Pros
1. Incredibly tough tank once you get the hang of him.
2. Great Harasser
4. Initiator
5. Able to easily solo mid or lane against most champions.
6. even if you don't get enough kills to get your item build early on, your minion slaughtering abilities can get u all the way there eventually, with the combo of siphon of destruction + creeping death u can kill a minion wave almost instantly mid game.

Cons
1. You kindof need a handful of kills to get the item build in time.
2. Quite Squishy Early in game. Even if he is tagged as a tank the only tankish thing about the character is his shield until you get your items.
3. If you don't buy tank items you'll keep being squishy the entire game without dealing any acceptable damage for a squishy character. (in other words you'll just be getting in the way since you don't scale too well)

The runes and masteries for any champion vary from person to person, the runes i chose are just a personal preference, but a real important part in the overall damage resist nontheless.

Masteries are the same, i used to go 0/21/9 in masteries, now its like this.

Useful note for runes tho, since i removed the Force of Nature from this item build you may want to get movement speed quintessences. those will prove highly useful, but as mordekaiser don't you damn dare to take armor penetration runes. they will not serve you well.

First off, the goal is to be unkillable by anything, while still being able to fight back

Always start out with regrowth pendant and sorcerers shoes, u can buy health potions too.

Abyssal Scepter or Zhonya's Hourglass first ? : basically, if you're against alot of magic damage you finish Abyssal Scepter before Zhonya's, and if you're against a lot of physical you'll finish Zhonya's first

Why Buy This?
Force Of Nature : you will run very fast because of force of natures 8% movement speed and the end result movement speed should be 415, which is very nice. and u will also have ghost. also it has magic resist and health regen which is immensely useful. this item can replace abyssal scepter in the item build if you want to absorb more damage (but deal less in return)

Randuin's Omen: This item gives you health, health regen and tons of armor, it has a nice active too altho i always forget to use it myself. This item can replace zhonya's hourglass in the item build if you want to be able to absorb more damage (but deal less in return)

Sorcerers Shoes : Your enemy will suffer from this item since it will highly boost your damage (more than you would like to believe). and it will immensely boost your shield gain per ability.

Zhonya's Hourglass: It has armor and Ability Power which u need, and a nice Active if u can remember to use it (u can use number keys to activate items 1-6)

Abyssal Scepter: Magic Resist Reduction for enemies around you and magic resist on top of abilitiy power, perfect for creeping death and your spellcasting teammates.

Warmog's Armor : Health and health regen, with your minion slaughtering abilities u can fully stack this item faster than most characters in the game.

Guardian Angel : Armor, Magic resist, Revival, Buy this if you feel the need but i don't recommend it, you can replace the hextech gunblade with this if you don't have the runes you need. its maybe much more logical for some people

Spirit Visage : Excellent health regen boost, magic resist. u can replace hextech gunblade with this if you want to. In the original guide this was an essential item but since health regen was nerfed from 450 down to roughly 200, it is not essential, however if you want higher health regen and magic resist then this item can replace the hextech gunblade in the item build.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: You can exchange your 2nd warmog for this item if you want more damage and more slow.

Sunfire Cape : Not recommended but if you feel you need it go ahead. less health but CC and more dmg, not a bad exchange

Hextech Gunblade : Good for spell vamp and AP, also beefs up ur mace of spades. after finishing the item build in a long game you can replace your will of the ancients with this item if you feel like it.-5AP +60 atk damage +20 lifesteal

Leviathan : Once you're good enough with the champion you can exchange your first warmog with this item, at 20 stacks you get 15% damage reduction, you'll have 300 less health but 15% damage resists totally damn worth it.

By the end of this u should have about 60% damage resist overall both for magic and physical. and roughly 4600 hp and regenerate aobut 60 health per 5 seconds.

Ignite : The combination of ignite and children of the grave will earn you a lot of kills if you use them the right way, also note that Children of the Grave has longer range than ignite so u may want to throw ignite first unless ur confident children of the grave will be enough to finish him off.

Ghost/summoner spell 2 : personal preference, i like ghost because i can run after people like mad with my mace or i'm able to run away from them when i so desire, you can replace it with flash or exhaust or something u want.

What i really do with the skill tree is that i get siphon of destruction first, then creeping death, then keep buying each 2 because those keep me alive and let me harass people. as soon as i hit level 6 i'll get my ultimate, then i'll keep spamming siphon of destruction and creeping death till i have no choice but to pick mace of spades (which is normally when siphon of destruction is fully ranked and creeping death is at rank 4) its an easy way to do it, but getting 1 point in mace of spades at level 3 can't hurt (not you nor your enemy).
Iron Man(passive):This passive of yours is what will keep you alive through anything you'll ever survive through as this champ. It turns damage dealt by abilities into a shield which absorbs damage, it is very important to keep it fully charged for as long as u can of the first couple of levels to avoid being harassed.

Mace of Spades : is very useless until i'm beating somebody up... who lets a massive guy with a mace get up close ? (in other words, thats what people will expect) get as late as possible. if i ever see a Mordekaiser buy that first.. i always laugh knowing he doesn't really know how to play this char. (if he buys it as a 2nd or 3rd ability, i always think twice tho. he just may know)

Creeping Death : A very strategic ability. if you use it on yourself and run at people they will usually run away, its perfect for farming creeps by casting on minions or casting on yourself. and it can also save teammates by giving them armor and magic resist.

Siphon of Destruction : This skill will get you most of your kills and its your primary harrasing skill, try to aim at minion waves and champions at the same time. this will be the largest boost to ur shield.

Children of the Grave : Use this to finish people off, very very very handy if they're running away and are low on health, it will always be as effective no matter how late game because it steals a % of the targets life, doesn't deal a set damage. Combining ignite with this is a surekill on people low on health. Remember this can also save ur *** if ur poisoned or just dying for some reason to get a little life back, (in other words, it can be used in a defensive way too.. but i'm really agressive personally)


Note: Children of the grave can be healed through with a health potion at lower levels. until its leveled to level 2. keep that in mind

Early Game : You should focus on Getting minion kills! over harassing people and play defensively for at least the first 3 or 4 levels, but you should still harass them as much as u can anyways, both at a time is perfect! once you hit level 6 and get ur ult u can sometimes tower dive people at low health by ghosting in, using ignite and R and running away, try throwing in an E too if u can just to be sure. after doing that its good to make the spirit of the dead guy tank a turret for you, use W to make him tank longer, (this trick can also be used on cannon minions)

Mid Game : now lets hope your fed, now you mustn't solo anymore so don't let yourself, try to stick around at least one teammate or make them stick around you, you can tank like hell but alone you can't kill very many people unless they're soloing too. if your team is with you tho then its time to play aggressively.

Late Game : Stay with the team, if the enemy team gets aced you make a very good turret facetanker. but above all be agressive and stay on the front lines so that you will be the enemy teams first target. don't go behind your team or your team will die and then you will die, be aggressive! this late game part is something you may have to find out for yourself cus late game can be different depending on game.

Hints

1. Children of the Grave can turn the tides of battle any time and can easily turn a 3v1 into a 2v2 in your favor. it is also very very deadly if combined with ignite.

2. Your shield is a tool very vital to ur survival, keep spamming abilities no matter how early or late in the game you are. and spam all of them constantly except for your ultimate.

3. Siphon of Destruction will become extra deadly with sorcerers shoes, it can very effectively be used as a final blow to kill enemies with only 1 bar of health or less early game, and well late game its hard to measure with bars.

4. Mordekaiser is misunderstood, in my opinion his massive mace is just for show. He deals mostly "Magic" damage to enemies, and thats whats really killing them when i play as him.

5. His recommended item build used to be utter junk no matter how i looked at it. it neither let you tank nor damage people. now its at least something that noobs can use for starters.

6. You can Taunt people in the chat. talk yourself big, make the enemy hate you so bad that they'll ALWAYS focus you, not your teammates. you are the big tank after all ^^ (i usually don't bother when i'm tired tho) but beware of using any kind of verbal harassment that makes you reportable, don't go too far since its just a game. humor yourself a little.

7. Always use creeping death if ur going in a 1v1 fights, actually always use it in any fight. it hurts others and it keeps you alive. also the basics of killing off a creep wave (no matter if theres millions or hundreds or only a handful of them) is using siphon of destruction on as many minions as possible then use creeping death and run around them like mad and they'll just drop like that, if u have the sunfire cape it will also help a lot.

8. The more enemy minions are around, the longer it'll take to kill you thanks to creeping death and siphon of destruction, use this to your advantage.

9. Sometimes the best defense is greater offense (one of his tips) sometimes ur running from someone who u can kill, at those times, u can turn around and spam all of ur abilities on him (including ur ultimate) and stay alive with ur abilities while killing them off.

10. Creeping Death is a defensive skill which you should use both to tank better and to save your teammates by giving them armor and magic resist from the skill.

11. Hold ALT to control your pet.


Interesting Notes

I have never seen a mordekaiser which is better than me in any way from item build to skill order (not even seen one as good, but seen some come close, i know this sounds cocky but its true)

My idea to solo middle, use sorcerers shoes and the skill tree came from this guide. whoever made it deserves credit. http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/guide/2168,Mordekaiser+-+I+shall+bring+great+suffering.+ (i have not read the whole guide, only the above mentioned.)


my best score in a game was 24 kills and 1 deaths, i commonly reach 10 kills and 0 deaths mid-game when i'm in a good mood.


This is my very first guide, i put plenty of effort into making it so please remember to rate it :)

useful items not mentioned in the item build (very good items but very situational)

Thornmail
Will of the Ancients if you're too poor to buy gunblade.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity if you feel you need the CDR, better for late game than early tho.

Metal is the only way to do it \m/ rock on!