League of Legends: Mordekaiser Builds Guide

Mordekaiser was a warrior and sorcerer who conquered Runeterra, where the capital of his empire became modern-day Noxus. He used arcane methods to bind his soul with his armor and transform into an immortal being, where his only goal is to become the supreme lord of the living and the dead.

Launching in February 2010 and reworked in May 2019, Moderkaiser is a colossus-type magic damage champion, with a great laning phase in most of his matchups. His plan is simple: have an oppressive lane establishing as much pressure as possible, taking down an opponent and/or hindering their access to resources, and given his skills, he is a champion capable of countering a gank by defeating one or more opponents.

Mordekaiser's attack stats are very strong from the beginning of the match, but his resistances are not that good, so be careful not to overextend yourself in a fight until the champion's first power peak, his level 3. At this point, Mordekaiser can perform his role in lane, having damage, magical penetration and a shield from his three skills and passive.

Darkness Rise (P) – His passive is divided into two parts: in innate, Mordekaiser's basic attacks have a 40% bonus that scales with his magic damage, the more skill power he has, the more magic damage his basic attacks will do.

The second part is only activated after landing three attacks or skills on an opponent, or large monsters. While activated, the champion gains 3/6/9% (based on level) bonus movement speed, and an area is created around them that deals 1%-5% damage (based on their level and opponent's maximum health) per second, this damage is reduced on monsters and minions.

As part of its damage is based on the total health of its opponents, this passive is perfect against top lane champions who are mostly tanks and fighters and are forced to add life to their builds and end up suffering more damage.

Despite not being the champion's focus when in group fights, Darkness Rise (P) allows Mordekaiser to generate a lot of damage around him while you focus on a specific target, greatly helping your team's damage per second. This also applies to neutral objectives: whenever you can, try to help your team with them, your passive greatly speeds up the time to reach these targets.

Obliterate (Q) – Mordekaiser delivers a straight line strike, dealing 5-139 damage (based on level) plus 75/95/115/135/155 (+70% of his skill power), this skill deals more damage to isolated targets without the 40/45/50/55/60% bonus damage.

This is an skill to poke your opponent. Use it whenever possible to gradually sap your opponent's life until you feel like you can beat them in a more extended fight. Try to hit your opponent when they are not surrounded by minions to receive the isolated target bonus.

Indestructible (W)- Being divided into three parts, Mordekaiser's second skill begins with a passive that accumulates 45% of the damage dealt and 7.5% of the damage received, this value being lower for damage from non-champions.

The accumulation is indicated in a gray bar just below the character's health, when the skill is released, this bar is reversed into a shield of up to 30% of their maximum health, which decreases by 8-25 every second after not causing or taking damage for one second.

In its third and final part, Indestructible can be reactivated after 0.5 seconds and reverses the shield obtained from healing, being 35/37.5/40/42.5/45% of the amount of shield reversed.

This skill allows Moderkaiser to last much longer in fights and provides some support on the route, the ideal is to always keep his bar full for a prolonged fight, thus mitigating much of the opponent's damage and putting him in a disadvantageous position.

Death's Grasp (E)- This skill's passive grants 5-15% magical penetration based on skill level, it allows Mordekaiser to not need to purchase penetration items and can focus on raw magical power and defenses, along with Darkness Rise (P), it is the reason this champion has such an insane amount of damage.

When activated, Death's Grasp (E) summons a spectral claw in a straight line that pulls the target, vision of the area the claw passes through is also given, then magic damage of 80-140 + 60% of your skill power is dealt to the opponent.

If well-timed, Death's Grasp prevents your opponents from fleeing by bringing them closer. If cast with the cursor very close to Mordekaiser, part of the skill causes the enemy to be pushed instead of pulled if the champion's back is turned, being great if used during an escape. Enter training mode and try a few times to get familiar with this way of using the skill.

Realm of Death (R)- When activated, Morderkaiser points Veil of Night at the target and takes it to a dimension separate from other players for 7 seconds, during the cast the target is slowed by 75% and is revealed while in the another dimension.

10% of the target's maximum health, attack damage, skill power, attack speed, current health, armor, magic resistance and size are stolen, and if it is killed before the skill ends, these statuses are maintained until the opponent respawns.

This skill is very useful for isolating troublesome targets during a fight between teams, but be careful when using it close to objectives, as they are still visible to those within the other dimension, so if you isolate the opposing player, they may end up stealing the goal.

On the other hand, inhibitors and the Nexus are also visible, so it is not very unusual to ultimate a weaker opponent and attack the Nexus while their team is unable to stop you from finishing the match.

Of the objectives on the map, the ones that are most used by Moderkaiser are the Mountain and Cloud Drakes.

Despite having a movement speed buff in one of his passives and an skill to pull opponents, Morderkaiser is a champion with little mobility, the Cloud Drake will help him have more movement speed, while the Mountain Drake will help with resistance.

Mordekaiser has no target abilities outside his ultimate, so getting his abilities right requires dexterity and practice. Having allies that are good initiators so that the champion can apply his damage is very useful, some champions who combine very well with him include Zac, Rammus and Lilia, all three have very efficient crowd control to start a fight, making it easier for Mordekaiser to apply his damage.

Mordekaiser suffers a lot from damage-per-second opponents who can cancel or cannot be affected much by his ultimate. For example, Olaf, Vayne and Fiora - if possible, always ban one of these options.

Olaf's ultimate cancels and makes him immune to crowd controls, thus ending Mordekaiser's ultimate.

In addition to having her W that reflects damage and crowd control, Fiora's kit has damage based on the opponent's life, as well as true damage and a lot of healing, making her a tough opponent for the champion.

Vayne is a long-range champion, has true damage, mobility, invisibility and an skill that moves the opponent away, becoming a huge headache to kill due to dodging and escaping easily.

Morderkaiser wants to stay alive for as long as possible, that give extra health and tank items are very welcome for the champion, as well as magic damage items.

Magic Damage

Rylai's Crystal Scepter- When complete, this item grants 75 skill power and 400 health and its passive, Rimefrost, which slows 30% for a duration of one second every time damage from skills is dealt.

It's a great first item, especially against highly mobile champions, and to make it easier for your skills to hit.

Riftmaker - Riftmaker grants 80 skill power, 350 life and 15 skill acceleration and has two passives: Void Corruption, where for every second in combat, it grants universal vampirism, healing as damage is coused. The second passive, Void Infusion, converts part of the additional health into skill power.

It's a great first if you have no trouble hitting and staying close to the opponent, or as a second item right after Rylai.

Liandry's Torment – Provides 90 skill power and 300 health, with the following passives:

Suffering: Every second in combat, the opponent will receive increased damage.

It is a great second or third item, in the second case, you choose to craft Rifktmaker first, as its effects are similar to Mordekaiser's passives, this item creates a snowball of damage, the longer you survive and maintain the damage per second, the more damage Liandry's Torment will deal to the opponent.

Resistances

Mordekaiser wants to survive as long as possible, his skills help with this objective, but often, it is good to protect himself a little and guarantee solid defenses to continue the game, some good items are:

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JaK’Sho, The Protean – Offers both 50 armor, 50 magic resistance and 300 health. His passive, Voidborn Resilience, increases resistance as the champion enters combat.

Items of this nature are great for Morderkaiser and help him have very long exchanges. Recommended as the fourth item, or as the second if you are in a very difficult match.

Spirit Visage – Great item against enemies with magic damage, giving us 450 life, 60 magic resistance, 10 skill acceleration and 100% base life regeneration.

The passive Boundless Vitality increases the efficiency of shields and healing received by 25%, greatly enhancing the capacity of Indestructible or healing items. It is recommended to be made from the fourth or fifth item; however, we can buy it earlier if the opponent is causing more damage than you can deal with.

Dead Man's Cuirass – Grants 300 health, 45 armor and 5% movement speed, this item has Shipwrecker, where while moving, it accumulates additional movement speed and its next attack discharges the accumulated movement speed to deal physical damage, and Unsinkable, which reduces slow effects.

This item is usually the fourth or fifth to be made when having difficulty reaching the opponent because the target is very slow.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed our guide, and it helped you get a good idea of how to play Morderkaiser. And if you want to read another of our guides, check out our build recommendations for Nasus!