Talk:Karthus/@comment-28606070-20160531112922/@comment-24055932-20160607013143

Well, not exactly a buff, but a shift of power in his kit would be nice. If you're thinking about reasons why to pick Karthus, first thing that comes to mind is his ultimate. Be it passive participiation in a teamfight, finishing off enemies or as his final action after dying in a teamfight. But outside of that he's not really giving.

The second thought would be his wall. Once upon a time, it was a mighty tool, applying an eternal slow and a mighty MR debuff. Even though it technically was passable, passing through came with strong penalties. Now? Not so much anymore. With its 18 second cooldown, it being Karthus only defensive measure, the MR debuff being unnoticable and its slow lingering this ability is pretty much a bad after taste of its past glory.

Third, his passive. If only his items wouldn't shut down, or his Wall of Pain had a shorter cooldown so he'd be able to keep enemies in...

And finally, his mines. His kit is promising quite the DPS - as long as you hit your mines. The only thing this is means is that you have to build Rylai's. Theoretically, not that much of a drawback - if only Karthus wouldn't have such a forced build path. You need boots, a Catalyst, maybe even a tear. Voidstaff and later on propably Rabadon's to actually be able to pick with his ultimate. Zhonya's propably as well. So no matter what, Rylai's will either be coming in very late, or it'll delay other, important items - and it won't help you during your death anyway.

So in the end, Karthus boils down to an ultimate with AoE damage attached. Of cause, his winrate shows that this can be enough to be a powerfull champion. But in terms of game control, he's pretty much at the end of the list. Pick Potential? Peeling power? These attributes are as low as possible. Mobility? Adaptability? Turn potential? He's got nothing there. Either what he's doing is working, or else you're doomed.

Replacing his ultimate's flat damage with damage scaling with missing life, making his wall smaller and even removing his mana refunding mechanism would allow for buffs that could benefit his game control.