First of all: what kind of champion is Dr. Mundo?

A lot of good, high ranked players consider Mundo a bad champion in games where people play well and the teams are somewhat organized. It is said that Mundo "doesn't fit a team comp" and that he doesn't fulfill a specific role in a team. This is a misconception, because 99% of the players play him wrong. So...

What kind of champion is Mundo?

A magic DD off-tank anti-carry.

What kind of champion is Mundo not?

-Mundo is not a tank. No initiation, No hard-CC, no reliable way to protect his own carries.
-Mundo is not a melee AD DPS, because he is outshined by every other melee AD DPS. Yes his Masochism is very good, but it's all he has going for him in this department. 3 out of 4 of his skills do not synergyze with Armor Penetration.

x9

For Marks, the only choice is between ArPen and Mpen. Mundo's main damage output is magic, so we get Magic Penetration.

Greater Seal of Vitality x9

Generally a very good rune. 175HP at level 18. The only alternative for this, is Armor per level.

x9

There simply aren't a whole lot of good MR items in the game, as opposed to armor items. 24MR at level 18 is a very good deal for Mundo.

x3

For Quintesses you have a couple options, all of which are decent.
Movespeed/CDRperlevel/MRperlevel/Mpen/HPperlevel. I would not recommend the HP Quints. They have been nerfed and aren't that good on Mundo, because early game, you will not be fighting much, but just cleavering from a distance. HP Quints are good champions who sometimes give away first blood. Mundo should NEVER give away first blood (and also won't get it much himself, unfortunately) This is also the reason you take the "per level" runes; you will just be freefarming top lane for much of early-mid game.

This is a no-brainer. Used for chasing and escaping. Pair this with your ult and you will be faster than almost anyone. This is important because you need to be disabling enemy carries in teamfights.



Because you will be solo top, this is very useful for not missing the dragon fight. You can also counter gank lanes who are in trouble, teleport on wards to steal buffs and kill the enemy jungler. You can save turrets, kill enemy turrets, or just to get back to your lane faster to not miss XP (only recommended if dragon is down and Teleport will be back up when it respawns)

Why we generally aren't taking these:



We already have a slow and we are faster than enemies. The 70%/30% reduction is ok, but we can also pretty much 1v1 anyone. People will usually not fight you. It's just not as good as Teleport for mundo.



Ignite is more a spell for high burst casters, who deal massive damage with a combo (i.e Annie/Malzahar). Ignite secures the kill for them. Ignite doesn't fit Mundo's playstyle, and again, Teleport is so much better.

Level 1: Cleaver (Q)
Level 2: Masochism (E)
Level 3: Cleaver (Q)
Level 4: Burning Agony (W)
Level 5: Cleaver (Q)
Level 6: Sadism (R)

Then, keep maxing your ult and cleaver whenever possibly. After that level up your Burning Agony before Masochism. The only reason we take Masochism at level 2, is to make last hitting easier. After that, Burning Agony is more important than Masochism.

At level 5, Burning Agony deals 100 magic damage per second. Pair this with your sunfire cape, Mpen runes and possibly even Sorc Shoes, and you will deal crazy AOE damage.

I get 0/21/9

We need the 9 in utility for the 5% extra XP. Being higher leveled than your opponent is very important.

The 21 in defense is self-explanatory. We need to be unstoppable. We need to soak that damage.

Alternative:

A 9-13-8 split

This gives

-15% magicpen
-3% CDR
-2% crit.

You would be missing out on:

-movespeed after a dodge
-48hp
-4% decrease in damage taken.

It's quite close, but i prefer 0/21/9.

Starting item:



x3

You don't need a Doran's shield. You will generally avoid close combat fighting early game, and just cleaver from far away.

1st trip home





Your damage is now a lot higher with 20Mpen, and the armor and MR will give you a lot of damage mitigation. Getting these 2 is generally better than 1 completed item.

Complete build







The 6th item is situational.

No Spirit Visage?

Spirit visage has been hit hard twice. First, the cost was increased. Then, both the CDR and health regeneration increase have been nerfed. It's still a good item on Mundo, but a simple Warmog is far better for getting HP back from your ult then the Spirit Visage. CDR is decent on Mundo, but not that great. Cleaver is already a supershort cooldown. On the ultimate it's good, but normally only in really long fights. Often times, with 1 ult, a fight has been decided.

If you still get it, get it as first item. I however, prefer other items now.

Situational Item

Look at how the game is developing. Who is doing the most damage? Look at their team comp and see what the physical:magic damage ratio is.

Options:


Yes another one. If the enemy's physical:magic damage is pretty even, this actually gives the highest effective HP

If your tank/support refuses to get it, or you have no tank.

This isn't as good as you'd think. For one, you do not want to discourage enemies from CC'ing you. It is good against ignite and other healing debuffs, but by the time you would get this item, ignite doesn't really counter you anymore. See the Ignite chapter later in the guide.

This is a great item, with excellent stats. It's not as good on Mundo as it is on real tanks, but you cannot ignore this item. Get it against physical heavy teams.

Good item against glass cannon DPS enemies, who will kill themselves on you. Synergizes with MagicPen. Will however discourage enemy DPS to focus you.

I decided to spend an entire chapter on boots for Mundo, because it's almost always situational.



Stacks additively with your W. Get these when the enemies have a LOT of CC, really above average AND when you can afford not chosing for Sorc Shoes. This means your team has got to have enough damage already.



Most people will find this a weird choice, but these boots are very good for mundo. Paired with ~10 Mpen from runes, you will have 30 Mpen. Knowing that most squishies have 30 MR if they don't have a MR item yet, you will be cleavering them from 25% of their HP in true damage, and deal 140 magic "true" damage to them with and



If the enemy isn't stacked with CC/magic damage and you value CDR over more damage.
I personally wouldn't take these over Sorcerer's Shoes.



You can really only justify this is the enemy has 3 or more pure physical dps. Will almost never happen.

Lane

You have to get a solo lane. Duo laning mundo is bad because you need the levels and 'afk-farm' to become unstoppable. Since Mundo is nearly ungankable (cleavering from far and ult as escape), top lane is very safe. Let your ranged AD or Mage mid. Also, because of your teleport spell, you should have top lane, to be able to have all 5 players closely available for a dragon fight.

Early game

Pre-6

You cannot do much before level 6. Simply farm up. You shouldn't really miss any CS, since you have your cleaver and Masocism. Even when the wave hits your turret, you should get all of them.
Because cleaver has a huge range, you can avoid almost all enemy harrass, because you can stand far back to last hit.

You cannot really harrass your opponent, because cleaver is your only harrass and it's mostly blocked by minions. If you can get a cleaver in, obviously go for it, but focus mainly on missing 0 CS.

Post-6

Endless lane staying power with your ult. You still cannot harrass effectively, but you are almost always stronger than your opponent now, especially if he doesn't have ignite. Cleaver the minions when they are very low hp (even though you can cleaver them when they are higher HP) to ensure that the wave pushes to your turret. Ask for a jungle gank nicely, and your speed bonus from your ult will make a nice chase at the long top lane.

When only 1v1ing, good opponents will kite you around the minions, so they block your cleavers. Cut them off by standing between them and their own turret.

Midgame

Again, farming is most important. With your lane-staying power, you are usually highest level and highest CS in the game (teleport helps here too). This is crucial to become unstoppable, and being able to get focussed without dieing.

Tell your team when you have teleport up and that they need to have a ward around dragon. When the dragon fight happens, teleport there and get your team that advantage.

Mid-late game

Almost always, I have the enemy top turret down and my turret has over 50% hp left (teleport :P ).

So, now is the time that teamfights starts happening. Mundo has 2 tasks in teamfights

1. Neutralizing the enemy with the highest damage

Usually a ranged DPS (Ashe/Corki) or a mage (Anivia/Sion). Has your mid failed horribly and fed the enemy Malzahar for example? Mundo is perfect for this. You simply ignore all enemies but their highest damage and get straight in his face. Turn on burning agony and start cleavering him to the face. He either fights or runs: both options are terrible for him.
A smart opponent will run, abandoning his team. Now you have to chose between chasing for the possible kill, or turning back for their 2nd highest damage dealer.

Usually if he flashed or ghosted and you still get a cleaver on him, you can finish him off. If not, turn around.

2. Baiting enemy skills (ultimates preferrably)

This flat out wins games for your team. I cannot tell you how many Malzahar/Ashe/Vladimir etc etc ults I have baited with Mundo. You keep focussing their highest DD until they go crazy and start focussing you. This will lead them to get berated by their own team (gg malz, focussing Mundo). Also, when you are walking through their entire team to reach their most fed champion, other teammates may try to stop you from doing so. You also want this to happen, because every skill they use on you, they cannot use on your glass cannon dps/mage.

You are a damage soak... just turn on your ult and you get that HP back!

Turret Pushing

Especially when you get your atmas impaler, you are great at turret pushing. You can have your team 4 group and do a split push, you pushing solo of course.

1 enemy cannot stop you. You will just tank their damage and get that turret.
2 enemies can stop you, but won't kill you. Your team has a 4v3 in the other lane.
3 enemies can possibly kill you, but your team has a huge advantage somewhere else.

When people say that Ignite counters Mundo, they have a point. However, a large majority of the people don't really know how and when ignite counters Mundo.

So, when does ignite counter Mundo?

It only counters Mundo when it's good to actually focus Mundo. Usually, this is only in laning phase. For example, when a jungler ganks me as Mundo, and I try to get away by turning my ultimate on. This loses me 20% hp right away. If they ignite me instantly and then burst / heavy DPS me, not allowing me to really get my HP back, they ignited well and countered me.

In teamfights, when I am doing my anti-carrying and soaking damage, it's usually not a good time to ignite me. This is because if they ignite me, they also have to focus me, otherwise they wasted their ignite. Even with ignite, my Mundo is superhard to take down, and they would have to use a lot of focus on me, in which case my team should have an easy time killing them.

The only time to ignite Mundo in teamfights, is at the end when they already killed most of my team, and I'm trying to get away after a lost fight. So they have to save it for me, and only change the outcome of me getting away or not. It doesn't really affect the overall outcome of the teamfight. Maybe, the ignite will result in me not being able to defend a turret after a teamfight.

Mundo is quite capable of jungling. Your E deals great damage and your Q is like a smite on a 3s cooldown. I would advice against jungling however, since you will not get as many gold and XP as in a solo lane. Again, you really need it to become unstoppable. If you don't get this, you won't be able to anti-carry, because people can actually focus you and kill you.

If you do decide to jungle, go with:

ArPen reds
Armor yellow
AS blue
AS quints

Start with a vamp scepter and skill your E.

Wraith-Wolf-Doublegolem
recall and upgrade to Emblem of Valour.
Then just clear all camps, starting with golem.