@Riot I think this could work as an Identity and Niche for Karma
#Hello Summoners and Member Riots : )
At the moment there are a few Champions in the game, who suffer from having no real niche or having no clear Identity. Those Champions often have a broad bunch of Abilities which are all mediocre but do not exel that much at anything. Of course everyone of those Champions have a few things that make them different from others and sometimes it is only about being more versatile. However being Versatile comes with the great risk of getting overshadowed by nearly any Champion who could take the same role and thus never be considered “a good pick”. The Champion itself might be balanced but it has no real place in the game/ no clear Identity.
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/6/68/Gathering_Fire.png
#Karma’s Identity:
While Karma seems fine more less Balance-wise, her Kit has a lot of issues.
Many People struggle to complete the Sentence: I pick Karma because….? Why should I pick Karma when there are many Mages and Supports outside who can do that job better than her? Why should I pick Karma over Lux in midlane when it is so much easier for Lux to do Damage? Why should I pick Karma as Support when Morgana offers more Utility?
You might say now: Well Karma has all of it in her Kit, she is more Versatile. That is her niche. Ok you can say that but just being Versatile does not mean it is your niche. Lately Karma is seen as a “worse” Lulu as both have kinda versatile Kits, but Lulu’s just seems to be better at most things.
I think the first thing which comes into the mind when thinking about Karma is her (R) Q and then maybe her Speed up. So Karma’s niche currently is that she is a Long ranged Poke Mage.
But the Problem with that is: Her Q collides and just pales in nearly everyway compared to Lux’ E. In fact, Lux’ niche is a Poke orientated Mage with some decent Utility (2 Roots, AOE Shield) and burst potential. So Lux is by definition pretty close to Karma, whose Utility is just a bit better.
Lets take a look at Karma’s Abilities:
Her Q is long ranged but in order to proc RQs full damage, she needs to get in medium/close range. This seems odd/wrong at the first glace because why do I have a long ranged poke but need to go close for its full damage (and its not even passing through Minions)? But if you see it differently: The Counterplay against a long ranged Poke mage is: they are squishy so get “close” to them and kill them. But here is where RQs detonation comes into it: When the enemy is coming closer to her to take her out, she will cast W and RQ to maximize her damage output and rooting you in place. So using a weakness of Karma, the enemy also gave her more potential.
You can say: She evened the Situation and combining her Abilities allowed one of them to become way stronger.
But there are more examples of that; think about her RW Heal/shield Combo; when low Health the shield helps Karma to stay alive so that RW can proc its second Heal component/Root. Many times the enemy will find itself in rather unpleasant situation such as being rooted under a hostile turret.
RQ needs W (W needs Q or E) RW needs e
Otherwise it is difficult to impossible that a certain component of one Ability can proc.
The Problem is that her RQ combo is seen like that it should hit its full damage from afar rather than to be dependent of going close.
So Karma’s Abilities have some flaws in their Design, which are not always there due to counterplay issues.
#Karma’s Identity or what potential Direction Karma could take: (~Tl;dr)
Also peering at Karma’s old kit it becomes clear that “resilience”, the Ability to turn/even things in your favour when they are against you, is part of her Identity. That also fits perfectly into a versatile Kit since only then it can offer a rather “wide” area to react properly to some situations. On top of that it would give Karma back her Identity of Dualism and Balance.
I think That is the Direction Karma should be moved.
How would that look like?
Karma’s Identity: A versatile Mage, who can combine Abilities to powerfull effects and even the chances to win if her Team is behind, becoming more important as the battle proceeds.
So that would mean:
- A Versatile Kit
- A Passive with a conditional effect on a (Mantra’d) Ability which can even the favour of a battle (has the flair of Karma’s old Passive)
- Basic Abilities and Mantra’d Abilities are mediocre
- Mantra’d Abilities become especially impactful when combined with basic Abilities/ in the right situations
- A chance to reimplement Old Karma-mechanics such as Shield-bombing, Conic Damage and “touch the tether”.
- A Karmatic Theme :)
Example:
**[New Passive]: **Inner resilience By tapping into her inner resilience, Karma discovered that she could bring great force to bear against her foes on the battlefield, granting all of her Abilities a conditional Strength. (old Passive with lower numbers may be moved to R) [Q]/[W]: ? [E] Increases the Shieldamount by 1% for each 1% Health difference between your team and the enemy Team within 1000 Range.
Why not based on missing % Health? Because the Passive is meant to make changes “equal” for both teams; %missing Health would increase the Shield even when Both teams are at 25% Health.
I hope you got the picture.
If you have any suggestions for any Ability feel free to share it!
#What do you think, could that Identity/Niche Work for Karma? #Does she need to be reworked or not? If yes to which degree?
