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What S9 Taught Me about Karma

SilverSquid·1/4/2020, 9:14:47 AM·40 votes·15,073 views

TL;DR I ponder about important developments for me and Karma last year and present a rework suggestion, to contribute instead of complaining. Skip to any part you find interesting. Or the whole thing if you don't like either Karma or reading.

I have been on the boards for roughly 5 years now. Playing the game since Season 2. But last year has taught me quite a lot about my favourite champion, Karma. What's probably most interesting is Riot's treatment:

Patching and Pushing Karma

9.6 - Bugfix 9.12 - Q buff (slow) and E buff (mana cost and haste duration) 9.13 - Revert on the E buff (haste) 9.14 - QoL buff for W (reveals) 9.15 - RE nerf (base and scaling) 9.16 - Bugfix 9.19 - Q nerf (ratio) 9.24 - E buff (base) 9.24 - Bugfix

This means, with 9 patches adressing her, S9 is actually tied with S7 for being the season she was adressed the most in. Which could be good - because she gets attention - but could also be bad - because she NEEDS this attention. More than that, however, it reveals how Riot thinks of her. With roughly half of the changes adressing her shielding and the other only increasing her utility while neutering her damage scaling, it's safe to say that Riot focuses on her support qualities. To me this runs contrary to what they once claimed when reworking her in S3.

"We like this direction and want to encourage you to boost both her offensive and support abilities by building AP. We also want to make sure she can hold her own as a solo or with a lane partner."

Karma's sololanes are currently mostly dead. Well, op.gg claims she is played 100% support and 11.2% in toplane, which makes as much sense as claiming her winrate is the 52nd of 51 champions in toplane. Which the site does too. Thanks op.gg, but maybe get some sleep!

In the meantime, let's look at what I missed the most in S9, the followup on what Riot started the season before:

The Promised Rework

In S8 Riot announced that Karma would get some love. RiotNeuroCat was tasked with finding out what we Karma players loved about our champion and doing what she could to improve upon the mess that is Karma. After having a great time on Discord and teasing a few ideas she had then and there, about 6 months later the rework was presented and... generally disliked. What happened? Well, there were 2 main objections to the rework:

  1. It mostly catered to support mains
  2. It added a new ally W function that the community felt was VERY off flavour

Some people even said the new W would rather fit Zilean, because it gave huge amounts of CDR to your ally. In the follow-up discussion NeuroCat also entrusted me with why shieldbomb wasn't reintroduced, as many had repeatedly requested:

"I tried to test the Shield Bomb a fair amount, and it actually played pretty well! It added more thought to the placement of the shield, given its positional requirements. However, at the end of the day, when we put the shield bomb with the AoE shields/MS, the proper tuning would make this ability feel pretty weak (and different configurations added complexity with little gain), so we needed to choose between Shield Bomb and AoE shields."

Personally I think that with tuning down her passive this could've been fine, but it still made me think whether a shieldbomb+AoE shield is even possible in the same alternate reality as Ardent Censer. Or whether those two can be seperated... Either way, the rework was shelfed, NeuroCat moved to another project and then.... silence. For months. Nobody picked up the work NC had done, or informed us about what would happen. Until, one mild november day in S9, Meddler said this this:

"A problem we've noticed with champions who've had their playstyles change really substantially is that we end up with multiple potential audiences for those champions whose needs can end up being incompatible. Karma's a particularly good example of that..."

In the same thread he also said:

"At the very least I think it's important that our work on Aatrox doesn't introduce a third playstyle, splitting the audience further and making it harder to deliver for Aatrox players."

This tells me one thing: The risk for working on Karma is too high. At best you create a small but happy fanbase, at worst - and this is far more likely - you will get at least one of the 3 fanbases rage again. So... why work on her? But... would that mean that Karma was doomed to be a shieldbot in lategame and a cheese strat in other lanes? Because it's true, the community is very divided!

Turqoise Cake - No Topping

To check this, I created THIS survey and - LO AND BEHOLD - it seemed to prove that the community is about as divided as preschoolers about what color a chameleon has. People like incredibly different things about her. However, in all of those differing answers and subsequent discussions I noticed that all Karma players - no matter if old or new - are starving for one thing: flavour. As Meddler noted years ago, Karma is functional, but bland. She has no strong visual or gameplay theme, she does many things, but nothing special. Which is weird. Because her lore would grant so many starting points; a wise, enlightened leader, a torn mind between war and peace. Even the concept art, seen below, offered Karma as wielder of twin spirits/dragons that her kit could build upon. Yet she feels like a very generic unleash mage throwing green blobs. And nothing is better to throw your own fantasies at, than a clean slate, right?

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/d/d4/Karma_Update_Concept_03.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130612170945

But not everything is that bleak and confused. In another survey I asked, what direction her gameplay should go and it was waaaaay clearer. Overwhelmingly people chose the Battlemage and Enchanter classes. Which Riot in their 2016 subclass list claimed that she already IS, but I argue she has actually very little of each. Out of her whole kit, only her E is an enchanter spell and her RQ (her main damage spell) works more like an artillery-burst spell, putting her closer to champions like Zoe. Which is why the WIKI lists her as a burstmage. Even her heal is more befitting of a tank than a battlemage, due to its weird scaling. However, finally having a clear goal that the community mostly agrees on, focusing on sustained damage, survivability and enchanting should be our goal!

Ligma Karma... Don't Ask! Just Don't!

In the meantime I also tried to create a new kit. My goals clear in mind:

  1. Fix Current Karma's issues with Old Karma stuff; get the communities closer
  2. Give her depth, duality and karmic elements
  3. Create a battlemage/enchanter that can work in solo and duolanes

And while I was certain THIS was the time I could please everyone, as you can see by the votes, it went rather... okay. Not bad, but not enough to convince Riot that this is anything out of the ordinary. The kind criticism from dissatisfied fans was also rather clear:

  1. Mantra at lvl1 is a MUST
  2. People want Twindragons in her passive
  3. Linking champions with W is fun, but % damage amp/reduction can sneakily break the game
  4. Karma should feel more like a battlemage WHILE enchanting and vice versa

That's fair. So I took those comments to heart and went back to the drawing board. And after 2 months of reshuffling spell effects, failing to buy my christmas presents in time and pretending I like everyone at the party equally, even Steve who always farts and blames Michal's dog like we don't know, I ended up with this:

A Rework to Rule Them All... Hopefully

Numbers are ROUGH estimates!!! If you comment on values alone I will mail you my used and unwashed socks.

https://i.ibb.co/0qDKXvH/Karma-New-Passive-2-rotated-and-smaller.png

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/6/68/Gathering_Fire.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122919 P - Twin Dragon’s Blessing

Karma has a secondary resource bar that indicates the power of either Twin Dragon. Both sides have up to 1/2/3/4 (mantra dependent) charges each. Upon hitting an enemy champion or a large monster with a basic attack, Karma consumes all full charges for an additional effect. This also reduces Mantra's cooldown by 3s plus an additional 2s for every expended charge beyond the first. Charges quickly decay out of combat. Ouru – The Redeemer: Whenever Karma deals damage to enemy champions or large monsters with her abilities, she gains 1 redemption charge and half a charge for every target beyond the first, for passive procs and DoT ticks. When Karma unleashes Ouru’s power, she heals the nearby allied champion with the lowest hp for [10/20/30/40 (mantra dependent), +5%AP per redemption charge], increased by 1% for every 1% health the target is missing. Boros – The Avenger: Whenever Karma shields or heals another allied champion with one of her active abilities, she gains 1 vengeance charge, and half of one for every target beyond the first, for passive procs and when affecting herself. When Karma unleashes Boros' power, her basic attack deals [20/40/60/80 (mantra dependent) +10%AP per vengeance charge] bonus magic damage, increased by 0.5% for every 1% health Karma is missing.

NOTE: Reduced overall cooldown reduction from passive. Kept incentive for basic attacks. Kept NeuroCat’s motto of fewer attacks but with more impact. Alternating passive should allow combos with base abilities. Spacing abilities and weaving properly should be rewarded, embracing a battlemage style of fighting&enchanting. Added sustain to make up for her needing to stay in range more.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/a/ad/Inner_Flame.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122920&format=webp Q - Inner Flame

Unchanged _NOTE: I could imagine this being 60%AP again, but since I added damage throughout her kit, it might not be necessary. _

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/4/45/Soulflare.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122923&format=webp RQ - Duality of Dragons

The twin dragons travel to target location and spawn a zone, dealing Inner Flame’s damage plus 20/50/80/110 (+20%AP) bonus magic damage and slowing enemy champions within it by 50%. Allies within this area are healed by 20/40/60/80 (+20%AP), increased by 3% for every 1% health the target is missing. After 1.5s the area collapses, dealing 40/100/160/220 (+50%AP) magic damage and applying the same heal in the area again.

_NOTE: Initial damage slightly lower than today. Second damage significantly lower than today. Does not explode on collision. Can be dodged into. Slightly slower projectile speed than today. _

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/0/0c/Focused_Resolve.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122918&format=webp W - Bond of Souls

Karma connects two targets of her choice for 2s. Enemy anchors take 20/35/50/65/80 (+30%AP) magic damage every second (3 ticks) and suffer the same slows as other enemy anchors. Allied anchors gain 6/12/18/24 (mantra dependent!) (+9%AP) bonus resistances and mirror shields & hastes on other allied anchors at half effectiveness. Tether’s that don’t link directly to Karma are 33% shorter and weaker. Tethered enemies are revealed. Allies that turn invisible break the tether.

NOTE: Damage only slightly lower than today (as long as tether links to Karma, otherwise significantly lower, but can then damage 2 targets). Root removed and replaced with resistances. Changed ticks from 2 to 3 for better passive interaction, less burst and more reward for enemies who break it quickly.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/2/2a/Renewal.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122922&format=webp RW - Soul Transcendence

Karma connects her target to 2/3/4/5 nearby targets, preferring champions>monsters>minions. Enemy anchors take 20/50/80/110 +20%AP bonus magic damage per tick.

NOTE: This effectively replaces today’s RE shield, if you use E on the main target. Works better on Karma as main target, since her tethers are longer.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/c/c4/Inspire.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122920&format=webp E - Inspire

Unchanged

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/4/40/Defiance.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122917&format=webp RE - Dragon’s Defiance

The twindragons fly to target ally, shielding them for 60/140/220/300 (+50%AP) and hasting them by 50% for 1s. The shield and the haste are increased by 0-70%, based on the target’s missing hp (maxing out at 70% missing hp). After this1s the shield explodes, dealing magic damage equal to the initial shield strength in an area, and Inspire is applied to the initial target.

NOTE: Shieldbomb reintroduced with more room for counterplay. Added karmic target incentive. Added damage options for support Karma.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/7/76/Mantra.png/revision/latest?cb=20130929122921&format=webp R - Mantra

Unchanged (maybe needs CD adaption due to new passive and shifted power) _NOTE: Every mantra adds some utility, deals similar damage now and has unique ways of applying it, making the ups and downs more interesting. _

It's Time for YOUR Thoughts

I am honestly convinced that this is the best common ground I can come up with to solve current Karma's lack of flavour, duality and undefined subclasses. I could probably talk for hours about every single ability and why I like it. But I am here to hear from you; do you feel like this is still lacking something? Would you want this in game? Do you have a rework of your own you deem more likely to succeed in getting all Karma fans on board?

After working on this for 2 months again I am thrilled to hear what you have to say! Anyways, thanks for reading!

SilverSquid

45 Comments

Ionian Vulpix1/4/2020, 2:57:10 PM6 votes

Food for though: The fanbase will NEVER be pleased. They get an idea in there mind, then end up disappointed and raging if the work doesn't meet their often unreasonable expectations.

With Karma, I think Riot needs to show some conviction, pick a direction, and double down on that. Be it making her a support or whatever they want to do with her. Just decide on what she is going to be

Warden Karma1/4/2020, 10:18:17 AM4 votes

Great work!

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/6/68/Gathering_Fire.png

I think this would be implementable without too much work and could be build upon if she is up to a VGU. It encourages to interact with her abilities and the enemy, on top of having a duality theme and offering choices. Overall I think it would enhance her playstyle.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/a/ad/Inner_Flame.png

I know people have been very salty about that ratio nerf, especially considering that originally with the VGU she has been envisioned as a mage; Q always felt underwhelming compared to the other mages primary damage sources (I think she used to be the only mage whose primary damage source was neither point and click or uncolliding, it also did not offer a crazy ratio).

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/4/45/Soulflare.png

While I really like the idea, I am concerned about the power budget. Making it groundtargeted and giving it a heal might come at a greater cost. I know it kinda old shoes, but people might be saying a similar thing that they say about her current RE item 3190 item 2065 : This RQ is just item 3107. Nonetheless it seems to be very fitting.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/0/0c/Focused_Resolve.png

You would need to be fast to cast it on two targets. But it seems you can really utilize it in many, funny ways. Connect 2 enemies with each other. Have them hate each other for not breaking the tether. Or give allies more a reason to not abandon each other. Bonus: Walk your KogMaw to lane again.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/2/2a/Renewal.png

Granting RW the current RE AOE shield to make room for her iconic shieldbomb is a very good move and looks nice to use. Am I assuming right, that it does not contain an ally bonus as this is included by using your E to share shields/ms?

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/4/40/Defiance.png

A bit unconventional that the base E is not applied at the same time as RE, but that doesnt mean its bad. Its a bit like RW and RE are swapped, so this RE would be the go-to bait now.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/7/76/Mantra.png

You solved one of the worst issues current Karma has: her Mantra choice is build/role dependent. This pretty much cuts off decision making, which really should be her thing. By offering Damage/Utility/Surviablity (and Making RW multitarget/AOE) each Mantra now is a meaningfull choice and can compete with each other, which will make them finally more situation dependend.

I think there are not much better solutions to fix her gameplay with low budget changes. It really fixes a lot of her problems and finally gives her a theme: twin dragons, which can be build upon as soon as she gains a VGU and theres something for every Karma player to enjoy, instead of being too focused around support.

Zabulus1/5/2020, 6:51:58 PM2 votes

I love this whole thing like holy shit if they did this I might play her for a whole year again like I did in S6 when I started.

But here are my opinions on the matter or some general question asking!

  1. The Healing shouldn't be a factor in her Q! Reason for this is because just off lore alone if I recall correctly it just straight up did raw damage to enemy general/commander and that it was because of her (in this moment) build up of rage that lead to this. Healing doesn't sound like an optimal thing tbh. But I would be down for the idea that if you Mantra Q One Dragon goes to enemy like Aery for damage and the other is there as a pick up for a shield depending who walk over it first. [Scaling needs a tune down slightly in base because of the passive]

  2. Her W now this is something interesting because I like the idea. What if her Mantra W healed an ally with Set Scaling of your passive. So that instead of the passive having that much of a heal buff Karma can choose between a healing w or a mantra e shield for Set ally.

  3. That Mantra E scaling is insane id change it to the (50/100/150/200/250 +40%bonus Ap) and with the twin dragons the bonus/Half the base shield can be boosted by (+10%/17%/24%/35%) Early game this wouldn't do much but late game scaling would be great. and the explosion needs to not do missing HP damage because then it would be an execute and god can only imagine Akali with r and karma shield ;-;. change it to where it's like sion shield where it doesn't burst if taken down and change that missing hp scaling to Ally % total HP (I'd say around 10% sounds fair because of the already bonus from everything else).

And One really important question I notice how you are using the dragons as the same thing when balance consist of Black and White (and if I read this right) your whole idea consist of gaining charges like a kayn passive?

(I mean nothing bad in this I just LOVE karma as she is my go to if I'm in a pickle and I just wanted to express my gratitude because this is the most successful rework I have read and would like it to come to light)

Voluug131/4/2020, 2:12:10 PM2 votes

Honestly, E should just be a plain but thick shield. It shouldnt have any added effect that end up being used to drain power from it, which is my current issue with Inspire. The movement speed buff feels very wasted and ineffective most of the time.

The movement speed should honestly go to W. Any more complex effects could be pretty hard to balance on such a potentially strong skill. Also the added resistances are either too strong or bordeline useless. RW is a nice idea, but it also runs into the risk of simply being too strong in teamfights while being borderline useless in lane.

In fact, the general feel I get from this Karma is that its a very, maybe too strong team fighter and absolutely subpar midlaner, which is a perfect way for her to get bullied out of midlane and into botlane support. If she cant contest against assassins (as she should be able) she isnt capable of being a midlaner. Simple as that.

Also as a side note: fusing both the twin dragons and the original fans could be a great way to visually reach a middle point between her visual strengths.

Mageichael1/5/2020, 11:46:59 AM1 votes

This sounds so FUN and INTRIGUING! I personally love the change to her passive because it would invite so much room for gameplay on both paths players take on Karma. Your idea on her W similarly has changed from a senseless (and pretty unfair on tanky Karma) heal to interactive gameplay between all players. One question is did you attempt to create a spot in your newly created kit that has a root or some firm form of crowd control? I can't think of any viable supports who do not have some form of firm crowd control. That is literally my only question though this sounds so fun and interesting WHY HAS RIOT NOT SIGNED YOU TO DESIGN MORE CHAMPIONS HELLO. I love the creativity because although Karma is one of my favorite mages, she lacks originality. And when she is really strong, she lacks counterplay as well haha. I can see the amount of effort and time you put into this, and it'd be a shame if this were to go to waste. THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS! If Riot doesn't pay attention to it, THEN I WILL!

Thanateus1/5/2020, 5:53:06 PM1 votes

Really this is a very very good work you gave us there, I often want to play Karma because it's a champion I like but she isn't played as much as before and often you can't really help your team with her because people forgot this champion existed

Chainman31/5/2020, 9:13:48 PM1 votes

i expected to see at some point in the post Karma's a bitch LOL

ACatIsFineToo1/5/2020, 10:21:54 PM1 votes

Great kit. The only thing (Very minor) is that the passives colors should be swapped. White for shield, and Purple for shields. It fits more with current in game color identities. Red is aggressive, and white is friendly. Other than that, I like the kit.

ChaosReyn1/6/2020, 10:49:44 PM1 votes

Interesting...

By spreading the depth of her power budget and forcing people to make hard decisions on the fly, you can accomplish quite a lot with this sort of kit. It really does sort of feel like a splendid balance of old Karma and new Karma. As someone who had the worst luck ever (and by that I mean, I learned both old karma and old akali only for each of them to have a rework announced within 2 weeks) I find a unique sense of nostalgia from this concept, without compromising the reworked abilities I learned completely.

I am a little worried about the ratios, but as you said, the numbers are a rough draft...we're not a balance team, so I can respect that...not that the balance team is balancing numbers very well right now in League of Damage anyway, but close enough is much more acceptable from theory/concept crafting than the finished design. Particularly, I'm a bit worried about how strong her RE shield can get, since that is going to give a KENCH shield to a low hp ally, and I'm a little worried about the damage passive...for the same reason Karma was crazy pre-rework, if she manages to land an autoattack at 10% hp with the full boros charge she's probably going to nuke someone, and it's pretty hard to call that balanced just by reading the concept. In actual gameplay it may actually be a lot better than I think it is, but on paper, that looks like a VERY nasty autoattack...that then pretty much sets up another almost immediate mantra ability to boot. It sounds dangerous...but not outright gamebreaking.

Other than that, I'm finding myself overall pleased at how you seek to distribute her power budget, more or less changing the nature of her abilities while using mantra in ways that embrace both the twin dragons, while also feeling more restricted by player choices. I think this unique balance of player choice to character identity, and old karma to new karma, would be much easier to accept than, for example, a guy with 5 different weapons, 100 ways to kill you, and no honest playstyle restrictions.

chipndip11/4/2020, 5:44:20 PM1 votes

STOP WITH THE SHIELD BOMB. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

Shirvallah1/4/2020, 9:36:23 PM1 votes

You’ve got my upvote.

[slayer-jinx-catface]

QuZeed YT1/5/2020, 9:51:08 AM1 votes

I didn't read this, but its about Karma, and Karma mains just want buffs. No, if you Riot buffs a fine champion like Karma, than I want a buff to Aphelios because he's not OP enough