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Mordekaiser S13 Guide for Top (Patch 13.7)

How to gigachad your way through the enemy Nexus

surelynottop

March 30th, 2023 ⸱ 12 min read







Hello everyone,I'm surelynottop,a Middle Elo Mordekaiser main who loves experimenting, Off-meta and variety on my main,Mordekaiser. I've played him in Top,Mid and Jungle (also done a Jungle guide,if you wanna check it out)for about 300 games last season,and now I'm here to share my knowledge to all of you,so you can become the Mordekaiser Toplane we may not need,but surely one we deserve.

This guide will uncover all the possible knowledge there is about

Mordekaiser
,his strenghts,weaknesses,interactions with champions, laning phase and midgame. There'll be some mentions about late game,which i'll share down below. For now,enjoy the guide <3



What is Mordekaiser?



Mordekaiser
's identity can be summarised in two ways: a healthy,oppressiv frontline, or a Isolator,focusing on one specific champion and removing him from a fight for several seconds. He has both great dueling potential and skirmish sustained damage thanks to his Q,
Obliterate
,and passive,
Darkness Rise
. Even when not building AP ,he's capable of considerable damage,as long as he hits the isolated Q during trades.



What are his strenghts?

He's a relatively healthy champion, with enough health and resists to build both AP and tank items and get benefits with ease. He has a good variety of items and runes,letting him adapt to the matchups,game state,and triumph. His damage scales with levels on both

Obliterate
and
Darkness Rise
,so he doesn't need to go full AP.



Indestructible
's shield is a strong resource,that if used wisely, will let you win lane easily.

if paired with

Rylai's Crystal Scepter
and
Morellonomicon
,he's able to constantly apply staus effects while fighting multiple opponents. This will greatly help you win skirmishes,if given occasion.

Lastly,he's a great tank shredder,with his passive damage being %max health too,thus letting him shred through the frontline.



What about his weaknesses?

He's a very slow champion at the first levels, having to rely on his

Death's Grasp
to engage,and
Realm of Death
to all in. These problems solves with levels,as the passive movespeed scales with levels, but he has more problems.

His cooldowns are hefty early game too,with all of his spells having a minimum of 9 seconds,up to 18 seconds (Q and E respectively). He's able to land good damage with a full combo,but if you miss, you'll be forced to stay back or give up health.



Realm of Death
, even if it looks like a strong ultimate, has major problems. It's easily cleansable by
Quicksilver Sash
,
Remove Scurvy
,
Ragnarok
and it's easily countered by unstoppable spells. This includes
Ragnarok
(again),
Unstoppable Force
,
Unstoppable Onslaught
,
Jaws of the Beast
,and so much more. Unless you're ahead,it's a crucial spell to use. Walls also can be a issue,as ulting in places such river may cut off you and your opponent with
Flash
,so be wise on when to use it.



When should you be pick Mordekaiser?

I'd say you can pick him most games in low elo,but the higher you go,the higher the chance you'll get a counter champ,mobile team,or QSS'd (

Quicksilver Sash
'd) in your games.



How well do his abilities scale?

Great,but not that great. They scale this way:

- Q scales with champion levels and rank-up levels,meaning the higher your level the higher the damage. (isolation damage ramps up from 1.4x to .6x,and then flat damage scales linearly with levels and rank ups)

-W scales on % heals on consume and cooldowns. Rank up last,it's not worth investing.

-E scales his cooldown,%magic penetration and damage. Goes from 5% to 15%, and cooldown from 18 seconds,to 10. Damage scales similarly to Q.

- R scales off on cooldown. Niche scaling,worth investing.

Is there any tips on how to use Mordekaiser abilities?

There are a lot of ways for sure! I'll list them down below:



Beginner tips

-

Obliterate
damage scales with both AP and champion level,so you can easily scale the isolated Q damage with ! AP item and max Q level.

-

Indestructible
cooldown starts as soon as the shield expires. To let it start sooner,you can rapidly press the ability again to heal and have it quicker by about 4 seconds.

-

Death's Grasp
can be used to pull enemies away if you target it behind you. This is used to disengage,but also with some other ultimate interactions.

-

Realm of Death
will not be cast if you lose vision of the target. That's why we use ignite,for the vision. Otherwise,put a ward in a bush the enemy is entering.



Advanced tips

-

Obliterate
hitbox is slightly bigger at the edges,much like
Aatrox
's
The Darkin Blade
. Use it for better poking enemies in lane and to land isolated Qs.

-

Indestructible
activation lets you cancel the autoattack recovery animation after a hit,doable twice. Use it to throw your opponent off tempo during a trade and to hide if you're continuing the trade or not.

- You can cancel

Death's Grasp
animation by doing a Q and follow up with E as soon as you can. It will not cancel the effect of the hand,but may make your opponent fall into it with the Q recovery animation.

-

Realm of Death
will instantly steal any HP your opponent has,as well as AD,resists,AS and AP. If you manage to hit someone during a stat-boost ability,you can steal stats and make them weaker while enhancing yourself.



Mastery tips

-You can

Flash
while using
Obliterate
,letting you do surprise kills,moving while casting to dodge abilities,and moving the hitbox to adjust yourself for the blow.

-

Indestructible
benefits from all kinds of bonuses and negatives of shields: can be shattered by Renekton empowered W,Rell Q and the reduction of
Serpent's Fang
. use the shields only after absorbing a key ability or counting on the items they got too.

-

Death's Grasp
will pull from some thin walls,including drake ones. Use it to isolate some enemies if needed,or to change the distance from you and them wihout ghosting or flashing.

-

Realm of Death
will change the distance between you and the border depending on how close you're to the opponent. If you manage to pull them towards you or behind you,you'll have more space while your opponent less.
Ghost
will help you get closer to pulling,as well as your passive.



Summary scheme

Quick Mordekaiser AP ADC Build

Summoner Spells

Starting Items

Best Overall Build

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Matchups: Threats & Synergies



Threats:

0

0

0

0





Midgame strategy

For Mordekaiser,Midgame is where you shine,as your scalings will be stronger during level 9 and 13. Your focus here will be to help teamfights,by isolating a specific carry,or to gain the enemy attention after you got your lead,by pushing or dueling someone. You've a low tower damage,but you can compensate by farming,stealing the enemy jungle,and forcing fights.

One thing you can also do,if game lets you,is doing solo heralds while your top is busy and the enemy jungler is too. Even after the jungle reverts,you still have coonsiderable monster damage to heralds,taking about 15-25 seconds to finish it,up to 40 if your jungler doesn't come. Be sure though that the enemy thinks you've recalled,to increase the chances of not being interrupted.

One important note is to never trade time of a losing laner with yours,as while being fed you can do things better and more efficiently. a 4/0 Mordekaiser will always push more than a 0/4 tryndamere.

After having leveled your Q and bought at least 60 AP,you can do a Q-E into a wave and clear it of all caster minions.



Late game

This is where you maye troubles or not,depending on the enemy teamcomp. But usually,I'll guarantee it's very punishing to die in late game. And given how more time passes,most people will buy a quicksilver,it's better to win the games before everyone finishes scaling. Yours ended midgame at 13,as:

-Your passive fully scaled at 13,

-Your Q at 9,

-Your E at 13.

Isolating someone for 7 seconds it's a huge deal late,as everyone dies in a maximum of 10 seconds. If you can't,hope for a good engage and follow up for a clean-up.



Runes



Mordekaiser
's standard rune page will consist in the blank down below. He's flexible to all matchups cause of the variety these 2 trees provide.



Conqueror
is the standard for 99% of your games,gives more damage the more you fight. Easy,simple,and effective.



Triumph
explains itself alone. If you go
Overheal
you're a psychopath.

Legend runes will vary on the game itself. If there's a lot of CC,you'll go for

Legend: Tenacity
,otherwise
Legend: Alacrity
will be better.



Last Stand
Works as good as
Coup de Grace
. Swicth between them depending on the amount of damage that you'll receive. If low,coup the grace helps finishing,otherwise last stand helps in trades and all-ins.

Green runes completely vary on the game itself and laner.



Second Wind
is when against heavy poke.



Conditioning
is for scaling,midgame enters and jak-sho scales better too. Good rune but not worth against most laners.



Revitalize
should go almost all games for the
Indestructible
value it provides.



Unflinching
it's for those laners that have a lot of CC but the game itself doesn't.
Maokai
is a example of that.



Shield Bash
will be used when you have to take short trades,and it's used with
Revitalize
to have a extra bit of potential.



Overgrowth
is rarely used,useful only against scaling laners that interact rarely. (
Nasus
is a example)

You can also take some blue ones,such as

Celerity
,but that's more specific,and also personal preferences.

I'll show you the stock rune page,with some examples.

  • Main Rune Page
  • Sion Rune Page
  • Ranged Top Classic
  • Ranged top Option

Summoner Spells & Items Loadout

I wouldn't suggest running

Flash
on mordekaiser. 5 mins CD is hefty,and it's occasional use. Ghost is way more reliable.

Ignite is for healing laners or ones you need to put pressure ,such as

Aatrox
,
Warwick
and
Nasus
.



Exhaust
is for ones such as
Olaf
and
Fiora
,which can kill you in seconds.



Barrier
is very occasional and should be used when unfamiliar with a offmeta champion.



Cleanse
is for laners who have one crucial spell who lets them win very easily,and you're unfamiliar or unpractical with the opponent (
Fiora
comes to mind,with her
Riposte
)





Of the items build,here's the best in-slot you can take.

  • Summoners
  • Build Order

Skill Path

Never changes. Against some laners you might take W second if you feel insecure.

  • Path 1

Mordekaiser

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The forbidden Mordekaiser build.

This build is very rarely used,cause of the conditions needed to use it prior. But if the stars align,you may have one of the funniest yet satisfying games ever.

If you're not interested in fun builds,I suggest you scroll down to the last section.





















Still here? I like you. Let's go over it.

  • New Group

I'm pretty sure you're wondering: "Why would I build support items on a bruiser?"

Well,first requisite is for the enemy team to have at least 3 AP enemies,for having it to work. Second,support items are very cheap, and anathema too. This lets you finish build way sooner.

Third, the %heals and shields are cumulative. This means the more we get,the more it stacks. With this we can easily get 2000+ shields,1200+ heals from the second cast of

Indestructible
,some AP thanks to
Riftmaker
mythic passive,and all the bruisers stats we need: health,cooldown reductions,and resists. Also,riftmaker omnivamp will be VERY high cause of the amplifications provided by the %heal increases.
Randuin's Omen
and
Anathema's Chains
will negate the remaining AD, and
Spirit Visage
and
Mikael's Blessing
, will provide 100 magic resist.

Give it a try and have fun in normals,if you like it,bring it to ranked. <3with items and allied champions.



Interactions with items and champions.

  • Items
  • Champions







If you made it this far,congratulations! you now understand how Mordekaiser lanes correctly and plays in teamfights. But remember,is up to you to learn the best Mordekaiser experience. Take your time,do mistakes,make the enemies do mistakes,and enjoy your games. See you in Ranked games! <3



MordekaiserTop
AUTHOR
surelynottop
ABOUT

Middle elo Mordekaiser OTP,who uncovers all strategies,interactions and matchups to guarantee the best Mordekaiser experience you can,offering in-depth guides<3

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