The 12 Days of Karthus - Day 11: Playstyles
Whaddup Yall, it's D2Vincent back again, and today is the Penultimate episode of the 12 Days of Karthus! While I talked about the builds in Episode 5, I never really explained what to do in said Playstyles, so that's what I'm going to do today!
#Karthus in General
Karthus, by league's definition, is a Battle Mage; the type that works best on the Frontline or in the middle of the enemy team. Karthus is particularly known for going straight into the enemy team and doing max amount of damage before going into his passive and doing even MORE tons of Damage with his E, Q's and his Signature Ult. Granted, this isn't the only way Karthus can contribute to the team, but this is pretty much his standard playstyle.
##General Tips/ Tricks
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Karthus's Q deals Double Damage when attacking a single target, and this makes him especially good at 1v1 Dueling when away from minions and monsters. Use this to your advantage if the enemy is going aggressive. If the enemy Jungler decides to gank however, it may be wise to just play it safe and try to outplay them under Tower.
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Karthus's W shreds MR and applies a decaying slow. If the slow itself isn't able to catch up to your opponents, maybe try running GLP or Rylai's for the continued slows, or wait until your Jungler shows up to finish the job.
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While Karthus's E drains quite a bit of Mana, don't be afraid to use it if your opponent is playing aggressively. You'd be surprised as to how much damage you do if you toggle your E on. If you're going for a CDR AP build, perhaps consider going Thunderlord's since E procs that rather quickly, and since you'd be going that direction, you can get the 5 extra CDR that goes with it.
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Sometimes, it's beneficial to use your Ult BEFORE a teamfight to force your opponents to use their mitigation items/abilities so your allies can take them out. Yes, Karthus's ult is known nowadays for being able to be mitigated by just about everything, but if they don't have it before a teamfight, it can really turn the tables for yout team.
#Tank Karthus
Tank Karthus plays a little differently than Regular Karthus. Your focus will be not on landing your Q's but making your E hit like a freakin Semi Truck. Running SpellVamp Quints will definitely help you out here, as it will let you Tank a whole lot of stuff if you need to.
The Build I suggested for Karthus back in Episode 5 calls for 
, but starting next patch, the Catalyst portion will be removed from it, so maybe consider running 
until Riot changes 
to have Catalyst in Patch 7.13. Anyway, your other big ticket items will be both 
for the burn, and 
for the slow and Burn Amp. After that, it's mostly dependent on what the enemy teamcomp is. Are they AD? You'd probably want to go either 
or 
, and if they're an AP teamcomp, go 
or 
. You'll want 
near the end for the extra heals from your Spell Vamp Quints.
Why this build in particular? With it, your E will do a substantial amount of Damage, while applying slows so your team can capitalize on it. Since your primary damage will be on your E, you'll probably me maxing that FIRST instead of Q. You'll at least want 2 points in Q before you max E however, since Level 1 Q doesn't do very much damage at all.
##Tank Karthus Tips
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If you're finding that you're running out of mana too quickly, consider running Tear to compensate. Building it into Seraph's will also give you a shield which will help as well.
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Even though you're going Tank Karthus, remember to utilize the rest of your kit as well. You've still got your signature ult which can still do damage despite not going AP.
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You'll Definitely want TP for Tank Karthus. Nobody will expect a teleport from a guy who can melt you with his E alone :P
#Jungle Karthus
Jungle Karthus lets you be as versatile as Lane Karthus, and you'll get to farm without dealing with Freakin Minion Pathing/Attack Patterns (This is probably the bane of my existence right now lol). Not only that, but you can choose to go either Tank OR the Standard build. The only thing that really changes, is your starting set up, and the fact you'll want those SpellVamp quints no matter what you'll build. You can choose to go it alone by yourself and try to do like this Karthus video shows, but a good leash is always appreciated!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzJuIwwN95k
If you're worried you might get invaded, remember that your Q deals DOUBLE DAMAGE to single targets. Punish them for trying to invade! Also, Ban Lee Sin since he'll probably be the most likely to invade you and get away with it lol. Since you're starting with 
, farming in the Jungle will provide extra XP, and you don't even have to finish it! I usually build it into 
for the slowing smite for better ganks when paired with your W. Speaking of which, if you plan on ganking early, you might want to put a point into W at level 3 to try to get an early lead.
##Jungle Karthus Tips
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Karthus is one of the BEST at contesting objectives, he can pop Dragon and/or Baron if you time it Juust right. With smite he becomes even BETTER at taking river objectives! I find that taking Drag is particularly survivable after getting your first core item.
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Don't forget that though you are Jungle Karthus, you still need to farm. Don't just go ganking all the time after getting blue.
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Red buff isn't too important when playing as Karthus outside of the Health Regen. If you feel like you don't need that, give red to Top or Bot depending on which side of the map you're on.
#Support Karthus
Supporting as Karthus means you're A: Helping your ADC by applying slows and extra damage, or B: Most likely going into Standard AP build but with Frost Queen's/ Eye of the Watchers instead of your first Core item just like every other AP mage that goes support lol.
Support Karthus benefits the most out of the Frost Queen's line of support items simply because you can proc it with a single Q, which is really spammy. You could also probably go Tank build as well with some added speed from the gold Passive, which could probably act as pretty much half a Righteous Glory, so that's a thing lol.
##Support Karthus Tips
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You'll probably be taking W second since you're not as focused on CS'ing as usual. That being said, your synergy with other AP champs still count!
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See if you can't convince your ADC to go Kalista or Corki, since the former can ult you while you're in passive, and the latter's passive will deal more damage if you hit your enemies with a W.
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Sacrificing yourself for your ADC becomes even better since you can still damage botlane and allow your ADC to get a kill. There aren't a lot of Support counters except maybe Soraka with her heals :/
Well, That wraps up today, and for pretty much most of the series! Tomorrow, we're gonna have a celebration for the 8th year of Karthus's Release! For those who have read this, let's convince Riot's Social Media people to change their profile pics to Karthus in celebration! I wanna see Karthus on the Facebook Page, the Twitter Page, and Even the Instragram page and I don't even have an instagram! This is D2Vincent Signing out!
