LoL Champion Build Guides: Karthus

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Season 11 Builds // Patch 11.21 & Patch 11.20

Season 11 Guides // Other Patches

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Season 11 Builds // Other Patches

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Karthus Build & Runes

If you're looking for the best rune build for Karthus we've got you covered. Below you can find the best items and runes to build for Karthus, as determined by LeagueSpy's calculations of thousands of Plat+ League of Legends games. If you are already familiar with how to play Karthus this is a great resource to quickly get a good rune selection for Patch 11.21. However, if you are a new Karthus player we highly recommend reading through some of the guides above to learn why this build is strong on Karthus!

Patch 11.21: 89479 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Precision

Second Best

51%

Win Rate 1230 Games

Domination

Precision

Third Best

58%

Win Rate 395 Games

Domination

Precision

More Karthus Runes

Second Best

48%

Win Rate 3848 Games

Third Best

57%

Win Rate 89 Games

Second Best

53%

Win Rate 1101 Games

Third Best

50%

Win Rate 761 Games

Second Best

46%

Win Rate 1711 Games

Third Best

53%

Win Rate 663 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

66%

Win Rate 215 Games

Passive Ability

Patch 11.20: 494917 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Precision

Second Best

57%

Win Rate 134 Games

Domination

Precision

Third Best

54%

Win Rate 330 Games

Domination

Precision

More Karthus Runes

Second Best

53%

Win Rate 168 Games

Third Best

52%

Win Rate 109 Games

! Small Sample Size Warning * There is either not a lot of games played on this champion or the builds vary greatly, we have provided the top build but it does not have a high confidence rating so use your own discretion.

Second Best

100%

Win Rate 1 Games

Second Best

51%

Win Rate 697 Games

Third Best

54%

Win Rate 137 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Patch 11.21: 89489 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Precision

Second Best

61%

Win Rate 112 Games

Domination

Precision

Third Best

59%

Win Rate 76 Games

Domination

Precision

More Karthus Runes

Second Best

48%

Win Rate 446 Games

Third Best

51%

Win Rate 158 Games

Second Best

46%

Win Rate 231 Games

Second Best

48%

Win Rate 984 Games

Third Best

55%

Win Rate 158 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

55%

Win Rate 98 Games

Passive Ability

Karthus Counters

Learn 's counters and discover matchups where they have an advantage! When you're starting a game of League of Legends you should always keep in mind if you'll be at an advantage or disadvantage against your opponent, so you can know whether to bully them or play safe. You can find detailed breakdowns of each matchup on CounterStats, and you can also check out some Karthus guides to see how to build and play against other champions you may find yourself up against!

This counter data is for Karthus Jungle in Plat+ games. The percent shown is the enemy champion's counter rating against Karthus. Counter rating is our own statistic that factors in counter kills, overall kills, early lead ratio, comeback ratio, and win percent to give the whole picture of that champion's effectiveness as a counter pick.

Counters powered by CounterStats

CR is Counter Rating, which is a combination of multiple counter factors. Counters shown are for Karthus Karthus Jungle

More Karthus Counters

Karthus Skins

Find Karthus's skins and when they were last on sale. Never miss a sale for your favorite skin by using our Wish List feature! You can also find all Karthus skins and chromas on Karthus's skins page.

Skin Release Wishlist Popularity Cost

Pentakill III: Lost Chapter Karthus

September 9, 2021

+ Wishlist

1350

Infernal Karthus

July 16, 2020

+ Wishlist

1350

Karthus Lightsbane

November 17, 2016

+ Wishlist

975

Fnatic Karthus

Special Events

September 25, 2014

+ Wishlist

750

Pentakill Karthus

August 29, 2011

+ Wishlist

750

Grim Reaper Karthus

September 27, 2010

+ Wishlist

975

Statue of Karthus

July 4, 2010

+ Wishlist

520

Phantom Karthus

Legacy

January 13, 2010

+ Wishlist

460

Classic Karthus

Original

+ Wishlist

Karthus' Abilities

Death Defied Karthus's Passive

Self

Upon dying, Karthus enters a spirit form allowing him to continue casting spells for 7 seconds. During this time his abilities cost no mana.

Lay Waste Karthus's Q Ability

875

20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40

Karthus briefly reveals the target area which he detonates after a 0.5-second delay, dealing 45 / 62.5 / 80 / 97.5 / 115 (+35% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies within, doubled when hitting only one target.

Lay Waste's damage is reduced by 15% against monsters.

During Death Defied, Lay Waste will cast at maximum range if cast beyond that.

Wall of Pain Karthus's W Ability

1000

Karthus creates a 800 / 900 / 1000 / 1100 / 1200 distance wide wall at the target location for 5 seconds. The wall reduces the magic resistance of enemies who pass through it by 15% for 5 seconds and applies a 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% slow which drops to half effectiveness after 1 second and then decays over the remaining debuff duration.

Defile Karthus's E Ability

425

30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78

0.5

Passive: Karthus restores 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 mana whenever he kills an enemy.

Toggle: Drains 30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78 Mana every second. Deals 7.5 / 12.5 / 17.5 / 22.5 / 27.5 (+5% of ability power) magic damage every 0.25 seconds to all nearby enemies. Deactivating Defile deals 1 tick's worth of damage.

Defile cannot be toggled off during Death Defied, but it can be while channeling Requiem.

Requiem Karthus's Ultimate (R) Ability

Self

100

200 / 180 / 160 / 160 / 160

After channeling for 3 seconds, Karthus deals 200 / 350 / 500 (+75% of ability power) magic damage to all enemy champions (regardless of distance).

Questions About Karthus