Serious question, not trying to be negitive on the Karma change but....

Blue Moon Wolf·10/24/2018, 7:12:59 PM·25 votes·11,649 views

Wasn't the whole "mana battery thing" removed from because it was bad for the game? Don't get me wrong, I loved the mechanic as a concept and what's more Karma can't heal allies so it does make a bit more sense on her then someone who can heal allies, but I swear I heard a Rioter say the mechanic was bad for the game and it wouldn't be implemented again. Is it the fact that she has to empower her W with her ult that makes it healthier? Again, not trying to make any statement on the change one way or the other, just generally curious what the thinking behind this change was.

15 Comments

Winterkill10/24/2018, 7:26:10 PM9 votes

It was. I remember when they removed it.

That's not the problem though. Karma players wanted a lot of things to come back, most notably shield bomb or another damage option. Like always, the actual problematic kit wasnt worked on. The numbers change is a common theme.

AXayahAccount10/25/2018, 3:50:52 AM7 votes

The mana battery WITH healing was the problem I think.

ModCaptainMårvelous10/25/2018, 11:42:20 AM5 votes

A few people already brought it up here but:

#Soraka's Mana was a basic ability, Karma's is an empowered ability.

Soraka could spam this spell with impunity and really didn't have to suffer or lose out. Basically the only drawback to using it was "Oh I can't silence an enemy". Plus Soraka could cast it on herself. Karma can only give mana with an RW combo on an ally, a much higher resource cost as Karma can't mana herself back up in lane and misses out on Q poke/mass shield.

#Soraka had a heal, Karma does not.

Excluding RW on an enemy (which doesn't count), Karma can't heal her ally indefinitely or really keep herself in the fight, so she's susceptible to being bullied out of lane. Old Soraka could heal herself, then mana back up, and just repeat an endless cycle of keeping herself alive and her ally alive that could only be halted by the hardest of engages.

I don't blame you for asking though. This is a really good example case of how a mechanic once deemed unhealthy can return to the game in some capacity, barring an appropriate power budget and a much more heavily restricted design.

Tenth Leper10/24/2018, 9:16:51 PM3 votes

I think it serves a slightly different purpose here than on old Raka. Raka kept mana and hp up to keep people in lane. Karma looks to be giving mana to help pay the cost of the increased ability usage so the ally doesn't force themselves out of lane

lunnipls10/25/2018, 6:55:55 PM2 votes

betting she's gonna be the next hated champ w/ her cd refresh mech empowered or not

Velzard of Koz10/25/2018, 2:41:52 PM1 votes

Wait I thought it was supposed to meant Karma restores herself Mana but the Mana is based on ally's Maximum Mana, lol.

AstreaSoul10/25/2018, 8:54:06 AM1 votes

Old Soraka's mana battery was literally free resources pulled out of thin air - Karma in this case would have to be committing her R+W, which is basically her entire lane+gank assist pressure down for a significant amount of time.

Steelflame10/25/2018, 3:06:23 AM1 votes

Karma's RW is a bit more conditional than old Raka's E. Also, Karma can't HEAL someone other than her, so she isn't able to just turn into a mobile fountain.

The rework to her passive also means Riot can now better balance between the best and worst case scenarios for Karma (Extremely good ones who constantly weave autos and land spells to minimize mantra CD) and bad ones (Ones that... don't) meaning they can better balance her between pro play and regular play, meaning she may actually be allowed to be a champion with actual numbers in regular play and not completely dominate the pro scene as support.

Death by Glamour10/24/2018, 8:27:34 PM1 votes

sorry maybe its because ive been at work for 14hours but who/what/where does it say she is getting such a change?