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This item right now is in a weird spot, it is forced in some builds but kinda sucks. If you take a mana mythic best not start this item. |
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This item is good for mana and helps you be aggressive in lane Though might present some mana issues if you are not carful. If you starts a mana mythic this is the better choice. |
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With the recent changes to Luden's Tempest and this item the debate as to witch one has changed. Before this item was the clear winner but now with the increased Ability haste on tempest and the lowered DMG on Night Harvester passive, the tempest is probably the better choice only because you don't have to build tear. |
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While this item did just receive a nerf, it still is a great item for Karthus and the one built most often right now. This item does more DPS than Riftmaker and grants mana along with the %pen. But in addition to that it has a burn effect and more Ability haste. The item is good in any game just only against full squishy teams does this item fall short. Though even in those games this item can do upwards of 15K extra dmg. |
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This item did see some experimentation at first but since has fallen completely out of favor. With a recent change that lowers the omnivamp and removes the pen the item only becomes less useful on Karthus. Until the item sees changes do not take this item. |
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This item is kinda cool but lacks a large enough amount of ability haste and reliable DMG. While it does give you AP for every legendary it still cant compare to the DMG of even Night Harvester or any other mythic for that matter. The passive while cool is unreliable and only lasts 1.5 seconds so with low ability haste around 1 Lay Waste and that's IF you hit the active. |
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This item has come back into the talk about when to take it. with recent Night Harvester changes and tear being not needed on this build it becomes a better choice. The idea of the build with this is to take it into a team of no tanks similar to when you would have taken Night Harvester. Then with this item boots and Mejai's Soulstealer gives you the fastest solid amount of flat pen possible thus you decimate any squishy targets. This item is best for mid game and when you are ahead due to soulstealer. |
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This item has started to appear as another option for Karthus for a bit as a tank route but the item has seen some nerfs. Though in my testing it is not awful if the team needs a tank. You will still do decent late game DMG but in early and mid game you rely on your team to deal DMG so make sure you have some before you build this. I think this build is still a meme build but can be fun to build na may be viable in the future. |
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While karthus loves using mana you need to avoid this item. The item not only builds out of tear, a bad starting item, but also is not worth it for the stats it gives. It only grants big ap numbers and mana. With no haste or pen and anything the item feels awful. |
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This item is very solid for Karthus and is always an option in any build. This item with Liandry's Anguish feels like a crazy power spike and guarantees you at the top of the dmg charts. in addition it grants lots of HP and resistances. The only issue is, it is in completion for second item, witch usually has tough contender like hourglass. |
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This item got a nice buff to its grievous wounds(GW) and ap effect but in turn lost any reason to build it if you don't want GW. Its component lost the flat pen and so did the item. But for less gold and better GW the item will still be used. Also this item in any of the builds can be replaced with any legendary item. |
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This item got some small buffs in an extra 10% slow and 50 HP but the extra 400 gold cost and the fact that it no longer combos with liandrys makes it a hard sell. This item I don't see being used almost ever. |
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This item is basically the same as it was but with 10 ap less and sells for 300 gold cheaper. This item is a must in most builds, at times even first item. The 300 gold less is a great buff to an item that is a must build. The component Seeker's Armguard is a fantastic early buy into ad matchups as well. Some people say don't build this frankly I don't see why not too. |
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This item just keeps getting buffed, and not the component it builds off of got a buff to be just as good as the armguard making it also great. The stats it offers are great as well. This item can be used into teams even with just two ap champs that's how good it is, only recommendation is you lane opponent should at least be ap. |
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While this item did get nerfed, losing 5% extra AP and costing 200 more. it is still Karthus's late game item for big AP numbers. Yes the nerf hurt and all but it will still be used. |
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This item now costs less and that's great Though with some of the mythic items also offering %pen this might no be as necessary though with the loss of Oblivion Orb's flat pen I suspect it will still see use for squishy targets. Of course its main purpose is so you can kill tanks so it will be used no mater what. |
Builds - lots of words
[*] Night Harvester DH build
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The rune page to take is the classic Dark Harvest with precision secondary. You will have Archangel's Staff but even so Presence of Mind is still very helpful as in long fight you will still run out of mana. It also keeps you in lane longer mana wise. Of course the DH proc with Night Harvester is disgusting and can pop ADC's if they are not dead already. The goal for each fight with this build is to kill the squishy targets and that's what this rune page does. |
Playing lane
While this is the big DMG build the start of the lane phase will be mostly passive on your part. This is because you are forced to start tear and lose a majority of pressure in lane. Though killing the opponent is not out of the question with some good poke before a fight. At first back hopefully you can buy a
Hextech Alternator, this item is great and gives a large spike in kill potential. Keep in mind that you are still squishy and have low HP. This means that while you will mostly be taking
Barrier or
Exhaust without extra HP from
Doran's Ring and the ideal first back item also giving no HP most lane opponents can kill you in the 1v1 if you don't poke well before the engage. You will start to realize that poke is a large part of this build as the passive of
Night Harvester provides so much of it. Not only are you just as squishy as before the new items but most other champs also got more DMG. But the same applies to
Karthus, this means that it is more important than ever to play like and artillery mage for as long as possible till you actually need to die, of course make sure you die in a useful place. This makes sure that you get the max amount of damage as possible. Abuse the passive of
Night Harvester and its movement speed to reposition after a procing it.
When to run this build
This build is nice but even so mainly is only taken when the opponents team has no tanks. It can obliterate squishy targets but fails to do meaningful dmg vs tanks and bruisers. Though in ADC this build becomes a bit more possible as you can guarantee fighting one squishy target.
[*] Anguish anti-tank DPS (best build ATM)
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Due to the nature of this build you will want to be in fights longer to maximize dmg, thus aery does better in this case. Aery also can often out dmg Dark Harvest as well as taking Manaflow Band to prevent needing tear and instead getting Doran's Ring. |
Playing lane
One major plus of this build is the fact that you don't get
Tear of the Goddess due to manaflow and the mana and anguish. This means that getting
Doran's Ring and having aery means you gave a ton of early pressure for poke. While you are still prone to assassins if you poke properly you can prevent the all in. The core of the build is
Liandry's Anguish and
Demonic Embrace, the two items together grants tons of over time dmg that if play properly can end up doing upwards of 25k dmg together over a game. then paired with hourglass means you can survive dives and stay alive longer plus becoming even more tanky with demonic' s passive. Then finally with the anguish passive and a potential
Void Staff you can deal with tanks great you might even have room for a deathcap if you don't need anti heal. The main weakness though is the lack of sustain without
Ravenous Hunter.
Doran's Ring does a serviceable job in lane but late game it can become a bit problematic HP wise. That is why it is even more necessary to play back and safe to maximize dmg till the time is right to die.
When to run this build
This build is now the best build for lane and JG (jg taking DH though). It works in any scenario against any team. Only
Night Harvester when into an entire no tank team can outperform it. The lots of dmg along with antitank mana and solid ability haste makes this build the way to go.
[*] RiftMaker Sustain - for fun build
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Dark Harvest in an attempt to make up for the loss in DMG with this build and Ravenous Hunter to add on more omnivamp. Just the basic rune page lines up well though sorcery could be taken to use Absolute Focus and another dmg amp rune although Manaflow Band would most likely be useful as karthus might need more mana than tear can provide at some points with this build. |
Playing lane
This build in fact has less DMG than most previous karthus builds with old items and on top of that less healing even with the omnivamp from
Riftmaker. While it can be nice in lane as a first back item
Leeching Leer the lack of ability haste makes it have a TON less DPS than other builds. This means that other builds due to increased DMG might out heal this build just with
Ravenous Hunter. While the passive is cool, surviving to have it at max stacks is difficult (that's part of the reason demonic embrace is part of the build so the burn keeps you in combat). Even the true damage is lack luster without the dmg to back it up with such low ability haste. You could take
Cosmic Drive to mend that problem and get some MS but to build another item just to make ends meet is not ideal. The upsides for this build is that in lane it is the safest build with the most sustain. Thus being the safest lane you can take
Teleport and not get killed. Also with the
Liandry's Anguish nerf it now has higher %pen for later in the game, but it still takes forever. The last good thing I can think of is that this item would feel solid into assassins and other bad matchups like
Vladimir. Beyond that this build will be mediocre until maybe a tested tank karthus comes to fruition.
When to run this build
This can be taken into tanks but even then
Liandry's Anguish is still better. But the main thing to take this item into is into unfavorable matchups like I said
Vladimir and
Kassadin. The build helps you survive into assassins matchups but does not help you deal DMG later, you will be better off building
Seeker's Armguard.
[*] Ludens Full Pen
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Of course when you hear full pen you are taking Dark Harvest. Though along with all of the basic runes you will want to take the ability hast passive rune as the build only gets the 20 from ludens and is stuck on that till you get Zhonya's Hourglass. |
Playing lane
This build in lane plays aggressive as your main goal is to get a lead, ask for ganks and play to your lead. Of course
Doran's Ring is a must in any aggressive lane. On first back you have a few options, first,
Dark Seal is a great first back with other components towards
Lost Chapter. but if you can buy the full chapter don't let the dare seal get in the way of that. You can take
Barrier but overall
Exhaust is going to be more helpful to get kills and since you take this into a team that is all squishy the likely hood that one opponent will get feed and and needs exhausted is higher. If you don't get a lead in lane make sure you keep trying to stack the
Mejai's Soulstealer as
Requiem is great at getting assists. In order for this build to work best the more stacks the better. Going into mid game is when this build shines, if you successfully get fed you can pop any opponent as the backline mage karthus always wanted to be. That also means that the run in and int playstyle will not work here as stacks are very important. Of course when the time come you might have to int but this build with do it much less than other builds.
When to run this build
As is said before, this build works best into no tank teams. This is the same as
Night Harvester, The only difference is playstyle preference. If you can play like a backline mage effectively then this build with over all be better. Also its best to take this into a lane opponent you are confident you can win against. otherwise its best to go with anguish because that way you are useful no matter what even if you lose lane.
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