So how bad/okay is Karthus?

AMADEUSdotEXE·Jun 28, 2017·1 votes·876 views

I know he isn't particularly good but i enjoy him. Im guessing taking him into ranked is a bad idea an maining him is even worse...?

6 Comments

420 gramsJun 28, 20172 votes

He's pretty bad until level 11 and needs a ton of expensive items

AvienalJun 28, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=420 grams,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=up7H0MRy,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2017-06-28T00:44:25.795+0000)

He's pretty bad until level 11 and needs a ton of expensive items

Beyond his little greedy buys, he can still be a harass nut with his 'skill shot' circle bombing, especially with smart ones timing them to hit enemies always when they aren't in a crowd to 'cut down' the damage. He isn't going to utterly massacre the lane but he is just like Sion with enough harass tools and a post death mechanic to basically get a revenge kill and can even use his ultimate during it which is a major annoyance.

Part of my issue is the fact that he's a raw damage rather 'EZ' nuker just from the R alone, anything else in his kit is not 'too bad' since he can easily exhaust his mana by spamming Q too constantly, Especially if its rushed first for a whooping 44 cost per use spam(which i still feel the double damage on the Q for isolated targets is kinda annoying, should maybe be more like 1.5 or just a small raw bonus to promote less isolated spam shots). I never played him so i did not know he 'gains' mana with E while toggled off whenever a minion dies but a per second drain that goes as high as 78, 30 at rank 1, never the less is one of those pretty useless skills unless he's strapping a insane amount of mana plus a item 3116 to do a 'mire field' of sorts.

I would be pretty fine if they limited it to a large 'radius' he can target and any enemies in it take the damage, minions included, at the very least some counterplay would be present if that done, but even with a 150/175/200 mana cost with a whooping 200/180/160 cooldown, i still feel like its rather strong thanks to a base of 250/400/550 to make it a rather 'effective' at squishie opponents or finishing off low health enemies, which doesnt help he can STILL use it, at no mana cost, after being killed. 60% ap scaling may not be as huge as some other champions but its still going to just add to it for a simple old high AP build so a simple old 400 AP build setup is gonna make it dish around 790 damage in the late game, likely MR would 'help' to deal with it, but item 3151 item 3135 item 3020 and magic pen runes/masteries are going to puncture thru squishies rather effectively.

[slayer-jinx-unamused]

Fix up the R for counterplay against him and maybe brush up his Q/W/E to make him a little more effective or useful and probably disable his R during his passive and i'm sure he'd be alot more 'fun' to some people then just old Yorick Galio and old Poppy , just annoying buggers then effective 'healthy' play champions.

420 gramsJun 28, 20171 votes

His r has a ton of counter build potential for a large variety of roles/champions including zhonyas, edge of night, and locket.

Makior72Jun 28, 20171 votes

he works well in low elo for sure, but the higher you climb the more people know how to deal with you. Does not do well into high mobility champs, which is most mid laners atm.

ValyrianBladeJun 28, 20171 votes

One thing I notice in the streams I've seen of Karthus players, is that most of them just play lane not to die. Karthus scales perfectly well with just farm, and WILL get ample opportunity to get kills/assists with his ultimate. When top or bot are going for a skirmish or the enemy is diving, a Karthus ult can turn the whole thing and net you some gold. Especially in low to medium elo - people will still go for fights and think they can win with a little health left over - completely not accounting for the death sentence awaiting them.

I think he's probably a pretty boring champion to play in lane. You're farming with Q and just generally trying to avoid damage. However if you don't mind that, he's strong enough to main. He does a lot of things very well. He becomes a late game monster. He has excellent area control. He will almost always have the most damage dealt to champions, which means a lot (okay, it means nothing if that damage doesn't translate to anything, but even if your ults don't get kills they can still prevent allied deaths, force untimely recalls, or earn your team towers/baron).