An Open Letter from a Karthus Main to the Balance Team

THIS POST IS LONG. IF YOU LIKE, THERE'S A TL;DR AT THE BOTTOM.

Hi, I’m a Karthus main, sporting 150 k mastery points. Believe it or not, yes, we do exist. I’ve played Karthus almost exclusively this ranked season, and currently have a 60% winrate on him. My rank may be a lowly silver, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I’ve played enough Karthus to know his ins and outs. One would think that I would be thrilled at this next patch, being that a Karthus skin is being released (the first one since 2014, to be exact). However, I have every reason to worry that these next few upcoming patches will bury Karthus into complete irrelevancy.

Before I begin here, I just want to say this: YES, I KNOW THAT THIS IS ONLY PRESEASON. YES, I KNOW THAT THINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Believe it or not, I have faith that Riot will change things if enough people speak up (see: bringing back solo queue). However, being that there aren’t many Karthus mains out there, I’m speaking up to represent the group. I want to be heard so that Riot knows what we think. This isn’t intended to be a rage post, but rather a detailed analysis on why the future of Karthus looks grimmer than his Grim Reaper skin.

Actually, that’s a good place to start: skins. The model for Karthus Lightbane (or as I prefer to call him, Arthas Karthus) is dope. Human Karthus is a really cool concept, and I like how he’s finally getting a skin after so long. However, I have serious issues with this skin.

1. It is REALLY underwhelming. For a champion that hasn’t gotten a skin in a long time, I’m pretty sure we were expecting more than just a recolor for W, E, and R. Charging 975 RP for a simple recolor of 3 of his abilities is akin to charging 975 RP just to make a monochromatic champion go from green to purple.
2. His Q actually looks really awesome. The problem is that it’s a direct nerf to Karthus. A really big part of mastering Karthus is being able to use your clunky autoattacks in order to grab CS while using your Q to poke. Base Karthus’ Q is visible enough to the point where the enemy can see it, but they will miss it if they tunnel too hard on their farm or poke. Karthus Lightbringer’s Q has extra rune effects that make it practically impossible to miss. Enemies are no longer punished for tunneling because the Q is just that obvious. As such, as cool as the skin might look, playing with it is handicapping yourself.
3. This is kind of an expansion on the first point, but… this is all? This had the potential to be a really cool 1350 RP skin. If his E had a new visual (perhaps swirling runes) or his ult had some sort of cool new visual effect, this skin could have been amazing. In addition, this is the one Karthus skin where he isn’t a ghouls ‘n ghost. Why not change his VO to make him sound more human and less spectral? That would be really cool. Think of it like the changes in the VO for Program or Project skins, except more clear and human. That would give this underappreciated champion a skin to be proud of.

While we’re talking about skins, a side-comment about Grim Reaper Karthus: Why is it 975 RP? The only thing that’s changed is the base model – his animations and visuals are all still the same. Could it be time to tone the price down or make the skin a legacy? That point isn’t as important though, most people don’t mind that much, but it’s still something to keep in mind.

My next point is the anticipated changes to Rylai’s. Riot has confirmed that they will be working on Rylai’s in the future, and both the boards and part of Reddit is calling for its removal outright. “No champion truly NEEDS Rylai’s,” they claim. This isn’t true at all for Karthus. While champions like Cass and Azir definitely had the potential to abuse it with their primary source of damage being non-skillshot, Karthus needs Rylai’s because his DPS comes from skillshots. Once the enemy gets some movement speed, dodging a Karthus Q is really easy so long as the enemy isn’t slowed. Rylai’s on Karthus means that he’s still able to hit his Q (especially considering that the slow on his wall isn’t that strong) while giving room for counterplay if the enemy champion has mobility. He needs it. I know you haven’t done anything to Rylai’s yet, and I agree that a lot of mage champions are breaking it. But Karthus needs it. Please please please, if you nerf or remove Rylai’s, Karthus needs either direct buffs to his damage or his ability to slow. Otherwise, his efficacy will drop immensely. Okay, on to the present issue: preseason. The Abyssal changes won’t hurt Karthus that much. It’s not nearly as effective on him as it used to be, after all. What WILL hurt him is this fun new item: Edge of Night. This item grants 60 AD, 35 MR, and a spellshield. However, this spellshield isn’t a typical “instant activate” spellshield like Sivir’s or Nocturne’s. Instead, this spellshield channels over 1.5 seconds. This means that it’s practically made for Karthus’ ultimate, which has a 3 second channel.

Actually, I take it back – that isn’t what it’s made for. This item is made for assassins that want to go in and burst a target. The spellshield means that cc won’t stop them, but they have to make sure it’s premediated. As a result, in most games, I have a feeling that AD bruisers and ADCs won’t build this item. But if a Karthus is on the enemy team? Every AD champion will end up building this item. Karthus’ ultimate becomes useless.

Now, let me make something clear – KARTHUS’ POWER DOES NOT COME FROM JUST HIS ULTIMATE. People often claim that he’s useless if his ultimate can be negated. Anyone who claims this clearly hasn’t played much Karthus. If Karthus can hit his Q on a single target, it grants a 60% AP ratio – the exact same as his ultimate. Karthus can use 2 of these Q’s in 2 seconds, which is about the total of one Karthus ultimate (if not more). Also, Karthus’ ultimate has a several minute cooldown (depending on your rank and CDR). It’s obvious that Karthus’ damage doesn’t really come from his ult, it comes from his Q, some from his E, and the potential of his passive. That being said, this doesn’t make it okay. Karthus’ ult is supposed to be a unique aspect of the champion. It means that he can stay in lane and pick off kills in side lanes while still farming, meaning that he achieves his godly late game far sooner. Then, in teamfights, it’s meant to be either an effective execute or mid-teamfight spell after you die. It isn’t ALL of Karthus, but it’s still a crucial part of his identity. Now, I’m fine with there being counterplay and counterpicks to the ultimate. Fizz, Shaco, Yi, and Zed becoming untargetable? I’m cool with that. Soraka, Karma, or Aegis of the Legion? That’s fine. But AOE invulnerability like Bard ult, Kindred ult, Taric ult, and others? Not to mention spellshields? That’s too much. Karthus should be able to break through invulnerability with his ult.

But why? Well, at the moment, Karthus isn’t the best possible DPS mid laner. Cass outclasses him completely with an AOE poison, ridiculous damage on E, an AOE stun/slow for an ult, and a spell that slows and prevents mobility. Karthus brings damage, yes, but at the moment, Cass simply brings more. She is always a better late game DPS pick. Azir, too, outdamages Karthus in the late game and provides better utility. Letting Karthus break through invulns with his ult grants him a niche. The only champion that Karthus really counters in lane is Heimerdinger. Other than that, why would you pick him when you have Cass? But if you make this change, then when the enemy team picks Kindred, Bard, Trynd, Kayle, Taric, etc, Karthus gains a niche. Suddenly he becomes a counterpick. This is big, because it gives Karthus a reason to be played. He won’t be the ridiculously unpopular champion that he currently is.

Let me clarify: I’m not angry and I have hope that Karthus' state will be fixed. I just want to make sure that the Karthus players are heard, so that Riot might consider everyone’s favorite lich when looking at the state of the game.

tl;dr: The Karthus skin could be and should be better. Grim Reaper Karthus is overpriced. Karthus is dependent on Rylai’s, so if it is nerfed or removed, he would need a compensation buff. The new item that grants a spellshield + MR makes Karthus much less useful. Making Karthus’ ultimate break through invuln and spellshields would not only make Karthus more balanced, but would also give him a niche and make gameplay healthier.