[December 9th 2017]
- Updated for the new runes!

Welcome to my Karthus guide!

#15 best Karthus in the world, valid for december 2016.

I got to Diamond with Karthus support only, after 54-22 wins/losses, and a 70% win rate!

I played with Challengers as well!



Karthus is all about zoning, having sustained DPS and punishing those who dare to dive your death zone. I have started maining Karthus in late Season 6, and I currently win against D2 players in flex. I have an 83.3% win rate, standing on 40 wins and 8 losses.

This guide will show you that Karthus support is viable, broken, and secret OP.

There is only one thing you have to do in order to master Karthus - hitting your Q's.
It takes lots and lots of practice, but after a while, I assure you, you will be the master of anticipation.

This is a Karthus support game that I won in, where we got camped bot lane for like 10 times as a 4 man dive, but still won the game. Look at the damage, and see what I mean when I say Karthus support.

Runes are now updated with the latest changes!

Season 6 proved Rylai to be the most useful item on Karthus since its his core, and allows you to hit your Q's successively after you hit one of them because of the slows, and the perma slow from E makes zoning and kiting even more powerful.

Rylai was nerfed, but its still powerful if you can land your Q's - with max CDR its a perma slow.

Karthus is all about hitting your Q's. Practice enough and you will be better at it, predicting where the enemy is going to go. There are always going to be scripters who will auto dodge your Q's etc, so this is why Rylai is important. Once you hit W, follow up with Q's and perma slow them. They cannot dodge that.
Remember that Q deals increased damage if you hit an isolated enemy, so when you last his, try to hit the minions to their side.

W is a great initiate on jungle ganks. Not that great against gap closers.

E is very powerful when enemies all in you, you can kite with Rylai and add a perma slow.

Always consider when to use R. Always watch the map for fights. Your R can determine a losing bot lane fight, a top lane, or maybe even get a kill when their jungler is low.

If you don't feel you're going to contribute to your teamfight, or get a kill, save R for next time, use it wisely since it has a very high cooldown. Getting CDR on karthus can be nice but will reduce your damage, this is why I don't take it. I guess I have to experiment a bit more on CDR and compare the damage.

As mid/support I always do the most damage, and in 30 minutes games I usually do 50k+ damage! That is insane!

Karthus support is currently the most underrated in the meta right now. When I pick it I always see the ADC writing 'Nice troll, karthus support..'

Just ignore it and prove them that the meta doesn't have to be what they say it is.

Your initial Q DPS is one of the most powerful DPS's in the game in level 1.

Q the backline of the caster minions once for early push to level 2, and ZONE THEM!

Your Q range is insane! You can have a huge rage, around ezreal's Q range. Stand on the side or behind your adc and Q them. You can easily get their adc or support as low as 20-30% hp for perma zoning, or for a swifting all ins by your adc.

For all ins, if you have a decent adc, you will win it definitely. They can't match your DPS!

Karthus works best with:

1. Twitch:
Twitch is the perfect ally because his DPS on level 1-2 is one of the best in the game right now. With a good twitch, you can 2v2 the lane and destroy them, and even 2v3 if the jungler comes - you get killed, you can still kill him with your passive. I reached diamond 2 with a twitch premade just by playing this, completely dominating the game.

2. Lucian
Even though Lucian is one of the weakest in the current Meta, his early DPS is very strong, and provides good dueling on bot lane.

3. Jhin
Jhin has insane pokes and can outtrade the enemy with his 4th shot. A good Jhin can follow up his skillshot with your W and Q, stunning in the enemy, providing another Q and finish up with his ult.

What about Sighstone?

Sure , you can take sighstone after Tear but I don't recommend it. You can still ward properly with a trinket and a pink ward which I always take. You will have reduced damage, and usually it doesn't really prevent a 4v2 dive. Just be careful and don't push the lane when you see mid is missing. If jungler focuses too much on your lane, you might lose it but your late game is a monster, allowing a team cleanup. Remember if you're getting camped, and other lanes are also losing, the jungler didn't do his job. If bot is getting camped, jungler always has to put pressure on other lanes or just counter jungle.

In low elo I recommend to play mid, and when you get to plat+ you can carry as support. The higher the elo, the easier it is to carry bot.

I have a few karthus support videos but I will only show one with karthus support, which shows how powerful it is.
Play Video Play Video

+ Best level 1 DPS in the game
+ Can harass from far away
+ Can safe farm under tower
+ Highest DPS in teamfights if enemy team fights around your passive
+ Global ult that changes fights around

- No dashes, can die to divers
- Useless late game if your team doesn't teamfight with you
- Can't harass as much until you get tear
- Hard to hit Q's without Rylai
- Skillshot based champion

Karthis is still viable as jungle, but not as strong since he can get counter jungled hard by shaco, lee sin, and other strong jungle champions. Make sure you hard farm and try to gank on level 3 with your W for some good damage. Farm as much as possible and get Rylai to be useful. Will post a jungle build soon (Basically you want to get Tear first, jungle item (not upgraded) with red smite, rush rylai, and then complete boots and jungle item and proceed to the rest of the core.)

Karthus is a huge contributor to teamfights. With your R, E, Q and passive you can pretty much decide the outcome of every teamfight. Make sure you're on the backline and keep zoning with Q. If they all in you, it's time to shine!