Mordekaiser vs Sion Matchup Guide
Mordekaiser
Top Lane Juggernaut-Mage
The Iron Revenant - AP juggernaut who chips with Obliterate, banks every trade through Indestructible, and drags a single target into Realm of Death to finish the fight alone
Sion
Top Lane Tank
Glory in Death made flesh - an HP-stacking juggernaut whose charged Decimating Smash, permanent-growth Soul Furnace, and map-spanning Unstoppable Onslaught punish anyone who lets the game run long
Champ Select Cheat Sheet — Mordekaiser vs Sion
Matchup Dynamics
How This Matchup Works
Federals1's sheet calls this an easy matchup for Mordekaiser, and Sion's kit backs it up: no ranged poke, no dash, and his only lane-phase tool is a charge-up Q broadcast well before it lands. Hold max
Obliterate
Q – ObliterateMordekaiser smashes the ground with his mace dealing damage to each enemy struck. Damage is increased when hitting a single enemy. range, punish the telegraph, and let
Riftmaker
Riftmaker70 Ability Power350 Health15 Ability HasteVoid CorruptionFor each second in combat with enemy champions, deal 2% bonus damage, up to 8%. and Liandry's carry the mid-game burn. The one thing that claws equity back is
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location., which lets him join a fight from anywhere on the map regardless of how the lane went.
Early Game (1-5)
Mordekaiser Favored - Sion brings nothing to punish a poke lane;
Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating SmashSion charges a powerful swing in an area in front of himself that will deal damage to enemies when released. needs a full charge to threaten real damage, and the telegraph gives away the timing. Chip with
Obliterate
Q – ObliterateMordekaiser smashes the ground with his mace dealing damage to each enemy struck. Damage is increased when hitting a single enemy. and there is no answer coming back.
Mid Game (6-11)
Mordekaiser Favored -
Riftmaker
Riftmaker70 Ability Power350 Health15 Ability HasteVoid CorruptionFor each second in combat with enemy champions, deal 2% bonus damage, up to 8%. and
Liandry's Torment
Liandry's TormentCharge up in combat to deal high damage over time, especially against durable enemies complete during Mordekaiser's strongest stretch of the game, and both punish a target building straight into a max-health pool. Sion is still stacking Soul Furnace's permanent health off kills he is not getting.
Late Game (12+)
Skill Matchup -
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location. has enough range to pull Sion into any fight on the map or peel a teammate out of one, so a lane that was never close can still matter in scattered late-game skirmishes.
Key Interactions
Obliterate
Q – ObliterateMordekaiser smashes the ground with his mace dealing damage to each enemy struck. Damage is increased when hitting a single enemy. punishes a lane with no answer: Sion cannot poke back at range, so chipping every last hit with an isolated
Obliterate
Q – ObliterateMordekaiser smashes the ground with his mace dealing damage to each enemy struck. Damage is increased when hitting a single enemy. is close to free through the whole laning phase.- The
Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating SmashSion charges a powerful swing in an area in front of himself that will deal damage to enemies when released. telegraph gives away the timing: A full charge shows well before it lands; step out of the growing zone and the only thing he trades is the cooldown. A tapped Q barely slows and is not worth respecting the same way. - A 'dead' Sion still swings back:
Glory in Death
P – Glory in DeathAfter being killed, Sion will temporarily reanimate with rapidly decaying Health. His attacks become very rapid, heal him, and deal bonus damage based on his target's maximum Health. keeps him attacking with lifesteal and bonus damage after he hits zero real health; finish him rather than trading blows into the reanimation window.
Realm of Death
R – Realm of DeathMordekaiser drags his victim to a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. If he kills them, he keeps the stats until the victim respawns. beats him to the map: Isolating Sion removes any chance of
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location. arriving to save him or anyone else; the ten percent current-stat steal is a bonus on top of a target with no way to answer the pull.
Mordekaiser
Strengths
Obliterate
Q – ObliterateMordekaiser smashes the ground with his mace dealing damage to each enemy struck. Damage is increased when hitting a single enemy. poke goes almost entirely unanswered; nothing in Sion's kit threatens back at that range- Riftmaker's omnivamp plus Liandry's percent-health burn punish exactly the max-health pool
Soul Furnace
W – Soul FurnaceSion shields himself and can reactivate after 3 seconds to deal Magic Damage to enemies nearby. When Sion kills enemies, he passively gains maximum Health. is building
Realm of Death
R – Realm of DeathMordekaiser drags his victim to a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. If he kills them, he keeps the stats until the victim respawns. denies
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location. before it can bring him into a fight anywhere on the map
Weaknesses
- Standing in melee to finish a 'dead' Sion during
Glory in Death
P – Glory in DeathAfter being killed, Sion will temporarily reanimate with rapidly decaying Health. His attacks become very rapid, heal him, and deal bonus damage based on his target's maximum Health. trades real damage back for nothing - No dash, so a fully-charged
Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating SmashSion charges a powerful swing in an area in front of himself that will deal damage to enemies when released. still lands on anyone caught out of position - Federals1's guide marks the general early game as reliant on landing Q against mobility, even though Sion himself offers little punish for a miss
Sion
Strengths
- Soul Furnace's passive permanently grows his max health off takedowns, compounding the longer the game runs
- A fully charged
Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating SmashSion charges a powerful swing in an area in front of himself that will deal damage to enemies when released. knocks up and hits hard if it lands clean
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location. threatens from anywhere on the map and adds a bonus stun off a wall collision
Weaknesses
- No ranged trading tool before six beyond a charge-up Q that is broadcast well before it lands
Glory in Death
P – Glory in DeathAfter being killed, Sion will temporarily reanimate with rapidly decaying Health. His attacks become very rapid, heal him, and deal bonus damage based on his target's maximum Health. only delays a loss if the reanimation window is respected; finished off cleanly it is just a death
Realm of Death
R – Realm of DeathMordekaiser drags his victim to a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. If he kills them, he keeps the stats until the victim respawns. isolates him before
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location. can ever get him into the fight
Power Curve Comparison EXPERIMENTAL
Power Curve Visualization
Win Conditions
Mordekaiser's Win Condition
- Hold max
Obliterate
Q – ObliterateMordekaiser smashes the ground with his mace dealing damage to each enemy struck. Damage is increased when hitting a single enemy. range on every last hit; Sion has nothing to answer it with before six - Punish the
Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating SmashSion charges a powerful swing in an area in front of himself that will deal damage to enemies when released. telegraph by stepping clear rather than respecting a tap that barely slows - Finish the trade before Glory in Death's reanimation window rather than facetanking his return swings
- Isolate him with
Realm of Death
R – Realm of DeathMordekaiser drags his victim to a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. If he kills them, he keeps the stats until the victim respawns. before
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location. can bring him into a fight from off-screen
Sion's Win Condition
- Farm safely behind minions until Soul Furnace's permanent health growth and a real tank core come online
- Land a fully charged
Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating SmashSion charges a powerful swing in an area in front of himself that will deal damage to enemies when released. rather than fishing with the tap version - Use Unstoppable Onslaught's range to join fights anywhere on the map rather than forcing anything in a lost lane
- Play for a long game where the permanent health stacking and a finished tank core matter more than the early trades
Laning Phase Guide
| Level/Phase | Mordekaiser | Sion |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Start |
Starts |
| Level 2 | Second point goes to whichever basic complements the trade better today - |
Still no ranged answer to the poke; the second point rarely changes the trade math this early. |
| Level 3 | Full basic kit online. Trade behind |
First point where a fully charged Q into a follow-up can threaten a real trade, if he can actually land it. |
| Level 4-5 | Keep the poke going and hold the bigger wave; Sion has no clean tool to contest it beyond his short-range E. | Farms toward Soul Furnace's first real power; needs takedowns to grow the passive health, which are hard to find in a losing lane. |
| Level 6 | Unstoppable Onslaught's range matters far more in a group fight than forced into a losing lane, where it only walks him straight into the pull Mordekaiser already wants. | |
| Level 7-8 | Still behind on power; Soul Furnace's passive health is climbing too slowly to change the lane by itself. | |
| Level 9 | Tank core still forming; the matchup does not meaningfully close until much later, if at all. |
Power Spikes
Level Spikes
| Mordekaiser | Sion | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Description | Level | Description |
| 3 | Minor Full basic kit; |
3 | Minor First chance at a fully charged |
| 6 | Major |
6 | Major |
| 9 | Major |
13 | Major Soul Furnace's stacked health starts to meaningfully matter if takedowns have been found |
Item Spikes
| Mordekaiser | Sion | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Description | Item | Description |
| First real item on this row; the slow is what actually lets |
Flat health stacking that compounds with Soul Furnace's own permanent growth | ||
| Chosen over Steelcaps on this row; there is no auto-attack pressure here to justify armor, so the extra speed just wins more trades | Magic resist scaling to answer Liandry's and Riftmaker's sustained burn | ||
| Percent-health burn against a target whose whole kit is built around stacking maximum health | |||
| Damage amp plus omnivamp; this row's closer instead of the standard |
|||
Best Build for Mordekaiser
Starting Items
Core Items
Doran's Ring
Doran's RingGood starting item for casters opens the lane.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Rylai's Crystal ScepterAbilities slow enemies is the first real item, chosen for the slow.
Boots of Swiftness
Boots of SwiftnessEnhances Move Speed and reduces the effect of slows comes next instead of Steelcaps, then
Liandry's Torment
Liandry's TormentCharge up in combat to deal high damage over time, especially against durable enemies for the percent-health burn, and
Riftmaker
Riftmaker70 Ability Power350 Health15 Ability HasteVoid CorruptionFor each second in combat with enemy champions, deal 2% bonus damage, up to 8%. closes the row for the omnivamp.
Runes
Primary:
Triumph
TriumphTakedowns restore 5% of your missing health and grant an additional 20 gold.,
Legend: Haste
Legend: HasteTakedowns on enemies grant permanent Basic Ability Haste., and
Last Stand
Last StandDeal more damage to champions while you are low on health. fill out Precision behind the
Conqueror
ConquerorGain stacks of adaptive force when attacking enemy champions. After reaching 12 stacks, heal for a portion of damage you deal to champions. keystone this row always takes
Secondary:
Approach Velocity
Approach VelocityBonus MS towards nearby enemy champions that are movement impaired, increased for enemy champions that you impair. and
Magical Footwear
Magical FootwearYou get free boots at 12 min but you cannot buy boots before then. Each takedown you get makes your boots come 45s sooner. round out Inspiration; free
boots
BootsSlightly increases Move Speed and the chase speed toward anyone Rylai's has slowed
Summoner Spells
Flash
FlashTeleports you a short distance toward your cursor. +
Teleport
TeleportAfter a brief channel, become untargetable and travel to an allied unit. Upgrades into Unleashed Teleport, which significantly increases travel speed.
Priority Build Path
Starting item off this row
First real item on this row; the slow is what actually lets
Death's Grasp
E – Death's GraspMordekaiser pulls all enemies in an area. connect on a target with no dash of his own
This row's
boots
BootsSlightly increases Move Speed pick over Steelcaps; move speed matters more than armor here
Percent-health burn against a max-health-stacking kit
Closes the row; omnivamp keeps trades safe through an extended fight
Situational Adjustments
Spirit Visage
Spirit VisageIncreases Health and healing effects: the game trends long and the extra shield and reactivate
heal
HealRestores Health and grants Move Speed to you and target allied champion. outvalue Riftmaker's raw damage amp
Zhonya's Hourglass
Zhonya's HourglassActivate to become invincible but unable to take actions: Sion's team adds a burst threat Mordekaiser needs to stall against late
Key Patterns
Lethal Combos
Q >
E >
W
R >
Q >
E
Trading Combos
E >
Q >
W
E >
Q
Lethal Thresholds
- Mordekaiser Kill Range: No clean HP-percent execute before items; Liandry's and
Riftmaker
Riftmaker70 Ability Power350 Health15 Ability HasteVoid CorruptionFor each second in combat with enemy champions, deal 2% bonus damage, up to 8%. both online turns the sustained burn race one-sided against a kit with no way to disengage it.
Realm of Death
R – Realm of DeathMordekaiser drags his victim to a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. If he kills them, he keeps the stats until the victim respawns. removes
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location. from the equation entirely once he is caught alone. - Sion Kill Range: Needs a fully charged
Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating SmashSion charges a powerful swing in an area in front of himself that will deal damage to enemies when released. to open any real damage window; a tapped cast rarely does enough to justify the risk. - Critical Levels: Level 3 completes both basic kits, level 6 pits
Realm of Death
R – Realm of DeathMordekaiser drags his victim to a different dimension with him and steals a portion of their stats. If he kills them, he keeps the stats until the victim respawns. against
Unstoppable Onslaught
R – Unstoppable OnslaughtSion charges in a direction, ramping up speed over time. He can steer his charge slightly with the mouse cursor location., and level 9 lines up
Riftmaker
Riftmaker70 Ability Power350 Health15 Ability HasteVoid CorruptionFor each second in combat with enemy champions, deal 2% bonus damage, up to 8%. with Liandry's for the burn-and-sustain spike
Level by Level Game Plan
| Level | Primary Goal | Lane Position | Trading Opportunities | Kill Windows | Setup Opportunities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poke his last hits | Wave edge, max Q range | Low | Watch for an early charged Q test | |
| 2 | Punish any walk-up | Hold max range | Low | Track which basic ability he skipped | |
| 3 | First |
Near minions for cover | Shield up, short trade, reset before a full Q charge lines up | Medium | Respect a fully charged |
| 4-5 | Hold the wave lead | Deny his farm rhythm | Short and out; he has nothing to punish an extended poke with | Low | Watch for jungler pathing before pushing |
| 6 | Counter-R an overextension | Anywhere he steps up alone | High off the isolate | Hold R rather than opening with it | |
| 7-8 | Rush |
Hold lane, push when safe | Poke continues; no reason to all-in early | Medium | Track his passive health stacking |
| 9 | Liandry's online | Push for plates | Complete trade sequence once |
High with the burn-and-sustain pairing | Look for the next roam with the wave lead banked |
| Mid Game (11-16) | Extend the wave lead into a roam | Anywhere on the map works once |
Only with |
High while his tank core is unfinished | Track Unstoppable Onslaught's cooldown before committing |
| Late Game (16+) | Close through scattered skirmishes | Group; respect that he can arrive from anywhere | Avoid isolated 1v1s once his tank core and passive health are both online | Medium, mostly off a missed Onslaught | Ward flanks |
First Back Goals
Teamfight Tips
| Aspect | Mordekaiser | Sion |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Role | Picks off whoever matters most with |
Frontline engage or peel by kit design; |
| Target Priority | Whoever his team protects hardest, since the realm ignores position entirely Sion himself once his ultimate is spent Backline carries a spent Onslaught leaves undefended |
Whoever is isolated or overextended for the Onslaught stun Squishiest target once the charge lands |
| Objective Control | Start pit fights with the isolate on whoever anchors their front line Deny his roams by holding pressure elsewhere on the map |
Soul Furnace's stacked health lets him bodyblock longer than his build alone would suggest |
| Positioning | Hold Track his ultimate cooldown before over-extending into an empty lane |
Charge Slam a target into terrain when possible for the bonus stun |
| Other Tips | Liandry's and |
Unstoppable Onslaught's range means he can threaten a fight from well off the minimap edge; play the cooldown like a jungler tracks ganks Soul Furnace's stacked health is a real teamfight tool even from a lost lane, so he still has a job to do late |
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