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Mordekaiser Build Guide by

MyDadDied's Guide: Tanky/AP Mordekaiser for Ranked Play

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Choose Champion Build:

Spells:

Ignite

Flash

Ability Order

Mordekaiser Passive Ability

Changes

9/8/2011

1. Made two builds, moved old one to second slot.

Main two changes in new build:

2. Removed as my starting item, and replaced it with like the good old days. This change happened because I no longer feel like is worth the gold/reward and thus, nothing uses a regrowth pendant worth buying. An gives nearly the same magic resist with added damage for most of your team for exactly the same price. The health regen is covered by ,'s spell vamp, and .

3. After hearing a lot of whining about for what feels like forever now (lol it still works fine if you prefer it, despite the naysayers), I went ahead and replaced it with and moved that item route to a separate build.

What's nice about this is it gives you a boost in your AP that doesn't depend on you dying, as well as the always great spell vamp. The spell vamp will allow you to stay in your lane effectively, and works better in team fights than my previous item choices. Most fights don't last more than a few seconds, so HP per 5 items were not doing much good compared to the burst of HP you can get from using your skill spam.

4. Changed my Quintessences to flat AP just for the extra damage and since they nerfed awhile ago.

7/8/2011

Helpful League of Legends Terms For Beginners
1. Removed the term deny, as 's ability to deny was removed. Denying is no longer an option in LoL.

Skills and Skill Sequence
2. Updated buffs accordingly from .4 AP ratio for Multiple Targets to: (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) (+0.4 per ability power) and Single Target: (+1.75 per bonus attack damage) (+0.7 per ability power)

3. Added 's to the list of things not to ult obviously ;)

Summoner Spells
4. I finally gave in from to , because it is just that good. Ghost is still great by all means, but my main problem with it is that slows stack in LoL, so it pretty much gets negated. Whereas will either get me away from all that cc in the first place (hopefully), or right in their carries face on offense to nuke them down.

5. Also added to recommended items as it is just as good as those two.

Item Changes
6. Rather than add a whole new build for those that don't feel comfortable with , I added my preferred alternative build in the 'Core Item' build section with details.

7. Bumped up to core build. I moved this up to core build as it is just too good for someone on your team to not get every game. Nearly everyone seems to have, at the very least, a and lowering their MR helps everyone on our team, not just us.

8. Moved to situational items, because if your team already has a moderate amount of CC, this really isn't needed for the cc anymore. It still is a great item (for me personally, it just doesn't cut it anymore), but should only be bought when your team is severely lacking any form of cc or you could use the HP/AP. Feel free to keep it if you prefer it however.

9. Added to 'Last Item Slot' section. Wanted to add it when I made the guide, but there wasn't a working pretty icon. Better late than never.

Laning
10. Added a few more champs to be wary of at the beginning of the game, as well as being aware of 's level 6 ganking ability from

Fan Ownage Section
11. Feel free to message me on Mobafire if you want me to show your results of this build

Helpful League of Legends Terms For Beginners

"lane" = the road that contains towers and lead to and from the two teams respective bases

"MR" = magic resist

"AA" = auto attack

"AP" = ability power

"AD" = attack damage

"CC" = crowd control

"CD reduction" = cooldown reduction

"jungle" = The group of trees and paths that exist between the lanes

"stop over-extending" = where you, or an ally, is past a certain point where the enemy team can easily kill you

"lets baron" = refers to killing , who provides a powerful buff to you and your allies as well as gold/exp.

"lets dragon" = refers to killing , which provides 190 gold to everyone on your team as well as experience to those in the immediate area

"getting red" = refers to killing , which gives the champion's physical attacks a slow on the enemy's movement speed and deals damage based on their level

"getting blue" = refers to killing , which provides a mana/CD reduction buff

"baiting" = sitting in the brush waiting for an enemy champ (or team) to come check an area, and then ambushing him

"gank" = used in the sense of ambushing an enemy champion (or champion's) that is pushing to far in the lane

"zoning" = where you are prohibiting the enemy champion (or champion's) from getting any exp/gold by standing between them and the creep wave

"b" = back, fall back, get out of there

"oom" = out of mana

"lom" = low on mana

"care" = be careful, they might be coming for you

"miss, mia" = missing in action, used to describe when a champion is missing from a lane and to be careful of incoming ganks

"backdoor" = sneaking into the enemies base in order to bring down towers/inhibitors or the nexus

Introduction

Hey everyone, going to introduce how to build Mordekaiser Tanky/AP, which in my opinion is the way he was meant to be played given his toolset. All four of his abilities scale with AP (not the best ratios however) but after 25 AP he is already hitting harder than Morde before his rework back in October, making his scaling late game leaps and bounds better than before.

Morde is a battle mage that can dish out pretty solid consistent AoE damage, all the while being able to absorb quite a large amount in return. His main weakness being that he has absolutely no CC, besides the items that he buys to fill that gap. However, if played correctly this isn't that big of a problem, but will probably make you miss a kill or two early/mid game as a result.

Below is a list of my stats below to show that I am not just talking out of my *** and have a pretty good Morde record when I do choose to play ranked (including when I used to be average with him). With a little patience and consistency you will be winning probably 4/5 of all your games, regardless if it is ranked or normal.

When I want my first win of the day, farm IP, or win a ranked game, this is the build I use. Just be sure to try it before bashing it, this has been tried and tested by me for a few months now, and has consistently proven to work time and time again.

Pros / Cons of Mordekaiser

Pros of Mordekaiser

+ Very durable due to his passive shield
+ Probably the second best minion farmer in the game behind
+ Can take harassment in the laning phase without actually taking damage
+ Can carry a 4v5, or just bad teammates in general
+ AoE abilities that deal very consistent, but good damage
+ Powerful ghost ultimate that can make a 5v5 a 6v4 in a hurry

Cons of Mordekaiser

- No CC abilities
- Uses HP to cast his abilities
- No large damage burst, usually needs helps to get his ghost
- Enemies with flash are extremely hard for you to finish off if you don't time your ult/ignite correctly
- YOU ARE AN OFF-TANK! Can't emphasize this enough, you have nothing that will save your teammates, nor anything that can initiate on their team effectively

C MMKH signature

Pros / Cons of Tanky/AP Mordekaiser

Pros

+ Can carry teams single handily after getting a few kills/assists and farming properly
+ Very tanky and has the ability to absorb a lot of damage just with his passive
+ Two forms of CC in and
+ and covers both enemy AP and AD attacks
+ Snowballs unbelievably well if you help with ganks and team fights

Cons

- Not very good at escaping
- Very bad at early levels against tanky melee champions
- Can get locked down with cc making your shield useless
- High MR stacking champs

Runes

Greater Seal of Vitality
Greater Seal of Vitality
I used to run dodge runes here, but was tired of only seeing dodges when minions attacked and not being very consistent or useful. Moreover, since the goal of Mordekaiser is essentially to outfarm and outlevel your opponents, I figured why not amplify that advantage with HP per level runes?

This will net you an extra 175 HP at level 18, which is very noticeable when you have a large amount of armor and magic resist to go with it. You will usually end up with 3000+ HP after getting your , which is when most games end.

Greater Mark of Insight

These are what make your spells hit hard even through enemy MR, giving you roughly 9 flat magic pen. By far the best marks you can get as Mordekaiser.

Greater Glyph of Force

This also goes along the lines of out-leveling and out-farming your opponents. If you aren't the highest level in the game, you aren't doing your job correctly as Mordekaiser. Some people like to run CD reduction or MR runes here, neither of which is bad, but since we are going Tanky/AP adding an extra 28 AP just by getting to 18 is pretty damn nice.

On a side note, by having your and Masteries you will have 14% CD reduction, add in either a 20 stack Mejais 15% CD reduction, 10% CD reduction from , or the 24% CD reduction from blue buff and you will be at, or near, the 40% CD reduction cap. No need to waste stats, as you will be getting blue buff from killing the enemy more often than you think.

Greater Quintessence of Potency

Helps you do more damage, not much to say about that lol

Masteries

For Masteries, I run a pretty standard 9/0/21 build as we are neither going full tank, nor full damage, but a hybrid of both while getting a lot of what we want and need.

The benefits include:

- .6 AP per level
Yay, more AP for doing what Morde does best, leveling.

- 9% cooldown reduction
CD reduction is always good, up until the max of 40%.

- 15% magic penetration
Not a flat 15, but rather a percentage of their total magic resistance.

- Makes your ghost last for an extra 1.5 seconds and 6% faster
Ghost is your key chasing skill, so this will only help you with that.

- 4% increased health regeneration
Not very noticeable, but it helps.

- 10% less time being dead
Once again, the goal is not to die, but that rarely happens so this only helps when you do, especially late game when re-spawn times are extremely long.

- 5% more experience
Very nice, crucial to staying ahead of everyone else in levels.

- 1 gold every 10 seconds
Better than nothing. Works in sync with your .

- buffs last 30% longer
Also very nice to have, as you will be killing their carries with double buffs quite often, having a slow and CD reduction for longer is always a good thing.

- 3% faster movement speed
Always helps to move faster

- 15% less cooldown on summoner abilities
Exactly what we want, able to use our ignite/flash/ult combo to finish champions off more often giving us more Mejai stacks.

C White Knight custom skin by eNQo

Skills and Skill Sequence

Passive - Iron Man
This is what makes Mordekaiser so unique. Essentially, he has an extra layer of HP whenever he deals damage with his abilities before people can actually attack his core HP.

This scales extremely well with your armor/magic resist, and is one of the main reasons why is never a good item to rush first. Flat HP does not help his passive in any way,shape, or form. While adding armor and MR makes it decay slower and absorb more damage. Don't ever underestimate this, as sometimes you will have less than 100 HP, but a full shield bar and still able to finish off enemy champions that think they can kill you as well.

Q - Mace of Spades Multiple Targets:(+1.0 per bonus attack damage) (+0.4 per ability power)
Single Target: (+1.75 per bonus attack damage) (+0.7 per ability power)

This is essentially your single target melee mini nuke. It hits for a decent amount, but since you have to be in their face to use it, this needs to be leveled last. However, putting a point in it at level 4 is useful just for the extra burst and shield it generates when fighting champions who think they can 1v1 you.

W - Creeping Death (+0.2 damage per Ability Power)
A very handy tool for harassing and increasing your own armor/MR at the same time. This can be cast on minions, yourself, or allied champions.

Casting it on minions closest to the enemy champion is actually quite effective at either ruining their last hits, or just letting them get hit for a decent amount of damage per second.

Casting it on yourself is very important before heading into any fight with an enemy champion, as it provides a significant armor and MR buff.

Last of all, you should cast it on your teammates who are being focused when you aren't, tanking baron/dragon, or trying to catch an enemy champion as will slow the enemy when they are in range of it.

E - Siphon of Destruction (+0.6 damage per Ability Power)
This is your bread and butter skill, max it asap. Throughout the game, this is what you will be farming minions and harassing with. Harassing with this at level 1 is not advised as you will take tons more damage from your enemy than you will do to them. However, after level 3 you can effectively last hit and harass together.

R - Children of the Grave (+0.02% of total HP per AP) and additional 1.2 / 1.45 / 1.7% Health Stolen per second(+1% per 500 ability power)

Easily the hardest skill to master as Mordekaiser. A few key tips when using this:

TIP 1: ALT + Left Click controls your ghost (get used to controlling both the ghost and Mordekaiser)

TIP 2: When going in for the finishing combo, throw a siphon, immediately , and then use your ult. This is because 's range is much smaller than your ultimate's, and most of time the enemy will either pop ghost/flash in the opposite direction right at the edge of your ult's range allowing you to finish them off. Gotta be quick though!

TIP 3: If you have a ghost with no enemy champion around, run straight to the nearest turret and start smashing it. If an enemy champ comes to defend, have your ghost harass them while you stand out of turret range (your ghosts auto attacks on the enemy champ will make the tower target you if you are in range). I can't count how many kills I have gotten like this, as they run in circles getting 4 shot by my ghost as I watch in amusement from afar. However, if they run for their lives, just return to whacking the tower. It's a win-win for you either way.

TIP 4: Don't EVER ult a (until after the revive animation finishes), an un-popped , 's , or 's .

TIP 5: When playing against , wait 3-4 seconds into his before igniting/ulting him.

TIP 6: Don't ult a champion that has marked with , wait until that champion revives, and then use it. In addition, don't ult until she is in her egg form from , otherwise you will not get a ghost.

TIP 7: Be aware when using your ult on or , their death animations have to complete before you get their ghost.

TIP 8: Don't be afraid to ult an enemy champ close to dying in a team fight, rather than the squishy in the back. Running through their entire team to try and burst their enemy carry can turn out horribly wrong if they have flash/ghost and even another escape ability.

TIP 9: You can now ult through Morgana's .

TIP 10: Don't forget that your ult also provides a small amount of life steal. When trying to run or escape, use this on the target with the most HP. Has saved my life on numerous occasions.

Summoner Spells

Ignite

Playing as Mordekaiser, ignite is pretty much a requirement as it works so well with your ultimate.However, it takes some practice and experience in being able to judge the enemies remaining HP, pots, HP regen, skill shields, etc. and whether or not you will get the kill with your ignite/ult combo. Getting those first few early kills will let you dominate the game, as you will snowball extremely well.

Flash

A get out of jail free card over walls etc. when things go poorly, or chasing a low HP enemy. Not bad by any means, but hard to use well offensively, since flashing in for the kill means you have absolutely no way to get out if you just flashed into a trap.

Ghost

Still one of the best choices for Morde, but with more and more stacking CC's, this sometimes becomes useless. However, with Morde's own lack of cc, this is how you will be catching up and running away from people throughout the game. Feel free to keep this if you just love it.

Exhaust

I have no problem with people picking exhaust over ghost with it's buff it got a few months ago. It now reduces enemy champion's movement speed by 40%, their attack damage by 70%, and even ability damage by 35%, for 3 seconds. Sounds pretty good to me.

Plausible

Cleanse

You will get focused a lot as Morde, but generally you will be able to take the abuse with all the shield you are generating, so this really isn't needed.

Teleport

Another spell that isn't really needed, but is nice to get back to lane quickly or help with fights across the map. However, if you lane correctly their really should be no need for this as most of the time I see people just using it because they get harassed out of their lane. Fine by me, but waste of a slot if you know what you are doing in the laning phase.

Do not take EVER!

Rally

Needs a serious buff before it is anywhere near useful for Morde, or anyone for that matter.

Revive

The goal of this build is to not die, not promote it.

Clarity

You don't have mana!

Clairvoyance

A great skill for map awareness, but supports should be picking this up.

Heal

A free heal! So tempting right? While it has it's uses in baiting people in to tower diving you, etc., it just isn't the right fit for Morde.

Smite

Should only take if you are jungling, and with the presence that Morde has in a lane, why the hell are you in the jungle??

Items

Build 1 Item Explanations

There are two starting options for you with this build, either buying and 's for movement right from the get go, or buying a for added tankiness and HP regen.

allow you to get away from ganks easier, but you will only have the 3 's to sustain your HP from using your skills.

gives you the needed HP regen and tankiness, but no escape. I prefer this simply because I usually back early after harassing the enemy champion, which naturally pushes the lane. This usually allows you time to go grab your boots, a pot, and a ward.

However, neither option is a bad choice and is up to your preference.

Core Build

Sorcerer's Shoes

These are extremely nice to make your skills hit their full amount, the more magic penetration the better. The only other viable options are and . While these are both good, if you are consistently good with positioning and not getting ganked, these aren't really that necessary. You can absorb quite a bit of damage between your tanky items, and creeping death, so being kited isn't that big of a deal. Once you are in range you can just siphon them and slow them with , or just 3 shot them with siphon, your choice.

In addition, are also quite viable. The trade-off here is 20 flat magic pen vs. the 15% CD reduction. Out of habit and personal preference though, I prefer so I can hit the full amount of damage.

Hextech Revolver

What's nice about this is it gives you a boost in your AP that doesn't depend on you dying, as well as the always great spell vamp. The spell vamp will allow you to stay in your lane effectively, and works better in team fights than my previous item choices. Most fights don't last more than a few seconds, so HP per 5 items were not doing much good compared to the burst of HP you can get from using your skill spam. Also builds into a which I still don't feel is worth rushing early game, but is a great item to eventually build into.

Randuin's Omen

Another great item on Mordekaiser, despite its recent CD reduction nerf. Gives you a bunch of HP, a **** ton of armor, even more HP regen, passive chance to slow attackers, 5% cd reduction, and best of all an active movement/attack speed slow that only gets better the more MR and armor you have!

Abyssal Scepter

Moved this up to core build as it is just too good to not get every game. This change happened because I no longer feel like is worth the gold/reward. An gives nearly the same magic resist with added damage for most of your team for exactly the same price. The health regen. is covered by , 's spell vamp, and .

Rabadon's Deathcap

Moved this up to core build because the amount of damage this thing will allow you to put out is insane. A very expensive item, but still worth every penny once you get it. Nothing quite like Siphoning a quarter of the enemies HP when they can't even dent your shield.

The last item selections are explained after the second build's item explanations.

Build 2 Item Explanations

I used to recommend starting with a , but after I became less aggressive the first few levels I found I could complete my build faster while still laning efficiently. Getting a item/level advantage is everything for Mordekaiser, if you fall behind, it is going to be a long game for you.

So I recommend starting with a and which allows you to complete your core build that much faster. From here, this is the core build I recommend, as well as additional items that are good to get depending on the enemy team composition:

Core Build

Mejai's Soulstealer

Everyone knows this is a high risk, high reward item. However, it is extremely cost efficient and will cover all of your AP needs until you finish your two tanky items. Keep in mind that you get 2 stacks per kill, and 1 stack for an assist, so try to assist in killing every champion you can. With just 5 or so stacks during mid game, you will hit like a truck while being pretty tanky. If you play smart and have good map awareness, this item is well worth the cost. Just be sure to ignore the haters at the beginning, and laugh at the end after carrying them.

HOWEVER, if any of these conditions below apply to you, and they will happen every once in awhile:

1. Not doing well early game (dying often, etc.)
2. Can't keep your stacks at 5 or more
3. Playing a game where people rarely die and play super cautious
4. Have enough gold for a better item (don't forget it sells back for a decent amount), such as Rabadon's Deathcap without ~14 or more stacks
5. Not comfortable with items that stack

Then it is either better to skip Mejai's Soulstealer entirely, or sell it and go with:

1. Sorcerer's Shoes
2/3. Randuin's Omen
2/3. Force of Nature
4. Abyssal Mask
5/6. AP Item such as Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff, or Zhonya's Hourglass
5/6. Defensive item such as Guardian Angel or any of the other suggestions listed further down.

Summary of Build: This still has the same feel as before, but with less risk and a higher gold cost. I have done this plenty of times when I struggled early game (0/2/3) for example, only to bounce back late game to end (12/5/10). As always, this is my personal view that works for me, feel free to change things here and there that work best for you.

Sorcerer's Shoes

These are extremely nice to make your skills hit their full amount, the more magic penetration the better. The only other viable options are and . While these are both good, if you are consistently good with positioning and not getting ganked, these aren't really that necessary. You can absorb quite a bit of damage between your tanky items, and creeping death, so being kited isn't that big of a deal. Once you are in range you can just siphon them and slow them with , or just 3 shot them with siphon, your choice.

In addition, are also quite viable. The trade-off here is 20 flat magic pen vs. the 15% CD reduction. Out of habit and personal preference though, I prefer so I can hit the full amount of damage.

Force of Nature

One of the best items Mordekaiser can get, this covers most of your MR needs and all the HP regen you will ever need to spam your skills. As an added bonus, it makes you faster, which is always nice since we have no built in CC.

Randuin's Omen

Another great item on Mordekaiser, despite its recent CD reduction nerf. Gives you a bunch of HP, a **** ton of armor, even more HP regen, passive chance to slow attackers, 5% cd reduction, and best of all an active movement/attack speed slow that only gets better the more MR and armor you have!

Abyssal Scepter

Moved this up to core build as it is just too good to not get every game. A great last item to pick up if the enemy team is stacking MR. Not only does it give you more MR and AP, it reduces the enemies MR by 20 which helps you significantly, as well as all of your teammates. Just make sure your teammates don't pick one up as well.

Last Item Slot

After getting your Abyssal Scepter, ~80% of your games will most likely be over. However, if not, you can always add one of the following items that should end the game one way or the other.

Guardian Angel

A nice item for those extremely long games where it takes nearly a minute before you can re-spawn. Remember, you can control your ghost as you are reviving, so use that time to whack down the remaining enemies walking around. Use a quick Siphon/Creeping death as soon as you revive and you should be good to go, conserving your stacks as well which is always nice.

Rabadon's Deathcap

I occasionally get this when I am just absolutely wrecking face and 1v5'ing their team without really feeling threatened. Your ult will easily do over half of an enemy carry's health with this much AP. Throw in an and , and they should be dead.

Deathfire Grasp

I rarely get this item, but it is pretty good if used correctly. It gives you another 15% CD reduction if you aren't at the CD cap, as well as a active 30%(+3.5% per 100 Ability Power) of the enemies total hp nuke. This in combination with your ult, can nearly two shot tanks without breaking a sweat.

Hextech Gunblade

A great item when the enemy team isn't stacking a lot of MR. It is very powerful if you can manage to come up with the gold to pay for it. This item has everything you need, including, life steal/ spell vamp, more AP, and another active damage dealing castable slow.

[Zhonya's Hourglass]

A good item when you are just looking for that combo of more armor and more AP damage. Also adds a nifty Stasis for 2 seconds, rendering you invulnerable and untargetable but unable to take any actions, which comes in handy when being focused hard.

Warmog's Armor

Another item that is really good, but makes me want to /facepalm every time I see a Morde rushing this. It just is not cost efficient to rush at the start of the game. You will do negligible damage for quite awhile, it does not help your passive shield at all, and it costs a rather large amount of gold which will make you a walking sack of HP from early/mid game.

However, as a last item, or even next to last item (you can farm it up to max in no time), this is not bad to build as you will be tanky, have AP/magic pen to do damage, and then on top of it a **** ton of HP/HP regen from Warmog's.

Situational Items

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Moved this to situational items, because if your team already has a moderate amount of CC this really isn't needed. It still is a great item, but should only be bought when your team is severely lacking any form of cc. When using , the slow is reduced to 15%, keep that in mind as it can help you when chasing people who are out of your range, but still in your ult's range.

Banshee's Veil

An amazing item vs. any fed AP caster such as , , , or even a fed . Blocking one AP attack every 45 seconds is like saving yourself from taking 500-1000 damage late game. Consider buying this when 3-5 of your enemies are AP based champions.

Thornmail

An amazing item vs. any fed AD carry such as ,, , , etc. This item will make them kill themselves if they aren't careful. Consider buying this when 3-5 of your enemies are AD based champions.

Void Staff

For those times when their entire team is buying a and even a . This will go a long way in helping to actually do moderate damage to them, but chances are if they are stacking that much MR, that either your team composition is **** (all AP champions), or your AD champs should be raping face.

Sunfire cape

I used to be obsessed with this item back when I was pretty average, however, I am not a big fan of it now. It is nice for farming and the such, but does pretty mediocre/non-existant damage in a team fight when they even buy one piece of MR, such as a .

As for farming, you are Mordekaiser! You really shouldn't need help in farming when you can 1-2 shot entire waves of minions no problem. In the end though, it does still give a decent amount of HP and armor if that is what you need to counter their team.

Consumables

Health Potion

You should have a constant supply of these early/mid game. Anywhere from 1-4 of them is a good amount to have. After you finish your however, there is really no need for these anymore as they still only heal 200 of your total HP and you have at least 65 HP regen. every 5 seconds.

Late game, you will be so busy using your active, controlling your ghost, pinging the map, and discussing what to do next, you will most likely forget that you had a pot anyways when a fight happens. Not to mention you will need the room for Sight ward's, , etc.

Elixir of Brilliance

Don't forget to pick this up when you have a spare 250 gold middle/late game, as it is well worth the cost, and may very well net you a few extra kills. In addition, always buy this before the other two elixir's for the added AP and CD reduction.

Elixir of Fortitude

This is more of an end game item where you have finished (or close to it) your final build, and want to add even more HP and some attack damage.

Elixir of Agility

Similar to above, where you have a lot of extra gold and nothing else to spend it on, adding some attack speed and crit. chance can only help. Not to mention you will be glowing like a freaking Christmas tree.

Oracle's Elixir

A very crucial item to get when facing or . It also is extremely helpful against 's , 's , or 's (aka shrooms). You may also just pick this up to go hunt down wards around Baron, Dragon, or other common places.

TIP: As an off-tank, you will probably be expected to pick this up by level 10, and keep buying it for the rest of the game if you keep dying. Keep this is mind, as Oracle's are key in beating stealth type characters and not letting the enemy gain vision of the majority of the map.

Laning

Morde Requires A Solo Lane To Be The Most Effective

There are a number of key elements in order to lane effectively and efficiently. The first thing is that Morde requires a solo lane, whether it be top or middle. In normal games I will usually grab mid lane, but in ranked, I am usually forced to cover top which is much more susceptible to ganks from the enemy jungler. Due to this, buy sight ward's, and buy them often! Even if you only buy wards just for yourself, 75 gold isn't much to spend to save your life time and time again and keep you in the lane.

TIP: If you are mid lane and don't have a jungler, feel free to take advantage of the wraiths on your side at level 4+ and grab them every re-spawn. You are also encouraged to take the enemy jungler's wraiths at level 4+, but have to be much more careful that you don't get caught and give up first blood.

Build To Counter Who You Are Laning Against

95% of the time, mid lane and top lane will not switch with each other. That being said, buying either a (for AP champs) or a (for AD champs) will negate nearly all of the enemy lane champion's damage. This allows you to harass them at will, while taking very little damage from their harassment. You can then eventually build them into a or respectively.

TIP: Keep in mind that the following champs counter you in the laning phase, meaning you will be hard pressed to stay in the lane, or get a kill from them when they are played well:

- (stun, high burst, passive that negates your ultimate)
- (annoying bombs, ult that negates your ultimate )
- (you will not be able to outburst his early game, don't try to!)
- (high early game damage and kiting ability, try to dodge, also be wary of Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser as this will easily get you killed with a well timed gank)
- (very tanky, deals a good amount of damage early game, annoying passive that heals a percentage of his HP)
- (hits like a truck with his the first few levels while still being pretty tanky

When this is the case, try to let them push and ask for a gank from your jungler.

Harassing As Mordekaiser Effectively

At levels 1-2, harassing really isn't an option as you don't generate near enough shield, or do enough damage. In these first two levels, play pretty defensive last hitting minions with your auto attack, or with siphon catching both the last hits and the enemy champ. If they are super aggressive, be sure to back up so that your minions attack the enemy champ. The creeps will do a large amount of damage to them if they attack you past the creep wave.

At level 3 is when your true harassment begins. If the enemy is bad, they will stand in the middle of the creep wave making it very easy to generate a lot of shield and doing pretty good damage to them at the same time. However, in ranked play, most people aren't complete noobs and you will most likely have to choose between siphoning the enemy by himself, or the minion wave to keep your shield up.

C Plaguelord custom skin by Thukio

Pushing as Mordekaiser

In an ideal game, you can keep the lane pushed on your side while just using your auto attacks to last hit, however, this rarely happens playing as Mordekaiser since your AA's are melee and you will get harassed a lot. However, just because you are Mordekaiser doesn't mean you shouldn't get good last hitting with just your AA. Save your skills for when the enemy champion comes into last hit, hit him with your skills, and back out. You should not be skill spamming if you aren't being harassed!

Naturally, just by using siphon and creeping death to keep your shield up, your lane will probably be pushed to their side most of the time. Sometimes it is effective to just push the minion wave all the way to their tower. Let me explain why this actually has some benefits. By pushing the wave to their tower, it makes it very difficult for the enemy champion to last hit effectively. In addition, the tower will push the lane back to the middle after 1-2 waves, as the enemy champ/tower will destroy your creeps quickly. This allows their creeps to gather and push the lane back. Last of all, this allows you to back early on to pick up your first pair of boots, wards, etc.

TIP: If is jungling, try not to push as he can gank as early as level 2. Also, you can see his skill's *poof animation* from bushes, even through the fog of war if you watch carefully. In addition, be wary of 's as it has a huge radius that can get you killed even with wards.

TIP (As top lane solo): If you don't have enough gold yet, you should be standing in the bush in order to receive exp and pop out to harass/last hit as well. The consequence of pushing so hard is you are wide open to ganks, this is why you bought the Sight ward that I stated above!!!

You can keep doing this strategy, back to shop, and buy in this specific order:

1. Counter to the champ you are against (either or )
2.
3.
4. , and then finish the rest of the build I have listed. Sometimes it is a good idea to get both counters as well, what items you build early game should be up to your own judgment of the team composition you are facing.

Good map awareness and positioning is key to making this specific strategy work successfully. Nor should it be used all the time. By doing this, you also shouldn't expect help from your own jungler. If you mess up, you have no one to blame but yourself, as your lane is pushed and unless he wants to tower dive, he isn't coming.

TIP: If you are level 6+ and your lane is pushed to the enemy tower, take a look and see if any of the lanes are over-extended. Stealthily walk over, ping for the gank, and profit. Can easily get a double kill, as well as an early tower this way.

C MordeTron custom skin by justinNT

Team Work

You Don't Always Need To Ult The Carry

Sometimes this just won't be possible, whether it is because they have a which will negate your ult, a un-popped , a all over their *** ready to save them with , or a . There are a number of things that will just make you say meh, I need a ghost to turn this fight around right now since it will absorb some damage, add some auto attack dps, give you shield, and give you health from using your ultimate.

Ulting The Carry

However, most of the time you will be wanting to ult the enemy carry and teamwork is key here. Talk it out with your team before hand ,let them know what you plan on doing, and how they should help. Take the leadership role if you have to. Most of the time it is as simple as your tank initiating well, or a single stun on the carry that will allow your team to ultra burst them down before he can flash/ghost away to safety. At this point, it is a 6v4 and they will be running scared as you mop up a few more kills and get more stacks.

Creeping / Jungling

Mordekaiser is one of the best laners/minion farmers in the game, there really is no excuse to be in the jungle. I have heard it can work, but that still doesn't excuse the fact he has no CC to gank effectively and needs massive farm for his items.

Sorry, just no.

:(

Fan Ownage Section

Added this section for people who want to show just how badass they are ;)
Feel free to message me on Mobafire if you want me to add your results of this build

by KrAsTT, carrying like a boss and getting his first quad kill ;)
Not to mention +1 for the Halle Berry wallpaper (I am pretty sure at least lol)