Talk:Karthus/@comment-77.105.20.210-20120526163118

I have a lot of games with this guy and I can say, he is not "press R and win". Oh no, you really, really, really need to know how, when and where to place your skills.

Here is my build and a few tips.

Sorcerer's Shoes, Rod of Ages, Rabadon's Deathcap, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Deathfire Grasp and for the last item I usually build Lich bane if there are squishies, void staff if there are tanky and beefy or if I am doing very well I go with mejai's soulstealer. Build order is not important, just content.

Here is the first thing with Karthus, players usually pick runes to help them in early game, that is a mistake. I aim for the mid and late game power.

My runes are all magic penetration (quints, marks, glyphs) and 9 seals with ability power per level ( these are not that necesary, you can use whatever you want, but magic penetration is crucial).

With this rune setup I have 21 magic penetration on level 1, with boots I have 41, with 1st level of my Wall of Pain I have 56 magic penetration. That goes far beyond any champion magic resist on early level. Most of the carries have 30-40 magic resist, in some cases about 70, point is with this you can penetrate most of that protection and deal huge ammounts of damage even without ability power, so you are powerful.

For masteries I am for utility, I have 10% cooldown reduction, mana regen, buff duration and good hands for death timer reduction.

Gameplay:

You will usually play him in the middle, but Karthus can be in any lane. He is a great help because of his lay waste.

Anyway, you must level up your q as fast as possible, because that is your primary source of damage, then put one point in your wall of pain in case there is a ganker so you can slow him and make his ganking useless. When there is no q available, level up your Defile, level up ultimate whenever you can, and wall of pain when there is no other option.

Now start with amplifying tome and one health potion. I really dont like dorans ring because it gives less ap than tome, it is more expensive, and you are forced to sell it because you can't craft it in any other item. It is a lost gold in my opinion.

As you progress forward buy whatever component of this build, just be sure to buy health in meantime so you can actually survive longer and do some damage and not end up dead in 1 second.

I almost forgot, I use clarity and ignite, but you can actually use whatever you want. It is not really obligatory.

Many people will wonder why I avoid archangel staff. First of all, you need long time to unlock its full potential, that means a lot of spamming, next, rod of ages is cheaper and you need less time to charge it, and it will give you health.

When you play, try to hit single enemies with q, since that will hit them where it hurts. It does incredible damage on single opponents. Also, it is a very good tool, for bush checking, for pulling jungle minions, or for last hitting.

Whenever there is a teamfight turn on your defile, then land wall of pain in the middle of a teamfight, try to hit carries with it since it will make them slow as snails and way more vulnerable to attack, it reduces magic resist and armor which is even better. Then spam your lay waste as your very life is depending on it.

Result: If enemies are busy dodging you, they will simple ignore others and get killed, if they ignore you, then you can pretty much earn pentakill with no sweat.

Also dont be afraid to charge in first in teamfight, if they kill you thed dug their grave, you can then fire your ultimate and weaken every enemy in field and in most casses, get kill or two, or in some casses, tons of asists. Also while you are charging your ultimate you can still cast some spells I think, Im not sure but it doesnt matter. Also dont forget to put wall of pain after you died, it will make the enemy cry in agony and question themselves why did the have to kill you first.

When there is an enemy with huge ammount of health, give them a present in a form of deathfire grasp. It will hurt them much. Thanks to huge magic penetration of 76 on level 18 with wall of pain, you can blow almost half of their health away.

Also what is a key stat in my build, cooldown reduction. You have 10% on start, 25% with deathfire, and with buff its 40%. With that you can spam your ultimate every 72 seconds. At that point you can use your ultimate before teamfight to either scare enemies, of weaken them.

Karthus is one of the most easiest champions when farm comes in question. Fire up your Defile and just plow through your minion waves. In 90% of games you will have greater farm than any other champion in both teams. Put q in that formula and you dont have to sweat over one bunch of minions.

And his best skill for the end, Requiem. Don't use it to steal other kills, you will 100% miss the timing. Use it when there is an enemy fleeing with 100 health. Never try to use it in the middle of a teamfight, they will either kill you, or disable you and then you are screwed. Wait for either your death, or wait for their retreat. Then use your ultimate with delight. After this happens expect comments from the other team: "NOOB KARTHUS" or "press R to win gg" or "f-ing Karthus".

Also map your deathfire grasp to some handy button on keyboard and try to use it as much as possible, it is a nice nuke, antitank item and it costs not a single mana point.