Karthus
Matchup Summary
Karthus is a very easy match up for Renekton, as Karthus's lack of mobility prevents him from being able to escape Renekton's jaws of death. When playing vs Karthus, try to always avoid being hit by his Q by always moving side to side. Whenever you have E up, you can try to force heavy trades to instantly kill Karthus on demand. If Karthus takes exhaust try to hold your damage until it wears off, Karthus will typically use exhaust if he's on low HP. Karthus cannot really do much against Renekton to snowball, however he's always able to use his R to get kills within the game. Try to ping or warn your teammates of his R to prevent him getting free kills. Within teamfights, Renekton can essentially do anything he wants, however try to avoid instantly killing Karthus before any other major carries, as his damage passive allows him to apply additional damage after he is dead.
Detailed Tips
- 01
Level 1 E Start - Try to cheese PTA proc or Conq with E1 > 3 auto's > disengage with E2.
- 02
Play For Level 2/3 Kill Angle - Once you chunk out Karthus you're most likely able to kill him with your W, Dash or Flash up. Look to shove the wave around your kill timer, so you're able to make Karthus lose a lot more.
- 03
Avoid Karthus Q Poke - Karthus’s main way of playing the game is simply using his Q to land damage onto his target. Try to utilise your movement side to side to avoid his damage, while also making him waste mana in the process. You can also use your dashes to easily avoid his damage, then look to one shot him while he is stuck in his Q cast animation. Another thing to note, is that Karthus Q does more damage when the target is isolated, so make sure to avoid tanking Q’s when you’re away from the wave.
- 04
Respect Karthus Passive - Whenever you kill Karthus, remember to respect his passive as it can easily obtain him kills if you’re low. Preventing Karthus from getting any gold is essential, so make sure to never hand him over any free gold or he will use it to hard snowball the game with his R.
- 05
Abuse Renekton's Early Game - In this match up Renekton is essentially able to do whatever he simply wants. With that said, really hone into your strong early to mid game strengths to help you dominate and win the game. Play to deny your enemy of gold and xp, play to proxy and generally lead any top side skirmishes with your insane lane advantage.
- 06
Play Waves Accordingly - Simply assess whether or not you want to play for freeze, to help you deny XP and CS, while presenting yourself more opportunities to create fights. Or, play to shove waves to create proxy angles, tempo resets or create a dive opportunity. Renekton has all the cards to do whatever he wants with wave management. Also respect that if your laner tries to proxy, simply proxy back or coordinate a kill on them with your jungler.
- 07
Heavy Trades - Being that Renekton carries a lot of high damage, Renekton is able to just jump on his target nearly at will. Whenever your laners present you with the ability to jump on them, simply take the opportunity to burst them as much as you can. If you didn't kill them already from that, use your options of freezing or your tower diving ability to help you finish off your opponent.
- 08
Respect Karthus R - Karthus R can help him obtain lots of kills through the game, as he can use it to deal damage to enemies from across the map. When playing vs Karthus, you can’t really do a lot to stop him from getting kills unless he ults right in front of you, in which you can cancel his R with your W. Overall, try to be wary of low HP plays as his R can easily help him trade 1 for 1 against you in these moments.
- 09
Build Eclipse, Stridebreaker or Profane - Go Eclipse for consistent power through mid game and damage mitigation with the shield. / Go Stridebreaker to cripple Karthus’s mobility and provide teammates with additional utility. / Go Profane for full damage focused playstyles.
- 10
Mid Game + Teamfighting Tips - Karthus’s role in the game will always exist based upon his R, and how much of a clutch ability it is for him to come back. With that said, buying MR or getting your team to get MR is pretty good in order to survive his overall damage and allow you to easily win fights. Karthus’s power is utilising his passive in teamfights, but we can take that overall power away by allowing ourselves to split push in side lane. Karthus can’t really stop Renekton solo from tanking towers, meaning he always puts himself in harm's way to die to an easy one shot combo. Killing Karthus first in skirmishes or bringing him away from the teamfights will always result in an easier way to play the game, as long as your team doesn’t coin flip a fight until he is dead. When it comes to teamfights, simply play towards your overall win condition of killing his main carries. Wasting your damage on Karthus in a teamfight is usually int because of his passive, so make sure to kill his other carries as they hold a lot more value in these situations.