Very difficult matchup.
Make sure to crash wave 2,3 or 4 early so that it bouncesback, on the bounceback play very safe, one combo takes half of HP. If you're unfortunate enough to somehow get hit by it, your only solution is to fight back, E+Q and auto while his Q is on CD.
BUY ANTI HEAL and tabis early, if he won't get a lead till you can win the all in.
Matchup got worse as he got buffed repeatedly.
Akali
Borderline unplayable she can dodge all your Qs, she can poke you out of lane. Buy D shield and I suggest even going full tank to stop her from snowballing. In lower elo you can play full AP and hope to take advantage of her playing bad mechanically. She's a little easier ever since they made her shroud not transfer to Realm of Death.
Akshan
He doesn't have as much mobility as Vayne, so with Ghost and iceborn you should be able to kill him solo if you don't lose too much HP. He perma pushes so ask your jg after lvl 6 for a gank, it's free.
Alistar
Literally who picks him toplane?
Only thing to know is that his ult cancels yours, it's a free lane. You can build anything.
Start with anything
Bel'Veth
Go Burst against her (take into account enemy teamcomp, if you need a frontline, don't go burst) otherwise she easily 1v1s you. She's pretty weak early and squishy
D Ring Start
Camille
She deals true damage and does a lot of damage late game. You probably won't be able to beat her late game even in your ult, thankfully you won't need to since early game you can easily snowball on her. Her R can avoid your abilities so be mindful of that, don't use your abilities if you don't need to to kill her.
D Ring start
Cassiopeia
Her W disappears in your ult, she can kite you really hard with rylai, go Ghost TP, build Rylai into Force of Nature
D Shield start
Cho'Gath
Pretty much free lane, you statcheck him pretty hard. Go Riftmaker or Jak Sho build path.
Start D Ring or Dark Seal
Darius
Start D Ring
Rylai and Iceborn are very powerful items against him, rush those
Wait out his Q, then all in, without his Q he's not a champ, flash inside of his next one and you will win every time. Late game he's very difficult to kill 1v1 though.
Dr. Mundo
His passive is extremely annoying, rush Demonic embrace and anti heal. Just farm and scale, you can only kill if he ints.
Fiora
Playable matchup, go Bramblevest early, Steelcaps, beware for her parry, hug the wall to avoid her vitals from ult and leave her range to reset her vital to benefit you. Play safe early, don't give her free grasp procs.
Start D ring or D Shield
Gangplank
His orange cancels your ult, if you see him use it try to use that window to ult him and all in. Remember that your ult takes away 10% of his hp for 7 seconds, you can force him to use the orange to keep him in place to get a free Q/E or force his flash in an all in. You win lvl 1 so don't hesitate to cheese him. Move in and out of his barrel range to force him to either use a second barrel or to waste the first one.
Garen
He can be extremely annoying with his Q ult combo since you can't do anything, go Ghost since Garen will almost always go Phase rush, Liandry's or Riftmaker is good against him.
Gnar
It's a kite heaven for him, very hard to get to him, go Ghost and try to get to him fast enough in your ult to kill him. With Botrk he easily kills you, go either Iceborn build or Protobelt to close the gap.
Start D Shield
Gragas
No weird interactions, if you play well you win.
Start D Ring
Gwen
She deals true damage and she outscales you, early game you win against her pretty easy though.
Start D Ring
Heimerdinger
He pushes forever making him susceptible to ganks, your ult removes his bots so it's an easy kill post 6, but he has huge poke.
Start D Shield
Illaoi
Her E is all of her kit, pre 6 its an even matchup, you win lvl 1 so cheese her and try to get lvl 2 before her. Lvl 6 make sure to ult when she is using her Q or when she's stuck in an animation like the E animation. Even if she rushes Qss you win since you keep the stats for 7 sec and she has no dmg with Qss only. Build anti heal and steelcaps early for mobility to avoid the tentacle hits.
Irelia
Early game she's scary if her stacks are full, be mindful of that. With Botrk she kills you easily but you can easily get a lead before she completes it. Build Iceborn or Riftmaker.
Start D Shield or D Ring
Jax
Pick Bone Plating against him. His weakness is the lack of sustain, so make sure to Q poke him. Respect his lvl 1 and lvl 2 transition. Respect him if you don't have your E since without your E you can't do anything or win any trades. Doran Ring start is important as poke is your only win condition. Lvl 6 if he doesn't have a lead it's winnable.
Jayce
Very hard to freeze against him, Ranged bully. Go Iceborn and ghost.
Start D Shield
K'Sante
He doesn't have crazy kill potential unless he hits you with Q3 and ults you under his turret. He is very tanky so you're unlikely to ever kill him, very very annoying lane that stops you from snowballing and he will be more useful in teamfights usually.
Kayle
Annoying Ranged matchup, go Iceborn and Ghost, build Boots of swiftness. She outscales you hard, so in late game you're kind of hopeless vs her.
Start D Shield
Kennen
Kite heaven for him, you will be perma CCd in your ult, build Mercs and Rylai. Go unflinching runes, ult him EVERY teamfight or he will 1v5 your team.
Start D Shield
Kled
Difficult matchup, be mindful of his all-ins, wait till he uses his W on the minions. Poke him until he's off his pet and then ult with the MS advantage.
Start D Ring
Malphite
Go demonic embrace and you will hit him Qs for 350.
Maokai
He can't ever kill you, with demonic embrace you destroy him even under turret.
Nasus
Go Iceborn against him, his E lowers your armor so ult him after he uses it. Build boots of swiftness. Crash 3rd wave and freeze when you come back. Go ghost, if he goes lethal tempo the lane becomes pretty hard. You have to kite him out. Use your Q halfway through his W so you avoid the attack speed debuff.
Start D ring
Olaf
Unplayable matchup, rush Zhonya's, use it when he ults and pray. Take Lethal tempo, get Bramblevest/oblivion orb first. Do NOT run away from him if he hits the axe and runs you down. With ghost you can't run away from him, fight him head on. Ult him before he ults, you can win with all these tips. Early he's not as scary as lvl 6.
Start D Ring
Ornn
His W is annoying against your E and ult since it blocks CC. He's very tanky, hard to snowball.
Poppy
She's very strong early and her ult is buggy in your ult. Lvl 6 you win the all in, she's all about short trades.
Quinn
Hard ranged matchup, go Iceborn and steelcaps, lvl 6 you can win with ghost. E her when she goes for an auto (stuck in aa animation)
Go D Shield
Pantheon
He's stronger than you pre-6, lvl 6 you can kill him. Be mindful of his E, don't use your abilities if he uses it. He's very strong later in the game and he will roam so you're doomed to push him to the tower so that he can't ult away from the lane.
Start D Shield
Renekton
He's very scary lvl 3, he can all in you, be ready for it. Lvl 6 you win, don't build Iceborn or Tank cause you won't deal enough damage to kill him. His empowered W removes shields so be careful with that, heal yourself with your full shield instead in your ult if you have to.
Start D ring
Riven
You can't get prio if she knows what she's doing, she has huge burst so HP advantage is on her side, she has no sustain so if you get some Q's without tradeback you win. Wait for her to use her E or get stuck in 3rd Q animation before using your E + Ult
Rumble
Build Riftmaker, Force of nature is good into him.
Start D Ring or D Shield
Sett
With Botrk he deals a lot of damage, go Iceborn or Riftmaker build path.
He wins pre-6
Start D Ring
Shen
Mostly free lane, be mindful of his lvl 1-2, he's really strong then. His ult has big impact on the rest of the map, so take Demolish
Start D Ring
Singed
He can't really solokill you but you will never throughout the whole game kill him unless HE ints. He will proxy or follow up with jungler to kill you in lane.
Sion
Free Lane mostly, be mindful of his ult canceling yours.
Start D ring
Swain
Mostly Free lane
Start D shield
Tahm Kench
The only thing to be careful of is his ult to put you under his tower, Liandry's is really good against him but if your team needs a frontline Heartsteel is also an option.
Start D Ring
Teemo
He can kite you pretty easy, very annoying bully champ. His shrooms don't go to the Realm so abuse that.
Start D Shield
Tryndamere
Tryndamere is not very strong atm, go steelcaps or swifties, use your ghost after he uses his. Get nimbus cloak and celerity. Go zhonya's and iceborn, pretty easy matchup in lane but he outscales you.
Urgot
Rush steelcaps, he's stronger pre-6, if you don't need Ghost go flash for this matchup to avoid his E.
Start D Shield or D ring
Vayne
Unplayable matchup, go Rocketbelt, the only way to win is to burst her.
Start D Shield and go Second wind
Vladimir
He doesn't have a lot of waveclear, keep the wave near your tower and he can get easily ganked, lvl 6 you can kill him easily. Pick ghost and buy antiheal.
Start D Ring
Volibear
Build anti-heal, when he goes for Q when you're both level 6 let him, ult him right before he Q's you, he can't cancel the animation so you get a free ult he can't cancel with his. They never expect it, you destroy him in your ult if you hit your Qs.
Warwick
Buy antiheal, you can poke him out and level 6 you can kill him. Build Iceborn or Rylai and kite him with them, don't let him auto attack you or stack his lethal tempo. Pick ghost and play around his range.
Start D Ring
Wukong
Very confusing champ, and annoying, buy anti heal and build Iceborn path.
Start D Ring
Yasuo
Buy steelcaps, go Iceborn, it's pretty easy early to midgame, late game he beats you but by that time you don't need to 1v1 him.
Start D Ring
Yone
Unplayable, he wins all stages of the game. You can try to go Bramblevest, ignite and full AP to beat him, alternatively rush Iceborn but if he's any good you won't get to play the game.
Yorick
He will buy QSS be mindful of it. Build Liandry's or he will outscale you and he will beat you, go ghost and boots of swiftness, with Liandry's it's a piece of cake (Literal 3 shot). Ult him when he uses the cage. You beat him early game.
Start D Ring
Zac
Annoying, jungler followup matchup, be mindful of it.
Ahri
Annoying matchup, go Ghost, consider Cleanse against her.
Anivia
She can kite you and zone you out easily, she has good wave clear from a far so you can't really snowball her. In your ult if she hasn't used her wall yet and you have boots of swiftness you can kill her.
Annie
Easy lane, beware of her one shot potential late game. That's about it.
Aphelios
He literally oneshots you late game if he plays well and he sustains so hard if you don't hit your Qs he's unkillable, don't ult him.
Ashe
Ashe after buffs and item changes is a monster vs morde, Botrk and you're kind of dead. You need to go boots of swiftness and iceborn and ghost to catch up.
Aurelion Sol
He's a very strong teamfighter with his upgraded ult so make sure to ult him immediately in a fight.
Azir
Kite heaven for him, you can't really get close to him but if he engages on you and uses his ult, ult him to remove the wall.
Bard
Ranged bully on toplane, if he's support he doesn't do anything.
Blitzcrank
Useless support, borderline helps you if he brings you to the carry. Beware of his ult removing shields.
Brand
He has huge burst damage if you don't have magic resist and can stun you and slow for ages in the ultimate, he's REALLY squishy though.
Braum
He's ultra annoying with all the CC but he doesn't do anything on his own.
Caitlyn
You have to avoid her traps in your ult otherwise she kites you forever
Corki
He doesn't really have enough damage to burst you down and he doesn't have enough mobility either.
Diana
I cannot explain to you why or how, but Diana is the weakest champ ever in your ultimate. If you ult her, she can't do anything besides zhonya's.
Draven
Besides the times where your botlane goes 0/20 and he has 20 kills he can't really do anything in your ultimate.
Ekko
He's a minor threat to you but huge to your adc, you gotta ult him if he's fed especially.
Elise
She has some burst but otherwise useless against you.
Evelynn
A fed evelynn can one shot you but besides that you can ult her and she's helpless in a teamfight.
Ezreal
He can kite you pretty well but he's very immobile besides his one dash, if you catch up to him he's dead.
Fiddlesticks
His fear lasts so damn long if he focuses on you you're dead, if not, he's kinda useless in your ult
Fizz
Not enough burst, if he can't burst you the champ can't do anything really.
Galio
His stats is what morde looks for when he ults, he's a bit tanky though so go Liandry's or Riftmaker if you wanna make sure you wanna kill him
Graves
Last game he can completely destroy you with maw etc, but early and midgame he doesn't make much of a threat.
Hecarim
Useless guy in your ult, make sure to pick ghost and build a slowing item
Ivern
With the buffs he's a bigger threat, but you counter him, just go Dshield and wait for 6, if he ults, ult him, you (should) be able to burst him out, if he didn't ult, bait his ult in your ult and he loses Daisy.
Janna
She's ultra annoying when facing her on the enemy team or on toplane. Basically stops you from snowballing.
Jarvan IV
If he ults you in your ult you can't really do anything if you don't have flash
Jhin
He's really fast late game but if you play properly and get him in a corner he's doomed. Iceborn build is probably best to slow him for 90%
Jinx
Very easy to kill unless she has lethal tempo stacked and has a billion attack speed then she one shots you
Kai'Sa
Her ult provides her one dodge to your Q, then her flash, essentially you can't really Q her if she plays well, she has huge damage and poke so if you ult her it's to keep her out of the fight, not to kill her really.
Kalista
You need to build iceborn and slow her otherwise you're kinda doomed, punish bad positioning with your E to get her in your melee range, early she doesn't deal all that much damage.
Karma
VERY annoying, cringe level toplaner or support. She kites forever you can't get to her regardless of what you build. Go ff
Karthus
Easy kill
Kassadin
Pointless to ult him
Katarina
Ult her and its a free kill, wait out her dashes.
Kayn
Rhaast: Build antiheal and it's pretty easy fight in the death realm
Assassin: He has huge burst, can one shot you if you have no tankiness
Kha'Zix
Early game he has huge damage on you but besides that he can't do much later.
Kindred
One shots you late game, you can ult her after she used her ult so she isn't immortal in the death realm.
Kog'Maw
Completely recks you but is immobile and squishy so unless he positions well you can easily one shot him.
LeBlanc
You can't snowball her really, she jumps around forever you can't kill her.
Lee Sin
Besides his ult you easily beat him
Leona
Support or toplane it doesn't matter, it's free lane/game
Lillia
Unplayable tier, if she's jungle go dodge the game, unless you trust your team to reck her, but if they don't and she gets fed, it's gg
Lissandra
She can double zhonya in your ult essentially
Lucian
Besides his dash or two he's too squishy to kill you
Lulu
Free lane on top, if she's support she's helpless if she has no polymorph
Lux
Free kill but beware of her Q
Malzahar
His ult = you die instantly, otherwise should be an easy kill
Master Yi
Unplayable tier matchup on toplane and jungle, if he's top pick tp exhaust or it's gg no re
Milio
Free kill but he can cleanse himself out of your ult.
Miss Fortune
Free Kill
Morgana
Her shield is extremely strong in preventing her carry from getting ulted by you and she has infinite CC, she's really squishy though if you manage to get to her
Nami
Free kill
Nautilus
Whether top or support he's really tanky so you gotta build Rift or Liandry's to kill him in your ult
Neeko
Very squishy but has a lot of CC and things to confuse you
Nidalee
Her spear has all the damage, if you avoid you you win
Nilah
A lot of your dmg comes from autoattacks on your passive, she prevents that and deals huge amounts of damage on her own as well as can dash your Q
Nocturne
His W can stop your ult, he fears you and can gap close easily, if he's fed it's kind of hopeless
Nunu & Willump
If he goes full damage it's a free kill, if he goes tank you can't kill him in your ult unless you go Liandry's
Ult him to save your team from his ult
Orianna
Very hard to get to her and she has a lot of damage
Pyke
Not a real threat but you can't really get to him
Qiyana
Doesn't have enough burst to kill you
Rakan
A lot of CC and you can't get to him
Rammus
He's primarly against AD champs so it's a really easy kill
Rek'Sai
With the buffs it's a little harder, she packs a punch but it's winnable. Iceborn build is prefered.
Rell
Can't do anything without her ally
Renata Glasc
Just annoying
Samira
If she's fed it's hopeless, she kills you in your ult
Sejuani
If you liandry's she's done
Senna
She's my worst nightmare, I dodge when i see this champ, it's literally unplayable, I cried, best tip i can give you is to go flash and rocketbelt and burst her, otherwise it's doomed.
Seraphine
as APC she deals a fair amount of damage and slows you a bunch but overall can't kill you
Shaco
Beware to not ult his clone otherwise he doesn't have enough damage, don't get feared by his box. Kinda unplayable if he knows what he's doing. Count on your team to eliminate him.
Shyvana
She has a ton of burst damage but in ult you win
Sivir
Wait out her E so that it doesn't block the death realm
Skarner
If he ults you you're dead, otherwise free
Sona
One of the most useless champs in the game
Soraka
Buy morello, she's a free kill
Her ult doesn't heal people in death realm
Syndra
She has a lot of damage and can kite you a fair bit but otherwise free kill if you play well or gap close with Protobelt or flash.
Taliyah
Ult when she uses her wall if she ganks you that way you can go past it
Talon
He can't kill you but he can jump through walls in your ult so don't ult him in jungle unless you have allies ready to catch him
Thresh
Perma CC
Tristana
She can one shot you late game
Trundle
It's very even until botrk then he destroys you, ult him after he used his pillar/after he ults.
Twisted Fate
Not a threat
Twitch
If you gap close to him he's dead, but if you can't ult him he oneshots you. ADCs are broken
Udyr
Unkillable, go Liandry's and magic pen if you want to ever kill him or deal damage, buy anti heal and slow resist too.
Varus
He can one shot you with lethality or AP, borderline unplayable late game.
Veigar
Ult him when he uses his cage, you can avoid his ult by ulting at the same time to avoid the projectile
Vel'Koz
He has tons of true damage but if you gap close he's dead
Vex
Annoying with the fear but if you gap close she's dead. She can't kill you mid game.
Vi
She's strong early and mid but late game she can't do much to you
Viego
You can't do anything he beats you almost at every stage of the game
Xayah
If she hits you with all her feathers you're fucked
Xerath
If you gap close he's doomed
Xin Zhao
He kind of beats you but you can statcheck him in your ultimate, it's valuable you ult him for your team's sake
Yuumi
lmao
Zed
He kills you late game and mid game
Zeri
You are not going to catch her, better to pop ghost, ult her and run around in your ult to avoid her AAs and let your team 4v4 their team with no ADC
Ziggs
Very annoying
Zilean
Can't catch him or kill him
Zoe
Easy to kill but can one shot you in the midgame or at least force you out of the fight
Zyra
She deals a lot of damage but very squishy
Viktor
Poke bully, ult him when he uses his stun cage
Yuumi
Literally never have a Yuumi on you
Soraka
Enchanters are really good with Morde since they boost his Resistances and power which is valuable for him as he's a juggernaut
Leona
Engage supports help him get to the target, overall useful
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Yuumi
Literally never have a Yuumi on you
Soraka
Enchanters are really good with Morde since they boost his Resistances and power which is valuable for him as he's a juggernaut
Leona
Engage supports help him get to the target, overall useful
Welcome to my Guide, I'm BezMemow
In this guide I intend to share with you my knowledge I've acquired over the hundreds of games I've played Mordekaiser, I could be considered a Mordekaiser OTP and I hit Grandmaster 760 LP playing almost exclusively him. Thank you to Kocykek, I thought his guide was very nice and accessible to newer players so I decided to make a very similar one for Mordekaiser!
In this guide you will see the best combinations of runes, summoners and items for Mordekaiser as well as insight into laning and certain matchups (which is important if you wanna pick up Mordekaiser and climb with him!)
No reason to delay, let's get into it.
CHAPTER 2: PROS AND CONS
Mordekaiser is an easy to understand champion, which makes him an accessible pick. He excels at tankiness and 1v1s inside his Realm of Death. His teamfight and sidelane are also really strong, providing great utility for the team and being great at capturing objectives. He's also extremely strong vs tanky picks and melee champions.
Mordekaiser is very weak in lane, against a good opponent it will feel often like the matchup is unplayable, he's very skillshot dependent early and late game. He's very dependent on his passive and he's very kiteable. He's also weak to CC like many other juggernauts. His tankiness can often prove to be a detriment vs max hp% dmg champs.
CHAPTER 3: ABILITIES
Darkness Rise
Mordekaiser's basic attacks deal 40% AP bonus magic damage on-hit.
Mordekaiser generates a stack for each enemy Champion or large Monster hit by his damaging basic attacks or basic abilities, lasting for 4 seconds, refreshing on subsequent hits, and stacking up to 3 times. At 3 stacks, he gains 3 / 6 / 9% (based on level) bonus movement speed and deals 5 − 15.2 (based on level) (+ 30% AP) (+ 1% − 5% (based on level) of target's maximum health) magic damage every second to nearby enemies. Against monsters, the damage is capped at 28 − 164 (based on level) per second.
EFFECT RADIUS: 375
Obliterate
Mordekaiser strikes his mace down in a line in the target direction, dealing magic damage to enemies within, increased if only one enemy is hit.
Things to know about it: Obliterate + Flash stays on target 100% of the time, it will aim where it was aimed originally, so be careful with it. It can make for some weird interactions.
Indestructible
PASSIVE: Mordekaiser stores 45% 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. While Indestructible is not on cooldown, the Potential Shield will not decay below a minimum of 5% of his maximum health, and it will be set to that amount when it comes off cooldown if it was previously below it.
ACTIVE: Mordekaiser consumes his Potential Shield to grant himself a shield for the same amount for 4 seconds. The shield decays exponentially over the duration. Indestructible can be recast after 0.5 seconds while the shield is active.
RECAST: Mordekaiser consumes the remaining shield, healing for a portion of the amount.
ACTIVE: Mordekaiser summons a claw in the target direction that grants sight of the area. After 0.5 seconds, it deals magic damage to enemies within and pulls them 250 units.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
CAST TIME: 0.25s
TARGET RANGE: 700 / 900
Realm of Death
ACTIVE: Mordekaiser slows the target enemy champion by 75% over the cast time, then banishes them with him to the Death Realm for 7 seconds.
Mordekaiser also consumes the target's soul for 7 seconds, healing himself for 10% of their maximum health and 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 the Death Realm, Mordekaiser keeps their partial stats until they respawn.
Units between realms see each other as spirits, considering each other dead and negating any interactions between each other. Only Mordekaiser and the target will enter the realm; other champions cannot follow them. Everything that occurs inside the Death Realm is hidden to units outside of it, and vice versa. All pets still inside the realm are killed at its end.
Mordekaiser can manipulate where the arena spawns since the radius is based around Mordekaiser's position. It's roughly a passive length away from Mordekaiser's back.
CHAPTER 4: ITEMIZATION
Best overall starting item, safe for laning, plenty of in-built sustain that's very important since Mordekaiser's laning phase is extremely weak.
Very good for snowballing lane, it doesn't have as much sustain but it definitely has more damage. Very good into matchups where poke is your win condition ( Jax, Olaf)
Worst starting item with how volatile it is but very good for low elo where people suicide for no reason. If you manage to keep your deaths low it's extremely op if you get a stacked mejai's.
Must buy into lanes like Aatrox and Olaf, I prefer the Oblivion Orb component but the sad reality is that Mordekaiser's laning phase is tragic so he needs a defensive item. It's a good buy into Illaoi and Volibear if you're not comfortable playing with Morello instead.
The Burn it provides is very good on Mordekaiser, it's a component of Liandry's Torment so if you're going it first item it's a good first back.
Must buy for lanes like Jax and Fiora, these matchups are kind of unplayable otherwise.
Must buy for lanes like Cassiopeia and Kennen, these matchups are kind of tough otherwise.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a must buy in this path, in higher elo you're gonna be increasingly dependent on hitting your abilities against enemies that are skilled at dodging, the slow helps with that.
Very strong item on Mordekaiser, has all the stats he needs, survivability, ability haste, increased damage for longer fight durations, it also converts your HP into more Ability Power meaning it's good if you're planning to build tanky items that tend to have a lot of HP
It's a great item against a lot of AD champions, it also gained in value ever since critical strike based champions have gotten a lot stronger, it's use in the build can't be overstated but feel free to switch for any option such as Thornmail or Zhonya's Hourglass if need be.
Extremely strong on Mordekaiser since he has both shielding and healing, it's also stronger if you have enchanters on your team making it a must-buy in those games if you're going this path. Otherwise Force of Nature and Kaenic Rookern are also great options.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a must buy in this path, in higher elo you're gonna be increasingly dependent on hitting your abilities against enemies that are skilled at dodging, the slow helps with that.
Very powerful item on Mordekaiser, the hybrid resists is what makes it a very strong item. With the new patch, no items except support items contain hybrid resistances making it very valuable, paired with Conditioning you can become very tanky at 2 items making you literally unkillable if you get a lead. It does fall off as resistances have been hard nerfed this season.
With its passive taking away 20% of enemies Magic resistances it's a very good buy if you're trying to provide utility to your team, it means that on top of your team buying Void Staff you lower the enemies MR further down essentially letting your APCs oneshot them.
It's a great item against a lot of AD champions, it also gained in value ever since critical strike based champions have gotten a lot stronger, it's use in the build can't be overstated but feel free to switch for any option such as Thornmail or Zhonya's Hourglass if need be.
A good gapclose item, it grants you all the stats you need and a very good active that pairs well with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Cosmic Drive if you decide to build them, it's a strong one item powerspike and it's cheaper than most items, the build path is extremely strong. It's a very important item as it's the only way you can ever get in range to hit your Death's Grasp late game.
Very strong item on Mordekaiser, has all the stats he needs, survivability, ability haste, increased damage for longer fight durations, it also converts your HP into more Ability Power meaning it's good if you're planning to build tanky items that tend to have a lot of HP
It pairs extremely well with Riftmaker since the Omnivamp works during the Zhonya's, meaning you can heal with your Darkness Rise as you're in Zhonya's, very strong if you're in the middle of a teamfight! It can also ruin entire enemy combos and opportunities for them to oneshot you while facechecking. Very stable item option but the build path was really nerfed.
It's a very powerful item, mathematically it deals more damage than Riftmaker even against squishy targets, making it a good hybrid between survivability and more damage when going the AP path, it's also very strong in current meta to continuously apply Grevious wounds from antiheal and against HP stacking tanks.
I won't mention every item in the Offensive options section since some don't require a lot of explanation, but I'm gonna pick some honorary mentions!
People really love this item for little to no reason, what it allows them to do is turn off their brain and run at the carry and autoattack, however high elo doesn't work like that. You will never be as proficient as another auto attacker or an ADC unless you're fed. The item has rarely any use in my eyes but it's an option. It's an option if you can't ever consistently hit your abilities and you need something like this to have any use in the game.
It's a great item to scale up, most mages and AP carries scale with this item, since you have very high AP ratios, it's an excellent snowball item if you can generate enough gold to get it, it makes you really squishy though, so watch out for that.
The use of this item is limited to games where your team picked full AP or if the enemies bought a lot of magic resistance in general. It's actually fairly good on Mordekaiser but I wouldn't particularly recommend it as Mordekaiser already has magic pen in his kit and unless it's necessary there are better options.
I won't mention every item in the Defensive options section since some don't require a lot of explanation, but I'm gonna pick some honorary mentions!
Extremely op item, if you go Riftmaker and Revitalize, build it even if there's only one AP in the enemy team. The value you get from it then is insane. The Shield and Heal power is exponential on Mordekaiser. It also gains in value with an enchanter.
I build it very rarely but in games where you can consistently get value from the healing and amplify it with Spirit Visage and enchanters or Revitalize it can be very strong and heal you for a lot of damage, it's unfortunately pretty underwhelming though.
Don't be fooled, just cause it gives mana doesn't mean it's useless on Mordekaiser, it's very strong against a heavy AA team like Master Yi or Bel'Veth
CHAPTER 5: RUNES
Default rune set for Mordekaiser, it provides a safe laning phase (that he lacks) and very strong shields from Indestructible. It's also very good into Melee comps.
Conqueror is amazing on Mordekaiser since it provides increased damage as well as healing in prolonged fights. It's a must have since Fleet Footwork provides little value (unless in a really bad matchup).
Triumph grants extra gold and healing after killing an enemy. Absorb Life is also an excellent option for the laning phase.
Legend: Haste is a good rune in general for Mordekaiser, it provides the ability haste he so badly needs in a lot of his builds. You can play with Legend: Alacrity if you prefer the extra autoattacks it gives you.
Last Stand is better in every way than the other options simply because Mordekaiser has a lot of HP and tends to stay in the fight longer while below 30% health. Indestructible doesn't count as having more HP, so if you use it at low HP the buff will stay at max value.
Bone Plating is a very strong rune in the laning phase, pick it everytime you're up against a Melee. Otherwise pick Second Wind or Conditioning depending on matchup, the first especially for recurring damage ( Teemo poison, Cassiopeia poison) and the latter for when neither Bone Plating or Second Wind fit or if it's a sleeper lane.
Overgrowth is the best rune by default, unless you have an enchanter, the HP it gives creates bigger shields for you (they scale with your max HP) and it gives you permanent HP making it harder for the enemy to oneshot you later in the game. Revitalize is a good and strong option, it pairs well with Riftmaker and Spirit Visage, as well as Enchanters like Lulu.
A very good rune set against Ranged teamcomps for Mordekaiser in Season 14.
Unsealed Spellbook is amazing on Mordekaiser against Ranged matchups. The problem with Ranged is you often need Ghost and movespeed to create an all-in, but you don't want to give up your Teleport as it's the strongest summonerspell in the game. Hence going this rune will help you by giving you a good lvl 6 all in with Ghost and Triple Tonic and give you a lot of options later in the game depending on what summonerspells you need.
Magical Footwear grants free boots at 12 min unless you got a takedown which lowers the timer, it's a little annoying vs ranged champions as you won't be able to buy boots early, but with Ghost and various other movespeed buffs in this runepage you shouldn't have an issue. It's worth the wait as you get an insane amount of movespeed and free boots!
Triple Tonic is the icing on the cake, it gives you free gold, a good lvl 6 all in option and a free skill point (which is great to lower your Death's Grasp or Indestructible cooldowns!)
Approach Velocity is really strong if you're going Rylai's Crystal Scepter it grants you an extra 15% movespeed against enemies you're slowing with it, otherwise Cosmic Insight is an excellent option that also lowers the cooldown of the summonerspells that you're gonna be spamming with this rune page.
Nimbus Cloak is a really good rune, specifically if you pick Ghost, the movement speed buff is needed on Mordekaiser due to the kiting potential especially in higher elo. It is a riskier option in lane though.
Celerity is the reinforcement of the build we're going for, extra movespeed scaling on all the other movespeed buffs we're picking in this tree.
Phase Rush is very strong against Olaf it allows you to play sidelane against him without fear of facechecking or him running at you with ult and you not being able to retaliate, without it you're forced to go for Zhonya's Hourglass.
Ultimate Hunter is good to experiment with, it grants you lower Ult CD which as you know is the most important ability for us.
CHAPTER 6: SUMMONER SPELLS
Teleport
Teleport is a must in my book, it allows you to do macro plays you otherwise would have more trouble doing, Ignite is not very good since you're most likely not gonna snowball the laning phase and even if you could ignite wouldn't be necessary. If you do decide for some reason to pick Ignite instead, you need to be much more careful about your recall timers and rotations.
Flash
Flash is a really good summoner spell for Mordekaiser as it allows you to do some combos that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise (or not as easily). Obliterate + Flash or Flash + Realm of Death to change the position of the arena. It's a must pick if the enemy toplaner and jungler have a good setup together or if you need it to pick off enemies.
Ignite
Ignite is good for kill potential, however I don't recommend picking it without tp, it might be good to survive matchups like Olaf or Fiora to avoid building Bramble Vest which is a pretty bad item overall but needed if you don't pick it.
Ghost
It's a very good summoner on Mordekaiser, the resets it provides in teamfights is very valuable making it better in the late game and midgame than the laning phase. It's also really OP for running people down when you freeze or when you're in range to ult in a teamfight. Especially good summoner with Iceborn Gauntlet. My favorite with Teleport
CHAPTER 7: MATCHUPS
Aatrox is a bad matchup for Mordekaiser. He's very oppressive level 4 and above. It's very easy to lose the matchup for both sides. Level 1 you win so use that to push the wave and crash wave 2, 3 or 4 depending on the jungler and the pathing. On the bounceback you play safe, if you go even lvl 6 you can beat him as long as you have anti heal. I prefer Ghost in this matchup but Flash is fine to dodge Q3. Oblivion Orb is probably better but Bramble Vest is fine and armor is very good vs Aatrox especially early game. You scale similarly due to him receiving a lot of scaling buffs making it a bad matchup but still winnable. Try to stack waves and sit in your minions so that he can't land his combo.
Bad matchup for Mordekaiser, a good Akali will make you feel like it's unplayable. Going full tank is recommended in this matchup, although in low elo there's definitely room for winning the lane. Second Wind is a good rune as she pokes you endlessly and buying Doran's Shield is almost mandatory. Just don't let her snowball and you've done enough for the game. You outscale. Her Twilight Shroud stays in the Realm of Death.
He will poke you down pretty hard, if you play safe and don't get killed lvl 2 you should be winning soon enough. After you build Plated Steelcaps you can easily run him down with Ghost if you ever hit your Death's Grasp.
Decent matchup for Mordekaiser. You win lvl 4 and above, you should win long trades. With the removal of divine sunderer she's way weaker against you, you should win midgame as well, she becomes a real threat to you only late game where she's stronger than most champions but you can still kill her if you go a lot of AP damage.
Cassiopeia hard counters Morde, she has pretty high move speed and with Rylai she perma kites you while dealing absurd amounts of damage and healing at the same time. If you ever get close to her she will ult. The best way of beating her is going Ghost, rushing Mercury's Treads, picking tenacity rune and trying to land your Death's Grasp + Realm of Death + Obliterate combo to secure the passive and start autoing her at melee range before she's able to do anything. Rylai's Crystal Scepter is also a very good buy.
Good matchup for Morde, a big walking HP tank, going Liandry's Torment destroys him, you win against him constantly but early is the only time where you can get ganked and potentially killed. Lvl 6 is also a time where if he has a jungler with good CC they can stunlock you forever until he can ult you before you're able to do anything. You can ult him when he Qs to avoid the bump, Ghost or Flash are both fine to pick.
Skill matchup for Mordekaiser, Darius destroys you earlygame and has full control of the wave, let him push into you and don't risk losing HP, poke him with Q from afar, if he ever misses his Q or uses it on the wave, you can trade with him cause you win the trade easily. Once you turn lvl 6 and you're even you can beat him, antiheal is useful but not necessary. Best all in timer is when he misses his Q or you're able to engage on him without immediate retaliation. 2 kills is enough to snowball on him hard, once he gets a lot of resists he's much harder to kill late game. Liandry's Torment is also really strong vs him as he has a lot of HP.
There isn't much to say about this, it's either Fiora has hands or not, rush Bramble Vest, early game it's playable and you can beat her, some Fioras think they can win lvl 6 but they don't if you go Bramble and you don't miss every single ability. Let her push into you and slowpush for the bounceback, since she has no waveclear you shouldn't have a problem with crashing. Be very careful with using Death's Grasp since she will parry and stun you. Try to land your Obliterate by predicting her Q that will likely be towards where she has her vital.
Good matchup for Morde, be careful for his lvl 6 all-ins with ignite, it's a very annoying matchup if he goes Phase Rush as he wins shorter trades and heals from his passive. Later in the game he becomes incredibly mobile and tanky, so you need items to slow him down and to deal max HP dmg/get penetration like Void Staff.
In this matchup you're able to get prio and crash wave 2, 3 or 4. By getting Fated Ashes on the first back you can consistently bother him from proccing his passive.
Really bad matchup, he has huge movespeed, a dash, a slow, a stun in his Mega Gnar form. He deals max HP dmg with his W and they will often rush Blade of the Ruined King vs you. The only way to win is early game, lvl 6 with Ghost. Run him down and maybe if you're able to get a lead, rushing Hextech Rocketbelt or Rylai's Crystal Scepter will give you the slow/gap close to able to kill him a few times before he scales up.
Even matchup, early game there's a lot of tricks you can do to beat him and get a lead. He outscales so it's important to know and exploit. When the game starts go immediately to the middle bush on toplane and stop him from putting up the barrel, you win lvl 1. If you have to leash don't do it, play around his barrel, go in and out of its range to force him to either use another one or to blow it up and miss. You can also run him down with Ghost and beat him when you get Plated Steelcaps and you're even. He's very immobile and squishy so junglers like Kha'Zix or Rengar get a free kill on him. Ever since his orange doesn't cleanse your ult if you land Death's Grasp + Realm of Death combo he dies.
Even matchup for Morde, he can't really poke you down and you completely destroy him in Realm of Death. But the problem is his good gank setup and his sustain, you can't really kill him if he doesn't want to die and he clears waves before you can crash them, chances are you're just gonna be both killing creeps.
Gwen is a difficult matchup, she statchecks you level 6 if you go even and if you go Conqueror, you can easily beat weak Gwen players going the usual build, but a good Gwen keeps her E to avoid your Qs and she is easily able to beat you then. To win early game and midgame you need Nashor's Tooth to not be dependent on Obliterate hits to kill her. Use your Realm of Death when she uses her Hallowed Mist.
Illaoi is a skill matchup early game, you win early so crash wave 2,3 or 4 (while attempting to beat her up through level transitions) and play safely on the bounceback, her E packs a strong punch, when she tries to E you under turret, fake autoattacks to bait her into using it and dodge it. Once you get Realm of Death, use it when she's stuck in an animation like Tentacle Smash or Test of Spirit or once she used her Leap of Faith otherwise she can cancel your ult with hers. Lethal Tempo is useful but not necessary. Liandry's Torment is really op against her as she outscales you and you really need to be able to kill her in Realm of Death late game, building it melts her. Get some armor as well to be able to take in her tentacle hits.
A decent matchup, early game she's useless unless she gets stacks, so cheese her in the tribush or zone her off the creeps to get an early XP lead. If you're able to cheese her you can get prio, otherwise she gets her passive stacked up and destroys you. You beat her easily until Blade of the Ruined King, after that you need to kite her out with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Ghost or Cosmic Drive. Exhaust is strong against her as she's dependent on mobility.
Hard matchup, rush Plated Steelcaps and be VERY careful about his lvl 1 and lvl 2 engages, if you don't lose a lot of HP you can potentially try to hold the wave close to your turret and pull him under it if he jumps on you. Respect him if you your Death's Grasp is on cooldown as it's the most important ability in this matchup. Poke him with Obliterate as he has no sustain and use your Death's Grasp to kite him out. If you go even you're able to beat him in your Realm of Death at least until he gets 2 or 3 items.
Difficult ranged matchup, let him push into you and play around bushes to avoid poke. Don't take any unnecessary poke and don't try to hold the wave. If he tries to poke you under turret and you see him walking up to put an auto, wait for when he gets stuck in the autoattack animation and use Death's Grasp to pull him in and Obliterate for a good trade. This can also work for lvl 6 to all in him with Ghost or Flash.
She scales hard but you're much stronger level 1-6, abuse that timer to make her lose xp and cs, go Unsealed Spellbook runepage to run her down lvl 6 with Ghost, if you manage to put her behind you're gonna be able to fight her into level 11 and later, but level 16 if you're even she destroys you.
It's another omega cringe ranged matchup, you can't do much, you need to pick Ghost and pull him in with Death's Grasp while he's stuck in an animation and setup the kill for your jungler by taking him to Realm of Death. You need to ult him in every teamfight so that his Slicing Maelstrom doesn't stun your teammates. That's your only job, if he builds Qss ult someone else obviously.
Skill matchup, you need to be careful for his ignite all in lvl 2 and 3, he also beats you lvl 1 if he plays well. Play around his W cooldown, if he uses it on the minions it's an all in/trade timer for you. He loses all trades without his W, you can't really kill him if he plays well but you can setup a kill for your jungler with Realm of Death pretty easily. Be careful for his roams with his ultimate.
Decent matchup, early game you completely destroy him unless he gets you under turret, he becomes a realistic threat at lvl 6 so try to put him behind before that (if you're weakside you can't really do that). If you want to ult him, wait for him to use his Q3 early as its casttime is quite long earlygame, long enough for you to be able to ult without him being able to react and block it with his W. If he's the first one to ult wait for him to use his W and then ult back otherwise you're gonna die. You both scale quite similarly but he's Ksante so he'll be more useful in teamfights.
Good matchup for Morde, you can easily get prio and you win all trades, his only window to kill you is lvl 2 with his W and E if he picks Teleport and Ignite. He has no sustain and forcing him to build magic resist is incredibly annoying for him. He has a good setup for his jungler so pick Flash to use it for his Unstoppable Force.
Not that easy of a matchup, earlygame you beat him up hard, goal is to freeze and kill him with your jungler for when he tries to unfreeze the lane. If he goes even he can kill you lvl 6 cause he has a stronger all in than you. Use your Obliterate when you're halfway through his Wither to avoid having to autoattack with the debuff. Phase Rush can be an option as his slow is what allows him to spam his Q and what's giving him the opportunity to statcheck you. You need to kite him out to win.
A very hard matchup, early game he isn't as scary but be very careful about his lvl 1 rundown potential with Ghost. Let him push into you, conserve your HP for the bounceback, stack up waves, if he tries to freeze and you think you can't beat him with the wave go back to buy Bramble Vest, use your Teleport and fight him, but back off once you proc Phase Rush, this way you can poke him out before he gets lifesteal items. Lvl 6 you win if ult before him alternatively you can try to run away from his ult with Phase Rush or using Zhonya's Hourglass. Later in the game you need to get Zhonya's Hourglass for his ult if you picked Conqueror and go full damage otherwise you can't ever kill him as he becomes super tanky or go Phase Rush so he can facecheck him and run away if he tries to all in. You can outscale him with these tips and going a lot of AP damage.
A sleeper lane, he deals a lot of damage early game so be careful about it, you don't really win trades until first or second back. He can stop your ult with his Bellows Breath so try to force him to use it with your Death's Grasp, once you get your first item you beat him easily. You can't really snowball so take Teleport and make macro plays on the map even if it means losing plates, TP for drake etc. Take Conditioning to scale up cause Second Wind and Bone Plating aren't necessary.
It's not an easy matchup, very annoying actually, he's a bully in lane pre-6. After 6 you can beat him if you're even as he doesn't have a combat ultimate. Be careful for his roams, it's best to push him in as often as possible and consider taking Demolish. You need armor as his damage is crazy otherwise. Shield Bash is good as both Second Wind and Bone Plating aren't amazing options in this matchup.
Very good matchup for Mordekaiser, you win at all stages of the game, she really can't do anything. She can kind of find windows to trade and maybe kill early game if you play bad, best to take W second to avoid any surprises. She has a good setup for the jg so be mindful of that and her ult interaction is weird in your Realm of Death and can bug you out. Flash is good to avoid that. You don't actually win lvl 1 hard enough to able to zone her out of creeps and her CDs are lower early game so she can get prio if you're leashing.
It's Renekton Favored early game, he can snowball if you give him a kill lvl 2 or 3, your HP is much more important than his as he can oneshot you, so don't trade if you don't have to. If you go even and get one item he loses hands down. He doesn't lose lvl 6 unless you ult to setup for the jungler. If you get Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Plated Steelcaps before he's able to snowball you won the lane and he will be useless in fights most of the time.
A good riven will get prio easily as she's able to nearly one shot you level 1. Be very careful if she takes ignite, if you go even lvl 6 you can beat her but be mindful a good Riven will keep her E for your Death's Grasp or Obliterate so wait for her to use it (or bait her into it), alternatively you can also use Death's Grasp for when she uses Q3 and she's stuck in the animation to secure a clean Realm of Death. Flash or Exhaust is good into her. You can also potentially use Realm of Death to avoid her ultimate projectile in some situations.
It's a difficult matchup early as he has high base HP regen and deals a lot of damage, be careful about his W, it has a pretty high cooldown so when he uses it don't be afraid to do a short trade or when you're lvl 6 even all in. He can ult away your Realm of Death so ult him from range not from a melee position. When he gets Blade of the Ruined King the lane becomes pretty difficult, go damage like Riftmaker otherwise the game is easy for him.
Personally I hate the matchup, simply because Shen is incredibly strong in SoloQ, a good ult can turn around a game and you can't do much against it. Best is to pick Demolish for when he ults to get as many plates as you can. Use your Teleport to follow him if it's possible or use Realm of Death or Death's Grasp to cancel it. He wins early game and can easily kill you lvl 1, 2 or 3. So let him push, after that you hard counter him and win all fights. He has a really good setup for his jg so be very careful of that. Otherwise it's an easy lane, but Shen is a champion that doesn't care about his lane.
Very good matchup for Mordekaiser, you cancel his Q in Realm of Death and you can cancel it with Death's Grasp, he's tanky but not tanky enough, if you go Liandry's Torment you melt him pretty hard. You win at every stage of the game but early game is his only window to do anything to you as his base damage is high. Be careful about him doing proxy and try to match your tempo with him.
Good matchup for Trundle, if you go Oblivion Orb you can beat him until he hits his Blade of the Ruined King powerspike, after that you need roughly 2 items to match him and beat him consistently. Try to ult when he uses his pillar or zone to get rid of his bonuses. It's not consistent to ult only when he ults.
Even matchup for Morde, early game he beats you hard unless you pick Exhaust so be careful about it but once you get lvl 3 you win short trades easily. Once he's lvl 6 he can dive you if you're low hp, pick Ghost to run away from him when he ults and use your Death's Grasp backwards to push him away from you, or pull him in if he E's away from you. He outscales you eventually but by that time your team can deal with him. Building Zhonya's Hourglass can be good as well for his ultimate.
Good matchup for Mordekaiser but Urgot is stronger early game, once you get Warden's Mail though it becomes a piece of cake, just make sure to avoid getting hit by his sweetspots so walk parallel of him. You win in your ultimate all you have to do is survive until lvl 6 as he can poke you quite a bit and if you take a bad trade even zone you out. He has decent jg setup so as always make sure to track the enemy jungler as it's the only way you can reliably lose the lane.
Unplayable matchup, you just get permashoved and poked under turret, if you get lucky you can pull her in with Death's Grasp while she's in an auto animation and maybe kill her lvl 6 if you go even by doing that. A good vayne will destroy you and you will be stuck farming under turret for 14 minutes of the game. In teamfights she melts you so ult someone else. Go Unsealed Spellbook to get Ghost at lvl 6 if you want to have a chance against her in Realm of Death and full damage. Fated Ashes is a good buy as the burn reveals her during her ultimate.
Skill matchup, go boots and antiheal to avoid his engages and to be able to fight longer fights despite his W heal. He beats you in short trades early so don't take them if he runs at you. He will push you constantly, once you turn level 6 and you poke him out with Obliterate, if he runs at you with Thundering Smash let him, use your E as he runs up and ult when he's in his Q animation so that he can't cancel it with his Stormbringer. Be careful not to take bad trades as he can easily dive you. Be especially careful early game lvl 1 to 3.
The only way you win this is through antiheal, poke with Obliterate (after purchasing Oblivion Orb) and kiting out with Ghost and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. They usually rush Blade of the Ruined King so the reality is you can't really win this lane, but he can't really kill you, tell your jungler to start topside otherwise Warwick will crash wave 3 and go and kill your jungler. He is quickly outscaled in the midgame.
It's favored for Yone and Yasuo but early game there's a lot of things you can do to beat them, first of all let them push in and avoid unnecessary poke or trades. Rush Bramble Vest as it's really strong against them, then Plated Steelcaps. Yone is much stronger than Yasuo, he statchecks you most of the game, you can try to go either full AP or armor to try to beat him but a good Yone destroys you. A good trick vs Yone is using your Death's Grasp as he uses his Q3 to guarantee a hit. You can setup the kills for your jungler with Realm of Death. If Yone ever uses Soul Unbound in your ult, or you used Realm of Death after he used it in the overworld, he won't come back to his ghost until Realm of Death has ended, and you can use it to your advantage. You can avoid Yasuo's Q3 projectile with your ultimate as well.
You easily win lvl 1 so you can crash wave 2, 3 or 4, however avoid his E otherwise his ghouls will deal a ton of your HP, when you get your ultimate you get to play the game, if he uses his cage, you can ult him and easily beat him. Usually they will keep the cage for your ultimate though. If he uses his Maiden in your ult, she disappears after Realm of Death expires. Nashor's Tooth is good here to kill the Ghouls and the cage. Going Unsealed Spellbook page is also good for the mobility in avoiding his E and the cage. He outscales you so eventually his Ghouls are gonna deal an abusrd amount of damage but if you ever get to ult him you melt him.
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