Introduction
This guide covers an alternate way of playing Dr. Mundo: As damage dealer rather than tank. Which way I build him depends on the team compositions. If my team has no other tank/initiator, I might be forced to build him according to the other guides that are online at the moment, with maxed out hp and regen, but if there's someone else to help out with that, I find that the damage dealer role is more effective. There did not seem to be any guide online for this style, so I reckoned I'd pitch in.
Dr. Mundo in brief:
Pros
- Amazing regen, coupled with zero mana dependence makes him able to stay in the field almost indefinitely.
- High damage output
- High survivability
- Good chasing capabilities
- An M.D.
Cons
- Melee
- Low attack speed
- Abilities cost health (usually no problem except for sustaining Burning agony)
Abilities
Adrenaline Rush - Dr Mundo regenerates 0.3% of his Max Health each second
Infected Cleaver - Dr. Mundo hurls his cleaver, dealing damage equal to a portion of his target's maximum health and slowing them for a short time.
Dr. Mundo hurls his cleaver, dealing damage equal to 15 / 18 / 21 / 23 / 25% of the target's current health (80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 damage minimum) and slowing them by 40% for 2 seconds.
Cooldown - 4 seconds
Costs 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 Health
Burning Agony - Dr. Mundo drains his health to reduce the duration of stuns and slows and deal continual damage to nearby enemies.
Toggle: Dr. Mundo deals 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 (+0 per ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies, and reduces the duration of crowd control effects on Dr Mundo by 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%.
Cooldown - 4 seconds
Costs 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 Health per Sec
Range - 300
Masochism - Masochism increases Dr. Mundo's physical damage by a flat amount for 5 second. In addition, Dr. Mundo also gains an additional amount of damage for each percentage of health he is missing.
Increases physical damage by 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 for 5 seconds. Dr. Mundo gains an additional +0 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 damage for each percentage of health he is missing.
Cooldown - 8 seconds
Costs 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 Health
Sadism - Dr. Mundo sacrifices a portion of his health for increased movement speed and drasticly increased health regeneration.
Dr. Mundo regenerates 50% of his Max Health over 12 seconds. Additionally, he gains 15 / 25 / 35% movement speed.
Cooldown - 60 seconds
Costs 20% of Current Health
Skill build
1. Infected Cleaver
2. Masochism
3. Infected Cleaver
4. Masochism
5. Infected Cleaver
6. Sadism
7. Infected Cleaver
8. Masochism
9. Infected Cleaver
10. Masochism
11. Sadism
12. Masochism
13. Burning Agony
14. Burning Agony
15. Burning Agony
16. Sadism
17. Burning Agony
18. Burning Agony
This is pretty standard. Infected cleaver is a great skill for just about everything: last-hitting creeps, harrassing enemies, chasing, killing, you name it. Mundo has enough health regen that the helath cost is rarely an issue allowing you to spam cleaver whenever you see something worth hitting. It can also be used to scout out patches of grass. Just heave it in there, if you get that satisfying thunk, there's an enemy hiding in there.
Masochism is what gives Mundo his damage, and should be maxed quickly. The cooldown is short, and once you get some life steal, it pays back it's own health cost quickly: creep with it, kill with it.
Sadism is taken whenever possible. It allows Mundo to stay in the field as long as he wants and the movement speed is useful for bringing down fleeing enemies. If you're lucky, it might also lure the enemy into overcomitting. Usually people are a bit careful of Mundo with his ulti up, but every once in a while I've been able to get kills when enemies have thought they could take me down with just that one last shot. Even at low levels, Sadism gives around 50 hp regen per second, use it for mindgames if you can.
Burning agony is for extra presence in team fights. Sometimes I get a level of it earlier, especially if the opposing team is heavy on disablers. The reduced crowd control duration is nice and can get you out of some combos (for instance it messes up the timing on Veigar's Event horizon - Dark matter combo). It is also nice to be able to deal damage even when disabled. Note that Burning agony makes you stand out in a fight and can draw a lot of fire, but on the other hand it's usually better that the enemies focus you rather than some squishier hero.
Items
As starting gear, I usually go Doran's shield and a health pot. It's all about having enough health regen to see me through to level 6. I suppose you could get a rejuvenation bead instead of the shield, but the extra hp and armour is nice.
The core of the build is
- Boots. I usually go Boots of swiftness or possibly Mercury treads if faced with many disablers. Mundo is a chaser, he needs to be quick.
- Zeal
- Stark's fervor
- Upgrade Zeal to Phantom dancer
Mundo needs attack speed and lifesteal to be a real killing machine, these items take care of this. Stark's is also a great incentive for your team mates; since they will have to take a bit of the damage you could have absorbed with a tankier build, it's only fair to give them the ability to survive it.
After the core it's up to what's going on in the game, Not having to worry about mana or ability power narrows the choices a bit:
Bloodthirster for damage, pure and simple
Madred's bloodrazor or Last whisper for anti-tank work.
Sunfire cape for more survivability and team fight presence. Usually around late game, I start feeling a bit squishy. Sunfire is a good way of dealing with this. Warmog's is just overkill; if your enemies are not dying, the extra hp and regen will only mean that you get to stay alive and watch as your friends die.
Frozen mallet gives a nice HP boost and the slow helps you get stuff killed.
Game plan
Early game
Mundo can hold a solo lane, but there's no real point. Better to lane with a disabler or someone else capable of dealing some damage early. Harrass and last hit, using cleavers and Masochism as necessary. Don't get too cocky, but don't shirk from a fight, with masochism you can out-dps most enemies. With a decent laning partner you might be able to get a few kills, especially against enemies with little hp regen.
Mid game
Once you hit level 6 and get some boots, you can go around ganking. You usually won't be able to kill on your own, but with some help you can rack up a few kills. Mid game is your time, with Masochism you should be able to kill just about anything as long as you can catch it. Coordinate with your teammates and go around ganking and tearing down towers. Remember that when ganking you're relying on slows and movement speed to catch your enemy and will need some distance between your quarry and the nearest enemy tower in order to have time to kill. You can tower dive if it will get you a kill, but you are not invincible. If all lanes are pushed, you might consider clearing out some neutral creep camps, the lizard buff is useful and as long as you have some life steal, killing neutrals is a breeze.
Late game
You should have your core build and a number of kills (You are a damage dealer, if you're not killing enemies, you are failing your team), and a bunch of assists (if someone else gets the kill, don't get all "omg steal!!!1", you don't really need the money).
Your job now is to neutralize dangerous elements and sow chaos in team fights. Some guides recommend aiming at tankier enemies to maximise the damage output of Infected cleaver, but I disagree: They will have more armour, so the damage won't be that amazing anyway, and more importantly, the enemy damage dealers must be put out of the fight quickly. Mundo has enough hit points and enough damage to march straight through the fight and do it. With Burning agony, you are a big target, you will not go unnoticed. The enemy damage dealers will break and run (if they don't, kill them) allowing your team to kill without fear of sustaining damage. The enemy tanks will chase you (if they don't, kill their friends), once again allowing your allies to strike with impunity. If pulled of perfectly, you will be the perfect tank: Too dangerous to ignore, too tough to kill.
Summoner spells
Flash – It can get you out of trouble. It can get you into trouble. It will help you chase and to get positioned in team fights. Allround useful.
Exhaust - The blind and armour reduction are useful and the slow helps fill out the few seconds until cleaver cools down. If you're not in a premade, it is also a good way of showing people that it is killing time.
Teleport – Good for all heroes, but Mundo rarely needs to return to base and his movement speed is fairly high.
Ghost – Not as good as exhaust in terms of killing. It might get you out of some difficult situations, but remember that you are getting close to the MS soft caps even without Sadism active.
Heal – I feel that the heal amount is too small for Mundo, it just doesn't matter enough: If I'm not going to survive without heal, I probably won't survive with it either.
Cleanse – I feel that Burning agony is enough, but this could certainly be useful.
Revive – I dislike the idea of planning to die.
Rally – You are a chaser, you'll just end up running away from it.
Smite – Mundo doesn't need it to creep.
Fortify, Clairvoyance – If your team needs them, by all means take them, but they don't really synergise with Mundo.
Promote – I don't see the greatness of this spell, and Mundo can destroy towers on his own.
This guide covers an alternate way of playing Dr. Mundo: As damage dealer rather than tank. Which way I build him depends on the team compositions. If my team has no other tank/initiator, I might be forced to build him according to the other guides that are online at the moment, with maxed out hp and regen, but if there's someone else to help out with that, I find that the damage dealer role is more effective. There did not seem to be any guide online for this style, so I reckoned I'd pitch in.
Dr. Mundo in brief:
Pros
- Amazing regen, coupled with zero mana dependence makes him able to stay in the field almost indefinitely.
- High damage output
- High survivability
- Good chasing capabilities
- An M.D.
Cons
- Melee
- Low attack speed
- Abilities cost health (usually no problem except for sustaining Burning agony)
Abilities
Adrenaline Rush - Dr Mundo regenerates 0.3% of his Max Health each second
Infected Cleaver - Dr. Mundo hurls his cleaver, dealing damage equal to a portion of his target's maximum health and slowing them for a short time.
Dr. Mundo hurls his cleaver, dealing damage equal to 15 / 18 / 21 / 23 / 25% of the target's current health (80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 damage minimum) and slowing them by 40% for 2 seconds.
Cooldown - 4 seconds
Costs 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 Health
Burning Agony - Dr. Mundo drains his health to reduce the duration of stuns and slows and deal continual damage to nearby enemies.
Toggle: Dr. Mundo deals 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 (+0 per ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies, and reduces the duration of crowd control effects on Dr Mundo by 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%.
Cooldown - 4 seconds
Costs 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 Health per Sec
Range - 300
Masochism - Masochism increases Dr. Mundo's physical damage by a flat amount for 5 second. In addition, Dr. Mundo also gains an additional amount of damage for each percentage of health he is missing.
Increases physical damage by 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 for 5 seconds. Dr. Mundo gains an additional +0 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 damage for each percentage of health he is missing.
Cooldown - 8 seconds
Costs 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 Health
Sadism - Dr. Mundo sacrifices a portion of his health for increased movement speed and drasticly increased health regeneration.
Dr. Mundo regenerates 50% of his Max Health over 12 seconds. Additionally, he gains 15 / 25 / 35% movement speed.
Cooldown - 60 seconds
Costs 20% of Current Health
Skill build
1. Infected Cleaver
2. Masochism
3. Infected Cleaver
4. Masochism
5. Infected Cleaver
6. Sadism
7. Infected Cleaver
8. Masochism
9. Infected Cleaver
10. Masochism
11. Sadism
12. Masochism
13. Burning Agony
14. Burning Agony
15. Burning Agony
16. Sadism
17. Burning Agony
18. Burning Agony
This is pretty standard. Infected cleaver is a great skill for just about everything: last-hitting creeps, harrassing enemies, chasing, killing, you name it. Mundo has enough health regen that the helath cost is rarely an issue allowing you to spam cleaver whenever you see something worth hitting. It can also be used to scout out patches of grass. Just heave it in there, if you get that satisfying thunk, there's an enemy hiding in there.
Masochism is what gives Mundo his damage, and should be maxed quickly. The cooldown is short, and once you get some life steal, it pays back it's own health cost quickly: creep with it, kill with it.
Sadism is taken whenever possible. It allows Mundo to stay in the field as long as he wants and the movement speed is useful for bringing down fleeing enemies. If you're lucky, it might also lure the enemy into overcomitting. Usually people are a bit careful of Mundo with his ulti up, but every once in a while I've been able to get kills when enemies have thought they could take me down with just that one last shot. Even at low levels, Sadism gives around 50 hp regen per second, use it for mindgames if you can.
Burning agony is for extra presence in team fights. Sometimes I get a level of it earlier, especially if the opposing team is heavy on disablers. The reduced crowd control duration is nice and can get you out of some combos (for instance it messes up the timing on Veigar's Event horizon - Dark matter combo). It is also nice to be able to deal damage even when disabled. Note that Burning agony makes you stand out in a fight and can draw a lot of fire, but on the other hand it's usually better that the enemies focus you rather than some squishier hero.
Items
As starting gear, I usually go Doran's shield and a health pot. It's all about having enough health regen to see me through to level 6. I suppose you could get a rejuvenation bead instead of the shield, but the extra hp and armour is nice.
The core of the build is
- Boots. I usually go Boots of swiftness or possibly Mercury treads if faced with many disablers. Mundo is a chaser, he needs to be quick.
- Zeal
- Stark's fervor
- Upgrade Zeal to Phantom dancer
Mundo needs attack speed and lifesteal to be a real killing machine, these items take care of this. Stark's is also a great incentive for your team mates; since they will have to take a bit of the damage you could have absorbed with a tankier build, it's only fair to give them the ability to survive it.
After the core it's up to what's going on in the game, Not having to worry about mana or ability power narrows the choices a bit:
Bloodthirster for damage, pure and simple
Madred's bloodrazor or Last whisper for anti-tank work.
Sunfire cape for more survivability and team fight presence. Usually around late game, I start feeling a bit squishy. Sunfire is a good way of dealing with this. Warmog's is just overkill; if your enemies are not dying, the extra hp and regen will only mean that you get to stay alive and watch as your friends die.
Frozen mallet gives a nice HP boost and the slow helps you get stuff killed.
Game plan
Early game
Mundo can hold a solo lane, but there's no real point. Better to lane with a disabler or someone else capable of dealing some damage early. Harrass and last hit, using cleavers and Masochism as necessary. Don't get too cocky, but don't shirk from a fight, with masochism you can out-dps most enemies. With a decent laning partner you might be able to get a few kills, especially against enemies with little hp regen.
Mid game
Once you hit level 6 and get some boots, you can go around ganking. You usually won't be able to kill on your own, but with some help you can rack up a few kills. Mid game is your time, with Masochism you should be able to kill just about anything as long as you can catch it. Coordinate with your teammates and go around ganking and tearing down towers. Remember that when ganking you're relying on slows and movement speed to catch your enemy and will need some distance between your quarry and the nearest enemy tower in order to have time to kill. You can tower dive if it will get you a kill, but you are not invincible. If all lanes are pushed, you might consider clearing out some neutral creep camps, the lizard buff is useful and as long as you have some life steal, killing neutrals is a breeze.
Late game
You should have your core build and a number of kills (You are a damage dealer, if you're not killing enemies, you are failing your team), and a bunch of assists (if someone else gets the kill, don't get all "omg steal!!!1", you don't really need the money).
Your job now is to neutralize dangerous elements and sow chaos in team fights. Some guides recommend aiming at tankier enemies to maximise the damage output of Infected cleaver, but I disagree: They will have more armour, so the damage won't be that amazing anyway, and more importantly, the enemy damage dealers must be put out of the fight quickly. Mundo has enough hit points and enough damage to march straight through the fight and do it. With Burning agony, you are a big target, you will not go unnoticed. The enemy damage dealers will break and run (if they don't, kill them) allowing your team to kill without fear of sustaining damage. The enemy tanks will chase you (if they don't, kill their friends), once again allowing your allies to strike with impunity. If pulled of perfectly, you will be the perfect tank: Too dangerous to ignore, too tough to kill.
Summoner spells
Flash – It can get you out of trouble. It can get you into trouble. It will help you chase and to get positioned in team fights. Allround useful.
Exhaust - The blind and armour reduction are useful and the slow helps fill out the few seconds until cleaver cools down. If you're not in a premade, it is also a good way of showing people that it is killing time.
Teleport – Good for all heroes, but Mundo rarely needs to return to base and his movement speed is fairly high.
Ghost – Not as good as exhaust in terms of killing. It might get you out of some difficult situations, but remember that you are getting close to the MS soft caps even without Sadism active.
Heal – I feel that the heal amount is too small for Mundo, it just doesn't matter enough: If I'm not going to survive without heal, I probably won't survive with it either.
Cleanse – I feel that Burning agony is enough, but this could certainly be useful.
Revive – I dislike the idea of planning to die.
Rally – You are a chaser, you'll just end up running away from it.
Smite – Mundo doesn't need it to creep.
Fortify, Clairvoyance – If your team needs them, by all means take them, but they don't really synergise with Mundo.
Promote – I don't see the greatness of this spell, and Mundo can destroy towers on his own.
