u/starietzz

Mordekaiser sits at a disgusting 48% win rate in Emerald +; this, despite how sad, it is not new. Since his rework, he has consistently showed the following pattern: his year starts off strong after some mechanical change in the items or game at large, and, 2-3 months later, after things stabilize, he degrades himself to basically a superminion.

He has no pressure early game against most champions, and, unless he snowballs the lane hard, he can't make use of his mid-game powerspike. In the late game, he is again weak, as his subpar damage and kitable nature can't compete with late-game marksmen and mages, while his relatively low Armor and MR can't compete with natural tanks. Other juggernauts are also more reliable than him, for reasons I will soon show. The only reason he is even remotely picked in Emerald + is his ultimate. The ability to pull someone from the fight is a very good, very interesting tool with plenty of ways to be usable. However, it is also one of his bigggest problems. Speaking of which, let's address said problems.

1) Lack of Dashes, Targeted Damaging Basic Abilities, Auto-Attack Resets or Strong Empowered Autos.

Mordekaiser has ONLY skillshots for his Basic Abilities; he has no Dashes, no Targeted Spells, no auto-attack resets, and no Strong Empowered Autos. Every single other juggernaut has such an ability that helps his kit work. Let's see:

• Aatrox has Deathbringer Stance (P) and Umbral Dash (E);
• Darius has Crippling Strike (W), and his Apprehend (E) is far quicker and more difficult to react to, than Mordekaiser's Death Grasp (E);
• Dr. Mundo has Blunt Force Trauma (E), and his Infected Bonesaw (Q) is extremely spammable;
• Garen has Decisive Strike (Q);
• Illaoi has Harsh Lesson (W);
• Nasus has Siphoning Strike (Q) and Wither (W);
• Sett has Knuckle Down (Q);
• Skarner has Shattered Earth (Q);
• Trundle has Chomp (Q) and Frozen Domain (W);
• Udyr has Bridge Between (P), Wilding Claw (Q), Iron Mantle (W) and Blazing Stampede (E);
• Urgot has Purge (W) and Disdain (E);
• Volibear has Thundering Smash (Q) and Frenzied Maul (W);
• Yorick has Last Rites (Q);

As you can see, each and every one of the Juggernaut Champions has either a Dash, or a Targeted Ability, or an Auto-Attack Reset, or a tool to empower his next auto. Some of them have various of these. The rule will change slightly depending on the champion style, but the general diagram is the same, and will be set in accordance to the Juggernaut's Class Design: a champion that can somewhat tank, but as not as a pure tank; somewhat deal damage, but as not as a marksman, assassin or mage; and that has a very difficult time closing the gap to the enemy. To make a champion of such class sinergise, then, these aforementioned tools exist to make the Juggernaut capable of some reliable start, or some reliable damage. All of them have these. Aatrox can use his P to do unavoidable damage, and his E to close gap; Darius can use his W to do reliable damage, and slows the enemy up to 90% (!). Garen can use his Q to close gaps, so on and so forth. Mordekaiser, however, not only has NO DASH, but also NO AUTO ATTACK RESET, AND NO "NEXT AUTO EMPOWERED" - AS A MATTER O FACT, HE HAS NO TARGETED ABILITY AT ALL BEYOND HIS ULTIMATE. I need not to stretch why a 140 second CD ultimate should NOT be the only tool in a Juggernaut's kit to close gap or start, should I?

He has no targeted ability, only skillshots - this makes him completely unplayable at higher elos, where even champions like Garen can be played with confidence by good players. Higher-elo players can simply dodge all his abilities, and he becomes devoid of agency.

One could argue that "ok, but the low elos suffer with him". Yeah. But, for me, a champion needs to be playable at every elo, despite his complexity. If you are capable of extracting more of him, good - some champions are more complex than others, that's normal. But what shouldn't be the case, is to make the champion only dependable on how your enemy reacts. If he is good, you can't land nothing, no matter how good YOU are. This stripes the player of agency, and that's exactly one of the reasons Morde is always inviable past Emerald +. And, no matter the elo, is not a fair nor good game design.

2) Realm of Death

The Death Realm is the coolest part of this champion's design. It is what gives him his identity, what makes him known, and the only reason he is even remotely picked past emerald. With the ult, you can zone the jungler out of an objective, isolate the fed target, prevent ganks, etc.

But this tool is so powerful, it completely shatters Mordekaiser's whole kit.

Since he steals stats inside the R, in order to make him remotely defeatable for ADC's or mages, Riot made everything in him dodgeable, plus he needs to stack his Passive, Darkness Rise, to complement his kit's damage, otherwise he will most likely die. It's easy to note the problem is not in forcing the enemy to fight you, but in the stat difference in a forced fight.

Of course, you could say Trundle steals more stats. But he does that during 3-4 seconds, and you are not locked with him in a room. It's "fair", he is kitable, etc. Mordekaiser has you locked for 7 seconds, and steals your stats during all these 7 seconds, making the forced fight infinitely more lethal. Riot knows that the problem is not the Spell per se, but the fact that this forced fight occurs with stolen stats, so mutch so that Riot buffed him so that no champion could leave his Realm. Did this increased his win rate?

No. Because the fundamental problem, in this case, the dodgeable spells and kitable nature, all remain.

3) His W Shield and his W Heal.

Even though his R is his most iconic spell, his W is the most important one. The W heals, and its his main trade weapon.

However, not only the cooldown is far too great, the W has two other fundamental problems. The first, the item Serpents Fang, that hit the game since 2020, completely negates his W shield. For a champion so dependant on his W, and whose spell has such a long CD, this item is basically a destroyer. Second, why is his heal in his shield? Every other Juggernaut heals passively or by giving damage. In fact, I don't know a single champion in this game whose heal is linked to the shield being canceled. It's nonsensical, since the CD is so high, if you ever use it outside trades against experienced opponets, you will die.

The Rework Idea

Mordekaiser has no problem that can be solved simply with numbers (buff or nerf). He has a structural problem. He needs a rework. Ihave proposed this Idea before, based on someone who elaborated this above chart (I can't remeber who, sorry).

This time, I tweaked his Q a little. The Idea is has you can see. In my opinion, not only it gives him agency by allowing him to hit despite how good the enemy is, with his two first Q's, but it also ensures you gotta land the third via skillshot. It also swaps his W and Passive; that way, a good mordekaiser player will know how to manage the shield, and the Heal will be linked to a DAMAGING ability, as it always should have been. Plus, the shield will be less hampering to his character than it is now, as he will not be as dependant on it.

The ultimate no longer has damage steal - only health, and it debuffs the enemy insteand of bothing buffing you and debuffing him. This gives the enemy a lot more fighting chance. The Soul Harvest Mechanic adds flavor to Mordekaiser, since that is literally what he does, and ensure's a more solid reward if you win the duel.

What do you guys think?

forgive the ugly image, I am very bad at technology and used AI.