Mordekaiser Build Guide by yukorachi

About this guide

Hello everybody, I'm Yukorachi and welcome to my guide to AP Mordekaiser.
I once started playing Morde once on a friends advice. Basicly came with the words "man this guy is sh*t OP!". First i was thinking: "A tanky mage wich has no cc.... fail much."
Usually this is kind of the case. I've been playing Mordekaiser for quite some time now and I must say, damn this guy is f*cked up strong.
This build is made based on the experience I've gathered from playing him lots and lots of times and this way I found him being the most awesome.
Please remember that no build is perfect in any situation. Against some teams you should without a doubt build differently.

Please read the entire guide before downvoting.

Pros & Cons

Pros



-Strong mid/late game
-Really nice farmer
-Gamechanger if played well
-Epic lane control
-Shield


Cons



- No cc
- No utility
- Focussed
- weak against heavy cc
- weak if underfarmed (duh)

Summoner Spells

Honnestly whatever the situation
go with and

makes up for so much utility Mordekaiser is missing.
It lets you escape ganks, secure kills, position evertyhing you want.
Flash is in almost every single game the best pick you can take.

works so well combined with your ultimate
early game it makes up for missing damage and granting you the kills you need.
Procing them both in a 1vs1 fight early game will almost guarantee you a kill.

Other Summoner Spells

Lets you quickly recall back to your lane or any other location.
Might be usefull against verry strong midlane opponents but I find Mordekaisers Iron lain sustain enough. There weren't much situation where I really needed Teleport more then Flash or Ignite. If you're new to mordekaiser this spell can be reconsidered.

Actually a really good alternative! Take cleanse instead of ignite if
you find yourself focussed too much in team fights by cc.
Also helps you escape ganks from cc-h*rny junglers like alistar,skarner
etc.

Also gives some utility but not as much as Flash

Haven't really tried this summoner spell.
Could make up for some lack of cc but I honnestly never found it
necessary. After you got your Rylai's it's all good

Normally underrated summoner spell. Grants you a reasonable ammount of
health back but do not feel any good use for mordekaiser.
In fights your ultimate and spell vamp will do the job.
Also in mid you'll find almost every mage with ignite wich counters heal.

Summoner Spells you really really don't take

Troll spell. Cooldown is far too long to be usefull.

Just no.

...

Support spell wich you clearly aren't.

Morde really isn't a jungler

Lol....

Masteries

I prefer to build my masteries in defense.
Why?
Simply because it helps you get through the early game and keeps it use through the entire game.
Mordekaiser's early game is pretty weak. Also being hold back by his lack of cc and utility defensive masteries is the way to go. It makes you tanky enough to survive the early LvL's and grants you much more lane sustain, wich morde shines at!
The tanky nature makes you an even greater threat in mid.

Runes

With runes I focus basicly on dealing damage in the early games.
Damage done increases the amount of shield generated for every spell. And morde's shield is what makes Mordekaiser Mordekaiser.

x9
cuts down the early magic resist enemies have.

x9
This is more a personal preferance. I basicly take these against incomming ganks and to reduce possible minion damage. This may sound strange but as Mordekaiser is quite reliable on farm this helps you farming and grant safer kills in mid. Mordekaiser is (to remove all doubts :P) a melee character. Normally switch these with Greater Seal of Magic Resist x9

x9
Increases your damage in the early game. This means as explained better shield generation and ofc more damage against you mid opponent.

x3
Same as explained above here.

Skill Sequence & Skill Explanation

[PASSIVE] This is mordekaiser. This is what makes mordekaiser pwn.
The shield works similar to spellvamp.
This means 35% spell damage against champions is converted to a shield and 17.5% against minions and your damage wont be reduced based on the amount of enemies you hit. This means the more enemies you hit, the more your shield will generate.


Mace of Spades Helps farming quite a lot but the main reason is the damage
against single targets. I max this skill second because it helps
me farming but more importantly it kills stuff.


Creeping Death Awesome skill. The real strenght lies in the increased Armor and
Magic resistence but you'll mostly use this as an extra farm
skill. Pay attention though. This skill can be crucial in a
1v1 fight. It continues to generate shield (thus reduce your incomming damage) and grants you increased armor and magic resistence. This skill, although you max it last, can make a huge difference on your fight 1v1 in the early levels and later on in teamfights (the more enemies the more shield it generates). My point is, make sure this skill is off cooldown before you enter a serious fight.


Siphon of Destruction You're bread and butter spell. I take this at level 1 and
max it first because of its farming/harrassing/shield generating capabilities.
It's potential to hit an entire minion wave + enemy champion in one hit, granting you a full shield and free harras is all the reason you need. Use this early game to last hit as many minions as possible and to harras your opponent. This can also be used to check on brushes for enemies! If your shield generates when you fire into a brush there's clearly something in there :P. Don't put yourself in stupid positions if you do this!


Children of the Grave There it is. One of the most coolest ultimates ingame (imo). It gives you really nice spell vamp wich helps you survive and also deals damage based on a target hp (gg tanky champs). The really awesome thing ofc happens when your target dies ( from any source! Doesn't have to be you killing the target!) A ghost of the target appears under your control. You can control it by alt-right clicking or (since the new patch) press 'r'.
The ghosts of the target are stronger then the victim originally was! You might already guess this can be absolutely demolishing if you take down the enemy carry as ghost. This can without a doubt turn the entire teamfight around (6v4 lol!).
Also mention this ghost generates your shield!

Skill Sequence

You wanna start with Siphon of Destruction at level 1 filling up icon=Creeping Death at level 2 and Mace of Spades at level 3. Why I do this?
Simply because it's important to get all your skills available as soon as possible.
It greatly helps generating your shield + farming.

After you can start maxing Siphon of Destruction and Mace of Spades for the damage.

In a serious fight you basicly want to hold this sequence:

R => E => Q => W => E etc.

Items

This build is expensive and will require you to farm effectively.
Read the section 'Laning & Farming' for tips and info.

Start

My personal prefferance:

+

Mordekaisers abilities cost health. I don't wanna be holding back because im dealing too much damage to myself while farming/harrassing.
Regrowth Pendant gives me the ability to free farm and have great lane sustain.

other good options:

+

Early Game

For your first back you wanna aim for

+

Hextech Revolver will grant you the needed spell vamp for your lane sustain and possible fights. You do not complete Will of the Ancients before you completed your Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Mid game

Why am I getting this as my first complete item?
Rylai's Crystal Scepter will start making you a real threat. I simply love to get this item early on Morde.
First of all it makes you more tanky and gives you a significant amount of ability power.
Second ofc is the passive ability. The slow from Rylai's Crystal Scepter will secure your kills. Early game you can get away from Mordekaiser relatively easy.
The slow combined with your increased tankyness will make you somebody to fear. Especially in 1v1 fights. Also if you were able to farm freely and was lucky enough to pick up a kill or two, getting this item early will make you basicly unkillable in a 1v1 fight.



Complete this item after you bought your Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Here you start building towards more damage.



MOAR DAMAGE! I prefer getting this a little later on after building towards sustain.
In a 'troll' game or when snowballing you could rush this as a first item

Late Game

If you get this far in game (my games usually end before this) you will really be going apesh*t. Lich Bane singes with Mace of Spades!! when activating lich bane's proc on Mace of Spades your next hit will at that point deal approximately:

200 + 210 + 526(Lich bane) = 936 damage if the target has no resistance.

Your final item

This could basically be any item to your preference and is highly situational.
Some good tips and examples



If the enemy team is going for magic resist (on 2 or more enemy's) this item is epic.
It gives you another great 80 ability power + 40% magic pen. Solves the problem


Imortalkaiser. You could also grab this if you're getting focussed a lot.
If you feel like getting focussed almost every fight, get this instead of Lich Bane and finish Lich Bane as last item or in case necessary any other defensive item.

Kind of a troll item on Mordekaiser but might end up pretty nice in some situations. It give you a neat 100 ability power and the ability to be unkillable for 2 seconds. In late game you could dive in a teamfight first ulti the carry and press your Hourglass hoping they waste ultimates and other cd's on you. Risky but it's an option.

Pretty good item actually. Mordekaiser has relatively long cd's and with this item you really can f*ck up the carry in 2 seconds. The only reason i normally don't go for this is the fact of Kage's Lucky Pick. Don't get me wrong it's a great item but I prefer to rely on Morde's epic farm capabilities rather then on gold per 5 items.
If you disagree don't feel obstructed to buy Kage's Lucky Pick as one of your first items and finish Deathfire Grasp later on.


Another great item if the opponent has a bursty mage and/or have magic resist.


Good against mage/AP heavy team


Great defensive armor item that you could highly consider if the enemy carry is a huge pain in the *ss. The passive also gives you a really nice bonus damage when your skills are on cooldown and also singes well with Creeping Death

Situational Items

now what if despite the effort you're getting destroyed in mid lane.
No worries and don't panic. Luckily Riot invented defensive items for us :D

the basics are extremely simple if you're getting owned.

VS AD

or when lacking money



when you feel yourself getting destroyed and impossible to win against an ADmid OR when the team is very AD Heavy.
Buy these whenever you can. UNLESS you are really disabled to farm effectively and can't stay in lane more then a minute, I would still advise to follow my regular build because eventually Mordekaiser will eat your enemy.

If you have problems with AD champs on a regular base just try buying Doran's Shield

you don't have to finish you Chain Vest until later on in the game.
Just buy your Chain Vest and follow the regular build. Upgrade it later to . Sell your Cloth Armor when you catched up or when you can upgrade it into Chain Vest.

VS AP

If you find yourself being eaten by an AP champ OR when the enemy team is AP heavy, buy:



or when lacking money



Same applies as the AD section.
Buy these whenever you can.
Upgrade your Negatron Cloak into .
And sell or upgrade your Null-Magic Mantle into Negatron Cloak.

Laning & Farming

Farming

Actually the most important section in this guide.
How are we going to pay for all our epic shizz?!
The answer is: "Farming"

If done well this can place you miles ahead of the enemy team.
Most of my games I have double the CS(creep score) of the number 2 in game.
I'm gonna tell you how I do it.

1. Early game is like any other mid champion. Last hit as much as possible and try using your Siphon of Destruction to harass your enemy. Remember early game you are really squishy and you can be killed rather simply.

2. when you get your Hextech Revolver the real farm party can begin.
Everybody tells you not to push a lane but as Mordekaiser just do it!
Use all of your abilities to make sure you grab every last hit in the lane (believe me it goes rather easy with all spells)

3. Kill the enemy wraith camp! Make sure you mid opponent doesn't see you or you might get killed by the jungler and him.

4. Kill own wraith camp! You can ask permition to your jungler to clear it but honestly just take it. Wraiths have a very short respawn time and your jungler won't miss anything really. But you'll gain lovely extra farm

5. If correctly after killing both wraith camps your minion wave will more or less be pushed back again and you can farm the mid lane.

6. You can basically repeat this cycle to win

7. If your jungler allows you to. Get wolves too for extra farm

Summary

I hope you enjoyed this build.
If you did please vote thumbs up!
I know my build is far from perfect so please give me feedback before downvoting so I can change
in case necessary.

Please don't be an idiot and downvote for stupid reasons like: "The items only fill 5 spots noob".

Thank for reading!