Hey, I'm Real. I'm a former LCS coach who previously coached Golden Guardians and Team Liquid. I am also a top laner and have played Mordekaiser since his rework. His playstyle is actually fairly similar to my favorite champion Darius, so I enjoyed playing Mordekaiser right away. I want to share this guide with you to help show how to use him optimally. I have peaked masters in Season 5 and usually hover around diamond most seasons now. This guide is recommended to those of you who are looking to pick up Mordekaiser in the future, or maybe just hone your current skills on Mordekaiser now. Enjoy the guide!

I recently got into streaming if you want to drop a follow, you can find me at: https://twitch.tv/lolreai

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Pros + Tanky damage dealer + Lane bully + Strong mid game + Great carry killer + Not many bad lane match ups + Fairly easy to pick up + Strong core build + Can solo carry

Cons - Ult can be QSS'd - Immobile - Clunky skillshots - Vulnerable to ganks - Slow cast animations - High pick/ban rate on current patch - Falls off late game

Darkness Rise (Passive)

Mordekaiser's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage on-hit equal to 40% of his ability power.

After 3 basic attacks or abilities against enemy champions and epic monsters, Mordekaiser gains Darkness Rise for 5 seconds, causing him to deal 5-15 0.3) (+1-5% of target's maximum health) magic damage (depending on level) per second to all nearby enemies and gain 3 / 6 / 9% bonus movement speed (at levels 1 / 6 / 11).

Further basic attacks and abilities against enemy champions and epic monsters refresh Darkness Rise's duration.

Mordekaiser's passive is very strong and gives him big trading potential in lane. It also makes him a big threat for team fights because, in general, Darkness Rise will be active for the entirety of the fight. % max health on an ability like this is incredible and this scales for the whole game.


Obliterate

Mordekaiser slams down his mace, dealing 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 / 155 (+60% of ability power) (+5-139, depending on level) magic damage in an area. If he hits only a single enemy, the damage dealt is increased by 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50%.

This will be your main staple for trading and the ability that makes Mordekaiser so strong in lane. Not only is this low cooldown, but the ability costs no mana and does a lot of damage to single target. Get used to using his trade pattern, and try to Obliterate isolated targets or targets you have pulled in with Death's Grasp.


Indestructible

Passive: Mordekaiser stores 35% of the damage he deals and 15% of the damage he takes (reduced by 75% against non-champions) as energy on his secondary resource bar.

Active: Mordekaiser consumes the stored energy to grant himself a decaying shield for 4 seconds. The shield value is equal to 5-30% of Mordekaiser's maximum health, depending on how much energy he had stored.

After 0.25 seconds, Mordekaiser can re-cast this ability to consume the shield, healing himself for 40 / 42.5 / 45 / 47.5 / 50% of the remaining shield amount.

This ability might look confusing but it's fairly straightforward. You get energy in your resource bar as opposed to mana when you attack or use abilities, and this is used strictly for Indestructible. This ability scales very well and increases Mordekaiser's already good trading capabilities. Try not to waste this and use it when your energy is low. Use it after a few trades when the bar is close to full so you get good efficiency from the shield + heal.

The shield is almost always better than the heal effect when trading so be sure that you don't pre-emptively press Indestructible again too early if you are still trading and have a good portion of shield active. It can also be used as a heal in lane if you are being poked down and have a full bar of energy. If you cannot go in to trade with a champ harassing you, you can opt to double tap W for a quick heal.


Death's Grasp

Passive: Mordekaiser gains 5 / 7.5 / 10 / 12.5 / 15% magic penetration.

Active: Mordekaiser summons a deadly claw which drags enemies in an area towards him, dealing 80 / 95 / 110 / 125 / 140 (+60% of ability power) magic damage.

Death's Grasp is our utility spell and it is a very good one at that. The skillshot, while slow, has a huge hitbox. This also gives us passive magic penetration, increasing the damage on our kit overall by a lot. This will be one of your tools while trading in lane or looking for picks later in the game. Death's Grasp into Obliterate is a very basic and easy combo to get down, and it will be your main trading pattern for most of the game. Note that you can change how this skillshot pulls people. It is not only useful for pulling people into you, but pulling people away as well when you are trying to avoid a gank. Mess around with Death's Grasp in a practice game to get this down as it is a big help when playing Mordekaiser.


Realm of Death

Mordekaiser slows a target enemy champion by 75% for 0.5 seconds. If the target is still in range and targetable by the end of the duration, Mordekaiser banishes himself and the target to the Death Realm for 7 seconds. Champions outside of the Death Realm cannot enter or interact with the champions that are within.

Mordekaiser steals 10% of the target's current size, armor, magic resistance, health, attack damage, ability power and attack speed for the duration of the ability. If Mordekaiser kills his target, he consumes their soul, keeping the bonus stats until they respawn.

Arguably one of the best ultimates in the game. Realm of Death lets us isolate a target in a team fight and kill them without interference. It also allows us to take a threat out of a team fight (like a fed enemy carry) so they cannot harm our team for the duration. There is a lot of depth to the decision of how to use Realm of Death in a team fight, I'll try to break it down simply here.

In general it is best to use Realm of Death on the biggest threat on the enemy team, and, ideally, kill them during the duration or get them low enough where they can't be in the fight afterwards. In many games you will have an enemy carry who is fed out of their mind, and the purpose of using Realm of Death in these games is to simply keep them busy for 7 seconds while your team (hopefully) wins the fight. Kite around in Realm of Death and make use of your defensive build like Ninja Tabi or Zhonya's Hourglass to survive. Hopefully your team won the fight outside of your ult and together you can then kill the fed carry.

Tip: Realm of Death removes abilities from the ground when you ult an enemy. Abilities like Rumble's The Equalizer or Ekko's Parallel Convergence will disappear from terrain when they are ulted. Keep this in mind and use it to your advantage, it is a huge counter to certain champions and can turn a team fight around instantly.

Flash

Always take Flash, no exceptions. It is strictly the best summoner spell available in the game.


Teleport

This is generally the best second summoner to take on Mordekaiser. It allows you to get back to lane quickly after a mistake or, ideally, make plays around the map. I recommend looking for opportunities to Teleport bot lane when you have a lead if the opportunity arises. Once you have Rylai's Crystal Scepter it is almost a guaranteed kill if you can get behind them. This can snowball the game in your favor.


Ignite

Ignite is actually a pretty decent summoner on Mordekaiser. Lanes where you can use Ignite as an option are: Darius, Illaoi, and Tryndamere. These are all match ups where the enemy will be trying to all-in you frequently, have strong healing, and the need to snowball is necessary. It's hard to kite Mordekaiser in Realm of Death so this makes Ignite a nice option for your all-in.

Mordekaiser's Rune Page



I have run many different pages testing keystones + secondary trees on the new patch and I've come to conclusion that this is the best page for Mordekaiser. Conqueror is OP on the current patch and should be used. The amount of damage and healing it gives you is unmatched.

Triumph is the best here and self-explanatory, this rune will often save you in team fights or 2v1s with its effect. The bonus gold is nice too. Overheal and Presence of Mind are very underwhelming and borderline useless on Mordekaiser.

Legend: Tenacity, is, in my opinion, significantly better than Legend: Alacrity. Alacrity feels slightly better in lane and for last hitting but ultimately does not translate too much mid and late game, where Tenacity shines. Your team fighting with Tenacity is unmatched. The only time I would switch Tenacity out for Alacrity is in the odd case where the enemy comp has virtually no CC.

Last Stand is a bit better than Coup de Grace. As a front line champion you are soaking a lot of damage in fights, and will generally be low in fights when you're on the back line. Both are OK options but I find Last Stand optimal.

Taste of Blood synergizes pretty well with Mordekaiser. Extra healing is always good.

Ravenous Hunter is an insane rune, one of the best in the game for us. This is why we go domination tree. Since we have no mana and low cooldowns, we are often spamming our abilities. This makes Ravenous Hunter incredibly efficient on us and extra healing gets out of control quickly.

Switch the flex rune from armor to MR if vs. AP

Liandry's Torment

Liandry's Torment is the first item you rush every game. This is a huge source of your damage, and when paired with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, it amplifies its effect. This also gives you magic penetration, a great stat on Mordekaiser. Overall this item is just too good to pass on and your best mythic option.


Rylai's Crystal Scepter

You are going to be getting Rylai's Crystal Scepter every game as well. This in conjunction with Liandry's Torment are the core that you rush every single game. Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives you HP, AP, and an incredibly strong effect for Mordekaiser's kit. He makes use of the passive + stats better than most champions in the game. Since you are immobile and can be kited, the slow helps you stick to enemies and ensure you are able to kill them.

Zhonya's Hourglass

Zhonya's Hourglass is a nice pick up for us. We are going to get this in the majority of our games as our 3rd item after our core build of Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment. This item is not only good for general survivability, but it also allows to live against a huge threat when we use Realm of Death. The extra time this saves can mean the difference between living or not when ulting a strong target.

Morellonomicon

You should only really opt into Morellonomicon if the enemy team has significant healing champions. Otherwise pass on this, or sit on Oblivion Orb.

Banshee's Veil

Banshee's Veil is good against team comps that are heavy AP and have strong burst spells. If you find yourself in a situation where you're getting one shot or taken out of the fight by fed champions like Veigar or Annie, consider getting this after your core.

Void Staff

Only consider this if the enemy team is stacking MR (like in situations where your entire team is AP). Otherwise Death's Grasp already gives us quite a bit of magic penetration and we don't usually need it.

Dead Man's Plate

Arguably the best of the 3 armor items Dead Man's Plate is a good pick up after our core if the enemy has strong AD threats. The movement speed is nice on Mordekaiser and we find this useful in all scenarios.


Randuin's Omen

Randuin's Omen should be your first armor pick up if the enemy has a fed AD/crit user like Tristana, Yasuo, Xayah, etc. OR if the enemy team has multiple (2+) champions that are building crit. Otherwise stick to Dead Man's Plate.


Spirit Visage

Our most common magic resistance pick up. Get this against fed AP threats or a heavy AP team. This synergizes great with Indestructible and allows us to heal more. We will always get this unless the enemy has sustained damage casters such as Ryze or Cassiopeia. In that case we will first get Adaptive Helm.


Adaptive Helm

Get this before Spirit Visage if the enemy has sustained damage casters such as Ryze or Cassiopeia, as Adaptive Helm becomes much more efficient then.


Thornmail

Thornmail is very gold inefficient if you don't get good use of its passive. If you need it, holding onto Bramble Vest is almost always the best call until late game. Exceptions to this are maybe if enemy team has 3 healing autoattackers (ex: Trynd, Yi, etc.) but this is pretty rare. In general Thornmail is a trap and you shouldn't build it. Just hold onto to an early Bramble Vest in match ups where it is needed (ex: Tryndamere)

Early Game

Early game as Mordekaiser you should first ask yourself how the match up is level 1 at the start of each game. Often times you will not be stronger early game than your opponent and need to play the lane accordingly. With a top lane filled with lane bullies like Darius, Renekton, and Ryze, we need to know how to play the lane. Mordekaiser's power spike comes at level 6 generally. Always ask yourself about the game state and match up before you get into the game. It helps you plan out your lane a lot.

Your general early game for Mordekaiser will play out similarly each game. Let the enemy laner push early (be careful not to push your lane with Obliterate). This will leave them susceptible to ganks. Mordekaiser can trade vs. a good portion of top laners early (see match up section), but our focus should be farming vs. most bruisers. We do have the chance to kill ranged or squishy top laners early if they misplay and get hit by Death's Grasp frequently. Throw out your E in ranged match ups to try and catch the opponent off guard.

At level 6 the dynamic of Mordekaiser's lane changes completely. We can all-in almost every champion at 6 and win. Ideally you have cs'ed well, got a decent recall in, and are back in lane with your Blasting Wand and Amplifying Tome at level 6. If the enemy steps up outside of tower range at this point always be prepared to Realm of Death them. Getting a lead post 6 will help us translate into a strong mid-game.

Tip: Every single time you have an extra 75g on a base pick up a Control Ward. Get in the habit of doing this on every recall. Good spots to place control wards early for top are in the top river brush, tri-brush, or pixel brush. Increasing your vision game is one of the best habits to get into in order to climb.



Mid Game

For the mid game, Mordekaiser should be primarily focused on using his 1 and 2-item power spike to skirmish/team fight when possible. If you have been farming decently, or better yet if you have a lead, you are very strong at this point in the game with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment and we need to make use of it.

If you have a lead at this point, you can stay top and continue to apply pressure and try to draw the jungler to you. At this point you should have the potential to 2v1, and if you are successful, it can really turn the game in your team's favor.

You can also leave top and help your jungler secure Rift Herald or help your team secure Dragon . A lot depends on the game state and how your team is doing. If your team is struggling on the bot side of the map it might be wise to roam down for a team fight and Dragon . If they are doing well it is unlikely you need to roam down to help and are better off pushing your lead top and continuing to draw jungle pressure.

Towards the 20 minute mark and onward you want to maintain baron control with your lead top if you have it. Help your jungler secure and clear vision around baron at this time. If you get a pick or two while they try to get vision you can look to take an early baron if the game state warrants it. Vision is everything and can't be understated. If you don't have a lead top help your team establish baron vision without getting picked off.



Late Game

For late game on Mordekaiser you are going to want to take the biggest threat out of a fight and hopefully kill them in your Realm of Death. Even if you can't kill the target, like if you are behind for some reason, still generally you'll want to use Realm of Death on the biggest threat to buy time for your team to win the team fight. Make use of items like Zhonya's Hourglass to survive if the carry is fed enough to kill you in Realm of Death.


It's hard to recommend an "all-in-one" approach to team fights since they are so dynamic and always different. Try to assess them on a case by case basis and close out the game.

Thanks for reading my guide on Mordekaiser. I hope you take the information learned here into your next Mordekaiser game on the rift.



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