KARTHUS TOP GUIDE
Vessel of War
Quick Karthus AP Top Build
Summoner Spells
Starting Items
Best Overall Build
Intro
Hello, My summoner name is Zodiac Rebirth, im ranked plat 1, my main roles are jungle and top. I made this guide for karthus top because he is my favorite off meta picks that is actually good (It was on A tier on LS top lane 12.11 tier list). Stevens, a twitch streamer who is friend with doaenel, is the person who i learned this from. Use this guide at your own risk, i would suggest playing in ranked flex to try it out.
Runes (Loadout)
Always go this rune page. I take hp when i do not know who i will be facing or when i am versus a tank like ornn, shen, sion. Take mr when you are against champions who are ap reliant dmg and armor when against ad reliant champs.
- Rune Page
Summoner Spells (Loadout)
Flash is reccomended, however you can go exhaust ignite
- New Group
Skill Path
First point q, then 2 points into e then w, then max e, q, w, Obviously when you get to lvls 6 11 and 16 put your point into R
- Skill Path
Karthus
Item Builds
If you have somebody in your team playing a champ who also goes liandrys kindly suggest them to go another mythic like ludens everfrost depending on what their champ is. Zhonyas is very good for baiting,
Liandrys, sorc : always every game,
Zhonyas: I highly reccomend every game, very helpful in teamfights and fights in general because you are maxing e.
Deathcap: A lot of damage, good every game unless you do not have money
Void Staff: Very good for tanks and good in general for an ap item, gives 40% pen
Shadowflame: Generally good item.
Demonic: You can go it, but i just dont like it,
Rylais: good in some scenarios, if you went demonic good for hp and ap, also very cheap.
- New Group
Matchups and Playstyle (IMPORTANT)
I am not going to tell you matchups on every single champ because one that is a lot of work, two you dont really need it because karthus is a champ which doesnt really matter on matchup, three, i have not one tricked this champ and strat, i dont play it that often.
The playstyle for karthus is simply to sustain through the game with minimal deaths, sufficient farm, and use R for helping your team on bot side, it is very op in early game, can drastically change fights for drake or 2v2 in bot lane.
The matchups come down to optimizing playstyle for surviving lane and getting cs. If you see you can take advanatage of your opponent and you feel powerful that you can poke them and win 1v1, then you can be more aggressive, If you are getting overpowered, then play safe in lane as much as you can. (Karthus q range is very big). The reason why i am saying this is because lets face it, you cannot predict what is going to happen in a league of legends matchup because we are all humans, someone might make a mistake, or they are not as skilled as their opponent which can influence a matchup. Remeber you are trying to scale into late game and get your r to do 1 k damage with just one button.
Imagine baus sion but with karthus.
BIG TIP
ALWAYS TRADE 1 FOR 1, IT IS WORTH IT, unless you have a big bounty like 400 + but if you dont, then trading 1 for 1 is good. Gold is worth more for you then your laner.
Your R is the reason why this strat works.
Dueling: If you are about to die and low but you are not dead yet just dont auto or q and walk near your opponent as close as you can, follow them, you want to be as close as you can near your opponent when you die so you can have the most time in your passive to kill them with your e and q.
Thats it! If you really want to learn this playstyle, the most important thing is practice, if you read a whole 20 page guide on basically any skill, you are not just going to become master at it until you try and get a feel for how to do it yourself.
THE END