I've found myself leaning more and more towards AP Mordekaiser in order to greatly enhance his damage output, in turn Mordekaiser became a game changer in terms of teamfights and pushing. With his passive he can soak up alot of damage, deal an incredible amounts of AoE damage and focus down champions with his ultimate. Primarily this guide focuses on lasthitting, farming, creeping and bursting down enemy champions. At the end of the game you should be level 18 while the rest of them are between 9 and 15, this gives you the oppertunity to dominate teamfights and lead your team to victory.

Abbreviated Terms
AA = Auto-attack (Basic Attacks)
CC = Crowd Control (Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc)
FB = First Blood
AP = Ability Power
AD = Attack Damage
MD = Magic Damage
AS = Attack Speed
MS = Movement Speed
MR = Magic Resistance
ArPen = Armor Penetration
MPen = Magic Penetration
LS = Life Steal
SV = Spell Vamp
DPS = Strong Auto-attacker
MDPS = Strong spells; casters
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
OOM = Out of Mana
MP = Mana
HP = Health
RHE = Reduced Healing Effect
MP Regen = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds
HP Regen = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds

Welcome to my guide on Mordekaiser, which if you didn't already know; is supposed to make you carry your team by farming a considerable amount of gold. Solo lanes are prefered and don't forget to creep the jungle for more gold. The downside to this strategy is that you're not going to be assisting your team all that much, and you'll probably end up overfarming and starving your team. Also, considering your lack of CC and role fulfillment, you're basically going to end up as fat greedy bastard with a lot of power.

Pros:
1. Pubstomp champion, very easy to play.
2. Early-game dominance during laning-phase.
3. Very effective at pushing and farming.

Cons:
1. No built-in CC or chasing mechanisms.
2. Fragile without enemy creeps.
3. Doesn't fit any team roles.

Iron Man
25 / 27.5 / 30% of the damage dealt from abilities is converted into a temporary shield, absorbing incoming damage. Maximum shield strength is 90 + (30 x level). The shield decays by 3% per second.
A rather unique passive, this makes you very tedious to lane against. To effectivly use this you must always abuse enemy minions, meaning you should avoid fighting in the jungle. Dodge, Armor and Magic Resist are key attributes, but don't rely on it too much. Despite our best efforts to bring this up with AP you will always need more health.

Mace of Spades
On next hit, Mordekaiser swings his mace with such force that it echoes out, striking up to 3 additional nearby targets, dealing magic damage. If the target is alone, the ability deals 75% more damage. Additional target radius: 600
The 1v1 King, if you got Lich Bane that is. Early game this should be used to charge up your shield, but it can also be used to harass. This can be done by whacking a nearby minion with your Mace of Spades, if your opponent is within the additional target radius and is one of the three nearest enemies to the minion it will bounce off and hit him. Lastly, keep in mind that Mace of Spades resets the auto-attack timer!

Creeping Death
Unleashes a protective cloud of metal shards to surround an ally, increasing their armor and magic resistance and dealing magic damage per second to enemies in the cloud for 6 seconds. Range: 750. Cloud radius: 250
This is probably one of his most underestimated skills, but it has more utility than most other abilties such as Despair and Judgment. You should apply this to yourself whenever you are about to initiate some damage, the extra armor and magic resist is most useful to negate most penetration. If you have allies with similar abilities or if someone is getting focused you should use it on them instead.

Siphon of Destruction
Mordekaiser damages enemies in a cone in front of him, dealing magic damage. For each unit hit, Mordekaiser's shield absorbs additional health. Range: 700
This is your key ability, primarily used to harass, charge up Iron Man and farm. The trick is to harass while you charge up your Iron Man in one hit, this can be difficult to execute but once you've grown accustom to it you'll find the ranged to be bugged. I assume this is because of the slight delay on casting animations, meaning if you hit your target while he was still in range you will still hit despite him going out of range.

Children of the Grave
Mordekaiser deals damage to the target and curses it for 10 seconds, stealing life. Damage is equal to a percentage of the target's maximum health. 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 20% of their ability power and attack damage. The spirit gains 75% of Mordekaiser's adjusted damage, ability power, and health totals. Range: 850
There are two ways to use your ultimate. The first one is to burst down your target, combined with ignite you can kill anyone who has 20-30% of their health left unless they shield/heal themselves. The second one is survival, if you're in a tight spot you'll find using your ultimate on the target with the most health and lowest magic resist to be more beneficial. The spirit can be used to tank turrets or harass enemy champions.

Primary Summoner Spells:

Ignite: You will need this for bursting potential to finish off people with your Ultimate. Also, there is nothing worse than seeing your target get healed after Children of the Grave.

Flash: This spell should be used as a last resort in an attempt to flee or burst down any fleeing enemies. Usually you won't need it for the ladder, but don't hasitate if it means getting a kill.

Ghost: Most of the time you're going to use it to flee which will decrease the amounts of deaths you get, otherwise it's good for rushing people with the Ignite + CotG combo.

Teleport: Helping you out in 1v2 or mid, this one can be beneficial if you want to go quickly get back to your lane and still have a turret. It also lets you set up some nice ganks, and allows you to enter some teamfights.

Considerable Summoner Spells:

Exhaust: This will help you gank, and possibly get first blood. Instead of being used to disable another enemy champion, you often just want to slow and the penetration given by the cripple mastery.

Cleanse: Whenever you are CC'ed by snares and stuns, you will often have difficulties trying to charge up Iron Man. That's why we have a few people considering Cleanse, but with the nerfs I can't really recommend it.

Heal: If the player has a summoner level between 1-5 I would consider Heal if the user is new to League of Legends, otherwise it's a bit overkill. I mean you will have around 3000 health anyway and it only heals 500 at lvl 18.

These masteries focuses on maximizing the amount of utility you can get from your masteries with; AP per level, 15% Magic Penetration, 10% less time spendt dead, more regeneration, faster EXP, more movementspeed, 9% cooldown Reduction, improved flash and 15% less cooldown on summoner spells. The rest of the masteries are trash, except for Burning Embers.

Marks:

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration x9: Best runes for enhancing overall damage.
Greater Mark of Scaling Ability Power x9: Not recommended, only if you focus all on AP per level.

Seals:

Greater Seal of Armor x9: Early-game dominance vs. Physical DPS.
Greater Seal of Regeneration x9: Mid-game sustainability.
Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power x9: Not recommended, only if you focus all on AP per level.

Glyphs:

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction x9: In order to reach the CDR cap.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power x9: Late-game dominance with Deathcap.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist x9: More Magic Resistance.

Quintessence:

Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration x3: Best runes for enhancing overall damage.
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power x3: Early-game dominance with Deathcap.
Greater Quintessence of Health x3: Early-game dominance.
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed x3: More movementspeed.

Core Items:

+ x3
Boots of Speed should be your primary starting items for Mid-lane and when you have a lane-partner. It will make trying to position yourself in order to harass and retreat alot easier, while the three health potions should keep you going until you have enough to buy a Hextech Revolver.

+ Sight Ward
The primary role of this item is to keep you from degrading in health whenever you use your spells, while it won't negate it completely you still have health regeneration and the potential to spellvamp more health in creep waves. Also, as a rule of thumb you should always keep a ward in your lane and later on make sure the map is properly warded.

or
Considering I'm building towards 14.85 Cooldown Reduction with Runes and Masteries you'll most often want Ionian Boots of Lucidity to almost cap the 40% Cooldown Reduction by adding an Elixir of Brilliance during late-game. Otherwise uou should pick Sorcerer's Shoes in order to maximize your burst damage, they're also useful if everyone keeps avoiding you.

or
I usually avoid this part of the build until the very end, mostly because that's when Spellvamp really kicks inn. Hextech Gunblade however can be very usful during early-game when ganking, otherwise it serves as a luxury item. Will of the Ancients is more situational, if you find yourself having multiple casters on your team you should get it during late-game.

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1st Build:
The first itembuild is only viable if you are owning it up, but if you do not have a tank or a reliable team you should reconsider your pick or choose one of the two other itembuilds. You can also swap to this itembuild if your team needs more damage.


If you have been last-hitting like crazy, jungling and gotten a few kills I'm guessing you have enough to buy a Needlessly Large Rod which will help you rush Rabadon's Deathcap. The extra AP will enhance the rest of your abilities which will make you able to one-shot minion waves with Siphon of Destruction, you also need this item to make use of Lich Bane.


If you have not been able to last-hit all you wanted, got a jungler and maybe died a few times then Sheen is your best bet in order to push the lane. But if you are constantly feeding you might as well want to swap builds, you'll just look pathetic. Once you get Lich Bane you will dominate anyone 1v1 and destroy turrets in a heartbeat, just remember to keep charging it.

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2nd Build:
This itembuild focuses on being independant, shines in solo-queue but doesn't suit any spesific roles. Although I'd have to say it mostly leans towards tanking. Out of all the builds this is the most stable and my current.


This item is your best friend if you're having a hard time with Mordekaiser, the the extra magic resist and health is suberv and you'll get to reach the CDR cap if you got the rest of the build. Also, the passive has been set to work with Spellvamp and Lifesteal. The only drawback to this item is that it doesn't have top tier stats, but still worth considering.


Guardian Angel is an item you should get when the enemy team focuses you and the risk of dying can lead to a defeat. The armor and magic resist is great, while the slight delay in reviving should give your team the chance to strike back and give you the chance to escape. If you die with this item and have a full itembuild then you should sell this item afterwards.

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3rd Build:
This build is the tank build, it focuses on being as hard to kill as possible. The freedom it offers will allow you to deal a ton of damage, but don't forget you must always stick with your team no matter what you build.


Warmog's Armor can be bought if you find yourself in need for some beef, combined with Force of Nature it can work wonders. Keep in mind that this item won't improve your Ironman, getting armor and magic resist first is top priority. But like the item suggests I find it more effective to focus on maxing the creep count as soon as possible.


When tanking your biggest threat are physical DPS'ers, if they get fed they can tear you to shreds in a matter of seconds. While the item doesn't help you reach them, it does make them hasitate before attacking you. If they do attack you then you'll have a better chance bursting them down.

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Final Items:
The last two items depends mostly who you are playing against, physical dps or magic dps. Lastly; if you find it difficult to kill enemies and you could use the extra health then Rylai's Crystal Scepter is your best bet.

+ / /
This is one of my personal favorite items, it gives you everything you need during late-game. But is primarily sought out after if their team relies heavily on loads of magic damage to win the teamfight. The added movementspeed and health regeneration makes it alot easier to move around on the map.

+ / /
Ideally a core item for Mordekaiser, but honestly I don't really see much use for this item. The magic resist and Ability Power are great, but the aura is too expensive for such as negible amount of Magic Resist Reduction. If you have more than two casters on your team I can see why you'd want this item, but even then I would let someone else get it instead.

+ / / /
Considering you only have around 1800 to 2k health at this point I find Rylai's Crystal Scepter to fix this issue perfectly, of course you could always get Warmog's Armor but I like the extra ability power not to mention the slow. With your movementspeed it can be very useful when combined with a Lizard buff to chase down enemies.

+ / /
If you are facing Physical DPS champions in teamfights you may find Randuin's Omen to be your best bet, the extra armor, slow vs. attackers and AoE slow activate will give the edge to break their formation and allow you to quickly burst down their squishes. Normally you would get Heart of Gold first, but if you are having trouble with ranged carries you might find Warden's Mail to be of greater use.

+ / /
This is by far one of the most situational activates in the game, but that depends on how you use it! This item shines when you rush into the enemy team, while the rest of your team comes crashing in. When you get back in you can deal with the remaining enemies, which in turn can give you triple, quadra and even penta kills.

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Optional Items:


If you feel like having fun in a pubstomp match, you should try to harvest kills with Soulstealer. You are absolutely guarenteed to get kills, at the same time the enemy team will want to focus you so buying additional tank gear is recommended. The drawback is that when you come up short this item won't help you out.


Sunfire Cape is somewhat of an old flame, despite being nerfed and being given a UNIQUE passive it still has it's uses. The extra health and armor, coupled with the AoE damage is great if the enemy team has a lot of melee champions. It also makes it easier to farm with Creeping Death.


If there is little to no bite in their attacks you can focus more on damage to quickly burst them down, granted that they focused more on defense this item is just perfect to deal with these kinds of situations. Otherwise there might better items to focus on if you want to initiate.

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Misc. Items:

Sight Ward vs.
You'll want at least 3 wards on the map at all times in order to avoid getting picked off one by one, overall i'd say the item directly improves your chances of winning the game. Vision ward on the other hand is used to scout enemy wards and protect yourself against invisible champions during the laning phase, otherwise you'll want an Oracle's Elixir.

+ +
Out of all these three items I'd say Elixir of Brilliance should be bought in almost everygame during late-game. It gives you more AP and allows you to almost reach the CDR cap with this build 39.85%. When the rest of your itembuild is full you should purchase the two other elixirs, I mean there is nothing else you can spend it on.


If your team needs this item you should be the one to get it, at the end of the game you should be a little sturdier than usual and you're probably one of the most farmed champions ranging from 200 to 350 minion kills during late-game. It's mostly just to avoid getting cheesed by stealth champions and scouting enemy wards.

If you have played Mordekaiser before you know what it's like, being dependant on enemy creeps and trying to harass with Siphon of Destruction whenever it's up. That is essentially what Mordekaiser is all about, but now I want you to focus more on avoid getting harassed beyond Iron Man and last hitting properly. Use your abilities with care and don't be reckless, but don't let that stop you from being aggressive. After you've gained full controll over the minion waves you can start farming wraiths, wolves and occationaly golems for more gold. As a thumb rule you always want to have 3 wards on the map whose location on the map depends on the current status of the game; laning phase, mid game and late-game.

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When you are picking champions there are 5 roles that you have to keep in mind, Mordekaiser fulfills none of them and that's why in order to improve your game you should think twice before picking him. You want to balance your team out on issues like Magic Damage and Physical Damage, melee and ranged, Crowd Controll, and how sturdy your team is overall.

1. AD Carry:
The AD carry is the champion who requires the most amount of gold to shine late-game, they are the ones who can kill enemy champion in a matter of seconds and destroy the enemy base after an Ace.
( Ashe, Master Yi, Caitlyn, Tryndamere etc.)

2. AP Caster:
The AP caster is a champion who focuses on dealing high amounts of magic damage in a short period of time in order to weaken the enemy team. While often netting a lot of kills in the process, they can't win the game all by themselves.
( Annie, Vladimir, Brand, Veigar etc.)

3. Tank:
The tank is supposed to initiate teamfights without dying instantly, often dealing high amounts of threats over time in order to become an attractive target and is able to peel off enemies from squisher targets.
( Amumu, Rammus, Shen, Alistar etc.)

4. Jungler:
A jungler can often fit the role of both Tank and AD carry, but mostly they just act as an off-tank and often cleans up after teamfights. Their primary role is to start in the jungle and occationally gank other lanes.
( Warwick, Olaf, Trundle, Nocturne etc.)

5. Support:
Most often babysitting lanes, roaming and generally speaking helping their teammates out by not lasthitting in lanes, warding, and using supportive spells and CC to gain as many assists as possible.
( Taric, Janna, Soraka, Sona etc.)

Seeing as how this guide focuses on making you snowball hard, nothing is better than a solo-lane, preferably mid because it is safer. First of all you want to focus on getting every last hit that you can possibly get, this will ensure that you get a gold and level advantage. Second you have to keep the opposition at bay, harass whenever you can but avoid dropping below Iron Man. Lastly, don't push too hard and don't let the creeps go to your tower.

TL;DR

1. Be decisive; know when to use your abilities.
2. Last hit with auto-attacks, avoid pushing too hard.
3. Know when to back off, don’t drop down in health.

How you deal with this may vary, but know that you must always stick with your turret. If you succeed in such a lane you not only gain lots of gold but a level advantage as well, however, this is almost impossible to obtain against people who know how to deal against a 2v1 situation. Either they push you to the end of the tower, or they ignore the minions and try to zone you out while occasionally last hitting. If you get too greedy and reckless you might end up getting killed, thus failing at solo lane; resulting in you being called a n00b for the rest of the game.

Your primary concern in the laning phase is trying to avoid getting harassed beyond Iron Man, this can be done by assuring lane dominance. To start with you have to be decisive and know when to use your abilities, last hit with your auto-attacks, and when to back off. If they close inn then try to get a shot at both the enemy minions and your opponent, if it’s the other way around you have to watch out for CC (stuns, slows, snares, silence and fears etc). The drawback to this is that by pushing the lane you often leave yourself vulnerable to ganks, a simple ward should do it but it doesn’t keep any promises if you don’t keep an eye on the mini map whenever someone is missing or jungling.

This is a most tedious lane because you should refrain from trying to push, this means that you must use your abilities with caution and avoid hitting minions with the exception of last hitting. Seeing as how you lack CC this whole lane relies heavily on your teammate, all you have to do is ask him/her to zone your opponent away from your minions, thus neglecting your opponent from gaining gold and experience. Once you gain the upper hand you should constantly faceplant Siphon of Destruction at his face, if he doesn’t budge you can try to kill him.

If you fail at this then try to push down the turret and get a ward up asap.

This poster explains most of it, but primarily you want to fool your opponent into believing they can kill you. Then again clever use of Ignite and Children of the Grave is your safest bet, it works *****es!

1. Harass, make sure your target is low on health (less than 30%)
2. Be decisive; don’t act like captain obvious by storming the castle.
3. Commit with Ignite then pop Children of the Grave.
4. Make use of your abilities, a kill is rarely secured by DoTs.

By killing an enemy while Children of the Grave is still active you will get a pet with the same stats as the afflicted target in addition to a percetage of your own. Primarily you’ll want ranged DPS for turrets and single targets, or a fed AP caster to empower yourself during team fights.

1. Enslaving AD carries are top priority ( Ashe, Caitlyn, Vayne etc.)
2. Use it to push and occasionally tank nearby enemy turrets.
3. Use it to harass and possibly kill nearby enemy champions.

Once you've reached a certain level and people start to frequently leave their lanes open, you should ignore them unless they are close by or if all five of them start gathering. Normally it's easy to spot ganks with wards, but they won't do you much good if the enemy surrond you (trust me, this happens whenever you are fed and careless). You want to keep farming your lane and jungle wraiths, wolves and occationally golems. This way you net more gold and experience than anyone else, especially if you've got yourself a solo-lane. As far as pushing goes you should always try destroy turrets with sheen, unless there are two or more champions heading your way.

Once you've got the gold and experience you should start helping your teammates push other lanes and ganking. Your burst damage should be phenomonal at this point and there is nothing Ignite + Children of the Grave won't fix. You'd be surprised how devastating Mordekaiser can be in these situations, especially considering they think you are the tank. If they do focus you the rest of your team should take care of it, even then there is a good chance you might survive if you know when to tail.

Tanking is an ordeal for Mordekaiser, that is to say he is not really a tank, a reliable one that is. With this guide I recommend trying to avoid initiating, unless you are very fed and can take a few hits. You see the deal with Mordekaiser being able to tank is actually just soaking up alot of damage and acting as a meatshield at best. Despite the amounts of damage he can unleash, he is most likly ignored if there are squisher targets around. This is what truly makes AP Mordekaiser the better choice, you can act as both tank and caster.

Don't piss off your teammates! Keep your cool and swallow your pride at all times when trying to communicate with your them, I know alot of games have been lost because of flaming. All you have to do is stick with your initiator and take advantage of AoE CC, but don't chase enemies alone unless you only need a few hits and you have Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Lizard Buff and the movmentspeed. Otherwise it's pretty streight forward; always stick with your team!

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Teamfights oftens determine the victor, and is exactly what you've been working towards. 400 AP, Lich Bane and Force of Nature should be able to keep you going. Seeing as how your three primary spells are all AoE you'll want teamfights in clusters, then focus down one target as soon as possible with Ignite and Children of the Grave. Next you should chase down the weaker targets to ensure kills or deal with the highest threats asap in order to save your allies. Once most of them are down you should be able to destroy their base with Lich Bane.

By now you're probably TL;DR, and I don't blame you! As long as you know what you are supposed to do, i.e farm, farm, farm. Although this strategy favors Tight Defensive players, seeing as how you always need to be one step ahead, you should always try to harass and get kills. As far as teamfights go you should never tunnelvision unless you've used Ignite and Children of the Grave with great care, always stick with your team!

Hard Counters vs. Mordekaiser
Stun: Makes you unable to cast any spells, or position yourself which is crucial when playing Mordekaiser.
Slow: Devastating in terms of trying to position yourself.
Silence: Makes you unable to cast any spells which is devastating in any situation.
Snare: Gamebreaking when trying to avoid teamfights.
Fear: Nothing is worse than running the opposite direction towards your enemies.

Frequently Asked Questions:
If you have any questions please ask them, I will answer within a week, I guarantee it.

Q: Who's the one playing in the pictures named Alahric?
A: That is my real account name, I'm playing on EU servers. The Sivir named "Keh Loco" is my little sister, cute isn't it? She's level 9 or something so for the love of god don't add her to your friend list.

Q: Why Flash instead of Ghost?
A: Both of the spells are viable, except Ghost is better when you focus on being tanky while Flash is used as a last resort in an attempt to flee or get a kill. But alas, it's your choice.

Q: Why do you go Utility instead of Defense?
A: For the sake of Summoner Spells, cooldown reduction, and even greater utility. Defense doesn't add up as much as it should, taking 1% dodge and reducing the damage of minions by 2 into account, it's not all that useful for most champions.

Q: What do you think about rushing Rabadon's Deathcap?
A: If you are mid and have been able to farm up to 3600 gold, it might be possible to get the item on the 15 minute mark. But considering the UNIQUE passive it works better when you already have a few AP items.

Q: When should I buy sight ward?
A: All the time, whenever you have a spare 75-150 gold you should purchase wards and place them depending on your current situation as shown in the guide. But this is mere pointless if someone on the enemy team has an Oracle Elixir.

Q: How do I create an image from League of Legends?
A: When you are in the game swap settings on Video to windows mode, and press Alt + Prnt Scrn when you have the image you want. Paste it into a Paint or Photoshop, upload that file at http://imageshack.us/ and use the forum code.

Changelog and Updates:
01/07/2011 - Guide published on Mobafire.
02/07/2011 - Swaped Lich Bane and Rabadon's Deathcap's building order.
02/07/2011 - Added Guardian Angel and removed Haunting Guise from optional items.
07/07/2011 - Introduced 2nd and 3rd build, added more runes and updated optional items.
25/09/2011 - Added Haunting Guise, and altered the mix of the standard build order.