Karma Build Guide by Soranax

Introduction

You've heard of Karma mid and Karma support. But have you heard of Karma jungle? Many people would dismiss it as a troll build, but it's actually not nearly as ridiculous as it sounds. She has the damage of an AP carry and the utility of a support champion. If you add those two components together, you get a strong ganker and a very strong team fighter as well. Karma's mobility and crowd control abilities prove to be her strong point when she comes in for her surprisingly deadly ganks. Overall, Karma is one of my favorite unconventional champions to jungle with, and if you read on, you'll understand why!

Runes

x3 Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed will allow you to drastically increase the amount of movement speed required for Karma to successfully gank lanes.

x9 Greater Mark of Magic Penetration will allow you to dish out enough magic damage to pierce through most champions' base magic resistance.

x9 Greater Seal of Armor will give you the base armor you need in the early game while you are farming the jungle.

x9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist will be useful during the mid and late game, and the scaling glyphs are particularly useful in the jungle, as you won't be needing Magic Resist early game.

Masteries

Masteries

4/1

4/5

1/1

1/5

3/5

2/1

3/1

1/5

2/1

3/1

2/1

3/

1/

Karma

Items

I choose this item over Spirit of the Ancient Golem because it gives her the damage she needs, while Spirit of the Ancient Golem is primarily for tanks. Karma has a lot of defense due to Inspire. Other items, such as Runic Bulwark will give her the defense she needs to be an offtank.

Along the same concept as Spirit of the Spectral Wraith, I use this item to increase her damage output, but also to give her more mana sustain and to inflict Grievous Wounds on her targets. This is a great item for ganking, especially against champions such as Aatrox that are dependent on self-sustain.

This item is great on Karma because it gives her the armor she really needs to tank a couple of turret hits in a team fight. This item also gives her more mana and cooldown reduction to let you keep dishing out those Inner Flame shots. The passive also helps with ganking by giving you a slow that you don't have to activate Mantra to use.

This item is what "puts the icing on the cake" when it comes to being an offtank. It gives you health, more armor, and a little bit of magic resist to you, while also increasing your nearby allies' defenses as well. It is only really necessary to upgrade this item to Runic Bulwark when they have a magic damage heavy team.

Skill Sequences

Karma is a very fun champion because of the different applications of Mantra. However, using Mantra can get confusing for people that are new with Karma because it can be used three different ways. Below, I will clarify when using Mantra is a good or a bad idea. (If you are uncomfortable with how low your health is, feel free to use Mantra with Focused Resolve, as this is a powerful heal.)

When Ganking From Behind When the enemy lane is overextended, it is best to come in from behind. When you do this, it is best to open with Focused Resolve on the squishier target (if more than one champion), and then use Mantra with Inner Flame to slow them down while the lane you are ganking for goes in for the kill.

When Lane-Ganking When the enemy lane is playing passively, it can be tough to gank sometimes. If they're on their turret, it's best to let them push up a bit before going in, but if they're in between river bush and their turret, you do the same thing you would do for a gank from behind, but reversed. You Mantra with Inner Flame to slow them down enough for you to use Focused Resolve on them while the lane you're ganking for goes in for the kill.

In Team Fights In team fights, Karma doesn't really play aggressively until the main tank initiates a fight. Until the initiate, just sit back and poke with your Inner Flame, but save your Mantra for when you know your team is going to commit to the fight. When this happens, you want to use Focused Resolve on a high-priority target, such as the AD carry or the AP carry, and stay on them to let the snare activate. In team fights, do NOT use Mantra with Inner Flame, because the utility from Mantra with Inspire or Focused Resolve can help you keep either your teammates or yourself alive when the fight gets intense.

Summoner Spells

With Karma, my main two summoner spells are Smite and either Ghost or Flash. Below, I will explain why.

Smite is ideal on any jungler. It be used to kill either the Ancient Golem or the Elder Lizard faster, but it is much more important when securing kills on Baron Nashor or the Dragon . Because the last thing you want is to have Baron Nashor at 900 health and a Trueshot Barrage coming from nowhere to steal away all your hopes and dreams. And your Baron Buff.

Most of the time, I choose Ghost over Flash on Karma. The reason for this is because Ghost pairs very well with Inspire when you're trying to make a quick escape with Karma. You can also use Ghost when ganking to almost assure a kill for the lane that you're ganking. Karma's only gap-closer is running, so Ghost really helps her in that pursuit if you really want to secure a kill. However, Flash can be used to make a tricky escape over a wall or some trees, or could be used to initiate a gank on a lane in a way similar to Ghost. Honestly, the choice between these two summoner spells is nothing but a preference. Just pick whichever you're more comfortable with using.

Creeping / Jungling

Your first route in the jungle follows this priority:
Ancient Golem > Wolves > Wraiths > Golems > Elder Lizard

When farming the jungle, you can only use Inner Flame and auto-attacks to kill jungle creeps. Using Mantra with Inner Flame can make clearing faster, but keep a watch on the cooldown on Mantra, because you will need it when you decide to gank. Also, early game, use Inspire pretty much every time it's off cooldown while you have blue buff. When you don't have blue buff, wait until you are below 50% to start using Inspire, as your mana probably won't be able to keep up with you if you spam Inspire. You can begin to start spamming Inspire in the jungle once you build a mana sustain item such as Spirit Stone or Chalice of Harmony.

Pros / Cons

While Karma is a great ganker and has great clear time, she also has flaws that can either make or break you when you are picking her.

Summary

Overall, Karma is a great jungler because of her ability to gank well, clear fast, and help in team fights very well. She has the damage of an AP carry champion, and has the utility of a support champion, along with the ganking potential of the standard jungle champion. However, she is not a main tank, and should only be picked if your team has a strong tank such as Nautilus or Maokai. She is an unconventional jungle and will take some practice, but once you get her down, she's an extremely strong jungler and team fighter.

Thanks!

And last but not least, thank you all for reading my guide! Feedback is greatly appreciated, but don't just go raging about how this isn't viable. Also, in the comments, you can suggest what I could add to or take away from this guide to make it better for you. Once again, thanks, and enjoy your Karma jungle!