Who would have thought?
LoL Patch 13.7: This Is The Most Unexpected OP Pick
Sometimes big braind strats just outplay what you would normally see on Summoner's Rift. It isn't always the 'regular' champions that make up the crop of the creme, but instead it's the weird and wacky picks on Summoner's Rift.
Recently, one champion has been tearing up the bot lane and that is none other than Karthus, who has become one of the most dominant champions in the lane, even if his play rate isn't as great as you might think with such a high win rate.
LoL Patch 13.7: Karthus Has A 54% Win Rate
You just need to look at the win rate of Karthus and you know that this is a very strong pick in the bot lane right now. Who needs and ADC when you can have an APC, right? He's taking after Season 12 Seraphine who dominated the League of Legends bot lane meta for months. Hell, she's still got a super high bot lane win rate.
Now, with Karthus with such a high win rate, you might think it's a one-time fluke, but going back on lolalytics and checking previous patches from LoL Season 13, you come to realized that this champion has been dominating the bot lane meta for a long time.
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Sure, his pick rate is down in the dumps, meaning a select few one-tricks play him in the bot lane, compared to Xayah and Kai'Sa who have a solid 20% pick rate, but it goes to show that Karthus bot is a pick that can work.
Of course, Riot also cannot truly nerf him, because his jungle win rate – his primary role – sits at a measly 49%. Due to the current state of the jungle, Karthus just isn't in a spot where he can be nerfed. Power farming junglers are out and instead, players want to gank bot as early as possible to gain an advantage and avenue towards the first dragon.
So, Karthus is in a weird spot where Riot can't nerf him, due to his abysmal jungle stats, nor can they buff him because he's way too OP in the bot lane. Unless they buff damage to jungle creatures... but who knows. For LoL Patch 13.8 we don't see any Karthus buffs or nerfs so we'll have to wait until after MSI for some changes...