Karthus·Mid Build

Most Popular

If you want to use the most popular Karthus Mid build, you should take Exhaust and Flash as your Summoner Spells. For runes, you should pick Dark Harvest as your keystone, followed by Cheap Shot, Grisly Mementos and Ultimate Hunter in the primary tree, as well as Axiom Arcanist and Gathering Storm in the secondary tree. For rune shards, you want Adaptive Force in offense, Adaptive Force in flex and Health Scaling in defense, though it depends on the matchup. Finally, for your items, you should build Blackfire Torch as your first item, followed by Sorcerer's Shoes and Shadowflame. For your last 3 items, you should build Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff and finish with Liandry's Torment. For the skill order, you want to stick with Q - E - W. Right now, this build has 54.1% winrate over 527 matches played.

Optional

Your second option for Karthus Mid build would be to take Flash and Teleport as your Summoner Spells. The runes that this build takes advantage of are Dark Harvest as your keystone, Cheap Shot, Grisly Mementos and Ultimate Hunter in the primary tree, and Axiom Arcanist with Gathering Storm in the secondary tree. The shards used in this build are Adaptive Force in offense, Adaptive Force in flex and Health Scaling in defense. The items for the build are Malignance, which you should build first, followed by Sorcerer's Shoes as your second item and Shadowflame as your third item. The rest of the items in order are Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff and Zhonya's Hourglass. The skill order for this build is Q - E - W. In the current patch, this build has a 50.6% win rate over 160 matches.

Alternative

If you're looking for alternatives, you can use Exhaust and Flash as your Summoner Spells, with runes being Summon Aery as your keystone, Axiom Arcanist, Transcendence and Scorch in the primary tree, and Presence of Mind with Last Stand in the secondary tree, as well as Adaptive Force, Adaptive Force, and Health as your rune shards. The items that this build incorporates are Blackfire Torch as your first item, then Sorcerer's Shoes as a second item and Shadowflame as a third item. You want to finish the build with Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff and Banshee's Veil. As far as ability max order goes, you want to keep it Q - E - W. This build is currently sitting at a 57.4% win rate across 122 matches played.

Off-Meta

If you want to try an Off-Meta Karthus Mid build in the current patch, try Flash and Teleport as your Summoner Spells, First Strike, Cash Back, Triple Tonic and Cosmic Insight as your primary rune tree, and Axiom Arcanist with Gathering Storm as your secondary tree. Use Adaptive Force, Adaptive Force and Health Scaling as your shards. For items in this build, you want to complete Blackfire Torch as your first item, then finish Sorcerer's Shoes as your second item, and Shadowflame as third item. The last 3 options are Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff and Zhonya's Hourglass. The ability order for this build is Q - E - W. As of the current patch, this build has a 54.3% win rate over 92 matches played.

Situational Karthus Runes and Items

Depending on the context of your game, your matchup, and enemy champions, you might want to consider building some situational items or take specific runes. Carefully examine your team, enemy team, game state , and your matchup to plan your Karthus build accordingly! For example, when it comes to rune shards, you might want to take either Armor or Magic Resist, depending on which champion you are about to lane against.