Mordekaiser ARAM Build and Guide

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch; ARAM balance numbers come from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion data.

A Mordekaiser ARAM build is a bruiser mage build: health plus ability power, so his W has more damage to store and his passive aura keeps ticking. In ARAM he deals 95% damage and takes 105% damage, a small nerf on both sides. Death’s Grasp, his pull, and his ultimate still decide fights on the Howling Abyss, where five enemies stand in one lane.

Every item recommended on this page is an editorial pick, chosen for what the item actually does in the current patch. We don’t use win-rate data.

How is Mordekaiser changed in ARAM?

Honestly, two small nerfs. Mordekaiser deals 95% damage and takes 105% damage in ARAM, and nothing else in his kit is touched.

Why nerf a champion who has to walk at people with a 175 attack range? Because the one lane does his hardest job for him. On the Rift he has to find a target first, but on the Howling Abyss five enemies stand in front of him from the first minute, and his passive, Darkness Rise, needs only 3 attacks or spells on champions or monsters to light up. Three hits is nothing when all five of them are stood in the same lane and Obliterate damages each enemy struck.

Why does Mordekaiser fit the Howling Abyss?

Because his whole kit is built for a brawl with bodies stacked on top of each other, and that is the only kind of fight the Abyss ever gives you.

• Darkness Rise (passive): a damage aura and Move Speed after landing 3 attacks or spells against champions or monsters. Five enemies in one lane means the third hit comes fast.
• Obliterate (Q): a mace smash that damages each enemy struck, with more damage when it hits a single enemy. Cooldown 8/7/6/5/4 seconds by rank.
• Indestructible (W): he stores the damage he deals and takes as a shield and can consume it to heal. That shield is his resource, not mana.
• Death’s Grasp (E): pulls all enemies in an area. One cast on a grouped team pulls several enemies toward him at once.
• His ultimate (R): drags one victim into a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. Kill them there and he keeps those stats until they respawn.

The catch is range. At 175 range he is melee, so a poke team can sit back and chip him while he deals no damage back, and Indestructible only stores the damage he takes in that trade. Death’s Grasp, at 16 seconds on rank one, is the only tool in his kit that closes that gap on its own, and 16 seconds is a long time in a lane where someone is always throwing a spell at you.

What should a Mordekaiser ARAM build focus on?

Health and ability power on the same items. Health comes before raw ability power here. His W turns damage taken into a shield and then a heal, and a Mordekaiser who dies in the first pull never gets to use his aura.

Riftmaker gives 70 Ability Power, 350 Health and 15 Ability Haste. Its Void Corruption passive deals 2% bonus damage for each second in combat with enemy champions, up to 8%, and grants Omnivamp at max strength, while Void Infusion converts 2% of his bonus Health into Ability Power. Darkness Rise, the W shield and his ultimate all reward staying in combat. Riftmaker pays him for exactly that.

Liandry’s Torment (60 Ability Power, 300 Health) burns enemies hit by damaging abilities for 2% max Health magic damage per second for 3 seconds. In practice his Q damages each enemy struck and his E pulls the whole group, so the burn lands on several champions at once. Rylai’s Crystal Scepter (65 Ability Power, 400 Health) slows enemies hit by damaging abilities by 30% for 1 second, which is the difference between reaching the carry after the pull and watching them walk away from a 175 range champion.

The fourth slot is defensive. Spirit Visage (400 Health, 50 Magic Resist, 10 Ability Haste, 100% Base Health Regen) increases heals and shields on him by 25%, and his W is both a shield and a heal, so one item buffs his main survival tool twice. Full stats and build paths for Riftmaker, Liandry’s Torment, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter and Spirit Visage are in our items database.

How do you play Mordekaiser on the Howling Abyss?

The Mordekaiser ARAM loop is not complicated. Put simply, pull with Death’s Grasp, hit three times for Darkness Rise, drag one target into his ultimate’s dimension, then sit on your cooldowns and do it again.

• Count to three. Darkness Rise needs 3 attacks or spells on champions or monsters, so open with Q on the group and keep swinging until the aura is up.
• Pull, then smash. Death’s Grasp drags every enemy in its area toward you, and a Q right after lands on several of them, or on one for the single-target bonus.
• The W heal is the only heal you carry into a lane with no recall. Consume the shield when you are about to fall back, not while you are still full.
• Ult the carry, not the tank. His ultimate steals a portion of the victim’s stats, and a kill inside keeps them until the victim respawns, so pick the champion whose stats you want.
• 140 seconds. That is the rank one cooldown on his ultimate, so a wasted one means a long stretch of fights without it.

How do shopping and Mark change the plan?

There is no recall in ARAM. You buy at the fountain when the game starts and again each time you respawn, so whether Liandry’s Torment or Rylai’s Crystal Scepter comes next has to be decided before you die. Health relics are what you get for healing on the map, because there is no walking back to base, so his W heal matters more here than it does on the Rift. Five enemies in one lane do not leave you alone for long.

Mark, the ARAM summoner spell, throws a snowball, and a hit lets you dash to the target. For a melee champion whose only engage tool has a 16 second cooldown at rank one, that dash is a second engage. Summoner spells are locked in before the game loads and stay that way for the whole match, so the Mark call happens in the lobby, not after the first poke lands. Look, take Mark on him. Why? Death’s Grasp pulls them to him, but nothing in his kit moves him to them, so the snowball is the only dash he gets.

Is Mordekaiser good in ARAM?

Yes in fights that last, and worse against poke. To be fair, the 95% damage and 105% damage taken modifiers are small. So what decides a Mordekaiser ARAM game? Whether the enemy team has to stand near him. If they group up and brawl, Darkness Rise lights up on the third hit, Death’s Grasp catches several of them at once, and the Indestructible heal has damage to store. If they sit back and poke, he stands around the relics waiting on a Mark hit.

The champions that give him the most trouble are the ones that keep him at range. Our Mordekaiser counters guide goes through them for the Rift, and most of that carries over to the one lane. His skins are on the Mordekaiser skins page, and since he is listed as a top laner on the Rift, our guide to LoL roles explains what that position does.

The plan for a Mordekaiser ARAM game is simple: one pull into a grouped team, three hits to get the aura up, then an ultimate on the carry.

FAQ

Is Mordekaiser nerfed in ARAM?

Slightly. The League of Legends Wiki’s ARAM data lists him at 95% damage dealt and 105% damage taken.

What does Mordekaiser’s ultimate do?

It drags one victim into a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. If he kills them there, he keeps the stats until the victim respawns. Its cooldown is 140/120/100 seconds by rank.

What items does Mordekaiser build in ARAM?

Health and ability power items such as Riftmaker, Liandry’s Torment and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, with Spirit Visage for a defensive slot because it increases heals and shields on him by 25%.

How does Mordekaiser’s shield work?

Indestructible (W) stores damage he deals and takes to create a shield, and he can consume that shield to heal. The shield is his resource, so he has no mana bar.

Is this build based on win rates?

No. What you have here is an editorial Mordekaiser ARAM build, built around how the items and abilities work in patch 26.21. We don’t use win-rate data.