Zed vs Karthus Counter Pick
Matchup Summary
What the Data Means
In Jungle, this is Zed versus Karthus — a assassin against a mage. 135 tracked games on 16.13.1 put Zed at a 40.7% win rate into Karthus. A deficit of 9.3 points is what earns Karthus its counter flag in this matchup.
Living Shadow (W) and Requiem (R) are usually what decide a trade between Zed and Karthus. Then it becomes Death Mark against Requiem, and the one still holding it sets the terms. One spends Energy and the other Mana, which changes how long each can keep poking.
Zed pressures through physical damage; Karthus through magic. Before items it is 654 HP, 32 armour, 29 MR for Zed; 620, 21, 30 for Karthus. Zed starts 11 armour ahead, which is felt before either buys anything. By level 18 that becomes 2337 health and 112 armour for Zed against 2490 and 101 for Karthus. Zed also hits harder before items — 63 AD to 46. Zed moves quicker at base (345 against 335), which shows up on roams.
Karthus holds a 325-unit range advantage (450 to 125), and that shapes how the matchup is traded out. Karthus can poke for free, so Zed has to pick a moment instead of trading blindly.
Treat 135 games as the confidence attached to 40.7%.
FAQ
No — current data marks this as a counter matchup: Karthus has the statistical edge. Zed wins 40.7% of the recorded games.
40.7% from Zed's perspective, measured on patch 16.13.1.
135 ranked games at Emerald rank and above, across all regions.
The current Zed build — items, runes and skill order from the same data set — is on the Zed build page.