Hello there, my nick in League of Legends is TotexSuppe.This Karma guide is focusing more on Ap than most of the other builds i have seen so far, which is the way i prefer to play her. I want to share my experiences and my way of playing with one of my favorite champions. My reasons for playing Karma are pretty simple: i like odd and unpopular champs the most. For example, the only AD Carry i ever liked playing is Sivir.
The following build includes a lot of things that will seem like a flaw to the most of you, but it really is a good to a very strong mid champ that i almost never (!) lost mid with so far ( first game with her doesn't count, does it? :D ).

Pros

Really strong farm
Really great sustain
Really great harass
Great damage


Cons

You need a lot of persuasive power to make your team allow you going mid
Has a gameplay that you need to get used to in 2-3 games
Needs a skin to be sexy

flat magic resistance Glyph

You are mid, so you will likely have to face another AP carry.

Your build includes further magic resistance, you'll be fine with flat ones.

Magic penetration Mark

It will help mid, late, and even early game a bit if the laning opponent also bought magic resistance runes.

not-flat armor Seal

You wont have much contact with ad, exept for those occasional ganks.
They are stronger after laning phase and protection is what marks are best at.

Ability Power Quintessence

Self explanatory i think.
Or have you already forgotten that we want to AP carry? ;)

All in all pretty standard and ok on every AP Carry. you don't have to go out of your way for Karma ;)

9/0/21

9

A bit Cooldown
A Bit Ability Power
A bit Magic Penetration
=All incredibly useful stuff.

21

Cooldown after completing build is the maximum of 40%
You don't really need the blue buff, but if your team or your opponent gives it to you why not keep it? It's just 1 point that won't make much difference anywhere else.
The rest is really useful as well.

IMPORTANT
If you really want to try this particular build, there is no choice in this section.
Flash since it always comes in handy and
Clarity since it makes your early game less cramped and is not totally useless late game, since there often is that guy with low mana just before a big teamfight starts and he has two choices: participate with 1 - 2 spells or recall, giving your enemies an opening. Many will probably disagree with the second part, but the early sustain helps you winning your lane alot. Clarity forces your enemy to recall while it reduces your times needing to do that. At least with Karma. I don't use it on other champs either...
BTW Its a very noob summoner spell. It allows you to even more lol when you win the lane and game. And if you lose... that's summoner spells fault. Or runes. Maybe wrong masteries as well. Lmao

Thanks to Karmas ridiculous farm throughout the game ( last hit in the beginning and don't be afraid to use your Q, just try not to "waste" it by positioning yourself in a way that also hurts your enemy aside the creeps. and don't use it at any occasion... that's pointless and stupid) it's often possible for her to get catalist and boots at first recall. Try it.

You don't need potions as she has a build in heal and a strong (occasionally exploding) shield. Since you are maxing wave and shield out first, your damage is not a joke even before building AP. Which is what you do next.

Rod of ages is the turning point from sustain to AP carry. It's ok to rush to deathcap, but i recommend buying megatron cloak or even the whole abyssal scepter first. It's a great hurdle for your opponent. After you finally finished the deathcap, your damage and shield will go up exponentially at lane.

Together with your ionian boots of cooldown reduction (or whatever they are called), the unholy grail lets you reach the 40% Cooldown reduction, a lot of ability power and some magic resist.

Of course after Deathcap and Abyssal everything is situational, you might want to get more magic penetration or armor or removal of croud control ( Void staff, Zhonya's Hourglass, quicksilver sash). However, the items above are all quite reliable.

Priority:
Heavenly Wave(Q) >= Soul Shield > Spirit Bond

There is a bit of situationality in the skill sequence. Always start with q and then go on with e. Skill them equally (slight priority on q since you started with it) since this way your damage output and sustain is well balanced.

In your lane you usually dont need w at all. Spirit bond is actually a very veratile skill. You can use it on (enemy) minions to farm enemy minions and slow and damage your enemy, escape ganks by slowing the enemy jungler or whoever was foolish enough to gank you and be it 2 people, you can use it on your minions or your jungler to escape or chase AND SO ON. The mastery of this skill is difficult but is rewarding. For someone who doesn't like Karma yet and can't play her its UNNECESSARY thought. You actually don't need it in lane.

Ganks are no problem with your huge damage, big *** shields and Mantra bonus. This may sound noobish and stupid, but she actually is op with just 2 (3) Ability's.

After you got a feeling for all the amazing harass she can do, if your opponent forces a fight just punish him by e (+r), q(+r) retreat. You won't get zoned out. Rather he forces him into that position himself.

Last thing you need to remember: don't be greedy. If he escapes, don't dive. Not pre lvl 30, at least. during laning phase , your shield will soak up 2-3 turret shots for those of you pro enough :P. Beeing greedy always gives your enemy jungler an opportunity to gank. If you were VERY greedy, you might just die or have already died. lmao

In the beginning, your r has long cooldowns. Always try to save at least 1 Mantra and play a bit more passively whilst reloading.

Remember that your Q heals more, the lower the life of the target is. Important later, since it makes Q + Mantra more effective when your team is low. In teamfights, save mantra for the heal that will change the course of the fight :P A e+ Mantra at the beginning of the fight are a should do, thought.

Early game

Mid game

Late game


Last hitting + occasional Heavenly Wave or Shield + Mantra

Heavenly Wave and Shield + Mantra both kill them. Easy farm.

Can't get easier than mid game. Karma's a crazy *****.

Teamfights with Karma are special. You're the AP Carry, you do tons of damage, but its hard to burst another champ away with just 1-3 abilitys. Karma has a different approach:
Shield + Mantra
wave(+Mantra) // somewhere Spirit bond on ally for positioning/
shield on enemy for slow and dmg if they are very close to each other
wave(+Mantra)
shield
wave(+Mantra).

Chase/escape with Spirit Bond.
The time when to use which skill with/ without Mantra is explained in Detail in Skill Sequence.
Shield doesn't necessarily mean shield yourself. shield the teammate that starts the teamfight with a manta, then shield your carries + spirit bond them or (nocturne) if targeted, yourself if targeted and spirit bond to position yourself.
Wave without mantra is dmg to the enemy team.

Go there, Soul bond, Wave + shield (+Mantra) / Go there, Shield + Mantra, go out. That's it.
If i (knew how) to make videos, you'd have a good laugh ;O

I had this one still in my list, will probably add new ones as soon as i play with her again. Don't mind the first nidalee game, as it was my first ever with her. just checked out how and overwhich bushes/walls she could leap ^^ And some other stuff like items usw. still not sure how to play her the most efficient. i played her support, solo top, top the jungle (forced to ...) and just jungle (without smite, forced to xDD). won them all and had fun :P

This guide will optically improve over time. This i s my first build and i don't know **** about coding yet. Furthermore, i'll try to find all the places in which i interchanged Mantra with Karma xD I really hope this guide will ... inspire some of you to play Karma. Bout ranked game: I don't have much experience with ranked yet. I did my first game a while ago, playing Irelia on the top lane. After my Jungler fed a bit and left due to connection problems, my team won every teamfight and won after ~ 30 Minutes. My score was somewhere around 13/3/10. In other words: I'm not sure which elo that game was on (since it was my first and i'm not rated yet) but i don't see why a strong champ like her should not be played mid at least in middle/low elo.