How to win the jungle race as Karthus against Nunu & Willump · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Karthus's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Nunu & Willump.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Respect Nunu & Willump | The Biggest Snowball Ever arrives as a knock-up gank, and Consume cheats every smite fight — Karthus has no answer to that at level 1. Never let an objective reach smite range with him alive nearby — he duels poorly otherwise, and answer their pressure cross-map instead of contesting it head-on. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Respect Nunu & Willump | The window on the second camp is theirs: the Biggest Snowball Ever arrives as a knock-up gank, and Consume cheats every smite fight. Never let an objective reach smite range with him alive nearby — he duels poorly otherwise. Refuse the level-2 skirmish and give up the second buff rather than the kill. |
| Level 3 Route | Respect Nunu & Willump | At level 3 this window belongs to Nunu & Willump, not Karthus: the Biggest Snowball Ever arrives as a knock-up gank, and Consume cheats every smite fight. Never let an objective reach smite range with him alive nearby — he duels poorly otherwise. Give up the level-3 river fight and bank tempo on the opposite side of the map. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Even — Farm & Track | Levels 4-5 are a stalemate vs Nunu & Willump — match their clear speed, keep river vision, and bank gold for the level-6 window instead of coin-flipping. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Requiem Favoured | Requiem cashes your farm lead into cross-map kills — press R on every low gank, while a fog-channeled Absolute Zero zones the entire pit. You win the breakpoint against Nunu & Willump, not the whole game — cash it on the first objective after both sides hit six. |
| First Item Spike | Liandry's Spike | Liandry's plus your farm lead makes Defile standoffs unwinnable for Nunu & Willump and your Requiem chunks brutal. You now solo Dragons early with W-E pit control. Force the enemy to fight inside your aura at every objective — or concede them on the clock. Nunu & Willump's first item mostly buys durability and cooldowns, so his spike is objective control rather than damage. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Karthus Favoured — Wins Late | Nunu & Willump falls off relative to you — from two items on you win the raw stat check, even though he is an objective thief and a channel to interrupt, not a duel to take. Drag the game long and force the 1v1s. |
Start blue-side regardless of map side preference arguments — your mana economy is your clear speed. Track Nunu & Willump's entry only to know which half of your farm to bank first; you race nobody, you out-pace everybody. Nunu & Willump clears fast with Consume and never drops below half health, so his early map presence is constant.
Ranked by the race windows in Karthus's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Karthus vs Nunu & Willump report continues with scuttle & dragon rules, invade windows and safety boundaries, the top-side objective fight, macro rotations and the win condition — plus the live enemy-jungle tracker that shows their start, clear and gank timers in game.
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No clear favourite — Karthus holds 3 windows, Nunu & Willump 3, the rest are even.
Yes — Karthus vs Nunu & Willump plays as a skill matchup: the jungle race swings window to window, and the better first clear usually sets the tone.
Playing the other side? Nunu & Willump vs Karthus guide →
All Karthus jungle matchups →
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