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He can dodge most of your damage and heal a LOT. The way you beat him is by not letting him get ahead in the early game and keep your distance and just get him low with your Qs and then go all-in on him. If you get to mid-late game you should be able to kill him easily if he isn't fed. Be weary because he can solo baron at about level 15 if he has enough items.
Kindred
Kindred is an annoying champ to deal with. Her ult can dodge your ults damage and change the tides of a fight. Luckily, kindred is a pretty high skill cap champ, making it less difficult to kill most average kindreds. If you want to counter kindred, you are going to need to counter gank her and make sure she doesn't get ahead, and hopefully, you will get ahead.
Ekko
An Ekko can wipe the floor with you, or, you can wipe the floor with him. Try to counter gank him and find him while he is vulnerable and kill him to get ahead.
Volibear
Volibear is an annoying champ for Karthus. He can run right at you and stun you and then kill you very fast. He also has very good engage tools. The only way to win is either by getting fed or having Voli not get fed and get to late game.
Elise
Elise is a very powerful early game champ and if you can just get about 1 item and she isn't fed, you should be able to win easily. If she gets fed, you should just farm and get to the point where you 1 shot her before she 1 shots you.
Amumu
Isn't the biggest threat but if he plays it right, he can kill you very fast, while taking no damage. Your best bet is to have your team help you beat him in early-mid game and then you should be fine. Be weary if he is missing because he can solo baron very early on.
Evelynn
Evelyne can do a lot of items, but you can too. Once you get enough items, you should be able to kill her very fast. Make sure to get a Zhonyas so you can survive her initial burst/ ult.
Cho'Gath
Not many people play Cho'Gath jungle anymore but he is stilled played occasionally. Your best bet is to build a Demonic Embrace and a stopwatch and have your team engage while you just do a lot of damage.
Fiddlesticks
Fiddle isn't a big threat because he is very squishy. The only thing you should be weary of is when he ults and when he fears you because he can do a lot of damage to you,
Graves
Graves can be a problem to you, but only in the early game and if he gets fed. If that happens, you should get a stopwatch to survive his initial burst and also try to power farm to catch up. Be weary about his invades because that is what graves likes to do.
Hecarim
Hecarim is a bit scary because he will just run at you and you can't do much. If you can, keep him away from you and try to get to late game and you might have a chance.
Ivern
Ivern is a support jungler. He does very low damage (unless he is building pure ap) and is very squishy. Watch out for early invades and try not to fight him if his team is around. Although Karthus has a low winrate against him, if you play smart, you should be able to counter him.
Jax
Jax can just stun you and hit you a lot. He wins a pure 1v1 but if you get your team, you should be fine. Try to pick him off early and avoid his counterstrike (stun) and you should win.
Jarvan IV
Jarvan is only a threat in the early game because you outscale him massively. He will try to pick a 1v1 early so try to avoid the, and you should win.
Kayn
Kayne can beat you in the early and good Kaynes will try to fight you early while you are week. Try not to get him fed and you should win late unless he gets fed. Be careful if he goes blue Kayne because he can 1 shot you. If he goes red though, get grievous wounds to try to stop the healing.
Kha'Zix
Assassins are Karthus's worst enemy. The only way to beat him is to not let him get fed and out farm/ get fed and then 1 shot him late game. Be careful because he will try to invade early. If you see him in your jungle, wait for your team and then fight him, because he wins the pure 1v1.
Lee Sin
Just don't fight him early game and try to counter gank him and you will win. He is an early game champ so you will naturally outscale him.
Lillia
Lilia will do a lot of damage only if she is fed. You just need to out farm her and don't let her get fed and you will be fine. Make sure to get a zhonyas for her ult.
Nidalee
She does a lot of damage with her spears late game but has a better early game than you, so you should just farm and try to dodge her spears because they will do a lot of damage regardless if she is fed or not.
Nocturne
He can be a nuisance with his speed, but if you just get to late game, you will naturally ouscale him.
Nunu & Willump
Nunu and Willumps engage is extremely annoying. He becomes unable to slow with your wall when he has his snowball. He also does ridiculous amounts of damage while building tank and healing a lot. I suggest just dodging or banning him or you will have a very boring 15 minutes,
Olaf
Olaf is very, very, hard to kill in the early game. He has a lot of life steal and will try to kill you constantly. If you get to late game, you will heavily outscale him (unless he is fed, then you have little to no chance. )
Rek'Sai
Rek sai needs to power farm to do some damage, but not as much as karthus. If you can just survive to late game and maybe get some kills, you will be fine.
Rengar
Rengar is horrible. He will kill you very fast in all stages of the game. The only chance you have is to find a way to kill him in the early game, or get to late game, and get a Zhonyas.
Sejuani
Sejuani is very hard to counter. Her main strategy is to run at you with her team and stun you so her team finished you. If you can have your team doing ok, then you will be fine.
Sett
Sett jungle isn't very good at the moment. The problem is, he has a lot of CC, which makes him able to keep you CCd until his team, or he kills you, so just stick with your team and you will be perfectly fine.
Shaco
Shaco is very squishy, but annoying. He will either, kill you early in your jungle, or will gank until he is extremely fed. If he does neither, you will win,
Skarner
Skarner will take no damage, will be dealing a lot of damage. Be very careful of him during team fights. He can cancel out your ult with his, and his ult can take you to his team, and you will die, very fast.
Sylas
Sylas can do a lot of damage, and heal a lot. He will mainly just farm and gank a lot. You should just farm and try to counter gank him. Get grievous wounds to counter his healing and get a banshees veil if he is fead, and you should be fine.
Tahm Kench
Tahm Kench is very good against attack damage champs, but only OK against magic damage champs. The way to kill him is by getting a void staff and stay away from his attack range.
Taliyah
Taliyah isn't played a lot, but people good at her, are really hard to beat. The way to beat her is by scaling and killing her fast while she focuses your team.
Trundle
Trundle is annoying because he takes no damage and can slow you a lot. Just try to avoid him and only fight him in a teamfight.
Udyr
Udyr will just run at you. The way you beat him is just by keeping him away from you and using your wall to keep him away from you.
Vi
Vi will just hard engage on you and you can't do much to stop her. I suggest just dodging or avoiding her.
Warwick
Warwick has a lot of CC and does a lot of damage and heals a lot. I suggest just getting grievous wounds and sticking with your team.
Xin Zhao
Xin Zhao can engage very well, but if you get to mid-game, you should be able to kill him fast,
Zac
Zac has heavy engage, which can make it hard to stay away from him. Get a Demonic Embrace and grievous wounds and you should be OK.
Rammus
He will just "spin" at you and then CC you until you die.
Morgana
Morgana's root can leave you vulnerable, and with her black shield, she dodges almost all of your damage from your ult, rendering it useless. Get a Banshees veil to protect you from her root and you will be fine.
Sivir
Sivir has a magic damage shield, which can make it so your ult does little to no damage. The way you beat her is by out damaging her,
Twitch
Twitch jungle is a ganky champion. He will gank until he is fed and then be unstoppable. The way you beat him is by trying to counter gank and out farm him.
Illaoi
While ganking Illaoi, if she is fed, or has enough of a farm lead, she can 2v1 with her ult, so be careful about ganking her.
Aatrox
While ganking Aatrox during mid and late game, he can ult and 2v1 you. The counter is simple though. Get grievous wounds and keep your distance.
Ahri
While ganking an Ahri, you can do a lot of damage, because she is very squishy. Just don't go near turret if she is under it, because she can charm you and you will die to tower.
Akali
Akali is hard to gank. You want to gank her once she has used her E because otherwise, she can just leave. Be weary because if she is fed, she should be able to kill you in a 1v1 or even 1v2.
Alistar
You want to gank an Alistar early on, or power farm, then you will beat him easily.
Anivia
Anivia is almost impossible to gank once she hits level 3 because she has a wall, and her ult can slow you, making it hard to get close.
Nasus
Nauses jungle is fairly weak, especially in the early game. He needs to power farm to actually do damage, and as long as you keep your distance, you should be able to beat him. Try to invade early and take his camps and make sure he doesn't get to fed by counterganking his ganks.
Ekko
His stun is good for landing Qs
Xerath
His stun is very good for landing things.
Veigar
Immobilize=Good
Yuumi
It's Yummi what do you expect?
Anivia
Anivias slow and wall are good for Karthus to land abilitys.
Thresh
His hook and cage can make it very easy to land things.
Zilean
Zilean ult can keep you alive in a team fight and he also does a LOT of damage.
Pyke
Pyke is a strong synergy with Karthus. He has a stun, a hook, and can print money for you and your team.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Ekko
His stun is good for landing Qs
Xerath
His stun is very good for landing things.
Veigar
Immobilize=Good
Yuumi
It's Yummi what do you expect?
Anivia
Anivias slow and wall are good for Karthus to land abilitys.
Thresh
His hook and cage can make it very easy to land things.
Zilean
Zilean ult can keep you alive in a team fight and he also does a LOT of damage.
Pyke
Pyke is a strong synergy with Karthus. He has a stun, a hook, and can print money for you and your team.
Hello, I am Karthus man (not my lol name). I am a Karthus main and have peaked at around a 70 percent win rate with him. I am not playing ranked at the moment, because of the new season, but I probably will once the new season starts. I hope I can teach you everything Karthus. I will primarily keep my guide section in the notes section, and if you have any questions, comment down below.
ENJOY!
How to Karthus Early on
As karthus, you always want to start blue buff because karthus has crazy mana problems in the early game. You then want to get gromp and continue clearing, taking everything except krugs. The reason you don't take krugs is because you want to take a scuttle krab, which should spawn like 10 seconds after you finish taking red. In the early game, you don't want to fight at scuttle krab, unless you get a lot of help fighting. Pretty much any jungler will beat you in a fight early game (unless you are really good or they suck)so you should just go to the other scuddle. After that, you should either go clear more,or gank a very gankable lane, but be weary, never gank any champ if YOU are very low, because there is a chance that you don't get enough health and die or have to burn flash.
How to Karthus mid game
Mid Game, you should be a fair bit stronger. Keep farming and taking objectives and group for team fights and you will get to late game faster. The more kills and CS you get, the faster you will get to late game.
How to Karthus Late Game
Late game, you should be really strong. You should be able to practically 3 shot people with your Qs. Stay back in teamfights and deal tons of damage with your Qs and then go in at the end and clean up. Try to save your ult when you really really need it and don't use it to steal kills, but it is fine to use it to steal kills from your allies early game ;).
How to ult correctly
Ulting is one of the harder things to use on karthus. His base ult is 200 dmg, which sounds like a lot early game, but magic resistance and other things makes it hard to tell if it is going to secure a kill early game. One thing I like to do is if you aren't certain about your ult securing a kill when your ult is LVL 1, don't take the chance and waste your ult unless the person has a big shutdown about 300+ gold. Once your ult is level 2, it is a lot easier to see if your ult will do enough damage because by then, you have ap items and the base dmg is 350, so if you ult, it should be at least 475 dmg. Late game, your ult does 500 base damage, and plus all of your ap items and other things, it should do between 800 and 1000 damage. But again, by then if there is a tank, they probably have a bunch of armor and magic resist, so it will probably do less the 600 dmg.
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