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Karma Build Guide by

Our Most Awakened Inclination - Support Karma

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Build Guide By

Support

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Karma Build Guide By Updated on

Support

Guide Discussion More Karma Guides

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

starting items

this

plus

core items

defense

offense

utilty

situational

ex. build

Ability Order

Karma Passive Ability

More Karma Counters

	Quick Guide	Preface	Basic Information	Advanced Tactices	Wrapping Up
	Items Synergies and Counters Summoner Spells Runes Masteries	About the Author Introduction Who is Karma?	Karma's Skillset Skilling Order Itemization	Laning Teamfighting Tips 'n Tricks	Synergies Counters Epilogue

Starting Items

Core Builds

or

Talisman of Ascension

Boots

Offensive Items

Defensive Items

Synergies & Counters

Karma is good against:

Karma is weak against:

Karma works well with:

Summoner Spells

	+

		or

is generally a core spell, there's no reason to switch it out for anything. tends to be a stronger pick throughout the game, as it gives you a massive damage debuff, but can be picked up against a high sustain team or against a high sustain support like (though in the latter situation it's entirely unnecessary).

Runes

Greater mark of hybrid penetration

I like to run a more offensive runepage on , so I run a combination of flat AP and hybrid penetratrion with defensive stats filling in the gaps. However, cooldown reduction can be an option if you prefer it.

Masteries

Click to Enlarge

I prefer this to a 0-9-21 set-up, as benefits highly from CDR and ability power early, which makes this more favorable for her. If you want to run a more durable mastery set-up, I'd suggest 4-5-21.

About the Author

Click to Enlarge

I'm a Silver support player from the North American Server. My main champions in ranked are Nami and Karma.

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Introduction

has been my favorite champion pretty much since her release. She has strong poke, great mobility, and is extremely good at kiting.

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Who is Karma?

Pros

+strong sustain
+strong early game poke
+strong engage/disengage potential
+kites well
+good teamfight potential
+ looks great in game.

Karma's Strengths

has great poke and mobility, which makes her a strong pick against a lot of the popular supports. She can dish out massive damage on her own, which can be used to carry a lane if needed.

Karma's Limitations

is somewhat squishy in lane, lacks hard CC, and she doesn't have a particular power spike at level 6 like most champions. This can make it possible for a lane to be turned against her at level 6, which can be troublesome.

Cons

-Fairly squishy early
-No power spike at 6
-No hard CC besides a delayed snare

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Karma's Skillset

Innate	Gathering Fire: This helps keep Karma on par with a lot of champions. Since Mantra has a fairly long CD and gives her a lot of damage, it's important to remember to utilize auto-attacks and spells to lower its CD.
Q	Inner Flame: This skill is Karma's main form of harass. It has a fairly small hit box, which means you really have to aim to land it. It has high damage, but the range is fairly short, so you may put yourself in danger if you're not careful.
W	Focused Resolve: This skill is Karma's only source of hard CC. It can also be used to bait enemies, as the empowered version heals Karma for 20%+ of her missing health
E	Inspire: This ability has a lot of utility. It gives strong mobility to a single target and when empowered acts as a miniature Talisman of Ascension almost, which can be a very strong counter-initiation or disengage.
R	Mantra: This skill empowers Karma's other skills. It has a fairly long CD at low levels, so should be leveled as a normal ultimate would to lower its CD.

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Skilling Order

Skilling Priority
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18




Q	E	W	Q	Q	R	Q	E	Q	E	R	E	E	W	W	R	W	W

Currently, maxing first is the best option on as it's her main damage skill and its CD decreases with each rank. I prefer to max second, for the increased movement speed and shield value. I then max last, as it is equally effective at all ranks. should be taken whenever it's possible to take it.

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Itemization

+	Starting Items Spellthief's Edge is currently the best starting item for Karma, as it works well with her playstyle. I only recommend Ancient Coin for newer players. If you feel a lane is going to be difficult you can consider it, but Spellthief's Edge is still the best option.
	Early game core Haunting Guise gives a nice boost early game damage, which is something Karma really benefits from. If you're against a high magic damage support (such as Vel'Koz) you can instead get an early Chalice of Harmony. The other items are really just core support items.
	Core Items As Ruby Sightstone is core on supports in general, mentioning it seems almost redundant. However, the health it provides is quite beneficial on a support like Karma who isn't always going to itemize a lot of health. Liandry's Torment gives Karma a nice damage spike, plus a bit more durability. Oracle's Lens is another core support item, that should be bought fairly soon after hitting level 9, as it allows you to gain vision control easier, which is important for keeping an eye on objectives such as Baron Nashor and Dragon.
talisman of ascension talisman of ascension	Talisman vs. Frost Queen's Karma makes good use of both of these items for entirely different reasons. Frost Queen's Claim can be used in conjunction with Inner Flame and Focused Resolve to keep a target locked down. Talisman of Ascension adds to Karma's utility, but can feel somewhat redundant due to its active being very similar to Defiance.
	Defensive Items These are the best defensive purchases for Karma currently. While Mikael's Blessing is not actually a core item, I find myself building it in nearly every game, so it gets a special mention here. It's one of the best support items, especially on a mage like Karma. Locket of the Iron Solari should be purchased against teams with a lot of Magic damage, especially if it's AoE. Banshee's Veil is more of a selfish purchase, which I would get against champions such as Karthus or LeBlanc to mitigate as much damage as possible. Randuin's Omen still, despite the nerf, remains the most efficient armor item for a support, as it provides health for its armor. This means the item needs very little health within the build to be effective, while Frozen Heart requires more health within the build or the armor is largely wasted. Zhonya's Hourglass is a great hybrid defense/offense item that gives a healthy chunk of AP to boost your damage.
	Offensive Items Karma utilizes AP quite well, so her items often blur the line between mage and support. Morellonomicon is particularly good against high sustain champions like Swain or Nami. Twin Shadows is a great utility purchase that gives a decent amount of AP to play around with. Void Staff is a good buy if you're doing well and they start stacking magic resistance, but this, and Rabadon's Deathcap, are good choices only if you can afford to sacrifice a slot solely toward offensive power.

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Laning

's function in lane is to provide poke, disengage/counterengage, and mobility. / gives a lot of damage and kiting power, while / gives her strong mobility and counterengage. / gives even more chasing power, plus the ability to bait enemies. Generally you want to poke with , using for to deal extra damage when positioning favors it. Use as needed against minor engages or to help an ally dodge things like (it has a short enough cooldown to allow for this against most champions). Against a full engage, you may want to use to either disengage or counterengage. You can use in combination with , , and to help peel for your carry if needed. Largely you're going to be able to keep bush control with proper warding; if the enemies stay behind their minions you might have to get creative with your positioning to harass properly.

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Teamfighting

Largely your function is the same, except now you'll often use to disengage/counterengage or chase. You can still use to deal extra damage and hamper enemies, of course, but make sure you don't need to use before doing so. can be used in conjunction with , , , or to help peel enemies off your carries (or yourself) if needed, but I wouldn't use unless you don't need to use for something else.

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Tips 'n Tricks

	Utilizing Gathering Fire
Remember that Gathering Fire lowers Mantra's cooldown when she auto-attacks an enemy or hits them with an ability. This is especially helpful early game, when Mantra has a much higher cooldown.
	Using Soulflare vs. Defiance vs. Renewal
Against a team with strong engage, save Mantra for Defiance, as you can use it to disengage or counterengage if your team is positioned properly. Soulflare is better used when sieging an enemy tower, however you can use it in a teamfight to deal a lot of damage and heavily hamper enemies, again, if your positioning favors it. Renewal is less likely to be used than the others, however it can be beneficial if you want to bait an enemy early or if you need the healing and can afford to use it. Its uses in teamfights are few and far between, as its range is significantly lower than Soulflare with none of the utility of Defiance.

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Synergies

works well with most carries and team compositions, however champions such as and can push well early, allowing her to harass more easily. also makes particularly good use of , as his highly mobile playstyle only can only benefit from more mobility. In the case of , works very well with the active on , giving him even more movement speed for positioning.

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Counters

has a fairly significant range and damage advantage over , which makes this difficult. also has no hard CC to interrupt , which is somewhat problematic post-six. can intercept / with which makes landing proper harass much more difficult. For a similar reason, can be a problem for in teamfights.