A case for Karthus, our Deathsinger
TL;DR:
- Mathematically, the wall of pain nerfs are huge.
- Sleepers seem OP mostly cause we are better trained to face the common bunch.
- And Karthus' weakness is not simply due to his immobility/squishiness.
As an avid Karthus player I'd really appreciate if people from the balancing team could shed light on their process and recent decisions.
(I can't help but imagine Scarizard (sorry >.>) and others playing a game where Karthus went on a rampage and hyper-carried the game before the nerfs)
Alright, I'm about to put forward not the numbers, but the feeling of what has changed since the nerfs. Wall of pain was a unique spell in the game. It creates a passable wall that shreds the enemies' MR and movespeed for five seconds. The enemies recovered their lost MS over the duration, and it felt like a linear ramp down slow before the nerfs.
The ability meant a lot to the team making Karth seem appealing to be picked. Karthus' iconic wall of pain is still the backbone/glue holding his character together, it offers amazing utility for a team such as:
- zone control
- face checking/vision
- catching enemies
- Immensely effective in thwarting tower dives or advancing enemies
The wall used to allow a good Karthus to hold off multiple enemies trying to take his turret for multiple waves, solo.
It made him stand up to other mages despite a relatively slow wave-clear (think 
, 
, 
).
The inertia behind the nerf was to slightly reduce the effectiveness of his catching potential, but it indirectly also reduced his effectiveness to defend his lane turrets, putting a dent in his notoriously safe laning phase. Karthus' safe laning phase is what pro's like Faker and Froggen associate with him about when they debated that a skilled 
should beat a skilled 
.
Karthus' weak early game is very unique, in that he decides not to be a threat to his enemies early on because of his chosen build path and farm reliance. That is how he was weak. Alternatively you could chose 
first item followed by a 
and be a lane bully, trading late game power due to a small mana pool and lower AP. However, now his safe laning identity feels like an illusion since he is much easier to dive without reliable defensive cc.
Karthus' uniqueness here was that weakness is not = simply squishy/immobile.
Now for the numbers.
Here's the slow amount comparison, at the **end **of each second from cast:
Old W, rank II: 40% - 30% - 20% - 10% - 0%
New W, rank V: 40% - 30% - 20% - 10% - 0%
Old W, rank V: 64% - 48% - 32% - 16% - 0%
As is evident from the "ramp" of the slow, the nerf is so massive it feels like playing Karthus with only 2 points in your wall [zombie-brand-facepalm] . Seems very undeserved.
If you have the time, here's a philosophical bit on his strength:
The patch notes said "Wall of Pain’s slow now decays", which could have been a miscommunication/lack of knowledge. It is a lesser known fact that the slow used to decay even before the nerfs.
This lack of knowledge has strangely been one of Karthus' strengths. Sleeper champions tend to bring a bit of surprise to the game due to unfamiliarity. The amount of damage on Lay waste is beautifully rewarding if you critically strike.
- On a slightly related note, I love the fact that you, the player, make your Q critically strike through calculated aim, not random chance. It requires a veteran to aim those intricately on a squishy in a team-fight sandwiched between peelers/minions.
This, his passive and his ultimate are the surprises that often catch people off-guard.
Here's a perfect example from EU LCS that caught Rekkles and the casters off-guard. Rekkles held on to his 
perhaps thinking he would survive.
When we play against a champion often, we learn what their potential "catch-range" is. For example while kiting away from a fed 
down your lane you'd know to not run straight through your minions for he can sweep thru the minions to you, on the other hand while kiting a 
you'd rather run through your minions.
Similarly if had a high enough pick rate people would learn to anticipate his high damage and respectably long range Q, W, and R. This would, I believe, decrease Karthus' win rate and his effectiveness by a little, taking away his surprise factor.
In no way am I suggesting that Rito hates Karthus. They put so much love into his VU that it set standards for the ones to follow! He was a balanced champion whose kit aged like a fine wine into the new meta.
Perhaps Karthus' foremost identity is "highest DPS in the league", but he has more depth to his play than just that, a lot more.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, been lurking on reddit and the boards for years, and as I see patch notes and PBE cycles go by with Karthus staying silent, I had to speak up.
EDIT: cleaning up some typos/formatting. Thx again!
