Boards›Gameplay

karma 5.10 more of a hard hitting Nerf than stated buff?

Vexed Hex·5/28/2015, 11:49:12 PM·2 votes·1,249 views

Is it just me or did they really gut Karma in 5.10 hard core! They stripped the damaged from both mantraed w and e. They reduced the shield amount of her e by 40 for herself and by 50 for the team shield. Now they decreased the mana cost and the cool down slightly but the cool down is not going to help you when you are trying to block an attack that already is going to do more damage than the shield can protect against. So in reality it would be better to have a shield that can absorb more initial damage. They also stripped the extra damage from her w and increased its scaling from .6 to .9 now i have not done the calculations for this if someone has please chime in but at max level the bonus damage on w was +300 (+.6ap). Now admittedly i am not for certain but i really doubt we can reach the same damage level with just an extra .3 of scaling on W. The only buff i see out of all these nerfs is the plus 1 lousy second on her mantra refund passive for a spell hit and a pathetic .5 seconds on a basic attack. Did Riot forget that a fight typically only last maybe 20-30 seconds tops. What good is this going to do you?

5 Comments

jmonster1295/29/2015, 9:23:22 AM2 votes

i mean if you look at her bread and butter combo of W->RQ, she got buffed in damage actually

Caturra5/29/2015, 3:41:45 PM2 votes

THEY GUTTED HER! 8( I am Karma main support, so I'm just going to play with item builds and see if I can find something to supplement the damage that got taken away, at least for the W+R sustain. So sad. v.v But complaining won't fix it so working around it seems like the only option.

My theoretical answer: Hextech Gunblade. It will change the way I play her slightly but the CR on the item might be somewhat similar to the CR on the mantra with basic attacks and spells providing reductions. The bonus damage from the Gunblade can supplement the loss of the bonus damage. Also lifesteal and spell vamp might provide additional sustain that was lost with W and grant even more, particularly when coupled with Spirit visage. AD is not part of her kit but I play her as a harass support so it might work for me. It is inevitable that you will have to resort to AA when your spells are on CD, so the increased damage might prove to be useful. The Gunblade so provides as much AP as Will of the Ancients, another spell vamp item good on Karma. Just spitballing.

Another item to help with her shields would be Ardent Censor, which provides bonus damage for the team with Karma's R+E. (Or would it?) That extra damage could supplement the damage that was taken from her shield bomb, which was fakking awesome, agreed! Anyway, it's not a tanky item like ROA, and I like for Karma to be able to take a hit to stay in fights longer and provide more utility, and I like her to be able to kite for longer to get more valuable players out of trouble. But maybe with the added sustain from the spell vamp + life steal the loss of health wouldn't be such a big deal?

Dark Nephthys5/29/2015, 1:01:10 AM1 votes

They nerfed her damage to make her more utility based. Basically...She got the Zyra treatment imo. She lost damage and is some what being forced into support now (instead of being a decent Top or Mid). Although they did make her W now work on monsters, so maybe she can work as a Jungler...although that might still be a bit tough for her.

Other then the lowered mana cost, and higher refund with passive they did add a few buffs to her. They did lower her normal shield amount but her Mantra shield for herself and her allies are stronger now (or...should be) and they're is one huge buff that she got which makes me really think they're trying to force her into Support or Jungle...and that's her increased Root from her Mantra W. Mantra W now increases the duration of her root by up to 1.25 seconds. Meaning at max rank, her root lasts for 3.25 seconds. Remember all the people complaining about Morgana's easy to dodge, stand behind minions counterplay 3 second snare? Well...she'll have a 3.25 second point and click root lol...

I'll have to see how she feels now...I don't know if I like how much damage was removed from her.

Rico Jungle Only5/29/2015, 1:06:52 AM1 votes

Note: you also forgot the other buff you stated in your own text the upping of normal W's AP ratio jumping to .9 from .6.

ONTO discussion, these changes help supp karma...i don't care much (and i doubt you do either) about supp karma, I play her mid/top. SO, this post will be from that context. (Sidenote: Jungle Karma from what I've heard is more viable...have yet to confirm...)

Mid/Top Karma:

Passive: Buff and helps her late game Q: Unchanged W: Total Buff for her. -Context: For offensive laning Karma's its encouraged you use your RQ for massive burst, followed by a high damage W. RW: Situational Buff -Context: Still gives the heal, still gives the .9 AP dmg (yeah, no bonus dmg, I know), and has an increased root effect. How is this beneficial in consideration to loss of damage on a laning Karma (is what you're going to ask)? I see it as a way to allow a ally jungler easily follow up on damage/cc the enemy for you. It could also be used as an escape to cc, if in a 1 v 2 situation, one of the laners before running away. That bonus root does make a difference. E: Overall just a balance -Context: Less Shield sure, but less mana and CD is good. Think about it this way: If you go down the CD route, (20% runes and masteries at start is very easy to achieve, throw in a Athene's for 40%) you will have the shield up nearly 100% of the time, with a .8 sec CD in-between. (Do the math...) Kinda cool, huh? RE: Nerf -Context: I, as a Karma advocate, miss the shield bomb. It was facking epic. We get a bigger shield, sure, and better late game fantasy, but I DO miss it...

I really only consider it to be 1 nerf. If you build CD into Pure AP(Athene's into the 3 omega 120 AP items, you will like it.

Upvote me at the very least if you found any of this meaningful. hahaha

Shera646/3/2015, 4:14:23 AM1 votes

Yeah, I agree. As an avid Karma user, I am a little disappointed on the changes. I'd like to hear from others too to see the changes make her more appealing to other players. sad karma