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Karthus OriginalCentered
Karthus
Karthus (Universe)Karthus (Universe)
Karthus (League of Legends)Karthus (League of Legends)
Karthus (Esports)Karthus (Esports)
Karthus (Teamfight Tactics)Karthus (Teamfight Tactics)
Karthus (Development)Karthus (Development)
Karthus (Trivia)Karthus (Trivia)

Karthus is a champion in League of Legends.[1]

Abilities[]

Edit

Death Defied

Death Defied

Innate: Upon taking Death fatal damage, Karthus enters a Zombie icon zombie state for 7 seconds, during which he can cast his abilities at no cost. If Defile Defile has been learned, it will remain toggled on for Death Defied's entire duration. Requiem Requiem becomes disabled after Death Defied has lasted 4 seconds.

While under this state, Karthus becomes Untargetable icon untargetable and Cc-immune icon immune to crowd control as well as prevents all incoming damage, but is also rendered unable to move, declare basic attacks, use summoner spells, and activate items.

▶️   "I am become death!"

Info

Map-Specific Differences
Howling Abyss icon Howling Abyss differences edit
  • Duration changed to 5 seconds.

Edit

Lay Waste

Lay Waste

Active: Karthus conjures a blast at the target location that detonates after 0.528 seconds to 0.759 seconds, granting Sight icon sight of the area and dealing magic damage to all enemies within, Critical strike magic icon doubled when only one target is struck.

Magic Damage:
45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 (+ 35% AP)
Enhanced Damage:
90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250 (+ 70% AP)

During Death Defied Death Defied, Lay Waste will cast at maximum range if cast beyond that.

Info
  • The delay between the cast and the detonation is inconsistent, but always matches up with the VFX.(bug)
    • Defile's Defile's ticks beyond the first has a similar issue.
  • Applies Disintegrate spell damage if it hits a single target and Death Lotus area damage if it hits multiple targets.
    • Lay Waste also plays a different sound effect when it only hits one target.

Edit

Wall of Pain

Wall of Pain

Active: Karthus erects a wall of pain at the target location perpendicular to his facing that lasts 5 seconds, granting Sight icon sight around its pillars and center.

Wall Length:
800 / 900 / 1000 / 1100 / 1200

Enemies that touch the wall are inflicted with Magic penetration icon 25% magic resistance reduction and become Slow icon slowed for 5 seconds, decaying over the duration. This can affect enemies only once per cast.

Slow:
40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80%
Reduced Slow:
20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%

Info
  • No additional details.

Edit

Defile

Passive: Karthus restores Mana icon mana whenever he kills an enemy.

Mana Restored:
10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50
Defile

Toggle: Karthus surrounds himself in a necrotic aura that deals magic damage every 0.25 seconds to all nearby enemies. Toggling Defile off triggers a final tick of damage.

Magic Damage Per Tick:
7.5 / 12.5 / 17.5 / 22.5 / 27.5 (+ 5% AP)
Damage Per Second:
30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+ 20% AP)

Defile cannot be toggled off during Death Defied Death Defied.

Info
  • Toggle abilities do not count as ability activations for the purposes of on-cast effects such as Sheen item Spellblade and triggering Force Pulse's Force Pulse's passive.
  • Defile will restore Mana resource mana if Karthus destroys an enemy structure.
  • Defile re-calculates its damage with each tick based on changes in Karthus's ability power or an increase in the rank of Defile without the need to toggle it off and on again.
  • Defile will toggle off automatically if Karthus enters Revival icon resurrection.

Edit

Requiem

Requiem

Active: Karthus Channeling icon channels for 3 seconds, then deals magic damage to all targetable enemy champions upon completion.

Magic Damage:
200 / 350 / 500 (+ 75% AP)

Info
  • Due to several character stats needing to be recalculated each time a character spawns, casting Requiem immediately upon respawning will cause its cooldown to be unaffected by ability haste. Damage dealt is unaffected due to cast time. (bug)
  • Requiem's channel is telegraphed to all enemy champions by a beam of light that descends on all targets, including if they are Untargetable icon untargetable or even Death dead.
  • Requiem will affect Command Hallucinate clones.
  • The damage will apply spell effects to targets in an order based on proximity to Karthus. Single target spell effects (such as Luden's Companion Luden's Companion) are thus triggered on the closest enemy champion.
  • The following table refers for interactions while Karthus is Channeling icon channeling:
Type Channel
Attacking Disabled
Abilities Disabled
Movement Disabled
Items Usable Shurelya's Battlesong Shurelya's Battlesong Youmuu's Ghostblade Youmuu's Ghostblade Randuin's Omen Randuin's Omen
Disabled All the other item-actives are disabled
Interrupted by N/A
Consumables Usable
Spells Usable Barrier Barrier Clarity Clarity Cleanse Cleanse Exhaust Exhaust Ghost Ghost Heal Heal Ignite Ignite Smite Smite
Disabled Teleport Teleport Recall Recall Hexflash Hexflash
Interrupted by Flash Flash
Interrupted by
  • Death
  • Silence icon Cast-inhibiting effects
  • Map-Specific Differences
    Arena icon Arena differences edit
    • Base damage changed to 350 / 550 / 750.
    • AP ratio changed to 100% AP

    Champion skins[]

    This article section only contains champion skins. For all associated collection items, see Karthus (Collection).
    Karthus OriginalSkin
    Original
    RP 790
    11.06.2009
    The harbinger of oblivion, Karthus is an undying spirit whose haunting songs are a prelude to the horror of his nightmarish appearance. The living fear the eternity of undeath, but Karthus sees only beauty and purity in its embrace, a perfect union of life and death. When Karthus emerges from the Shadow Isles, it is to bring the joy of death to mortals, an apostle of the unliving.
    Separator
    ActorUnknown voice actor
    ArtistAlex 'alexplank' Flores
    Loot eligible Loot eligible

    Patch history[]

    For the expanded patch notes, see here.
    V14.2 - January 24th Hotfix
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Bug Fix: Magic resistance reduction while in zombie form zombie form no longer multiplies the magic resistance of enemies hit by 25 instead of 0.75.
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Bug Fix: Now properly benefits from ability haste as soon as he respawns.
    V14.2
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage increased to 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 from 43 / 61 / 79 / 97 / 115.
        • Single-target damage increased to 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250 from 86 / 122 / 158 / 194 / 230.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Magic resistance reduction increased to 25% from 15%.
    V13.22
    • Stats
      • Basic attack missile speed increased to 1500 from 1200.
    V13.19
    V13.14
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage reduced to 43 / 61 / 79 / 97 / 115 from 45 / 62.5 / 80 / 97.5 / 115.
      • Monster damage increased to 100% from 95%.
    • Defile Defile
      • Mana restored reduced to 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 from 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55.
    V13.1
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • Bug Fix: No longer leaves a square VFX on the ground after the effect ends.
    V12.22 - November 17th Hotfix
    V12.22
    • Stats
      • Mana growth increased to 31 from 30.5.
    V12.13
    • Stats
      • Base armor increased to 21 from 18.
      • Health growth increased to 110 from 101.
    V12.12
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • Bug Fix: Corpse is no longer an obstacle to other units' pathing.
    V12.10
    • Stats
      • Base health increased to 620 from 550.
      • Health growth increased to 101 from 87.
      • Armor growth increased to 4.7 from 3.5.
      • Magic resistance growth increased to 1.3 from 0.5.
    V12.8
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • Bug Fix: Enemy champions that deal lethal damage to trigger the zombie state are no longer considered to deal damage to the source when the effect ends.
    V12.7
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Damage against monsters increased to 95% from 85%.
    V12.5
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Bug Fix: Special buffering behaviour removed so that he can no longer bypass the spawn boundaries before 15 seconds into the game on Summoner's Rift after a certain condition.
        • Karthus will now wait for the full cast animation to finish before walking into range for the next Lay Waste cast buffered outside cast range, instead of moving as soon as the cast time is complete.(bug)
    V12.2
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where towers would incorrectly target enemy champions who took damage from it.
    V11.21
    • Defile Defile
      • Mana refund changed to 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 from 20 / 27 / 34 / 41 / 48.
    V11.20
    V11.6
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage reduced to 45 / 62.5 / 80 / 97.5 / 115 from 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125.
        • Single-target damage reduced to 90 / 125 / 160 / 195 / 230 from 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250.
    V11.2 - January 21st Hotfix
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where he wasn't able to buffer cast while on cooldown.
    V11.1
    • Stats
      • Base attack damage increased to 46 from 45.66.
    V10.25
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Mana cost reduced to 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 from 20 / 26 / 32 / 38 / 44.
      • AP ratio increased to 35% AP from 30% AP.
      • Bug Fix: Now properly triggers Horizon Focus Horizon Focus.
    V10.22
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage reduced to 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 from 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130.
    V10.20
    • Stats
      • Base armor reduced to 18 from 20.88.
    V10.16
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • AP ratio reduced to 30% AP from 35% AP.
    V10.15
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Bug Fix: Spawns properly even when cast at 0 range.
    V10.14
    • Stats
      • Base health increased to 550 from 528.
      • Base movement speed increased to 335 from 325.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage increased to 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 from 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125.
      • AP ratio increased to 35% AP from 30% AP.
      • New Effect: Damage against monsters is now reduced by 15%.
    • Defile Defile
      • Now always restores mana on kill. Previously only when toggled off.
      • Tick rate reduced to 1 per 0.25 seconds from 1 per 1.
        • Total damage unchanged.
      • New Effect: Deactivating Defile deals 1 tick's worth of damage.
      • Bug Fix: Tooltip now accurately mentions the increased mana cost per second at each level.
    V10.9
    • Stats
      • Movement speed reduced to 325 from 335.
    V9.18
    V9.13 - July 12th Hotfix
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Bugfix: No longer hits through untargetability.
    V9.12
    V9.11 - May 30th Hotfix
    • Requiem Requiem
      • AP ratio increased to 75% AP from 65% AP.
    V9.11
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Base damage reduced to 200 / 350 / 500 from 250 / 400 / 550.
      • AP ratio reduced to 65% AP from 75% AP.
      • Undocumented: No longer goes on full cooldown if cast after respawning.
      • Undocumented: Can now hit through Untargetable icon untargetability.
    V9.8
    • General
      • Bug Fix: Can now dance.
    V9.4
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage reduced to 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 from 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130.
      • Isolated base damage reduced to 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250 from 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 / 260.
      • Bug Fix: Now triggers runes more consistently.
    V9.1
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • New Effect: Ability icon HUD now shows the remaining duration of the ability.
    V8.21
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds from 18.
      • Mana cost reduced to 70 from 100.
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 150 / 175 / 200.
    V8.9
    • Stats
      • Base mana increased to 467 from 372.48.
      • Mana growth reduced to 30.5 from 61.
      • Base mana regeneration increased to 8 from 6.
    V8.7
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage increased to 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 from 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120.
    V8.3
    • Stats
      • Base health regeneration increased to 6.5 from 6.424.
    V7.24
    • Requiem Requiem
      • AP ratio increased to 75% AP from 60% AP.
    V7.22
    • Stats
      • Base health increased to 528 from 516.
      • Health growth increased to 87 from 75.
    V7.9
    • Stats
      • Magic resistance growth increased to 0.5 from 0.
    V7.8
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • New Effect: Can now be buffered. Casts input as Lay Waste explodes will now automatically fire once Lay Waste comes off cooldown, unless Karthus cancels the command.
    V7.4
    V6.18
    V6.7
    V6.4
    • Statue of Karthus Statue of Karthus
      • Bug Fix: Eagle screech being heard globally by allies when Karthus dances.
    V5.24
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • New Effect: Wall slow is reduced to 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% after 1 second.
    V5.6
    • General
      • Basic attack frame improved.
    V5.5
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Bug Fix: Enemy champions sometimes dashing through wall and not being slowed.
    V4.11
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Bug Fix: Allied-ultimate HUD indicator displaying as available when it wasn't.
    V4.10
    • Statue of Karthus Statue of Karthus
      • New Effect: A certain bird of prey screeches when Karthus dances.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Lay Waste appeared to give more vision than it actually did.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Bug Fix: No longer interrupted by movement commands.
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Particle updated for visibility.
    V4.9
    • General
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Added a new indicator that shows the full area of effect.
      • Added crit-style combat text and a unique sound effect for double-damage Qs.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Added a visual debuff effect that marks affected enemy champions.
    V4.5
    • Stats
      • Base armor increased to 15 from 11.
    V4.4
    V3.12
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Enemy warning buff duration updated to match impact delay.
    V3.10
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • New Effect: Casts at maximum range when targeted beyond max range during Death Defied Death Defied
    • Defile Defile
      • AP ratio reduced to 20% AP from 25% AP.
      • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where cooldown reduction allowed it to be rapidly toggled, increasing its damage output.
    V3.7
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Bug fix: Should not longer have a major FPS performance hit across all maps.
    V1.0.0.152
    • Stats
      • Movement speed increased to 335 from 310.
    V1.0.0.146
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Removed: No longer reduces armor.
      • Magic resistance reduction changed to 15% from flat 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35.
    V1.0.0.142
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Cooldown increased to 200 / 180 / 160 seconds from 180 / 150 / 120.
    V1.0.0.131
    V1.0.0.130
    • Dominion
      • Bug Fix: Karthus sometimes immediately awarding a double kill when affected by both Sunlight Sunlight and Storm Shield.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Wall duration reduced to 5 seconds from 7.
      • Slow application changed to once from per-crossing.
    V1.0.0.126
    V1.0.0.118
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • Duration reduced to 7 seconds from 8.
      • Removed: 20% death timer reduction.
    • Requiem Requiem
      • AP ratio reduced to 60% AP from 70% AP.
    V1.0.0.105
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Tooltip updated to emphasize decaying slow effect.
    V1.0.0.103
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • New Effect: All abilties are free to cast while active.
      • Bug Fix: Various usability issues.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Mana cost reduced to 20 / 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 from 20 / 28 / 36 / 44 / 52.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Cooldown reduced to 18 seconds from 22.
    V1.0.0.101
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • New Effect: Grants 20% death timer reduction to compensate for active duration.
      • Code remade for bug fixing and for usability issues.
    V1.0.0.100
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Bug Fix: Rank-up tooltip displaying incorrect slow increase.
    V1.0.0.99
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Mana cost reduced to 150 / 175 / 200 from 200 / 300 / 400.
    V1.0.0.86
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Bug Fix: Tooltip displaying incorrect AP ratio.
    V1.0.0.75
    V1.0.0.70
    • Stats
      • Armor per level increased to 3.5 from 3.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Range increased to 875 from 825.
      • Mana cost reduced to 20 / 28 / 36 / 44 / 52 from 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54.
    V1.0.0.63
    • General
      • Basic attack projectile speed increased to 1200 from 800.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage increased to 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 from 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115.
      • AP ratio increased to 30% AP) from 25% AP.
    • Defile Defile
      • AP ratio increased to 25% AP) from 20% AP.
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Removed: No longer reveals Karthus to enemies when cast.
    V1.0.0.61
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • AP ratio increased to 25% AP from 20% AP.
    V1.0.0.52
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Bug Fix: Corrected AP ratio.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Bug Fix: Slowing units 2 seconds after particle had faded.
    V1.0.0.32
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Mana cost reduced to 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54 from 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65.
    • Defile Defile
      • Mana cost reduced to 30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78 from 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90.
    V0.9.25.34
    • General
      • Secondary/critical strike animations updated.
    V0.9.25.24
    • General
    V0.9.25.21
    • Death Defied Death Defied
      • Duration reduced to 8 seconds from 10.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Mana cost increased to 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 from 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Wall updated for visibility.
      • Bug Fix: Incorrect wall appearance.
      • Bug Fix: Targets sometimes not being slowed when crossing the wall.
      • Duration reduced to 7 seconds from 9.
    • Defile Defile
      • Mana cost increased to 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 from 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70.
    V0.9.22.16
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Mana cost increased to 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54 from 18 / 26 / 34 / 42 / 50.
    • Defile Defile
      • On-kill mana gain changed to 20 / 27 / 34 / 41 / 48 from 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55.
      • Removed: Mana regen on champion kill.
      • Mana cost increased to 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 from 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65.
    • Requiem Requiem
      • AP ratio reduced to 60% AP from 70% AP.
      • Removed: Can no longer be disrupted by Cleanse Cleanse.
    V0.9.22.15
    • Stats
      • Base attack damage increased to 44 from 39.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Range reduced to 825 from 900.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • New Effect: Wall targeting cursor.
    • Defile Defile
      • Removed: No longer doubles cost upon casting.
    V0.8.21.110
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • AoE diameter increased to 200 from 185.
    July 10, 2009 Patch
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Base damage increased to 250 / 400 / 550 from 200 / 350 / 550.
    June 26, 2009 Patch
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Slow reduced to 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% from 80% at all ranks.
    • Defile Defile
      • Cooldown reduced to 0.5 seconds from 1.
    • Requiem Requiem
      • Bug Fix: Now correctly shows buff tooltips.
    June 19, 2009 Patch
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste
      • Base damage increased to 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 from 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110.
      • Corrected tool-tip to say that it deals double damage if it hits a single target (corrected numbers in tool-tip as well).
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain
      • Cast range reduced to 1000 from 1200.
      • Armor and magic resistance reduction reduced to 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 from 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40.
      • Duration reduced to 9 seconds from (and it no longer lingers after the particle fades).
      • Cooldown reduced to 22 seconds from 25.
    • Defile Defile
      • Base damage increased to 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 from 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100.
    • Fallen One Fallen One
      • Ability power ratio reduced to 70% AP from 75% AP.
      • Can no longer be cast while dead.
    June 12, 2009 Patch
    • Death Defied Death Defied (Innate)
      • When Karthus dies, he can continue to cast spells for 10 seconds after death. If he kills a champion in this time he respawns instantly at base.
    • Lay Waste Lay Waste (Q)
      • A 1 second cooldown spell which leaves a time delayed mine that deals double damage if it only hits a single target.
    • Wall of Pain Wall of Pain (W)
      • Stretches a perpendicular wall through the target location, enemies who walk through it are slowed and take increased damage.
    • Defile Defile (E)
      • While toggled on, Defile continually damages nearby enemies. While off, Karthus regains mana whenever he kills a unit.
    • Fallen One Fallen One (Ultimate)
      • Channeled spell; upon successful cast, Karthus damages all enemy champions in the game.

    Trivia[]

    Karthus, the Deathsinger Karthus, the Deathsinger
    Karthus, the Deathsinger Karthus, the Deathsinger
    • A glass case reading 'Press R R to Win' can be seen in the game's Mac Version launch trailer.
    • Before 2016, Karthus had been disabled for every single Ultra Rapid Fire edition (most likely to prevent 'Spam R R to Win' abuse cases).
    • For a brief time in Season Five, Karthus had a bug where he could remain in Death Defied Death Defied indefinitely while alive and held an 87% win rate.[2]


    See also[]

    References[]

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