Talk:Karthus/@comment-4499945-20141101163158/@comment-5077844-20141101193608

I'd call false

Thing is, when I play KArthus I tend to play as passively as possible in laning, basically on last hitting with q in a way that i won't push my lane ahead. Karthus has awesome range on his q which makes him almost ungankable if played correctly. It'S like this, KArthus, even tho he lacks early damage can still heavily destroy his lane opponent if the match up is in his favor, thus i never feel like i have to invest in damage early.

My plan is usually: Farm so you get at least a Tear on first back, optimum would be a catalyst tho. JSut get catalyst and tear as first items (+ tier 1 boots if necessary for dodging skillshots). Then getting Roa as fast as possible, further invest into either Rabadon's or Zhonya'S until tear is stacked to around 600 upon which you should build for Archangel's.

Getting both these items will greatly slow down his early damage, but after he gets them finished he will get an instant massive powerspike (RoA + fully stacked Seraph's = ~90 bonus AP form archangel's apssive...that'S basically a free item you get).

To be honest, usually a RoA would be enough, but the thing is, the extra mana shield fomr seraph's ius so amazing. JUst throw that on, to get into the middle of the enemy team and to their sqwuishies, exhaust the adc pop zhonya'S for extended damage and once you're dead pop a few more Qs and finish everyone with your ult (best case scenario ofc)

I've never had a game with Karthus (with this build) in which I didn't have a major impact in teamfight.

To sum up: since Karthus is all about scaling into teamfights, early damage is not required thus RoA + Seraph's is IMO always the ebst choice (unless your whole team fails and you're the one to carry, but in this case, you alone probably won't be able to turn the game anyways...it'S still better to take the gamble and hope that you can drag out the game to the point where your teammates catch up and the enemy advantage becomes useless