is an underrated champion. He deals a lot of damage and has deceptive amounts of sustain. Which is balanced by the fact that he has no built in cc or mobility. The biggest problem with him is that if he gets too far behind he has a very hard time getting back into the game, and that he has no form of engage.

For summoners flash should be your first spell since mordekaiser has no escapes. Second spell is usually exhaust or ignite depending on how easy lane will be. Teleport is another possibility though usually it's taken when your lane opponent can harass you a lot.

Runes are Sorcery with Precision.

SORCERY:

Keystone rune1- Phase rush:
This is stormraiders but easier to use to stick to enemies or disengage after short trades.

Keystone rune2- Summon Aery:
This is a replacement for deathfire. It also provides a bit of utility since it shields the person you W.

1a)Nimbus Cloak:
This rune gives you sticking power when you ult someone, or lets you escape if your ult is used defensively.

1b)Nullifying orb:
A good rune vs tough magic damage matchups


2b)Transcendence:
Cdr helps mord scale better later on.

3a)Gathering Storm:
This will help you scale up later in the game.

3b)Scorch:
This is a good rune in a game where you want early pressure.

SECONDARY SETS:

PRECISION:

Triumph:
Mordekaiser has no escapes outside of flash so you will find yourself 2v1 because of ganks often and your ult can turn these fights in your favor so the health regain will help you survive to escape or fight if you kill someone.

Legend: Tenacity:
Mordekaisers biggest weaknesses are cc and getting kitted this mastery will help with cc.

RESOLVE:

1a)Shield Bash:
This rune gives morde a lot of free damage because his passive lets him prock it multiple times in a fight.

1b)Demolish:
This rune gives great pushing power since morde builds a combination of health and damage.Pick only in a coordinated team where you can use drake and herald together for imense pushing power.

Second Wind:
This rune gives you sustain in a poke lane.

Revitalize:
This rune increases your healing and shield generation, two of mords greatest strenghts.

Shards:

Shards heavily depend on matchups.

ITEMS:

Doran's Shield
this is the best starting item for Mordekaiser. The extra health and regeneration let him use his spells more since he uses health as a resource.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter
This is a must buy on Mordekaiser. Even if you are going full tank always buy this, without the slow the enemy can easily escape since morde has the lowest base movement speed in the game.

Hextech Gunblade
This item is good since Mordekaiser scales with both ap and ad, and the passive heal means that Mordes abilities have no cost if you land them, and it ads to his burst combo. Generally built in games where you need more burst.

Sheen
Sheen items are great on Mordekaiser because he has realy high base ad. The cdr also helps him use abilities more to charge his shield.

Sterak's Gage
This will give Morde more survivability with the passive shield and tenacity, mordes passive shield also scales with max hp.


Boots of Speed

Boots depend on both ally and enemy team comp.

Boots of Swiftness
Since you have the lowest base movement speed in the game they will get you in on the level of other characters in terms of movement speed. The slow reduction is nice as well.


Ionian Boots of Lucidity
These boots you buy if your team has a lot of hard cc. The cdr is great since it lets you use your abilities more to fill up your shield.

Mercury's Treads
These boots you buy if the enemy team has a lot of cc. There really isn't much more to it.


Rabadon's Deathcap
After the changes to it the item it is now viable in certain situations.


Seeker's Armguard
It is a good idea to rush this if the enemy laner does a lot of physical damage. You can sell it latter or finish depending on how well you are doing.

Morellonomicon

The changes to this item have finally give morde one of the things he lacks, grevious wound aplications. It now gives magic pen and health so it is a recommended item.

Passive



Iron Man

Mordekaiser shields himself for 25% of the damage dealt by his abilities, halved to 12.5% against enemy minion and capped at 25% maximum health.
After a 1.5 seconds delay, Iron Man's shield decays at a rate of 1.5% base health per second down to a minimum of 「 6.25% maximum health 」.

This is what makes Mordekaiser what he is. It gives him great survivability and makes it almost impossible to burst him down with just one champion.

Q Mace of Spades



ACTIVE: Mordekaisers next three basic attacks deal bonus magic damage. The third hit is the damage of the previous two combined.

This is Mordekaisers hardest hitting ability. It has insanely high scaling for both ap and ad and the ad scaling rises with the ability level. A general strategy in lane is to use the first two hits on minions and the third hit on the enemy. This ability is the main reason why is so good on Mordekaiser, just remember to save an ability to prock it on the third hit. You will always max this ability second.

W Harvesters of Sorrow



PASSIVE: Mordekaiser gains bonus experience when killing a minion near allies equal to 50% of the experience he lost due to them being there, which totals at 82.6 / 71.73 / 66.3 / 63.04 / 60.87% of the minion's experience bounty.
ACTIVE - FIRST CAST: Mordekaiser targets an allied champion or minion and for the next 4 seconds they gain 75 bonus movement speed while moving towards each other, which lingers for 1.5 seconds. When near enough to each other, each deal magic damage in an area of effect around themselves every second for the duration (melee and caster minions have a smaller AoE). Harvester of Sorrow ends if Mordekaiser or his ally dies.

For the next 4 seconds, Mordekaiser can reactivate Harvester of Sorrow to end its primary effects and trigger a secondary effect, which triggers automatically at the end of the duration. If activated while no allies are nearby, Mordekaiser will highlight an area around him and can reactivate the ability as normal. The first ally to come in range will automatically gain the effect, too.
Harvester of Sorrow 2
ACTIVE - SECOND CAST: Mordekaiser constricts the area, dealing magic damage to all enemies near himself and his ally as well as healing himself and his ally for the same amount, from up to 2 enemies hit in their respective areas. Healing is reduced to 25% when harvesting minions.

This ability is very useful it helps keep you alive and the heal is surprisingly powerful letting you survive unfavorable fights easier and it makes ganking you harder. It also works as a gap closer and you can use it on a minion to get to lane faster. A good way to use it is to throw it on your initiator, it will let you follow up easier and it will heal him as weal with the second activation. Max this ability first for the lane sustain.


E Siphon of Destruction



ACTIVE: Mordekaiser deals magic damage to all enemies in a cone in the target direction.
For each enemy champion hit, Mordekaiser generates a bonus percentage of Iron Man shield.
BONUS SHIELD: 15 / 17.5 / 20 / 22.5 / 25%

This Ability is your only ranged ability its is good for wave clear and harass. The damage is OK and the % shield gain is nice. You usually max this ability last because the % shield gain is best in team fights later in the games. The only exception is if you are lanning against poke champions in which case you should prioritise this ability to poke them back and shield from their poke.

R Children of the Grave



PASSIVE - DRAGON FORCE: Mordekaiser's basic attacks and abilities Curse the Dragon Dragon for 10 seconds.

ACTIVE: Mordekaiser blasts the target enemy champion, dealing magic damage as well as Cursing them for the next 10 seconds. Cursed champions take magic damage every second, with Mordekaiser healing for 100% of the damage dealt by the initial blast and the Curse.

CURSE: If Mordekaiser's team scores a takedown on a Cursed enemy, he temporarily enslaves their soul as a controllable ghost. Enslaving the Dragon Dragon will kill Mordekaiser's current ghost and prevent him from summoning a new one while it survives.
GHOST DURATION: 45 / 60 / 75

SECOND ACTIVE: While a ghost is active, Children of the Grave can be used to move them to the target location.

Champion ghosts gain 100% of Mordekaiser's bonus AD as bonus AD and 15% of Mordekaiser's maximum health as bonus health, and while Mordekaiser has a champion enslaved he gains 25% of their bonus health as bonus health and 30% of their AP as bonus AP. Dragon ghosts gain bonus range and modified movement speed.

BONUS ATTACK RANGE: 0 / 75 / 150
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: -50 / 0 / +50

This ult is incredibly powerful and can single handedly decide team fights. Use it on auto attack champions, keep in mind that the ghost keeps all on hit effects and gains Mordekaisers as well, this will influence who you should use it on. Don't be afraid to use it defensively to, the life steal can save you if you are in danger. If the enemy team has Braum ulting him can be a good idea in team fights since his passive counts as an on hit effect. Try timing dragon with rift herald for maximum pushing power.

Mordekaiser generally has an easy time farming since his abilities cost health. Since two of his basic abilities are AoE he pushes lane hard which is a double edged sword, he normally reaches his level2 power spike earlier than his lane opponent and can easily push the wave under tower to make the enemy lose cs. But this also makes him prone to getting ganked so warding is important. Make sure to buy red wards as much as possible. Something to note is that if you are going up against auto attack heavy champions like Master Yi, Tryndamire, Yasuo etc. killing them with your ultimate will most likely result in a very early tower kill, at which point you should look to push in lane and go take dragon and help the other lanes. Keep in mind though that your lane opponent also has great pushing power so make sure to have someone keep watch on top lane.

In team fights your job is to burst down the enemy carry with your ultimate at which point the fight will most likely be won. Mordekaiser does well in teams that have lots of hard cc that will let him unleash his full combo easier, preferably someone with good engage like Leona, Nautilus or Thresh.

In summary Mordekaiser is a powerful champ who can in the right hands completely dominate games, but he is prone to getting kited and lots of hard cc will stop him from doing anything. Though he relies on team comps somewhat, he more than makes up for it with his great team fighting potential, and pushing power.

Pros:
-good sustain
-high damage output
-good siege power
-can turn a fight into a 6v4

Tons:
-no mobility
-short range
-no cc
-easy to kite