Mordekaiser Build Guide by DemonSovereign

IMPORTANT NOTICE

My guide is currently out of date and I plan on updating it as soon as I can. I am very busy with school, sports, scholarships, and etc so I don't have as much time as I used to. I plan on completely finishing/reworking the guide and unarchiving it in the near future.

Special Thanks

Before I begin, I would like to thank the people who have helped me out with this guide. This guide would never have been the way it is now without their help.
Thanks to:

• TinyStar for the awesome guide graphics!
• jhoijhoi for her Making a Guide guide, template, and line dividers!
• SixSonatas for the amazing SixSonatas: The Revolutionary Build Format of Sophisticated Guides! The Match Ups chapter would be a complete mess without it :3
• IceCreamy for his How to use Columns guide.
• Astrolia for her Astrolia's Column Guide: No More Black Text ~ Width and Indent. No more black text! :D
• Embracing for his great suggestions, insight, comments, and reasoning that has helped improve my guide!
• Pølsemanden for his review and helping me improve the guide's information by a lot!
• 3GameMasters and the player who played Mordekaiser for the amazing video!
• CrimsonSkyz for helping proofread my guide!
• Laggermeister for bringing up the new Crystalline Flask start.
• Readers like you who took your time to read my guide.
• All the people who upvoted this guide.

I put this as the first chapter, because I want to acknowledge everyone who helped me right away. I did not want to put this at the end where users may not read about these great people. There's also a chance that you will not get to the end of this guide xD
Well if you do, congratulations! Now we can begin :)

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my very first guide here on Mobafire:

In this guide, I am going to present to you one of my all time favorite champs, Mordekaiser! As you may have already noticed, I've listed a bunch of items and not just six main items. That is because you must build according to the situation at hand. You must be able to adapt and purchase items that will benefit you the most in the match.

Another reminder is that this is my personal preference to playing Mordekaiser. This is the way I think is best to play Mordekaiser. You may not like it and I'm totally okay with that. If it works out for you, that's great! I hope that you will consider upvoting, so that other players in search of a way to play Mordekaiser may stumble upon this guide.

If you are downvoting, please give me a legit and well thought out reason to why you have downvoted and not some simple/troll-like reason like: "I DUN LIKE THIS GUID. IS STOOPID!" So here's how to make your reason not simple/troll-like:

• What makes this guide so stupid?
• Which parts don't you like?
• Which parts need improving?
• At least correct any obvious spelling/grammar mistakes in your comment... "I DUN LIKE THIS GUIDE. IS STOOPID." Apparently this user thinks the guide "IS STOOPID". Look who's talking :3much?

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Before we move on, I'd like to introduce myself. I am known as DemonSovereign here on Mobafire and Demonic Ares on League of Legends's NA servers. Here's an image of my LoLKing profile, because I'm too lazy to type out my level, my Elo, blablabla, etc:


As you can see I'm not exactly a high Elo player, but I do have a lot of experience playing as Mordekaiser and wish to share my knowledge/personal preference with the rest of the Mobafire community. Now without further ado, let's move on to the rest of the guide~

Glossary

Here is a list of League of Legend terms and their definitions that I have used in this guide:

About Mordekaiser

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Now that we know a little more about Mordekaiser, I will describe to you how I play him. I do not play him as a tank. There are ways to build Mordekaiser as a tank, offtank, etc, but in this guide I will be primarily focusing on playing him as the melee APC that he excels at being. Building him as a tank means that all of his great abilities, ESPECIALLY Children of the Grave, will go to waste. By playing him as an APC, you can crush the enemy team and turn one enemy into your slave! Of course, there are situations in which you will have to build some "tanky" items in order to boost your survivability. These will be explained later on in the guide. For now, let's start the guide step by step.

Pros & Cons

Pros: Children of the Grave gives you a ghost that can turn fights in your favor. Excellent farmer with Siphon of Destruction. Iron Man can constantly be replenished and absorb huge amounts of damage mid-> late game. Great duelist(mid-> late game). High burst potential.

Cons: Weak early game. No form of natural CC. Tends to be focused a lot because the enemy team wants to shut down Children of the Grave before or after it is activated. Melee; therefore, easily poked/harassed(early game). Low mobility, and susceptible to ganks.

Masteries

• Summoner's Wrath : A point in this will give you 5 bonus AD and AP while Ignite is on cooldown. It may not seem like much, but it definitely improves your overall damage and allows you to last hit easier. If you took Ghost instead of Flash, an 8% increase to the MS bonus is very significant and helpful.
• Sorcery : Take four points in this, because 4% CDR is actually very helpful despite the seemingly insignificant number. Combined with your Deathfire Grasp and possible blue buff, you will have close to max CDR.
• Blast : This mastery provides a boost of one AP per level, and the four points in this are required before you are able to put a point in Arcane Knowledge .
• Arcane Knowledge : %MPen is very helpful in dealing with any MR throughout the entire game.
• Havoc : An increase in overall damage by 2% becomes quite noticeable late game, especially with Children of the Grave. The points in this also help us move on to the next tier of the tree.
• Mental Force : Provides AP to increase your overall damage, and it gives a small boost to your last hitting power with Siphon of Destruction.
• Spellsword : A great mastery for Mordekaiser as it synergizes well with Mace of Spades. Mordekaiser still uses a few AAs in between his spells so Spellsword is very beneficial for just 1 mastery point. Spellsword does not apply to turrets, but does apply to inhibitors.
• Archmage : This is basically a tiny mastery version of Rabadon's Deathcap's passive. It helps increase your total AP; therefore, increasing your overall damage.
• Executioner : When you use Children of the Grave, the target should definitely be less than 50% hp so this mastery is awesome! It will increase the DoT and; therefore, increase the amount of damage you will heal for. You should also remember this mastery increases the damage to everything dealt by you to a target(s) with less than 50% health. The damage increase also applies to item damage, ability damage, and AA damage. It does not; however, apply to true damage.

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There are a few masteries that I did not take and may seem viable to you, but in my opinion are actually not. Those masteries are:

• Butcher : This makes last hitting easier so you might be wondering why don't I take it? Here's my answer:
  
  Spoiler: Click to view

  Butcher is a mastery that only applies to basic attacks. Since most mid laners are ranged while you(as Mordekaiser) are not, you will not be able to get in range to AA an enemy minion without taking any form of damage/harass from the enemy mid laner. You already have enough problems maintaining your health early game with Mordekaiser's skill set so why risk going in to AA a minion and take enemy harass/poke? Also, YOU ARE Mordekaiser!!! Use Siphon of Destruction(which is one the the best pushing/farming skills in game) to farm from a safe distance. Sure you will lose some health, but not as much as you would going up to AA an enemy minion. When you do that, it basically means you are walking up to the enemy champ with a sign reading, "Hi! I'm in range of all your bursty spells. Hit me!"
  
  
  
• Destruction : This makes tower pushing much easier so why don't I take it? Here's my answer:
  
  Spoiler: Click to view

  Destruction is indeed a great way of taking down turrets quickly, but you are an APC. Turrets take damage based on your highest value of AD or AP. Like any typical APC, you will not have much AP until mid to late game. That means the turret will be taking damage based on your AD. Once again, because you are an APC, you will not have much AD or AS to take down the turret very fast. A 5% damage increase to turrets, that are naturally tanky, is very miniscule and insignificant.
  
  When you are close enough to AA an enemy turret, it usually means that the enemy laner is gone. Instead of AAing the tower, focus on farming enemy minions. Turrets, when destroyed, give gold to the entire team no matter who destroyed it. You are better off farming on enemy minions to get more gold while your own minions deal damage to the turret. Does this mean that you should never attack the turret? The answer is NO! Attack the turret whenever enemy minions ARE NOT around. Farm and do not attack the turret when enemy minions ARE around.

• Durability : The more health you have the more times you can use your skills. It also makes it harder for the enemy champ to finish you off with Ignite. The four points in this are also needed to unlock Veteran's Scars .
• Hardiness : Armor will reduce of the damage from enemy minions, neutral monsters, and any other form of physical damage caused by the enemy(from AAs or abilities).
• Resistance : MR will help against the enemy mid laner(who is usually a magic damage based champ).
• Veteran's Scars : Just like Durability , this mastery provides health but a solid amount and not HP per level. Thirty health may seem like a small amount, but it can make a difference between you living or dying. For Mordekaiser, it could mean an instant comeback and maybe a.... PENTAKILL!

• Summoner's Resolve : If you took Heal as a summoner spell, take out a point from Hardiness and put a point in this.
• Hardiness : If you are up against an AD mid like Talon or Zed, take two points from Resistance and put it here.

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There is a mastery that I did not take and may seem viable to you, but in my opinion is actually not. That mastery is:

• Perseverance : This increases Mordekaiser's HP5 allowing him to spam more of his skills and stay in lane longer so you might be wondering why don't I take it? Here's my answer:
  
  Spoiler: Click to view

  Perseverance seems nice and all, but damage reduction will help out much more than HP5. Two HP5 is actually very little, and it only gives up to two HP5 based on your missing health. This means you'll need to be missing a lot of health just to get two HP5. In general, you never want to be really low on health(unless your Olaf). So to prevent yourself from getting low on health, you get defensive masteries such as Resistance and Hardiness .

Runes

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration runes are essential for APC/magic damage based champions. It helps them penetrate enemy MR in order to deal more magic damage. There are no other viable rune choices.
• Greater Seal of Armor runes help reduce physical damage from enemy AAs, minion aggro in lane, and neutral monster aggro within the jungle. These are very helpful especially if you are facing an AD mid like Talon, Zed, or Kha'Zix.
  
  Other Common Alternative Runes and Why They Are or Aren't Viable
  • Another viable rune is Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power. If you are okay with not having the armor seals and want more damage, then get the Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power runes.
  • Greater Seal of Scaling Health Regeneration runes help you keep your health up while you spam your abilties. Sometimes there just aren't enough minions to vamp off of, so the HP5 really helps.
  • Greater Seal of Health Regeneration runes are not a viable alternative choice, because Greater Seal of Scaling Health Regeneration runes already outscale it by level 4.
  • Greater Seal of Scaling Armor is another great choice if you don't like the other alternative runes. These will provide a lot of armor later on in the game. Example situation of when I would take these is if I am facing an AP mid but the rest of the enemy team is based heavily on AD.
  • Some people have brought to my attention Greater Seal of Scaling Health runes, and I think they are not viable for Mordekaiser. On most AP mids these work great, but for Mordekaiser these are just bad. I have a spoiler at the end of the Situational Items chapter that provides an in-depth explanation to why I dislike a lot of health on Mordekaiser.
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist provide flat MR. These are extremely useful when in mid lane. In general, most mids primarily deal magic damage(with the exceptions of AD assassin mids ex: Talon). These are especially a must if you are facing bursty APCs or strong harassers such as Veigar, LeBlanc, Cassiopeia, etc.
  
  Other Viable Glyphs
  • The next best alternatives are Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power runes. They provide a good amount of AP after several levels. When mid and late game arrive(the time when Mordekaiser is at his best), these glyphs provide a decent amount of AP to improve Mordekaiser's damage. You can take these if you are up against a favorable opponent and do not need the MR.
  • Greater Glyph of Ability Power runes provide flat AP. They improve last hitting and your early game damage, but are outscaled by Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power by level eight.
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power are quints that APCs tend to use. In general, these increase your overall damage, especially early game. The 15 AP can boost the last hitting/farming potential of Siphon of Destruction. It does not increase by too much, but is still a great quint compared to other available options.
  
  Other Viable Quintessences
  • Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp provide spell vamp. These are my next most preferred quintessences. If you are not worried about Mordekaiser's early game then you can take these. They give spell vamp therefore increasing your sustain throughout the entire game! Great for staying in lane and fights.
  • Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed for more mobility. These will help you dodge skill shots and enemy harass. They will also help improve your roaming.
  • Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration for more MPen. Not exactly the best, but if you want to penetrate more of the enemy's MR take these. Although, you will need AP items to make full use of these quints. There is no point in having MPen if you deal no damage!

Summoner Spells

This spell is a great way to finish off an enemy. It does true damage so it ignores all of the enemy's defenses. If an enemy is running away with little health use Ignite and watch him or her run away and most likely die. With a point in Summoner's Wrath , Ignite will provide 5 bonus AD and AP. A small but beneficial boost that makes you stronger and allows you to last hit easier. You can also use this to reduce healing effects of an enemy such as Dr. Mundo and his Sadism and Swain with his Ravenous Flock.

Even after it's nerf, it is still a great spell. You can Flash over walls, Flash out of dangerous skill shots/situations, and Flash to secure an important kill. Due to its many uses and Mordekaiser's low mobility, Flash is extremely helpful and highly recommended.

I prefer Ignite over this, but there are situations when you will need this. You can take Exhaust if: no one on your team has it and the enemy team has someone like Tryndamere or Master Yi; your enemy mid laner is very bursty(ex: Talon); and/or you like it more than Ignite(I don't know why you would though. Ignite is so much better). Exhaust will minimize the enemy's damage output and possibly save your life or give you an upper hand in a fight and get a kill. Remember this is very situational! I don't recommend this, but it deserves a mention.

This is an alternative to Flash. It's not a very great alternative though. You will not be able Flash over walls and stuff like that, but you will be able to outrun/chase your enemy. Do not take this if enemy has multiple slows. The slows will ruin the effectiveness of Ghost by a huge amount. Enemy team just aced the rest of your team, you just respawned, and enemy team low on hp and taking on Baron? Use Ghost to run all the way to Baron, steal it, and get an instant Pentakill! Still... I like Flash much more than Ghost. Plus you could get Enchantment: Homeguard if you wanted to do something like in the previous situation.

Teleport is a decent spell that provides you with a global presence. You can Teleport anywhere that has an ally minion, turret, or ward. You can Teleport to take down an enemy tower, enter a teamfight, steal Baron or Dragon, take down the enemy nexus, save an ally tower, farm on a huge minion creep wave, get back in lane a.s.a.p., etc. It's fun to use, but Ignite+ Flash is still better.

I think a lot of players underrate this spell. The Heal can help out your whole team and possibly turn the tides of the fight. It will sort of be like Guardian Angel's active. Technically your allies will not revive, but they will regain health that may be crucial to winning the fight. Heal can also save your own butt. You can also do some Heal baiting. The most common way of Heal baiting is to have the enemy dive you when you are low hp, thinking that he can take one or two turret hits as he finishes you off. Then you use Heal and the enemy will have the choice of taking more turret aggro to try to finish you off or retreat after taking a lot of turret aggro. Sometimes, this kind of Heal baiting can net you a kill. The other way is to use Heal right before a dangerous skill such as Noxian Guillotine to have the enemy Darius waste it and have it go on CD. This can be applied to other "finisher" ultimates such as Veigar's Primordial Burst, Syndra's Unleashed Power, etc.

Barrier's usage is similar to Heal, but it is a damage absorbing shield with a lower CD and only works on yourself. With Barrier, your health will not get damaged(unless the damage exceeds the amount of the shield). As for Heal, your health can be damaged but you can just Heal back a portion of the damage. In short, Barrier is used to reduce incoming damage, while Heal is used to gain back received damage.

Cleanse can be very useful for Mordekaiser. Enemy champions tend to focus you in order to prevent your Children of the Grave from reaching its max potential. They will try and kill you to prevent you from turning a 5v5 into a 6v4. They will try to CC you and peel you and your teammates from killing the cursed target. They will do anything they can to stop you. This is where Cleanse becomes a very useful spell. It is viable, but pretty situational. If you don't have this spell and you are getting CC'ed like ****, I highly recommend that you build a Quicksilver Sash.

Ability Sequence and Usage

Iron Man

This amazing skill is what makes Mordekaiser "tanky". You can constantly have this shield up and prolong the duration of a fight. Iron Man makes Mordekaiser a great duelist. While Mordekaiser deals damage to his enemy, his enemy does not deal much damage to Mordekaiser because of the constant refresh and damage absorption from Iron Man's shield!

Iron Man

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Mace of Spades

This is Mordekaiser's Q. I like to call this skill an "empowered ability"( not to be confused with Rengar's five Ferocity abilities). An empowered ability is an ability that empowers/strengthens a champion's next AA such as Nasus's Siphoning Strike and Rengar's Savagery. All empowered abilities reset a champion's AA timer. That means you can AA and then use Q immediately to deal a quick chunk of damage. Unlike most empowered abilities, Mace of Spades will cause your next AA to deal only magic damage. The damage caused by your AD from a normal AA will not be applied. Also, Mace of Spades deals more damage if the enemy target is alone.

Mace of Spades

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Creeping Death

This is Mordekaiser's W. It is an excellent offensive and defensive skill. It provides bonus armor and magic resist while it is active and does DoT to surrounding enemies. It is similar but does more damage than Sunfire Cape.

Creeping Death

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Siphon of Destruction

This is Mordekaiser's E. In my opinion, I find it to be one of the best farming abilities in game. The range and width of this ability can hit an entire minion wave(if positioned properly). That's why this ability is amazing at farming. There is no cap on how much minions can be hit so it's great for clearing huge minion waves as well.

Siphon of Destruction

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Children of the Grave

This is Mordekaiser's R/Ultimate. This is his bread and butter. This is what makes Mordekaiser a great duelist and a BOSS(literally and figuratively)! The initial damage is similar to the active of Deathfire Grasp, but stronger and better. When paired with spell vamp, you will heal for a huge chunk of the enemy target's maximum health. When paired with Liandry's Torment, the enemy target will suffer even more damage and most likely die. If the cursed enemy dies, you will get your very own pet! It will look like a "ghost" of the killed enemy champion. Similarly to Annie's Summon: Tibbers and Shaco's clone from Hallucinate, the ghost can be controlled by holding down the Alt key and clicking with the mouse. The ghost also has a leash range. That means there is a certain range in which the ghost can be controlled. Once the ghost or Mordekaiser moves out of range, the ghost will pop up next to Mordekaiser. By default, the ghost will follow Mordekaiser if it receives no instructions. Keep in mind that the ghost only AAs. Another important detail is that all passives that the cursed champion had(from his or her abilities and items) will be applied to the ghost(ex: Hexdrinker's passive can proc for the ghost, Will of the Ancients will give the ghost, you, and your team the aura, Blitzcrank's Mana Barrier will proc for the ghost, etc). Spellblades are on-proc effects and do not apply to the ghost. Ghosts deal magic damage on their AAs!

Children of the Grave

This is how I normally go with my ability sequence for Mordekaiser.

My first point goes into E, Siphon of Destruction, because it is my main farming/harass tool. It is the safest skill to farm with during the earliest stages of the game. Creeping Death is not a reliant way to farm, does less damage than Siphon of Destruction, has a longer CD, and costs more health at level one. For Mace of Spades, you will have to walk in melee range of the minion you want to hit and risk taking harass/poke from your enemy mid laner.

My second point goes into Q, Mace of Spades, because if the enemy mid laner decides to 1v1 you Mace of Spades will hurt them for quite a lot. Also if the enemy jungler comes in for a level 2 gank, he or she will usually be coming in from the river where no minions are around. This means he or she is isolated and your Mace of Spades will deal a lot more damage. Make him or her think twice about ganking you >:)

My third point goes into Siphon of Destruction in order to increase my farming potential. The fourth point goes in Creeping Death so that you will get a good defensive buff during a duel, or you can use it as a way to harass the enemy champion.

Max Siphon of Destruction by level 9 to improve your strongest method of farm, AoE damage, and harass. Then max Mace of Spades second to increase its damage for duels. Max Creeping Death last as it is mostly a utility skill in its earliest ranks. As for any champion's ultimate, put a point in Children of the Grave each time you are able to(levels 6, 11, and 16).

Item Build

Boots of Speed give you more mobility which is a problem with most mid lane champs especially Mordekaiser. He's a giant pile of walking metal! The three Health Potions help out a lot, since Mordekaiser uses health as the cost for using his abilities.

Amplifying Tome and two Health Potions are another set of starting items, but I personally do not like this start. You have less mobility to escape enemy harass and ganks, and one less Health Potion. I would only take these if you are absolutely sure you will dominate your lane.

You can also start out with nine Health Potions+ two sight wards. With the nerf to Boots of Speed, most people prefer potion starts. As Mordekaiser, you will have problems maintaining your health until you get Hextech Revolver. The abundance of Health Potions will help keep you in lane, while you continue to farm gold in order to purchase Hextech Revolver. You will not have to Recall as early from spamming Mordekaiser's abilities and lose out on experience points and CS. The sight wards will help you spot incoming ganks or camp steals. They can also help you keep watch of the enemy jungle as you steal their Wraith camp for more CS and gold. This is dangerous so do this at your own risk!

If you are facing an enemy champion that has stealth(doesn't matter what role he or she is filling), you can start with nine Health Potions + one Vision Ward. You will have the same amount of Health Potions but one less ward.



Whatever you start with depends on your own personal preference.




As soon as you get about 1,400 gold or so, push your lane and head back to base. Buy a Hextech Revolver for sustain, some Health Potions, and one or more sight wards. Health Potions provide you with more sustain as you won't be vamping enough even with Hextech Revolver during this stage of the game. sight wards will help keep you aware of enemy ganks, especially by the jungler. If you are force to recall before you get 1,400gold~, try to buy one of two Amplifying Tomes(if you have enough gold) or just some Health Potions and sight wards(if you don't have enough gold for Amplifying Tome).

Next continue farming and once you recall again, if you have the gold buy Sorcerer's Shoes. It will provide more mobility and MPen. More mobility will allow you to roam and gank other lanes, avoid skill shots, and escape or chase enemies. The MPen will help you penetrate the enemy's MR.




Rush Deathfire Grasp as soon as possible! This item is amazing and core to Mordekaiser! It provides a lot of AP, CDR, and an unique active perfect for bursty mages like Mordekaiser. Mordekaiser's combo with this item's active is absolutely devastating. With an AP glass cannon Mordekaiser, this item's active+ Mordekaiser's full combo guarantees an instant kill on any squishy champion!

After rushing Deathfire Grasp, PICK ONE:

• Get Chain Vest if you are getting stomped on by an enemy AD mid.
• Get Negatron Cloak if you are getting stomped on by an enemy AP mid.
• Get Blasting Wand if you are getting fed/well farmed and do not need the defense, but do not have enough for Needlessly Large Rod.
• Get Needlessly Large Rod if you are destroying the enemy team, well farmed, fed, and do not need early defense.
• Get Haunting Guise if you are planning to get Liandry's Torment.

Now your first few items are finished, and we can move on to the situational items.

Situational Items

Rabadon's Deathcap, often called the Infinity Edge for AP champions, will give you a huge boost in AP. Although this item is core for many AP casters, it is not core for Mordekaiser. He can still do tons of damage without this item. If you are getting fed or want more damage, then get this.

Enemy team stacking a lot of MR? Get Void Staff :) Provides a good amount of AP and % MPen. Ever since the flat and % penetration rework, you'll penetrate even more of the enemy's MR when you use this with your Greater Mark of Magic Penetration setup, and Sorcerer's Shoes.

This new and improved version of Morello's Evil Tome provides AP, CDR, and a unique passive. Is the annoying Dr. Mundo not dying because of his insane hp5 with his Sadism? Is the annoying Soraka constantly healing the ADC or APC that you used Children of the Grave on? Is your Ignite almost always on CD when this kind of stuff happens? Then get the Morellonomicon! It is the answer to your problems! However, this is a very situational item and it isn't the best item out there either. Hopefully your team would have a few Ignites as well so you don't need to buy this.

After its rework, Lich Bane became a much better item for AP champs that still use AAs. Lich Bane is a really strong item that synergizes very well with Mace of Spades allowing you to dish out 1k+ damage if you have an AP glass cannon Mordekaiser, and if the enemy champion has little magic resist. It also provides a good amount of AP and MS! No more slow Mordekaiser :) This item still costs a lot of gold, so get if you are fed.

This item isn't exactly the best, but still okay. All of Mordekaiser's abilities only slow for 15%, which isn't much compared to other slows. Of course the full 35% slow can proc for Mace of Spades, but that's only if the enemy target is alone. The 35% slow can also proc when Children of the Grave is first used. Rylai's Crystal Scepter works well with Liandry's Torment. Using Children of the Grave+ Liandry's Torment+ the slow from Rylai's Crystal Scepter will make sure that the cursed target stays in range of your team. The cursed target has now been marked for death and there is nowhere for him or her to run. The target could Flash away or something, but most of the time his or her fate is sealed. Again this is a very situational item.

A great item that provides MPen, AP, health, and a unique passive that burns targets for a percentage of their current health. Because most of Mordekaiser's kit is AoE damage, the effectiveness of Liandry's Torment is halved. That means this is a luxury item. Feel free to get this if you are fed.

This item provides a decent amount of armor and a lot of AP. The active can be bad or good at times. It can save your life many times. You can use it while Children of the Grave is active to heal up during Stasis. The bad part is that since you are in Stasis, you cannot deal any damage to the cursed target to make sure he or she becomes your slave. I find Zhonya's Hourglass's active similar to Guardian Angel. The two seconds of statis is similar to the delay when you are being revived by Guardian Angel's active. It is enough time for your skills to come off CD, so you can turn the tides of a fight. Time for a Pentakill! :)

This item used to be core for me, but after playing a lot more games this turned out to be situational. Get this if you need the MR, but still want damage. Also because of the flat and % MPen rework, Abyssal Mask works very well with Void Staff.

Spirit Visage will provide Mordekaiser with MR, CDR, some health, and a passive that increases the health regenerated from Greater Seal of Scaling Health Regeneration and the strength of spell vamp! All very beneficial to Mordekaiser! It also comes at a reasonably cheap price! Just 2200 gold+$8.99 Shipping & Handling Humor was intended. Is there really a $8.99 fee for shipping & handling? NO

Randuin's Omen is a good item for slowing down enemies' MS and AS if they AA you. It is great for chasing as well. For example, a typical Ashe player will try to slow you down with Frost Shot when trying to run. By AAing you, there is a chance that she will be slowed each time she AAs you. There is a chance that you won't catch up, but your teammate will. There is also a chance that the Ashe is smart and uses Volley(which applies Frost Shot) to slow you and avoid the passive of Randuin's Omen. Hopefully the Ashe is just an average player! Even if she avoids the passive, you can always use the active to slow down Ashe. This can also be applied when running away from enemies. This is another very situational item. Usually your team would have some sort of slow from either their abilities or items. Your tank would usually have Frozen Heart making Randuin's Omen less effective. This also costs the same as Zhonya's Hourglass.

This item provides the most armor of any item in the game. It also has a unique passive in which 30% of the damage dealt to you by AAs is returned to the attacker. The returned damage is magic damage and it is affected by MPen. Thornmail is an extremely helpful item when you are being focused by a fed ADC or AA reliant champion. It also helps you kill that enemy champion faster and make him or her into your slave(if you used Children of the Grave). Normally once you get a Thornmail, the ADCs will stop trying to focus you. But if you get all up in their faces they will hate you, get annoyed, and focus you like a b*tch.Nah jk. The real reason to why they will focus you is because you are probably the closest enemy. Still this is very situational. Hopefully the enemy ADC is never fed so you can get offensive items instead of this.

Mercury's Treads provide MR, more MS, and tenacity. The tenacity will help you when facing champions with a lot of CC. If you are facing someone like Fiddlesticks, I suggest taking these. You will lose out on damage, but increase your survivability. You do not want to be feared and then killed, because you couldn't do anything!

If the enemy team is AD heavy or you need extra armor, get these boots over Sorcerer's Shoes. The 10% damage reduction on enemy AAs is also very helpful. If the enemy Ashe has 300AD, you can block 30 damage! Any amount of health for Mordekaiser, no matter how small, can mean the difference between dying or turning the game around.

This enchantment will give you +15 MS. It will help you move faster throughout the course of the game. It improves your roaming capabilities and gets you to where you need to be faster.

25% CDR for Flash, Teleport, and Ghost! It is an excellent enchantment to have. It will lower the CD of your Flash and allow to use it more often.

This is a very fun enchantment. 200% MS bonus is HUGE! You will move very fast. recall takes eight seconds to get back to base, and Enchantment: Homeguard takes eight seconds out of combat to activate. That means every time you Recall, you will have the Enchantment: Homeguard MS boost(unless you have Improved Recall )! It is very helpful when trying to get back to your lane or somewhere close to your base.

Game Play

At the start of the game, buy your starting items and wait in base for ten seconds after minions have spawned in order to get enough gold to purchase another Health Potion. This extra Health Potion is really helpful for Mordekaiser, because of the cost of his abilities. It is also helpful for healing up from enemy harass and poke. Remember to tell your jungler that you are waiting for an extra Health Potion! Otherwise, he or she will ping you like crazy and yell at you to come to blue or red buff. After buying that extra Health Potion, immediately head over to your jungler to give him or her a leash. It won't take long to get there if you took Boots of Speed. You will get there around the time the buff spawns. Your top laner should also be there helping out leash your jungler.


Now during the laning phase, your primary objectives are to:

• Farm/last hit as much as possible.
• Harass the enemy mid.
• Avoid feeding and enemy harass.
• Keep track of both the enemy mid and jungler.
• Take down the outer mid turret.
• Stay on top of the enemy mid.

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Whenever you spot an opportunity try:





By now, one or a few turrets should have been destroyed. If the mid lane turret was destroyed, then:

• If it was you who destroyed the enemy mid turret, push a little more so that the enemy minion wave is far from your turret and let your minion wave continue pushing. Then, go help out one of the other lanes(top or bot) with pushing or defending. Continue to push and destroy more turrets, but always keep an eye on your own lane so that your own turret doesn't get destroyed while you are away.
• If it was your own turret that was destroyed and the enemy mid is MIA, push back a little then leave the lane and help out the other lanes. Destroy some enemy turrets. If the enemies decide to push mid lane, go back mid lane to defend/push back.
• If it was one of the other lanes' turret(s) that was/were destroyed( either your team's or the enemy team's), continue to push your lane until you have destroyed the mid lane enemy turret(usually your jungler would help the lane in trouble so you won't need to go, unless they really need more help). Then do the previous steps listed above.

Mid game is also around the time teamfights start breaking out. This is where Mordekaiser shines the most! All of his abilities, except his ultimate and passive, are AoE allowing him to dish damage to every enemy as long as they are in range! Because of this, his presence in teamfights is very strong.

Let your tank or initiator start the fight. As Mordekaiser, you should focus the enemy ADC-> then APC-> then bruiser-> then support-> then tank. However, if they are far away from you just focus on the closest enemy! Yes even if the closest enemy is the tank! BUT you should save Children of the Grave for whoever is needed in the teamfight. Refer to the WHO DO I MAKE MY PET? HOW DO I USE MY PET? spoiler in the Ability Usage & Sequence chapter! If no teamfights occur continue pushing the lanes as you did in early game. Eventually due to your pushing a teamfight will occur. Or you can force teamfights at Dragon or Baron(if your team is high enough level/fed). Remember to make sure everyone on your team is present at the time of the teamfight! The absence of a teammate during a teamfight can affect whether or not his or her team wins the battle. There is power in numbers!!!






Now there should constantly be teamfights all over the map. ALWAYS STAY AS A GROUP! Do not go wander off on your own even if it is to ward/check Baron or Dragon. It could get you killed and have your team one less player if a teamfight breaks out then and there. It could mean an Ace and game over for you and your team. Continue to do what you did before in teamfights. Push, defend, push, Baron, Dragon, and win!

Match Ups

Champion match ups and difficulty levels are based solely on my own personal experience(with some exceptions). You may find them to be less or more difficult than me. A champion's difficulty level will be based on a score of 1-10. As for colors:

• Blue= Mordekaiser is that Champ's Counter-> GG
• Green= Easy
• Yellow= Medium
• Red= Hard
• Purple= Mordekaiser's Counter-> QQ

This section is still a work in progress! I will try to finish a few match ups each day. I have not yet played against every mid champion, so I lack information and cannot update several of them. The first few ones I intend on finishing a.s.a.p. are the most common enemy mids and counters to Mordekaiser. As for the rest, I will most likely do them in alphabetical order or by request. If I am missing a champ and you would like for me to create a section for him or her, feel free to PM me or comment in the discussion page of this guide.

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Warding

In this chapter, I will be providing spots that I normally ward when playing mid.

A ward here will grant vision of a large section of river as well as part of the purple team jungle. It will alert you of any champions coming in from the bottom side of the map. It will also help keep track of the enemy mid and jungler if they are heading bot from mid.

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On the opposite side of the river, place a ward here. This ward is similar to the previous one, but it grants vision on enemies coming from top to mid or mid to top. It will also grant some vision of the blue team jungle.

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This ward will keep track of activity near the purple team wraith camp. If you are on blue team, you will be able to see if the enemy mid has gone to farm the wraiths or if he or she is going to gank top. If you are on purple team, this spot will keep track of your own wraith camp. If an enemy tries to steal it, you will know and can gank him or her. The ward also grants vision and allows you to notice any enemies coming from top to mid or going mid to top through the purple team wraith camp.

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Similarly to the previous ward, you will be able to keep track of activity near the blue team wraith camp.

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This ward can keep track of any activity near the side brush. You will be able to see if an enemy decides to camp there or if enemies move from mid to top or top to mid through the river.

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Just like the previous ward, this will also help you see if an enemy is camping the side brush. Unlike the previous ward, this spot grant vision of any enemies moving from bot to mid or mid to bot.

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If your are facing an enemy with stealth, whether he or she is playing as mid or some other role, place a Vision Ward in the center of the map like so. It will grant a huge area of vision and make it easier to spot any stealthed enemy trying to sneak up on you. It will also allow you to tell if the enemy is heading towards a certain area(ex: bot lane, Baron, etc). You can then alert your team and possibly save them from a gank, steal Baron or Dragon, etc.

Summary

Congratulations on reaching the end of my guide! I hope you found it helpful in playing and understanding Mordekaiser :) Best of luck on the Field's of Justice! And remember...