Karma buffs suggestion
Riot I like what you’re doing with Karma for the most part, but I’d like to make one suggestion on her changes.
Current changes (in testing)
- Mana (lvl 1): 375 > 350
- Mana (lvl 18): 1224 > 1200
- Mana regain (lvl18): 22.1 > 20
- Soulflare detonation damage: 50/150/250/350 > 35/140/245/350
Buffs
- Mana regain (lvl 1): 8.5 > 11.5 (platues at 6)
- Armor (lvl 1): 20.4 > 26
- Armor (lvl18): 89.6 > 90.6
- Q missile splash radius: 250 > 300
- E mana cost: 60/65/70/75/80
Now I understand that you’re hesitant to really give better buffs to Karma for a variety of reasons.
- She’s got a high play rate (but not winrate) in plat +
- You don’t want to do any major changes because she’s got an update coming up soon.
- You think she’s one of those “volitile champions” where the smallest buff will spiral her into being OP, which I disagree with, but I’ll get into why later.
But I don’t think these buffs will be enough to make her even decent again. Don’t get me wrong it’s obviously an overall buff, but I feel like about half the buffs and nerfs could be implemented better.
Positive feedback
Before I talk about my opinions on what I think should be done, I want to give credit where it’s due.
- The slight mana nerfs and slight mana buffs to E where a good idea.
It’s frustrating fighting Karma’s who just rush CDR and mana and just zone you off by constantly throwing Q’s but at the same time it doesn’t feel good when the Karma player consistently protects their allies only to run out of mana WAY too fast. This change nerfs one annoying playstyle and buffs a rewarding one. And it’s about time Karma got that compensation buff after the shield duration nerfs .
- Armor changes
Now, if you’re wondering why Karma’s starting armor was so low in the first place there’s a few reasons. Tank Karma’s a thing, so being able to punish her early needed to be an option, Karma overall is very oppressive, so being able to counter that oppression is important, and Karma’s been treated like an enchanter rather than a battlemage, so less tank stats. This buff encourages her to play risky rather than poking from safety, and ups her dueling in all stages of the game.
current changes Recommendations/Alterations
Now for the bits I don’t like, I’ll be going from what I think is the least important to most important.
- Soulflare detonation damage (50/150/250/350 > 35/140/245/350)
Riot’s main reason for nerfig this was to keep Karma’s waveclear in check. With the radius increase on her Base Q her waveclear was ever so slightly increased, so they needed to ever so slightly decrease it somewhere else. However I recommend that you decrease the initial shots bonus damage rather than the second detonation.
Recommend instead
- Soulflare initial shot bonus damage: 25/75/125/175 > 10/65/120/175
- Second detonation damage unchanged (50/150/250/350)
Technically this is a bigger nerf since she won’t have as much initial burst on Q. But I don’t think you should nerf the second detonation since it’s delayed damage it should be high. Instead nerf the initial damage to hurt her waveclear and slightly increase her skill expression.
- Mana regain changes (lvl 1: 8.5>11.5 ; lvl 18: 22.1>20)
I feel like this buff encourages Karma to snowball a lead to use effectively since this only buffs her pre 6 mana regain and nerfs everything else, so unless you snowball this buff will feel invisible. I don’t think focusing this buff on Karma’s early game was a good idea, I would’ve instead given her a slighter buff early and better mana per level instead.
- Q AOE buff (250>300)
No. The previous two I could see how my assessment could be incorrect, but with this spell I 100% guarantee it will make Karma more frustrating to play without giving her any player satisfaction in return. This will do 2 things: Buff Karma’s waveclear and make poking through minions easier, and it’s the second point that I don’t like. Karma’s poke should be more rewarding, but NEVER easier. It’s already the most basic of basic skill shots so hitting it is pretty darn easy already.
- Reccomendation: add a new interaction, targets hit directly with Q take bonus damage (example: 10/15/20/25/30 (+10% AP))
This is only an example of what I’d rather have but something like this will make aiming Q’s more rewarding, but not any easier to pull off.
I understand you think giving Karma any major buffs will cause her to become an oppressive monster, but I think that’s more because you’re inconsistent buffing on her before has been questionable rather than the champion being volitile.
Doing things like:
- doubling her shield AP ratio without also reducing Ult shield bonus
- increasing her passive flat number cooldowns without thinking about how that would effect her gameplay at 40% CDR
- Taking away shieldbomb and making her damage solely rely on Q
These changes MADE her volitile as a champion. Giving her less gameplay options but buffing her remaining few to a point that makes her annoying as hell and unenjoyable at the same time. You can give better buffs to Karma, just think about potential ramifications they could have.
