Karthus

the Deathsinger

MageGeneral kit and base stats · version 16.19.1

Death Defied

Upon dying, Karthus enters a spirit form that allows him to continue casting spells.

Passive · no active cost or cooldown

Base statistics

Mana

Health: 620
Resource: 467
Armor: 21
Move speed: 335
Attack damage: 46
Attack speed: 0.625

Statistics patch

About this data

Viewing the current patch. If no sample is available yet, you can open an available historical patch.

Editorial plan reviewed for 26.15. This does not establish a review for statistics patch 16.19.

Game plan · Jungle

Clear toward a timer, then convert the damage

Plan overview

Build the game around a clear-to-convert loop. Early, choose a full clear when your lanes lack setup or the river duel is poor; choose a three-camp path only when a visible gank condition pays for the camps you skip. Route toward the next objective, keep mana for the contest, and recall when camps are down, an item breakpoint is reached, and no objective is imminent. At mid game, clear toward the next timer and establish vision 60–90 seconds early. When ahead, use Karthus’s damage and Requiem to make the enemy defend, then convert kills into camps, towers, or objectives; when behind, farm for catch-up levels, avoid blind smite fights, and use cross-map damage to find a pick. In late game, place Wall of Pain where enemies must pass, deal sustained Q/E damage without entering first, and let Death Defied finish a planned fight rather than starting an isolated one.

Plan by phase

Farm first, reveal only for a real window

0:55–8:00, or until your first objective setup is decided by lane priority and Smite state

Prioritize a conditioned full clear when lanes lack reliable setup or the enemy wins the early river duel, routing toward the lane and Scuttler side that can actually support your first play. Take a three-camp gank only if the target is overextended, missing an escape, or collecting a crashed wave. At 5:00 and 8:00, path backward from dragon and Grubs: if priority and Smite are available, set up; if not, keep camps cycling and trade cross-map.

Game situations

Choose a situation

Path

Choose farm unless the gank is already real

If your champion clears efficiently and your lanes lack reliable setup, then use a full clear toward the side with the strongest realistic follow-up and arrive at Scuttler with enough health to contest or concede. During the first rotation, take a three-camp gank only when an enemy is overextended, missing an escape summoner, or collecting a crashed wave; otherwise the camps and jungle quest preserve Karthus's scaling.

With Karthus

If Karthus is your jungler and he is farming toward an objective, push the nearby wave before the 60–90 second setup window so he can arrive with Smite and mana instead of contesting alone. When he places Wall of Pain, use the slowed route to add your crowd control; do not expect him to start every fight from the front.
If Karthus dies in a planned teamfight, keep enemies inside his reachable damage zone while protecting the objective entrance. When his spirit form is active, allies should create space for his casts and then disengage once the form ends, rather than chasing beyond the conversion he has already earned.
If Karthus is ahead, help him turn damage into a resource: escort an invade only when your lane can move first, and move with him through objective entrances after waves are pushed. If he is behind, protect his access to camps and safe side waves; forcing him to face-check for vision removes the scaling your composition needs.

Identity, strengths and limits

Turn clear tempo into unavoidable damage

JUNGLE · BATTLEMAGE · FARM TO CONVERT

Karthus is a mana-based battlemage jungler who converts uninterrupted clears into area damage, objective pressure, and cross-map threat. Q rewards isolated targets, W creates a controllable route through reduced Move Speed and Magic Resist, and E trades mana for sustained close-range damage while restoring mana through kills. Death Defied makes a failed entry temporarily productive, but it does not erase the cost of dying. Karthus wins by reaching repeated mid-game rotations with levels, mana, and a prepared Requiem, then turning grouped enemies or low-health survivors into objectives. He is not a conventional early ganker, frontliner, or assassin who can force every river fight.

Strengths

Fast, repeatable farming that supports jungle quest progress and level scaling.
Q threatens isolated targets while W controls approach routes and reduces defenses.
E supplies sustained area damage but remains a meaningful mana-management choice.
Death Defied preserves casting after an otherwise losing entry.
Requiem can convert low-health fights across the map without abandoning the current route.

Limits and risks

Forcing level-three ganks that abandon camps when the target has an escape route.
Entering river or enemy jungle without lane priority, an exit, or enough mana for the fight.
Starting an objective into an unseen enemy jungler when Smite or setup is unfavorable.
Using Defile through empty space and arriving at the contest without mana.
Treating Death Defied as a free engage and dying before allies can convert the damage.

One idea for your next game

For the next game, make every route answer one question: “What do I gain by showing here instead of taking the next camp?” Full clear toward the next objective or a reliable gank lane; if the gank condition is absent, keep farming. Before each objective, arrive 60–90 seconds early with Smite, a swept approach, and enough mana to use Wall of Pain plus Q. In fights, play as a battlemage: damage from the center, preserve mana for the actual contest, and use Death Defied to finish a planned conversion rather than to justify a reckless entry.

Observed builds

No statistics for this patch yet

We do not have any games from patch 16.19 yet.

Champion lore

The harbinger of oblivion, Karthus is an undying spirit whose haunting songs are a prelude to the horror of his nightmarish appearance. The living fear the eternity of undeath, but Karthus sees only beauty and purity in its embrace, a perfect union of life and death. When Karthus emerges from the Shadow Isles, it is to bring the joy of death to mortals, an apostle of the unliving.

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