Mordekaiser's rework was the subject of some heated criticism. While players were intrigued by the reintroduction of a non-Marksman bottom laner, his fans saw him lose his one-on-one dueling potential, core to his champion identity. In the Worlds Patch, 5.18, Mordekaiser regained the ability to use his W in the solo lane at the cost of some of his duo lane power in an attempt to regain his former lane dominating identity. While he still is near the top of the ban rate chart, being denied in 60% of games, it's important to know when he does get picked whether he can fit only in one lane or is a multi-role flex pick.

Mordekaiser in the Bottom Lane

Strength: Snowballing Carry, Destroyer of ADCs
Weakness: Nerfed W means that harassment is a threat now

The second line of items are suggestions that help Mordekaiser fill each role - always base your item builds off the enemy champions and item choices.

Since his rework was centered around Mordekaiser's new identity as an alternative for an AD Carry on the team, it's good to look at his health in the bottom lane first. Since 5.18, assuming a traditional Relic Shield build, Mordekaiser is being put in the bottom lane around 30 percent of the time. While this is a reduction, this isn't a bad thing as it was to be expected that his play rate down bot would decrease when his ability to solo lane was returned.

As long as Mordekaiser is acting as the Carry (as his passive only gives him full XP from minions he kills, an unfortunate fact that killed a heavy hitting Support Mordekaiser before it got off the launch pad) he can expect to hit his Ultimate right when the enemy carry is halfway through Level 4 and proceed to either snowball through killing the enemy or forcing them to cede total river control to Morde's team.

What hurt bottom lane Mordekaiser the most in 5.18 is the removal of double damage when both of the zones overlapped. While individual zones got a 40% damage bonus, that isn't the same as using Braum or another hard-hitting CC Support to do over 200 damage with one ability at Level 1. The nerf hurts Mordekaiser's survivability in those early stages too, as the reduction to 25% healing off of 2 minions (from 33% off of 3) and no overlap threat means that Morde can be viably harassed out of lane before his health pool grows to where his shield is significant.

Of course, while his early game was hurt, he still offers the same things he did before the nerf: strong amounts of dragon control, insane pushing power when Dragon Force is active, and the ability to three tap almost any ADC in the game. He is still very strong during the early game bot lane skirmishes due to his level advantage, and he forces enemy melee supports to respect his space when farming, lest they get "donked" by the third hit from Mace of Spades.

Mordekaiser in a Solo Lane

Strength: Strong duelist with decent sustain in lane.
Weakness: General lack of mobility and CC means he has poor gank escape/gank set-up

The goal of the 5.18 change was to allow to return Mordekaiser to his former position as a solo lane duelist, and it has succeeded to a point. Mordekaiser is a champion that has very clear spikes of power in a solo lane (hitting level 6 and acquiring Trinity Force) that make him incredibly dangerous to fight alone. In the mid lane he's still susceptible to the ranged harassment that he was before the rework, but his ability to heal off the minion wave (or Razorbeaks) allows him to maintain a moderate position.

Mordekaiser is very well suited to the top lane, where he is content to sit on the island and farm. While he is a Juggernaut like Darius and Garen, he is also a very high scaling off items and can turn into a raid boss if he is left alone. One of the downsides of sitting top is that he is forced to take Teleport over Ignite/Ghost so that he can maintain some level of Dragon control (and once his team gets Dragon, it's very doubtful the beast's corpse will make it to the top lane), which costs him a bit of his ability to ensure kills on fleeing foes.

Much like most Juggernauts, Mordekaiser is slow with barely any ability to catch up with his quarry. While his ability to reasonably build into almost any item is helpful, when he is alone and can't rely on his Support to provide either in the early game, his enemy can take advantage. While R provides massive damage in ganks, it's not uncommon to see foes fleeing under tower after the Jungler blows all of their CC on the target and Morde only gets R and two swats of Q off. If Morde is caught off-guard and ganked, he's better off fighting where he stands than actually trying to run away in a long lane.

However, while the 5.18 change to W is nice in that it actually allowed a solo lane Mordekaiser to cast the spell, it actually provides fairly little utility in lane. As Morde, you're pretty much casting it whenever you go into the minion wave for a small amount of healing profit.

Mordekaiser in the Jungle

Strength: Ridiculously easy clear, strong damage output in ganks
Weakness: Only source of CC is Chilling Smite

The biggest winner in the self-casting W change was Mordekaiser in the Jungle. With W being cast at each camp, he gains both a strong form of AoE and one of the better self-sustaining abilities in the Jungle. With a W start into Q, Morde has one of the easiest early Jungle clears in the game. Unfortunately, his W specifies "minions" otherwise he could give his side lanes some tasty extra XP before the laning phase begins, but that doesn't hurt Morde's ability. While people can counter-jungle against him, it's fairly risky to walk into a camp where Morde might be with a third donk and off cool-down ultimate.

The other thing that suits Morde in the Jungle well is his fairly open buildpath. After building Stalker's Blade and his Trinity Force, the world is Morde's oyster. He can pick up a Rylai's or Frozen Mallet to help him stick onto targets, a Randuin's or Thornmail to face down strong auto-attacking champs, or just glass cannon it up if his team has a top laner like Maokai who can shoulder tanking duties. Mordekaiser's quick clearing and strong dueling also encourage him to run into the enemy Jungle and make a nuisance of himself (though you should still take Stalker's, as Poacher's Smite effect is fairly unexciting and broadcasts "ward your jungle, I'm coming for your camps".)

The biggest weakness Morde faces in the Jungle is his lack of CC. Now, Chilling Smite provides him the ability to close the distance and force a flash, but he really relies on his lane to set up ganks for him. Once he gets into range, he can assure the kill with his Q and R, but the battle with Morde is always getting into that range. Like in top lane, Morde is faced with trading away two Summoner's that might help him ensure kills for a role-designated pick.

Analysis and Conclusion

While the 5.18 changes to Mordekaiser were centered on allowing him to return to the solo lanes, the nerfs to his W were also intended to taper his abilities in the bottom lane a fair bit. Those changes, such as the inability to overlap the area of effect and the reduced healing from minions, had their intended effect in reducing his strength in the bottom lane, but the ability to self cast W makes it a one-point wonder (instead of the zero-point it was) in solo lanes. In the middle lane, it's still dangerous to cast it on yourself and walk into the harassment of the enemy Mage and in the top lane, it's a decent but not great skill.

The one thing the self-cast W does encourage is Mordekaiser to take Jungle camps - whether it be as a dedicated Jungler or just as someone who wants to upset his dedicated Jungler. This encourages Mordekaiser into alternate play-styles, such as counter-jungling and roaming. While this is a return of Morde into the solo lane, it isn't a return to his identity as a master duelist. I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing though, as it is a fairly unique blending of Morde's new and old identities.

As of now, it's too early to tell if Mordekaiser will sustain the success he has had. While he has a ridiculously high ban rate at 60 percent, his win rate is hovering around 50. Whether his ability to realistically fill four of the five positions on a team will help him is yet to be seen - there are some champions that fulfill multiple roles, like Mundo, who only see competitive play when the metagame is in their favor. But whatever position the Master of Metal settles into, it will be an entertaining ride.