Skill usage Edit

• Mordekaiser's can make excellent use of his  Iron Man shield at all stages of the game, from absorbing harassment to giving powerful survivability during team fights, letting him stay in the field longer than most other champions. However, keep in mind that spamming skills will result in consistently low health without sufficient health regeneration or spell vamp.
  • When Mordekaiser's health falls below the cost necessary to use a skill, his health will drain to 1 HP. Any subsequent spell casts will bring him down to 1 HP, meaning that he cannot kill himself through his own abilities. Keep this in mind if you are confronted when at extremely low health, as you may still be able to survive through absorbing damage with your  Iron Man shield.
  • While you can block damage with your shield during laning, it is generally wiser to farm very conservatively during the early game instead, as Mordekaiser lacks any form of escape mechanism and pushing the lane in order to charge your shield increases the risk of an opposing gank.
  •  Creeping Death is usually the best ability to gain shield health, due to its consistent AoE damage.
• Mordekaiser's large array of damaging AoE abilities lends him to be a formidable teamfighter. His  Iron Man shield is a powerful asset, letting him remain in combat for extended periods as long as he makes constant use of his abilities.
  •  Children of the Grave should primarily be cast on strong autoattackers (particularly the opposing carry) in order to maximise your damage output and maintain your shield, but do not be afraid to use it on lesser champions in order to secure a kill.
    • However, avoid casting  Children of the Grave on champion clones or champions with death-preventing abilities (ex. Guardian Angel), as the ability will only be wasted.
  •  Creeping Death does not necessarily have to be cast on yourself. It can often be more beneficial to cast it on an initiating tank, who will greatly enjoy the increased resistances and may often be in a better position to damage multiple opponents with the AoE, helping you build your shield more quickly.
• Mordekaiser's abilities offer different quirks depending on which is prioritized for leveling.
  • Leveling up  Siphon of Destruction gives you the ability to poke and is excellent for absorbing harassment due to building up his shield. Its health cost can become prohibitive at later ranks, however, leading to consistently low health if it is recklessly spammed.
  • Leveling up  Mace of Spades gives him exceptional damage if he finds himself regularly exchanging autoattacks with his opponent, as it resets his autoattack timer. This is especially so if the target is isolated. It offers practically nothing against strong ranged poke, however.
  •  Creeping Death is Mordekaiser's most damaging basic ability, giving him an advantage in prolonged duels, and the AoE lets him push and farm creep waves with extreme impunity. As it pushes the lane so strongly, however, it should be carefully used in lane to avoid inviting jungler ganks.
• Like most other secondary units, the soul you've stolen with  Children of the Grave can be controlled using Alt + Right Click. However, unlike most secondary units, your ghost acts as an allied champion, and will be affected by abilities that can only target champions, such as  Wish,  Requiem, and  Infinite Duress.
  • The ghost from  Children of the Grave can also be used to block Caitlyn's  Ace in the Hole, the primary damage/effect of Ashe's  Enchanted Crystal Arrow, or Graves's  Collateral Damage.
• Try and wait until your target is fairly low health before casting  Children of the Grave, as most people will run when they see they have the debuff on them.
• The combination of Ignite and  Children of the Grave is deadly to almost any wounded enemy.
  • If you do choose to use Ignite, keep in mind that its range is much shorter than  Children of the Grave, and so you should try to use it first. This also has the added bonus of triggering the effect of the Summoner's Wrath mastery - using Ignite first gives a bonus 5 ability power, causing  Children of the Grave to do more damage.
• Mordekaiser's ghost will attract tower aggro first, but if it attacks a champion while you are in range, you will become the new target. If you cast  Creeping Death on the ghost and it hurts an enemy champion, you will draw aggro instead of the ghost. Be wary of this when attempting to tower dive weakened enemies.
• The same virtues that let Mordekaiser teamfight effectively also lets him farm and push extremely quickly.
  • Mordekaiser is very capable of taking a solo lane against two enemy champions while maintaining his farming income, as his kit lets him easily freeze the lane at an comfortable point while simultaneously harassing his opponents. With a sufficient level advantage, he can even fight a 2v1 and obtain a double kill with his ultimate.
  • Mordekaiser's strong pushing ability can be an asset during laning by letting him roam effectively - he can quickly push the lane to his opponent's tower, and then leave to either assist another lane or farm the jungle for additional gold.
  • Although his kit is better utilised in a teamfight, Mordekaiser can also act as a reasonable split pusher due to his sheer wave clearing speed. As always, it should be ensured that you do not run the risk of becoming a victim of a gank.
• Take advantage of the fact that many people underestimate Mordekaiser's damage once he gets his ultimate. When combined with Ignite and his other abilities, he can burst down and enslave enemies who get in range of him deceptively easily.
• Mordekaiser is a powerful duelist, due to his  shield, the natural spell vamp from  Children of the Grave, the bonus armor and constant damage from  Creeping Death and the greatly increased damage on  Mace of Spades.

Build usage Edit

• Early purchases of items that can refund the health cost of Mordekaiser's abilities should be strongly considered.
  • A Hextech Revolver bought during laning can greatly increase Mordekaiser's sustainability and lets him harass more freely, in addition to increasing the damage of all of his spells and improving his shield generation.
    • Later in the game, it can be upgraded into a Will of the Ancients, Hextech Gunblade or Spirit of the Spectral Wraith for further improved spell vamp. A Will of the Ancients provides more ability power for his spells and a team-enhancing aura, whereas a Spirit of the Spectral Wraith grants useful cooldown reduction. Hextech Gunblade has both an extremely useful active CC which Mordekaiser greatly appreciates, and attack damage, boosting the damage of  Mace of Spades significantly.
  • A more defensively-oriented build may opt for the significant regeneration provided by a Warmog's Armor or the armor-providing Emblem of Valor. Warmog's Armor offers Mordekaiser a lot of extra health and an Emblem can help him support allies and can later be upgraded into the powerful pushing item Banner of Command, which also provides ability power.
• Health items should not be overlooked. Armor and magic resistance will make Mordekaiser's  Iron Man shield more effective, but without the addition of a health item or two, he will remain rather fragile.
  • Common items include Rylai's Crystal Scepter (to add needed CC to his abilities while also increasing his magic damage) and Sunfire Cape (which stacks well with  Creeping Death, in addition to armor it provides).
• As Mordekaiser has no form of CC whatsoever, items that can help prevent him from being kited easily are important. Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Hextech Gunblade and Twin Shadows all provide itemized CC for him and their own unique benefits. A Randuin's Omen can help prevent him from being kited by autoattackers by slowing them on hit and augments his survivability enormously.
• A lot of Mordekaiser's magical damage comes from the base damage on his spells, as his ability power ratios are fairly low. Consider prioritizing magic penetration and cooldown reduction over pure AP. This is doubly important on Mordekaiser as increased offensive prowess directly translates to improved survivability through his  Iron Man shield.
  • An Abyssal Scepter is a very useful item for Mordekaiser, as his short range means he can usually take full advantage of its magic resistance-reducing aura as well as providing some of its own.
  • Stacking magic penetration runes and early Sorcerer's Shoes allows Mordekaiser to harass much better and obtain early kills more efficiently, and can still help during late game against those champions who do not have any magic resistance above 30. The full power of Mordekaiser's ultimate can be extremely devastating to squishies.
  • An early Haunting Guise grants health, magic penetration, and a small amount of ability power which greatly improves his midgame performance. Later on, it may be upgraded into a Liandry's Torment or Blackfire Torch depending on the map. Blackfire Torch in particular stacks extremely well with Mordekaiser's  Children of the Grave, to lethal effect, as both will burn the target for a percentage of their maximum health every second.
  • For sources of cooldown reduction, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Deathfire Grasp and Spirit Visage are three powerful sources. Purchasing the boots allows gold to be reallocated to more useful items for Mordekaiser's build, but a Deathfire pairs well with  Children of the Grave by shredding a percentage of the target's maximum health, in addition to greatly improving his overall output with the 20% damage amplification. A Spirit Visage has a great synergy with  Children of the Grave and with spell vamp, giving him more health and sustainability to aid him. Cooldown reduction runes can be used in lieu of these items if they are deemed unsuitable.
• Rabadon's Deathcap is a practically a necessity for any high damage Mordekaiser build due to the massive boost to ability power it provides.
• Despite having no mana, buying a Lich Bane or Sheen on Mordekaiser can cause him to deal very high damage with  Mace of Spades due to the autoattack consuming the proc immediately. Note that the ability converts Sheen's proc into magic damage.

Recommended builds Edit

Summoner's Rift recommended items
Starting	5
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Proving Grounds recommended items
Starting		2	4
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Crystal Scar recommended items
Starting		3	2
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Twisted Treeline! recommended items
Starting
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

Countering. Edit

• Move away from the minion wave when facing Mordekaiser, as his shield generation from  Iron Man makes him a formidable opponent.
  • Be wary of dueling him, as his  Mace of Spades deals more damage against lone targets.
• Stack magic resistance to mitigate all of Mordekaiser's damage.
  • It is also advised not to stack health when facing Mordekaiser as it increases the damage, and the heal he will get from  Children of the Grave
• Take note that Mordekaiser is one of the few champions who doesn't have any crowd control.
• Be extremely careful about dueling Mordekaiser as the damage from  Mace of Spades is very high,  Siphon of Destruction has very short cooldown,  Creeping Death has constant damage and  Children of the Grave will deliver massive damage and heal Mordekaiser.
• Mordekaiser is extremely resilient to pokes because of his shield.
• The pet that Mordekaiser gets from  Children of the Grave is considered a champion. It can not be affected by abilities that target only minions. That also means all abilities that target only champions will work on the pet as well.
• While Cleanse does not remove the  Children of the Grave debuff, a Quicksilver Sash will. You can use the active part of the item to remove the debuff and denying Mordekaiser his pet and kill.
• Mordekaiser's pet benefits from the items the respective champion buys. Therefore the respective champion should not buy anything before the pet dies.
• If Mordekaiser buys items like Sunfire Cape, Lich Bane or Hextech Gunblade he is a lot more dependent on getting into melee range. Keeping up range between Mordekaiser and yourself will help a lot.
• If Mordekaiser builds mostly heavy damage items such as Rabadon's Deathcap, Lich Bane, or Deathfire Grasp he can easily be focused down. If he goes for purely defensive items such as Warmog's Armor or Thornmail his damage will remain rather low, making it easy to ignore him with some Magic resistance.
• Be very careful when Mordekaiser hits level 6, as  Children of the Grave combines with his other abilities deals massive damage, and the health regeneration from  Children of the Grave will give him a heavy advantage in prolonged fights.
• While low level you can counter Mordekaiser's  Children of the Grave with health potion.
• Commit to taking Mordekaiser down.  Iron Man can easily drain away, but will block quick pokes. Crowd control effects such as a silence or stun will also prevent him from growing his shield back for a short time.
• Mordekaiser can become surprisingly tanky when surrounded by enemies, as his  Creeping Death will constantly heal him and refresh his shield, while  Mace of Spades and  Siphon of Destruction will constantly allow him to deal nice damage.  Children of the Grave can also grant him a constant amount of healing, especially when enemies with high Health or low Magic Resist are targetted. Champions like Ashe or Zyra can easily keep their distance from him but also continue to damage him in the process.