Karthus
Computed from 55,593 ranked Solo/Duo games collected through the Riot API · patch 26.21.
| Role | Win Rate | Pick Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 49.1% | 0.1% |
| Jungle | 49.3% | 1.2% |
| Mid | 49.2% | 0.1% |
| ADC | 53.3% | 0.4% |
Karthus is banned in about 0.5% of games at this tier, one figure for the whole champion since bans happen before roles are picked. What ban rate measures.
Karthus's Jungle win rate is 0.7 percentage points below an even 50% — Should I Dodge's win-probability model varies by about 4.8 percentage points of standard deviation from lobby to lobby across all ranks, purely from which champions get drawn, so this gap is smaller than that noise, not solid evidence the champion is unusually strong or weak right now.
Karthus is tracked in 4 roles at this tier scope; the per-tier, threat, and counters reporting below all use its highest-pick-rate role, Jungle — its numbers in Top (0.1% pick rate), Mid (0.1% pick rate), and ADC (0.4% pick rate) stay visible in the table above but aren't carried into the rest of this page.
Karthus's Jungle Build
In Emerald+ games on patch 26.21 (including games from other ranks or the previous patch, as Emerald+ on this patch alone had too few), Karthus's most common Jungle setup runs Flash and Smite with Dark Harvest, maxes Q first, and builds Blackfire Torch, Stormsurge, and Shadowflame — 48.6% win rate over 12,280 games.
- Summoner spells
Flash + Smite
50.1%5,633 games - Runes
Dark Harvest + Precision
53.2%916 games - Skill priority Q > E > W 48.8%12,032 games
- Starter
Scorchclaw Pup
49.5%5,449 games - Boots
Sorcerer's Shoes
49.2%11,047 games - First three items
Blackfire Torch → Stormsurge → Shadowflame
62.7%393 games
Karthus's Jungle Win Rate By Tier
| Tier | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Games | Edge (noise-widths) | Clears 0.5σ? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron | 50.1% | 1.1% | 2,537 | 0.02σ | No |
| Bronze | 49.8% | 1.2% | 3,650 | 0.03σ | No |
| Silver | 49.1% | 1.3% | 4,755 | 0.15σ | No |
| Gold | 48.7% | 1.3% | 5,505 | 0.23σ | No |
| Platinum | 50.1% | 1.2% | 5,616 | 0.03σ | No |
| Emerald | 47.9% | 1.2% | 4,528 | 0.46σ | No |
| Diamond | 50.3% | 1.4% | 4,527 | 0.07σ | No |
| Master | 52.0% | 1.9% | 2,838 | 0.41σ | No |
| Grandmaster | 48.3% | 2.6% | 245 | 0.22σ | No |
Karthus's Jungle win rate ranges from 47.9% at Emerald to 52.0% at Master across the 9 of 10 ranked tiers with at least 200 games in this role — a 4.0-point spread. Measured against each tier's own noise floor, that's 0.41σ at Master and 0.46σ at Emerald, with neither clearing the 0.5σ bar Should I Dodge itself requires before calling a reading anything but Neutral. 1 tier under 200 games not shown.
- Power curve
- Strong late game
- Threats
- Burst and poke
Curated reads, not measured: how we judge these
Who Counters Karthus in Jungle?
Champions That Counter Karthus
| Champion | Win Rate vs Karthus | Edge (noise-widths) |
|---|---|---|
Bel'Veth |
59.0% | 1.88σ |
Sion |
58.4% | 1.76σ |
Ivern |
57.2% | 1.50σ |
Dr. Mundo |
57.0% | 1.47σ |
Skarner |
56.5% | 1.36σ |
Champions Karthus Counters
| Champion | Win Rate vs Karthus | Edge (noise-widths) |
|---|---|---|
Qiyana |
43.3% | 1.39σ |
Jax |
44.7% | 1.12σ |
Quinn |
45.5% | 0.95σ |
Fiddlesticks |
45.5% | 0.94σ |
Zaahen |
46.5% | 0.72σ |
At most five champions are listed in each direction for Karthus: the 5 that counter it here lean control-heavy, with a tight, 2-point spread — none of them stand out much from the others among them, while 5 favourable matchups round out the picture — most matchups you could actually face simply aren't covered.