Karthus - An Analysis

(NOTE: Going to be a long post. prepare your reading glasses before entering.) (ALSO: Credit all to the League of Legends Wikia for all the Information.)

Hello everyone, I am Avios1, Gold 5 in League and a Top lane main (I don't play Karthus often, but there are those times where I get the chance to play him, so I know a little about him at least.) on the US East Coast server. Today, we have one of our lovely Immobile Mages with us today known only as Karthus, the Deathsinger.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nIyjBm2eXcA/hqdefault.jpg

When I first started league years ago, Karthus was one of my favorite champions, being able to throw out that Juicy R when 2-3 people are quite low and get doubles and triples, and the lovely passive that would be activated on death, it was quite a blast back then, but now, hes definitely lacking something that has made him... Karthus, really.

> http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/e/e2/Death_Defied.png/revision/latest?cb=20151008163301 >(P) Death Defied - >Upon taking fatal damage, Karthus remains active for 7 more seconds, losing the ability to move and use basic attacks but becoming untargetable and invulnerable for the duration, as well as able to use abilities at no cost.

>If Defile has been learned, it remains toggled on during the entirety of Death Defied.

A pretty cool passive when read, but not very effective when in-lane, especially in 1v1's, where mobility and simply moving around allows you to dodge the majority of Karthus's spells, and his (R) Requiem can't be activated after 3 seconds in the passive, which isn't very useful unless they are extremely low and have no shields/heals after the fight. It also makes Karthus a Suicide Mage, only useful in group fights due to his (E) Defile, and his (W) Wall of Pain.

> http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/5.23.1/img/spell/KarthusLayWasteA1.png >(Q) Lay Waste - Active: Karthus detonates the target area after a 0.5-second delay, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies that is doubled if the detonation hits only a single target. > COST: 20 / 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 mana > RANGE: 875 / (area) 200 > COOLDOWN: 1 > Magic Damage: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+ 30% AP)

This spell is basically the bread and butter of Karthus's kit. He uses it to farm, fight, poke, and just about anything else, but it lacks any real threat to anyone who can move around decently. The Double-damage is quite nice, but is only really used for farming, and the fight ability of it is nonexistent if the enemy has sense to kite Karthus's abilities.

The thing about this spell that I personally like is that it has nearly no cost early game if paired with (E) Defile's passive, which restores a hefty amount of mana on kill if not activated, and it is an easy poke tool.

> http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/0/07/Wall_of_Pain.png/revision/latest?cb=20151008163556 >(W) Wall of Pain - Karthus creates a wall at the target location for 5 seconds that provides sight around it for the duration, slowing enemies who pass through it by an amount that decays over 5 seconds and reducing their magic resistance by 15% for the duration. >COST: 100 mana >RANGE: 1000 >COOLDOWN: 18 >Wall Length: 800 / 900 / 1000 / 1100 / 1200 >Slow: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80%

This ability is probably the best thing Karthus can provide for his team. Vision (Around the pillars only), a slow, a Zoned-off area, and a MR Shred sounds like the perfect thing for any Magic-based team, and is quite useful, considering people are apparently scared of walking through the wall, and I have no real problem with this ability.

>http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/f/f9/Defile.png/revision/latest?cb=20151008163636 > (E) Defile - Toggle Off: Karthus restores mana upon killing an enemy. Toggle On: Karthus deals magic damage to all nearby enemies each second. > RANGE: 425 > COST: 30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78 mana per second > Mana Restored: 20 / 27 / 34 / 41 / 48 mana > Magic Damage Per Second: 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+ 20% AP)

This is a nice ability Late-game, being able to clear a wave of minions within seconds, but it also lacks some sense of.... accomplishment. It doesn't feel very satisfying when using it, the damage is low and fights usually last for a few seconds, causing up to 300 damage before resistances in 10 seconds at level 1, which isn't all too much reall, considering the range being fairly low and him having to walk by you in order to damage, its mana restoration is the only reason I grab this ability honestly.

> http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/9/91/Requiem.png/revision/latest?cb=20151008163710 > (R) Requiem - Active: Karthus channels for 3 seconds and, upon completing the channel, deals magic damage to all enemy champions. >You can't move or deactivate after activating "Requiem" until channel ends or being interrupted > RANGE: Global > COST: 150 / 175 / 200 Mana > COOLDOWN: 200 / 180 / 160 > Magic Damage: 250 / 400 / 550 (+ 60% AP)

Probably the ability that defines Karthus, this is The ability that everyone plays Karthus for. Being able to press R to get that satisfying double-kill bot, or finish off the whole enemy team after a Teamfight, it is just a satisfying ability, were it not for it being the Mother of all cooldowns. Cooldown reduction does help, but not as much as people might think. With 40%, the cooldown at lvl 1 will sit at about 120 seconds, lvl 2 will be at 108 seconds (1 min. 48 seconds), and at lvl 3 it will be at 96 seconds (1 minute 36 seconds). It is just ridiculous, with few items out there for Mages that give CDR, it takes a while to build up CDR, and in a game where the game ends nearly 25 minutes, this ult's cooldown is the only thing keeping Karthus from being played more often.

Now: The moments of Truth for Karthus's enemies. http://leaguecraft.com/meme/asset/meme_760px_10113.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXLFI4OWMk http://www.quickmeme.com/img/b6/b65b9ef9619df06b522bc60722970a4cf9c59e5b5d7afe00c8c5c72aa8637d84.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx_i_E8WCfo

TL;DR - The problem with Karthus right now would be his ultimate cooldown, it is extremely long for the short games being played right now, and his E feels unsatisfying. His Passive doesn't feel the same as it did back then, and his Q is also quite hard to hit, due to the rising mobility/cc/flash abilities rising up.

Have a great day! And enjoy these memes here! http://www.quickmeme.com/img/60/607450556e0d32cac727cdeb4cfe258a662e678ee2de3dbfefcd074537582860.jpg http://www.quickmeme.com/img/13/13a15630b298b12850a73bec870b123bd874cd0fddc7f51ef1cc32035739e176.jpg http://cdn.meme.am/instances/54634978.jpg http://www.quickmeme.com/img/6f/6ffe76a1377178a1dac2619392320278ca2c8c7534c99a415d2374cbe6b240b5.jpg

(Yes, I failed at the quote boxes. people still know what abilities are where at least!)