The greatest picks out of lane to counter Karthus include Kog'Maw, Xayah, and Kai'Sa. These are all good at countering Karthus with win rates over 61%. Even if these Karthus counter picks are not played opposite your position, it's not smart to choose him into these matchups. They will very likely beat Karthus.
Conversely, if the other team picks either Vel'Koz or Tahm Kench, you should seriously think about picking him, as he easily wins against these champs with win rates over 52% against both ofthem.
Karthus is weakest in the early game, as his playstyle revolves around power farming till he gets his Ultimate R. Use this opportunity to be aggressive in your attacks, making the most of his initial vulnerability.
He struggles to recover from any setbacks, so if you can keep invading him and disrupting his power farming, you will increase the chances of limiting his late game impact.
His Ultimate R deals meager amounts of damage during the early game, forcing him to use it only when the enemy health is too low. It is crucial to maintain your health levels and not fall into the danger zone where Karthus can pick you off.
Karthus is extremely farm oriented and needs to hit level 6 as soon as possible to unlock his Ultimate R. Try to deny him farm and slow down his leveling up, limiting his reach on the map.
He can take objectives fast thanks to his Q and E, so make sure to secure objectives like the Baron and Dragon before him.
He is a significant threat during the late game, with his abilities dealing tons of damage. Stick with your team and avoid getting caught out alone, as Karthus can quickly half-health squishy enemies with his level 3 Ultimate R.
If Karthus starts to get ahead, maintain a defensive stance. Focus on securing objectives and preventing Karthus from obtaining more items, which amplify his damage.
To see the details and best Karthus counter builds for a specific matchup, you can click the related row in one of the tables above. If you want specific Ashe counters not highlighted above, you may use the filters below to find details on your specific Karthus matchup.
To limit the Karthus counters to a particular ranked tier only, pick the desired tier from the dropdown menu above. The recommended champion counters will be revised. If you would like great champion pairings for your own allies to advance your win percentage, take a look at our Karthus synergies.
We comb through millions of League of Legends matches pulled directly from Riot Games servers each week to give you an advantage. We analyze the data using advanced algorithms to bring you the most accurate Karthus counters online. Having evaluated so many matches gives us lots of faith in our conclusions.
The Karthus counter matchups shown below include data from Silver+ tiers and champions in all positions. Click an individual Karthus matchup to see a detailed build, stats, and advice to win your next fight. You will also have the opportunity to further refine your tier selection.