Introduction
Yesterday, I brought back Karthus jungle into the Tier 2 jungle spot, and some of you are no doubt pondering why. I figure that rather than put thoughts in the comment section, I'd drop an entire post so on the topic, so let's dive right in.
How it Works
Similar to Twisted Fate jungle, Karthus is viable because of the "new" jungle changes that allow ranged junglers to essentially move through jungle without losing any health. This makes it much easier for him to stay safe while jungling, leading to less successful invades and stronger farming power.
Analysis
Pros:
- Extremely strong clearing abilities
- Loses almost no health in jungle
- Can full clear jungle first time around
- Synergizes well with AD mid laners
- Global ganking power
- Scales extremely well into late game
Cons:
- High cooldowns on ultimate
- Jungle start path is fairly predictable
- No hard CC during a gank
- Somewhat more difficult to jungle than melee junglers
Karthus Jungle in the Current Meta
While Karthus jungle is by no means even close to being one of the popular roles for Karthus at the moment, several professionals have started picking them up in solo queue including saintvicious. Expect to see some bandwagoning in the near future.
Outside of that though, I think that Karthus does well in the current meta, even with squishy laners. Because a glass cannon Karthus can also suicide into an enemy team to zone them, he performs a pseudo-tank front line role.
Thoughts? Comment below!