Lux or Karma for mid lane?
I've heard Lux is good with her skills, but a friend just recently told me that Karma is better due to her utility and her ult. So which one is worth more in mid lane?
41 Comments
They're both a bit different in what they accomplish:
- Karma has three major traits: Supportive, Duelist, and AoE. Because of her kit, she can actually get into duels pretty well and survive them. She's decent at picking out a single target and sticking with them for a bit in order to kill them. Of course she also AoE shields/hastes the team, which is awesome. And she has generally decent area of effect damage, but it's not super high. She's honestly a pretty big "all-around" mage. Has a bit of everything.
- Lux is very bursty. Her #1 benefit is being able to delete that one person from 1,000 range away. She has really long cooldown windows in between bursts of spells because she typically casts them one right after the other. Compared to Karma, who can cycle through successfully at a bit slower pace, Lux is all about doing one giant awesome thing every 12 seconds and then waiting for the next opening. Lux's #1 goal is damage, but she has some other cool long-range tricks like sniping with the ultimate or setting up your teammates with a long-range Q that Karma doesn't have.
Karma becomes a pokey supporty mid laner late game. If you have enough damage go Karma, if not go Lux.
You want Hecarim for mid lane. better than both!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeMJwp-7IpE
http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1635131810/45654211
Let me know if you try it!
Lux shield is amazing, she has great burst and safety in lane. She roams well and has great peel in the late game while being able to chunk their team for upwards of 500 damage on a low cooldown. I'm kinda bias, but lux is, imo, still one of the best utility mids around.
Well, I want to learn both but my refunds are out. Anyway, So Lux is my best bet right now..
I prefer Lux, but I'm a Lux main so I'm biased =/ Ultimately I say play several games with both and see which one you feel more comfortable with or have the most fun with. Karma provides a lot of highly valued mobility while Lux offers picks and clean ups, as far as how they're different from my perspective. I tried to play Karma for a while and feel her scaling falls off late but I haven't done the math.
Karma main here, so I'm kind of biased.
I think karma is a stronger lane bully. Her spells are up more often, so you don't have to worry as much about "shit, I just used my spells to trade but now the jungler is ganking and my cc isn't up!" She's also got a lvl 1 ult, particularly ult-w, which heals you for 40% of your missing hp, which makes her rather gank-resistant.
Disclaimer : it's actually been quite a while since I played either karma or lux mid. More so Karma than lux. Karma has probably been buffed a bit since that time. Even tought I think it was after her original big-buffs.
Maybe it's just been too long since I really tried. But I haven't been able to make karma work as well mid as bot. I can't help feeling like lux just has a better chance in lane:
- Range
- Ease of harass
- AA potential (both in combo and as last hit.)
Lastly, farming. Maybe I'm just bad (or lux was nerfed since I really played her), but I find that W+passive+AA make minions drop pretty fast. By late game however, one is a lot more of a team player (karma), other is more of an artillery with a lot of utility. (I am oversimplifying).
Again, maybe I'm playing badly, maybe I'm not going for enough damage. But I'd call Lux for mid and support for karma. Don't mistake me, I love karma! Then again I play more support than mid.
Depends on play style. Lux is more of a slower/stunner, though that ult is lethal and harder to avoided than one might think. Karma has no real ult, but does have a little more raw power (faced one that, late game, hit someone for 1600, I kid you not. One shot, half health). For me, I think I'd do better with Lux. I can engage a little more and finish more people off with her ult. But I like to bide my time, poke and prod, that unleash when the time is right. Karma, while she can do that, I find I can do it better with Lux. Root, Slow, shield if I need it, they start running, ult for the kill.
I have no experience playing Lux, but I main 
.
She is a natural lane bully since her Q is on a low cooldown and she has her ultimate at level 1. This makes it easy to harass champs like Zed, Yasuo, Akali, and Katarina when they come up to last hit, but the shield her E provides in conjunction with the sustain from a mantra'd W makes her deceptively tanky and allows her to exchange risky trades with ranged champions as well. I've gotten many, many first bloods because her ultimate essentially gives her two damage abilities at level 1. In mid lane, its hard to gank Karma (even if she's pushed up) because of the root and/or heal from her W and the speed boost from her shield. I'm convinced people over exaggerate when they say she falls HARD late game; with some AP, the damage on a mantra'd Q is insane (just look at the ratios), and you will easily nuke squishies for at least half their health late game. Even if you have a bad laning phase, you'll still provide a lot of utility to your team later in the form of a teamwide shield for engages or disengages, and a spammable aoe slow. Cooldown reduction is godly on her, and there are so many different ways to build her. Tanky Karma with 
, Kiting Karma with 
, AP Karma with 
...
The only bad matchup I consistently have with her is 
.
Karma is very versatile because of the modifications her ultimate applies to her abilities. As a result, she isn't easy to just pick up and do well with right away, but she is so satisfying once you get the hang of her. Her kit offers a combination of burst and utility, and she's both a great duelist AND team fighter. I've taken her bot as support and top as a bruiser, with equal success as well. If you have any questions or need tips, just ask!
Tips on her abilities:
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Inner Flame (Q) - Aoe slowing skillshot on low cooldown. Push a wave, harrass melee champions when they come up to last hit.
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Focused Resolve (W) - Damages over time and roots after 2 seconds. Useful for when you're chasing/kiting someone, or being chased/kited yourself. Fun to use on Yasuo's once they throw up their Windwall, because it goes through the shield.
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Inspire (E) - Shield with movement speed boost. Will help you catch up to enemies, escape from ganks, take turret shots if you dive, or protect teammates
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Mantra'd Q - Increases the range on your Q, 50% slow, does damage on hit, then explodes and deals additional damage to units within its radius. Great to use if the enemy team is lumped up together. *Also, if the enemy mid laner is recalling under their tower with little health and you're just out of reach, a Mantra'd Q has a max range of 975 and WILL explode on contact whether it hits something or not. I can't count the number of times I've killed enemies under a tower with this ability because they think I am out of reach!
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Mantra'd W - Roots the target after 2 seconds and heals you twice if the tether remains unbroken. This is a great baiting tool to use if both you and the opposing laner are low on health. You will come out with more health after the trade and can proceed to poke them to death with your Q and auto attacks as they are retreating.
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Mantra'd E - Shield does aoe of effect damage to surrounding units and has increased movespeed. I rarely use this in lane. Its definitely a team fight oriented ability!
karma is a duelist and has a below average teamfight as far as mages are concerned
lux can't duel very well but she does more damage and she has more reliable waveclear
they both have excellent poke. karma is safer because mobility, but lux has a higher payoff if you land a skillshot.
Well, I bought Lux, and I find her quite easy for some odd reason. I wanted Karma, but a friend told me that she takes a lot of mechanical ability.
I am a fairly strong Karma midlaner with decent win rate and kda. I think she is extremely strong in laning but there becomes a point when you must play a secondary support and therefore I advise your team to work WITH Karma not around her. I like playing her AP because her shield potential late game is very high and essentially her peel and shield doubles a damage dealer's damage window (like a fed Caitlyn/Vayne) and thats what must make up for her lack of damage.
Lux meanwhile is very solo friendly and I play a lot of her as well. She does not need a team to revolve around her.
Depends on when you are good. Karma is good early to mid game, and falls off really hard late game.
Lux and 100-0 carries almost the entire game, her skill shot animations don't match their actual hit boxes and she is easy as fuck.
I prefer Karma tho because of the utility and the potential for outplay.
is probably better if u like long-ranged champs. Her abilities can all be cast pretty far away, making it easy to poke at the enemy without a chance of counterattack.
is better if u like champions that can deal damage and focus spells from a shorter, basic-attack range.
i play and and lux is good for both mid and supp, but for me, karma is a better supp than mid
Lux is always the better choice.. In my personal opinion, karma's hardly a viable mid laner. I've never seen a single karma actually succeed in the laning phase (as mid.) Lux has significantly more damage early mid and late game, he skillshots are harder to dodge, and she has more CC (Well, they technically have about the same amount but karma's E and her ult+Q are practically useless unless used near-perfectly.)
I prefer lux in every way, though she is more of just a click and shoot champion (meaning she requires less skill), I think she's a significantly better mid laner than karma.
I have played this matc-up as Lux. Karma's early game was so annoying, but I was able to dodge/stay alive and farm enough that I outscaled her. That and Lux's laugh is too strong.
Another thing to think about: Lux can actually beat Fizz and Talon thanks to her range and AoE shield. Zed is more of a skill match-up a little in his favor, imo. Karma might have trouble vs them.
Just play whoever you like more.