Karthus vs Zed Counter Pick
Matchup Summary
What the Data Means
Karthus, the Deathsinger, meets Zed, the Master of Shadows, in the jungle. Over 142 ranked games on patch 16.13.1, Karthus closes out 58.5% of them. A 8.5-point edge is what puts this matchup in Karthus’s column.
Watch the cooldowns that swing it: Karthus’s Lay Waste (Q) against Zed’s Shadow Slash (E). Then it becomes Requiem against Death Mark, and the one still holding it sets the terms. Mana against Energy — the sustain maths are not symmetrical here.
Karthus holds a 325-unit range advantage (450 to 125), and that shapes how the matchup is traded out. Every step Zed takes forward is one Karthus can answer from range.
The magic-versus-physical split between Karthus and Zed decides which resistance matters first. Before items it is 620 HP, 21 armour, 30 MR for Karthus; 654, 32, 29 for Zed. Zed absorbs early autos better by 11 armour. Karthus scales to 2490 health by 18 while Zed reaches 2337. On autos alone the numbers read 46 AD for Karthus and 63 for Zed. Base movement favours Zed — 335 versus 345.
Karthus players logged 142 of these games to produce the 58.5% figure. Stats for Zed in this matchup are recalculated automatically for Jungle.
FAQ
Yes — Karthus holds the statistical advantage in this matchup. Karthus wins 58.5% of the recorded games.
58.5% from Karthus's perspective, measured on patch 16.13.1.
142 ranked games at Emerald rank and above, across all regions.
The current Karthus build — items, runes and skill order from the same data set — is on the Karthus build page.