Hi everyone, I'm Timmly, and this is my Karthus Guide. I play League since preseason 2 with breakes. My peak elo was rank 50 Challenger on EUNE. I was #1 Vel'Koz and #1 Xerath on Lolskill and Leagueofgraphs for 5 months. I finally decided to share my knowledge about League to help you climb up! I've spent a lot of time to make it great, feel free to comment and give me advices what is missing! Feel free to me on Twitch! Join my Discord, where i can answer all of your questions! DANGER After reading this guide you will climb and experience gameplay on the whole new level. Be Careful!

Pros + High Kill Potential with R + Good Pusher with Q + Valuable in teamfight + Really funny to play

Cons - Immobile - High R cd on level 6. - Passive on lane - Gankable easily - No escapes

Karthus is one of the funniest midlaners in the game. You can harras your enemy with Lay Waste and push your lane with it barely losing mana. Karthus passive Death Defied is so fun to use, which prevents people from doing stupid things, because after all it can turn out 1 for 1 and not 1 for 0 for them. It can be hard to understand this champion after few games, but after you will enjoy the game even more!

I wont write how much damage/mana it takes or what the cooldown is. You can read it everywhere.

Just hover the mouse on skill name!

Passive
As Karthus it's okay when you die in teamfight. In a good spot you still deal tons of damage, because Death Defied gives you 7 seconds of extra lifetime, but you can't move! Before casting your R you can cast your Q 2-3 times. Depends on your fingers!




Lay Waste
Lay Waste is amazing skill to farm. Remember that if you hit 1 target damage is doubled. Your Defile let you farm with Lay Waste without wasting mana. Everytime you kill something with your Lay Waste, you get some mana back, depends on Defile level.





Wall of Pain
Wall of Pain is giving decent slow and at skill level 5 it's extra big. Use your Wall of Pain before using Lay Waste on enemies.




Defile
Defile is dealing AOE damage and it restore some mana when you kill an unit. In my opinion skill was created to cooperate with passive.





Requiem
Requiem is your ultimate. Requiem is the funniest skill in league. You smash your keyboard and wait for gold to come into your pocket. Sometimes you kill more than you wanted to.









Flash is the best summoner spell in game. Don't argue and take it!




Take Barrier against agressive midlaners with Ignite. Best for more survability in lane.



Heal is better than Barrier on 2v2 teamfights with your jungler to gain extra advantage, but i doubt that your jungler will focus on helping Karthus.
Use Heal if you know that enemy midlaner is going to play without Ignite..




I personally use Cleanse often, when I play against Evelynn Rammus in enemy jungle or Veigar Zoe Ahri Lissandra on midlane.



Good summoner spell against Zed or Yasuo on lane. Also helpful in teamfights.




If your map awaraness is good tp is working out pretty well on karthus. You gain more pressure on the map, and you can help your teammates even more. I think its best option if you want to roam as Karthus.



Why do you want to take ignite when you are long range ap mage with so much better summoner spells options?!

Doran's Ring is the best starting item for Karthus. Every other item is just worse.



Dark Seal is wise option if you die in early game and you can't afford Tear of the Goddess. If you snowball you can change it into Mejai's Soulstealer.


As Karthus you don't need to buy another boots, since Karthus doesn't suffer that much as other champions when you die. Also that magic penetration is crucial and really helping for early magic resist items. You want to kill with your Requiem don't you? So pick it!


Perfect combination with Archangel's Staff. Get that extra mana and change it into damage! Oh, and also add some extra cooldown reduction, and some damage from passive!


Rod of Ages gives you more mana which is more damage according to Seraph's Embrace passive. Rod of Ages have one weakness, it provides more survability, but it slow your snowball significantly. Build RoA when you have late game team comp.


Morellonomicon is Karthus core item. Morello is reducing heal, so when you die in teamfight and you damage your enemies, they will heal only for 40% value (deal with it Soraka!). Also you want to grab that juicy magic penetration!


Rabadon's Deathcap is great as 3rd 4th or 5th item on Karthus. You get some extra AP which turns into more damage! If enemy stacks a lot of magic resist. I would rather go for Void Staff instead of Rabadon. It scales perfectly when Archangel's Staff transforms into Seraph's Embrace.


Build Void Staff as the 3rd or 4th item. If you see that enemies are stacking a lot of magic resist go for it. If they are reckless and disrespect Karthus go for Rabadon's Deathcap.


Build Mejai's Soulstealer after Luden's Tempest when you get fed in early game.



It's perfect against heavy engagers like Zed Rengar Camille etc. and midlaners like Fizz. When they try to go deep just click Zhonya's Hourglass and wait for your teammates to regroup. Also it gives you armor and cooldown reduction. Zhonya's Hourglass gives you extra survability in teamfight.


Banshee's Veil gives you spellshield. Build it against heavy ap assassin's like Ekko LeBlanc Brand etc.


Don't build it. A lot of money for low stats.

Thanks everyone for reading this guide.

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