How do people feel about Karma right now?

Illabethe··3 votes·2,736 views

I've played Karma since Season 4.

I rarely have played her in Season 8 at all, because quite frankly, she WAS getting unreliable early in season 8. Her 1 main skill damage kit and enhanced abilities of champs like Yasuo and Yi just made her not worth bringing out.

But..... as I smurf a little, and "Fill" gets me some unequivocal losses where I can't control the flow of my teammates.... I've started taking out Karma again.

But this time, I'm using a different rune set, different build, and the results are pretty scary, at least to me.

What I'm using:

Phase Rush Nimbus Cloak Celerity Gathering Storm

And the secondary is usually either Inspiration with Magical Footwear/Cosmic Insight, or Domination with Relentless Hunter/Taste of Blood.

Due to Karma's unique useage of Nimbus Cloak, she seems like a monster to me. I don't really rely on the Phase rush all that much, although I'm sure its constant proccing is helping..... but it seems to me like Karma is now in the state Season 7 Janna was in before her move speed nerf/damage buff.

I can sling shot across a lane so fast and Eing before attacking with R>Q is just natural to her kit, so this all pumps Celerity with AP bonuses.

I'm finding again.... she's only of the only champs who can stop a fed MasterYi and more or less duel him to death in his ult, when she has this kind of move speed.

But when I look at Lolalytics...... everyone playing Karma is still on Comet or Aery, and not really running a move speed kit, even Nimbus Cloak.

So my question is....... why aren't they?

And what condition do YOU think she's in?

My current build generally goes something like this:

item 3504 item 3174 item 3111 item 2065 as a core with conditionals like item 3905 item 3157 item 3065 item 3135 item 3143 . Seems to work phenomenally at controlling a game.

15 Comments

7thHeaven3 votes

Karma was deleted. The current karma is new girl with same name.

Paroe1 votes

{quoted}

Karma was deleted. The current karma is new girl with same name.

Ya know, we said the same thing about Malzahar and Sion...

M00ndanc31 votes

Sad thing is, is that lore wise her name isnt even karma, karma is more of a title given to the person who is the reincarnation of karma

Jerry SeinfeId1 votes

quite a few champs go by different names than their actual names.

QuadraBananas2 votes

karma is a b**ch

Paroe2 votes

Karma is, and always have been, a very strong poke mage. Building her as a typical AP champion works just as well as an off-enchanter.

Illabethe2 votes

I disagree there. She's not spammy enough with Q to actually be a strong poke mage. The most you're realistically going to pull out of a Q vs a non resist built target is like 1400 damage, which late game is nothing. It gets to a point where to actually be able to do something, she actually has to hit the same skills several times to pull off kills, whereas other mages can do it in one combo.

Paroe2 votes

{quoted}

I disagree there. She's not spammy enough with Q to actually be a strong poke mage. The most you're realistically going to pull out of a Q vs a non resist built target is like 1400 damage, which late game is nothing. It gets to a point where to actually be able to do something, she actually has to hit the same skills several times to pull off kills, whereas other mages can do it in one combo.

Her empowered Q really hurts, and even her regular Qs hurt. You dont need to be spammy to be a poke mage, you just need to hurt enough for the damage to stick. Karma definitely hurts that hard.

Also, Poke mages are about securing kills not 1v1ing.

SilverSquid1 votes

Poke mages are about securing kills not 1v1ing.

That's assassins. Pokemages are about dealing reliable damage from afar. Karma's Q isn't really long range, but RQ is. And it's really easy to hit. So easy to hit, in fact, that you hit all kinds of stuff, you don't wanna hit. Minions, plants, clones, tanks, you name it.

Karma isn't a good pokemage. Sure, it's what RQ does best, poke, but the rest of Karma doesn't. If, like Lux, she had OTHER spells, that made her excell at long range, you would have a case there, but her W is shortranged and wants tankstats and E is pure enchanter. Well, and passive and R are really all and nothing.

It's so weird, since Karma's scalings are all over the place, and so are her spells, I have seen so many people do well on a lot of wonky builds and her most successful builds seem to change every couple of patches. I have done bruiser builds, speedy stuff like OP and some other stuff. It all kinda works, especially if it fits you and your playstyle. Are other champs better suited for it? Yeah. Is Karma still a game design mess? I suppose so. But it's kind of nice to see so many different playstyles on her.

Hexs Fortune2 votes

Karma needs a VGU. Riot, include the fans this time.

S V 1 votes

To answer your question, it's that manaflow band provides sustained poke and reliable resource in keeping that mana up and the enemies low. The Nimbus cloak is too inconsistent because it has a cooldown of a lengthy 60 seconds early game without any cdr. I don't think Phase Rush is good here because Aerie helps in the small amount of shielding and extra damage that can proc off auto attacks in contrast to the Phase Rush's only movement speed utility that you need to get 3 autos/abilities off for. I'm pretty sure Celerity is a standard. Normally supports go Scorch instead of Gathering Storm (Not me because I'm a greedy player) to have higher poke and a better early game so your ADC can lane easier. Scorch increases your poke and helps strengthens the bot lane's early game which is crucial for your main damage dealer (Hopefully) the adc/apc.
As of right now, I think she's alright I guess. The recent Patch wasn't necessary.

Illabethe1 votes

My argument is and always has been that Mobility trumps shielding and damage. When you're moving at almost 700 move speed, you can dodge almost every skill shot and the game begins to seem like it's moving in slow motion. Nimbus pre 6 means you can secure kills and have more move speed than anyone else... earlier in the game.

Also, Karma Rushes CDR, so I don't see how Nimbus is a problem.

My last game, I literally went item 3096 item 3504 item 3174 Mid. That's 30% CDR on its own, and Cosmic Insight to 35%. And those items are pretty cheap.

Celerity is standard, but I don't know why people pick it if they don't pick other mobility options. My Celerity on Nimbus can gain up to some +89 AP to empower some non ult Q or W.

Scorch I've never understood, other than the fact it can aoe burn. The damage is so low compared to other options for its cooldown. 20 sec cooldown for a 20-60 damage skill that can be reduced in potency because it's magic? Cheap Shot does it better imo (4 Sec cooldown, 40 TRUE damage). I might take it if it scaled 20-90, but atm Cheap shot just does it better.

I understand Manaflow, but I don't think it's necessary. Karma has really good auto attacks for lane. She can conserve mana until she actually has items to augment the recovery. I mean I'd rather auto attack minions and kill my mid opponent level 3-4 in 2 volleys of her skills rather than spam 8 times and waste mana, and not hit or keep getting denied the kill because they know you're aggressive.

Phase Rush. I'm a heavy abuser of it so I proc it reliably and strongly every game on several champs: Evelynn Karma Ornn Poppy Pyke Zyra all heavily abuse Phase rush at the right times, and actually pull off more damage with it than without it, and get out of engages pretty fast (Funny as hell to see Zyra engage and pop off Q/E hits and plants acting as the 3rd source, and Zyra can either sling shot toward or away from her targets at speeds that just look Yi stupid)

meowwow71 votes

i love using nimbus cloak on karma but when i do i don't max q first i go for either w or e

M00ndanc31 votes

I play karma with glacial augment and ingenious hunter with this build item 3030 item 3905 item 1001 item 3003 item 3157 with the last item being either a support item or a situational item such as locket. This builds soul purpose is to make it hard for the enemy to do anything productive.

Kaìju1 votes

RQ when I try to farm feels really fun to play against.

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