Hi Mobafire user and LOL-fans,

Someone find Karthus to OP because of his Ulti and a noob Champ, but you must have skill to place his ulti to the right time and extrct the best out of his passive. But it is a matter of taste whether one wants to play more Karthus or not.

This guide is updated for the Zyra patch, end of July 2012.

Skill Order

-> -> ->


Skills


Upon dying, Karthus enters a spirit form allowing him to continue casting spells while dead for 7 seconds.

- This is a ******* awesome passive. On of the best in the game, if you are placed right, when you die. When you have tons of ability power, you can do massive damage, even when you've been killed. When you get killed in a teamfight, spam Lay Waste or try and finish off your enemies with Requiem - But do not waste it when you are ganked or something, just because you panic. Requiem can also help your team to kill the rest of the enemy team, so you can use it to get assists, though it's funnier to get kills.



Creates a delayed blast at Karthus' cursor position. After 0.5 seconds, deals 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+30% of ability power) magic damage to each nearby enemy, this deals double damage if it hits only a single unit.

Cooldown 1 seconds | Cost 20 / 28 / 36 / 44 / 52 mana | Range 875

- For Karthus, this is what bewbs (BEEEEEEEWBZ <3) are to dudes - Sweet Beans! This is your main farming ability, until you have enough mana to keep up Defile, when your taking down another wave of minions. You will want to max this first, as it is your best harrasing skill and it gives you many minion kills. And minion kills restores a bit of your mana. It will benefit you most to use it on the ranged minions, as they are easier to kill. In early game mostly use it to farm, as it is quite easy to avoid, if you aren't pro at using it, since many start with Boots of Speed when they face Karthus in mid - When you are dead, try to take as much HP as possible with this. It can grant you assists or even some kills during a game.



Creates a 800 / 900 / 1000 / 1100 / 1200 distance wide wall through target point. Reduces enemy armor and magic resistance by 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 and reduces movement speed by up to 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80%; debuff lasts 5 seconds. The wall lasts 7 seconds.

Cooldown 22 seconds | Cost 100 mana | Range 1000

- This is a funny and very usable skill. It is not even that hard to place, because of it's enormous range. You only want to choose this once in early game, as you won't need it that much, because you mainly meet ranged champions in mid - and Karthus wants mid. Why? Because C-****ing-Thulhu says so. However, it can be good, because it will slow down your opponent, if he/she tries to get close to you, to get a kill. It will also help you against ganking junglers - Wall of Pain + Flash = Easy escape (If performed proberly).
- In late game you can use this in teamfights to **** **** up. You can slow 2-3-4 opponents and go ape**** on their ***es with Lay Waste + Defile. Just make sure that you're ready to flash out of the heat, when they are getting too close to you.
- You can also use this skill to save allied champions. If they are getting chased, you can place this wall between the enemies and your allied. Sometimes the slow + your harrassing, is enough to get them of your allied's back. Note that the skill reduces armor and magic resistance quite significantly, so if you land this on the enemy carries, they will wipe rather fast in a teamfight. It also gives you nearly true damage in early game, since the enemy AP carry in mid, won't have much magic resistance.



Toggle Off: When Karthus kills a unit, he restores 20 / 27 / 34 / 41 / 48 mana.

Toggle On: Drains 30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78 Mana to deal 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+25% of ability power) damage to nearby enemies each second.

- This skill will be a killer machine in late game, when you have 800-1000 ability power. It can also kills a wave of minions in the matter of seconds. Early game, you can't use it that much, due to your mana pool, which will be drained quite fast. When/if you die, you pop this until, you're actually dead. It does massive damage each second, which can get you some kills, when you also use Requiem. There's not much to say about it except to use it for farming and in teamfights - When you have Zhonya's Hourglass you can flash in, and use Defile + Zhonya's active. This will do nice damage for some seconds, before you will get targeted.
- Sometimes you simply have to die, in order to win a teamfight, because you do most damage in the middle of a fight. Don't be angry, if you don't feel you have been protected well enough, because the AD carry is more important in the end. The carry mush finish them of, if you can't. The AD carry has better pushing-potential after a teamfight, since he/she wrecks towers faster.



After channeling for 3 seconds, Karthus deals 250 / 400 / 550 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to all enemy champions (regardless of distance).

Cooldown 180 / 150 / 120 seconds | Cost 200 / 300 / 400 mana | Range 10000

Cooldown 0.5 seconds | Range 550

- If Lay Waste was bewbz to boys, this must be what Robin is to Batman. (I don't know if that's better than bewbz, but I did not know what else to say.)
This spell will grant you a lot of kills if you use it well. It is mainly made to finish of enemies with low hp. Make sure that your teammates tell you, when to finish someone off. And they better tell it fast, because it pisses Karthus of, when his ulti is wasted and he can't finish the next enemy off. It really sucks if they have Banshee's ready or Zhonya's active. Then they will ignore the spell, so try to see if their Banshee-shield is up, before you finish them off. When you have used this spell, try and get the blue buff for cooldown reduction. Just make sure that you get some kills with this, because you need to get fed, to get items. If you are under-fed, you'll have a hard time, believe me.

Preferred summoner spells

+

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- This is really good for Karthus. You can escape with it, sacrifice yourself to win a teamfight with it. When you escape just flash and use your wall and run safely away. I go with this most of the times. However, it is not a must have.

- I also prefer this over other summoner spells. It gives good map control and you can get back to your lane fast, after you've shopped. You can also enter fights and change the outcome of them. It it also nice for protecting towers, which are under attack. Some use Teleport + Revive on Karthus - But that requires quite some skill to master, so feel free to do it, when you are a more advanced Karthus.

- This is also a great summoner spell for Karthus, since he is kinda slow. It will benefit you in teamfights, when Defile is on. You can catch up with the other team, when you are harrasing them. As always, it can also be used as an escape spell.

- This spell is great to finish them off, but you already have your ulti to do that, so I like other spells better. However, it can be used to get them down to the amount, where your ulti can take them out.

- I've seen some Karthus use this summoner spell and I've wondered why. Sure, it does help you keep up your mana pool in early- and midgame, but in lategame it is almost useless. You don't need that much mana to farm and harras in my opinion. I think other summoner spells benefits Karthus way more. He needs escaping options and map control is also great, so I wouldn't recommend this, unless you really have a hard time with mana issues.

- This is a great spell for first blood and to stay in lane, but since you run solo (with Karthus) you won't be able to get first blood that fast (Unless your enemy is kinda bad). I prefer Teleport, which means you can recall, get hp and mana and get back to your lane fast. This is not a spell, I would go with, but if you feel like wanting that extra survivability, just go with it.

- Combined with Teleport it can be good. Otherwise, don't pick it.

I haven't tried other spells, but Exhaust might work, but it would be a very defensive spell, 'cause you already have your wall to slow, when you attack. Cleanse can also work, but you are so squishy, that you might get killed, even though you use it to get out of CC.

Pros

- Very Great farmer.

- Awesome passive, which will grant you kills after you are dead.

- He can win teamfights, because he can do massive damage, even when dead.

- His ulti makes him easy to get kills.

- When he has his wall ready he can be hard to gank. Especially with Flash.

Cons

- Very squishee and bad survivability, when wall is on cd.

- He needs to be fed, to be good in late-game.

- He is often focused in teamfights, which means you'll have a harder time finishing them off, after you're death.