FOTM Report: Mordekaiser PBE Changes

Hi everyone, today's FOTM report is going to be slightly different from the norm, since you know how here are Nerfplz we like to switch things up once in a while to things fresh. Doubtless by now, you've heard strange rumblings about Mordekaiser changes on the PBE, with the mad scientist Riot CertainlyT, (the man behind Thresh, Zyra, Yasuo, and Kalista) cooking up some insane ideas.

Introduction

Hi everyone, today's FOTM report is going to be slightly different from the norm, since you know how here are Nerfplz we like to switch things up once in a while to things fresh. Doubtless by now, you've heard strange rumblings about Mordekaiser changes on the PBE, with the mad scientist Riot CertainlyT, (the man behind Thresh, Zyra, Yasuo, and Kalista) cooking up some insane ideas.

Quick Explanation

Breaking the Meta

For some quick tidbits, here's what CertainlyT had to say about his proposed rework:

"Perhaps Mordekaiser can trilane, 5 man mid, double jungle, shove hard with his jungler and roam, or rush mobis and move lane to lane taking every creep on the map, etc. It's up to you, the playerbase, to figure out what the optimal strategy is for a champion."

WHAT?

Mordekaiser, Dragon Master

WHAT?

Full Change Explanation

Passive:

• Shield decay per second now 2% of base hp (up from 3% max shield)
• Shield no longer decays below 25%
• Max shield from per level to 25% of max HP
• Shield generation is now 25% of damage dealt, from 35%

This seems like an overall buff, despite the fact that it decays faster and generates slower. The reason being that he can store 25%, which gives  him mitigation against getting poked down as quickly.

Q: 

• Buffs Mordekaiser's next 3 attacks. 
• Each does 2x-3x the bonus damage of the last, increasing with spell rank (e.g., at rank 5 if the first hit deals 100 bonus damage, the third deals 900 bonus damage).

This actually seems pretty good, and I don't foresee him having too much trouble getting all his autos off using Hextech Gunblade's active if he can close the gap quickly enough. The problem being of course, the lack of a gap closer. It seems like he can use it to last hit a minion, then punish a ranged ADC if they try and harass with amplified damage? 

W: Creeping Death 

• Passive: Gives Mordekaiser full experience he last hits
• Active: Only deals damage if Morde and his targeted ally (champion only) stay next to each other. 
• New active -- Harvesters of Sorrow: Mordekaiser and target ally champion gain 75 MS while moving toward one another. 
• When close to one another, both deal magic damage to nearby enemies over 4 seconds.
• Ability can be reactivated to instantly deal ~40% of the total DoT and heal Mordekaiser and his ally for the damage dealt (heal takes 3 units maximum; 33% heal to minions)
• Health cost removed.

This is definitely one of the most heated debates on the Mordekaiser changes so far. It creates some sort of strange duo synergy where Mordekaiser will outlevel the opponent laner in a duo lane, but needs to be the one last hitting minions. I can see this creating some strong animosity in solo queue.

E:

• Base damage reduced from 70/115/160/205/250 >>> 35/65/95/125/155
• Now also scales with 0.6 total AD
• Cooldown from 6 >>>> 6/5.75/5.5/5.25/5
• Now grants 15% of maximum shield on champion hits

Not sure how I feel about this change, nice that the cooldown decreases as time goes on. As his only ranged spell, in a duo lane this will probably be his bread and butter. It does cost the most health though.

R: 

• Whenever he deals damage specifically to dragon, Mordekaiser gets a dragon pet if his team kills it while it's cursed.
• Ghost Duration up from  30 >>> 45/60/75
• Can still be cast on enemy champions.

This move definitely makes snowballing off Dragon to take Baron very possible, especially since it gives strong DPS teams someone to tank Baron, even if nobody built the damage mitigation necessary to do Baron. If anything, merely taking Dragon with Morde's ult on it will start the Baron dance for 45 seconds.

Source

Possible Strategies

Personally, I think that some sort of Mordekaiser + Soraka or Nami bot lane will be extremely powerful. He also synergizes well with "all-in" champions, but seems significantly more dangerous executing, especially if they run into a Caitlyn + Morgana lane.

AD carries are still going to be very crucial cornerstones to teams though, so we'll likely start seeing more AD players top lane, which generally goes poorly in solo queue, especially in lower divisions.

Chances are, we'll see the "Mordekaiser Meta" play out on the professional scene, but with extremely low win rates in solo queue due to ADC failure top lane.

What do you think about the changes? Comment below!