Mordekaiser has long been one of League of Legends’ most dated heroes, with giant pizza feet and only a few voice lines. While he’s seen some changes over the last few years, including an attempt to make him a non-traditional bot lane hero, he’s a little out of place in the current game. His lore has been built up since the relaunch, and we know Mordekaiser is capable of being one of the scariest champions in the game. Now, Riot has published his rework abilities, giving us a glimpse as to what he’ll look like in a future update.
Passive – Darkness Rise
Mordekaiser’s basic attacks deal bonus magic damage. After three spells or attacks against a champion, Darkness Rise deals damage to nearby enemies and gives movement speed until Mordekaiser is out of combat.
This is a pretty straight forward three-hit proc passive, where Mordekaiser is rewarded for staying in the thick of a fight and continuously dealing damage.
Q – Obliterate
Mordekaiser slams down his mace, dealing damage in an area or bonus damage to a single enemy.
Champion reworks usually keep an iconic ability or two to tie the new iteration of a champion back to their original state. This Obliterate sounds familiar to anyone who’s dealt with Mordekaiser in the past.
W – Indestructible
The evil overlord absorbs 25% of damage taken and damage dealt. Casting once generates a shield with this value. Mordekaiser can cast again to consume 50% of the shield for health.
Mordekaiser’s shield is moving from something he powers with his abilities to his W ability. He can shield himself to take less damage, and then chomp the shield to heal himself.
E – Death’s Grasp
Passive: Mordekaiser gains 25% Magic Penetration
Active: A deadly claw drags enemies towards him, dealing damage.
This is one of the biggest changes to Mordekaiser. In his current state, heroes can simply run from Mordekaiser, and he can’t do a lot to stop them. Now, he has a tool to get unlucky foes to him, and with the rest of his kit, that sounds like a suitably terrifying prospect.
R – Realm of Death
Mordekaiser banishes a single enemy champion to the Death Realm for a 7 second 1v1, stealing a percent of their core stats. If he kills his target, he consumes their soul, keeping their partial stats until they respawn.
Everyone’s heard someone say ‘1v1 me!’ in a game, but Mordekaiser now has the power to make that happen to an enemy. Getting teleported to the Realm of Death in a weakened state, against a buffed Mordekaiser, sounds horrifying. This also keeps Mordekaiser’s cadence of getting stronger off an enemy carry’s death, while removing the buggy or frustrating presence of his ghost.
For those who are curious about the visual side of his rework, Riot have published a behind the scenes video of his visual development.
We’ll continue to post details on Mordekaiser’s rework as they are revealed.