Why Karma's Proposed Changes Suck, from a 1k+ Ranked Game Karma Main

Updated for 5-15 PBE (see bottom)

So, before I start with this, I'll introduce myself. I am DGWolffumbra, originally named Wilbow, and I am a S4 Gold player that has probably by this point put in thousands of Karma ranked games because I've played almost nothing but her post-rework (and a fair amount pre-rework). I've played her in basically every role not called ADC, so you could say that I am at least somewhat familiar with her current playstyle.

1. Gathering Fire:

• CD Refund on spell hit increased to 2/2.5/3/3.5 at levels 1/6/11/16 from 2 at all levels
• CD Refund on Basic Attack still at 50% of spell hit value

The only issue is that power doesn't come for free. Her passive is already incredibly good late game since it basically scales exponentially with % CDR (and ranks in Mantra lower its CD significantly), and it is mediocre early-game. Mantra has around a 20 second CD late-game with many common builds, and her spells proc it constantly. There is no way this could be balanced without really nerfing the empowered effects, which essentially makes her less fun to play and removes meaningful choice from her toolkit, lowering her skill ceiling.

Focused Resolve (W) - Can now target monsters in addition to champions

This is amazing; I love this, and it's long been needed to make Karma jungle viable. Just wanted to point out that the changes aren't ALL bad.

Renewal (Mantra + W) - Reworked - both healing and bonus damage removed. - Now debuffs target for duration of tether + root. All damage dealt to target is increased by 10% (excludes true damage All damage dealt to target heals Karma for 20% of the damage dealt If the damage source is a champion on Karma's team (excluding Karma) they are also healed for 20% of damage dealt

Why does it suck? Well, let's look at Karma's design. She can damage with W and Q only (or R+E if these changes don't go through), meaning if you R+W, you're only getting 20% healing from a single Q. Which means you are reliant on other champions for R+W to function post-changes as it does now. From purely Karma's perspective, it's a heavy QoL nerf and kills her solo potential.

It's also a massive nerf to Karma support early game because her current iteration of R+W is basically what allows me to handle all-in champs (HINT Those supports that are oppressing bot lane in the current meta HINT). I typically use R+W when I, as Karma alone, want to NOT DIE or bait an enemy into being too aggressive and letting my ADC get a kill while getting away with a sliver of health. It's useful all game long and encourages Karma to build a little bulkier, which is always good because KARMA'S TOO FRAIL WITHOUT R+W AND ITEMS.

Defiance (Mantra + E) - No longer deals damage - Now increases target's shield by 30/90/150/210 (+.3 AP) - Aoe Shield amount is now 50% of primary target's shield amount from 30/70/110/150

This bothers me because her shield explosion on mantra has always been her defining feature as a champ and differentiates her from all of the other champions that use shields. Stop trying to shoehorn support APCs as pure supports, please? Wasn't shoehorning Zyra bot enough for you people? KARMA IS NOT JANNA. STOP TRYING TO MAKE THEM MORE SIMILAR. Karma being viable, but not OP, in multiple roles is an awesome thing. Why are you trying to ruin that? I don't...I don't understand.

Do you know what changes would make me happy as a Karma support main?

1. Lowering the cost of Q slightly (not E) like making it 50 mana at all ranks. I'm a poke support that's really limited on poke early game. Maxing Q first, even as support, feels necessary to be relevant, but 50-70 mana every few seconds for not that much damage unmantra'd hurts (especially post-MP5 nerfs).

2. W now affects monsters in addition to champions. Also, the cast range of W has been reduced by 50 but the tether range is increased by 50. Obvious reasons for both of these changes for anybody who has ever played Karma.

3. R+E AoE shield is now 60% of the primary target's shield amount. Everything else unchanged. This essentially keeps the numbers for the ability just about where they're at now while being infinitely more intuitive to players.

...And that's it.

UPDATE: A new iteration of changes is headed to PBE. This will replace the old changes talked about above.

In short, the big changes versus the old iteration are:

1. R+W heal is back
2. R+W damage is still gone, but the damage amp is replaced with a longer root when mantra'd (+.75/1/1.25/1.5 seconds)
3. W no longer affects monsters
4. Gathering Fire is now 2/2.5/3 seconds at level 1/7/13

I'd argue that this iteration is better than the last.

R+E iconic shield explosion is still gone, which saddens me. Not that it isn't being well compensated, but still. R+E feels a bit hollow without the damage.

R+W is a weird, but not necessarily a bad, change. I mean, it's a dueling mantra (1v1 focused), but Karma wouldn't really benefit from the extra root dueling-wise unless you had high % CDR and cast Q a second before the root solidifed. However, such situations mean you have to deal with the slightly awkward pause during Q cast, which makes doing that not always ideal. It's more of a huge boon during teamfights, because basically you're rooting a guy for enough time for your team to wipe him out of existence, but that clashes with the whole 1v1 focus of the mantra.

Keeping the heal is honestly the biggest deal here and is much appreciated.