League of Legends: How to stop Mordekaiser taking over the game

Mordekaiser has started to dominate League of Legends solo queue over the last few months and here are our tips to stop him.

Needless to say, Mordekaiser has taken over League of Legends solo lanes since his rework earlier in the year and has only gone from strength to strength following a small buff on Patch 9.19. Often you’ll see the Iron Revenant take dominate games, banishing players to the Death Realm for a quick takedown, then 1v4ing the remaining members of the team.

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Answers to Morde’s current hold on the preseason top lane meta are few and far between, with only ranged tops like Cassiopeia and Heimerdinger able to control the match-up, while the rest are simply laid waste to. The early game trading power provided by a quick Death’s Grasp, Obliterate, Darkness Rise combo is enough to dictate the laning phase, and the damage only gets stronger from there.

At a massive 53.45% win rate in the top lane on Patch 9.23, it’s clear that Mordekaiser has reached an unhealthy state and should undoubtedly be facing some heavy nerfs in the near future. In the meantime, how should you take care of the colossal top laner and avoid losing games because of him (other than banning him, of course).

Here are our top three tips to stop Mordekaiser from taking over your solo queue games:

Pick a Ranged Top Laner

There’s no better option than to stop the damage at the source. Don’t let him farm, don’t let him trade, don’t let him leave lane without a significant gold deficit.

Pick your Cassiopeias, your Gnars, your Heimerdingers, your Vaynes. Whatever ranged champion you feel most comfortable with, lock them in and abuse Mordekaiser throughout the laning phase. Step up with your minion wave, and auto-attack/cast spells onto Morde whenever he attempts to kill a minion, reducing his HP slowly and forcing him out of lane to miss CS.

By doing this, you’re not guaranteed to pick up kills, but you are guaranteed to severely reduce your opponent’s impact on the game in team fights and mid-game skirmishes. It also gives you the ability to take over the game yourself, ganking other lanes and forcing fights before Mordekaiser has a chance to come back.

Gank Mercilessly

Combine this with tip 1, and the Morde might just leave the game. Ideally, you should queue up with a duo partner to make this more effective, but just politely asking your jungler to head to the top lane could also work.

Freeze the wave towards your tower if possible forcing the Mordekaiser to walk up the lane and the trap is set. Wait for your jungler to head to the top lane and use any crowd control in your kit to set up the gank. If successful, this should either grant your team a kill and free farm, or blow a summoner spell which can then be punished further down the line.

The outcome of this tip is the same as tip 1, put the Mordekaiser so far behind that he’s near-useless in team fights and end the game before he has a chance to farm up.

Split Push

The more unorthodox approach to stopping Morde is to change your entire team comp to shut him out. Grab a solo laner adept at split pushing and 1v1s – such as Tryndamere, Jax, or Fiora – and just wait out the early game.

When it comes to the later stages of the game (post 20 minutes), this is where your impact on the map outweighs Mordekaiser’s and you can begin to take over the game. Keep your Teleport available and head towards a side lane, forcing Morde to either match you or group up with his team for a 5v4.

Assuming your teammates aren’t stupid, they should know how to play around a split pusher, and you can freely push a side lane while Mordekaiser wastes his time trying to force objectives. If the enemy team does attempt a Baron or mid lane fight, Teleport in or continue pushing into the base depending on the situation.

This is an effective method of shutting down Mordekaiser as his split-push is nowhere near as effective as some top laners, and his Ultimate – Realm of Death is designed for a team fight and is completely wasted when in a 1v1 already. A combination of the first two tips is the perfect solution to the current top lane problem, but if you’re struggling to find success with them, go ahead and split push instead!

Have you found a solution to Mordekaiser’s current grip on the solo queue meta? Share your ideas with us in the comments!