Karhus, a jungle master with three Challenger accounts and a rank 5 peak at 1647 LP, shares his expertise in this comprehensive guide to Karthus Jungle. Whether you’re an experienced player or new to the jungle role, this Karthus jungle guide will have everything you need to get you 1v9ing.
Karthus Jungle Runes
Let’s start with what runes you should take. Karthus has two options when it comes to runes: Dark Harvest or First Strike. Both runes are good, but they both have different playstyles. Dark Harvest is stronger early and has more fighting potential. First Strike is a better scaling and utility rune page that gives you an easy way into the mid/late game.
Karhus is currently taking the Dark Harvest setup in basically every game because Liandry’s pairs really well with it, and the page lets you maximize your damage. Since in season 14, the season 14 Liandry’s has a build path with an item called Haunting Guise, which says for each second in combat with enemy champions, deal 2% increased damage, stacking up to 3 times for a total of 6%. This stacks very well with Dark Harvest because if you take First Strike and build this, you’re losing out on a lot of damage when you ult.
For summoner spells, Karhus takes Smite obviously, but actually prefers Flash over Exhaust as a secondary. People always ask why he doesn’t take Exhaust, and the reason for that is because you’re losing out on too much mobility and being able to steal objectives or flashing in properly to get better use of your passive. Karhus believes you can win almost every 1v1 without having to take Exhaust.
For which Smite is best, Karhus likes to take Blue Smite because of how many bushes are on the map, and the free movement speed you get is just too good not to take. You’re able to travel through the map faster and you can clear your camps faster. And since Karthus has no mobility in general, this is the best Smite to have.
Karthus Jungle Build
Let’s go over the Karthus build in the jungle. Your priority is always Sorcerer Shoes with Dark Harvest. Magic Pen Boots Rush is always the best option to buy first because the movement speed advantage is amazing early game when you’re ganking. With tier 2 boots, usually the enemy will either have tier one boots or no boots at all, making ganking very easy on Karthus.
The first item rush is always Liandry’s Anguish. Malignance is supposed to be the first item to buy since the build path is lost chapter, but Malignance feels very weak as a first item, and Liandry’s damage feels perfect for a first-item spike. Liandry’s gives a lot of damage with Karthus’s Qs, E, and R, while Malignance only benefits your ult and does not benefit your Qs or your E.
After Liandry’s, Karhus goes for Malignance second. It will feel good because, by the time you have these two items, you’ll be around level 11, so your ult can start doing a lot of damage. The third item is always Rabadon’s Deathcap. If you were to buy Shadowflame third, it would take you forever to end up getting Rabadon’s.
For the last two items, it’s usually either Cryptbloom if the enemy is building MR and Shadowflame. Cryptbloom is just a better pen item over Void Staff as of right now. Although Void Staff gives a little bit more pen and AP, the heal can change a team fight.
If you’re going First Strike instead of Dark Harvest, going Malignance first and then Liandry’s second is better, but keeping the rest of the build the same.
Karthus Jungle Matchups
Now let’s talk about matchups for Karthus. High mobility champions that can invade early such as Bel’veth, Kindred, and Kayn are Karthus’ biggest weaknesses. These three junglers can be a very tough time to play against since they can start their Raptors and then walk straight into my jungle. A way to prevent this from happening is to try to get a ward on the Raptors so if they do decide to invade, you’ll be ready.
Karhus likes to start blue buff on Karthus so if they invade you on Gromp, make sure to save your Smite so you can secure it and just walk away if you can. But remember that it’s way better to just give up the Gromp over dying. If you die for the camp and let them snowball with kills, that’s an easy way to lose the game. If you don’t die, you can always out-scale and win.
Karthus Jungle Early Game
When it comes to Karthus jungle, the first and most important thing is to learn how to properly clear. If you want to see how Karhus clears efficiently, check out the video below.
So as mentioned before, Karhus starts blue buff almost every game because if you start red, it’s likely you’ll be invaded at your blue, and if you lose your blue buff, your early game is much harder. Ideally, you should finish your clear around 2:55, which then gives you great tempo to either look to invade or gank a lane.
With Dark Harvest, you want to look to fight more early game because you have power over the enemy jungler with your first clear. Look for opportunities you see in ganking. If you have laners that can help, you should look to invade the enemy jungler. You can always catch the enemy jungler doing blue or gromp after a full clear if you cleared properly, and it can result in either a kill or stealing their camps.
Another tip that Karhus gives is when the enemy jungler starts Raptors, always try to steal their second Raptor Camp spawn. You can always win the 1v1 because you should have an item advantage over them.
Karthus Jungle Mid Game
In the mid-game, you have a few objectives. One is clearing your camps as fast as possible so you’re able to fight afterward without losing out on XP and gold. Then, you want to hover your laners to look for potential plays to gank or counter-gank. Play with your teammates properly and aim for neutral objectives. Taking into account that with Landry’s Rush, it’s really easy to solo Dragon and Herald.
