Diamond Tank Karthus - Slow Death [26.17]
Build Guide By Aqua Dragon
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1,485,646
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140
21
1,485,646
Views
111
Comments
Karthus Build Guide By Aqua Dragon
1,485,646
Views
111
Comments
Karthus Build Guide By Aqua Dragon
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Recommended Items
Runes:
Sorcery
Inspiration
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health
+10-180 Bonus Health
Spells:
Barrier
Heal
Items
Ability Order
Death Defied (PASSIVE)
Karthus Passive Ability
Champion Build Guide
The Author
Hi! I’m Aqua Dragon. I’ve spent many seasons hovering around Diamond with a wide variety of off-meta builds. Back in Season 4, I reached Master tier with AD Malzahar Jungle. These days, I live in Korea, where I teach English and play in Korean solo queue.
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AD Malzahar Jungle (Classic)
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Malzahar Jungle (Modern)
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Top Jinx
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AP Kog'maw
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Tank Karthus
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Support Orianna
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APC-Bot Vel'koz
Also, check out these off-meta creations by community members!
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Support Kayle by Kalakaua
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Support Sion by Apos
What is Tank Karthus?
Righteous Requiem
Karthus is most known for amassing massive AP, sacrificing themselves into the fray to do massive burst damage with
Defile, and cleaning opponents with a half-health-chunking Requiem. However, Karthus can viably become a sustained-damage tank that trades away the chunking power of the ult to become a moving circlular wall of pain during teamfights.This works because Karthus gets far more from AP on Requiem than on the repeated-damage spells this build wants to abuse.
Lay Waste against one target:
0.7
Multi-target Lay Waste:
0.35
Defile:
0.2
Though the 0.7 scaling on
Lay Waste is nice, it only applies when hitting a single target. This is largely feasible during laning. In teamfights, it is far more likely to hit multiple targets unless Karthus is chasing someone down.To be fair, Defile and Lay Waste both hit every second, making their lower AP ratios more valuable. But also to be fair, the base damage is also hitting every second. In reality, it is less about the AP ratio and more about the scaling-to-base ratio.
Getting AP is primarily useful for Requiem, not for the other spells. However, Requiem has an impressively long cooldown and an amazing number of ways to have its damage nullified. Instead of banking most of the damage into Requiem, could power be transferred into the rest of the kit? Tank Karthus answers this question with a resounding yes.
Glorious Defile
Tank Karthus does this by transforming into an Artillery Tank that abuses the base power of
Defile. A standard AP Karthus tries to abuse the scaling on isolated Lay Wastes for damage, but this creates unreliability in the damage output. Maxing Lay Waste first also prevents the surprising power of Defile from being abused.Each rank of Defile keeps pace surprisingly well with its equal-rank multi-target Lay Waste counterpart while applying largely guaranteed area damage. Thus, maxing Defile first is like hitting nearby opponents with a non-amplified Lay Waste every second. This is not strictly true and has nuance, but the principle is the point.
There is good reason Defile is not normally used this way. Its mana drain is, well, draining. Putting yourself into range is also extremely dangerous for fragile Karthus.
This is where Tank Karthus moves in. Literally. Because Tank Karthus does not need to focus on AP items, they can build a huge mana pool, enough survivability to remain nearby, and
Rylai's Crystal Scepter to make leaving difficult.Because of this, you will often end up doing fairly sizeable damage. The damage is more sustained by comparison and suffers the disadvantages of that damage style, but the presence in fights still demands respect.
Middling Issues
Tank Karthus might be a tank, but they still have disadvantages at top lane compared to melee tanks.
Top lane frequently asks Karthus to maintain pressure against thicker targets for much longer. Tank Karthus is heavily reliant on mana to deal damage, which makes tankier opponents difficult to finish with Defile. Against squishy top laners like
Teemo, this disadvantage is much less pronounced; those matchups can be heavily in Tank Karthus' favor.Mid lane more consistently provides the kind of targets Tank Karthus can pressure and kill before mana becomes the limiting factor. Tank Karthus can still function at top, but I prefer mid to realize its full potential.
✔ Pros
- Moves quickly and sticks to opponents easily
- Incredible mana sustain during lane
- Powerful initiator
- Strong early kill potential
- Reliable sustained area damage
✘ Cons
- Waveclear is powerful but mana-dependent
- Extended fights devour mana rapidly
- No inherent tankiness
- No inherent health sustain
- Low AP makes Requiem weak
Runes
Karthinking About Runes
Tank Karthus has very few usable keystones.
Conqueror is functionally unusable, Electrocute is too burst-focused, Unsealed Spellbook was tested and found underwhelming, and the entire line of Resolve tree keystones are straight unusable. Aery wins because every other option is worse, unusable, or both.
Sorcery Primary
Summon AeryDeathfire Touch can spread across several targets, but Aery returns to Karthus quickly due to being so close to targets, and thus rapidly outclasses Deathfire in DPS.
Manaflow BandManaflow's extra Defile time keeps Karthus alive longer than Orb's pitiful shield.
CelerityCelerity is fine. The other options just suck more for Tank Karthus.
Gathering StormIt is the least bad option: Scorch is too hard to capitalize on, and Waterwalking does not trigger often enough.
Inspiration Secondary
Biscuit DeliveryConditioning offers more raw defense, but Biscuits provide the lane sustain Tank Karthus actually needs.
Magical FootwearBasically "free boots, the rune." That is more generically useful than Approach Velocity's speed boost.
Shards
Adaptive Force, Scaling Health, and Scaling HealthAdaptive Force is the least bad first shard, while double scaling health gives the strongest default durability.
Build Order
Soul Build Order
Tank Karthus' playstyle favors abusing
Defile. Thus, there is a large preference for items that punish enemies for staying inside its radius.Create Item Set
AP is not the goal of the build, making
Tear of the Goddess preferable. You will not be upgrading it for a long time.↓
Rylai's Crystal Scepter is the only universal core item. It gives Defile the sticking power that makes the rest of the build function.↓
Armor
Magic Resist
Build boots based on the immediate threat (often your lane opponent) and build a full defensive item based on the most prominent damage on the enemy team. The boots and item do not need to come from the same row.
↓
After one defensive item and boots, build
Jak'Sho, The Protean.↓
From there, keep mixing and matching for the game in front of you. Upgrade Tear only after the defensive foundation is already doing its job.
Why Not These?
I'd love to give these options a glowing recommendation since they are all a ton of fun to build. Sadly, they all have some huge downside that ruins the delicate balance of durability and damage.
The perfect mix of tank and power needs to be stirred together. Some of these options waste too much value on stats Tank Karthus barely uses. Some produce surprisingly low raw DPS. Others are clunky or skew too far toward damage, utility, or durability. Some of them used to make the cut, but time had them extingushed like candlelight.
In short, the answer to "Why don't you use X?" is almost always "because I tested it extensively and it didn't work as well as I wanted."
Stage of the Game
Deathsinger's Stage
Early Game
In the early game, your goals are to:
- Farm waves from a distance until there is room to tackle with Defile
- Dive opponents regularly with Defile and force summoner spells
- Replenish mana between attacks with Defile's mana refund
Bully Hard: Do not let up. Make the opponent suffer for every minion they want.
Abuse Defile's Mana Refund: Each dive is heavily mana-intensive. Early points in Defile provide a quick way to refill as you prepare for the next tackle.
Farm with Autos: Farming with
Lay Waste returns far less net mana than using autos, so avoid relying on it when you can.Abuse Aery: Time Lay Waste harass around
Summon Aery. When you commit to a Defile tackle, staying close lets Aery hit the same target over and over again.Do Not Overly Rely on Lay Waste: During Defile tackles, Lay Waste can cost another second of Defile. Unless you are confident it lands, let Defile do the brunt of the work.
Autoattack During Tackles: Early autos hit almost as hard as Lay Waste. Use them.
Delay Wall of Pain: Early points are expensive, and another point in Lay Waste or Defile usually contributes more to lane control.
Learn Efficient Wave Clears: Let Defile whittle down the whole wave while Lay Waste targets the tankiest minions. Ideally, everything dies together. The clear is powerful, but it remains heavily mana-dependent.
Mid Game
As the laning phase ends, you take on a more aggressive role:
- Initiate fights with Wall of Pain
- Pick a target and stick to them
- Chase down lonely opponents and kill them
- Use Requiem to rack up easy assists
Preemptively Ult Often: Because Tank Karthus doesn't have a hard-hitting ult, it's not usually worth it to use it for executions. Instead, whenever teammates enter a fight and you think "will they maybe need this?", just ult anyway. The bit of damage might turn the tides of the fight and earn you juicy assist money if you're lucky.
Be Willing to Disengage: It's tempting to turn every engagement into a do-or-die moment, but it's often much more strategic to dip out of fights that look lost before you die, even if it means turning around at half health.
Duel Regularly: Your dueling power is respectable. When someone extends too far in a side lane or your jungle, see if you can defile them down.
Use Full Defile Range on Melee Champions: You move quickly and are tanky, but that is no reason to take free hits. Skirt melee enemies at the edge of Defile instead of standing directly beside them.
Get Close to Ranged Champions for Aery Procs: Stay especially close to ranged targets during Defile. The closer you are, the faster Aery returns to hit the same target again.
Watch Your Mana: Once you are out of mana, you are spent. You have little regeneration outside lane, so do not overextend before the fight is actually done.
Late Game
You retain a similarly sticky role as the game reaches its conclusion:
- Build defensive items for the situation
- Make picks on lonely opponents with your mobility
- Attract the attention of as many opponents as possible in fights
Disrupt Maximally: You are a walking ball of danger. They either focus you, allowing the team to clean up, or they ignore your existence as a walking ball of damage and slows. It's often a lose-lose choice for the enemies.
Lean on Thornmail:
Thornmail is especially powerful on Karthus. It is easy to get into an ADC's face, cut down their sustain, and force them away from the rest of the fight. If you can occupy the ADC by yourself, your team gains an immense advantage.Spam Lay Waste: Lay Waste starts packing a bit of a hit now. Feel free to spam it for offense, but stay mindful of your mana.
Aqua Dragon
Karthus Guide
Diamond Tank Karthus - Slow Death [26.17]
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