Karthus used to be played as a mid laner before Riot pushed him back toward the jungle and the bottom lane since he was buffed in season eight. Despite getting some nerfs here and there over the years, he has been a rising pick as a bot lane carry. In particular, he’s succeeding at higher Elo, with impressive win rates at masters and above (according to U.GG), proving how powerful Karthus is and what a great APC can do.
Karthus is not an easy champion to master, and he requires specific supports to take advantage of his full potential. He prefers having champions who can help land his spells, whether it’s with stuns, slows, or anything that keeps champions in place.
The positive thing for Karthus is the fact that there are plenty of choices to go for. Some are stronger than others, but all have good synergy with him. Here are the 10 best supports to play with Karthus in the bottom lane.
Best supports to pair with Karthus
Senna
Senna is the best support for Karthus. The marksman support not only offers a good amount of crowd control with her slows and root but she also gets rewarded with more stacks the more farm and kills Karthus gets. In other words, it’s a win-win situation for both champions, especially if the two are able to snowball the game hard.
The double-ranged bot lane is always oppressive to deal with during the laning phase, making it hard for the enemies to contest lane priority. Senna fixes the lack of sustain for Karthus thanks to her Q.
That said, the best things about this pairing are their late-game scaling and global ultimates: Senna can auto attack enemies from a safe distance with the increased range, and Karthus can cast Requiem to explode all the low-health targets.
This duo only suffers against heavy engage and champions with hooks. If the enemies are also drafting scaling options, then the game will be essentially a free win for you.
Related: Best Senna build in League of Legends
Thresh
Speaking of hooks and engage supports, Thresh is an excellent choice to play with Karthus. He has everything kind of crowd control Karthus wants, including the 99 percent slow on his ultimate: it makes hitting Lay Waste (Q) so much easier. Thresh also received major buffs in recent patches, which have put him among the best supports in the role. Considering his versatility, it’s not a surprise to see him synergize well with most bot laners.
On top of that, Thresh has one of the strongest repositions in the game, thanks to his lantern (W). Even if Karthus gets caught, he can bring him to safety with it. The two can also play quite aggressively early on, especially if Thresh is able to hit hooks and Flay (E) consistently. The more coordination this duo has, the stronger the pairing becomes. It needs lots of practice, but once mastered, you will be dominating and carrying most games.
Lux
Fancy a double mage bot lane? Then pick Lux with Karthus. She’s one of the best champions when it comes to having a mix of crowd control and burst damage. If you’re afraid Karhus cannot land his spells, then Lux will fix that issue for you: she can root enemies champions with her Q or slow them with her E.
The two also have a great combo with the ultimates: Lux has enough range to nuke someone from distance, and if it’s not enough, Karthus can follow up with his own Requiem.
That said, the two are immobile champions, so make sure to have good vision setup and make good jungle tracking to know when you might be susceptible to ganks.
Leona
Leona is similar to Thresh, with the main difference being Leona’s ability to go for hard engages. She has higher reliability in that aspect, even though she loses out when it comes to peeling ability.
Her crowd control chain lasts enough for Karthus to land a few Qs, ensuring his single-target burst damage. She can do it right away as soon as she gets level two, using her E-Q combo. This pairing has quite a straightforward gameplay, and it only requires a decent level of coordination, making it one of the easier duos to play in League.
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Blitzcrank
While Leona has go to into the enemy team to apply her stuns, Blitzcrank does the exact opposite by pulling them toward him and his team. This allows Karthus to stay in a safer position since the enemy will be the one out of position when hooked.
Furthermore, Blitzcrank has two other crowd controls abilities, such as Power Fist (E) and Static Field (R), to make sure the enemies cannot get away.
That said, this lane is highly reliant on Blitzcrank’s ability to consistently land hooks, and requires a great level of coordination to be effective.
Nautilus
Going on with the list of engage supports, we have Nautilus. The main strength of Nautilus’ kit lies in his reliable crowd control: he offers a great AoE slow, a point-and-click ultimate, as well as a root on his auto attacks. All of them are a great way for Karthus to land his abilities, without having to predict or react to the enemy’s movements.
That being said, this bot lane duo struggles against long-range poke and lane bullies: it becomes difficult for Nautilus to find engage opportunities if they are always pushed in. Do not pick Nautilus in those situations.
Related: Riot is ready to add some horsepower to Rell’s ability set in upcoming LoL mid-scope update
Pyke
If you’re tired of playing mages or tank supports, then you should definitely try Pyke alongside Karthus. He has similar tools to other champions in this list but also offers a lot more damage thanks to his assassin nature.
Considering that Pyke’s entire kit deals physical damage, enemies will have to decide which resistances to itemize first. Regardless of the choice, there will be always one between Pyke and Karthus dealing more damage.
In addition to that, Pyke is a support that wants to consistently roam around the map. Karthus’ ultimate will usually guarantee that at least one enemy will enter Pyke’s execute threshold to cast Death from Below (R), allowing the latter to start executing people left and right with the reset.
That said, the main issue with this bot lane is that both champions are incredibly squishy, and therefore easy to punish: make sure to avoid overextending too much.
Rakan
Just like Thresh, Rakan is one of the most versatile supports in the game. He has both offensive and defensive tools which he can use to his liking and depending on the game state.
He can shield and heal Karthus during the laning phase with his Gleaming Quill and Battle Dance, and lock down targets with his Grand Entrance (W) or The Quickness (R). His ultimate is a great setup for kills, but it can also be used to peel Karthus and taunt enemies that are trying to kill him.
Having said that, both champions deal magic damage, which makes it easier for enemies to itemize against. Make sure to not have other AP damage sources in your team, so you can balance out the damage output.
Related: Skarner’s ultimate is getting the AoE treatment in his upcoming LoL visual and gameplay update
Zyra
Zyra has always been an atypical and unpopular support champion, but she can be a great partner to play with Karthus.
You can treat Zyra as a Lux alternative: they both have good crowd control and incredible burst damage. They are slightly different, however, when it comes to the range of spells. Lux has a longer range but smaller hitboxes than Zyra, who has an easier time harassing the enemies thanks to her plants that spawn during the laning phase.
Grasping Roots (E) is the key ability to make this duo work since it’s the main crowd control outside of Zyra’s ultimate Stranglethorns that has a high cooldown. As long as Zyra can hit it, this pairing will be oppressive.
Annie
The last support we recommend playing with Karthus is Annie. She’s a late addition since Annie was recently buffed in Patch 13.2, with a couple of changes that turned her into a viable support.
The biggest adjustments that allowed her to become a great support were the Pyromania (passive) change and increasing the numbers on Molten Shield (E). The first one, which now grants the passive upon respawning and at level one, is a great way to get a good level one poke onto the enemies. Annie can walk up to cast Disintegrate (Q) and have Karthus immediately follow up with Lay Waste (Q).
The E buff, on the other hand, improved Annie’s peeling abilities, allowing Karthus to be more durable during skirmishes and trades. Furthermore, when enemies try to hit him, they are dealt damage with the reflected effect.
Once both unlock their ultimates, Annie and Karthus have so much damage in their combos that they can go for kills whenever they have the spells ready. Even if Karthus dies, he can just keep casting spells thanks to his passive, guaranteeing that the enemies will see the grey screen.
This duo, however, struggles without proper vision, as it is easy to catch them during ganks or dives. Avoid picking these duos when facing junglers with great engage tools, like Zac or Sejuani.
