(Short Story)
His shield passive with the spirit stone item line will keep you at full health all game. That, and he has quick camp clear, strong trades, and if you kill a solo lane with your ult active you can kill the tower at any point you choose. Oh did i mention that after he has his core items he doesnt have a ridged build and allowing for direct counters any problem that may arise. He packs a punch and his lack of cc is made up more by red buff than the nothing he has in lane. He's the universal weapon and He's made to Jungle.

(Long Story)
The first time i played Mord i had no idea what to do. He seamed like a close range caster with an ok passive and low AP ratios and an odd %165 bonus AD ratio. So i asked my team how to top Mordekaiser, one said "Rush Static Shiv." Though I'm fairly sure I was trolled by that Twitch, it worked brilliantly, i built shiv into AD into AP and no champion could take me alone. When i tried to recreate this in later games i found any combination of builds would have me die to poke consistently but I'd clear waves and 1v1 like no one else, this inconsistency makes him a less desirable pick to most players. So after a ton a thought and trial i discovered that Mordekaiser was made to jungle, yet there was only one jungle build on MobaFire so here we are. Once you clear both buffs your shield will block any damage the jungle camps can dish out and with the somewhat recent addition of spirit stone you will stay at full heath all game while sweeping the jungle at an alarming rate, his only flaw a lack of cc made up for by red buff his high burst potential. All game full health with fast jungle clear makes Mordekaiser a High reward Low risk Jungler with the added bonus of being unheard of. If you want to augment your arsenal of Junglers with a champion that can take on any situation then this guide is for you.

(Super Short Food for Thought)
The World is Yours. The Universal Weapon (Kaoru Koganei). Master of Advanced Items. No one is safe..

Pros:
[*] Strong 1v1
[*] Maintains Max Heath at all Points of the Game
[*] Destroys Towers
[*] Shield
[*] With Jung Items Healing Your Abilities is Free
[*] Unheard Of
[*] Sustainable Burst
[*] Doesn't NEED Blue After First
[*] Extreme Versatility
[*] Can be at the front of the fight for max damage but doesn't need to be (all skills can be ranged besides your early game heavy hitter Q)

Cons:
[*] Close Range
[*] Negative Sustain
[*] WithoutSkill You Will be Burst Down
[*] Susceptible to High CC (but who isn't, preped to quickly build mercurial scimitar/ Tenacity)
[*] Lack of Skins
[*] Slow if Leashless (so if your playing with D%cK$ your probably human and need to accept that this kind of thing happens)
[*] High skill cap in unconventional ways, so there's an odd learning curve
[*] Easy to mess up your first few tries(his early game is extremely ridged while his late game is more thought oriented)
[*] Weak at Extreme Early Game

Mordekaiser is a being of pure, living agony on a mysterious dread quest. It is said that he was the first of the undead, existing before the Shadow Isles were a whispered threat. His true name and past lost to history, Mordekaiser is feared for his grim manipulation of pain –both his own, and that of others. Anguish fuels and sustains him, serving as his last connection to life, as well as his most effective weapon. In his enigmatic hunt, he's proven no one is safe, for even the most courageous souls have surrendered their secrets in his grasp.

One girl witnessed and survived an encounter with pain's paladin. Late one night, the young mage-in-training was awoken by the sound of her master's tortured screams. Overcoming her fear, she charged into the library to find it a shattered ruin. There, she saw a hulking figure clad in a suit of armor that seemed fused to his body. It was clear the grim intruder was looking for something, and was displeased with the results. At the center of the once-majestic chamber, the armored fiend clutched her teacher's broken form. She overheard her master's final words – that he would die before he would give up his secrets. Mordekaiser laughed and said that even death was no escape, then snapped the master's neck with a sharp crack. Moments later, the horrified girl witnessed her master's spirit torn from his body. As if under some dark compulsion, the shade began to reveal all to his torturer and executioner. The girl fled, living to tell her story – should Mordekaiser come for you, even death itself will not keep you from his iron reach. Also he was like "Hey Android003, I'm sure glad people voted this rare guide up cause is NA i'm only used by DieHards and this could really bring some life back into me, relatively speaking. And, I'm sure glad Riot is working on a new ZombieMaster skin for me cause most of my skins are just retextures."

"Fear is confusion, pain is clarity."
― Mordekaiser

You don't rely on building defense in game but it has unquestionable synergy with your shield. After some trial i've found that when you go full defense your covered early game and mid game from enemy damage and lets you focus on building flat damage which is part of the core of this guide. With you not needing to build into any small defensive item to be effective you can put all that cash straight into those flat damage items (AD against their MF and AP against their Armor) the core of this guide.

The buff timer extension is a necessity for any jungler and the masteries on the way to it are the only masteries that could be effective on Morde so your pretty railroaded there.

hmmmmmmmm. ok. i've seen the math and you definitely want a point in the final defensive mastery. If you need CC reduction the it stacks in the best possible, with say a spirit of golem, bringing you to nearly 1/2 the CC duration.

The rest of the defensive masteries are general jungle. ex Bleed for dragon/baron.

Pretty standard.

Start red, get help.

Go wraiths, you need it to hit lvl 3 and with your W AOE Q multi-hit it's the fastest camp to clear allowing you to quickly go to blue then gank.

Go to blue, now your gank ready.

Your double upgraded Q will make quick work of all camps esp once you've cleared the little minions.

Soon after Blue jungle camps should heal more than hurt. So you're never forced back before you wish to and can maintain a constant presence and farm count in game.

The header isnt there just to look pretty. Master of the Advanced Item Class. This guide is oriented towards making Morde a jack of all trades. With the core build your only one step away from tenacity or a quicksilver legendary. Think of it as a poised stance, your next move will require minimal effort to reach you next defensive item buy yet your ready to go all offensive if your opponents dont have a solid counter to you. There is no full build listed because, put simply, there is no full build. Your games wont look similar to each other and if they do then your doing it wrong, even if your do winning. If you build the same build every game then your not building to counter your opponents and your losing out on one of the defining reasons as to why this build works.

Cover your A$$ first.
The basic problem with Mord is that he has a few built in obvious weaknesses. He's a negative sustain champion who needs to get in close to deal massive sustained burst. So you need sustain, speed, and damage if your gonna make it. There is no one item I trust to take care of this in a hurry meaning you'll end up with a slew of advanced items in your inventory while everyone else has 1 1/2 legendary items, making Mord the master (and slave) of advanced items. Depending on how your game goes it's debatable what you need to build first but one of the biggest mistakes you can make while playing Mord, which is contradictory to how you would play most other champions, is staring the game by building one bulky legendary item because then your playing your champion with EASILY exposed and exploitable weaknesses. The Core build is that way so you can get to them and hack at either their MR or Armor (your choice) with high burst and sustain through low cooldowns and a shield that can be constantly filled. So get to know your opponent and cover your A$$, and use the time it takes you to finish your Essence to come up with a build for your specific game. Also, since Morde is so flexible you dont need to hurry to any legendary items, if you unsure about what will counter your opponents best then dont finish every item. Morde works just as well with his Essence, another BF or Needless, and a Shen; he doesnt need the full effect of most items and another BF is cheaper and more efficient to our needs than finishing the new Bloodthursters (that patch really hit this build).

Starter > Boots > Spirit Stone > Flat Damage (NLR or BFS) >> Augmented boots
Then your covered. Depending on if your having an easy time catching people you can build the full boots after your first legendary item (especially if that item has built in movement speed like Lich Bane, Twin Shadow, or Static Shiv) but your definitely gonna want flat speed augment since you neeeeeeed to catch them.

Jungle camps without E:
Auto + Q + altW
You only need to click once.

You'll use this a lot earlier. If you feel this isn't working for you earlier then go ahead and get E. E adds it's base damage to clearing jungle camps however i put off getting this in favor of the lower cooldowns on Q and higher per lvl damage on W but it is arguable that getting E will automatically add the base damage of E to your rotation without slowing you down. I'd argue the that the extra damage mitigation from W along with the upgraded damage from W is better for jungle clear and ganks since it doesn't force you to stop to use and it can be placed on others if needed, helps your team out more and offers more versatility. So I put off E until my Needlessly Large Rod at which point it's essential and welcomed.

Jungle camps:
E > W > Auto + Q

When your in range you Hit 'em with E, bringing you shield up enough for you to negate their first salvo and allow you the extra damage without consequence from the auto into Q. Then W right before they hit you. Auto attack, then directly after hit 'em with a Q. This pattern is the best way to maximize damage to and minimize damage from. Practice it. Know it. Love it.

Ganks:
W > Q > E > Auto
~or~
W > auto + Q > E + Auto

W whenever your in range or put it on your ally if they get there first, it lasts a long time so, most likely, you wont get the entirety of the effect on your opponent so the more you can get off on them the better. If they go for your squishy carry then W onto the carry for the extra protection, obviously not as effective but you'll want them to not die for as long as possible to keep your target in range. Q instantly, if you auto into Q they may be out of range for the Q since you stop for both; if you can get between them and the tower/cc and you have bf then auto into Q since you have the time. E since they might be a little far; though if you gank correctly and get between them and the tower/cc then the E wont affect the cooldown of your next auto so you can usually get in an auto instantly.
This is your burst, it will cause your shield to max out almost immediately (not counting the shield you should be bringing in from jungle), if they decide to target you while you do this then your shield will eat most of the damage and you will sustain your damage with your short cooldowns. Even if they get away and you cant sustain, the damage from the initial burst is hard enough to make a significant difference to any lane.

Finisher:
Q > E > R
A good use if your opponent is out of range but there's a minion between. Your R can be used while using other skills so if they run ,which they will, this'll seal the deal relatively quickly, aim to kill them with the initial damage not the DOT. Your R is often strong enough to kill them at range so comboing like this can put them enough in the red to secure the kill.

Passive: Iron Man
Mordekaiser converts 35% of the damage dealt from his abilities into a temporary absorption shield (half as effective against minions and monsters).
Maximum shield strength is 90 + (30 × Mordekaiser's level). The shield decays by 3% per second.
....In jungle this is your best friend. Much like the new bloodthirster it applies an overshield at %35 of damage dealt. This make mord a jungler and when in battle it'll keep you alive. If you think you cant take an opponent by normal rotation because they are a bursty champ then this will save you.

Q: Mace of Spades
RANGE: 600 COST: 25 / 32 / 39 / 46 / 53 HEALTH COOLDOWN: 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4
....ACTIVE: Mordekaiser enhances his next attack, converting it to deal magic damage and replacing the base attack damage component with a base amount of damage. He swings his mace with such force that it echoes out, striking up to 3 additional nearby targets.
....MAGIC DAMAGE: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 40% AP) (+ 100% Bonus AD)
If the target is alone, the ability deals 65% more damage.
SINGLE TARGET MAGIC DAMAGE: 132 / 181.5 / 231 / 280.5 / 330 (+ 66% AP) (+ 165% Bonus AD)
....This is why you can build Morde AD. %165 bonus AD ratio with a low cooldown (basically turning your AD into one for more than one AP). Whenever you auto-attack use this immediately after. This ratio along with the power of your auto attacks is where you'll draw your power. Morde has to get close to be fully effective and AD is a natural extension of this with basic attacks. They wanna fight you in a wave of minions? OK, 3x shield. Wanna fight me alone? Even better, I'll crush you with this low cooldown wonder.

W:Creeping Death
RANGE: 750 COST: 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 / 50 HEALTH COOLDOWN: 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 / 12
....ACTIVE: Mordekaiser creates a protective cloud of metal shards to surround an ally unit or himself for 6 seconds, increasing the target's armor and magic resistance and dealing magic damage each second to enemies within 250-range.
....MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 24 / 38 / 52 / 66 / 80 (+ 20% AP)
MAX MAGIC DAMAGE: 144 / 228 / 312 / 396 / 480 (+ 120% AP)
ARMOR / MAGIC RESIST: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30
....High damage, long to moderate cool down. That's ok, you'll have it up for most of the cooldown anyways. This'll beef you up a enough that your shield can mitigate all the damage from jungle farm. You can place it anyone on your team, including minions, so feel free to place it on that Yasuo who needs it, you'll still get your shield. I max it first since the damage over-all is higher than the other two skill and benifits much more from lvling, you can get damage by lvling anything but with this you also augment your shield and at max it cuts the cooldown almost in half. Oh, %120 AP ratio? yes please! I wonder if speed would be helpful? I smell synergy. Also makes it impossible to fight you in their own minion wave which is where a smart player usually plays.

Siphon of Destruction
RANGE: 700 COST: 24 / 36 / 48 / 60 / 72 HEALTH COOLDOWN: 6
....ACTIVE: Mordekaiser afflicts all enemies in a cone in front of him, dealing magic damage.
....MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 60% AP)
....The only use you have for this is when you finally pick up that Needlessly Long Rod. In normal mord build this is the main source of damage. Not here. We're rebels. Fight the power! Aim this skill so you can hit as many as possible. Fairly straight forward. Only skill to have no benefits to cooldown when lvling. Lvl this last. But even at low lvls it still packs a surprising punch with it's %60 AP ratio and really completes the set. We use all the parts of this cow.

Children of the Grave
....RANGE: 850 COOLDOWN: 120 / 105 / 90
....ACTIVE: Mordekaiser deals magic damage to a target enemy champion and curses it for 10 seconds, dealing additional magic damage over time and healing himself for the damage done.
....If the target dies while under the effect of the curse, their soul is enslaved as a controllable ghost and will follow Mordekaiser for 30 seconds. The Ghost cannot use any active skills or items and deals magic damage with its basic attacks.
....INITIAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 12 / 14.5 / 17% (+ 2% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health
MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 1.2 / 1.45 / 1.7% (+ 0.2% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health
TOTAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 24 / 29 / 34% (+ 4% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health
The Ghost's stats are:
....HEALTH: The enslaved champion's total health plus 15% of Mordekaiser's total health.
....ATTACK DAMAGE: The enslaved champion's base AD at Lv. 1 plus its bonus AD from items and 75% of Mordekaiser's total AD.
....ABILITY POWER: The enslaved champion's AP plus 75% of Mordekaiser's AP.
....MOVEMENT SPEED: The enslaved champion's base movement speed plus the bonus from Mordekaiser's boots.
....LEASH RANGE: 1125
During this time, Mordekaiser gains 20% of the enslaved champion's total AP and AD. This bonus does not affect the ghost's stats.

....Seams like a simple skill to use but in Mord's set it's one of the most dynamic. Get creative. Basicly you get an amped up version of whoever you kill but they can only auto attack. So nearly all targets are valid targets for this though mages tend to make the worst minions but we can't forget that you get a %20 straight bonus from thier AP, unlike the AD which is based on a different system, and your THE Hybrid and mages just love to max out that AP dont they, so i guess there are no wrong options (and though it's not mentioned explisitly your blitz will still get a shield, so there's that to consider. Your minion will not use active abilities, In other words your minion WILL use passive ones. I wonder what else it can do O.O Play around with it. Your minion does have scaling AP for a reason. Fizz/Vayne zombie anyone? (How cool would a zombiemaster Mord Be?)) Use when your not at max health since it's a heal. Be careful to not over estimate this skill's initial damage since it's 1/2 a percent that isnt true damage but the minion is so good it should be illegal so keep this in mind. Mord's skill set is strong enough to go toe to toe with most even without the minion but for those 30 seconds it's up your the king of the castle. Your minion is basically the child of you and your kill, stronger then both, scaling based on AD from both you and your opponent makes him hit hard no matter the target, hence BF first. Not that it'll make any difference in how you play but it's interesting to know that the items bought after death also apply to your minion, shhhh. A great use for this skill is to to take out a tower even when there are no minions are around since the tower will continue to target the minion if it walks under tower first and with you, the minion's amped damage, and whoever is nearby your can pretty much take out the tower at any point of your choosing (please note that the tower will always que your minion to be attacked next even when there are creeps, the only exception being when the tower has targeted a champion.) Is this skill real? Also how has no one seen jungle Morde? I feel like I'm missing something huge but time and Riot Nerfs/Reworks will tell i suppose.

Your job is to clear the jungle, stick to your opponent, and not die. Speed helps a lot with all of this and is essential to playing a good Mordekaiser. Your playing a close range squishy champ who only lives while dealing damage, the amount of time you spend getting to your opponent will make or break you. So grab as much speed at possible which means: movement quents, move masteries (you don't get the final utility mastery but you don't want it anyway and even if it was worth it it's not worth the trade for defense), quick building of of full boots and flat move augment (furor is not gonna work.) If you really need it to you can go higher AD with Static Shiv and Infinity Edge for Max speed Morde. Lich Bane is a pretty standard extension to any build and if your really up tight about all junglers having cc build twin shadow, which is a double whammy of speed and slow. I'm devoting an entire chapter to speed to enforce that this is the most critical element for this build. None of this counts for anything if you cant get to them so build the core speed always and build an additional speed item/slow if necessary, which it won't usually. It's only necessary if every member of their team is faster than you, I'd never take that bet.

There are a few ways to deal with your lack of tank. My personal favorite is through synergy; build more damage and when they hit you with everything you hit them right back, in a trade like this you will come out on top. Your shield along with your defensive masteries and W will win you trades (you'll also be smart and come out of the jungle with the highest shield you can at a moment of their weakness) and unlike most champions your damage will yield direct results to your defense if timed correctly. However if for whatever reason you dont feel you can come out on top the next best thing is to build Zonyas against bursty champions, though this isnt an option for all players depending on your skill lvl. Obviously these are skill based solutions; You, as a jungler, have to advantage of choice as well as a set of skills that can be exhausted as fast as most bursters you will find. You CAN time your punches to match theirs but it takes the skill of timing. So practice. All else fails look at your death recap and build a defensive item to combat them.

The name of the game is synergy, the higher your damage the more shield you get, to deal max damage with his full set you need to be right next to your target and at that point your going to auto attack and since you have a high AD ratio built in building AD will double it's effectiveness through AD damage from basic attacks or AP damage through Q. This is why your building around your Q while at the same time maxing your W for sustained defense and an also high AP ratio. Building Morde hybrid allows you to take towers quickly, make full use of and AP AD you give and get from your ult, and allows you to hit your target where it hurts. While one might consider building just AD the actual effects of the needless items will help you far more than then final effects of a BF item. This is why i recommend building more than one BF yet dont really go wild for the late game effects, you only need the flat damage the effects are just an afterthought to this build allowing for it to be less ridged and highly versatile.
Your initial burst is your best friend when dealing with other high burst champions. Morde will not work jungle if you go 1/2 way, you build to hurt and you will succeed. You go flat damage/ speed. Get to your target, burst. Get to your target, burst. That's your job. That's how you gank. You don't need any full item until you see a benefit to doing so. BF Sword gives you 50 flat damage it builds into 80 flat damage along with a slew of side effects you wont need to do your job but will enforce your late game prescience. You rely on flat damage and that's as BF is as high as it gets for the cost. For high damage/shield with utility go AP items, for higher damage through sustained burst go flat AD. Every part of this guide is to enforce the fact that damage kills and as long as your damaging them then the damage to you is manageable, you can do this through speed and flat damage and utility. Other junglers will rely on their stuns and slow to keep up with you/ get away from you but you are made to dish out damage at a significantly higher rate and do so while doing so ignoring the damage they do to you. So there is no final build. There is no one trick. Use what you know of jungling. Trust your shield. Go fast, you wont need to be there long (cause your smart, you've read the guide, you've practiced, and you've definitely built AD against their MR and AP against their armor), so you wont need cc (but you'll have it with red anyways) but if you do need some help so they don't get away sometimes, hey! your a jungler! Your entire job is to gang up on people. You have a team. Act like it.

Mordekaiser is a new take on jungle champions that will take you as high as your lvl of skill and knowledge of the game allows. Your knowledge of abilities, your reaction time, your awareness of the map, and your ability to plan strategically are what you need to hone to master him; His ability combat enemies is not at question so your job is to just get him there. He is on par with every champion in the game and your skill with him is the only thing holding you back. Every problem has an answer so challenge yourself to find it.