***Updated as of 3/30/11***

Summary

Karma is my main support champion. While many people consider her inferior to people like Taric, Janna, or Zilean, I've found that Karma can be an incredibly helpful support, while still providing some magic damage to the team. Sorry this build isnt quite is in depth as my other guides are, I haven't played Karma as long as my other main champions so I don't really know as many tips and tricks with her as I do with my other main champs. I'll tell you basic strategies and how to use her abilities well, as well as explain my item build. Enjoy!

Pros:

AoE Heal
Shield
Speed/slow
Decent damage output, mostly AoE
Great Escape/Chase

Cons:

No Hard CC
No Real Ult
Improper use of Mantra can result in wasting it

Passive: Inner Flame.

(Innate): Karma gains up to 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 increased ability power corresponding to her percentage of missing health.


In my opinion, her passive is sort of random. It's somewhat similar to Tryndamere's passive, in the sense that she becomes stronger when she's hurt, but Trynd's passive works around his Ult, and while Karma does have alot of survival abilities, complete invulnerability is not one of them :/. This passive can be used to deceive your enemies. Your and will heal and shield you for alot more than they would at full HP, so take advantage of this if you're getting turret dived.






Q: Heavenly Wave

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

Cooldown: 6 seconds
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 mana.
Magic Damage: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 / 270 (+0.6 per ability power).
Base Heal: 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 / 135 .
Mantra: In addition to dealing damage to enemies, Heavenly Wave will also heal herself and allies in the cone. The amount healed is amplified by 5% (+0.02% per ability power) of the amount of life Karma or her allies are missing.


Heavenly Wave is a great multipurpose ability. It makes for an excellent harassment ability in the laning phase. It can heal you when you use Mantra on it, as well as dealing damage. This works as an excellent counter to Vladamere's Transfusion. Wait until he hits you with his Q and heals himself, then hit + at him, and you should heal your self for more than him, and hurt him more than he hurt you. is also amazing for farming, it's an AoE cone damage so it's great for hitting a lot of minions and deals good damage too.






W: Spirit Bond

Karma bonds an ally or enemy creating a beam between them for up to 5 seconds. Bonded allies have increased movement speed and bonded enemies have reduced movement speed. Enemy units that come in contact with the beam take magic damage, and champions who pass through the beam receive the same movement speed modifier as bonded champions.

Cooldown: 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 seconds.
Cost: Cost: 65 / 75 / 85 / 95 / 105 / 115 mana.
Magic Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 / 305 (+0.7 per ability power).
Movement Speed Modifier: 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20 %.
Mantra:Karma strengthens the bond to double the effect of the movement speed modifier.

I find that this ability is often somewhat underrated. Although the speed/slow is not incredibly powerful like Zilean's Fast Forward or a harder slow like , the duration of it is very nice so it makes for an amazing escape tool that you can use on team mates as well. The damage that this ability deals is pretty hard to utilize. However, until you have a lot of AP, it actually does the most damage of all of your abilities. In a team fight, I try to position my self so that I'm Spirit Bonding the farthest enemy away from me and I have my allies and enemies in between me and my Spirit Bond target. This hurts enemies, speeds allies, and slows enemies, for a good duration. doubles speed/slow effects, so if your team needs to get the hell out or chase some one down, it's good to get your team mates linear to each other and speed them all at once. Or, double slow an enemy so your team can effectively focus him/her down. Also very fun to use a + on a Rammus that is speeding towards you :P.






E: Soul Shield

Karma summons a protective shield on an ally or herself that absorbs incoming damage and lasts up to 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Range: 650
Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 / 130 mana.
Magic Damage & Damage Shielded: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 / 280 (+0.8 per ability power).
Mantra:In addition to the shield, energy bursts out from the shield, dealing the same amount of damage as it shields to enemy units around the recipient.


This is a good shield, it's good to use to block harassment or protect an ally from harassment. Remember you can click Alt + to quickly use the shield on your self. Also remember your shield becomes stronger the more hurt you are. will give a fairly large AoE damage upon activating your shield. I put this on the tank when he runs into the enemy team, or my self if I'm being jumped at and attacked. It is incredible for farming, by the time you have the and the , + should clear minion waves if you hit them all. Although does have the highest AP ratio, it is no where near a "nuke" as I've seen so many people claim it is.






R: Mantra

Karma empowers her next ability to do an additional effect. Karma gains a charge every 30/25/20 seconds and stores up to two charges. The refresh rate is reduced by Cooldown Reduction and does not progress when having max charges.


Cooldown: 30 / 25 / 20 seconds [Mantra is available from level 1 and does not require skill points. It is automatically leveled up at level 7 and 13.]


Mantra is what makes Karma a very unique champion. It allows her to do extra things with her abilities. Keep in mind that you can only use two Mantras back to back before they will be recharging. CDR is essential for having charges up as frequently as possible. Make sure you consider your options before you decide to use an ability paired with Mantra. Does your team need some HP back? Use it on . Need to chase down an enemy or help an ally run to cover? Use it on . Need a little more aoe damage output? Use it on . Remember though, does NOT make deal more damage, so if you are at full health, using on to attack some one is a waste of . Also, it does not make deal more damage either, it just doubles the Slow/Speed.

These summoner spells are in order of most recommended to least recommended




Ghost: I use Ghost because it is great for chasing and escaping, especially when combined with Spirit Bond.

Clarity: If you're having Mana troubles, take Clarity. This will help out in the lane and later in the game.

Exhaust: I use Exhaust so I can slow people even more, like Ghost, it works well with Spirit Bond. The semi-blind effect is also useful against people like Yi or Tryndamere.

Flash: Flash can be used as an alternative to Ghost. Good for making a nice getaway if you go through a wall. It can also be good for quick movements, you can surprise your enemy.

Teleport: Teleport is good for getting around the map quickly. It can counter a BD attempt, and it can be good for aiding your team mates in a battle that might be happening across the map.

Ignite: Ignite can be good for getting in a little more damage that could help get an early kill. It also counters people like Mundo

Cleanse: If you're afraid that CC will kill you, you can get Cleanse and cleanse out of CC.

Clairvoyance: If you like supporting your team with Clairvoyance, take this and improve your map awareness.

Fortify: This is good for defending against a BD attempt, and if you're being tower dived.

Heal: Although you already have an AoE Heal, if you want more then you can get Heal.

Revive: You shouldn't be dieing too much, I would not get Revive

Rally: Rally kinda sucks

Smite: Nope

You might be wondering, what's with all the defense and not much Utility? Well, it turns out, when I was using full utility and 9 in Offense, I was over maxing my CDR. This means that a good bit of it was wasted, and I decided that Defensive masteries would be more beneficial to me. Magic Penetration in Offense is optional. Also, for why I got Good Hands instead of the other one, http://www.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=219077

You may be thinking, gee, this sure looks a lot like the Current #1 Karma build. Well, I was using that one for a while, and while I do think it is a great build, I got to testing some new items and, in my opnion, found a better item build.

I was noticing that RoA + BV was a lot more HP than I needed, and since Evil Tome got a pretty good buff, I tried it out. My results were better than my previous item build with RoA. Evil Tome + Ionian Boots is a very quick way to max CDR, which is extremely helpful to Karma. The AP and mp5 from Evil Tome help a bunch too.

I still agree with getting an early banshee's veil, as the top build suggests. It's probably the best defensive item, due to its passive. You'll be able to support your team without worrying too much about dieing when you get BV Another good item to get is Rylai's. This gives you HP + AP and a slow on your abillities. While it's not as good of a defensive item as BV, it gives you good offensive capabilities. . Next I get Zhonya's Hourglass to throw some Armor in with the MR given from BV. It is important to have mitigation to go along with your HP. The AP is very helpful, and I absolutely LOVE Zhonya's active ability. Use it if you're getting focused like crazy. It will give your team time to help you out. Also use it if Karthus is using Requiem on you, or if you get crow storm Crow Stormed. Next I get Abyssal Scepter, good MR and Aura to help you out, plus the AP helps too. Then I get a Death Cap, which will boost your AP by a lot. You can choose to get other items last if there is something situational that you need.

I take Magic Pen marks, this helps your damage output

I get mp5 seals, they help out alot with mana troubles. AP Seals are optional

I get CDR glyphs to make sure I top off my CDR at 40%, if you think you don't need the extra CDR, you can get MR Glyphs or AP Glyphs

I take AP quints for a nice damage boost, other runes are optional.

.114 - Karma receives a few changes.

Karma

* Fixed a bug where the Mantra version of Heavenly Wave was not granting assists for healing allies
* Spirit Bond's leash range has been increased by a small amount
* Mantra now scales with level on a 30/25/20 second cooldown at levels 1/7/13 respectively instead of on 25 second cooldown at all levels

Looks like a nice little buff. Not sure exactly how much Spirit Bond's length was increased by, but an increase is an increase, which is good for Karma.

Mantra change is a buff imo, you don't really need to be using Mantra as much early on in the game. Later in the game is when you really need to be using it. By making the CD lower for lvl 13 +, you'll be helping your team out a lot more.

- Stay tuned for updates, I will try to put more into the build as I discover more strategies with Karma. Also at some point I will format this guide like my other ones, that just takes a lot of time and I didn't feel like doing it so late on a weeknight. Thanks for reading!

3/20 -
My build hit the front page, so I've decided to put more effort into making it better

3/30 -
Added the Patch section, updated some colors and expanded a bit on the existing sectoins.


4/13 -
Build Archived

4/21 -
Build Unarchived