A plea for Revive from Dr. Karthus

Hi there,

I'm hoping this gets read and considered by someone at Riot who can put Revive back in Summoners Rift. Since I began playing LOL for fun, I never really followed the competitive scene, I just enjoyed the game, and came up with my own builds and strategies. For a long time, I used Ghost instead of Flash. Overtime, I became proficient with my non-standard builds, that I've reach Plat for two season in a row, and nearly made Diamond last season, with Revive Karthus leading my winrate.

And it's build I had the most success with, and I even began writing a guide for, was running Revive/Flash with Karthus. In short, I call the build Dr. Karthus, because I don't just press R, I press DR (D for Revive, R for Requiem).

So I am here to defend that build, explain why it works and how Revive adds meaningful to the game (for Karthus at least) and why Revive doesn't require Teleport.

Karthus is a champion that doesn't have great movement speed or any ability that allows him to rapidly move, so he requires either Ghost or Flash. Ghost is generally the better late game pick for engagements, but Flash is superior for avoiding early game ganks, and is required against certain Jungle picks and mid champs or you will badly lose your lane.

That leaves Karthus with one summoner spell left. Barrier and Heal just aren't great picks, you shouldn't need the extra survive-ability. Clairvoyance and Smite are also unnecessary for reasons that I hope are obvious. That leaves us with Clarity, Ignite and Exhaust.

Clarity should be unnecessary for Karthus. The only mana enhancing items I run are one Doran's Ring and a ROA, and with careful mana management and access to the blue buff at key points in the early game (when E isn't leveled up that high), I can use the passive from E to give me plenty of mana. That is the one of things that I feel separates a good Karthus from a mediocre one. If you have to buy a Tear, you're missing out on damage and need to learn to manage your mana better.

Exhaust. Beyond Revive it is the best pick, you can cripple opponents and use it to land Q's and do more with your E. But Revive is better, because it allows you to be much more effective in the late game, as I will explain.

Then there is Ignite. Ignite isn't bad, but hitting someone with Ignite requires micro and takes away from able to fire a Q and maneuver with Karthus. So let's explore Teleport and Revive as our final picks.

Well, since Teleport is really only good in conjunction with Revive, the impact it has on the game is often minor because of the long CD Revive has. You need to save Teleport because if you die without Teleport, then you've wasted the power of combination. And frankly, the power of the combination in an ideal situation generally doesn't make up for the fact that you'll have a really hard time avoiding early ganks and getting into position late game to do a lot of damage because you don't have a movement spell.

But Revive alone allows Karthus some key advantages. First, it means that you can fire Requiem at literally any point in the game. This is a really important advantage. It means that when you die, you can spend all your time firing Q's and laying down Walls. Often you can do huge damage doing that, more than Ignite would ever do. Then you can decide whether to Revive or not to fire Requiem. If you know it will help your teammates or finish enemies off, you can do it. However, if you know it won't do anything, you save it. That means when you respawn, you'll have Requiem and Revive is still in the bank.

You can't save Requiem if you don't have Revive. Normally, after you die in a big team fight, you fire off a couple of Q's then press R because you need to land Requiem before your passive runs out, otherwise you haven't done all you can for your team. You'd hate to be dead with Requiem in the bank and 5 enemy champs with 30 health and your team screaming at you. That often means a lot of wasted Requiems frankly. Your opponents see an early Requiem and just fall back or use spells to negate the damage. But with Revive, you can save Requiems for key moments when it will really matter. **That means less opportunity skill. ** With Revive, you actually fire Requiem a lot less, but you almost always get kills or assists with it. Rarely do I cast it and not get either.

So Revive allows Karthus to do extra damage with Q's after he dies, since he doesn't need to cast Requiem. That damage is often way more than Ignite would do, and that is why it is superior to Ignite. It also allows Karthus to cast Requiem at any point in the game, regardless of his state, which is important. Finally, it can be really strong late game for defending the Nexus.

In the end, removing Revive from Summoners Rift does nothing (since it is rarely picked) except remove variety from the game. And variety is what makes the game interesting and fun. It honestly shocks me it was removed and Clarity and Clairvoyance were left in...

Please keep Revive in Summoners Rift. Don't remove Dr. Karthus.