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Everything for Karthus Top on patch 16.11, pulled from real Emerald+ ranked games — the build path, rune pages, the counters worth banning, the strongest teammates, and Karthus's win conditions.
Karthus is an AP mage in the top, and on patch 16.11 they grade out as a solid mid-tier pick — a 49.4% win rate, 0.1% pick rate, 1,241 ranked games sampled. On the power curve, Karthus is a scaling champion: comparatively weak early, but one of the strongest picks on the map once core items come online — so the plan is to survive the laning phase and take the game over late.
How Karthus wins: winning the wave and turning push priority into map control, and grouped 5-v-5 teamfights, where Karthus tips the fight. The kit grades 10/10 waveclear, 9/10 teamfighting. Karthus's soft spots are disengage and engage (3/10, 2/10) — avoid fights that hinge on them.
The most-played core build is Blackfire Torch, Liandry's Torment, Shadowflame, which holds a 51.7% win rate across 60 games this patch. Item order and defensive swaps update against whichever enemy comp you select.
The build Karthus Top players run most on patch 16.11, shown with its live win rate. Choose the enemy team up top to tailor it to the comp you are facing.
Who Karthus Top wants on the team: partners with the biggest positive swing on Karthus's win rate this patch.
Best Jungle partners for Karthus
Best ADC partners for KarthusKarthus is also played in these other roles this patch.
For full draft-time coaching with all 10 picks, use the Team Builder. To see Karthus's tier on this patch, see the Tier List.
