Karthus vs Zed Counter Pick

Two passives collide, and only one survives the exchange. Death Mark leaves Zed untargetable, marks a champion and repeats a portion of his damage three seconds later; Death Defied lets Karthus keep casting for a short window after he dies. A kill arriving on the mark’s delay does not stop Requiem, and it does not stop Defile from ticking on Zed while he stands over the body. Across 142 games on patch 16.13.1, Karthus takes 58.5%.

Zed runs on Energy rather than Mana, which frees him from the resource ceiling Karthus works under, and Living Shadow returns energy whenever he and a shadow strike with the same ability. At 345 movement speed and 125 attack range he is built to arrive fast and leave faster, with Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash for chip damage beforehand. What he lacks is an answer to damage that never needed to target him at all.

The practical shape is Wall of Pain on the exit rather than the approach. Zed’s escape is the shadow he already placed, and slowing the return leaves him inside a 450-unit radius holding 654 base health and 111.9 armor at level 18 — armor that magic damage ignores. Both champions rate 7 for difficulty, so neither side gets a free pass on execution.