"In the world beyond, blackened ichor filled a crumbling sky, as souls withered to nothing. But I refused to fade"

Hey all! I'm MobsterPlatypus and I've now been playing League of Legends for just over a year! The reason I'm making this guide is that I'd, one, help people become more familiar with the champion and shine more competitive light, and two, educate myself in the process. I have mastery 6 (45,000 points) on Mordekaiser and picked him up near when I started playing. He's quite the fun champion, and, from what I've heard, doesn't live up to his pre-rework status. But I think that's all a bunch of baloney. There's nothing like snowballing a game of league as an alluminum beverage can, and this guide can help you know how!

PROS

Hard to kill
Passive Magic Penetration
Mostly immune to ganks
Can ult enemy jungle to win objectives
Amazing sustain
Insane dualist
No Mana

CONS

Clunky
Poor Mobility
Vulnerable to high-pressure characters
Easily out-ranged
Long Cooldowns

Mordekaiser is a Top/Mid lane AP Bruiser that stacks off of AP and HP Items. He has long cooldowns but rewarding damage and is one of the most intimidating characters in the game. Lets start with his abilities.

PASSIVE - Darkness Rise

Mordekaiser's basic attacks deal 40% AP bonus magic damage on-hit.
Damaging basic attacks and basic abilities grant Mordekaiser a stack for 4 seconds for every enemy Champion icon.png champion or large Monster icon.png monster hit, stacking up to 3 times. At 3 stacks, Mordekaiser gains Darkness Rise. Subsequent damaging attacks and basic abilities against enemy champions and large monsters refresh the duration.
DARKNESS RISE: Mordekaiser deals 5 − 15 (based on level) (+ 30% AP) (+ 1% − 5% (based on level) of target's maximum health) magic damage per second to all nearby enemies and gains 3% bonus movement speed. The damage against monsters is capped at 28 − 164 (based on level).

Mordekaiser's passive darkness rise looks like a scary blender of metal that hurts just as much. On top of that, he has magic damage on hit that stacks with nashor's tooth. Above all of this is a slight 3% extra movement speed buff, meaning it stacks with movement speed. It can also help you get in that last auto-attack or Q to keep your passive up.

Q - OBLITERATE

ACTIVE: Mordekaiser smashes the area in the target direction, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit, Critical strike magic icon.png increased if it hits only one enemy.
MAGIC DAMAGE:
5 − 139 (based on level) (+ 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 / 155) (+ 60% AP)
ISOLATED DAMAGE INCREASE:
30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50%
COOLDOWN:
9 / 7.75 / 6.5 / 5.25 / 4

This ability is BRUTAL. Recently buffed, solo hits do MASSIVE DAMAGE. It's good for cs'ing since morde doesn't have mana, in the realm of death where the damage is accounting for things like stat steals and passive magic penetration from his E, and in team fights where you can proc your passive easily off of multiple champion hits.

W - INDESTRUCTIBLE

PASSIVE: Mordekaiser stores 35% of the post-mitigation damage he deals and 15% of the pre-mitigation damage he takes (reduced by 75% for non-champion sources), as Potential Shield on his secondary resource bar, up to 30% of his maximum health. The Potential Shield decays by 8 − 25 (based on level) every second after not dealing or taking damage for 1 second, down to a minimum of 5% of his maximum health.
ACTIVE: Mordekaiser consumes all his current Potential Shield to shield himself for 4 seconds for the same amount. At the start, the shield decays very slowly but exponentially increases near the end. Indestructible can be recast after 0.5 seconds.
RECAST: Mordekaiser consumes the remaining shield, healing for a percentage of the amount.
HEALING:
40 / 42.5 / 45 / 47.5 / 50%
COOLDOWN:
14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

A lot of people tend to complain about this ability, specifically the healing portion. However, the healing portion helps A LOT for lane sustain without omnivamp, and was designed the way it was for a reason. The best part about this ability is that both the shield and healing can be amplified by spirit visage, since it increases health AND healing / shielding effects. Don't wait until the end to recast because the longer you wait, the less healing you'll get.

E - DEATH'S GRASP

PASSIVE: Mordekaiser gains magic penetration
ACTIVE: Mordekaiser grants sight of the target area briefly and, after 0.5 seconds, pulls all enemies within for 250 units, dealing them magic damage.
MAGIC PENETRATION:
5 / 7.5 / 10 / 12.5 / 15%
MAGIC DAMAGE:
80 / 95 / 110 / 125 / 140 (+ 60% AP)
COOLDOWN:
24 / 21 / 18 / 15 / 12

This move is great, don't get me wrong, but the cooldown is HURRENDOUSLY long, especially at low levels. If you land this move below ability level 3, cast your ultimate when they reach you. You already have one out of the three required stacks for the passive, and they're right next to you so there's no point in not doing it. Another way to use this move is to pull enemies away from you in times of danger.

R - REALM OF DEATH

"You're going to brazil..."
ACTIVE: Mordekaiser slows the target enemy champion by 75% during the cast time, after which they're banished together with Mordekaiser to the Death Realm for 7 seconds.

Units between realms see each other as spirits, considering each other dead and negating any interactions between the two. Only the target and Mordekaiser will enter the realm; other champions cannot follow them. Everything that occurs inside the Death Realm is hidden, and all pets still inside are killed at the end.

For the same duration, Mordekaiser also consumes the target's soul, reducing their current attack damage, ability power, total attack speed, maximum health, armor, magic resist, and size by 10%, in addition to gaining them for himself. If the target dies while inside, Mordekaiser keeps their partial stats until they respawn.

If one of the two affected champions leave the Death Realm, because of having died or having it dispelled, the other will do so as well, but the stats will remain stolen for the full duration.
COOLDOWN:
140 / 120 / 100

The one-way ticket to the league of legends equivalent to Brazil. Taking 10% of his target's stats, Mordekaiser brings them to a realm of death that is considered an immobilization effect, meaning cleanse, QSS, or any similar abilities could remove them from the realm. He still keeps the stats, but they are returned to summoner's rift.

So now that you know his abilities, let's get into possible combos and item synergies.

GENERAL TIPS

To initiate mordekaiser passive, you must land 3 hits on champions or large jungle monsters in a short amount of time. The good part about this, however, is that you can get more than one hit to count towards it with a single ability. Death's Grasp does actually count toward the three hits, but only use it to do that if you're in the Realm of Death and need to kill your opponent quicker. For mordekaiser, combos are a thing, but because of his long cooldowns you need to be smart about how you use his abilities. Remember that Obliterate does extra damage to isolated targets.
As for items, Riftmaker is usually the way to go, but Rocketbelt recently got its health amount buffed resulting than a higher amount than Riftmaker. Still, Riftmaker has sustained damage and omnivamp, making it the better decision in most cases.

Precision

Conqueror

The most meta rune on mordekaiser. Sustained fights? Check. %dmg dealt returned as hp? Check. Good tree? Check. Pretty much everything about conqueror makes you want to slot it as a keystone. And, might as well combine it with domination. Anyways, let's get into the reasoning for the specific runes.

Most popular rune out of the three in the group. Extra healing off a kill is good for morekaiser, and the gold helps him snowball to late game. Presence of mind is irrelevant since mordekaiser has a shield bar with no resources, and overheal is, well, overheal. Nothing special about that.

Tenacity

With poor mobility, mordekaiser's main weakness is either getting outranged or CC. So, anything you can do to help prevent that is good, which is this rune. Bloodline doesn't help because mordekaiser doesn't scale off AD.

Coup de Grace / Last Stand

Although coup de grace used to be meta, last stand is seeing a higher presence. Why this is is unknown to me, but I just use Coup de Grace. The difference is small, but you do technically do more damage with last stand if the situation calls for it.

WIP

Riftmaker

Cost: 3200
Stats:
+ 80 Ability Power
+ 15 Ability Haste
+ 300 Health
+ 8% Omnivamp
UNIQUE PASSIVE – VOID CORRUPTION: For each second in combat with champions, deal 2% increased damage, stacking up to 5 times for a maximum of 10%. While this effect is fully stacked, convert 100% of the bonus damage into true damage.
MYTHIC PASSIVE: Empowers each of your other Legendary items with 2% omnivamp and 8 ability power.

This item is going to be the item built on mordekaiser a lot of the time. Although recent changes make people say it is "unusable" with the omnivamp tanked to make it a better late-game item. However, this just makes mordekaiser's case better. Although long periods of time in combat tend to happen less and less the later games progress, mordekaiser's ultimate negates that downside entirely allowing you to stack the passive before engaging the enemy team head-on. The health changes are also very beneficial as well. Paired with spirit visage this item is VERY strong.

Hextech Rocketbelt

Cost: 3200
Stats:
+ 90 ability power
+ 15 ability haste
+ 350 health
MYTHIC PASSIVE: Empowers each of your other Legendary items with 5 magic penetration.
UNIQUE ACTIVE – SUPERSONIC: Dash in the target direction, though not through terrain, unleashing an arc of 7 rockets that deal 125 (+ 15% AP) magic damage. Then, gain 30% bonus movement speed toward enemy champions for 1.5 seconds (40 second cooldown).
Supersonic resets the user's basic attack timer.

Although the rocketbelt doesn't give cooldown reduction or omnivamp, it gives a lot of health, which W scales with. More importantly, however, its active ability gives extra movement speed. This is amazing for mordekaiser. The possible combinations all work extremely well, such as Flash+R+Rocketbelt or E+Rocketbelt. You can also reach 40% magic penetration with this item as well since it has the same passive legendary item buff. It's not very good for teamfighting though, so don't usually get this item unless the enemy team is low hp with high mobility, or, unless your fed obviously.

Night Harvester

Cost: 3200
Stats:
+ 90 Ability Power
+ 15 Ability Haste
+ 300 Health
MYTHIC PASSIVE: Empowers each of your other Legendary items with 5 ability haste
UNIQUE PASSIVE - SOULREND: Damaging an enemy champion deals 125 (+ 15% AP) bonus magic damage and grants you 25% bonus movement speed for 1.5 seconds, with the duration extending upon damaging new champions (40 second cooldown per champion).

Decent, but Morde's least popular "viable" item. The stats are similar to rocketbelt with the main difference being the passive Soulrend. Though Mordekaiser is good in sustained battles, this item also lets some nutty stuff happen in the realm of death. Combine with the immobilization effect of the Abyssal Mask and your Q does MASSIVE damage.
Sunfire Aegis

Cost: 3200
Stats:
+ 15 ability haste
+ 30 armor
+ 350 health
+ 30 magic resistance
UNIQUE PASSIVE – IMMOLATE: Taking or dealing damage activates this passive for 3 seconds. Deal 12 − 30 (based on level) (+ 1% bonus health) magic damage every second to enemies within 325 (+100% bonus size) units, increased by 25% against minions and 100% against monsters. Damaging enemy champions or epic monsters with this effect adds a stack for 5 seconds, increasing subsequent Immolate damage by 10%, stacking up to 6 times for a 60% increase.
UNIQUE PASSIVE – FLAMETOUCH: At maximum stacks, your basic attacks explode around you, burning nearby enemies for your current Immolate damage for 3 seconds.
MYTHIC PASSIVE: Empowers each of your other Legendary items with 5 ability haste.

This item is one you usually will not see. Although it barely stacks with any of his abilities, it synergizes with mordekaiser's character. In addition to giving extra health and ability haste, it burns nearby enemies all while giving resistance bonuses. It's a very good item because it combines very well with his passive. Another thing to note here is that it deals extra damage based on health, which you steal in the realm of death.

Abyssal Mask

Cost: 2700
Stats:
+ 350 Health
+ 60 Magic Resist
UNIQUE PASSIVE - UNMAKE: Immobilizing an enemy champion increases the damage they take by 10% for 4 seconds.

Usually, you see this item on complete tanks, and rarely at all. However, the 10% increase applies to both mordekaiser's E and R, so it compensates for its lack of appealing stats for a mage or bruiser character. Only run this item against almost complete AP teams and a 100% AP top laner.

Banshee's Veil

Cost: 2500
Stats:
+ 65 Ability Power
+ 10 Ability Haste
+ 45 Magic Resist
UNIQUE PASSIVE - ANNUL: Creates a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. The shield refreshes after no damage has been taken from enemy champions for 40 seconds.

I don't like this item all that much. Yes, the ability haste is nice, and yes, the ability power is great too. however, I don't like the idea of the passive that much, and can just be poked off. Like the mask, only use this against AP teams, but I would pick mask instead of this if you don't already have a tank on the team.

Cosmic Drive

Cost: 3000
Stats:
+ 75 Ability Power
+ 20 Ability Haste
+ 200 Health
UNIQUE – SPELLDANCE: If you have at least 160 ability power, gain 20 ability haste and 10 − 30 (based on level) bonus movement speed.

Good item on mordekaiser, and hardly one you ever see in-game. Changes to this item actually make it viable, with ability haste being a necesity along with the movement speed. Very straightforward item.

Dead Man's Plate

Cost: 2900
Stats:
+ 40 Armor
+ 5% Movement Speed
+ 475 Health
UNIQUE PASSIVE - SHIPWRECKER: While moving, build stacks of Momentum, granting up to 60 bonus movement speed at 100 stacks. Momentum decays by 3 every 0.25 seconds while immobilized. Attacks deal 1 magic damage on-hit per stack of Momentum, consuming all stacks. At max stacks, the target is also slowed by 50% for 1 second if the attacker is melee.

This in general is a really good item, not just on Mordekaiser. If you're not playing against CC, this is a really good item for both armor and mobility. It's good for slowing after you ult somebody too, making for an easy kill.

Demonic Embrace

Cost: 3000
Stats:
+ 70 Ability Power
+ 350 Health
UNIQUE PASSIVE – AZAKANA GAZE: Dealing ability damage to enemies causes them to take 4.8% of their maximum health as magic damage over 4 seconds. Gain 10 bonus armor and 10 bonus magic resistance while enemies are afflicted, both increased by 2.5 for each additional champion affected.

Synergizes well with his passive, provides him extra resistances and ability power, all while increasing his health? Easily mordekaiser's best legendary. Buy this legendary first almost every single game unless you're against Aatrox and have to build grievous wounds or something. Amazing item and you don't even need high amounts of ability power to do damage with it.

Force of Nature

Cost: 2900
Stats:
+ 350 health
+ 60 magic resistance
+ 5% movement speed
UNIQUE PASSIVE – ABSORB: Taking ability damage grants you 6 bonus movement speed and 4 bonus magic resistance for 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times for a maximum of 30 bonus movement speed and 20 bonus magic resistance. Each unique ability gives 1 stack.

The Magic Resistance equivalent of Dead Man's Plate. Take dead man's pros and cons and flip them on their head. As a bruiser you'll take a lot of CC, so this item is OK for morekaiser. Not reccomended if you already have a tanky character on your team, though, because you're better off building items that work better with mordekaiser, like spirit visage.

Mejai's Soulstealer

Cost: 1600
Stats:
+ 20 ability power
+ 100 health
UNIQUE PASSIVE – GLORY: Gain 4 stacks for each champion kill, 2 for assists, up to a maximum of 25. Lose 10 stacks on death. Stacks are preserved from Dark Seal.
UNIQUE PASSIVE – DEATHWALKER: Gain 5 ability power for each stack of Glory and 10% bonus movement speed if you have at least 10 stacks.

The ultimate mordekaiser snowball tool. If it only had ability power, this item would be irrelevant. However, because of the health bonus, it adds to his juggernaut status. Mordekaiser's ability to isolate enemies and kill them allows him to stack very easily, especially if you play conservatively. It's a risky item, but if you manage to get max stacks its worth it. Cheap item too.

Lich Bane

Cost: 3000
Stats:
+ 80 Ability Power
+ 10% Movement Speed
UNIQUE PASSIVE – SPELLBLADE: After using an ability, your next basic attack within 10 seconds deals 150% base AD (+ 40% AP) bonus magic damage on-hit (2.5 second cooldown, begins after using the empowered attack).

This item is expensive and not essential to Morde's kit so do NOT build it when behind. One good thing is that it's free damage after you use any ability, even realm of death, which, by the way, makes it do MORE damage since you're taking both AD and AP from the enemy which this item scales off of. Also, more movement speed is better for mordekaiser. Underrated item on him.

Morellonomicon

Cost: 2500
Stats:
+ 70 Ability Power
+ 250 Health
UNIQUE PASSIVVVE – AFFLICTION: Dealing magic damage to enemy champions inflicts them with 40% Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds, increased to 60% if the target is below 50% of their maximum health.

Thing to note here is that the passive applies to all magic damage, regardless of their damage classification. So, % health magic damage from both Mordekaiser's passive and auto attacks OR burning damage from demonic embrace ALL inflict grievous wounds. A total win too because grievous wounds got extended from 2 to 3 seconds for every item. It's also a necessity in top lane at this point.