Hiya everyone. This particular build of mine is so sentimental. Karthus is my favorite champion. There is no doubt about it. He is my favorite caster and that is why I feel implied to share a build with the Mobafire Community regarding Karthus. This build is not incredibly special. It is just so that I can explain how I play the Deathsinger and what I do in lane. This build is the one I use for most games. Before, I didn't really find an effective build because of the Rod of Ages always getting in the way. I have a few problems with the Rod of Ages. 1. Its pricing is around 3000 gold to buy early game. That ,to me, is kind of ridiculous to buy at level 6 or so and it can take forever if you're fed. I know it has increasing stats throughout the game, but you're just better off getting the stacking mana from the Archangel Staff. The Rod of Ages is purple and that is a girly color for the Mighty Karthus!!!. Anyway, I hope that you'll give this build a chance and read up on what I have to say about this champion. Without further a-do, I present Karthus- Tastes Like Awesome Sauce.

I appreciate everyone for reading my guides. Don't get me wrong, this build is not perfect. No guide is perfect because not all players have the same play-style. I find it most fair to come out and project my concerns and triumphs with this particular build. We'll start with the Pros.

Pros
1. Has magic-resist early game for mid.
2. Has tenacity
3. Has a lot of ability power
4. You have a lot of mana early game just in case you need to use defile
5. Your Lay Waste gains power early for better minion farming

Cons
1. You don't have a ton of health early game
2. You're sort of squishy regardless of your magice resist and late game armor
3. You don't really destroy long-range DPS in mid without practice

I usually don't have a section that has to do with farming. With Karthus, However, I deem it useful to explain to new players how to farm as Karthus. Karthus is caster with a long-ranged nuke that doesn't take a lot of mana, so early game you always want to pop Lay Waste to rack up some gold. Last-Hitting is important on any champion,but with Karthus, it is extremely necessary. When your Q gets to a higher rank, it's easier to farm, but for Early game from about levels 1-5 you need to pay close attention to the health of target minions. Since Karthus's Q has a delay with the cast, you'll have to wait for the perfect time to cast in order to rack up some gold. Late-game is especially fun when using Defile to do tons of AOE damage to minions so it makes me laugh when looking back at early game. To minion farm, you might want to move your champion around to avoid your opposition's attacks. Try to harass by placing your Q behind them to to some AOE damage to the opposition and to do some minion damage. The primal time to cast Q is when the minions in that area are generally around 1/5 or 1/4 health. remember that the closer the better when casting Lay Waste to minion farm. This should prove to be a successful strategy when working your lane. I recommend mid lane by the way*

It's time for everybody's favorite part, the runes!!! Just kidding, but this is important to a good pre-game build. For runes, I take everything as standard caster. I mean REALLY standard. Anywhere on Youtube or Mobafire you find these runes on Karth and other casters. The reason I picked these is because they actually work!!! I know right? It's crazy that others follow in the footsteps of succession by others, but in this scenario, I find it best to stick to the Status Quo.

First, I take 9 Greater Marks of Insight for magic penetration. This magic penetration almost negates the effect of Sorcerer's Boots to make room for more useful items. In my opinion, these runes are good on any caster or heavy-magic champion.

Next, I take 9 Greater Seals of Clarity. I take mana regen per level because it scales with how you're using mana. I can almost no play Pantheon without mana regen seals and glyphs. You are always constantly using your Q-spell on Karthus so you need your resources to passively come back to you as you cast.

Then, I take 9 Greater Glyphs of Focus. I take these for Cooldown reduction so that you can get your Ult off more easily and in a faster amount of time. It can even make your Lay Waste give your opponent a run for their money because the bombs are coming at them so fast. It's a good addition to any caster I find.

Finally, I go for what I almost always go for. I go for the notorious Flat-Health Quintessences. These, for me, are good on almost any champion. It only adds around 60 hp to your champ, but that is just so important on a squishy Karthus for a better early game. Part of the reason I use these is because they are just about all I have as far as Quints go. So if anyone has any suggestions, post a comment or PM me with your idea. This is not my build it's for you the people.

Here we go again. This build is another 9/0/21. It makes me kinda sad to see all the monotonous patterns in caster builds, but whatever works, works.

I kick it off with 9 points in my offensive tree. I go for 3 points in increased AP and one in crit. chance just because I have too. I also take 4 points in cool down reduction simply because CD reduction is what makes some casters whole and it is just a great stat to have more of. I then finish with one point in magic penetration to make it all worthwhile. This is relatively standard and if anyone has any suggestions then please post a comment.

I then take 21 points in my utility tree. 1/3 of my talents are in the first row and here is why. I don't take any summoner spell in there but ghost so that negates any others. I don't really find it necessary to get the golem buff because you get the Tear of the Goddess so early that it doesn't really matter. next, gold is not really all that important since you'll be farming like a mad man the entire time anyway. Then, the Archangel Staff increases your max mana anyway throughout the game, so you shouldn't have a hard time with that. I start of with getting reduced resurrection time. This is important on a squishy caster because you usually don't go legendary for ages at a time and you thrive off of staying alive for most of the game. So, I take that to enable you to get back in the game and mid lane ASAP. Next, I grab mana and health regen. I like this talent because it is really almost a tiny Philosopher's Stone which I can't play without on Teemo. It is an all-around great skill to use, and I like it a lot. Next, of course, I grab Ghost because who wouldn't if you are using Ghost? I then take points in Exp. gain because the more fed you are, the better. Then I take points in mana regen and movement speed. The movement speed is useful so that after the tenacity from your boots saves you, you can still make a speedy escape. I take points in mana regen just so that I can pwn some more face early game and get more spells cast and out there on the Field of Justice! Finally, I take my last points in Summoner Spell cool down reduction and cooldown reducion in general. Your Ult is faster, Ignite is faster, Ghost is faster. There are virtually no downsides to it.

This is where the Awesome Sauce is actually put into the pot and mixed in with the tears of your opponent's with a little added Kick-*** to bring it all together.(pardon my French). I take standard caster items with the exclusion of my boots which I find a lot more handy than the Sorcerer's boots. I like my build and I want to explain what it is I do with it and how I use these items to my advantage. Here are the items of Awesome Sauce!!!

1. I start out with a Doran's Ringe. Any of the Doran's items are really good on any champion and some people chose to stack these early game because their worth is a lot more than they are given credit for. It gives Karthus some early game Hp, ability power, and mana regen. The only item I could think of replacing it is the Chalice of Harmony, but I find it more useful to get the health.

2. I then rush Tear of the Goddess as quickly as possible. This item is possibly what makes Karthus who he is because he needs tons of mana to do that AOE damage with Defile, and Defile eats up mana faster than Charles Barkley eats fajitas from Taco Bell. I mean, you need this item. That is why I get that ASAP.

3. Next, I do something that isn't traditionally done on a Karthus, but recently I have seen people try this and it does work. I'm talking about Mercury Treads. Aside from the Tenacity to enable Karthus and escape, it gives you magic resist to help Karthus Early game. This build is meant for solo queue so there is no telling what you're up against. You already have magice pen early game from your Runes and Masteries, the extra magic pen is a lot less in worth especially because of the Void Staff that you get late game. I think that you should all give these boots the benefit of the doubt because odds are, you'll actually like them a lot.

4. I then complete the Tear of the Goddess with a good ol' Archangel Staff. This item is especially good on Karthus no only because of the mana, but because of the ability it accumulates over time. It's worth is extreme early game and I highly recommend this item. It is probably considered one of the core items for your game alone.

5. Next I take the Rabadon's Deathcap so that you can deal crazy Ability Power to your opponents. Requiem will hit for almost half of someones health if you're fed enough. I increases your ability power by 30% which stacks like Legos throughout the game. It is the carry AP item. That's what I call it at least.

6. I then go for the durability in the Rylai's Crystal Scepter. This gives Karthus Health and Ability Power. It's like a grand feast of things to help Karthus. This should increase your health substantially and make you more durable. It's passive slow is really what helps Karthus. It can massacre your opponents in team fights and is an all-around great item on Karthus.

7. I then decide to go for the Void Staff to negate the effect of the Sorcerer's Boots and go a little further. It gives you around 40% magic pen and ability power. It is a really good AP item that you can grab without actually getting a ton of gold.

8. My final item is to replace the Doran's ring in case you actually make it this far. by now all the DPS carries have leveled up and you need to adapt as a caster to get a little more armor for the sake of the kids. I get the Zhonya's Hourglass because it gives you a good amount of AP and it gives you a casting stasis which can save you when you'rein a sticky situation. It also adds armor to combat those DPS carries and making you a beast in all manors of its meaning.


Substitutes

Sorcerer's Boots- If you absolutely refuse to take the merc treads and you're a hater, then here is your relief. If you're fed enough and absolutely pwning mid, then you might as well go for some more power. I recommend the Merc. Treads but these can be used as well.

Abyssal Scepter- This item is just in case you don't have enough magic resist or need to penetrate someone like Galio with a lot of magic resist. It can be used effectively if you have the need for it.

Deathfire Grasp- this is a good item to use on a lot of champions. It gives you some mana regen, ap, and it is really good at helping you take down tanks. I believe that it does damage relevant to the amount of health of a champion. This is definitely a great item on any mage character and it could help you win the game.

I take a skill sequence that is relatively simple and commonly used. I max Lay Waste ASAP. I then move into maxing Defile because it is your next damage spell. I max the wall last but get a talent in it at level 4. I max Q first because it is his main damage spell and it helps you farm minions to an extent that none of your other moves can match. This move is definitely important and it may take some time to get good with. I max E next to get your AOE damage up so that you can pick up some kills if anyone tries to gank mid foolishly. You'll make them pay for getting near you by using rank 1 of your wall and pwning with a barrage of Q's while channeling your E. That is how I picture Karthus and that is how I use those moves. If anyone has any problems with the move set-up then please leave a comment below. In completion your priorities should look like this.

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My Summoner Spells are Ghost, and Ignite. I use Ghost to either chase down my opposition or run away from them quickly in my merc treads. I use Ignite to cast a dot on anyone that I don't like or is on the other team......In reality, I go for a utility move and a damage move to make an all- around great combo. I have seen these spells used in other builds on Karthus. I know that some agree with me, but I will post some altrenatives.


Spells that Make Ya Go WOOOOOOOO
Flash- some require flash as a spell to actually play the game and prefer it over ghost. That is absolutely fine and I recommend Flash in come cases.

Teleport- If you're having a rough time in mid and need to go back for items, then I recommend this spell. It can give so a little more mobility to get to and from the spawn pool or to gank.

Cleanse- I love this spell. It almost negates the need for merc. treads. It can give you a proper and speedy escape when in a sticky situation. When trouble hits, just dip out

Heal- I don't really like heal on Karthus, but I have used it before and it may be needed by some

Clarity- If you're really having mana issues, which you shouldn't, then you may need this item to keep up with the curb or if you just need a little boost in mid.

Spells That Make the Other Team Laugh at You
Smite- Your teammates find your address and beat the **** out of you.
Exhaust- You have a wall that does the same thing
Rally- Who even uses Rally?
Revive- You have reduced resurrection time for a reason.

Well, that's my build and I hope that you all give it the benefit of the doubt and try it out. It is a really great build and it works for me. I want to thank any of my readers or anybody who has even used my build. You have no idea how much it means to me. I want to also thank Mobafire for allowing me to post my opinions and ideas on this site. I hope that many of you readers will come back and read some more of my builds. Thanks so much for reading and rate it up!!! Leave comments also so that I can know what I'm doing wrong and what I need to change about it.


"When the whole world uses Awesome Sauce, Einstein's theory of our conversion to complete energy may be upheld" -Karthus, the Deathsinger