Mordekaiser is a really good duelist thanks to his stat stealing ultimate and tank shreder because of his max hp dmg passive. Morde is really good pick into tank teamcomps and champions that fights in melee range. Mordekaiser has built-in bonus movement speed from passive basically allows you to stick close to enemy but if it's not enough Mordekaiser also got his ultimate to lock down opponent. Generally speaking you want to go Spellbook and/or build rylais if the enemy has more ranged/mobile champs. If there are enough melee or immobile enemies to fight you go conq and don't need to build rylais.

This is probably the single highest skill ceiling that morde has. And imo it is one of the highest skill ceilings in the game. In lower elo it's fine to just ult whoever comes into ult range, kill him and use the stats gained to fight afterwards. But in high elo deciding who and when to ult will win and lose you games. Here are some general rules to keep in mind for teamfights:


1. Is there a very fed enemy who is their win condition?

can your team kill him without you?
can you kill him in your ult?

If you can kill him in ult but your team can't, this is your number 1 ult
target,ulting anyone else is trolling. It can also be fine to ult him even if you aren't sure if you can kill him, if this enables your team to win the rest of the teamfight and collapse after your ult ends. You can ulse use zhonyas to just keep him and yourself alive in ult until your team collapses.

2. Do you have a fed carry on your team who is the win condition?

does he need protection?
can you protect him?
are you the only frontline?

If all your gold is on your adc but the enemy has a diver or assassin, it can be very good to just sit by your adc and as soon as you see the zed for example go onto him, ult him and he is just screwed because he likely used mobility to go in so you get a free kill and your adc can play safely. An exception here is kha'zix. Don't ult that guy. Do keep in mind that if you are the only frontliner it is more important to be in front of your team so they can play. You can really screw your team over by ulting the enemy adc for example and allowing enemy diana, nautilus and camille to just dive into the rest of your team.

3. Are you fed and the win condition?

Is there an enemy you need ult to kill?
Is there a high cc champ or enchanter that will prevent you from being able to play?
Do you need ult to escape a collapse on you?


Very often it can be worth to just ult the enemy support like nautilus or seraphine. These champs make it impossible to play teamfights as morde because you are constantly cc'ed or slowed by them and they protect their carries. They are also free kills and guaranteed stats. Often valuable stats as well since supports usually build full tank or ap. If you are getting collapsed on by the enemy team its important to ult the first target you can get your hands on to buy as much time as possible for yourself and your team and maybe turn the fight around.

4. Is there an objective fight like baron or dragon?

In this case almost always ult enemy jungler. That way he can't smite and your team will most likely pick up the objective.

5. Are you really behind and can't fight anyone?

Either ult the weakest enemy like the support or go zhonyas and just buy time for your team by ulting the biggest enemy threat.

6. Can you dodge an important ability?

There are a lot of effects that do not follow into the death realm. Some are known well like yoricks maiden or illaoi's tentacles. But there are also rarer ones like syndra ult or tf card. It can be worth to ult in a split second decision to dodge some of these. I will cover these interactions in the next section.

work in progress

Effects that don't follow into the death realm are usually placed effects like a GP barrel, nasus E, akali shroud or summons like annie tibbers. I will not mention these but rather in the matchups.


Then there are some secret/rare interactions that only work by good reaction time:

Twisted fate pick a card. If you ult him when he throws the card it disappears and will not hit you. This counts for all projectiles if you fast enough and the projectile is slow enough.

Syndra ult is another example of this. The first balls might hit you but the latter ones will not, seriously cutting her dmg short.

Tahm Kench ult can be canceled by ulting him right as he ults you. It will put his ult on cooldown. Tricky to pull off.

Sylas's morde ult will transfer you to morde's death realm if it is active so it will be 2vs2 for a few seconds (and the other way round)

Karthus ult does not transfer to death realm.

Using R on a Sion during his Q charge will make it miss you in the Death Realm. No damage or knock up. I'm pretty sure it actually hits in the normal realm when it happens.

Using R right before a turret shot hits you makes it miss, but the same will happen on an ally turret shooting an enemy.

R health increase (for mord) is actually a HEAL, so it is increased by stuff like revitalize, spirit visage, chemtech drakes, supports, etc. This can safe your life if you are low.

Ulting champs after they have gotten a big stats buff can be really good. For example lethal tempo users once they stacked it (actually gives a LOT of attack speed, don't underestimate it), ulting Darius when he gets passive, Jax, Nasus, aatrox, Renekton after they used their ult.