EUPiLoL#8 - Playing on Mundo's strengths

  Honestly, the way some people play Mundo annoys me to no end. I feel like a lot of people try to shove him into one of the standard play styles without realizing that he is a unique hybrid and shouldn't be seen as the traditional carry/off-tank/tank. This leads people to build him AD/Tank/Hybrid and often leads to what I perceive as a lot of potential gone to waste. Since the LoL community's biggest issue seems to be his role, let's discuss that first.

The most traditional role that he falls into is a tanky DPS, although I think this does little to describe the unique role that he has, and this is much of why people incorporate fundamentals that I feel don't quite fit with him. The way I play Mundo, is as a Chaser/Kiter/Baiter/Semi Carry. He is very good at chasing, and he is very good at running away. His ultimate allows him to do both of these things well as well as baiting the enemy in certain situations. The way I build him allows for decent damage (Through unorthodox means ;) ) whilst giving him the means to use his passive and his ultimate to their fullest extent. He excels at keeping the enemy locked down as well as kiting them about if need be.

Just because I've failed to call him an off-tank doesn't mean we suddenly drop tanky gear and rush for attack items, but before I even begin to go in depth into his items, we need to talk about his strengths and his issues.

Strengths

A lack of mana.

Natural regeneration

Amazing early game potential

Scales well into the late game (Damage and tank-wise)

AMAZING chasing/kiting ability

Awesome poke

Decent farm / Last Hitting

Issues

 

Lacks a stun

Extreme focus fire is to much for his ultimate to handle

Ignite will fuck you over

Aim Reliant

As you can see, you can't do a whole lot when it come's to Mundo's weaknesses (item wise). Because of this, we must adapt our own play style and focus on his strengths when itemizing. First things first, we all know that Spirit Visage is amazing for him. The DPS Mundos get it. The tank Mundos get it. Let's get it.

Even though it's not a very good item to rush for (Health Crystal and Null Magic Mantle are so-so starting items), I still like to rush for it (Or Boots+3 HP pots). It's really up to your preference, and whether or not you are comfortable going for the Crystal / Mantle.

Spirit Visage and Boots of Swiftness are my core items. They rock. He gets everything he needs for the first portion of the game from these two items. Our next item is when things will start to get a little bit different from the normal Mundo.

I like to go for a Rylai's Crystal Scepter next. I know that might seem like a fucked up decision at first, but try to look at it from my perspective. Like I said, Mundo excels at chasing and baiting. He also has NO skills that scale off of AD, so why bother building him that way? It's expensive, and it lacks synergy  with his abilities. Rylai's, on the other hand, has a shitload of Synergy. 

- Adds slow to your cleaver, as well as your Burning Agony. 

- Adds a pinch of damage to your burning agony

- HP is amazing on Mundo.

These don't seem like huge reasons to get it, but it is something that you need to experience for yourself so that you might understand the potential it holds. Mundo is about the long term and that damage does add up, and the added slow is extremely noticeable.

Your next item is a toss up. As much as I would like to stack flat HP, that isn't a viable option. You can be bursted down pretty easily and you need some defense under your belt. You need to keep two thing sin mind when looking for mitigation items and that is HP and HP regeneration. If I need armor, Randuin's Omen is an excellent choice. If I need MR, an obvious pick is Force of Nature. If you need a mixture of both, I usually opt for a Guardian Angel.

Past this, I tend to do something that you might not enjoy the idea of but might like once you see it in action, and that is to stack Warmogs. You see, my Mundo style is all about being bulky, having lots of regeneration, and being able to slow someone down to a crawl whilst poking them for decent damage. Mundo can do all of this. He has a built in 25% HP poke, a built in +100 damage, and a built in AoE. He doesn't need massive amounts of damage items to be effective. What he does need is a lot of HP to increase the effectiveness of his ultimate, and a lot of regeneration to win any poking war whatsoever. I know that Warmogs aren't very cost effective generally, so let's do some math and find out exactly what they do for Mundo. 

At it's worst, it offers you 920 HP and 30/5 HP regeneration. Now, when we incorporate your passive and your ultimate, it adds...

 27.6 / 30/5 HP regeneration

644 HP to your ultimate

Now, any of this is before we incorporate spirit visage at all. Remember that it adds 15% to your heailng and regeneration effects.

That means that at it's minimum, Warmogs actually offers...

65/5 HP Regeneration

740 HP to your ultimate.

At it's best it offers you 1370 HP and 45 HP Regeneration

Which translates into (With Spirit Visage)

86/5 HP Regeneration 

1102 HP to your ultimate

And that is before we even discuss the added bonuses that it gives Force of Nature.

Are you beginning to see the awesome potential that Warmog's can offer Mundo? This is coming from someone who HATES Warmog's and has never been able to justify them on anyone. 

ITEM BUILD/TL;DR

Spirit Visage

Boots of Swiftness

Rylai's

Force of Nature / Randuin's Omen

Warmog's

Warmog's

That's it. It rarely changes, and it is always effective for me. Let's move on to other things.

Approaching Team fights

You can be initiate somewhat well if you have to, although Mundo is the sort of character whose job is to jump on a problem character that needs to be killed and keep them slowed down and taking his AoE damage. You are somewhat tanky, but not to the extent that you should be jumping before the main initiator. Use hit and run tactics with a focus on chasing and locking opponents down and you'll do just fine. Use your ultimate if you need the added speed, or as you are about to enter a fight to keep your HP up. If you get focused, laugh in their face. If you get focused and ignited, try to run because you might die. You'll find that your ultimate + your regeneration + your defensive items will keep you safe against most focus but ignite will seriously fuck you over. 

Runes

 There are a couple of runes that I like. I enjoy Cooldown, Movement speed, health, and magic penetration, although it is mostly up to what you find useful and what works for you. 

Masteries

I like 9/21/0

Spells 

This is something that some people will probably disagree with me on, but I honestly prefer exhaust/ignite for Mundo. He already has a built in ghost, and his amazing early game potential along with his decent 1v1 potential make exhaust/ignite a valid choice for him, in my opinion.