New Karma: Complete Analysis

Over the last two updates, a number of updates have been made to Karma. According to ricklessabandon, who is behind these balance changes, the goal is to:

1. Give her more power as a support
2. Give her higher scaling into the lategame So, let's take a look at her gameplay, skills, utility, and numbers to see if the changes accomplish that.

By way of credentials, I've been maining Karma since her rework. By rank, I've carried as Support Karma from silver to Plat 5, and like to think I play her pretty well. In my opinion, the things that currently make her effective are:

1. A variable and high utility kit, that can be used responsively to a wider variety of circumstances than most champions.
2. The versatility to adapt well to the needs of the team, from full utility, to off-tank, to apc.
3. A strong laning phase, including the ability to counter both all-in and poke lanes through smart play by poking hard enough that the enemy laners don't have enough hp to confidently engage in a 2v2.
4. The ability to reset her Mantra quickly in a teamfight scenario by using opportune aoe abilities.
5. Her power to zone high dps champions from a teamfight using her empowered Q.

An average game for me as is: Laning phase skills: Q - Poke down enemy laners, slow enemies that are trying to get in range to engage W - All in snare, when everything is setup to win 2v2 E - Used in trades to mitigate damage to adc, get in range for W, win trades R - Mostly used to empower Q when you can hit both enemy adc and support, W in 1v1 or 2v2 situations in which you're being focused, or baits under tower.

Midgame skills: I generally roam a lot during the midgame as Karma, getting killing and taking towers where lanes are behind, adding map pressure, and objective control. Q - Good for poking down enemy laners, putting your teammate at an advantage so the tower can be taken. Extra slow on escaping enemies. W - Used especially in 1v1s, good for setting up kills for teammates. E - Mostly for getting around the map, mitigating enemy poke. R - Used more frequently on W than during laning phase, RW is by far the best choice in any 1v1 situation because it does more consistent damage than Q, and the healing, especially when low, is huge when combined with shield. Q is empowered any time you can hit two or more enemies, or need to zone someone. RE is only used in medium to large skirmishes where its damage will hit three or more enemies.

Lategame skills: Lategame is all about objective control and teamfighting. Karma's teamfight is probably the main reason I do as well with her as I do. Q - Used for either dealing damage to a cluster of people, poking down enemies before a teamfight, or zoning an adc or apc during a teamfight. W - Generally used to stop anyone that tries to dive the adc or apc. E - Saved for the adc or apc, to allow them to position, deal damage, and prevent damage. R - Mantra is most important at this stage in the game. I always use it on W in a 1v1, but that's uncommon lategame. My usual strategy is to use E to help my top or jungler dive their carries, then use RE on my team, because it both shields the team and almost instantly resets Mantra due to the two teams being mixed together so much. After getting the mantra reset, I use RQ on the most dangerous carry on the enemy team while snaring any diving enemies. RQ is great for zoning out a carry for a few seconds, and does enough damage to create kill opportunities for teammates.

Karma's skills in this patch, not including costs, since they haven't changed.

Passive Autos reduce Mantra cooldown by 1 second, spells by 2 seconds

Q MAGIC DAMAGE: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+ 60% AP) 25% slow for 1.5 seconds

Empowered Q BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE: 25 / 75 / 125 / 175 (+ 30% AP) 50% slow for 1.5 seconds 1.5 second delay DETONATION MAGIC DAMAGE: 50 / 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 60% AP) Max potential damage 155/350/590/785 (+ 150% AP)

W MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+ 60% AP) (three increments over two seconds) 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 root if enemy stays in 675 radius for two seconds.

Empowered W BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE: 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 (+ 60% AP) Same snare, but within 1000 radius 20% (+ 1% AP) * missing hp heal on cast and on snare

E SHIELD: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 50% AP) for 4 seconds BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% for 1.5 seconds

Empowered E AOE SHIELD: 30 / 70 / 110 / 150 (+ 30% AP) MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 140 / 220 / 300 (+ 60% AP) BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: 60% for 1.5 seconds, all within 600 radius

Karma's skills on PBE Updated

Passive Autos lower Mantra cooldown by 1/1.25/1.5 (at 1, 7, 13 strangely) Spells lower Mantra by 2/2.5/3

Straight buff, positive change. Maybe people will realize she has a passive now. Buffed by 0/.25/.5 and 0/.5/1 compared to live.

Q & Empowered Q No changes

W 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+ 90% AP) 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 root if enemy stays in 675 radius for two seconds. Can target monsters.

Rickless just posted an update to this, and it was exactly what the community was asking for. The ability to target minions has returned, which isn't a bit deal for normal W, but it is for RW. The increased scaling fomr 60% - 90% is nice as well. It will hit harder than Q lategame, which makes sense, because the tether is much harder to land. Good buff!

Empowered W All bonus damage from Mantra removed, deals the recently increased W damage. 20% missing health heal on cast and on snare. (Need to confirm) Snare increased to 2.75/3/3.25/3.5 seconds

I haven't been able to confirm this yet, but it seems her original healing has been restored, which was the biggest thing we've been asking for. The notes Rickless has been posting are horrendous, sadly, and it's hard to tell. The first update says the healing was removed, and no update has been posted since then, but it does seem to be back. Assuming these new numbers are accurate, lane and duelist Karma are back, just will some waveclear nerfs and snare buffs. The skill still won't do as much damage as it used to with a full tether, but the increased snare is a fair compensation for that.

E Cooldown lowered to 10/9/8/7/6 seconds from 10 seconds at all ranks Mana cost lowered to 60/65/70/75/80 from 60/70/80/90/100. Shield amount decreased to 80/110/140/170/200 (+30% AP) from 80/120/160/200/240 (+30% AP)

More shields more often, slightly smaller. Decent buff.

Empowered E No longer deals damage Now increases primary shield by 30/90/150/210 (+30% AP) AoE shield amount increased to 50% of the primary target's shield from 30/70/100/150

Primary shield received a slight buff, on top of the small buff on base E. The numbers are a little hard to calculate for this, so I'm going to put out a scenario where Karma goes mostly AP, ending the game with around 600, and levels shield second. It's not stated that the normal shield still has the .3 AP scaling, but I'm just going to go with the assumption that it does, giving the primary mantra shield a .6 ap scaling. The numbers would be then, roughly: AoE shield goes from 30/90/150/210 (+30% AP) to around 55 (+39 at 65 AP)/100(+72 at 120 AP)/145(+144 at 240 AP)/160(+240 at 400 AP)/205(+360 at 600 AP). So, this is a good buff overall IF you're building AP on her, which is fairly normal. Heaving hp builds, such as Jungle or Top, or full utility builds, or builds that level shield 3rd (leveling shield 2nd is expected on support, but leveling W second is normal for Karma top. At least it was, there is little reason to do so anymore) will have roughly the same AoE shield as before. The biggest change is the damage, which would lose 60 / 140 / 220 / 300 (+ 60% AP) magic damage. The two main reasons I ever use RE are to get a fast cooldown on Mantra during a teamfight and to fast push waves of minions. I use RE very, very rarely to setup engages, because Mantra is so critical during the teamfight itself, and there are better ways to engage. The new RE would provide a bigger shield for four seconds, and could be impactful during a teamfight in ways that the current shield isn't. It seems the emphasis is to make it more of a standard AoE shield, and less of a unique, useful, versatile spell.

Overall positive changes: Increase her snare time by .75/1/1.25/1.5, at the cost of 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 ( + 30% AP) Lets her use smaller shields more frequently. Buffs her passive to reset Mantra in general skirmishes. Increases potential AoE shields for AP builds.

Overall negative changes: Decrease the damage in her overall kit by 135 / 290 / 445 / 600 (+ 90% AP) Removes many reasons to use R on anything but Q, removing one of her most dynamic and unique aspects, and possibly the main reason I play her. Removes her ability to reset Mantra quickly in teamfight scenarios.

Updated PBE skill and analysis This third wave of changes was a big move in the right direction. Many of the parts the community hated most have been removed, the ability to heal for RW has been finally restored, but the shield bomb is still absent. Rather than being a net loss, the parts of Karma that have been removed are being traded for decent buffs, and she should be fairly strong in her current rendition as Support, Mid/Top, and even Jungle. She'll have greater difficulty quickly clearing waves, but will be able to shield for more during teamfights or snare for longer. The current trick of being able to Mantra twice during a single teamfight has been removed by removing the damage on RE, so it will only be possible if you get an exceptionally lucky RQ. I will need to play her to be sure, but these changes seem like a net buff now.