I decided to do some math to create some perspective. I hope you like it.
I won't show all of the math done and it won't be the best organized post you've ever seen because i'm not a very organized person.
I think this is a fairly basic Morde build, suited for most situations as a burst mage, so i'll be using this in my calculations.
This build gets Morde 562 AP and 30% CDR. He has 2366 Health.
Damage on Q without further dmg mitigation: 484 when hit on multiple targets and 775 on a single target.
Shield Generation on Q:
35% of the dmg dealt is converted into a shield: 271 on a single target and 169 per target when hit on multiple targets
How it was on the PBE: 4% of his max HP (if or if not per target I don't know for sure but it would make sense if it was per target so that is what I'm using): 95 Shield per target hit.
Damage on W: 198 per tic per target.
Shield Generation on W: 69 (hue) shield value.
PBE: 1% per tic per target--> 24 shield value.
Damage on E: 605 per target
Shield Generation on E: 212 per target hit.
PBE: 4% per target --> 95 Shield per target.
Ultimate DMG combined burst+DOT: 56 % of enemy max health
Shield value: +- 20% of opponents max health
On PBE: 2% per tic: 10 tics + burst= 11 tics --> 22% of Morde's max health --> 520 health over the full duration of the ultimate
Now what is really important to keep in mind is that the current Iron Man shield is reduces by MR, so here come the MR values as which the PBE and Current versions grant the same amount of shield:
Q: damage deal by Q= 95 / 169 = 56% aka 44 % dmg Reduction = 79 MR
W: 186 MR
E: 122 MR
The ult is a little fiddly as is scales off of both MR and Max opponents health, so I'll say that the Opponent has 2000 max HP: 520 / (0,20 * 2000) = 1,3 times as much Shield, so the shield would only go down if your opponent had a certain amount of negative MR which won't happen now Soraka has been reworked.
This is when I realize that I have magic penetration, so I'll have to do the calculations again:
Q: 79/ (1-0,389) + 23 = 152 MR
W: 327 MR
E: 223 MR
Ult: Is weird and fiddly and I am not entirely sure how to do this now but I think the results up to now are showing enough for me to not-have to find a way to do this. (I'll add if I get a genius idea).
Conclusion: Morde's shield generation would be less effective if you build glass cannon. Was that unexpected? No. Because that is what riot is trying to do, force him to build tanky to be tanky, which thematically makes sense.
But, what if we were to build a completely tank-kaiser? not focusing on DMG at all and only focused around never dyeing?
This is of course not the optimal build but it is here to make an example
0AP, 40% CDR and 4786 health
Shield generations without scalings on LIVE (no MR this time):
Q : 70 per target
W: 28 per target per tic
E: 88 per target
Ult: 12% of opponents max HP over 10 seconds in total.
Scalings on PBE:
Q: 191 per target
W: 48 per tic per target
E: 191 per target
R: 1053 over the entire duration
That turns out to actually be higher, and in the example build I both didn't make use of MR, and the example build has more CDR to build that shield. Also; the tank Mordekaiser has more Armor and MR himself, so his effective health is a LOT higher in a tank build, because he both has more tank stats and he builds more shield faster.
His effective health (not counting the shield) goes from 5306 to 14891, and then you add the bigger shield. That is one tanky kaiser.
All in All, it would make more sense for Mordekaiser thematically, to be an unstoppable tank rather then a squishy burst mage. Would it make him more fun? That really depends on your play style. Would it make Mordekaiser a better champion? I personally think not, as Mordekaiser doesn't have the CC nor stickiness to be able to stay in the middle of a fight, he will just be kited out most of the time.
I decided to do some math as I hadn't seen anyone else do it yet, I enjoyed it, I hope you did too. Feedback is always appreciated, but it may take some time before I can process it. I probably missed a few things here and there -not every build is like this- but I hope it provides a certain amount of framework to work with in the Mordekaiser discussion.
"I like my math, how I like my Mordekaiser: Massive Bulky and Tons of fun"
TL;DR Burstkaiser nerfed ,tank kaiser buffed