Karthus Popular Build
The patch 26.1 Karthus most played build uses Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap, Blackfire Torch, Mejai's Soulstealer, Liandry's Torment, Oracle Lens. This Karthus build has a 10.02% pick rate and a 60.24% win rate in LoL patch 26.1. Alternatively, check out some of the other ranked Karthus build choices below.
Death Defied
Upon dying, Karthus enters a spirit form that allows him to continue casting spells.
Lay Waste
Karthus unleashes a delayed blast at a location, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Deals increased damage to isolated enemies.
Cost:- 20/
- 25/
- 30/
- 35/
- 40
Cooldown:- 0
Range:- 875
Wall of Pain
Karthus creates a passable screen of leeching energy. Any enemy units that walk through the screen have their Move Speed and Magic Resist reduced for a period.
Cost:- 70
Cooldown:- 15
Range:- 1000
Defile
Karthus passively steals energy from his victims, gaining Mana on each kill. Alternatively, Karthus can surround himself in the souls of his prey, dealing damage to nearby enemies, but quickly draining his own Mana.
Cost:- 30/
- 42/
- 54/
- 66/
- 78
Cooldown:- 1
Range:- 550
Requiem
After channeling for 3 seconds, Karthus deals damage to all enemy champions.
Cost:- 100
Cooldown:- 200/
- 180/
- 160
Range:- 10000
- Mage
Select a Karthus Build
Shadowflame
Rabadon's Deathcap
Blackfire Torch
- Shadowflame
Void Staff- Blackfire Torch
- Shadowflame
- Void Staff
- Rabadon's Deathcap
- Void Staff
- Rabadon's Deathcap
- Blackfire Torch
Best Karthus Build - Highest Win Rate Items
This Karthus build focuses on ability power for maximum spell damage. Build the core items first for your power spike, then adapt with situational items based on enemy team composition.
These are Karthus's essential core items that you should build in nearly every game. Shadowflame (55.4% WR, +4.4% WR diff, 68.4% pick rate) provides 110 AP. Rabadon's Deathcap (56.8% WR, +5.8% WR diff, 55.1% pick rate) provides 130 AP. Blackfire Torch (52.8% WR, +1.8% WR diff, 75.5% pick rate) provides 600 Mana, 80 AP. Rush these items first to reach your power spike and maximize your impact.
3,200Karthus build strength based on the items chosen in the build when compared to all builds across every champion. Strongest in: Magic Damage. Lower in: Physical Resistance, Gold Efficiency, Magic Resistance, Physical Damage.
Top situational items for Karthus include Mejai's Soulstealer, Liandry's Torment. These can be swapped out depending on the enemy composition and team needs.
The best boots for Karthus are Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Adjust based on enemy team comp.
The recommended trinket for Karthus is Oracle Lens for vision control and map awareness.
Combined statistics from all items in this Karthus build.
Movement Speed:45
Ability Power:400
Mana:600
Health:400
When facing Karthus's top counters like Evelynn, Vi, Jax, consider adjusting your situational items to increase survivability and match their damage output. If counter champions are building high damage, prioritize armor items against AD-heavy counter picks or magic resistance items against AP threats in your situational item slots to reduce burst damage and improve trading potential. Your core build provides strong damage output. Against tanky counter picks, consider penetration items or percentage-based damage from your situational options to maintain kill pressure. Adapt your final build slots with items like Mejai's Soulstealer or Liandry's Torment based on which counter champions you're facing and their itemization patterns. Monitor enemy builds and adjust accordingly for optimal Karthus performance.
This Karthus burst mage build is optimized for players looking to maximize their impact in League of Legends. With a 60.2% win rate across 420 matches, this build has proven highly effective in the current meta. The build's key strengths include devastating ability power scaling with 400 total AP. Choose this build when your team needs magic damage, especially if teammates are primarily AD-focused. Karthus with this build can punish teams that stack armor. Consider the enemy team composition when finalizing your situational items to maximize Karthus's effectiveness. However, be aware that this build lacks defensive stats making Karthus vulnerable to burst damage and limited ability haste may result in longer cooldowns. With a total gold cost of 14,900, this Karthus build scales into the late game. Focus on farming efficiently and reaching your Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap, Blackfire Torch power spike before taking major fights. For optimal results with this Karthus build, focus on proper itemization timing, positioning in teamfights, and adapting your situational items based on the specific challenges each game presents.
Champions that use similar core items to Karthus. These builds share at least 2 core items with the current popular karthus build and may have similar playstyles and power spikes.
Karthus Build - Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Karthus build?
The best Karthus build in this patch includes Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap, and Blackfire Torch. This build has a 60.24% win rate and is picked 10.02% of the time.
What are Karthus's core items?
Karthus's core items are Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap, and Blackfire Torch. These items provide the best stats and synergies for Karthus's kit and playstyle in League of Legends.
What are the best boots for Karthus?
Ionian Boots of Lucidity are the best boots for Karthus. These boots provide optimal mobility and stats for Karthus's playstyle. They are included in 10.0% of Karthus builds.
What is the best trinket for Karthus?
Oracle Lens is the best trinket for Karthus. This trinket provides optimal vision control and map awareness. Using Oracle Lens helps Karthus maintain vision around objectives and track enemy movements.
Are there alternative Karthus builds?
Yes, alternative Karthus builds include options like Shadowflame, Void Staff, and Blackfire Torch. Different builds can be more effective depending on team composition and matchups.
Where does MetaBot source build data for Karthus?
MetaBot sources its build data for Karthus directly from the Riot Games API, provided to developers for ingesting game data from League of Legends. MetaBot analyzes hundreds of thousands of matches daily to help it determine build statistics.
How does MetaBot determine what the best Karthus builds are?
MetaBot filters out any matches that don't use complete builds for Karthus. From there, we aggregate the Karthus builds data and use that to determine which builds are finding the most success in the current League of Legends meta. High performing builds with low confidence intervals resulting from thin data are dropped from our final results.