Hello! This will be my first guide in http://www.mobafire.com and actuely my first guide ever :) The guide will about karthus, of course. Karthus is one my my favourite champions in League of Legends, basiclly because I am a big fan of "deathbringer's" and grim reaper, wich karthus have. But when i play other heros and i see people on my team that is going glasscannon on karthus it is like something in my heart is dieing. I have glasscannons and that is why i want to make a guide about karthus and how to build / play him :) Hope you enjoy!

For the noobs.

Mpen= Magic penetration

Mr= Magic resistance

Ap= Ability power

Mregen= Manaregen

Cc= Crowd control(meaning stuns, slows, Silence's etc)

Dmg= Damage

Ad= Attack damage

Aoe= Area of effect

Hp= Health points/health (meaning 100 hp= 100 health points/health)

Fed= a champion that has gotten alot of gold, (usualy by killing champions on enemy team, but can also be of minions)

To feed= someone who is feeding an enemy champion(dying so the enemy get's alot of gold)

Regen= regneration

Cdr= Cooldown reduction

Ulti= Ultimate, on the R key.

Pros

*Massive dmg output.
*Decent surviveabiltiy with this build.
*Very good farming.
*God harasser
*His ultimate have unlimited range.
*Can kill people after he is dead.
*Awsome skins!

cons

*Squishy champion
*Difficult to play in teamfights (because of focus)
*Kinda hard to use ulti in the right place to right time.
*Use alot of mana!
*Easy to counter ( Knockbacks like Headbutt and stuns. )
*Low magic resist
*Veigar's Primordial Burst will destroy you completely if you have a lot of Ap!

Many like this passive because they go into a teamfight maby get one or two kills, but then they get maby a extra kill because of this.

This is your mainly used skill. Remember, you can spam it about evyre 1 second. A good harass spell early game!

When you get this in level 5 (or earlier, but i like lvl 5) you can go for a killing blow. It slows the enemy and reduce their magic resist!

This spell have a passive that give mana each kill you get. Whenever a enemy starts to get to close for you, simply pop this and their health will disappear as ice in a desert.

This is the spell many want karthus for. It can heat evyr enemy on the map and take abou 250 health in rank one. Evyrtime someone on the team say "ULTI" you want to check theyr hp. if they have under 200 health you can pop ulti. if not let it be. you must think about their magic resist or if they have summoner spell heal or soraka/taric close to them. I have 160 sec cooldown so it should not be wasted to harassment!

I have choosen Magic pen in Mark for obvius reasons. 1# i can harras much more and do alot more dmg in Early/mid game. 2# you take more dmg than without Magic pen.

In Seal i have picked 0.065 Mana regen pr 5/ per level because you can Lay Waste more often in lvl 1 than without mana regen, of course in level 2 you pick Defile for the passive that gain you mana eavyrtime you kill something.

Glyph i have choosen 0.99 =1 AP in-game in mark because you get stronger early game.

Masteries : In masteries you go 9/0/21 for more ap and cdr. And one point in Archaic Knowledge for more magic pen! In utility i have 3 points in Good Hands wich stack with your passive. Awareness for faster levels and Intelligence for even more cdr!

I often start with a and two healt potion Or

Next time you return to spawn pool you should have gotten catalyst the protector and then return to lane. when you have around 1750 gold you return to spawn and buy and or start with a

After you should buy fast!
Then get

Now you want to increase you're health a little more for extra survival

Now that you have,what i have calculated around 500-550 AP. you should get more magic pen and maby some magic resist. So i use to go for some magic pen and magic resist, Other good choices are : or

This far in a game is realry but if you get this far and get a good amount of money you could sell you're and get a for increase mana and a bit more AP.

Core build

Full Core build

As alternative you can switch with a for some magic resist and some health. it also have a great passive that make you block one negative spell every 45 seconds.

I dont like jungling on karthus. 1# He have no lifesteal abilities. 2# He have very low health in level 1. 3# Karthus is depending on kills, as mid he will have a big chance to get it, as jungler he wont get that much kills.

Lay Waste I always focus this spell on karthus, and i think you will find it that this spell is almost the most importan spell to get kills with in early/mid game.

Requiem this is the spell you always put a point in when you can = level- 6- 11- 16.

Defile i find this the best spell in late games. mostly because it have sick dmg and often get kills with this. In late game i usally have over 1700 mana so that should hold for defile at least about 1 minute=60 seconds.

Wall of Pain I max this spell last of all spells. still it is a very "important" spell go get kills in mid-lane.

From level 1-6 :

1. Lay Waste
2. Defile
3. Lay Waste
4. Defile
5. Wall of Pain
6. Requiem

Whne you're laning you should know some difference about some enemies, so i will tell you some champions that is very "anti-karthus" in mid-lane. I will put the from a scale of 1-6 where 6 is worst.

Sivir Is very hard to lane against. mostly because she have much more range than you have and its easy for her to harass you while taking down creeps with riochet

Also she have Boomerang Blade have a very long range and can hit you twice. so if she toss Boomerang Blade make sure to avoid the second hit by walking to one of the sides.

Ashe is hard because of her slow frost arrow that make you never get close to her and can take dmg with defile on her. she also have Enchanted Crystal Arrow wich stun you in about 3 seconds, and after that she will spam you with frost arrow so be very careful against Ashe

Morderkaiser Is very strong in mid lane because of his shield wich he can get by hitting enemies or creeps with his abilities. This makes morderkaiser a very hard hero to be against.

Soraka is not so often midlane, but she can destroy you're kill by healing him/her with her Astral Blessing or Wish wich heal Aoe just like your ultimate! You will also have to think about her passive that gives more magic resist when a teammate is close to her. be careful and make sure you get atleast one kill with your ulti. it have 160 seconds cd in rank 1!

Now the time for summoner spells. Since karthus almost always are mid lane i would say that Clairvoyance is a great spell for anti-ganking or to see where you're enemies are on the map. example: you think that the enemy team are taking baron. You simply pop Clairvoyance and you see if they are there or not. and calm down, its only about 60 seconds cd on Clairvoyance !

So this is how i would go:

Recomended:
Can get away in teamfights much easyer. also a good escape spell!
Can counter gank and more map control!

Other good choices :

A great escape spell if you need to escape!
Get you back into lane faster and then gain level faster.
Gives you mana, wich you need but remember the passive on Defile
its okay because you can heal yourself and stay in lane longer, but i think there are better choices
its a okay spell to get out of CC + defile works if you have it on while you are stunned.

Terrible choices :

a tank can use this!
if you are thinking about this: you are ****ing dumb. sorry to say it.
would not ever use it on karthus. the only time it must be useful is baron or dragon.
No! You will need to get out of trouble much more than a bit more dmg so i will recommend Flash or Ghost
This is a great spell if you go "**** my life, karthus" to die even more! but you have your passive that 20% less deathtime.

To farm simply spam Lay Waste on the minions and about 3-4 hits with lay waste they should die. I see people that farm minions with defile, but i dont want to recommend it unless you're very fed or have Blue buff. Defile cost alot of mana and that is waste of mana in my opinion, i use lay waste as minion farming.

Remember:
*Karthus is squishy!
*He can deal massive dmg and take a good amount of dmg if you follow this Guide/build.
*Get blue as often as you can!

I hope you enjoyed this guide for karthus.

Please vote and leave a comment of what you think i have done well and what i can improve in my guide! Thank you!