Karma Build Guide : The Mantra of Karma, In-Depth Solo Lane

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Man the first time I saw Karma mid lately I thought it was a troll pick but gosh is she a pain! Nice to see a solo karma guide on MF, and so in depth! :)

I will definitely have to pick her up / read this fully later (skimmed it a bit for now). It would be good to have a champ that's more my playstyle but also good against assassins since I struggle with a lot of those matchups. :)

Thanks for the guide! +1

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Ever thought aboit updating the counter guide for other midlaners like ekko ezreal or ryze

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wrote:

Ever thought aboit updating the counter guide for other midlaners like ekko ezreal or ryze

I'll probably update the matchups sometime in the future. I very rarely face any of those mid laners you mentioned, let alone ones that are actually good so I don't want to give inaccurate info however.

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great guide

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Thanks! :D

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:)

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(531) |

Wow!! This is such an amazingly awesome guide, I love it! A lot of great information, and I can see you spend a lot of time on it!! :)

I wish you lot of happiness and joy, and hope you continue to update your guide so we as a community can benefit a lot from it, thank you so much!! ^_^ XOXO

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wrote:

Wow!! This is such an amazingly awesome guide, I love it! A lot of great information, and I can see you spend a lot of time on it!! :)

I wish you lot of happiness and joy, and hope you continue to update your guide so we as a community can benefit a lot from it, thank you so much!! ^_^ XOXO

Just make love to me already!

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(531) |

Hihi you're such a card!! :) Please keep on supporting and enlightening our community with your great jokes! :)

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Pls update the guide for season 7

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I was wondering if I could build Ionian Boots on Karma to get off the maxed out CDR?

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wrote:

I was wondering if I could build Ionian Boots on Karma to get off the maxed out CDR?

Yes it is completely fine to go with to cap your CDR. I just recommend running scaling AP glyphs on your rune page, especially for the utility build.

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I this guide a lot especially because i am trying to become a karma mid lane main.I would have some questions though:

-do you think it is better to run thunderlord or whisper's?

-do you think the utility build is better?(i ussualy take grall-boots-censer-rabadon-void-luden)

-do you think it is worth to continue to play karma mid or it is too unconsistant for this meta and should go for more aggresive picks like brand viktor or anivia?

-can you please explain me how to beat syndra and leblanc?I read your guide about those matches but i still can not beat them.Syndra has that annoying e which pushes me back when i try to go for an all-in with w and leblanc is annoying as hell with her mobility(for now).

-If you want can you play some matches with me to teach me better how to carry?I am playing at EUNE region.My in-game name is "thambor".You can add me if you want.

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wrote:

I this guide a lot especially because i am trying to become a karma mid lane main.I would have some questions though:

-do you think it is better to run thunderlord or whisper's?

-do you think the utility build is better?(i ussualy take grall-boots-censer-rabadon-void-luden)

-do you think it is worth to continue to play karma mid or it is too unconsistant for this meta and should go for more aggresive picks like brand viktor or anivia?

-can you please explain me how to beat syndra and leblanc?I read your guide about those matches but i still can not beat them.Syndra has that annoying e which pushes me back when i try to go for an all-in with w and leblanc is annoying as hell with her mobility(for now).

-If you want can you play some matches with me to teach me better how to carry?I am playing at EUNE region.My in-game name is "thambor".You can add me if you want.

The choice between and is based on your build path. Thunderlord's for burst typically and Windspeaker's for utility. I personally think the utility build is better since Karma's damage will always fall off against tanks but what you give your teammates late game in utility is a big power spike for team fights. For this reason I typically go Windspeaker's since it lets the utility build scale better.

If you want to play Karma then go for it. You don't see her mid in the LCS since level 1 laneswaps aren't a thing anymore and roaming mids are in demand. That doesn't mean she's a bad pick though; she's a huge lane bully with no truly terrible matchups and can lane pretty safely which are all fantastic traits in a solo queue champion.

Something I find that helps against both and is at level 1 to activate a couple seconds before the minions meet in lane then the caster minions. After both hits you can auto them for the last hits then Q the melee minions and start pushing them in from the get-go while also likely beating them to level 2.

Karma in general really doesn't need to all-in her lane opponent to get ahead because she can push most of her matchups in constantly from level 1 and is mana efficient about it so long as you don't spam. While the minions approach the enemy tower you can step back so you won't be prone to getting ganked. This is extremely effective against who you really shouldn't waste time trying to fight and instead just constantly push her in from a distance with properly aimed Qs and RQs on the minions so she's stuck in lane and keeps missing CS. Essentially you can win most matchups as by forcing them to play your game of being under constant minion pressure that resets with the next wave, only to push in on them again, slowly whittling at the tower and preventing them from roaming. Understanding wave control makes this tactic even more effective and makes assassins very sad against .

Unfortunately I play on NA and don't have an EU account so I'm not able to play with you.

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Why do you ever build Rylai's on Karma? I figure the slow gives a small improvement to her Q, and procs on her W, though since this is DoT, the slow is quite small. It doesn't even really help you proc your W, as it's very unlikely someone is simply going to use MS to get away from the leash, Karma's E sees to that.

I have to say I've never built it, and can't see the benefit in building it over Liandry's. Liandry's gives 100 less health, 20 less AP (so slightly weaker shields), but much better damage and a better build path. Am I missing something here?

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wrote:

Why do you ever build Rylai's on Karma? I figure the slow gives a small improvement to her Q, and procs on her W, though since this is DoT, the slow is quite small. It doesn't even really help you proc your W, as it's very unlikely someone is simply going to use MS to get away from the leash, Karma's E sees to that.

I have to say I've never built it, and can't see the benefit in building it over Liandry's. Liandry's gives 100 less health, 20 less AP (so slightly weaker shields), but much better damage and a better build path. Am I missing something here?

The main reasons to ever get Rylai's are because it gives a lot of AP and Health which are vital against true damage heavy teams. As I mentioned in the guide, the passive is a bit redundant with her kit but it does help against CC resistant teams or teams where most of them get . The only time I really consider it on mid lane Karma is on the utility build since it gives the same AP as , plenty of health, and a bit more utility with the slow improvement. You're not likely to build it in most situations overall and does the job most of the time but there are niche cases where it's handy.

Rylai's is more useful on tank Karma where the slow is a bit more valuable for kiting and sticking and the large chunk of Health and AP are extremely valuable in that role.

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Why no thunderlords?

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wrote:

Why no thunderlords?

With the Athene's + Ardent build there's no real incentive to take it since Windspeaker's has disgusting synergy with that core item combo; making your shields 25% stronger overall combined with Ardent Censer. The build is focused on carrying by proxy of your teammates since the shield value will be massive and essentially a 2nd rune page worth of stats for a teamfight. Windspeaker's also gives Karma scaling utility which is very desirable for this build and makes her late game utility very strong. Thunderlord's can help her early game but the value it brings is greatly out-shined by Windspeaker's on the utility build.

Thunderlord's is fine for the burst-focused build I listed though. Since you won't get Ardent Censer there's no real incentive to run Windspeaker's in that situation.

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This guide was really helpful for me building my mid Karma.

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wrote:

This guide was really helpful for me building my mid Karma.

I'm glad it could help! :D

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Thanks for taking the time to make this in depth and comprehensive guide!! I was wondering if the boost in healing/shielding from ardent censor/mikaels/windspeakers apply to her Mantra W and when she shields herself?
Cheers!

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I'm glad you like my guide :D. To answer your question, I'm not 100% sure.

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I disagree with the mid lane build, I think there are two ways to play Karma mid:

1. Slightly more utility oriented with Athenes/Ardent Censer into as much flat AP and CDR as you can
2. Focus on upfront burst with morello into deathcap, ludens, void staff (random order)

This build really lacks in both departments: you do not have as much upfront burst because you invest into Liandry's (no matter what, it's not worth it for her compared to Luden's or Deathcap), nor do you have as much utility. In general, I really like the first build because you sacrifice only a little bit of damage for a huge load of extra shielding power and utility for your team. Otherwise, Karma's late game is relatively poor because her damage nor CC is up to par with any of the meta mids.

To be clear, I downvoted and hope you'll make changes and am open to reconsider my vote. For full disclosure, I play Karma primarily as support but I also have experience playing her mid: http://euw.op.gg/summoner/userName=vyn3rtje

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wrote:

I disagree with the mid lane build, I think there are two ways to play Karma mid:

1. Slightly more utility oriented with Athenes/Ardent Censer into as much flat AP and CDR as you can
2. Focus on upfront burst with morello into deathcap, ludens, void staff (random order)

This build really lacks in both departments: you do not have as much upfront burst because you invest into Liandry's (no matter what, it's not worth it for her compared to Luden's or Deathcap), nor do you have as much utility. In general, I really like the first build because you sacrifice only a little bit of damage for a huge load of extra shielding power and utility for your team. Otherwise, Karma's late game is relatively poor because her damage nor CC is up to par with any of the meta mids.

To be clear, I downvoted and hope you'll make changes and am open to reconsider my vote. For full disclosure, I play Karma primarily as support but I also have experience playing her mid: http://euw.op.gg/summoner/userName=vyn3rtje

You're free to disagree and I appreciate the criticism. I figured Ardent Censer would be a good buy after the changes I just haven't played League lately and had no motivation to update the guide. Hell I was surprised it was being shown on the front page.

I hadn't really considered Athene's on mid laners since the changes with it giving only 40 AP which I feel would give Karma a weak item power spike. Though I'll consider it since I have used it in tandem with Ardent Censer for impressive results as a support. Are you suggesting Athene's & Ardent Censer for that first build btw? (Some people use / for & and it's really confusing.)

I'm more than willing to make changes and intended to when I started playing again.

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Apologies for the confusion, for the first build you can get Athene's into Ardent Censer if you really want to focus on a supportive build (good with multiple damage threats, like a jax top and high damage ADC) or get Athene's only into straight AP if that's not the case and just want the increased shielding. There's some flexibility in that regard.

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No biggie, just wanted to double check. For now I think I may do a Morello > Ardent > Deathcap + Void > Situational for testing. I see the Athene's + Ardent path being best when doing protect the carry comps.

The Mantra of Karma, In-Depth Solo Lane

The Mantra of Karma, In-Depth Solo Lane

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