Karthus is an exceptionally powerful and enjoyable ARAM pick. He has the ability to poke, clear waves quickly, and is a generally oppressive pick. He is mostly distinguished by his global ultimate, which damages all living opposition.
To make the most out of this great pick, today we are gonna go over his absolute best ARAM build!
Best Karthus Items
Blackfire Torch
The greatest first purchase on Karthus in ARAM is the Blackfire Torch. The item will equip us with enough mana to survive the early game, and it will set a great foundation for the late game damage. Additionally, the item has a really cool passive that will burn our enemies with some bonus damage for each ability we hit.
Liandry’s Anguish
Liandry’s Anguish is a core Karthus purchase. The item has a passive which grants us a bonus percentage of HP damage whenever our ability damages an enemy. The item is pretty cracked on Karthus, as we can proc it with our E without incurring significant mana or cooldown cost. Liandry will also grant us some extra HP, and having extra HP never hurts.
Shadowflame
Shadowflame is an especially strong item for Karthus, and it works really well with his ultimate. The item will give us extra 20% damage on our abilities, whenever an enemy is below 40%. The bonus damage can often make a great difference between killing and not killing an enemy with R.
Rabadon’s Deathcap
Rabadon’s is a pretty usual purchase for every full AP build. It will give us a generous 130 flat AP increase, as well as a 30% increase on our total AP. Building it marks a huge milestone, and it will enable us to win fights much more frequently.
Void Staff
The greatest last item for full AP Karthus is most definitely the Void Stuff. It is a pure magic penetration item whose, well, penetration is 40%. The ratio is quite insane and it will amplify all the power we have amassed with our previous purchases. It’s the item that will allow us to reach the highest damage, and I would be wary of swapping it with any other item.
Boots
The boots that will run the best with this build are the Sorcerer’s Shoes. They will give us another boost of magic penetration, and they are simply the best option. All the other boots simply do not generate any benefit for Karthus in ARAM.
Best Runs for Karthus
- Dark Harvest
- Cheap Shot
- Eyeball Collection
- Ultimate Hunter
- Transcendence
- Gathering Storm
The keystone that works the best for Karthus in ARAM is the Dark Harvest. It’s really easy to proc, and we can farm stacks very fast. The next rune I would take would be the Cheap Shot, which can easily generate extra damage to enemies impaired by our W.
The best third and fourth rune choices would be the Eyeball Collection and Ultimate Hunter. For each unique takedown, these will give us extra damage and ultimate cooldown reduction respectively.
Finally, the last runes I would recommend would be the Transcendence and Gathering the Strom. Transcendence will give us some scaling ability haste while Gathering the Storm will give us free scaling AP damage.
Final Thoughts
Karthus is an extremely strong ARAM pick. He excels the most when played full AP. The build is pretty standard and it features the highest damage AP items. These items are best combined with the Dark Harvest keystone. To do the most with this build, I would recommend playing as aggressively as possible and making the most use out of your poke.