User blog comment:NicknameMy/Stop the freakout about Mordekaiser, some math./@comment-24073465-20150216212300

Dude, what you're comparing is apples and oranges here....comparing old damage oriented morde with PBE tanky-morde with all stops put in for making tanky morde succeed; well, then tanky Morde IS gonna succeed....instead, if you compared PBE tanky morde with many current build guides on damage oriented morde, you'd see why most everyone feels the supposed new morde is gonna suck....

1) Buildwise: You're going an almost fulltank route with new Morde (as Riot wants it to be)....instead of that, compare his shield and damage with the current damage of how a bruiser morde is built (21-9-0 instead of 9-21-0, and instead of runes giving HP, I see many guys take Armor seals, AP quints, spell vamp quints, etc.) Also, like I said, currently most guys, if not building him full mage (WOTA, Sorc boots, Void Staff/Lichbane/Rylais/Liandrys, Deathcap, Hourglass, and abyssal), generally build AP bruiser going top lane (Gunblade/WOTA, Sorc boots, Rylais, Liandrys, Armor Item such as hourglass or sunfires, and Abyssal; maybe switch out an item here or there for Void Staff or something, deal with MR stackers)....With such builds, we see that current Morde generates equivalent to more shield than PBE Morde would with your theoretical build, while dealing both higher burst and sustained damage....

2) Enemy Consideration: When you're considering Morde against the enemy frontline, I'll agree that PBE Morde with your build would do pretty well against their 200 MR Garen who also has 4k HP or something....Problem is, current Morde usually focuses their backline for best results....the problem with focusing their front-line (which usually consists of at least 2 out of 3 of top/jungle/support; who goes front is determined by tankiness) is that because of the tankiness of the frontline, taking them out for the ghost is difficult...i.e. Fine you ulted that Garen, and followed it up with a EQW...almost 50% of his HP is gone and about 25% more to go....but now, there's still enough time for him to run away or tank further, while his team can burst your team and/or you....compared to that, current Mordekaiser flashing and bursting their Jinx might give less shield, but he's much more likely to kill her, get her ghost and use it to wreck their team....Also, suppose you DO get Garen's ghost...now other than tower tanking, not much use of such a ghost....his ghosts don't have access to spells for mobility or anything, their movement speed is based on HIS boots, and if the Ghost is melee instead of ranged, MUCH, much easier for people who weren't right next to the ghost to run away....

if you want him to be more of a sustained damage fighter ala Olaf, Swain, Trundle, etc see what makes those guys (kinda) work....their cc/skills allow them a definite way to MAKE enemies go for the sustained route rather than the old fashioned burst them all route, or give them a specific time period for them to go that "burst them all" route (Olaf runs through the enemies cause no cc, Trundle turns a tank into a squishy with his ult, and Swain's E amps his damage to enemies, while W and Q are enough to keep them close for sustained damage)...Morde has NOTHING of the sort for sustain battling...his shield has a cap, so even with all the "massive shield generation", people can choose to ignore his lowered damage, and focus him last and without showing reasonable amounts of damage to make them fear him, he's pretty boned right there....

Plus, once Morde IS focused, he can't run away because his mobility is a joke...the 'mobility' says don't be in front, but the shield says 'get in there, goddamnit" which is contradictory...Also, IF he focuses someone, because of his lack of cc (and don't give me "but Rylai's slow"....Nidalee cougar jumping laughs at your Rylai 15% slow) allows most champs (and almost all of the current popular, mobility up the wazoo ones) to still easily get away if they're caught in a disadvantageous position...and HE can't chase them...

Below, I saw you say that building AP on him was similar to Mundo or Rumble....problem with that is they make up for it...Mundo has good cc which also deals a % HP damage...i.e. against tanks, it hurts more....on top of that, he has steroids, CC reduction, and a movespeed increase (plus HP filling, but discount that part for the moment)...Rumble has slight mobility through his scrap shield, good slowing through E and AOE slows through ult....Morde has LITERALLY NOTHING in the cc department....neither does he have inbuilt % damage to actually deal with tanks...so he NEEDS damage to stay relevant....but by requiring us to build tanky, we deny him that damage....

All in all, don't focus on JUST shield....yeah, if I built 6 Warmogs on him, I could probably completely fill my shield with an isolated Q or something....but with negligible damage, 0 cc, 0 utility, and 0 mobility, I can do NOTHING to help my team out too much in teamfights, and am still SEVERELY outclassed in the current mobility meta....IF my team helps me get the ghost of whoever I ult, yeah, MAYBE I can help out some in the damage area....but then, that means more on team carrying me, and if I need that to play Morde, why the hell did I pick him instead of one of the 120-something OTHER champs there are?