So, I recently picked up Karma in the mid lane. And I feel like she is really strong, but I do have a few questions.
Maximum Morde2 votesIt depends. R+W doesnt always guarantee the kill because you lose damage over R+Q. Yes the root is longer meaning you might get another Q off plus the heal you might need to survive and the damage was enough already. It's situational, there is no correct answer to this question.
Same with the buildpath. Sometimes early offense is better if you can sucessfully bully. Sometimes mana endurance if it's going pretty even so you can stay in lane and farm. Sometimes defense if you are getting bullied.
I pick Karma into top mid jg and sup, though I'm more sucessfully with her Top or Mid. Jg is pretty mediocre at best but once she gets Runeglaive her clears are good. I don't like support in general because I'm an aggressive player and that style in bot lane hinges on you and your adc being on the same page or it fails hard
SirShaggy2 votesHi! Karma main here! I mostly play her support now but have plenty of experience with her in top and mid.
What ability you should mantra is always situational. Generally in a 1v1 it's always better to RQ for the best damage, and to just spam this any time it's up on your enemy laner if you can. However RW is better if: You're lower on health (say 50% or lower), you need the enhanced snare for more self-peel, or the enemy laner is tower diving you in the process of the fight. So... In most situations you want to RQ for the straight-up better damage but RW can be better if you can fully utilize the snare and % of missing health heal.
Either Morello or Athene's first item, unless you need a Zhonya's. Sometimes both. CDR is your best friend. You want your ult up as much as possible and Karma has a kit that relies on her spamming her abilities (so the mana regen helps a ton too). After that it depends on the enemy team... Liandry's if they're tanky for the burn on your slow. This is great for wearing down tanks. Luden's if you want straight-up burst and because she's a mage focused on constantly running around and kiting. Combined with Mantra it gives her huge spikes of damage, which is also great for sieging (RQ'ing an enemy under tower can burst them enough to prevent an engage). Zhonya's if you're gonna be taking AD damage, plus RW still works while you use the active. And stalling for time might get you your spells back up. ROA if you can get it early and don't need anything at the time. So farm lanes or lanes where you're stomping your opponent and need to scale up and stay alive to carry later-on. And of course, Deathcap at some point. Burst. Increases your AP overall. The quintessential AP damage item. For boots get Lucidity if you can make use of the CDR, otherwise Sorcs. And Karma works well with the extra movement speed so don't put them off for long.
Most are skill-based but in mid-lane...
Swain. He counters your W by having a lot of his damage based on your proximity towards him. It's pretty much useless to ever use this against him aggressively. He'll eventually get somewhat tanky and have his ult for sustain, making it very hard to poke him down. If he lands his CC you're dead. Make sure you're speedy enough to dodge this. Swain players safely farm in the early game which is when you should be trying to snowball using your ult. After that he'll outscale you (if you don't have a hypercarry on your team to support). He's underplayed, if someone picks Swain they usually know how to play him really well.
Malzahar. Wave clear for days. Being shoved under tower when you're supposed to be snowballing your early game lead suuucks. And he completely negates Karma's pseudo-mobile kiting mage playstyle with his ult later on. He can shove, sit back, and watch as you struggle to pick up cs, and if you make a move to duel him he'll just unload his combo and keep you from retaliating with his ult. Ask for ganks!
Talon. This is a really "feast or famine" situation on both sides. If you can harass him down early on, you win! However, smart Talon's won't let you do that and will play it safe early. Once he hits 6 say goodbye to your health. His burst combo is pretty instant and will 100-0 you if you're not careful. If he doesn't kill you with his combo his autos hurt like crazy too. If you try to tether him, you'll be in range for his abilities. He'll buy lifesteal and maybe even Hexdrinker to get through your harass. If he gets ahead he'll just jump on you with his blink and burst you over and over again. If you don't harass him down ASAP you'll be going back to base or dying every time he has his ult up, or he'll roam while you turret-hug. The only plus is your W gives sight on him if he ults.
Xerath. His range. Holy crap. If you're playing against a good Xerath he'll have you under tower eating Qs. You have to make decisive choices to engage on him to win this lane, or hope for a farm lane where he never pokes you. The problem with this is he can easily land his stun if you run at him and then use his entire combo. If you can juke your way up to him you should win the trade, but most Xerath players will never let you get close enough or zap your head off before you get the chance.
Zed. He counters your early game lane-pressure with his lane-pressure. If he's good, he'll shove you under turret and make you use your mana on clearing instead of poking him down. From there he can poke you down while you try to farm under tower. He takes ignite which counters your RW, which would normally save you from assassins who get up in your face. He can also escape your tether using his shadow. He makes Zhonya's your top priority, delaying your much needed CDR and mana regen. He's speedier than most mid-laners and builds life-steal so even if you do poke him he'll be able to mitigate a lot of it. The good thing is, if you play it safe, he shouldn't be able to kill you since you have defensive tools to keep him from diving you and your Q makes it so you can farm from far away. However, a smart Zed will just roam and snowball other lanes.
Veigar. Kind of like Talon. If you don't win super early he'll ult you for all your health. If you go in for a snare past-6 he'll place his snare in your way and ult your face off if you're close enough.
4.You mean actual lanes or champions that Karma counters? Lane-wise I prefer her support or top. She's one of the few supports that can carry a game by herself if you play it right. Her build path is even more flexible as a support. Her early-game power as a lane-bully applies tons of pressure. She synergized well with pretty much any ADC. She has burst and sticking power for Lucian/Quinn. Poke to go alongside Ezreal/Corki. Lane-control for Tristana/Kogmaw. And works great with Ashe since she offers her mobility and they're amazing kiting champions with plenty of CC for re-engaging. However, she's not much of a counter since she is so skill-based. Against Nami? Take ignite, don't waste mana, poke when you can, when you see an opening burst her down with mantra, ignite, and your ADC's damage. Against Leona? Don't get bursted, poke her from afar, snare her when she engages, trade as much damage back to her, abuse that early game since her level 1 is terrible. Against poke? Bitch pls, you are the ultimate poke support.
I guess you could say she has a few champs she "counters" as a support... Karma does do good against Morgana with her constant magic poke and multiple forms of CC. She's pretty good against Annie since she outranges her and can mitigate some of her burst. And Vayne is a favorite matchup of mine since your snare reveals her and you can harass her down easily early on. But again this is less about being a counter and more about skill, specifically your ability to capitalize on your strong early-game, and the synergy between you and your ADC.
In top-lane she's an extremely strong lane-bully against most matchups since she outranges them. Karma is a lot like Lulu in this regard but with less CC and game-changing ults, but more damage and carry potential. Pretty much anyone she can harass down and keep herself peeled from will lose without jungler help. Just keep tabs on your mana. Last time I played Karma top I destroyed a Darius by staying just out of range and weaving in attacks when I could. If they can jump on top of you, you'll probably lose. If they can't, congrats! You get to make their life a living hell!
In mid-lane she doesn't really counter anyone, which is why I recommend top or support. She's good against Fizz and Diana since she can make use of her snare, but again, if you can't win early they'll outdamage, burst you down, and roam. Karma is good at poking/kiting champs just outside their range, and extended fights/re-engages where she can get off multiples ults. In mid-lane you'll usually get 100-0'ed by assassins, or poked down by mages with longer range or higher burst. You have to be really smart with your trades. The only real plus of bringing her mid over most mages is, like I said, being a poor man's Lulu with her utility when teamfights come around... And even then Lulu has better wave-clear and better survivability/cc/playmaking potential (making her transition into late-game stronger). She's not a bad mid-laner by any means, just not particularly strong in any areas compared to popular picks.
5.In the pro scene? Not really. As much as I love her she doesn't have the huge play-making potential or burst damage needed to make picks. As a solo-queue support? Hell yeah! She is the support to turn to if you want to carry! In top and mid? Ehhh... If you're really confident with playing her. There are better picks in pretty much every case.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions. Sa ela sa tiri vi!
Hardstuck G41 votesThis is what I wanted to read. Thank you very much. I was starting to feel like Karma was getting boring, then I remembered other lanes exist xD
SirShaggy1 votesNo problem! Happy to help. I'd recommend trying her as a support. Your role in laning phase is to be the biggest pain in the ass you can be, which is extremely fun.
Abyssphere1 votesyes, karma is often a support
luckeyjoker1 votes