Mordekaiser General Guide by Inquisitor_Kane

Return Of The Warlord (Intro)

WELCOME
Hello guys, welcome to my Mordekaiser build. This is my very first guide whatsoever, so any critisism is more than appreciated.

FOR WHICH LANE IS THIS BUILD FOR?
Bottom lane, but I think it won't take much effort into adjusting it for top lane, but for now, we stick to the bottom one.

WHY ANOTHER MORDEKAISER GUIDE
I tried some good (and some bad) guides, but none of them seemed to fit me. Every one was missing something and I didn't know what it is. So I adjusted my gameplay, took some ideas from pro players and here I am.

Anyway as a huge metal music fan, I feel it is my duty to explore this champion's abilities and push im into the spotlight. And also to help the others. I learned a lot from you guys, so now I try to give something back ;-)

VOTING
If you downvote, please leave a comment as well with some explanation, so I can fix the problems (if possible).

FUTURE
As I progress, I will keep this guide updated, so if you like it, keep checking from time to time. For now I'm polishing each chapter one by one, so if you see it coloured up, it means it's done for a time being.

WARNING
For now I'm not familiar with all the codes for making a nice guide (with all that fancy stuff), so please wait until I polish the visual part of the guide. Meanwhile, just enjoy the text.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE FUNNY CHAPTER NAMES?
Well, since Mordekaiser likes Heavy Metal (as he himself says with his /j) and 4 of his abilities are already referring to bands like Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Metallica, I thought it will be appropriate to name the chapters after some good metal songs from bands like Manowar, Venom, Amon Amarth, Primal Fear, Overkill and Metallica. :-)

Runes To My Memory (Runes)

I looked carefuly to all the possibilities and I agree that this is the best choice:

MARK
I don't think there is better mark rune for Mordekaiser than the one mentioned above. As an AP champion, magic penetration is vital for this build (and the glyph version is not as potent as this one).

SEAL
As a fighter, this champion requires an armor and this one is the best we can get. However, if you play with a good support, or can take care of yourself, you may consider to buy 9x Greater Seal of Scaling Armor. With them you get twice as much armor as level 18, but it'll pay up only from level 9 (which is already a mid game time!)

GLYPH
Again - best scaling AP runes on the market. And since this is AP Carry build, we don't mind the scaling.

QUINTESSENCE
If you think 400 speed is enough for you and don't need those additional 25 you get from Quints, I can think of only one alternative - Health. While Greater Quintessence of Health or Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health may give you some nice health boost, Greater Quintessence of Health Regeneration may make up for the "bloodloss" you get while casting abilities and also may save you 180 gold of your starting cash, as you don't need to buy Rejuvenation Bead anymore.

I don't recommend Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health Regeneration. At the start you'll get poor 0,17 health regen per second and by the end of the game, damage you'll take from your enemies is so great, that regeneration of 3 hit points per second is equal to nothing.

Armor of the Gods (Items)

I'm not going to tell you what exactly to buy, as you will encounter different oponents in each game (more likely). So here is what I did - I put together the end-gear set, that we will aim to obtain. All the "starting" and "core" item sets you have to build according to which end-game items you would like to have in the end.

STARTING ITEMS

Rejuvenation Bead - makes up for the life you loose when usiing abilities
Boots of Speed - extra speed can help, as you are really slow at the beginning
Amplifying Tome - for more aggresive play and early harassment
Cloth Armor - good against AD attackers
Negatron Cloak - good against casters and AP champions
sight ward - good against ganks while you are squishy
Note: for most of the time I go for Rejuvenation Bead + 4x Health Potion. As for now, our hero has no spell vamp and using abilities cost him life, so health regeneration is useful for him.

CORE ITEMS

Hextech Revolver - a must, since it has a spell vamp
kage's lucky pick - boosts AP and you get some gold for free
Blasting Wand - more ability power!!!
Giant's Belt - more health = longer sustain and more ability spamming
Haunting Guise - nice mix between Giant's Belt and Blasting Wand
Needlessly Large Rod - even more AP!!!!!
Sorcerer's Shoes - your only option for shoes when playing Mordekaiser
Note: only Hextech Revolver is mandatory (since you need the spell vamp ASAP). All the rest choose according to the end-gear items you would like to build, or the situation in the lanes.

END-GAME ITEMS

Spirit of the Spectral Wraith - a must, since it has a spell vamp
Will of the Ancients - another must, for spell vamp and team help
Rabadon's Deathcap - just pure AP power!!
Rylai's Crystal Scepter - more ability power, life and got nice passive
Liandry's Torment - more ability power, life and got nice passive
Abyssal Mask - good item if you are facing casters and AP champions
Zhonya's Hourglass - AP + can save your *** from Karthus's ulti and such
Enchantment: Alacrity - take it to get more movement speed
Enchantment: Distortion - good if you are often being targeted
End-gear note: For this build to work on 100%, here is the list of "a must" items:
Sorcerer's Shoes + Spirit of the Spectral Wraith + Will of the Ancients + Rabadon's Deathcap
With these you get 40% spell vamp which means insane life regen for you, you help your team with WotA aura and get 240 + 30% AP. And still you have 2 more free slots, so fill them with items from the rest of the end-gear list. As always - choose according to the actual situation in game.

Master of Puppets (Masteries)

With this build I go with 9/21/0 mastery tree, that looks like this:

SAFEGUARD

I see plenty of people put a point into this mastery. To me it looks like a waste. While towerdiving or being anywhere near the tower, you should be either tanky enough to withstand 1 or 2 shots (full shield definately helps), or just don't do it. Also 5% doesn't seems like much, especially later in the game when you can running around towers like nothing's going on.

I recommend to spend that 1 point either in Resistance , Sorcery or Summoner's Insight (for this guide I went for Resistance ).

Kill With Power (Skill Sequence)

This is how I see it:

WHY IN THIS ORDER:

IRON MAN
This is our passive, can't boost it with ability points. But it's still one cool ability to have and it's maxed from the start! (now that was stupid, I know :-D)

SIPHON OF DESTRUCTION
Main ability of our hero. Good for harassing and getting your shield up, does great damage, so we want to max this one out ASAP.

CREEPING DEATH
Since you can max your ulti only on levels 6, 11 and 16, you are going to max this spell as your 2nd spell. It lasts for some time, does damage and constantly feeds your shield. If there is a bunch of creeps, you just use Siphon of Destruction to get your shield half-way up (later on, or with large group maybe even max) and then run in the middle of them with your Creeping Death on. It's like being in a free shield zone!!


CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE
It is an ulti. And as the summoner's law declares: "Thou shalt max your own ulti anytime possible, with any champion." And who are we to argue with the gods?


MACE OF SPADES
You can max this as a last spell, since it's a melee ability. For being useful, it requires you to come face to face to the enemy, which can not be always possible, since you are quite slow.

Note: it may be useful to use it on melee champions or tanks, so always think when allocating ability points, what is more useful to you at the time. Either shield for more protection, or mace for more agressive play.

Under The Spell (Spells)

This is an easy one:

FLASH
Since our King of Metal has no means of escape whatsoever, Flash is his primary spell option.

IGNITION
This spell is widely used to finish off low HP champions that are running away. Combine it with your Children of the Grave ultimate, and you have a sure kill and a useful pet.


OTHER OPTIONS

I must say I don't recommend using anything else than Flash + Ignite and this part is mostly for the players below lvl 12.

BARRIER
This can help you save some HP, if you are being focused or running away from the enemy. If you decide to take this, you may consider changing a skil tree to 8/22 by taking Summoner's Wrath out and spending the point on Summoner's Resolve for some extra protection.

GHOST
Speed boost for escaping from the heat, or closing on on nearly dead enemies.

CLEANSE
With this spell you can get rid of slows or other CC (crowd controll) abilities that enemies used on you.

EXHAUST
Why should you gain speed, if you can decrease the speed of your enemy? Well, I never used this spell while playing Mordekaiser, so I guess it's up to you to find the ultimate answer for this question.

Come And Get It (Tips)

THE ULTIMATE ASSISTANT
Even if you are not close enough (or have not enough strength) to secure a kill, cast your Creeping Death on whoever looks like is going to kill the enemy - or whoever is in close vicinity to the enemy. Your shield will do some damage to the enemy and you get a free assist. Sometimes oyu even score a kill, if you cast it in right time. Just be prepared for some teammate's whining afterwards.

YOUR GHOST PET
Whenever you get a ghost pet, use him to it's maximum potential. Engage in teamfight, go take down a tower or help kill a dragon or baron . Do not waste your ulti on farming creeps. Whenever your pet is alive, it means you play 6vs4!

Control your pet by pressing ALT (or CTRL) and clicking with your right mouse button.

The best pets are either enemy tanks (can sustain some damage and deal one as well) or casters (as you get huge percentage of their AP). Try to get them, instead of easy kills like Ashe and such champions.

Moe tips & tricks are on the way...

Metal Is Forever (Outro)

That's it for now, thanks for reading. Soon I'll be updating and polishing this guide so it will be more easy to read, will add some other insight and stuff I find useful for playing this champion (warding, farmiing, engaging the enemy).

Plans for near future:
- little revision of content
- info about farming
- info about warding
- info about gameplay

I hope you will give it a try and see for yourself what can this champion do in your game. Any comments and criticism is welcome.

Enjoy League of Legends and don't forgett that MISERY LOVES COMPANY!