Karthus
Hardest matchups for Karthus in Jungle (Emerald, patch 16.20): 
Rammus, 
Rek'Sai, 
Ivern. Easiest: 
Jayce, 
Rengar, 
Qiyana.
Try it in a draftCountersPower curvesIn the tier listWho wins into KarthusOn the pro tier list
Karthus on patch 16.22
- Jungle49.6%#49 of 74B2,689 games
- Bot54.5%#3 of 51S1,185 games
- steady since 16.21
Karthus’s main role on patch 16.22 is Jungle: a 49.6% win rate across 2,689 Emerald games, #49 of 74 Jungle champions on the tier list (grade B), picked in 1.1% of games. Karthus is also played Bot: a 54.5% win rate across 1,185 games, #3 of 51. Since patch 16.21, Karthus Jungle has not moved by more than chance explains: 0.0 points across 19,527 games in 8 ranks.
Emerald games from every region, as of Nov 9, 2026. The tables below load current numbers. Patch 16.22 tier list
Solo queue
Open in the tier listPatch 16.20, the current one
| Lane | Grade | Win rate | Games | Picked | Mains |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jungle60% of its games | C | 48.7%48.5% raw ±1.1 | 8,444 | 1.2%0.6% banned | 51.7%45.5% first time |
| Bot23% of its games | S | 52.1%52.8% raw ±1.7 | 3,309 | 0.5%0.6% banned | 52.8%47.8% first time |
| Top7% of its games | C | 48.9%48.0% raw ±3.0 | 1,049 | 0.2%0.6% banned | 50.7%46.3% first time |
| Mid7% of its games | B | 50.5%51.1% raw ±3.1 | 1,034 | 0.1%0.6% banned | 51.9%48.2% first time |
| Support2% of its games | too few games | 49.0%45.6% raw ±5.8 | 287 | 0.0%0.6% banned | 51.3%46.3% first time |
Matchups
Every matchupHow to read this
Karthus’s win rate against each champion picked into it in the lane opposite: its hardest matchups, then its easiest. The small number is the matchup’s own effect on Karthus, the part not explained by either champion’s strength.
Hardest for Karthus
Lane leads and team bans
What Karthus’s team bans
Champions a team bans more often when it has Karthus than the other team does in the same games (71,474 games). The other team banned before Karthus was picked, so the gap is the ban spent because Karthus was coming — a sign players see these as counters. Riot does not say which player cast a ban, so this is the team’s choice.
Builds
Every buildHow to read this
How Karthus is built in this lane, most common first, with the items those builds finish and how they win.
- AP burst
50.0%6,805 games - AP sustained
48.2%1,947 games - Mana stack
49.8%1 games
Runes and summoner spells
How to read this
How Karthus does with each summoner-spell pair, keystone and minor rune in this lane, at the rank and region above. These are the win rates of the players who made each choice, not the choice’s own effect: a page is recommended only when a real share of players runs it.
9,261 games · patches 16.20, 16.21 · Sep 10 – Oct 21
Flash + Smite49.5% · 3,347 games
Deathfire TouchSorcery + Precision · 51.2%
Axiom Arcanist · Absolute Focus · Gathering Storm · Triumph · Last StandShards: Adaptive Force · Adaptive Force · Health
Start: Scorchclaw Pup · 51.1%
Key items: Blackfire Torch → Shadowflame · 49.9%
Boots: Sorcerer's Shoes · 50.0%Every option, with its numbers
Summoner spells
- Flash + Smite49.5%3,347 games · 36% pick rate · same players: +0.4 pts vs the usualRecommended
Smite + Ignite51.8%665 games · 7.2% pick rate · same players: +0.1 pts vs the usualRare: not recommended
Exhaust + Smite47.5%5,224 games · 56% pick rate · the usual choice
Keystones
Deathfire Touch + Domination48.1%352 games · 3.8% pick rate · same players: +0.5 pts vs the usualRare: not recommended- Deathfire Touch + Precision51.2%2,337 games · 25% pick rate · same players: +0.2 pts vs the usualRecommended
Dark Harvest + Sorcery45.1%2,938 games · 32% pick rate · the usual choice- Dark Harvest + Precision50.2%2,873 games · 31% pick rate · same players: −0.6 pts vs the usual
Minor runes with Deathfire Touch
- Axiom Arcanist50.9%99% take it
- Absolute Focus51.1%78% take it
Transcendence48.4%19% take it
Celerity56.2%2.7% take it
- Gathering Storm50.1%92% take it
Scorch55.2%6.4% take it
- Last Stand51.8%95% take it
- Triumph51.1%81% take it
Presence of Mind49.8%15% take it
Legend: Haste55.2%4.7% take it
Coup de Grace47.9%3.1% take it
- Adaptive Force48.4%93% take it
- Ability Haste50.0%6.0% take it
- Adaptive Force48.5%99% take it
- Health52.2%20% take it
- Health Scaling47.6%80% take it
These numbers describe, they do not prove. Each rate is Karthus’s record when its player chose that option, pulled toward Karthus’s own rate by 100 games of prior so a small sample cannot look like a discovery. An uncommon page often wins more because experts run it, and they would win on any page, so only a choice taken in at least 10% of games can be recommended, and spells and keystones are ranked by how the SAME players do with them against the usual choice, not by the raw rate; rarer ones are listed with their numbers and labeled. The build line (opening buy, the two key items in the order they are finished, boots or the support upgrade) is advice in the same sense: how Karthus does when built that way.
Champions like Karthus
The champion map
Two different questions: which champions share its toolkit, and which ones the players who play it also play.
The learning curve
Champion pool
On a first game Karthus wins 47.0%; in the hands of players with the most mastery on it, 53.0%. That gap ranks it 60 of 173 for how much practice pays. It crosses 50% at about 76K mastery points.
Pro play
On the pro tier list
Karthus in the major leagues and international events this season, across 3,434 games: its record, how often it is picked or banned, whether it is taken blind or saved as a counter, its lane at 15 minutes, and the best pro on it.
Karthus has not been played in the major leagues this season.
How much knowing Karthus pays
Players on their Mastery band win 6.0 points more on Karthus than first-timers do: #60 of 173 champions for how much mastery pays.
At 300k+ mastery points, Karthus players win 53.0%: #38 of 173 champions for where mastery ends up. The curve is still rising there: its fitted ceiling of about 54.5% lies beyond the data and is an estimate, not a measurement.
KarthusDots are the six mastery bands, placed at their mastery points. The line is the best-fitting curve that rises and levels off.
This is not a promise about your next game. Players do not reach a mastery band in a random order, and a champion someone loses on tends to get dropped before it reaches the high bands — so the right-hand side of every curve is partly survivors, not only practice.
Text summary of this page as it stood on Nov 9, 2026. The live tables on this page are current.
Karthus ranked-play summary
Most similar champions: Fiddlesticks, Sejuani, Zac.
Anonymous public figures recorded on Nov 9, 2026, when this page was built. The interactive tables on this page load current data.