Really? NO dominion guides for Mordekaiser? Although classic is my preferred type of game, a lot of the time people feel like playing a quick game of Dominion. Mordekaiser is one of my go-to champions for it, and he was the first character I unlocked next to Malphite. As a new player (back when I first unlocked Mord), and a new member to Mobafire, I was frustrated that there were no reference points for me to go off of when I looked up dominion guides for Mord. After much trial and error, I have become comfortable with Mordekaiser, and this build, amongst other experiments, has taken the test and surpassed many of it's counterparts. I hope to provide something for dominion players to help them along when playing the Master of Metal.

Changed things up a bit since the last udpate. To give Mordekaiser some survivability, I gave him the basic armour and magic resist runes, and kept some of the AP runes to maintain the extra punch you get. With Sorcerer's Shoes, Abyssal Mask, and Arcane Knowledge , so you don't need as much MagicPen as before, so those runes were replaced. Magic pen is still a good option, but I find defensive runes can make more of a noticable impact.

With the mastery overhaul and a bit more rethinking, 21-9 in Offense-Defense. More damage means an easily charged shields, which ends up soaking more damage than the full defensive tree's stats if you took them. However, the new changes to the defensive tree makes it useful for getting free tenacity and additional slow reduction DOES offer more than just plain defenses. In my opinion the new defensive tree is ridiculously good, and giving a squishier champion free CC reduction is never a bad option.

With Mordekaiser never needing mana, I always try to avoid any items that splash ANY mana into them, as to make the most of the space you have. The 3 most important things to look for for Mord are- AP, MagicPen, and health. The fourth and almost equally important thing to have is spell vamp. With this build, your Siphon of Destruction (SoD) will do so much damage that you will gain a substantial amount of health with each strike, and make up for the blood cost of your spells.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter is the ideal item here. Health, AP, and a slow added to your spells. Mordekaiser has a slow MS and no CC with scepter-less spells, so the slow will help you not to be kited as easily.

Will of the Ancients is your first item to complete. Spell Vamp to make up for the blood cost of your spells plus a little extra life gain after that makes Mordekaiser dangerous right from the start.

Sorcerer's Shoes are for the magic pen, and are best for all mages. If they have teams with some heavy CC and AP, you can go for the highly popular Mercury's Treads


The other items, like Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff, etc. are for the ridiculous amounts of AP Mordekaiser reaches in the late game to blast through enemies.

Situational/Conditional items for Mordekaiser

Lich Bane: I know what I said about splashing in mana, but the Passive and the movement speed modifier are really useful for Mordekaiser. Get this if you want a lot of damage or if the enemy has a team comp good at kiting.

Abyssal Mask: MR reduction and ability power. Good enough for Mord.

Zhonya's Hourglass: Armour and 100 ability power, and the 2-second stasis might save your life and get an enemy on your base killed when they are diving you. Incredibly useful, and built often.

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SO GOOD. A shield that goes down before your health that recharges when you deal damage? Hells yes! Late game, if you hit two or more targets with one SoD, you can sometimes completely fill your shield. This ability can make the difference between living and dying in any fight, be it 1v1 or 4v4.

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Good for dealing additional damage while your Siphon of Destruction is on cooldown. This guide is very Siphoning Central, but this should always be the next thing maxed after SoD. The additional 40% AP bonus to damage makes this a powerful move late game. Also useful is the fact it holds it's charge for a bit after casting. If anyone gets close to you- give them a whack with this, then follow with a SoD.

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Mostly only useful for the armor and MR. To be honest, the only reasons I put a rank into this as early as level four is for the intimidation factor, and the hilarity of throwing it on a creep and sending it towards a champion in the lane. When fully ranked, makes Mord noticeably less squishy than he is normally.

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The number one source of damage for Mord. Emitted in a cone in front of Mordekaiser, it can hit multiple enemies, and is useful for taking out a line of creeps. SoD is used for damage, pushing, and poking, as well as getting your shield almost to full if you can clip a few targets with it. When your Rylai's Crystal Scepter is up, this is best used for dealing with runners. Max this out as soon as you can.

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Surprisingly, your longest range spell. Does a bit of initial damage based on a % of your AP, and drains a % of their health (based on the same % of AP) over 10 seconds. If the target dies while CotG is up, you enslave thier soul. What some people forget is that not only do you have someone to attack with you, but you gain 20% of their AP for the duration of their soul's enslavement, as well as their passive ability. Therefore, it is more beneficial for you if you enslave an AP caster's soul than that of a tank. But hey, an enslaved soul is an enslaved soul. Another fun fact that is sometimes overlooked- you can independantly control your soul buddy. Just hold the alt key and right click where you want them to go.

Ghost to speed up Mord once in a while, Ignite for some extra DoT that really helps burn down thier HP, especially with your Children of the Grave on them.

Really, almost any Summoner Spells can replace these for Mord in Dominion. I can, however, advise on what spells you SHOULDN'T use with Mord:

Clarity: Unless you are trolling, there are no reason to restore mana to a character that doesn't use it.
Clairvoyance: Not very useful in Dom
Smite: Incredibly useless in Dom (unless going bot)
Rally: Not even available in Dom. Even if it wasn't, it's still pretty useless.

Pros:
Excellent Damage output
Can turn a 4v4 into a 3v5 with Ult
Shield keeps you alive incredibly long when you deal serious damage in any fight
Strategy not too difficult to learn
Good pusher


Cons:
Susceptible to CC
Absolutely no CC himself without Rylai's, and even then....
Without your shield, you are very squishy
Slow MS and no CC, no gapclosers- can be kited easily

February 9, 2012: Guide created
March 14, 2012: Finally got around to updating the guide, fixed acouple of spelling errors and added a little coding (Thanks, JhoiJhoi!) Also modified the rune builds for more survivability and the item build to now recommend to buy Rabadon's Deathcap in front of Void Staff. Also made the exception of the summoner spell Smite when going bottom lane (Tip from Toxic Tapeworm).
March 18, 2012: More colour, coding, links, and spell checking. Added a situational items subsection and changed the runes slightly again.
Nov. 24, 2012: Been a loooong time since an update. Changed the items around (can't get Rab Cap on dom anymore, can you?), and edited the build to be more offensive based. Because your shield is based off of how much damage you do, the best defense is a good offense.

To be honest, my main motivation for this Dom guide was the fact that nobody had posted one, and I owe it to one of my favorite Dominion champs to give new Morde players something to start from. Thanks for reading, I appreciate people who take time to listen to other people's opinins and ideas. Good luck in all of your League endeavors. Hue.