Mordekaiser’s Reworked Spells and Splash Art Drop
The reworked spells and splash art of Mordekaiser were released this morning. The new art captures the dark behemoth aesthetic perfectly.
The spells in Mordekaiser’s updated kit make more sense compared to his current kit. He now has a passive that empowers every few basic attacks, a Q that boosts his attack and can be reset, a defensive W, and some crowd control on his E. It’s similar to other AP bruiser champions like Swain.
A Powerful Ultimate Ability
However, his ultimate ability is where Mordekaiser stands out. The spell, called Realm of Death, banishes both Mordekaiser and a chosen enemy champion from the map for seven seconds. This makes it seem like it could be the most overpowered form of crowd control in the game.
This is a game-changer. Imagine Mordekaiser walking up to a teamfight and removing the enemy ADC for seven seconds. It would be extremely difficult for the opposing team to fight back.
A Point-and-Click Ability
What’s more, the ultimate ability is a point-and-click ability, meaning it can’t be dodged with mobility spells. The only option is to escape the area. And even though opponents can still defeat Mordekaiser in the death realm in a one-vs-one fight, the real issue is that their allies could be dead and an entire enemy team could be waiting for them when they return to the Summoner’s Rift.
Impact on Competitive Play
Mordekaiser’s ability to choose any enemy champion to cast his ult on is what makes it broken. This will not only affect solo queue, but professional teams as well. Teams often draft compositions that rely on the abilities of each champion. Removing a key champion from the enemy composition right before a big objective fight could have a huge impact.
This reminds us of Mordekaiser’s previous update in 2015, which led to him being permabanned at Worlds. While we can’t say for sure if he’ll be that broken again, it seems like we might be heading in that direction.
Overall, the redesign team did a great job with the new Mordekaiser. The champion feels and looks better than before. If the cost of bringing such a cool-looking champion back into the mix is a broken ultimate ability during testing, it’s a reasonable trade-off while Riot balances things.
Mordekaiser, reworked spells, splash art, ultimate ability, Realm of Death, crowd control, one-vs-one, competitive play