![scorch vs gathering storm scorch vs gathering storm](https://i.imgur.com/6tO1sIj.png)
I have never focused on his late game throughout his seasons, and it's especially important now to focus on early game more than ever with games lasting quite short. Winning the lane is extremely important for Karthus and his win rate at 15-25 mins is incredibly high, thus Scorch. His late game can be strong if the comps align, but he can also be quite useless if your team lacks hardcore engage and if the enemy team excels at kiting back. I go domination with dark harvest anyways though. IMO Malz loses most matchups early, so no point in trying to play aggro. If you are playing active before then, you can go scorch, but if you are trying to get items and scale, go storm as you will be stronger later. I've seen this trend time and time again and it's due to Karthus not dishing out enough relevant damage when everyone has 6 items and getting outranged/killed in teamfights sooner than he can carry the fight. Gathering storm is always better after ten minutes. or opinions of Riot Games or anyone officially involved in producing or managing League of Legends. Heres your go-to source for todays LA news. Storm is, the AP ratios are better than the AD ratio. scorch if you are able to punish the enemys weak earlygame and capitalize on your lead, gathering storm is always a safe option. or anyone officially involved in producing or managing League of Legends. Go to op.gg/lolanalytics/any site with valuable stats and you'll notice that, while Karthus has a spike in power mid-late game - probably due to hitting level 16 and winning a teamfight - his chances of winning the game starts to rapidly decline post-40 mins. Get Los Angeless latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Take gathering storm against champs you likely cant punish in lane since theyre playing safe champs. Personally I love taking aery + scorch because poking with me E level 1-3 actually melts the enemy.
![scorch vs gathering storm scorch vs gathering storm](https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/003/233/540/smaller_square/jesper-ejsing-art-id-161854-unexpected-assistance-final-arm-fix.jpg)
Scorch lets you win trades and get a ton of poke. Scorch is great for lane harass and early fights while Gathering Storm is great for scaling and. I've been maining Karthus since the end of S1 and have hit Masters on multiple occasions and one of the biggest misconceptions I've discovered is that people think he is incredibly strong late game. Gathering Storm doesnt scale fast enough for it to be useful. The option here is really a personal preference. Karthus has an abusively strong lv1-5 and that's what you should be playing around to climb. Band(even before Hat change)/Celerity/Scorch is pretty much the golden standard not just for Karthus, but for mages in general.