Abilities

Darkness Rise INNATE: After using three basic attacks or damaging abilities, you will start dealing AP damaged based on target's maximum health around you while simultaneously gaining 3% extra movement speed. PASSIVE: You deal 40% of your AP as on-hit damage.
Obliterate ACTIVE: Mordekaiser smashes an area in the target direction, dealing AP damage to all enemies within. Damage is increased if the enemy is isolated.
Indestructible PASSIVE: Mordekaiser stores 35% of post-mitigation damage he deals and 15% of all the pre-mitigation damage he takes. Stored damage decays at varying speed based on level after not dealing damage for 1 second down to a minimum of 5% of his current health. ACTIVE: Mordekaiser gains a slowly decaying shield from the stored damage in his passive. RECAST: After 0.5 seconds of casting W, Mordekaiser can consume his shield to heal him for a percentage of the shield amount.
Death's Grasp PASSIVE: Mordekaiser gains magic penetration based on ability level. ACTIVE: Mordekaiser summons a claw that grants sight, deals damage and pulls all enemies a fixed distance after 0.5 seconds.
Realm of Death ACTIVE: Mordekaiser slows an enemy champion by 75% for 0.5 seconds. If that champion is still in range after 0.5 seconds, Mordekaiser banishes them to the Death Realm. Only him and the target champion enter the realm, all other champions, pets and objects will remain hidden. For 7 seconds, Mordekaiser steals a potion of the target's stats and if the target dies while inside the Death Realm, Mordekaiser will keep those stats until they respawn.

PROS + Great at extended fights + Can isolate enemy carries for the team + High AOE damage + In-lane sustain and shielding from W + Ultimate can brute force threats + Tanky without sacrificing damage Mordekaiser is simply put, a beast. His pros heavily outweigh his cons, and he is in a good spot in the current state of the game for top lane. His damage is exceptional, he has build in sustain, he has shields, and he has one of the most unique ultimates and powerful ultimates in League of Legends.

CONS - Weak to kiting - High cooldowns - Falls off during the late game - Higher ban rate than most champions - Simple abilities - Very few playstyles No champion is without weakness. For Mordekaiser, it's movement speed. Although this guide will try and mitigate that weakness, Mordekaiser still has trouble sticking to enemy champions and he is easily kited if his abilities are on cooldown. He also falls off during the late game once the enemy team builds items.

Intro

This build is all about your passive, Darkness Rise. Mordekaiser is extremely good at extended fights because of his passive which deals tons of damage over time, paired with the shield and heal from his W, he is a brawling machine. The only problem he has is gap closing. He does have his E, but it is on too much of a cooldown in order for it to be dependable in fights. This is where our build options come in. The items and runes are centered around helping Mordekaiser's weakness, gap closing, while also buffing his strength, sustained damage.

The Spells

Ghost is a must on this build. It can be used offensively and defensively as a gap closer. It also works extremely well with Nimbus Cloak and Celerity. Flash is another gap closer that many champions take because of its versatility. Offensive or defensive, it is a great spell for extending your ability ranges or repositioning yourself to gain an advantage.

The Runes

Conqueror is by far the best rune on Mordekaiser for damage and can easily be activated in extended fights. Triumph will help in teamfights that are close, Legend: Tenacity will help you negate CC, and Last Stand gives great value when you duel below 30% health. Those primary runes focus on damage. The secondary runes focus on gap closing, which is why we choose Nimbus Cloak and Celerity to give us a movement speed boost. Take extra attack speed in the runes since we don't build attack speed anywhere else. Since Mordekaiser relies on stacking his passive, extra attack speed will help him activate it quicker. Not to mention it will also help you with last hitting minions, stacking Conqueror faster, and applying the 40% AP on-hit damage that your passive provides as well. For the other buffs take armor and extra AP.

Ability Sequence

Mordekaiser's abilities are all very useful, however you want to always max your Q first for damage. Your Q can deal a good chunk of damage if you hit an isolated target. Your E and W both provide good stats when you upgrade them. These can be upgraded depending on your matchup or how you are doing in game. Upgrade W if you have a hard time sustaining in lane or if you are against high burst champions in which the shield can be very helpful. Against tanks or high mobility champions, it is best to max E next because of the magic penetration and gap closing. Personally I prefer maxing E after Q, but again, it is best to choose between upgrading W or E depending on your situation. Your R is your most powerful assassination/isolation tool, so put points into it whenever possible.

Items

Sunfire Aegis:
Mordekaiser's items usually buff his magic penetration and AP stats, however, this build takes a much different approach to how he deals damage. Mordekaiser's passive can deal insane damage over extended periods, and we can buff the damage that we dish out in extended fights with the best item for ramping damage, Sunfire Aegis. This item is great when you can keep your enemies close to you, which you will be doing to make most of your passive ability anyway. At full stacks you will be dealing extra damage per hit with your abilities and AAs which also burns enemies. On top of that Sunfire Aegis also provides great tenacity and slow resistance stats to make you harder to shut down with CC.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter:
Our second item will always be Rylai's Crystal Scepter. The slow from this item will be applied infinitely as long as your enemies stay in your passive range. This will make it extremely hard to get out of your passive and run away from you. Usually they will have to burn a Flash or a Ghost in order to escape. This is where your E comes in. You can bring them back to you and continue eating their health every second. There really will be what Mordekaiser calls "NO ESCAPE!".

Sorcerer's Shoes:
After Rylai's Crystal Scepter it is best to get your boots, since it is one of your core items along with Sunfire Aegis, you want to build those two items before you build boots. I usually go Sorcerer's Shoes to build magic penetration and deal more damage. If you're up against AD threats, Plated Steelcaps aren't a bad choice. If against AP threats or more CC than usual, Mercury's Treads will work as well. If the enemy team has high mobility or high slows, build Boots of Swiftness (rarely).

Demonic Embrace:
Some bruiser tanks will be able outlast you even with your sustained damage, so it is best to take a tank melting item such as this one. The damage based on max health makes this item extremely versatile, and will also be applied infinitely as long as your enemies stay in your passive. A nice source of health and AP as well.

Spirit Visage:
This item works extremely well with Mordekaiser's W. The healing and shield strength will be increased significantly. A great item against magic damage and a great source of health in addition to the extra shielding and healing.

Thornmail:
Grievous Wounds are the best way to counter champs that depend on lifesteal and vamp to stay alive. Heavy healers like Yasuo, Yone, Master Yi, and pretty much any ADC will force you to build Grievous Wounds to fight them. If needed, you can buy Bramble Vest and sit on it for most of the game until you buy Thornmail as mentioned above. You can also buy Thornmail first before Spirit Visage or Demonic Embrace depending on your matchup. Great source of armor and health.

Overview

With all these items, you will be able to slow enemies, catch them in your passive and literally just walk around hitting them occasionally while their health is eaten away as they burn to death. Sounds fun right? Unless the champion has a ton of dashes to spare, there really will be no way to get away from you and out of range from the damage of your passive, the ramping damage of Sunfire Aegis and the max health burn of Demonic Embrace. This build provides so much utility with its slows, sustained damage, health, tenacity, armor, magic resist, and movement speed. You have it all! The rest of Mordekaiser's kit synergizes with this build greatly as well. Your ultimate can isolate a target and stop enemies from targeting you. Once you have your lucky victim in your passive, they won't be able to run away from you and hope to wait out your ultimate. Your E provides an extra gap closer or even an escape, and your W provides you in-lane sustain and shielding. Timing your W right can even protect you from executions like Urgot's Fear Beyond Death, Darius's Noxian Guillotine, Cho'Gath's Feast or Pyke's Death from Below. Your Q provides massive damage on isolated targets (which you are good at isolating), and can be used at a longer range to slow enemies and get them close to you once you have Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Every ability and every item is important and useful. This build will truly make you the Lord of Death.

End Guide

Special thanks to jhoijhoi for providing the code to make this guide possible. You can check out her coding guide here.