just wrote my first guide so feel free to check it out.

http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/gu...e%20can%20tank.

I would take those 6 points in Utility and move them over into offense for CD reduction and magic penetration. In addition to dealing more damage, they probably give you more health by buffing your shield than the regen in Utility will give you.

Also, the link to your Marks is broken.

I would highly recommend a Frozen Mallet at some point in there. It greatly increases your killing power and adds survivability to boot. The best is when you're able to burst down a ranged opponent at the start of a fight; suddenly you have a ranged slow! It also has great synergy with the Force of Nature I usually buy when I'm wanting to be more tank-ish.


Overall, good guide!

No CC to start group fights He can be hard to kill but I hardly call him a Tank.

Just to drive the point home, Mordekaiser isn't a tank. At best, he's an extremely hard to kill DPS machine, which isn't bad at all.

None of those champions have enough threat to be targeted if they build a heavy tank, they are annoying, but not truly damaging nor incapacitating.

Nasus, Morde, and Mundo tanks rely upon the whim(stupidity) of the opposing team to target them first.

Hybrid DPS/Tank builds work wonders, but DPS is definitely the lead build choice of the two. If for no other reason than that is their only method of becoming a threat.

To everyone here saying that he isn't a tank...You do not understand the difference between a tank and an initiator. Morde is a tank simply because he is hard to kill...That's all it takes to be a tank.

...Now to be a useful tank against an enemy team that has any brains you have to build up some DPS. In my experience with Morde I've found many times the best approach is to simply run a good deal ahead of your team and jump in the enemy's face. People seem to have a knee-jerk reaction to want to kill whatever enemy is closest and throwing out pain in their face whether it does great burst damage or not. The problem that occurs with this plan is making sure your mates have the brain capacity to follow you.

I'm not high-elo by any means, and generally i solo or duo que almost every game. In the mid-elo bracket most people still underestimate morde early in the laning phase once he hits lvl 4 or so and it can be very easy to net a kill or two and I usually knock the first tower down at 9 minutes in. The sad part is all it really takes is a few ganks early and you slow morde's progression to a crawl. Anyways I got off topic.

As I was saying, Morde is a tank-Not an initiator. But his primary role is Pushing. With proper use of teleport you can push a lane up to the enemy turret, hit it once or twice then Teleport to the lane the other 4 of your allies are at and join the battle, or vice-versa. With the aura items OP suggests you can be an asset to the team by providing the auras and some sustained dps throughout the fight. Other builds of morde or other champs would do more damage yes, but if noone else is getting the aura items then Morde isn't a bad choice for them. I believe OP greatly understates the importance of timing Morde's ult well and the placement of it in teamfights as it can instantly turn the tide of battle and sometimes the game.

A tank needs a reason to be targetted, or to be relevant to a team fight.

Mord's a poor tank if you just stack durability on him. It's the main reason I avoid Warmog builds in many cases, and on Mord in particular.

My pick for Mord is a Rylai -- it gives him a damage pump along with an HP boost, and sustained utility and soft CC that encourage the enemy team to "do something about the meat".

But regardless, a tank needs to be relevant, and then afterwards get enough durability so that they can take the hits after the enemy ascertains that the tank needs to die, or take some threatening damage, or needs to be CC'd, etc.

Mord is not very relevant until he gets damage, CC, or both. When he does, he needs some tank gear to take some focus fire afterwards.

I'm pretty sure Mord's 3 AoE abilities are reason enough to target him. He can damage your entire team with every skill if he's NOT focused.

When Mord runs into a teamfight/cluster, the enemy is FORCED to disperse, meaning they can be picked off. I agree with gettin Rylai's to add some more utility, but Mord's biggest feature is his durability. He can easily take a 2v1 fight, and I've dominated 3v1 fights with use of his Ult.

Mord is focused for the same reason Fiddlesticks is - if you leave him alone he's going to kill your whole team, and that's WITHOUT any AT/AP items. Build his survivability (his natural Armor growth is fantastic) and he can dive headfirst into a teamfight and come out unscathed. That's the best initation there is.