Welcome to my second guide on how to build AP/Tank Morde. If you are looking for a fun, durable AP caster, then Mordekaiser is definitely your champion. I have introduced a pretty standard build, but will be going in-depth on how exactly to play him. I hope I am able to make the learning stretch a little easier for you. Enjoy!

Pros:
+ Amazing farming abilities throughout the entire duration of the game
+ Strong nukes and consistent damage
+ Can completely decimate an entire team with his ult
+ Able to soak up large amounts of damage with his passive
+ Fun to play

Cons:
- No CC (Fixed with Rylai's Crystal Scepter)
- Rather squishy early game
- Has no REAL escape mechanism

Greater Mark of Insight


Only real marks that I use. Magic Pen is easily the best choice here.

Greater Seal of Resilience


Flat armor seals work well with Mordekaiser. You can swap these for health/health per level runes if you prefer, but I find these work pretty well.

Greater Glyph of Force


Don't really feel like CD would help TOO much. Why I don't talk flat AP runes? Because I tend to play pretty defensive early game until I hit 5-6. These runes don't take to long to get into effect so they really do help.

Greater Quintessence of Fortitude


Flat HP runes. Haven't really tried anything else, maybe Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration would work. He is rather squishy early game as stated before, so this'll help you stay in lane and make your early game a little bit more reliable.

I'll first list out everything that you gain with this mastery setup:
(Deadliness) 9.66% critical strike chance
(Archmage's Savvy) Increased AP by 0.6 per level
(Sorcery) Champion CD's decreased by 3% (Summoner Spells do not apply here)
(Archaic Knowledge) 15% Spell Penetration
(Good Hands) Death time decreased by 10%
(Perseverance) Increase Health and Mana Regeneration by 4%
(Haste) Ghost Spell has 6% more Movement Speed and lasts 1.5 seconds longer
(Awareness) Increase EXP gain by 5%
(Greed) Passively gain 1 extra gold per 10 seconds
(Utility Mastery) Increase duration of Neutral Buffs by 30%
(Quickness) Base Movement Speed is increased by 3%
(Intelligence) Champion CD's decreased by 6% (Summoner Spells do not apply here)
(Presence of the Master) Summoner Spell CD's decreased by 15%


I take 9 in the Offensive Mastery Tree simply for the Spell Penetration. I can't explain how crucial it is to take Archaic Knowledge , since it helps you rack up kills so much more easily, and helps you go through tanks stacking MR. The CD reduction and AP per level is also pretty useful. The crit chance, not so much.

I take 21 in the Utility Mastery Tree because, as it speaks for itself, it gives Mordekaiser so much utility. Good Hands help you get back into the fight and can actually prevent a tower from going down just because you respawned faster by those crucial seconds. Perseverance isn't really useful, but I guess that small regen helps, and it works a bit better with Force of Nature. Haste is an obvious choice since you'll be taking Ghost (note that if you plan on taking Flash, take Blink of an Eye instead of Haste ). Awareness helps makes your solo lane (assuming you have one) faster, and gets you out of your mediocre early game faster. Greed , which doesn't give much gold just soaks up a point, but might as well take it since there's nothing else. Utility Mastery is better for the junglers, AD carries, and heavy mana champs, but if at anytime buffs are available for the taking, go ahead, and this mastery'll help you keep it much longer. Quickness boosts his pretty slow movement speed. Makes his walking animation look a little less painful to look at. Intelligence ; I hate it when my ult is on CD a second too long before losing me a kill. This helps. Presence of the Master to get your Ignite up more often so it can be used alongside your Children of the Grave.


Going 9/21/0 could work as well, but don't feel like the defense would help as much as the utility tree does. But feel free to swap it if you want a bit more survivability.

Iron Man (Passive)

What I've heard people QQ the most about Mordekaiser is this. His passive is what makes him unique from every other champion. What I love most about this passive is that it works with armor and magic resist, so it works as if you were to have an additional 630 health consistently.


Mace of Spades

This spell is pretty good for farming, but is mediocre for team fights. What IS amazing about this is when it's used in 1v1's, because that is when it truly shines. When it is used against a single target, the damage is doubled. Not only do you completely decimate them, you should also spell vamp for quite a bit.


Creeping Death

His most versatile skill. Used for harassment, farming, and defensive purposes. Works amazingly with Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Will get into detail later on.


Siphon of Destruction

Your main skill that's truly what makes Mordekaiser one of the best farmers. Max this out ASAP.


Children of the Grave

Know when to use this skill. It's easily one of the biggest game changers. I'll go more in-depth on this as well, because it can mean the difference of winning and losing games.

DO GET:

Ignite

This works so insanely well with your ult, you pretty much need this and WILL be taking this 99% of the time.

Ghost

Can be switched for Flash, but since Morde is relatively slow and has no escape mechanism, he needs something to help him survive ganks and such. Not only is this on a low cooldown, but also has it's various uses. The reason I take this over Flash is because while it deemed itself to be useful, I found that once it was used, I had no escape route. Ghost allows you to be offensive and still have time to escape, while [[Flash[] is a one time use.

Flash

As explained above.

POSSIBLY GET:

Cleanse

For the major CC teams that seem to be focusing you. While I don't think this is usually a good idea to pick up, it could be useful and save you a couple times.

Exhaust

If for some reason the AD carry or no one else has this, take it. Chances are it'll be useful and win team fights.

DON'T GET:

Smite

You already farm well and you shouldn't be jungling.

Heal

You get pretty nice spell vamp from your Hextech Gunblade, so it's not necessary to get this.

Teleport

I've actually tried this on Mordekaiser, but I find that there are other summoner spells that could benefit you alot more. If you absolutely need it because the other team has plenty of backdoorer's (is that a word?) then I guess you could swap it.

Clarity

lul troll.

Revive

You'd get this assuming you're going to die alot, which isn't a good thing. Plus it'd probably be on cooldown when you ACTUALLY need it (enemy pushing towers, team fights, ganks, etc.)

Rally

Sorry, what does this do again?

Clairvoyance

Eh, support should take this if needed. If your team wards well it won't be necessary though.

Fortify

Nopee, not for Mordekaiser

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ITEMS USED IN THE PURCHASE ORDER ARE SIMPLY STANDARD ITEMS THAT I WOULD GET IN REGULAR PLAY. THEY ARE NOT IN ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER TO BE USED CONSISTENTLY AND ARE USED AS A GUIDELINE.

Core Items:

Situational Items:

Note that this is the TL;DR section. I suggest you take time to read it over when you can.
These are my pick of boots for Mordekaiser. The Spell Pen is just too much to give up. The only other viable boots I find are Mercury's Treads. Anything else seems rather useless.
A rather obvious choice. Since he has no CC, this allows him to have consistent slows. When used with Children of the Grave, they're actually slowed for a full 8 seconds. Also works with Creeping Death, so melee DPS champs (with the exception of Master Yi) will be in an AOE aura slow. It also gives a nice amount of health and AP. Overall a very nice item.
Now this is where people start to disagree with me. Most people would opt to finish their Force of Nature or get items such as Lich Bane or Frozen Mallet. Now the problem with this is that by the time you finish your Rylai's, you should be heading into mid-late game (unless you got heavily fed). Mordekaiser deals insane damage even without AP items during his mid game. As you can probably tell, his damage drops very fast, and enemies who stack magic resist make it even harder. This gives a very large boost to his damage to make his DPS a bit more consistent throughout the duration of the game.
Now I actually don't know why I would put this as one of his core items. I get two Regrowth Pendant pretty early, and I'd prefer to get magic resist over armor early simply because my armor seals usually keep it relatively high. It gives a crazy high amount of magic resist and although you don't necessarily NEED to get this item, it's something that I almost always pick up anyways.
If you feel like you don't need the Magic Pen, then take these instead of Sorcerer's Shoes. They will help with heavy CC teams and can help in make shapes or forms. Not much to explain, it's also somewhat personal preference. I know some people that feel more safe with the 35% CC reduction.
This item is pretty controversial since Mordekaiser doesn't really need lifesteal and AD. What I DO like about this item though is the active, which deals 300 magic damage and slows by 50% for 3 seconds. I've heard people say that he doesn't need any more CC beyond his Rylai's Crystal Scepter and his possible Frozen Mallet. Not true, since his CC is rather easy to escape out of. Also, with the early Hextech Revolver, you need something to build it into. If you have a lot of casters on your team however, you might decide to get a Will of the Ancients so your whole team can benefit from the spell vamp.
I actually rather do enjoy this item, but would usually get it when I'm finishing up the game. There's no need for it's passive when you don't have any AP to start with. The AP, magic resist and movement speed is nice (mana is bit of a waste), so this item would benefit you most when your team is already in a good position and you don't feel like you need any armor or magic resistance.
Gives a big boost of AP and a pretty decent amount of armor. While this item WOULD be very very useful, I just can't seem to find times for it's passive. There are rarely any times when it would save me, since I can escape most fights rather unharmed (or just health regen faster than Ignite and DoT's and such), and it can't be used OFFENSIVELY. If someone does find a way to make it more useful than giving just plain stats, please let me know.
If you need even more magic resist for those teams that are extreme on casters, than this item usually would fill a spot for you. Gives a hefty amount of AP, nice magic resist, and the aura helps your ENTIRE team. If someone else decides to take this item instead, make sure everyone is there for the team fight to benefit from the passive.

I am NOT DONE finishing this guide yet. If you see something that could be fixed, or something that I have missed, please notify me. I hope it helps you in the form that it is right now, and I plan on updating it frequently. Have fun playing the Master of Metal;

-BaNisH