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Can Karthus still hang?

DaSneakyGit·11/14/2014, 4:24:02 PM·1 votes·1,062 views

So I recently bought Karthus(not new to him, just never got around to buying him because he looked like crap but he's so sexy now). I do ok with him, not going to say top tier Karth player by any means.

Going mid with Karth is pretty standard and pretty much all he's really good for, however the landscape of midlane champs has changed dramatically since I used to play him. I had a game against a Cass which went pretty well, a game against Viktor that went decent as well with back and forth fun.

Then I had a game against an Ahri....yeah that wasn't fun. Harder hitting even range(possibly longer range) poke as me that, while yes I can dodge, is very hard to do considering my mouse will be pointed where I'm trying to Q which is obviously not helping me dodge her poke.

Then comes the gap closing power of the Ult...I can't do anything. The wall is worthless now, landing Q's on someone darting around is a pain and Defile just doesn't cut it. I was reduced to a tower hugging Q farmer to try and survive. It wasn't pretty.

It's not just Ahri that gave me problems though, all these champs with gap closers and movement abilities just in my face and blowing me up. Karth seemed....outmoded and old fashioned.

The Wall just wasn't cutting it. Q just wasn't hitting nearly as hard as new poke(even when hitting a solo champ for double damage), Defile seemed to tickle and his ult's CD is too long to feel impactful.

What do you guys feel about Karth? Can he still hang with the new guys or does he need some love? A real CC? I know some heroes are "niche" and aren't meant to be used all the time and there's counters etc etc...but I see no reason Karth couldn't work in games.

Try not to flame me too hard if Karth is secretly some powerhouse champ, I've been away for awhile and I don't follow the competitive scene that closely anyway.

7 Comments

Darth Pixy Misa11/14/2014, 8:28:12 PM5 votes

Karthus needs a buff to help him in this high mobility meta.

Defile needs to hurt more so those dang ninjas will keep their distance and poke till they are ready to all in. The mana drain on defile is really high too. the mana cost should be 20/32/44/56/68 and the ap ratio should be raised to 30%.

For Wall of Pain it would be great if Karthus could get the Wall of Pain doom bots used with the 3 sides. The nerfs should be reverted so that Wall of Pain gets 15/20/25/30/35 armor and mr shread. The duration of the wall should be 7 seconds again.

For Requiem we would like the cooldown changed back to 180/150/120 seconds

Mayor Stubbs11/14/2014, 5:24:26 PM2 votes

I have mixed feelings about Karthus. You are right he is weaker than most in lane due to his lack of mobility which makes him seem a little outdated. But to make up for it he has a long range spammable ability to farm, and his passive makes a well played karthus an absolute nightmare in teamfights. I feel as if he's the type of champ that you need to play pretty passively in lane and just farm up, help other lanes get kills with your ult when it's up and don't really mess with the other mid laner 1v1 and wait it out until team fights.

I can't really say how a CC buff would affect him, but his kit does seem slightly outdated overall. Not unviable though IMO.

DaSneakyGit11/14/2014, 9:29:34 PM2 votes

I think Wall of Pain should be a moving line move, like Azir's ult but it just dissipates upon reaching it's end point.

Would make it easier to use in teamfights I think by giving it a more active instead of reactive approach and could still be used at least somewhat as a defense deterrent as it can be used as now.

As for Karth being a "late game" AP, he's not really any scarier than any other mage, Defile really doesn't ramp up that much, his Q does meh damage unless you hit a solo champ which is usually not the case in teamfights and his ult is the only thing that's decent but like I said, looong CD and can be nullified by items(BV, Zhonyas active etc).

Like...a late game mage that is scary to me would be Veigar, THAT's painful and scary and useful, Karth is just kinda there.

He's a Swain that doesn't bring a CC and can't sustain himself while doing DoT damage.

Sassy Bardista11/14/2014, 7:52:56 PM1 votes

You have to think about late game/early game trade offs with karthus. (have to think for ALL champions of course, but karthus is a shining example). His laning phase is mediocre at best, and his lack of mobility means he's an easy gank. BUT. Regardless of how many times you've killed the fucker, once he has items, he is a teamfighting beast. Imagine now, if he was a teamfighting beast, AND he got super fed in lane with his new found mobility/cc. If he had a weaker late game I'd agree with you (playing him in lane is similar to stabbing yourself in the groin). But his trade off in early to late game power is just ridiculous. Also as a side note, I can't see any way to change his kit to include a strong early game without complete changing him/making op. I mean his Defile(or whatever the aoe pain is) could be a targeted move, like anivia. But then he wouldnt need to run in and die and so his passive wouldn't fit his kit anymore. His Q could slow them but then the wall of pain would be worthless and if you bought a rylai's his q would be inescapable. If you made his E an actual wall...well, thats anivia. And if you made it stun people, it's like a veigar e but straight line. Just my thoughts!

blackcat130011/24/2014, 7:10:20 PM1 votes

will we be able to play jungle Karthus in season 5