Karthus got stronger when early game snowballing and magic resist were both made weaker and as a now-dominant jungler, it’s time for a nerf. We’re targeting his late game R to make his playing-against experience more fair.

Karthus is still performing too well (particularly in higher levels of play) and reliably scaling into dealing oppressive damage that is difficult to avoid. So we're lowering his early damage and clear to account for how much more consistent Blackfire Torch makes his games.

We decided to nerf Karthus since the Blackfire Torch change wasn't sufficient, although this is intended to be light since he's close to a solid spot after the micropatch. He wasn't a jungler who needed faster clear speed with the item changes, so we're slowing it down through his Q damage to account for that.

Karthus bot lane has been a very potent force, quickly overtaking games that he's given free reign in, not to mention the fact that he’s been picking up in popularity. With these changes, we are aiming to preserve his jungle power where possible while nerfing the components of his kit that manifest in lane, like early non-monster damage and mana refunds, since jungle Karthus has access to Blue Buff and his jungle item for mana restoration.

Karthus has been struggling to live up to his battlemage fantasy recently, so we’re giving him some additional durability to clear camps more safely. This should also let him play a bit closer to fights so he can get the most out of his kit. Just not too close or you’ll be getting the most out of your passive.

While the Deathsinger remains powerful in bot lane, his voice has been faltering in the jungle. We're amping up his clear strength to bring jungle Karthus back from the dead.

Karthus bot gets almost infinite wave control in early game thanks to his E passive. Pretty spooky. We're trimming down his mana early to target his performance in lane without affecting his jungle.

Karthus is particularly temperamental to changes in the meta, so he’s become a familiar face in the patch notes. This time around, with players refining his optimal builds, he’s crept back into the spotlight in Elite play, so we’re bringing down his damage.