How to win the jungle race as Trundle against Karthus · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Trundle's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Karthus.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Trundle Dominant | Chomp (Q) steals AD on hit, so your level-1 trade is rigged in your favor. Lay Waste melts camps at record pace, and before either of you has a second camp down that is not an answer. Take the level-1 crossing and make Karthus path away from the camps you want. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Trundle Dominant | Frozen Domain (W) attack speed makes your buff-pit duel one of the best in the game. There is no version of this Karthus wins right now — Wall of Pain slows cover their disengage, and that folds on the second camp. Show on their side of the river and take the second buff and the tempo that comes with it. |
| Level 3 Route | Trundle Dominant | Pillar (E) cuts the escape; with Q AD-steal and W haste the duel is yours. Later in the game this bites, because isolated Lay Waste double-damage adds up fast if you stand in his Defile zone. But as the first scuttle timer lands none of it is online, so take the level-3 river fight and tax every camp Karthus concedes. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Trundle Dominant — Keep Fighting | Nothing about 4-5 helps Karthus here: he out-farms the map through 4-5 — Defile clears at a rate nobody matches and Requiem is coming, while you can take any duel you can reach. Invade on the clear-timer, not on a whim. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Subjugate Favoured | Subjugate drains max health and resists, rigging any extended duel in your favor, while Requiem cashes their farm lead into cross-map kills. You win the breakpoint against Karthus, not the whole game — cash it on the first objective after both sides hit six. |
| First Item Spike | Ravenous Hydra Spike | Completing your core item triggers a massive damage, wave clear, and sustain multiplier that completely overpowers traditional brawlers or isolated targets. Karthus' first item is where Lay Waste stops chipping and starts taking a third of a health bar per cast. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Danger — Karthus Outscales | The clock is your enemy. He deals damage from anywhere and keeps dealing it dead — Death Defied buys the fight, so close the game on the first two objectives you actually win. |
Start your clear at the Red Buff camp utilizing your Chomp AD steal to maximize early clear speed. Karthus has the fastest clear in the game with Lay Waste and Defile, and he will always be a level ahead if left alone.
Ranked by the race windows in Trundle's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Trundle vs Karthus 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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Trundle's race plan controls 6 of the 7 windows — Trundle holds the tempo advantage in this jungle matchup.
Not exactly — Trundle's race plan controls 6 of the 7 windows, so Karthus is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Karthus vs Trundle guide →
All Trundle jungle matchups →
More Trundle jungle matchups: vs Ivern · vs Jarvan IV · vs Jax · vs Kayn · vs Kha'Zix · vs Kindred