Karthus Build Guides, Runes and Items

Karthus The Deathsinger

Find the best Karthus build guides for League of Legends S13 Patch 13.1. The MOBAFire community works hard to keep their LoL builds and guides updated, and will help you craft the best Karthus build for the S13 meta. Learn more about Karthus' abilities, skins, or even ask your own questions to the community!

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Season 13 Guides // Patch 13.1 & Patch 12.23

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Season 13 Builds // Patch 13.1 & Patch 12.23

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Season 13 Guides // Other Patches

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Season 13 Builds // Other Patches

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Season 12 Guides

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7.3

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6.6

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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 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 13.1. 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!

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Patch 13.1: 609440 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Precision

Second Best

47%

Win Rate 3005 Games

Domination

Precision

Third Best

49%

Win Rate 2258 Games

Inspiration

Domination

Second Best

50%

Win Rate 7741 Games

Third Best

58%

Win Rate 74 Games

Second Best

48%

Win Rate 2811 Games

Third Best

46%

Win Rate 1948 Games

Second Best

46%

Win Rate 5096 Games

Third Best

47%

Win Rate 1424 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

63%

Win Rate 975 Games

Passive Ability

Third Best

58%

Win Rate 74 Games

Passive Ability

Patch 12.22: 171012 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Precision

Second Best

54%

Win Rate 264 Games

Domination

Precision

Third Best

54%

Win Rate 142 Games

Domination

Precision

Second Best

56%

Win Rate 80 Games

Third Best

49%

Win Rate 124 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

49%

Win Rate 788 Games

Third Best

49%

Win Rate 96 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Patch 13.1: 609442 matches scanned * Each section of the build is rated independently of the others

Domination

Precision

Second Best

62%

Win Rate 194 Games

Domination

Precision

Third Best

59%

Win Rate 140 Games

Domination

Precision

Second Best

51%

Win Rate 1436 Games

Third Best

61%

Win Rate 67 Games

Second Best

52%

Win Rate 829 Games

Second Best

55%

Win Rate 1696 Games

Third Best

59%

Win Rate 422 Games

Don’t forget
to Buy Wards

Passive Ability

Second Best

63%

Win Rate 564 Games

Passive Ability

Third Best

66%

Win Rate 82 Games

Passive Ability

Karthus Counters

Learn Karthus' 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.

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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

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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

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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 creates a blast of magic, dealing 45 / 62.5 / 80 / 97.5 / 115 (+35% of ability power) magic damage. If the blast hits only one enemy, it instead deals 90 / 125 / 160 / 195 / 230 (+70% of ability power) magic damage.

Wall of Pain Karthus's W Ability

1000

Karthus creates a wall that lasts for 5 seconds. Enemies that pass through lose 15% magic resist for 4 seconds and are slowed by 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% decaying over the duration.

Defile Karthus's E Ability

425

30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78

0.5

Passive: When Karthus kills a unit, he restores 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 mana.

Toggle: Karthus creates a necrotic aura, dealing 7.5 / 12.5 / 17.5 / 22.5 / 27.5 (+5% of ability power) magic damage per second to nearby enemies.

Requiem Karthus's Ultimate (R) Ability

Self

100

200 / 180 / 160 / 160 / 160

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

Questions About Karthus

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Latest Questions

Karthus DH or Predator

Asked by ninja8135 on December 11, 2018

So I know before the DH rework [[Karthus]] used to take [[Predator]] because you could activate it and boost your ult damage on everyone that you hit. Does the new [[Dark Harvest]] work the same way? That is, if you have multiple targets within...

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what can i build for karthus jngl???

Asked by Spiros_Dhim on January 21, 2018

what can i build for karthus jngl???

View (1) Answers

Karthus jungle?

Asked by Dill Money on April 10, 2013

In the most recent Pro Player Pick, Archie mentioned that one of his favorite junglers to play with is [[Karthus]]. I've heard of jungle [[Karthus]] before, and that it has been used by some pro team in the past (just can't think of the team), but...

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Karthus and Soraka

Asked by Pluckin Penguin on December 30, 2012

So, a lot of people think of [[Soraka]] as the #1 counter to [[Karthus]]. Constantly in solo queue I see teammates pick [[Soraka]] because there is a [[Karthus]] on the other team. The common claim is that [[Soraka]]'s ultimate negates...

View (7) Answers

Karthus Build Guides, Runes and Items

Karthus The Deathsinger

[12.23] Rank 1 Karthus World Guide To Climbing

2.4 Million Mastery-Lane Karthus Guide-Season 12

SEASON 12 Challenger karthus jgl guide

Karthus Jungle adc, support

[12.23] RIFTYXO'S ZYZZILIONARE KARTHUS GUIDE [500 LP EUW]

[Season 13] EUW Challenger In-Depth Karthus Bot Guide

Karthus BattleMage Build

Commander Karrthus

Karthus OWN MID

Karthus first strike

[12.22] Rank 1 NA s11/s12 Karthus JG guide

[12.22] 500LP Master Tier Karthus ADC Guide

Karthus Full Guide

[70% Winrate] Rank #84 Karthus In The World Guide (MID)

Diamond Tank Karthus - Swift Death

[12.14] Karthus Jungle Guide | Monster Jungler

[12.21 Challenger NA & EUW Rank 1 Karthus world | In-depth guide on how play Karthus jungle

[12.17] Karthus Jungle | The Harbinger of Oblivion

INTING KARTHUS TOP (ALWAYS HAVE IMPACT)

[12.6] BIGGEST damage Karthus ult MONEY MACHINE

Karthus Build & Runes

Karthus's Runes

Second Best

Third Best

Karthus's Summoner Spells

Second Best

Third Best

Karthus's Starters

Second Best

Third Best

Trinket

Second Best

Third Best

Karthus's Core Items

Boots

Karthus's Luxury Items

Karthus's Ability Order

Death Defied (PASSIVE)

Lay Waste (Q)

Wall of Pain (W)

Defile (E)

Requiem (R)

Second Best

Death Defied (PASSIVE)

Lay Waste (Q)

Wall of Pain (W)

Defile (E)

Requiem (R)

Third Best

Death Defied (PASSIVE)

Lay Waste (Q)

Wall of Pain (W)

Defile (E)

Requiem (R)

Karthus's Runes

Second Best

Third Best

Karthus's Summoner Spells

Second Best

Third Best

Karthus's Starters

Trinket

Second Best

Third Best

Karthus's Core Items

Boots

Karthus's Luxury Items

Karthus's Ability Order

Death Defied (PASSIVE)

Lay Waste (Q)

Wall of Pain (W)

Defile (E)

Requiem (R)

Karthus's Runes

Second Best

Third Best

Karthus's Summoner Spells

Second Best