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Karthus League of Legends Patch HistoryPC

Karthus

Mage

League of Legends (PC)

Karthus Win Rate

Karthus Current Status

Karthus was last adjusted in Patch 26.3 (). Across 74 patches, Karthus has received 22 buffs, 16 nerfs, 36 adjustments since release in Patch 0.8.21.110.

Abilities
Death DefiedPC
Passive - Death Defied

Innate: Upon taking death, Karthus enters a zombie state for 7 seconds, during which he can cast his abilities at no cost. If Defile has been learned, it will remain toggled on for Death Defied's entire duration. Requiem becomes disabled after 4 seconds of the duration have elapsed.

While under this state, Karthus becomes untargetable and cc-immune as well as prevents all incoming damage, but is also rendered unable to move, declare basic attacks, use summoner spells, and activate items.

Lay WastePC
Q - Lay Waste
Cost: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 Mana
CD: 1
Cast Time: 0.25
Range: 875
Effect Radius: 160

Active: Karthus conjures a blast at the target location that detonates after 0.5 minus 0.75, granting sight of the area and dealing magic damage to all enemies within, doubled when only one target is struck.

Magic Damage: 40 / 59 / 78 / 97 / 116 (+ 35% AP)
Isolated Enhanced Damage: 80 / 118 / 156 / 194 / 232 (+ 70% AP)
Wall of PainPC
W - Wall of Pain
Cost: 70 Mana
CD: 15
Cast Time: 0.25
Range: 1000

Active: Karthus erects a wall of pain at the target location perpendicular to his facing that lasts 5 seconds, granting sight around its pillars and center.

Wall Length: 800 / 900 / 1000 / 1100 / 1200 units
Slow: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80%
Reduced Slow: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%

Enemies that touch the wall are inflicted with 25% magic resistance reduction and become slow for 5 seconds, decaying over the duration. This can affect enemies only once per cast.

DefilePC
E - Defile
Cost: 30 / 42 / 54 / 66 / 78 Mana per second
Cast Time: None
Effect Radius: 550

Passive: Karthus restores mana whenever he kills an enemy.

Mana Restored: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50
Magic Damage Per Tick: 7.5 / 12.5 / 17.5 / 22.5 / 27.5 (+ 5% AP)
Damage Per Second: 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+ 20% AP)

Toggle: Karthus surrounds himself in a necrotic aura that deals magic damage every 0.25 seconds to all nearby enemies.

Toggling Defile off triggers a final tick of damage. Defile is toggled off automatically if Karthus becomes unable to pay its mana cost.

Defile cannot be toggled off during Death Defied.

RequiemPC
R - Requiem
Cost: 100 Mana
CD: 200 / 180 / 160
Cast Time: 0.25
Effect Radius: Global

Active: Karthus channel for 3 seconds, then deals magic damage to all targetable enemy champions upon completion.

Magic Damage: 200 / 350 / 500 (+ 70% AP)

Base Stats

Health: 620
Health Per Level: 110
Mana: 467
Mana Per Level: 31
Attack Damage: 46
AD Per Level: 3.25
Attack Speed: 0.625
AS Per Level: 2.11
Armor: 21
Armor Per Level: 4.7
Magic Resist: 30
MR Per Level: 1.3
Movement Speed: 335
Range: 450
Health Regen: 6.5
HP Regen Per Level: 0.55
Mana Regen: 8
Mana Regen Per Level: 0.8

Karthus Changes

Patch 26.3

change

General

  • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where his first encounter with Varus VO would fail to play.

Patch 25.18

change

Wall of Pain

  • Bug Fix: Wall VFX now properly layers over terrain that is not at default elevation. Previously, the VFX could be completely hidden if the VFX coincided entirely with those sections of the map.

Patch 14.21

nerf

R damage decreased.

Requiem

  • AP ratio reduced to 70% AP from 75% AP.

Patch 14.15

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: Restored death voice lines after Death Defied expires.

Patch 14.14

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: Is no longer sometimes unable to issue movement commands after the zombie state has expired.

Patch 14.13

nerf

Q Damage reduced.

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: Corpse is no longer sometimes a valid movement collision target.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage reduced to 40/59/78/97/116 from 43/62/81/100/119.
  • Single-target damage reduced to 80/118/156/194/232 from 86/124/162/200/238.

Patch 14.11

nerf

Q damage decreased.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage reduced to 43/62/81/100/119 from 45/65/85/105/125.
  • Single-target damage reduced to 86/124/162/200/238 from 90/130/170/210/250.

Patch 14.2

buff

Q damage increased. W magic resist reduction increased.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage increased to 45/65/85/105/125 from 43/61/79/97/115.
  • Single-target damage increased to 90/130/170/210/250 from 86/122/158/194/230.

Wall of Pain

  • Magic resistance reduction increased to 25% from 15%.
  • Bug Fix: Magic resistance reduction while in Death Defied no longer multiplies the magic resistance of enemies hit by 25 instead of 0.75.

Requiem

  • Bug Fix: Now properly benefits from ability haste as soon as he respawns.

Patch 13.22

buff

Basic attack missile speed increased.

Stats

  • Basic attack missile speed increased to 1500 from 1200.

Patch 13.19

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: No longer deals damage to his allies with Defile when the effect was triggered by taking lethal damage from an enemy Briar in her Blood Frenzy state.

Patch 13.14

change

Q base damage decreased, damage to monsters increased. E mana restoration decreased.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage reduced to 43/61/79/97/115 from 45/62.5/80/97.5/115.
  • Monster damage increased to 100% from 95%.

Defile

  • Mana restored reduced to 10/20/30/40/50 from 15/25/35/45/55.

Patch 13.1

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: No longer leaves a square VFX on the ground after the effect ends.

Patch 12.22

buff

Stats

  • Mana growth increased to 31 from 30.5.

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: Can no longer momentarily revive from the effect if he had the Chemtech Dragon Soul buff.

Patch 12.13

buff

Base armor and health growth increased.

Stats

  • Base armor increased to 21 from 18.
  • Health growth increased to 110 from 101.

Patch 12.12

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: Corpse is no longer an obstacle to other units' pathing.

Patch 12.10

buff

Stats

  • Base health increased to 620 from 550.
  • Health growth increased to 101 from 87.
  • Armor growth increased to 4.7 from 3.5.
  • Magic resistance growth increased to 1.3 from 0.5.

Patch 12.8

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: Enemy champions that deal lethal damage to trigger the zombie state are no longer considered to deal damage to the source when the effect ends.

Patch 12.7

buff

Q damage against monsters increased.

Lay Waste

  • Damage against monsters increased to 95% from 85%.

Patch 12.5

change

General

  • Bug Fix: Can no longer bypass the spawn boundaries before 15 seconds into the game on Summoner's Rift after a certain condition.

Patch 12.2

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where towers would incorrectly target enemy champions who took damage from it.

Patch 11.21

change

E mana restore reduced early and scales more with rank.

Defile

  • Mana refund changed to 15/25/35/45/55 from 20/27/34/41/48.

Patch 11.20

change

Lay Waste

  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where it granted Tear of the Goddess stacks despite not hitting a valid target.

Patch 11.6

nerf

Q base damage decreased later.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage reduced to 45/62.5/80/97.5/115 from 45/65/85/105/125.
  • Single-target damage reduced to 90/125/160/195/230 from 90/130/170/210/250.

Patch 11.2

change

Lay Waste

  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where he wasn't able to buffer cast while on cooldown.

Patch 11.1

buff

Stats

  • Base attack damage increased to 46 from 45.66.

Patch 10.25

buff

Q cost decreased later; damage ratio increased.

Lay Waste

  • Mana cost reduced to 20/25/30/35/40 from 20/26/32/38/44.
  • AP ratio increased to 35% AP from 30% AP.
  • Bug Fix: Now properly triggers Horizon Focus.

Patch 10.22

nerf

Q base damage reduced.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage reduced to 45/65/85/105/125 from 50/70/90/110/130.

Patch 10.20

nerf

Base armor decreased.

Stats

  • Base armor reduced to 18 from 20.88.

Patch 10.16

nerf

Q damage ratio decreased.

Lay Waste

  • AP ratio reduced to 30% AP from 35% AP.

Patch 10.15

change

Wall of Pain

  • Bug Fix: Spawns properly even when cast at 0 range.

Patch 10.14

buff

Base health and movement speed increased. Q damage increased; damage to monsters decreased. E mana restore is now always active; AoE damage tick rate per second increased.

Stats

  • Base health increased to 550 from 528.
  • Base movement speed increased to 335 from 325.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage increased to 50/70/90/110/130 from 45/65/85/105/125.
  • AP ratio increased to 35% AP from 30% AP.
  • New Effect: Damage against monsters is now reduced by 15%.

Defile

  • Now always restores mana on kill. Previously only when toggled off.
  • Tick rate reduced to 1 per 0.25 seconds from 1 per 1.
  • Total damage unchanged.
  • New Effect: Deactivating Defile deals 1 tick's worth of damage.
  • Bug Fix: Tooltip now accurately mentions the increased mana cost per second at each level.

Patch 10.9

nerf

Base movement speed decreased.

Stats

  • Movement speed reduced to 325 from 335.

Patch 9.18

change

Death Defied

  • Bug Fix: When in Death Defied, Wall of Pain now properly grants vision around the wall.

Patch 9.11

change

Requiem

  • Base damage reduced to 200/350/500 from 250/400/550.
  • AP ratio reduced to 65% AP from 75% AP.
  • AP ratio increased to 75% AP from 65% AP.

Patch 9.8

change

General

  • Bug Fix: Can now dance.

Patch 9.4

nerf

Lay Waste

  • Base damage reduced to 45/65/85/105/125 from 50/70/90/110/130.
  • Isolated base damage reduced to 90/130/170/210/250 from 100/140/180/220/260.
  • Bug Fix: Now triggers runes more consistently.

Patch 9.1

change

Death Defied

  • New Effect: Ability icon HUD now shows the remaining duration of the ability.

Patch 8.21

buff

Wall of Pain

  • Cooldown reduced to 15 seconds from 18.
  • Mana cost reduced to 70 from 100.

Requiem

  • Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 150/175/200.

Patch 8.9

change

Stats

  • Base mana increased to 467 from 372.48.
  • Mana growth reduced to 30.5 from 61.
  • Base mana regeneration increased to 8 from 6.

Patch 8.7

buff

Lay Waste

  • Base damage increased to 50/70/90/110/130 from 40/60/80/100/120.

Patch 8.3

buff

Stats

  • Base health regeneration increased to 6.5 from 6.424.

Patch 7.24

buff

Requiem

  • AP ratio increased to 75% AP from 60% AP.

Patch 7.8

buff

Lay Waste

  • New Effect: Can now be buffered. Casts input as Lay Waste explodes will now automatically fire once Lay Waste comes off cooldown, unless Karthus cancels the command.

Patch 6.4

change

General

  • Bug Fix: The eagle screesh from the dancing animation of the Statue of Karthus being heard globally by allies.

Patch 5.24

buff

Wall of Pain

  • New Effect: The wall's slow reduces to 20/25/30/35/40% after 1 second.

Patch 5.6

change

General.

  • Autoattack frame improved.

Patch 5.5

change

General

  • Fixed a bug where enemies champions were sometimes not slowed if they dashed through the wall.

Patch 4.11

change

Requiem

  • Fixed a bug where Requiem's team ult HUD indicator would display as available even when it wasn't.

Patch 4.10

change

Skin

  • Added the screech of a certain bird of prey to Statue of Karthus dance.

Lay Waste

  • Bugfix: Fixed a bug where Lay Waste appeared to give more vision than it actually did.

Wall of Pain

  • Bugfix: No longer be interrupted by movement commands.

Requiem

  • Particle effect made more noticeable

Patch 4.9

change

General

  • A visual upgrade across all skins, the announcement can be found [https://web.archive.org/web/0/http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/champion-relaunch/karthus-deathsinger here].
  • A new voice over (new voice actor).
  • Pentakill has received large selection of skin-specific quotes.
  • New lore.
  • New icons.
  • New classic splash artwork.
  • Added team-color indicators to basic abilities.

Lay Waste

  • Added a new indicator that shows the full area of effect.
  • Added crit-style combat text and a unique sound effect for double-damage Qs.

Wall of Pain

  • Added a visual debuff effect that marks affected enemy champions.

Patch 4.4

change

Death Defied

  • Fixed a bug where Karthus wasn't benefiting from damage modifiers, such as Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff, while in zombie-form.

Patch 3.12

change

Requiem

  • Warning buff on enemy champions now has a duration that matches the impact delay.

Patch 3.10

nerf

Lay Waste

  • Now casts at max range when targeted beyond max range during Death Defied.

Defile

  • Ability power ratio reduced to 0.2 from 0.25.
  • Fixed a bug where cooldown reduction allowed Defile to be rapidly toggled, increasing its damage output.

Patch 1.0.0.146

nerf

Wall of Pain

  • No longer reduces armor.
  • Magic resist reduction changed to 15% at all ranks from a flat 15/20/25/30/35.

Patch 1.0.0.142

nerf

Requiem

  • Cooldown increased to 200/180/160 seconds from 180/150/120.

Patch 1.0.0.130

nerf

General

  • Fixed a bug where Sunlight and the Dominion Storm Shield could cause an immediate double kill against Karthus.

Wall of Pain

  • Wall duration reduced to 5 seconds from 7.
  • Now only affects a target once instead of reapplying with every pass through.

Patch 1.0.0.126

change

Requiem

  • Fixed a bug where it would sometimes not finish channeling when cast during Death Defied.

Patch 1.0.0.118

nerf

Death Defied

  • Duration reduced to 7 seconds from 8.
  • It no longer reduces your respawn time.

Requiem

  • Ability power ratio reduced to 0.6 from 0.7.

Patch 1.0.0.105

change

Wall of Pain

  • Clarified the tooltip slightly to emphasize that target movement speeds are restored over time.

Patch 1.0.0.103

buff

Death Defied

  • Now allows all spells to be free to cast while defying death.
  • Fixed several usability bugs.

Lay Waste

  • Mana cost reduced to 20/26/32/38/44 from 20/28/36/44/52.

Wall of Pain

  • Cooldown reduced to 18 from 22.

Patch 1.0.0.101

change

Death Defied

  • It now also grants 20% death timer reduction to compensate for the 8 seconds Karthus is active after dying.
  • The code has been remade to fix some bugs and usability issues.

Patch 1.0.0.100

change

Wall of Pain

  • Level up tooltip now correctly states the increased slow amount.

Patch 1.0.0.99

buff

Requiem

  • Mana cost reduced to 150/175/200 from 200/300/400.

Patch 1.0.0.86

change

Lay Waste

  • Fixed a bug with the tooltip to display the correct ability power ratio.

Patch 1.0.0.75

change

Death Defied

  • Updated the icon to be more reflective of the ability.

Patch 1.0.0.70

buff

Stats

  • Base armor per level increased to 3.5 from 3.0.

Lay Waste

  • Range increased to 875 from 825.
  • Mana cost decreased to 20/28/36/44/52 from 24/32/40/48/54.

Patch 1.0.0.63

buff

General

  • Basic attack projectile speed increased to 1200 from 800.

Lay Waste

  • Base damage increased to 40/60/80/100/120 from 35/55/75/95/115.
  • AP ratio increased to 30% AP) from 25% AP.

Defile

  • AP ratio increased to 25% AP) from 20% AP.

Requiem

  • No longer reveals Karthus to enemies when cast.

Patch 1.0.0.61

buff

Lay Waste

  • Ability power ratio increased to 0.25 from 0.2.

Patch 1.0.0.52

change

Lay Waste

  • Ability power ratio is now correct.

Wall of Pain

  • Fixed a bug where it was slowing units 2 second after the particle had faded.

Patch 1.0.0.32

buff

Lay Waste

  • Mana cost decreased to 24/32/40/48/54 from 25/35/45/55/65.

Defile

  • Mana cost decreased to 30/42/54/66/78 from 30/45/60/75/90.

Patch 0.9.25.21

nerf

Death Defied

  • Duration reduced to 8 seconds from 10.

Wall of Pain

  • Improved visibility and removed bugs causing it to not appear correctly.
  • Duration reduced to 7 second from 9.
  • Made it more difficult to move through without being slowed.

Defile

  • Mana cost increased to 30/45/60/75/90 from 30/40/50/60/70.

Lay Waste

  • Mana cost increased to 25/35/45/55/65 from 24/32/40/48/54.

Patch 0.9.22.16

nerf

Lay Waste

  • Mana cost increased to 24/32/40/48/54 from 18/26/34/42/50.

Defile

  • Mana restored on kill modified to 20/27/34/41/48 from 15/25/35/45/55.
  • Removed the kill a champion mana regen effect.
  • Increased mana cost to 30/40/50/60/70 from 25/35/45/55/65.

Requiem

  • Ability power ratio reduced to 0.6 from 0.7.
  • Cleanse will no longer stop the spell.

Patch 0.9.22.15

change

Stats

  • Base damage increased to 44 from 39.

Lay Waste

  • Range reduced to 825 from 900.

Wall of Pain

  • Now shows a new wall targeting cursor.

Defile

  • No longer costs double mana upon casting.

Patch 0.8.21.110

buff

Lay Waste

  • AoE increased to 200 from 185.

Related League of Legends Champions

Karthus League of Legends FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions
When was Karthus last changed in League of Legends?
Karthus was last adjusted in League of Legends Patch 26.3, released February 3, 2026.
How many times has Karthus been buffed or nerfed in LoL?
Karthus has been changed in 74 League of Legends patches: 22 buffs, 16 nerfs, 36 adjustments.
Was Karthus changed in LoL Patch 26.14?
No - Karthus was not changed in Patch 26.14. Its most recent change was in Patch 26.3.
When was Karthus released in League of Legends?
Karthus was released in League of Legends in Patch 0.8.21.110 on July 17, 2009.