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Karthus
Karthus is a champion in League of Legends.[1]
Abilities[]
- Death Defied's untargetability does not destroy in-flight projectiles.
- Karthus cannot be executed by the during Death Defied.
- At the start of Death Defied, Karthus is set to 1 health.
- Karthus can still regenerate his health over the duration, but he will always die at the end of it.
- After Death Defied ends, the corpse of Karthus will retain unit collision despite being dead on the ground.
- Karthus' mana bar drains over the duration of Death Defied as an indicator of his time remaining in this state.
- Zombie states trigger upon taking lethal damage.
- Raw damage effects will not prevent zombie states from triggering.
- All resurrection effects will take precedence over effects that reanimate as a zombie.
- A champion that enters a zombie state will start their death timer upon triggering the effect.
- Most buffs and debuffs will be lost upon transitioning into a zombie state.
- Those that persist through death, such as , will remain.
- Undisplayed marker buffs, such as those imposed by (bug) and to prevent being affected multiple times by the same effect, will be lost.
- This does not apply when transitioning from one zombie state to another zombie state.(bug)
- Units within a zombie state cannot:
- Use or / .
- Activate resurrection effects.
- Take Catapult, or gates. ,
- Pick up the .
- Be targeted by the following:
- .
- Be affected by the following:
- chain missile
- initial missile
- Fountain health restore
- Howling Abyss differences edit
- Duration reduced to 5 seconds.
- The delay between the cast and the detonation is inconsistent, but always matches up with the VFX.(bug)
- ticks beyond the first has a similar issue.
- Applies spell damage if it hits a single target and area damage if it hits multiple targets.
- Lay Waste also plays a different sound effect when it only hits one target.
- Toggle abilities do not count as ability activations for the purposes of on-cast effects such as Spellblade and triggering passive.
- Defile will restore mana if Karthus destroys an enemy structure.
- Defile re-calculates its damage with each tick based on changes in Karthus's ability power or an increase in the rank of Defile without the need to toggle it off and on again.
- Defile will toggle off automatically if Karthus enters resurrection.
- Due to several character stats needing to be recalculated each time a character spawns, casting Requiem immediately upon respawning will cause its cooldown to be unaffected by ability haste. Damage dealt is unaffected due to cast time. (bug)
- Requiem's channel is telegraphed to all enemy champions by a beam of light that descends on all targets, including if they are untargetable or even dead.
- Requiem will affect clones.
- The damage will apply spell effects to targets in an order based on proximity to Karthus. Single target spell effects (such as ) are thus triggered on the closest enemy champion.
- The following table refers for interactions while Karthus is channeling:
Type | Channel | |
---|---|---|
Attacking | Disabled | |
Abilities | Disabled | |
Movement | Disabled | |
Items | Usable | |
Disabled | All the other item-actives are disabled | |
Interrupted by | N/A | |
Consumables | Usable | |
Spells | Usable | |
Disabled | ||
Interrupted by | ||
Interrupted by |
Champion skins[]
- This article section only contains champion skins. For all associated collection items, see Karthus (Collection).
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.
Unknown voice actor
Alex 'alexplank' Flores
Loot eligible
Patch history[]
- For the expanded patch notes, see here.
- V14.2 - January 24th Hotfix
- Bug Fix: Magic resistance reduction while in no longer multiplies the magic resistance of enemies hit by 25 instead of 0.75.
- Bug Fix: Now properly benefits from ability haste as soon as he respawns.
- Base damage increased to 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 from 43 / 61 / 79 / 97 / 115.
- Single-target damage increased to 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250 from 86 / 122 / 158 / 194 / 230.
- Base damage increased to 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 from 43 / 61 / 79 / 97 / 115.
- Magic resistance reduction increased to 25% from 15%.
- Stats
- Basic attack missile speed increased to 1500 from 1200.
- Bug Fix: No longer deals damage to his allies with when the effect was triggered by taking lethal damage from an enemy in her state.
- Base damage reduced to 43 / 61 / 79 / 97 / 115 from 45 / 62.5 / 80 / 97.5 / 115.
- Monster damage increased to 100% from 95%.
- Mana restored reduced to 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 from 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55.
- Bug Fix: No longer leaves a square VFX on the ground after the effect ends.
- V12.22 - November 17th Hotfix
- Bug Fix: Can no longer momentarily revive from the effect if he had the buff.
- Stats
- Mana growth increased to 31 from 30.5.
- Stats
- Base armor increased to 21 from 18.
- Health growth increased to 110 from 101.
- Bug Fix: Corpse is no longer an obstacle to other units' pathing.
- Stats
- Base health increased to 620 from 550.
- Health growth increased to 101 from 87.
- Armor growth increased to 4.7 from 3.5.
- Magic resistance growth increased to 1.3 from 0.5.
- Bug Fix: Enemy champions that deal lethal damage to trigger the zombie state are no longer considered to deal damage to the source when the effect ends.
- Damage against monsters increased to 95% from 85%.
- Bug Fix: Special buffering behaviour removed so that he can no longer bypass the spawn boundaries before 15 seconds into the game on Summoner's Rift after a certain condition.
- Karthus will now wait for the full cast animation to finish before walking into range for the next Lay Waste cast buffered outside cast range, instead of moving as soon as the cast time is complete.(bug)
- Bug Fix: Special buffering behaviour removed so that he can no longer bypass the spawn boundaries before 15 seconds into the game on Summoner's Rift after a certain condition.
- Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where towers would incorrectly target enemy champions who took damage from it.
- Mana refund changed to 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 from 20 / 27 / 34 / 41 / 48.
- Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where it granted stacks despite not hitting a valid target.
- Base damage reduced to 45 / 62.5 / 80 / 97.5 / 115 from 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125.
- Single-target damage reduced to 90 / 125 / 160 / 195 / 230 from 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250.
- Base damage reduced to 45 / 62.5 / 80 / 97.5 / 115 from 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125.
- V11.2 - January 21st Hotfix
- Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where he wasn't able to buffer cast while on cooldown.
- Stats
- Base attack damage increased to 46 from 45.66.
- Mana cost reduced to 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 from 20 / 26 / 32 / 38 / 44.
- AP ratio increased to 35% AP from 30% AP.
- Bug Fix: Now properly triggers .
- Base damage reduced to 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 from 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130.
- Stats
- Base armor reduced to 18 from 20.88.
- AP ratio reduced to 30% AP from 35% AP.
- Bug Fix: Spawns properly even when cast at 0 range.
- Stats
- Base health increased to 550 from 528.
- Base movement speed increased to 335 from 325.
- Base damage increased to 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 from 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125.
- AP ratio increased to 35% AP from 30% AP.
- New Effect: Damage against monsters is now reduced by 15%.
- Now always restores mana on kill. Previously only when toggled off.
- Tick rate reduced to 1 per 0.25 seconds from 1 per 1.
- Total damage unchanged.
- New Effect: Deactivating Defile deals 1 tick's worth of damage.
- Bug Fix: Tooltip now accurately mentions the increased mana cost per second at each level.
- Stats
- Movement speed reduced to 325 from 335.
- Bug Fix: When in Death Defied, now properly grants vision around the wall.
- V9.13 - July 12th Hotfix
- Bugfix: No longer hits through untargetability.
- General
- Adjusted splash artwork for .
- V9.11 - May 30th Hotfix
- AP ratio increased to 75% AP from 65% AP.
- Base damage reduced to 200 / 350 / 500 from 250 / 400 / 550.
- AP ratio reduced to 65% AP from 75% AP.
- Undocumented: No longer goes on full cooldown if cast after respawning.
- Undocumented: Can now hit through untargetability.
- General
- Bug Fix: Can now dance.
- Base damage reduced to 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 from 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130.
- Isolated base damage reduced to 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250 from 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 / 260.
- Bug Fix: Now triggers runes more consistently.
- New Effect: Ability icon HUD now shows the remaining duration of the ability.
- Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds from 18.
- Mana cost reduced to 70 from 100.
- Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 150 / 175 / 200.
- Stats
- Base mana increased to 467 from 372.48.
- Mana growth reduced to 30.5 from 61.
- Base mana regeneration increased to 8 from 6.
- Base damage increased to 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 from 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120.
- Stats
- Base health regeneration increased to 6.5 from 6.424.
- AP ratio increased to 75% AP from 60% AP.
- Stats
- Base health increased to 528 from 516.
- Health growth increased to 87 from 75.
- Stats
- Magic resistance growth increased to 0.5 from 0.
- New Effect: Can now be buffered. Casts input as Lay Waste explodes will now automatically fire once Lay Waste comes off cooldown, unless Karthus cancels the command.
- General
- Adjusted splash artwork for .
- General
- Adjusted splash artwork for .
- General
- Splash artwork for , and updated to the Chinese art. Adjusted splash artwork for .
-
- Bug Fix: Eagle screech being heard globally by allies when Karthus dances.
- New Effect: Wall slow is reduced to 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% after 1 second.
- General
- Basic attack frame improved.
- Bug Fix: Enemy champions sometimes dashing through wall and not being slowed.
- Bug Fix: Allied-ultimate HUD indicator displaying as available when it wasn't.
-
- New Effect: A certain bird of prey screeches when Karthus dances.
- Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Lay Waste appeared to give more vision than it actually did.
- Bug Fix: No longer interrupted by movement commands.
- Particle updated for visibility.
- General
- Visual upgrade across all skins.
- New splash artwork for and .
- New voiceover.
- New lore
- Added a new indicator that shows the full area of effect.
- Added crit-style combat text and a unique sound effect for double-damage Qs.
- Added a visual debuff effect that marks affected enemy champions.
- Stats
- Base armor increased to 15 from 11.
- Bug Fix: Karthus not benefiting from damage modifiers ( , ) while active.
- Enemy warning buff duration updated to match impact delay.
- New Effect: Casts at maximum range when targeted beyond max range during
- AP ratio reduced to 20% AP from 25% AP.
- Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where cooldown reduction allowed it to be rapidly toggled, increasing its damage output.
- Bug fix: Should not longer have a major FPS performance hit across all maps.
- Stats
- Movement speed increased to 335 from 310.
- Removed: No longer reduces armor.
- Magic resistance reduction changed to 15% from flat 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35.
- Cooldown increased to 200 / 180 / 160 seconds from 180 / 150 / 120.
- Dominion)
- New Effect: Death timer now starts when the effect ends.
(
- Dominion
- Bug Fix: Karthus sometimes immediately awarding a double kill when affected by both and Storm Shield.
- Wall duration reduced to 5 seconds from 7.
- Slow application changed to once from per-crossing.
- Bug Fix: channel sometimes not finishing if cast while active.
- Duration reduced to 7 seconds from 8.
- Removed: 20% death timer reduction.
- AP ratio reduced to 60% AP from 70% AP.
- Tooltip updated to emphasize decaying slow effect.
- New Effect: All abilties are free to cast while active.
- Bug Fix: Various usability issues.
- Mana cost reduced to 20 / 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 from 20 / 28 / 36 / 44 / 52.
- Cooldown reduced to 18 seconds from 22.
- New Effect: Grants 20% death timer reduction to compensate for active duration.
- Code remade for bug fixing and for usability issues.
- Bug Fix: Rank-up tooltip displaying incorrect slow increase.
- Mana cost reduced to 150 / 175 / 200 from 200 / 300 / 400.
- Bug Fix: Tooltip displaying incorrect AP ratio.
- New ability icon.
- Stats
- Armor per level increased to 3.5 from 3.
- Range increased to 875 from 825.
- Mana cost reduced to 20 / 28 / 36 / 44 / 52 from 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54.
- General
- Basic attack projectile speed increased to 1200 from 800.
- Base damage increased to 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 from 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115.
- AP ratio increased to 30% AP) from 25% AP.
- AP ratio increased to 25% AP) from 20% AP.
- Removed: No longer reveals Karthus to enemies when cast.
- AP ratio increased to 25% AP from 20% AP.
- Bug Fix: Corrected AP ratio.
- Bug Fix: Slowing units 2 seconds after particle had faded.
- Mana cost reduced to 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54 from 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65.
- Mana cost reduced to 30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78 from 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90.
- General
- Secondary/critical strike animations updated.
- General
- Removed: Karthus can no longer out-range .
- Duration reduced to 8 seconds from 10.
- Mana cost increased to 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 from 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54.
- Wall updated for visibility.
- Bug Fix: Incorrect wall appearance.
- Bug Fix: Targets sometimes not being slowed when crossing the wall.
- Duration reduced to 7 seconds from 9.
- Mana cost increased to 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 from 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70.
- Mana cost increased to 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 / 54 from 18 / 26 / 34 / 42 / 50.
- On-kill mana gain changed to 20 / 27 / 34 / 41 / 48 from 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55.
- Removed: Mana regen on champion kill.
- Mana cost increased to 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 from 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65.
- AP ratio reduced to 60% AP from 70% AP.
- Removed: Can no longer be disrupted by .
- Stats
- Base attack damage increased to 44 from 39.
- Range reduced to 825 from 900.
- New Effect: Wall targeting cursor.
- Removed: No longer doubles cost upon casting.
- AoE diameter increased to 200 from 185.
- Base damage increased to 250 / 400 / 550 from 200 / 350 / 550.
- Slow reduced to 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% from 80% at all ranks.
- Cooldown reduced to 0.5 seconds from 1.
- Bug Fix: Now correctly shows buff tooltips.
- Base damage increased to 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 from 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110.
- Corrected tool-tip to say that it deals double damage if it hits a single target (corrected numbers in tool-tip as well).
- Cast range reduced to 1000 from 1200.
- Armor and magic resistance reduction reduced to 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 from 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40.
- Duration reduced to 9 seconds from (and it no longer lingers after the particle fades).
- Cooldown reduced to 22 seconds from 25.
- Base damage increased to 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 from 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100.
- Ability power ratio reduced to 70% AP from 75% AP.
- Can no longer be cast while dead.
- When Karthus dies, he can continue to cast spells for 10 seconds after death. If he kills a champion in this time he respawns instantly at base.
(Innate)
- A 1 second cooldown spell which leaves a time delayed mine that deals double damage if it only hits a single target.
(Q)
- Stretches a perpendicular wall through the target location, enemies who walk through it are slowed and take increased damage.
(W)
- While toggled on, Defile continually damages nearby enemies. While off, Karthus regains mana whenever he kills a unit.
(E)
- Channeled spell; upon successful cast, Karthus damages all enemy champions in the game.
(Ultimate)
Trivia[]
- The name Karthus resembles Medieval Latin Carthusianus.
- Karthus is voiced by Adam Harrington, who also voices , , , and .
- During development he was called Lich.
- Requiem was likely named after Requiem Mass referencing Karthus' singing for/about the dead.
- His made a cameo in Fright Night along with .
- A glass case reading 'Press can be seen in the game's Mac Version launch trailer. to Win'
- Before 2016, Karthus had been disabled for every single Ultra Rapid Fire edition (most likely to prevent 'Spam to Win' abuse cases).
- For a brief time in Season Five, Karthus had a bug where he could remain in indefinitely while alive and held an 87% win rate.[2]