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Recommended Items
Runes: Standard Build Against Most Champs
Precision
Resolve
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Items
Ability Order Max Q -> E -> W
Darkness Rise (PASSIVE)
Mordekaiser Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Fiora
Her high mobility and true damage completely counters Mordekaiser. You should outscale her but making it to late-game is the rough part. Rush a Bramble Vest to limit her sustain and burst.
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Table of Contents - Click on a Header!
Introduction
|
Pros, Cons and Setup
|
Gameplay
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Introduction
Hey guys, the short following paragraph is to provide a quick introduction about me and why I chose to make a guide. Hope the guide helps!
My IGN at the moment is "TXK" and I have been playing since season 7 with almost 4000 hours played on the EUW server. Having recently returned to League (from TFT); as of season 12 I am a top lane main in gold/platinum mainly using
Mordekaiser however I spent both season 7 and 8 trying the mid lane role. My transition to the top lane was simply because of the preferred playstyle and lower pick rate at the time of playing.
I have mained multiple champions in my time such as
Aatrox and
Swain but the reason I have chosen to write an in-depth guide on
Mordekaiser is because of his unique playstyle. A small advantage to having an over-powered ultimate is if an opponent decides to get loud in all-chat, send them to Brazil 😉, I can guarantee they won't be asking for 1v1s anymore. And yes, I realise there are other guides on the champion however I find many of them offer random alternative builds which don't compliment the champion's kit at all. Anything to stand out I guess. To counter that, here is my guide:
My IGN at the moment is "TXK" and I have been playing since season 7 with almost 4000 hours played on the EUW server. Having recently returned to League (from TFT); as of season 12 I am a top lane main in gold/platinum mainly using

I have mained multiple champions in my time such as



Mordekaiser and the Meta







But why main



Currently the meta has a lot of tanks and melee champs who are weak to Mordekaisers sustain and tank-killer-kit meaning gaining LP will be a breeze.
Pros and Cons
Abilities
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Darkness Rise (Passive) |
INNATE: ![]() Damaging abilities or basic attacks grant 1 stack per enemy champion or large monster hit, up to a maximum of 3. At 3 stacks, ![]() DARKNESS RISE: ![]() |
![]() |
Obliterate (Q) |
ACTIVE: ![]() |
![]() |
Indestructible (W) |
PASSIVE: ![]() ACTIVE: ![]() RECAST: ![]() |
![]() |
Death's Grasp (E) |
PASSIVE: ![]() ACTIVE: ![]() |
![]() |
Realm of Death (R) |
ACTIVE: ![]() ![]() |
Runes
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Conqueror |
Each stack of Conqueror grants AP for 6 seconds, stacking up to 12 times, for a maximum of 24 − 60 (based on level) Ability Power. When fully stacked, heal for 9% of damage dealt. The buff refreshes upon dealing damage to enemy champions with attacks or abilities. Note: Proccing your passive will provide two stacks but will not refresh the buff. Due to ![]() |
![]() |
Legend: Tenacity |
Gain 5% (+ 2.5% per Legend stack) Tenacity, up to 30% with 10 stacks. Stacks are earnt through: champion takedowns, epic monster takedowns, large monster kills and minions kills. One of ![]() |
![]() |
Ravenous Hunter |
Heal for 1% (+ 2% per stack) of the damage dealt by your abilities, on-hit effects and items, up to 11% at 5 stacks. Earn a stack for unique champion takedown. Only heal a third of the usual amount from AoE damage. A godsend. Almost all of ![]() |
![]() |
Bone Plating |
After taking damage from an enemy champion, for 1.5 seconds, the next 3 spells or attacks you receive from the same enemy champion deal 30 − 60 (based on level) less damage. 45 second cooldown. Bone plating eases the pain from rough match-ups such as ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Revitalize |
Increases healing and shielding by 5%. Healing and shielding bonus is increased to 10% when below 40% HP. ![]() ![]() |
Items
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Riftmaker - To be built as a standard first item as it provides both sustain and tank-shred via the true damage conversion. It synergises with Conqueror and your passive as with ![]() |
![]() |
Hextech Protobelt-01 - To be built as a first item into ranged match-ups such as ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Night Harvester - Makes bursting squishy targets a lot easier but means you lose out on the sustain provided by Rift Maker and the gap close from Hextech Rocketbelt. |
![]() |
Bramble Vest - Against high sustain and auto-based opponents such as ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Spirit Visage - One of my favourite items to build as it turns ![]() |
![]() |
Cosmic Drive - Movement speed and CDR are both valuable stats for ![]() |
![]() |
Thornmail - Offers tankiness by granting both HP and armour as well as utility through it's anti-heal. Primarily used to counter auto-based champions who build sustain such as ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Morellonomicon - Should be built when the enemy team does primarily magic damage and Thornmail is not suitable. The item itself is not very cost efficient especially since ![]() |
![]() |
Banshee's Veil - Can be built to avoid single sources of CC such as ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Boots
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Sorcerer's Shoes - Whilst potentially strong in the mid lane, this is a guide for top lane ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Mercury's Treads - A personal insta-build item if the enemy team contains any CC-bots such as ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
Plated Steelcaps - Noticeably reduces the physical damage from ranged match-ups and from bruisers alike. If the enemy team contains 2 or more auto-based champions, build these boots. |


Gameplay
Early Game |
Your levels 1-3 are powerful and not to be underestimated. Against common tank laners such as ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() At level 2, level your E and use it to enhance your poke. You should not be looking to all in your opponent at this stage. The best time to use your E is when you know the enemy jungler is not present and your opponent's abilities are on cooldown. Once you've reached level 3 and have levelled your W, you can look for long extended trades. Begin the fight with E->Q->auto and look to position yourself between your opponent and their turret. Having procced your passive, you'll have the movement speed advantage in most cases and will be able to mitigate any damage taken with your W shield. You should use your W at the start of the fight and "consume" the shield at the end of it. With Doran's Shield you are looking to out-sustain youropponent, always keeping a HP advantage. Rinse and repeat until level 6. Your level 6 is incredibly powerful in that it makes you more or less ungankable. Aim to keep the wave pushed into your opponent to bait the jungler top alleviating map pressure for your team (for drakes or your own teams ganks). In the case the jungler appears or your opponent mis-positions, ult the weakest target and use the E->Q->auto to initiate the fight. A judgement call is needed in that, coming out of the ult, do you have enough HP to deal with the other opponent? If not, prepare to run and use your E if possible to generate distance. If so, prepare to type '/all top diff' as you've just 2v1'd. |
Mid Game |
Laning phase ends more or less ends once a turret has been taken and the map has been 'opened up' as a result. The general strategy is to continue to farm waves and generate map pressure via side-laning where appropriate (your team is pushing also). If the enemy's top tower is the one to fall, you should be in a good enough position to continue to push to a tier 2. One key note is to be present for objectives by either walking up to the location or pushing side lanes with ![]() |
Late Game | During late-game teamfights you are able to initiate and make picks via your E or R. If the enemy is alone/your team has the number advantage, simply use your E to begin the fight and position yourself to soak up damage. Should a 5v5 team fight begin, you want to R their carry or frontline depending on which would disrupt the team the most/have the most impact. |
Combos
Mordekaiser has very few combos which can be used during all instances of the game:
E -> Q -> Auto
The fastest way to proc your passive against a single target is by linking these actions together. This will also be the combo you use to one-shot waves in the late game. Notice how at the end of the video, I position myself by running ahead of the enemy. This allows me to stick onto my target to further extend the trade.
Q -> Flash
The only other real combo is the Q -> flash which to the enemy, appears as a flash -> Q. A finisher - this is carried out since
Mordekaiser's Q has a small channel time in which you are able to cast summoner spells. More often than not, your opponent will assume they're out of range of the Q animation and will not use their own flash, potentially resulting in a kill. My suggestion is for new
Mordekaiser mains to practice in practice tool a couple of times before taking it to ranked.
Q Poke
This isn't really a combo, it's just a clip of how you can use
Mordekaiser's Q to farm wave and/or poke.
E Disengage
Again, not a real combo but a realistic situation in which your E can be used to distance yourself from the enemy. This can also be used to deny ganks by the enemy jungler and should be saved for AFTER the enemy has used their gap closers.
E -> Q -> Auto
The fastest way to proc your passive against a single target is by linking these actions together. This will also be the combo you use to one-shot waves in the late game. Notice how at the end of the video, I position myself by running ahead of the enemy. This allows me to stick onto my target to further extend the trade.
Q -> Flash
The only other real combo is the Q -> flash which to the enemy, appears as a flash -> Q. A finisher - this is carried out since


Q Poke
This isn't really a combo, it's just a clip of how you can use

E Disengage
Again, not a real combo but a realistic situation in which your E can be used to distance yourself from the enemy. This can also be used to deny ganks by the enemy jungler and should be saved for AFTER the enemy has used their gap closers.
Thank you for reading!
Thank you for tuning in to my guide and I hope it helps. Feel free to drop any questions or suggestions in the comments or add me on League of Legends to dm privately. Username: TXK, on the EUW server.
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