 6 you should already have your ult, just don't let him get close enough.

Skarner He can gank before level 6 but some might wait until they hit level 6 for more successful ganks using Impale.

Fiddlesticks He is very slow and doesn't have enough damage until he can use Crowstorm, which he can use to get close to the enemy and use the rest of his skills.

for now i can't think of any junglers that are bad pre 6 tell me in the comments if you can think of anyone

Summary

A great champion, powerful and fun to use.

THANK YOU for reading this guide I hope it was helpful, suggestion are very welcome on the comment section.