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Karthus·Top Build

Death DefiedP
Lay WasteQ
Wall of PainW
DefileE
RequiemR
Win rate49.7%
Pick rate0.1%
Ban rate5.3%
Matches1 040-
Karthus Top has a 49.7% win rate with 0.1% pick rate in Emerald + and is currently ranked D tier. Based on our analysis of 1 040 matches in patch 14.8 the best build for Karthus is Malignance, Sorcerer's Shoes, Liandry's Torment, Shadowflame, and Rabadon's Deathcap. Most picked runes for Karthus Top are First Strike, Magical Footwear, Future's Market, and Cosmic Insight for primary tree, as well as Eyeball Collection, and Ultimate Hunter for secondary tree.
Karthus Top
Karthus Jungle
Karthus Mid
Karthus Bot
Karthus Support

Karthus Build

Top Top ∙ Patch 14.8

Most Popular

Win Rate 48.7% based on 316 matches

warning

Import this build directly into your game client:

Recommended builds

Build
WR
First StrikeDomination
Malignance

Most Popular

48.7%
Dark HarvestSorcery
Malignance

Highest WR

50.6%

Top Players
ALL

Player name
WR
iconRankName

Jenewlinhil OTP

60.0%
iconRankName

RandomBruce OTP

45.5%

runes

Inspiration
Inspiration
Glacial AugmentUnsealed SpellbookFirst Strike
Hextech Flashtraption
Magical Footwear
Triple Tonic
Future's Market
Minion Dematerializer
Biscuit Delivery
Cosmic Insight
Approach Velocity
Time Warp Tonic
Domination
Domination
Cheap Shot
Taste of Blood
Sudden Impact
Zombie Ward
Ghost Poro
Eyeball Collection
Treasure Hunter
Ingenious Hunter
Relentless Hunter
Ultimate Hunter
Adaptive Force
Attack Speed
Ability Haste
Adaptive Force
Move Speed
Health Scaling
Health
Tenacity and Slow Resist
Health Scaling

spells

SummonerFlash

D

SummonerTeleport

F

items

Starter Items

Time Target
Doran's Ring
Health Potion
2
Stealth Ward

@ 13 sec

Early Items

Lost Chapter

@ 5 min

Core Items

Malignance
Sorcerer's Shoes
Liandry's Torment

@ 18 min

Full Build

Malignance
Sorcerer's Shoes
Liandry's Torment
Shadowflame
Rabadon's Deathcap
Void Staff

ability order

Max:

Q

right arrow

E

right arrow

W

right arrow

Skills

Death Defied
Lay Waste
Wall of Pain
Defile
Requiem
1
Q
2
E
3
Q
4
W
5
Q
6
R
7
Q
8
E
9
Q
10
E
11
R
12
E
13
E
14
W
15
W
16
R
17
W
18
W

situational items

Cryptbloom
Zhonya's Hourglass
Stormsurge
Horizon Focus
Archangel's Staff
Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Karthus Matchups Overview

Karthus General information

Karthus combos

Every combo you need to master the champion!

The Best Karthus Builds, Runes and Items for Top in Emerald +

Most Popular

If you want to use the most popular Karthus Top build, you should take Flash and Teleport as your Summoner Spells. For runes, you should pick First Strike as your keystone, followed by Magical Footwear, Future's Market and Cosmic Insight in the primary tree, as well as Eyeball Collection and Ultimate Hunter in the secondary tree. For rune shards, you want Adaptive Force in offense, Adaptive Force in flex and Health Scaling in defense, though it depends on the matchup. Finally, for your items, you should build Malignance as your first item, followed by Sorcerer's Shoes and Liandry's Torment. For your last 3 items, you should build Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap and finish with Void Staff. For the skill order, you want to stick with Q - E - W. Right now, this build has 48.7% winrate over 316 matches played.

Situational Karthus Runes and Items

Depending on the context of your game, your matchup, and enemy champions, you might want to consider building some situational items or take specific runes. Carefully examine your team, enemy team, game state , and your matchup to plan your Karthus build accordingly! For example, when it comes to rune shards, you might want to take either Armor or Magic Resist, depending on which champion you are about to lane against.

Furthermore, if you want a more detailed breakdown, you should also check out Karthus runes page.

Karthus useful resources
Probuilds

Probuilds

Check out the latest and best Karthus Probuilds used by pros from around the world, featured by lolvvv.

New Champion: Smolder

New Champion: Smolder

New champion is live! Check out the latest meta Smolder build now!

In-depth Build Stats

In-depth Build Stats

Dive into even more Karthus builds stats with additional analysis from our friends at LoLalytics.

Karthus Communities

Join other Karthus mains and discuss your favorite champion!

Karthus Counters - Best and Worst Matchups for Top in Emerald +

Best Matchups

In Patch 14.8 the best possible matchups for Karthus Top are:

Consider picking Karthus into these matches to increase your chance to win a game. These are the most popular Top matchups that currently are in favor of Karthus.

Worst Matchups

We highly recommend avoiding picking Karthus in the current patch into the following Top matchups:

These champions are considered as Karthus counters in the current patch, and playing such a matchup will decrease your chances of winning a game.

Additional Notes

If you want to find out more about best and worst matchups, as well as specific matchup statistics, we highly encourage you to check our Karthus counters page. Keep in mind that while the champion may counter or be countered, it also comes down to your individual skill, the skill of your opponent, your team, and enemy team compositions.