Early game, Mordekaiser is quite unpredictable in nature. If you play the lane right, you can get a kill as early as level 3. If you let your oppenent pressure you, however, you will fall behind. As Mordekaiser, you should never let your opponent pressure/zone you away from CS (unless you're against one of the few hard matchups). You should be constantly looking to poke down melee opponents using Obliterate in most match-ups. However, in certain games where you may be prone to ganks pre-6 (e.g. enemy has a Lee Sin, Elise etc), you should use Obliterate to secure CS and avoid walking up too much to CS. Make sure you don't waste your Death's Grasp early as it has a very long CD. You should try to use the pressure from having the ability more than the actual ability itself. Once you get to level 6, you should be looking to trade a lot more as in most match-ups you'll NEVER lose at this stage. Sometimes, though, opponents can be too hard to engage at level 6 making the powerspike feel useless. You can, however, take advantage of your huge pressure at this point in the lane by using the MOST IMPORTANT wave management strategy you could ever learn:
Here is a nice, even, untouched wave.
An even wave in the middle of lane.
Now, you might be thinking "Mmmm, tasty CS, I better go and secure it as fast as I can!" NO! Stop! Wait! You can freeze it and secure even more of that delicious CS and deny your opponent CS! Sounds like a big win to me. "Well how do I do this 'freeze' thing?" you may be asking.
All it takes are a few simple steps:
Step #1- Getting the wave to push towards you.
A wave pushing towards Blue Side.
In order to freeze a wave, it must be pushing towards you. This means, the opponent has more minions of their team in the lane at a given time. Due to your minions being outnumbered, they will die quicker and the enemy minions will walk further down the lane towards you. There are a few ways to get a wave to shove. The first way is by only last hitting minions whilst your opponent hard pushes the wave. This trick will always work in low elo as low elo players almost always hard push all the time. Another way that you can get the wave to push to you is by shoving your wave under the opponent's tower, it'll then push towards you. With this method, you need to make sure your opponent doesn't catch the wave you shoved before it reaches the tower, otherwise they may freeze. The key rule to remember is: as long as your opponent's wave is bigger than yours, it'll ALWAYS push towards you.
Now that you know how to get the wave to push to you, you can now start freezing it.
A wave being frozen by the Blue Side.
This next step is the most important- the actual freezing of the wave. In order to freeze a wave, your opponent's wave needs to have at least 3 more minions than yours. You should wait until your minions are all dead, making sure to only last hit the enemy minions the whole time. After your wave is dead, draw minion aggro and take the few remaining enemy minions just outside of your tower range. After that keep their aggro on to you until your minion wave arrives. Once the enemy wave arrives, there should be, in total, a few more enemy minions than yours. Make sure to only last hit and just like that... the wave is now frozen!
Below is an image of where the wave should be once frozen. Bear in mind that in this image, your minions would be lower health than the enemies'.
A wave frozen near the Blue Side turret.
Now you know how to freeze the wave. What next? Well, a frozen wave offers many, many advantages in lane. These advantages include:
•You don't have to overextend to farm. Making you a lot less vunerable to ganks from the enemy jungler.
•You can't be zoned off farm and xp from the enemy laner.
•The enemy laner will have to overextend to farm, so that they're more vunerable to ganks.
•The enemy laner can't trade with you effectively.
•The enemies will have to dive you to kill you, giving you a huge advantage in all-ins (unless you're vs Garen. He'll ignore the turret, run you down and live with full HP).
Freezing isn't, however, all sunshine and rainbows. You can't just freeze all game and never move. Sometimes, in lower elo, your team will take fights in the river for no reason. As much as I'd love to say just keep farming, it won't work. In low elo, you should see if you can roam and catch these fights in order to snowball and get your team ahead. This, obviously, will break your freeze though so be careful. You may also need to break your freeze when there's a major objective that you need to Teleport or walk to.
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Teleport is easily the most important summoner spell for a top laner. This is because being so isolated from everyone else makes it your only guaranteed way of exerting pressure on the rest of the map. Also, in Season 10 there's a huge emphasis on getting elemental drakes in order to get the elemental soul. Due to drakes being bot side, once again, Teleport is great for securing them.
Using Teleport effectively is not as easy as it seems. Some players think that you should just teleport bot as soon as you see a fight that you can win. That's wrong. Even if you win the fight, your jungler may be bot side and the enemy top laner could be pushing their wave. This means you lose out on 1-2 waves of XP and CS as well as losing 2-3 turret plates, meaning your teleport was a waste as the enemy team got just as much, if not more, Gold and XP.
To avoid situations like this, you should time your teleports correctly. For example, if you've just shoved a wave under tower, you should look for a TP play. Here are some criteria that should mostly be met for a Teleport to be good:
• Enemy bot laners are overextended or fighting far from their turret (e.g. Dragon pit).
• Bot lane has a deep ward in a bush to Teleport to.
• Bot lane is outnumbered and/or losing the fight.
• Your wave is pushing towwards the enemy top laner.
• Your jungler is top to shove the wave out for you (provided they have decent wave clear).
• The enemy jungler isn't top to help hard shove the wave or take Rift Herald.
These criteria are just some simple ones off the top of my head. There are many more opportunuties for using Teleport properly. Bear in mind that not all these points have to be met to merit a Teleport. Sometimes it may be worth if only 2 of the points are true. It all depends on the game state really. |
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Recalling is a significant part of the top lane, seeing as it impacts the laning phase so much, which is the bread & butter of the top lane. Recalling may be easy, however, doing it effectively isn't. An good recall early on in the game can win you the entire laning phase. So, after hearing that, who wouldn't want to learn how to time their recalls?
As I mentioned before, recalls aren't as simple as they seem at face-value. There's a lot more to it than just pressing the B button. If you were to recall, for example, after solo killing a Teemo, you should check for a few things first:
• Is my jungler top side to help me take a rift Herald?
• Is my health high enough to solo a Rift Herald?
• Is the enemy jungler top side?
• Is the enemy jungler going to kill me if I stay to try to shove the wave?
• Is my wave clear fast enough to shove out a wave (that may or may not have a cannon minion in it)?
• Do I have enough gold to make recalling worth it?
• Is there an opportunity to Teleport bot if I'm healthy enough?
• Is my wave big enough to push the tower for some plates and will I die if I stay too long?
Naturally, some players will want to recall straight after getting a solo kill. If you ask yourself questions like these first, I guarantee you that you'll have more overall impact on the game.
Recalls can also be done more passively, in which you simply slow push or hard shove a wave under tower. In some cases you may get a cheater recall off after the third wave, allowing you to get a huge advantage over your laner.
Also bear in mind that you should avoid recalling when your jungler is dead or the enemy jungler is top.
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Warding is a neccessity for every role in the game. As a top laner, your job is to ward your top side and work in tandem with your mid laner and jungler to keep the top river, your jungle and the enemy jungle warded at all times. That's a lot of wards. The reason you should be warding in the early game is mostly to see if the enemy jungler is preparing for a gank or sometimes even to see their pathing. Control Wards should be used near your lane or anywheere that's in your territory so that you can defend them and so that the enemy can't ward your area. Regualar wards should be used in areas where enemies will often walk by or in bushes where they may hide. They're just useful in general for keeping an eye on the opposition.
Whilst I could talk about warding in the late game, it's something you adapt game-by-game rather than a set in stone method. I'll just say this- Keep objectives warded and keep your own jungle warded.
Here are some common ward spots for the Early/Mid game:
In the Mid game, your primary objectives are either roaming or splitpushing to secure a lead. Depending on the matchup and how you're faring in lane, you should play accordingly.
Assuming you're even, against a strong roaming champ like Camille, Pantheon etc, you should focus on clearing the wave and pushing the turret. If you see them roam at a bad time or Teleport bot with a bad wave state, you should punish them even more by going for a rift herald solo. If you know that their jungler is bot too, you can look for an opportunity to counter jungle. Due to Mordekaiser being so slow and having such bad roaming in comparison, you're almost always better off securing a lead top side and freeing it up for the late game. | |
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When playing vs other slow moving bruisers/tanks or champions that are good in lane, such as Illaoi, Darius etc, you should use Realm of Death and the pressure from having it to roam and make plays around mid/sometimes drakes. They'll often stay in lane and splitpush in the mid-late game. To counter this you could force objectives and give up a tower or trade a tower top for a tower mid. However, if the enemy splitpusher has bad vision of your jungle, you and your jungler can walk through jungle, catch them off guard and eliminate them.
If no enemies are present in your lane and you need to walk to an important objective or reset for one, you should slow push the wave so that an enemy must go top to clear the wave and you'll have a 5v4 or the they'll lose a turret. This also applies for late game.
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ULTIMATE USAGE
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When roaming, your use of your ultimate will oftentimes be the decider of your roam being impactful or useless. To nail the usage of Realm of Death a lot more often, here are some tips. Firstly, avoid using it where there are lots of walls (such as the jungle) as they can be flashed over by the target you're pursuing. Also, you should avoid using it near bushes (such as alcoves or the jungle) as you have a high chance of missing your abilities if you can't see your opponent. Lastly, try to use Realm of Death away from turrets becasue if an enemy runs to a turret, you can't really do much, unless you're really tanky. | |
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This, in my opinion, is the hardest part of the game for Mordekaiser although it's also the most rewarding if you get it right. Realm of Death is one of the biggest game changers at this point in the game. I would even go so far as to say sometimes, it may be the win condition. Without further ado, welcome to o̶b̶l̶i̶v̶i̶o̶n̶ the late game.
In the late game as Mordekaiser, your positioning is crucial. Due to the immense impact of Realm of Death, you need to be there for your team. Other than that, you should focus on CSing a lot as many Mordekaiser players (myself included) don't CS enough due to his snowballing nature. Based on your team and how fed you are, you should either sidelane to soak up pressure before objectives or stay perma-mid and rotate to every objective first; I'd recommend the former if you took Teleport. One thing you should be careful of is facechecking. Everyone makes this mistake and on such a slow, CC-vunerable champ you can't afford to be walking around with your eyes closed. To avoid this, make sure to ALWAYS ward and when walking through fog-of-war, stick with your team to avoid your carries getting picked off. This brings me onto the next section: |
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When you hear Mordekaiser and teamfight in the same sentence, you immediately think ofulting carries. There is, however, a lot more to teamfighting than just pressing R. You need to be as useful as possible before using Realm of Death; this could mean hitting a massive E-Q on multiple enemies for just zoning enemies away. Either way, there are a few main ways to execute teamfights. One style that I like to play is I dive into them head first (normally with Hextech Rocketbelt) and hit a single Death's Grasp followed by Obliterate to fully proc my passive. After that, they have to engage back or Darkness Rise will shred them, so I ult straight after dealing my initial burst of damage and before they can counter engage me. I normally ult the tank/engage (e.g. Leona, Nautilus, Ornn) so that they can't counter-engage my team and also there's no one to soak up damage as well as the fact that they can't kite well and if you kill them, you get a bunch of tank stats. You might be ready to ask "Why don't you ult the carry so they can't deal much damage to your team?" The problem with that is that sometimes the carry does so much damage and has so much mobility that late game, they can contest you in the Death Realm. Also, their stats aren't as useful if you kill them. However, if there are any fed carries, you should ult them for sure, purely because they're fed.
Then there's also the boring Mordekaiser, the one that peels for his ADCs like a good boy. With this playstyle you should get your passive up as fast as possible and run around, following your carry. The moment anyone becomes a threat for them, you ult. This playstyle doesn't require too tanky of a build as you don't frontline much. You should also only play like this if your ADC is fed and lacks support/peel.
In conclusion, you should really just adapt to the situation and, most importantly, play according to your item build. If you've gone full tank, don't sit in the back line and peel for one player. If you've built full damage, don't run head-first into the enemy team.
Objective control is vital at all stages of the game but even more so in the late game. One objective can change the game. That being said, it's important to secure every objective you can to have the best chances of winning. There are two major late game objectives- Dragons and Baron Nashor. Taking them requires team coordination and macro management. It's also important to know what to do when you take the objectives in order to maximize their usefulness.
DRAGONS:
Killing the Dragons is something that you must normally do as a team. There are a few prime times to try to take a Dragon. For example, if your team has 5 players at the dragon pit and the enemy team has someone top lane with no Teleport, this would be a good time to take the Dragon as the enemy team are outnumbered if they try to fight you for it. If the enemy jungler's Smite is on cooldown, your jungler can try to Smite the dragon to steal it. Also, in the late game, if at any point you have more players alive and well than the other team then you should all take the Dragon together. Vision is also very important when taking objectives such as Dragons so make sure you have the area warded before the dragon spawns and have the enemy team's vision cleared out. A good way to get vision of the Dragon pit is by killing the Rift Scuttler.
Five different types of dragons exist in the game: Ocean Dragon, Mountain Dragon, Cloud Dragon, Infernal Dragon and Elder Dragon. The first four are known as Elemental Dragons. The third elemental drake taken in a game will determine which Dragon Soul will be in that game and will change the terrain based on the element of the dragon.
Here is what the four Dragon Souls do:
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Ocean SoulDealing damage to enemies restores 160 (+ 36% bonus AD) (+ 22.5% AP) (+ 9% bonus health) health and 80 (+ 3.5% maximum mana) mana over 4 seconds. Damage to minions and monsters regenerates with 30% effectiveness.
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Mountain SoulAfter not taking champion damage for 5 seconds, gain a shield for 200 (+ 18% bonus AD) (+ 13.5% AP) (+ 13.5% bonus health).
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Cloud SoulGrants 10% bonus movement speed, increased to 50% bonus movement speed for 6 seconds after casting your ultimate (30 second cooldown).
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Infernal SoulDamaging abilities and basic attacks create an explosion around the target, dealing 80 (+ 22.5% bonus AD) (+ 13.5% AP) (+ 2.75% bonus health) adaptive damage to the target and nearby enemies (3 second cooldown).
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The best Dragon Soul for Mordekaiser is the Ocean soul as it greatly benefits his healing/lifesteal, which synergises very well with the healing from Conqueror and Ravenous Hunter. The Mountain Soul is the next best soul for Mordekaiser as he's a bruiser/juggernaut so any defensive stats are always welcome. Cloud Soul is relatively good as it enables you to catch up to the fast carries you'll be sending to the Realm of Death. Infernal Soul is probably the least beneficial as Mordekaiser doesn't really stack AP but it's still good on him.
Then there's the Elder Dragon. This dragon is the next dragon to spawn after a team aquires the soul for that game. It grants the team that slays it Aspect of the Dragon, which makes attacks apply a true damage burn and executes enemies below 20% health. The buff is lost when the holder is slain.
BARON NASHOR:
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Baron Nashor is debatably the most important objective in the game. One kill of it can win the entire game. However, it's also the hardest objective to take down duw to its high health and various debuffs it inflicts on its attacker.
When a team slays Baron Nashor, they're granted the Hand of Baron buff, which empowers nearby minions and grants extra AD/AP. Only those alive when the objective is slain are granted the buff and when slain, the holder loses the buff.
Securing Baron Nashor is a task like no other. Most champions cannot solo kill it due to the Baron's gaze debuff, which makes the champion that Baron is attacking deal 50% less damage. Due to its difficulty to kill with few people and its importance in the game, a team would normally only take this objective if they outnumber their opponents or if they kill it quickly, catching their opponent unaware. Some other conditions for killing Baron Nashor might include: |
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• The enemy jungler has no Smite to secure the objective.
• The enemy jungler is dead.
• Someone in the enemy team is on the other side of the map with no Teleport
• If you have a lot of vision over the Baron Pit and the enemy team has none.
When securing this objective, along with others, as mentioned in the last point, you should always make sure to clear enemy vision and get lots of vision yourself. This should be done preemptively, minutes before even taking the objective.
In some cases, a team who is ahead might start Baron Nashor despite enemy vision being present so that enemies on the lower half of the map Teleport to the pit to contest the objective. The team who is on the objective will then leave it and let it reset, thus having wasted enemy time and Teleports.
When this buff is obtained, the team who wields it should, based on their team comp, normally try to split push in order to empower as many minion waves as possible.
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