So Mordekaiser is the only champion in the game with no CC, no gap closers, *and* no escapes.
Cons for playing Mordekaiser
Mordekaiser also has the lowest base movement speed of any melee champ in the game. In fact of all champs in League, only Janna has a lower base movement than Morde.
To top it all off, Mordekaiser is a champ that uses his own HP to cast his spells.
So why would anyone play Morde? Well that’s a great question, especially since most players really don’t play Mordekaiser because of the facts above.
*Let’s start by talking about Morde; what is he really?*
Mordekaiser is a champion who can generate temporary shield by damaging minions, monsters and enemy champions with his spells. This passive is called Iron Man. Iron Man makes Mordekaiser deceptively tanky. But since Morde can only generate shield from casting and landing spells, ranged champs and heavy CC comps can counter Morde pretty hard if he doesn’t have time or the ability to land shield generating spells.
In addition to generating shield, Mordekaiser has the ability to heal himself and ally champions for 250-750 HP per cast of his W spell.
The trouble with the healing he can do is that often times a Morde player will go into a fight ready to heal a low ally who has the enemy on top of them, but after he casts W, they flash away, making your heal impossible to use since enemy champs or JG monsters must be inside the W around your ally to heal them. (Can’t drain if there’s no pain!)
So here you are, in what might have been a 2v2 before your ally flashed away, leaving you and your low mobility self to 1v2 with your self/ally heal on cool down. Usually you die here, it’s not your fault, it’s not your teammate’s fault, it’s just normal because most people don’t know much about Morde aside from Drg ghost, Q dmg and no CC. Playing at “full power” as Morde when everyone on your team understands how he works and what he needs is amazing. **But that happens rarely.**
**MORD’S ULTIMATE**
So shields and heals don’t make a champ like Morde very strong by itself. That’s where his ultimate comes in!
Mordekaiser has pretty much one of the neatest and most flexible ults in the game.
Morde curses an enemy champion for 10 seconds, and at the end of each of those seconds they take dmg. If they die while cursed, they rise again as your temporary slave. At lvl 6 this ghost lasts for 45 seconds. At lvl 11 it lasts for 60 seconds and at lvl 26 it lasts for 75 seconds. Late game 75 seconds is an eternity. With a little imagination there is a lot you can choose to do with Morde’s ghost.
**1. Taking advantage of the numbers;** if you have secured an enemy player as a ghost, then that means one of them is dead for at least part of the time you have the ghost. If you and your team take advantage of this you can push 6v4 with a 2 player advantage, and one of your players isn’t afraid of death. Even when their ally comes back to life, the game is still a 6v5 for the remaining duration of your ult. Pushing towers or forcing map objectives is very easy if you’ve got the number adv.
**2. With Dragon ghost early game** (when you first hit lvl 6 top lane for example) you can use that ghost to dive bot lane with your drg ghost and JG before they hit lvl 6 and snowball the game with a free dbl kill *and* first tower. Success with thisnplay establishes you as a trustworthy shotcaller and if you keep that trust throughout the game you and your team can abuse Morde’s “number advantage” for an early 15 minute win.
**3. Ghosts have unfinished business.** If you play a lot of Mordekaiser you learn this overtime, but I’ll share a little bit with you now; Many ghosts keep the passives of the champ they came from. Examples:
A) Jhin: whatever shot (1-4) Jhin is on when you secure his ghost is the shot he will stay on until the ghost dies. So if you can kill Jhin before fires that 4th shot you’ve got an OP ghost.
B) Udyr: no matter what form Udyr is in when you secure his ghost, all of his auto attacks apply ‘bear stance’ and it is hilarious.
C) Rengar: his ghost will leap out from bushes if you direct it to attack a target while the ghost is inside a bush.
Aside from keeping the passives of many champ, Morde gains a % of that ghost’s AP and their HP, making him more powerful.
Visa versa if Morde has any bonus AD (like from gunblade or yommu) that bonus AD will be added to your ghost’s atk damage. This is why having a power ad ghost and gunblade make soloing baron at 20 minutes possible.
The real trouble with Mordekaiser, especially in solo queue is the holes you have on your team comp if you lock in Morde.
**TOP** is Morde’s most comfortable spot, since most of the match ups are favorable. But top is the role where you most commonly get tanky engage. With Morde top there is more pressure on mid, support and JG to provide your team’s engage. In a meta where Dmg and or utility is less risky than all in for supports and a meta where you want more than one ad ranged champ, (hello graves and kindred JG) relying on these roles to get you engage is risky. And lissandra just isn’t a common pick anymore mid.
Playing **MID** Morde is risky too, because while you MIGHT actually get a tank top (more likely a damn teemo or another damn ADC) you now have to survive the lane phase in the most gankable lane for a Morde player to be as one ward is not enough to cover all your blind spots. In addition many and most of the match ups mid are not favorable for you because of your low mobility and the multitude of skill shot champs in the mid lane this season.
Finally you can try **BOT** Morde. There are many high elo Morde players that have a trusted duo and together they rely the bot lane. However if you’re anti social as most people in soloq tend to be, I’m guilty, having a dedicated duo who understands your champion is rare. This it’s highly likely you will be saddled with a Soraka or Nami or Vel’Koz support when what you really need is a tanky engage to take advantage of your W aoe dmg and self/ally heals. A utility and often times DMG support tend to stand behind their ADC and this leads to Morde being zoned off by all the harass a melee champ like Morde cannot help but take since he is a melee champ trying to last hit versus 2 ranged champs.
So where do you play Morde? If you like Morde like I do, it’s a hard place to be.
I’d love feedback from anyone of any elo!
Cons for playing Mordekaiser
Mordekaiser also has the lowest base movement speed of any melee champ in the game. In fact of all champs in League, only Janna has a lower base movement than Morde.
To top it all off, Mordekaiser is a champ that uses his own HP to cast his spells.
So why would anyone play Morde? Well that’s a great question, especially since most players really don’t play Mordekaiser because of the facts above.
*Let’s start by talking about Morde; what is he really?*
Mordekaiser is a champion who can generate temporary shield by damaging minions, monsters and enemy champions with his spells. This passive is called Iron Man. Iron Man makes Mordekaiser deceptively tanky. But since Morde can only generate shield from casting and landing spells, ranged champs and heavy CC comps can counter Morde pretty hard if he doesn’t have time or the ability to land shield generating spells.
In addition to generating shield, Mordekaiser has the ability to heal himself and ally champions for 250-750 HP per cast of his W spell.
The trouble with the healing he can do is that often times a Morde player will go into a fight ready to heal a low ally who has the enemy on top of them, but after he casts W, they flash away, making your heal impossible to use since enemy champs or JG monsters must be inside the W around your ally to heal them. (Can’t drain if there’s no pain!)
So here you are, in what might have been a 2v2 before your ally flashed away, leaving you and your low mobility self to 1v2 with your self/ally heal on cool down. Usually you die here, it’s not your fault, it’s not your teammate’s fault, it’s just normal because most people don’t know much about Morde aside from Drg ghost, Q dmg and no CC. Playing at “full power” as Morde when everyone on your team understands how he works and what he needs is amazing. **But that happens rarely.**
**MORD’S ULTIMATE**
So shields and heals don’t make a champ like Morde very strong by itself. That’s where his ultimate comes in!
Mordekaiser has pretty much one of the neatest and most flexible ults in the game.
Morde curses an enemy champion for 10 seconds, and at the end of each of those seconds they take dmg. If they die while cursed, they rise again as your temporary slave. At lvl 6 this ghost lasts for 45 seconds. At lvl 11 it lasts for 60 seconds and at lvl 26 it lasts for 75 seconds. Late game 75 seconds is an eternity. With a little imagination there is a lot you can choose to do with Morde’s ghost.
**1. Taking advantage of the numbers;** if you have secured an enemy player as a ghost, then that means one of them is dead for at least part of the time you have the ghost. If you and your team take advantage of this you can push 6v4 with a 2 player advantage, and one of your players isn’t afraid of death. Even when their ally comes back to life, the game is still a 6v5 for the remaining duration of your ult. Pushing towers or forcing map objectives is very easy if you’ve got the number adv.
**2. With Dragon ghost early game** (when you first hit lvl 6 top lane for example) you can use that ghost to dive bot lane with your drg ghost and JG before they hit lvl 6 and snowball the game with a free dbl kill *and* first tower. Success with thisnplay establishes you as a trustworthy shotcaller and if you keep that trust throughout the game you and your team can abuse Morde’s “number advantage” for an early 15 minute win.
**3. Ghosts have unfinished business.** If you play a lot of Mordekaiser you learn this overtime, but I’ll share a little bit with you now; Many ghosts keep the passives of the champ they came from. Examples:
A) Jhin: whatever shot (1-4) Jhin is on when you secure his ghost is the shot he will stay on until the ghost dies. So if you can kill Jhin before fires that 4th shot you’ve got an OP ghost.
B) Udyr: no matter what form Udyr is in when you secure his ghost, all of his auto attacks apply ‘bear stance’ and it is hilarious.
C) Rengar: his ghost will leap out from bushes if you direct it to attack a target while the ghost is inside a bush.
Aside from keeping the passives of many champ, Morde gains a % of that ghost’s AP and their HP, making him more powerful.
Visa versa if Morde has any bonus AD (like from gunblade or yommu) that bonus AD will be added to your ghost’s atk damage. This is why having a power ad ghost and gunblade make soloing baron at 20 minutes possible.
The real trouble with Mordekaiser, especially in solo queue is the holes you have on your team comp if you lock in Morde.
**TOP** is Morde’s most comfortable spot, since most of the match ups are favorable. But top is the role where you most commonly get tanky engage. With Morde top there is more pressure on mid, support and JG to provide your team’s engage. In a meta where Dmg and or utility is less risky than all in for supports and a meta where you want more than one ad ranged champ, (hello graves and kindred JG) relying on these roles to get you engage is risky. And lissandra just isn’t a common pick anymore mid.
Playing **MID** Morde is risky too, because while you MIGHT actually get a tank top (more likely a damn teemo or another damn ADC) you now have to survive the lane phase in the most gankable lane for a Morde player to be as one ward is not enough to cover all your blind spots. In addition many and most of the match ups mid are not favorable for you because of your low mobility and the multitude of skill shot champs in the mid lane this season.
Finally you can try **BOT** Morde. There are many high elo Morde players that have a trusted duo and together they rely the bot lane. However if you’re anti social as most people in soloq tend to be, I’m guilty, having a dedicated duo who understands your champion is rare. This it’s highly likely you will be saddled with a Soraka or Nami or Vel’Koz support when what you really need is a tanky engage to take advantage of your W aoe dmg and self/ally heals. A utility and often times DMG support tend to stand behind their ADC and this leads to Morde being zoned off by all the harass a melee champ like Morde cannot help but take since he is a melee champ trying to last hit versus 2 ranged champs.
So where do you play Morde? If you like Morde like I do, it’s a hard place to be.
I’d love feedback from anyone of any elo!
