Karma and why i like the pbe changes
Karma was my main support in season 4, i only got around 60 ranked games with her but considering i only played like 200 ranked games overall last season i would say calling it "main" is reasonable. (For those who care about it: I am/was in Plat and had a 57% winrate with her) I did play her in normals too of course and while i never went for solo lane Karma in ranked i did play it quite a lot in normals.
First of the changes that are currently on the pbe:
Gathering Fire (passive) CD refund on spell hit increased to 2/2.5/3 at level 1/7/13 from 2 at all levels. CD refund on basic attack increased to 1/1.25/1.5 at level 1/7/13 from 1 at all levels
Renewal (R+W) No longer deals extra damage New Effect: Increases root duration (if triggered) by .75/1/1.25/1.5 seconds
Inspire (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 from 80/120/160/200/240
Defiance (R+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
These changes are RELATIVE TO CURRENT LIVE VALUES! This means the heal on R+W is back to 20% of missing health.
We already got about 100000 posts about how everyone hates the pbe changes but i actually like them because:
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The Passive buff is HUGE. People tend to forget that her W procs the passive 3 times (full duration) meaning you get 9 seconds of reduction compared to 6 seconds on live. Karma will have Mantra up much more, which results in a higher dps in extended fights.
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Yes Karma loses 75/150/225/300 (+ 60% AP) from the R+W BUT from my experince playing Karma the heal was the reason why you casted R+W not the bonus damage. For losing the damage you get a 3.5 second root (at max rank) and this is enough time to hit them with 2 Qs in a 1on1 situation (if you got some cd reduction) or enough time for your team to destroy the poor guy in teamfights.
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Her empowered shield is now HUGE, like really really HUGE. 80/110/140/170/200 (+ 50% AP) + 30/90/150/210 (+30% AP), thats 410 + 80% AP at max ranks) and the overflow shield went from 150 (+ 30% AP) up to 205 + 40% AP
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4 Seconds lower Cooldown on E is great, Manacost reduced too? Awesome!
Most people are freaking out over the removed bonus damage from W because she "can't duel anyone now". I actually think her 1on1 potential is still the same with the changes. If you want to put out max damage you went for Q+R anyway, if you need the heal and use R+W you will lose 75/150/225/300 (+ 60% AP) but you get a longer snare. Thanks to the snare you will be able to hit more Qs and thanks to the buff to her passive you have a high chance of getting another Mantra before the fights is over which will actually result in MORE damage despite losing out on the bonus damage from the R+W. The lower Manacost and Cd on E will also help her out in solo lanes.
Yes, you can't use R+E to quickly get another Mantra in teamfights anymore but they buffed the passive to compensate for that so i think it will be fine. The damage gets traded with the huge buff to the shield.
Tl;dr That the changes are a really strong Buff to Support Karma is not in question and overall i think that the Buffs to her passive, root and shield might be able to compensate the removed damage for Solo lane Karma.
