Mordekaiser Build Guide by Stergioss

Introduction

Hello there, welcome to my first guide about how to own with the unbeatable Mordekaiser.
This guide is focuses on more AP and less in survivability.

Pros / Cons

Pros of Mordekaiser

+ Great farmer
+ Great harraser
+ Lots of damage
+ Can carry teams (if played correctly!)
+ Pusher
+ Best dance in LoL


Cons of Mordekaiser

- No CC
- Cooldown depandant
- Not the best chaser/escaper

Masteries

I went with 9/0/21 because :

+ 9% Cooldown reduction
More CDR is always welcome.

+ Buffs last 30% longer
Really useful since you really need the blue buff for its CDR.

+ 3% faster movement speed
Combine this with Force of Nature and you get a good base speed.

+ 15% less cooldown on summoner abilities
Allows you to use flash more often, increasing you survivability(Or kills).

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - Adds more damage to your spells.
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction - CD reduction is the key to a successful Mordekaiser.
Greater Seal of Armor - Gives you more survivability in early levels.
Greater Quintessence of Insight size - Combine this with Greater Mark of Magic Penetration and you get 15 magic pen.Great for first blood and early game kills.

*Note*
As you can see most of my runes are concentrated in doing more damage/survive at early game.Why? Because most champions are squishy at that time, allowing you to get more stacks in Mejai's.

Skills

Iron Man
20 / 25 / 30% of the damage dealt from abilities is converted into a temporary shield, absorbing incoming damage. Minimum shield strength is 120 health, and the maximum is 630 health. The shield decays by 3% per second.

- This is you passive.It's actually a huge HP boost that charges depending the damage output inflicted by your abilities!That's why i choose a lot of cooldown reduction on this guide.By having lower cooldowns allows you to use your abilities more often so that your shield is always at the max. Iron Man together with spell vamp and a lot AP makes you invincible.Just by using Siphon of Destruction your restore you health and max your shield.Also it's great because with it you get back in the fight if your low on HP.Go to some jungle creeps, kill them are your health will be halfway restored.

Mace of Spades [Q]
On next hit, Mordekaiser swings his mace with such force that it echoes out, striking up to 3 additional nearby targets, dealing his attack damage plus 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 bonus damage. If the target is alone, the bonus damage is doubled.

- This your nuking and secondary harrassing ability.It deals a lot of damage, and it's your tool in killing melee champions in 1vs1. You can use it to harrass.How? Hit a minion while an enemies champion is close so a shard gets him.The less the minions are and the closer the enemie champion is, the more chances of hitting.Also don't forget the fact that this ability deals bonus damage if the target is alone, so try clearing the wave of creeps using Siphon of Destruction before you get close for a hit.

Creeping Death [W]
Unleashes a protective cloud of metal shards to surround an ally, increasing their armor and magic resistance by 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 and dealing 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+15% of ability power) damage per second to enemies in the cloud for 6 seconds.

- This is your support/defencive/farming ability.Gives you a nice boost in your armor and magic pen while harming surrounding enemies giving you a steady boost in your shield.Great for helping wounded teammates OR you can use it in your ghost to output increased damage.When maxed it deals the damage of 2x Sunfire Capes

Siphon of Destruction [E]
Mordekaiser damages enemies in a cone in front of him, dealing 65 / 110 / 155 / 200 / 245 (+40% of ability power) magic damage.For each unit hit, Mordekaiser's shield absorbs an additional 6 / 9 / 12 / 15 / 18 health.

- Your bread and butter!Max this as soon as possible!Deals a LOT of damage, helps in farming, it is ranged allowing you to harrass from safe distance and has a big AoE.It's great in teamfights because it allows you to hit many targets at same time! It also quickly charges your shield and health while damage.Combine this with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and you get a nice slow which allows you to escape.

*Tip*
Use it to scout bushes.Cast it on a bush and if you see your shield going up it means someone is hidden in there!

Children of the Grave [R]
Curses an enemy champion for 8 seconds, stealing 3 / 3.5 / 4% life per second, plus an additional 0.1% per 50 AP.

If the target dies while under the effect of the curse, their soul is enslaved and will follow Mordekaiser for 30 seconds. During this time, Mordekaiser gains 25% of their ability power, and attack damage. The spirit gains 65 / 75 / 85% + (+100% of ability power) of Mordekaiser's adjusted damage, ability power, and 50% + (+100% of ability power) of Mordekaiser's health.

- Your Ultimate.Has lifesteal, a decent range, works great with ignite and it's really good for killstealing...*Ashemend*(Well you need stacks).I see a lot of people saying that when you are in a teamfight you should cast it on the tank for extra health.WRONG! What you want do is focus on the casters like Veigar or LeBlanc because they have more AP.Killing and turning them into your pet ghost gives you a sweet AP boost making your spells stronger thus increasing your spell vamp drain and damage output for a short amount of time.You should only cast this on the tank when you are being chased and you are low on health.

*Tips*
It is possible for the pet ghost to have Banshee's Veil active.
Children of the Grave can be used to steal an enemy Mordekaiser pet.
Children of the Grave can be used to steal an enemy Shaco's clone and LeBlanc's clone.

Core Items

I start with Health Potion and Regrowth Pendant because the health regeneration allows to stay in the lane for far longer than any other item.It also regenerates the HP lost from using your spells.It also makes Force of Nature cheaper.
Why not Doran Shield? Too low health regeneration.
That magic pen combined with your runes allows you to do HUGE damage in early levels.
If your doing well then this item is a MUST for this build!As mordekaiser you will get a lot of kills.Using this item your AP will be highly increased in early game and when you reach 20 stacks with the cooldown bonus you are UNSTOPPABLE."No pain, no drain."

That magic Res helps you focus on casters and it's really helpfull on killing them. When you do so, you gain more stacks in Mejai's and you pet ghost gives you AP stats making you even stronger.Also the health regeneration provided cause balance the HP that gets lost when you use a spell. Finally 8% base speed bonus is great for catchin fleeing enemies/escape.


The CD reduction that this item gives is just sweet!Well that mana regen is a waste but it also gives you lots of AP as well!

Helps you restore your health.So when you use a spell you pump you shield AND health.Giving you tank attributes.It also allows you to leave teamfights with your health and armor full after scoring an ace.

Optional

Gives you a lot of health thus increasing survivability, good AP bonus, gives you slow which is great for chasing/fleeing
Get this item only if you face a lot of AD champions.
Get this item only if you champions that stack a lot of magic res.
This item provides nice tanking stats giving more power to Iron Man.It's passive is great because it can be a life(stack)saver.

Summoner Spells

Recommended

Nunu

Absolute Zero

Alternatives

Ghost

Creeping Death

Ashe

Master Yi

Tryndamere

Changelog

30/6/2011 : Publised the guide.
13/7/2011 : Updated : Runes, Core Items, Added Image in the Introduction.