Karma Rework Idea

Goal is to bring back much of Old Karma and to keep the good from the rework. I hope you enjoy my idea to fix Karma. My numbers will not be close to right, but the abilities changes are my main focus.

Passive

Old: Inner Flame

Karma gains 0.3 − 1.3 (based on level) bonus ability power for every 1% missing health.

Current: Gathering Fire

INNATE: Karma reduces Mantra's cooldown by 2 / 3 / 4 (based on level) seconds every time she damages an enemy champion with an ability, halved to 1 / 1.5 / 2 (based on level) seconds on her basic attacks.

Proposed: Unchanged

I personally don’t have a good replacement currently for this ability and it does at least have skill expression and forces her to be in the fight to use which I agree with.

First Ability(Q)

Old: Heavenly Wave

ACTIVE: Karma sends forth a wave of hidden blades from her fans, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a cone in front of her.

Mantra: Heavenly Wave also heals Karma and her allies in the cone.

Range: 700

Damage: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 / 270 (+ 60% AP)

Heal: 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 (+ 5% (+ 2% per 100 AP) missing health)

Cooldown: 6 seconds

Current: Inner Flame

ACTIVE: Karma fires a burst of spiritual energy in the target direction, detonating with the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage and slowing all enemies around the target by 25% for 1.5 seconds.

Mantra: SOULFLARE: Inner Flame detonates upon hitting an enemy or reaching maximum range, dealing bonus magic damage in an increased area. An area lingers around the detonation for 1.5 seconds, slowing all enemies inside by 50%, after which it explodes, dealing magic damage to all enemies inside.

Range: 950 Effect Radius: 280

Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+ 60% AP) Bonus Damage: 25 / 75 / 125 / 175 (+ 30% AP) Dentenation Damage: 35 / 140 / 245 / 350 (+ 60% AP)

Cooldown: 7 / 6.5 / 6 / 5.5 / 5

Proposed: Inner Flame

ACTIVE: Karma fires a burst of spiritual energy in the target direction, detonating with the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage and slowing all enemies around the target by 25% for 1.5 seconds.

Mantra: SOULFLARE: Inner Flame detonates upon hitting an enemy or reaching maximum range target location, dealing bonus magic damage in an increased area. An area lingers around the detonation for 1.5 seconds, slowing all enemies inside by 50%, after which it explodes, dealing magic damage to all enemies healing all allies inside.

Range: 950 Effect Radius: 280

Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 / 280 (+ 60% AP) Bonus Damage: 25 / 75 / 125 / 175 (+ 30% AP)

Dentenation Healing: 35 / 140 / 245 / 350 (+ 5% (+ 2% per 100 AP) maximum health)

Pretty much with her Inner Flame I wanted to bring back Karma's ability to heal her allies that was lost with the Rework. I also wanted to remove some damage to open up damage in the rest of her kit. I think that this change will Primarily help support Karma, but will still be good for mid Karma adding some good utility to her.

Now that the Mantra Q is targeted on the ground or stops at the first champion hit minions will no longer plague Karma, but enemies will still be able to position behind allies to avoid it.

Second Ability(W)

Old: Soul Bond

Active: Karma creates a tether between herself and a target ally or a target enemy for up to 5 seconds, breaking if the target becomes stealthed. Affected allies gain bonus movement speed while affected enemies are slowed and take magic damage.

Any champion, whether ally or enemy, who walks through the tether is granted the same movement speed modifier for 3 seconds.

Mantra: Spirit Bond grants twice its movement speed modifier.

Range: 800

Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 / 305 (+ 70% AP)

Movement Speed Modifier: 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20%

Mantra: 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40%

Current: Focused Resolve

Active: Karma exerts her will over a target enemy champion or monster, dealing magic damage and forming a tether between them for up to 2 seconds, during which the target is revealed.

If the tether holds for the duration, the target is dealt the same magic damage and is rooted for a short duration.

Mantra: Renewal - Focused Resolve's root duration is increased, and heals Karma on-cast and once more when the target dies while tethered or is rooted.

Range: 675 Tether range: 1000

Damage: 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+ 45% AP) Total Damage: 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (90% AP)

Root Duration: 1.4 / 1.55 / 1.7 / 1.85 / 2

Mantra Root: 0.5 / 0.75 / 1 / 1.25

Self Heal: 20% (+1% per 100 ability power) + 20% (+1% per 100 ability power)

Proposed: Soul Bond/Focused Resolve

Ally cast: Soul Bond - Karma and one if her allies become soul bound, both receiving a movement speed while bound. The connection between Karma and her ally can run off to others if they pass between them giving those untargeted allies half the buff. Enemies that pass between the bond are damaged.

Enemy cast: Focused Resolve - Karma steals movement speed from her enemy. Any enemies that run between the tether receive damage. If Karma stays connected to the enemy through the entire duration the enemy is slowed for a higher amount and has their defenses reduced.

Mantra Ally - 10% bonus movement speed and damage

Mantra Enemy - Reduce defenses for half of the regular ability during the slow and root if still connected at the end.

Range: 700 Tether Range:800

Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 / 305 (+ 70% AP)

Movement Speed Buff: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35%

Movement Speed Steal: 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20%

Defense Reduction: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% (1/6/11/16)

Root Duration: 0.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 2 seconds (1/6/11/16)

I believe that offer Karma an ally and enemy interaction on this ability is crucial to making it feel better both as a Support and as a Solo laner. I think that this ability now will offer Karma with a good reason to play with positioning more in mind since using it to its full potential requires you to work with your ally or try to manipulate your opponents. I removed the heal and added it to her Q since it was taking up too much of this abilities power budget and made anyone not playing tank Karma top feel unsatisfied using it. I think bringing this ability back to a closer form to the pre-reworked version is a huge upgrade since I believe at the time it was one of the most unique abilities in the game, but was a little hard to conceptually use because players were much worse back then.

Third Ability(E)

Old: Soul Shield

Active: Karma shields herself or the target ally for 5 seconds.

Shield Value: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 / 280 (+ 80% AP)

Mantra: Soul Shield sends forth a burst of energy, dealing magic damage to enemy units around her target.

Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 / 280 (+ 80% AP)

Current: Inspire

Active: Karma shields the target allied champion or herself for 2.5 seconds, granting them movement speed for 1.5 seconds.

Shield Value: 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+ 50% AP)

Movement Speed: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%

Mantra: Defiance: Inspire's shield is increased. Allied champions near the target are shielded for 30% of the target's shield and gain the same  movement speed, both for their same durations.

Proposed: Inspire

Karma shields the target allied champion or herself for 2.5 seconds, granting them bonus damage for 1.5 seconds or until the shield is broken.

Shield Value: 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+ 60% AP)

Bonus Damage: 4% + (1% per 100 AP)

Mantra: sends forth a burst of energy, dealing magic damage to enemy units around her target.

Damage: 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+ 60% AP)

Removing her AoE shield will definitely turn many people against my proposed changes and I understand that. I believe that the power residing in her current Mantra E is far too high to ever feel good to use while being balanced. I also believe it is important to give Karma a way to damage the back line which would drastically help Solo lane Karma. I didn't forget about support Karma and that is why I added the damage amp the her E. I think this ability will definitely be important to how a good Karma plays. Also as a side note having only a single damaging ability has never worked out well for a champion design.

Fourth Ability(R)

Old: Mantra

Active: Karma empowers her next ability to grant it an additional effect. Karma stores a Mantra charge every few seconds, up to a maximum of 2 stored at once.

Karma begins with one rank in Mantra and she innately increases it at levels 7 and 13.

Recharge: 30 / 25 / 20

Current: Mantra

Active: Karma empowers her next basic ability within 8 seconds for an additional effect.

Karma begins the game with one rank in Mantra.

Cooldown: 45 / 42 / 39 / 36

Proposed: Mantra

Active: Karma empowers her next basic ability within 8 seconds for an additional effect. (Separate cooldown than her basic abilities, so she could use a Mantra ability and immediately follow with the same ability in its basic form.)

Karma begins with one rank in Mantra and she innately increases it at levels 6, 11,and 16.

Cooldown: 45 / 42 / 39 / 36

Pretty much like the current version, but has the old leveling system, so Karma now has 6 points per basic ability like she used to. I think putting points in an ultimate to purely just lower the cooldown is unsatisfying and really should not be in this game plus adding back her unique leveling system would be nice.

Final Thoughts

This is probably the last time I post my opinion on Karma since I have nearly completely given up on Riot to make any good decisions with her. I hope that both New and Old Karma enthusiasts can appreciate this concept. I know many of you will point out she was the least played champion before she was reworked, so why should we bring anything back from then when it obviously didn't capture the attention of many players back then. To that I would say that the player base was drastically smaller back then and that she was one of the most complex champions at the time and content creation was drastically lower and had lower quality, so because of all of those situations she wasn't given a chance by most players and she was not tested to her limits. I don't think a direct copy of pre-reworked Karma would fair well in the new game, but an identity close to it could and hopefully you all see it as well. I hope that Karma gets the work she deserves even if it is nothing close to what I suggested here.

Please let me know your thoughts. Also if you have any ideas for her I would love to hear them and discuss them with you.

PS. Stop forcing champions to one role, especially mages to support.

PSS. Bring Karma's fans back.