A lot of the AP items help the off-AP's (AP Sion, Yi, etc.)
Liandry's, Twin Shadows, all provide more utility and damage after they've used their 1 or 2 spells. This helps them a lot.

That said, I would probably just go the tried and true DFG, Deathcap, and then maybe Liandry's over Lichbane. Magic Pen as needed. Definitely still boots 5 for the roam.

 

I still prefer AD Sion for THEORETICALLY INFINITE DAMAGE (with Atmas), but I run him out of jungle, not a lane.

 

Morgana seems so... underwhelming. Played her again in a normal because I feel shattered and don't want to go near ranked and she just doesn't seem that amazing anymore. Maybe it's the meta change? Or just the pre-season patch? I can't put my finger on it, but even with Dcap, Zhonya's and Void Staff I seemed to do no damage, even when ulting their entire team with Zhonya's.

I get the point of Morgana's ult isn't to rape people so much as slow them for your team and if possible, stun them, but, eh. I love her black shield, it's like Olaf's ult but weaker and hella useful when you have someone diving in, or saving it for when you ult before Zhonya's to draw out stuns, doubly useful given the whole Bruiser/AD Caster mid lately. Still think Fiddle's my favourite mid but he's so easily countered & fucked over by most laners these days sadly.

 

Well, you know she IS a support... Eventually I hope to see everyone who is marked as "support" by the Riot system be viable in a duo-lane only. Otherwise it seems stupid to have that tag, and make all the current viable in support-lanes only viable to be a solo lane.

So top lane loses Shen and Teemo. I'm okay with this.

 

People will always try regardless...

 

I've nothing against Shen top lane, Teemo can go die in a fire & get deleted for being an annoying shit that prints money for Riot through easy skins, even though I think Ryze has the most?

 

I don't know what you're talking about. Morgana is still amazing. The problem is that everyone and their mother wants to play burst mages these days. So that's all they're good at playing when it comes to AP mids. Morgana is not a burst mage, she's meant to poke and snare and deny and intimidate until you're weak enough for her Snare/Ult combo to utterly fuck someone, if not the entire enemy team.

Morgana's power comes in her utility-style offense and defense. You can't out-push a Morgana in a solo lane, you're going to have a hell of a time out-farming her, you can't out-sustain her, and her harass is strong as well. Then, when she's completely shut your lane down, she's going to transition beautifully into the teamfight phase. I can't tell you how many times I've set up VERY important kills with her long-range long-duration snare.

Morgana has fallen out of favor lately, so many people are calling her weak, but I still own with her on a consistent basis.

The fact of the matter is that AP players are having a love affair with Burst Mages, which Morgana is not one of. She's a Tanky-Sustain-Utility AP mid. Trying to build her as a burst mage is going to net your poor results. Build 1 or 2 Doran's, then RoA/Zhonya/Deathcap/Rylais (Not necessarily in that order).

Burst mages are all about selfish play. Their entire kit is designed around getting THEMSELVES kills and carrying the team through being able to completely dominate power wise. Morgana is based around unselfish team-focused play and carrying the team through massive utility as well as respectable damage over time. And when it comes to a team that plays well together, she is still, and has always been very powerful.

 

Mordekaiser would like a word with you about out-pushing and out-sustaining.

Otherwise yeah, she is a utility mage that is viable in a solo lane.

 

Morgana has good harass? Where did this come from o,0 Not going to lie, Morgana can't really shut anybody down (provided they can stay out of her snare's way). Nonetheless, she is a very safe pick, and has a strong farming lane and good teamfight utility.

 

Morgana doesn't exactly harass well, but she can usually trade well thanks to Black Shield.

 

Mordekaiser has no built in sustain (excluding his ult, which doesn't really count). In fact, it's anti-sustain. He just synergizes well with sustain items.

As for out pushing, I'd say it's about even. He's one of the few who can claim that.

A good Morgana shuts down any AP mid that needs early kills or lots of farm. By pushing hard and being impossible to kill without heavy jungler interference.

Also, I love Morgana's harass. Snare+Pool = OUCH. I'm not talking just about laning, either, it's very useful to poke/harass down champs during baron/dragon/tower dances.

 

What? No. Level 3 E costs 48 health and deals 160 (*.6) damage to targets in a cone. 35% of that damage is converted into a shield. If you hit 2 minions you already come out ahead in effective life.

 

Shield =/= Sustain. Since it decays rapidly if he's not doing damage/in combat.

 

Rather than "good Morgana" it should probably be "bad" enemy mid that can't farm at tower. It's just not really called shut down though when you are only farming and pushing (I would say a Morg can't realy push enemy to tower until level 4-5, unless enemy doesn't auto attack). A good enemy mid would just be able to keep minion wave slightly pushing against yourself, making it more dangerous for Morgana to farm due to jungle interference. (Black shield negates a lot of danger though, hence why she is a safe pick).

As for harassing at baron/dragon, etc. Lots of ap mid can do that job 10x better. But it's true, she can throw in those snares and pools to try and poke people down. Nonetheless, snare is relatively easy to dodge when you see it coming, lowering the effectiveness of said "poke".

 

Which would be when? It doesn't disappear as soon as he leaves combat, and if he isn't in combat he shouldn't be anywhere near where any of Morgana's abilities can hit him.

Maybe you just play against dumb Mordekaisers, but I've never lost a 1v1 to a Morgana, even with jungle help. Nevermind that your hypothetical scenario under which a Mordekaiser doesn't go hextech revolver against a Morgana would never happen.

Morgana's problem is that except snare and stun, Mordekaiser does all the things she wants to do in lane better. Mordekaiser has a shield that blocks all kinds damage, can push the wave faster than she can (displacing the wave and denying her CS from pool) and will out sustain and bully her in lane until she is forced back, after which Mordekaiser just pushes to her tower then farms jungle, getting even farther ahead.

Her saving grace is that if you snare him, pool, and walk away you might beat him in the trade, unless he manages to E a nearby minions wave and shrug off all your damage with his "not sustain" sustain. Your shield outscales his E, though once again if he hits two or three minions plus you, he will come out ahead.

Is it a stomp lane? No. It is skill based and can go either way based on junglers presence, and experience. My experience has always been that Mordekaiser will win the matchup because -surprise!- I play Mordekaiser very well the main difference I see is that Mordekaiser doesn't need to change his build because he is facing Morgana, all he needs to do is dodge her snare then push wave, whereas in response Morgana has to change her build to either itemize into sustain to try and break even in lane (build a hextech herself and level shield) in order to break even.

If you doubt my expertise ii can check my history on Lolking this season and last one. LoL Hubby Zeal. Last I checked I have 150+ ranked games on Mordekaiser between s2 and s3.

 

Morgana's shield doesn't even compare to Mordekaiser's.

It's infinitely better because it blocks CC.

And if you win lanes vs Morgana as Mordekaiser even with jungle interference, you're playing against both bad Morgs and bad junglers, because Mordekaiser is probably the easiest lane to gank in game.

That being said, they are both bad champions in the current game. Taking Mordekaiser is essentially a trap with most teams. That lack of CC is going to hurt no matter what, and he's a melee mage who only thrives when he isn't focused but also doesn't have any cc or escapes. Yes, you see a lot of 900 elo pentakills go up on the youtubes because his ult is amazing, but if he ever gets to the point where he is an actual threat, he can nearly always be killed in a single CC. Not to mention that he should never reach that point because you can quite literally gank him with any jungler, including a pre-6 warwick.

Morgana on the other hand is in the odd situation where she doesn't excel anywhere. Her damage is very low for a mid lane. Since you have to wait .5 seconds for her ult to deal initial damage and 3 seconds for it to proc a stun, more attentive players can actually flash the activation and take 0 damage but still put it on full cooldown. This isn't actually that hard to do. Yes, if you land a snare, soil underneath it, then pop your ult, you can deal quite a bit of damage.

But most of the time, the enemy mid has the option of attempting to outburst you in the 3 seconds you are waiting on your ult, which a lot of mids can do. Then there's also the fact that the highly mobile mids can just escape out of it. As for her pushing power, it's not that impressive. Farming at tower is not difficult, and morgana isn't that strong of a pusher, because her pool won't kill melee minions in one go and possibly won't even hit them because of how minions align in some engagements.

Then it comes to the fact that without a heavy aoe team, morgana just doesn't fit in as well as other mids. Without a lot of aoe going down at once, Morgana has to do the job of an initiator when she isn't that great at it. Plus, due to the nature of her ult, she needs a zhonyas. If she doesn't rush a zhonyas, she is easily focused, and if she does rush a zhonyas, her damage is low.

She isn't weak, but she doesn't fit in most team comps and has virtually no way of bursting down AD carries. Maybe I'm biased, but they are also both incredibly boring champs to play.

 

Maybe... I play Mordekaiser best when he IS being focused first. The more people beating on you (in melee) the better off you are with your abilities. Then again I don't play Mordekaiser so much as a melee mage as an AP bruiser, which by some degree necessitates either building health, defenses, or both. Mordekaiser gets to cheat because he has built in health and defenses, but you can always use more...

At the moment one of the most optimal builds is sorc shoes, liandri, and rylais.

Mordekaiser is no more easy to gank than anyone else who has no escapes, and is harder to gank because of his sustain and burst capabilities. If you are bullying your opponent as you should be, chances are you can all-in your lanemate and get a ghost, or ult the jungle and EWQ him on your way past him. Is he susceptible to CC? Yes, just like everyone else in the game with no escapes. But everyone else doesn't get free health from ability as well as a shield of variable strength. And if you build rylais you should be approximately as hard to gank as Rumble.

I do agree with you though, they can both be boring.

 

I mostly agree with you, but I had to say this. You play AP Sion mid, which is probably the most boring AP mid in the game.

 

A. I never said he can't/won't build hextech, or intimated it. Only that he doesn't have built-in sustain (excluding his ult, since that isn't used for sustain in lane so much as it is to survive during flat out duels/fights). Since the argument was about BASE kits. Since Hextech Revolver is not a base part of Morde's kit, I didn't include it in my comparison of the two champions and disregarded your attempt to add it in. Don't try to accuse me of saying or intimating things I did not.

B. His shield does block all sorts of damage, yes. But it requires him to put himself in range of taking damage to build in the first place. Something I find to be rather counter-intuitive. But that's just me.

C. Once again, he doesn't push any better than Morgana does. Her pool can one-shot a minion wave just as soon as he can, if not a bit earlier, depending on builds. And unlike Mordekaiser, she doesn't have to build sustain, since she comes with it naturally.

D. My argument wasn't about a hypothetical Morde vs Morgana. It was you who intimated that. Falling into a trap that many LoL players do. It was that Morgana isn't nearly as bad as people make her out to be. While talking about her BASE kit.

E. Once again, his shield is not sustain. Sustain is regaining health and/or mana, not building an eminently temporary shield with a rapid decay. A shield has never been considered sustain for as long as I've played LoL. Shields are deflection which =/= regaining lost health/mana. Gragas has sustain. Pantheon does not. Vladimir has sustain, Vi does not.

F. Since you seem determined to make this a hypothetical Morgana vs Morde lane comparison. I'll state for the record that I'm of the opinion the lane ends up being about even, assuming all other variables are even as well. It's a skill match up, nothing more, nothing less.

G. Morgana still sees fairly reliable Tournament play by pros respected round the world. Whereas Morde is almost never seen in Tournments. I wonder why that is?

 

Truth right there. I think people don't play Morgana not because she doesn't work in team comp, but because she is SO boring to play.

@Wildfeather, I just want to say your entire post does not say anything against Walking Disaster's comment that shield does not equal sustain.