Karma's Rebirth: Was it Worth the Wait?

The new Karma design was recently unveiled to the League of Legends community with its anticipation at an unprecedented heights. Previously Karma has appeared to be a disappointing champion with an intensely passionate fan base (eh, eh?), excited at the prospect of seeing her redesigned.

Our appetite has been wetted by leaks about her specifics, through screenshots of her new model, and by how the development crew refers to this reincarnation (see what I did there? Because reincarnation is based off of the belief in karma, and.... ah, you’ll get it later) as the “bad ass” version of Karma. With only a night’s delay due to technical difficulties the PBE (Public Beta Environment) has been handed the reigns and asked to put her to the test.

So, after months of work by Riot's employees put into this redesign, what better way to celebrate than to tear every aspect of it apart. Shall we?



Character Design and Visual Update

As of now, we have only seen the redesigned classic Karma splash art, with the other three expected skins - Traditional Karma, Sakura Karma, and Sun Goddess Karma - still to have their splash art released. Though, if the work put into the classic art is any indication, we can look forward to some wonderful new desktop wallpapers.

The model itself looks well-designed with attention to detail. When Karma moves, her robes behave according to each step she takes, and when a sudden stop is made, her outfit reacts in turn. The movements of the model itself matches well with the “mediator-turned-asskicker”, an homage to her namesake. Her taunt, joke, and dance all attest to the fact that the enlightened one still has her elegance, but when you use her abilities you can feel the power behind her which wasn’t evidenced in her previous model.

Clockwise from the top left: Classic Karma, Sun Goddess Karma, Traditional Karma, and Sakura Karma

Each of the new skins adds a little flavour to Karma’s personality, and in the case of the Sun Goddess and Sakura skins, a lot more colour. The Traditional Karma skin is probably the most interesting of each of the skins. It reflects on Karma’s previous classic skin, including her old joke, taunt, laugh (yes, the one that takes several seconds to actually start), and even uses her old voice. Oh, and speaking of old Karma...

 Hurray! Riot decided to add her fans back! But, before you pop the bubbly and grab your party hats, it should be mentioned that the fans are only visible when Karma does her dance, and isn’t even included in her new classic skin. Not yet anyway. It’s a nice throwback to the Karma of old, but probably won’t be of much notice aside from something to look at while you wait for the creeps to get to lane.



Besides how the character looks in her new threads, there are also different symbols which float ominously behind Karma’s head; a banner to warn her enemies of her hidden power. The best part of these skins is apparent when Mantra is activated. When using her ultimate, the skins glow with a mystical turquoise energy which will last for up to 8 seconds, and are highly visible to both allies and enemies. Each skin has its own particular places which glow in accordance to their design, and the emblem behind her is the most visible when zoomed out.


It is a little disappointing that Riot didn’t implement the cool trick of moving mouths which Varus and the new Annie visual update have demonstrated are possible. For an update that has been in the process for so long, it seems like an oversight not to implement it. Despite this, the new models have been really well done, evidently given great care to transitioning from her old skins.


Karma's New Kit

Enough about fashion, let’s get into the real meat of Karma: her abilities. With her unique skill set it’s best to look at her ultimate first.



Mantra is a no-cost ability which Karma gets first level, and has the capacity to augment her other abilities. This should come as no surprise to those who have played Karma before, as it is how Mantra worked previously. The big change is that it only has one charge, which has a 45 second cooldown at all levels of the ability.

Scarizard, the Associate Live Designer at Riot, explains the reason for the change being that “Karma’s kit was in a weird place, but her ultimate was especially problematic. Her base abilities didn’t feel impactful and only felt effective when supercharged by Mantra. On top of that, when Karma had two charges of Mantra, we had to make both of them weaker to compensate for players double casting empowered spells. … We gave Mantra a single charge to pump extra power into each cast.”

So, does this change actually result in Mantra being more effective than its previous iteration? I’m happy to announce that it absolutely does. The old Mantra system allowed for more abilities to be altered in a quicker time slot, but what does a briefer time between casts mean if they didn’t increase her ability much? After the change you can really feel the difference between when you just use the regular ability, and when you have used Mantra to empower it. Additionally, when Mantra is leveled up, all of the augments to her other abilities are upgraded. When used, Mantra only has an 8 second duration, but this is balanced by the fact that Mantra goes on cooldown the moment it is used. This means that for the 8 seconds that Karma is able to use an empowered ability the clock is already ticking down to when she’ll have another charge available.

My biggest gripe about Mantra is surprisingly the visual effect it has on her model. That wonderful blue hue which appears on her body is also a huge indicator to her enemies that she is planning to initiate with an ability. Because it’s telegraphed so much, the enemy has a chance to prepare themselves for any incoming harassment. This is potentially a big problem which could disrupt a beginner player’s game. For more advanced players it won’t be as much of a problem, as it can be cast immediately before using an ability, preventing a response from the enemy.

 

Karma’s passive ability is her Gathering Fire, which reduces the cooldown of Mantra by one second every time Karma damages an enemy champion with one of her abilities, and half a second for every basic attack on an enemy. Hence, abilities which are used to help allies do not reduce the cooldown time of Mantra. The flipside of this is that any Area of Effect abilities which hit several enemy champions can have a big impact on when her ultimate is available again.


Gathering Fire is a pretty big deviation from her former passive which granted additional Ability Power depending on how much health Karma had at the time. The new passive fits Karma’s character more appropriately, and syncs well with the rest of her kit. It promotes a highly-aggressive play style which, when used in conjunction with the mastery pickpocket, delivers huge rewards for harassing the enemy.


Gathering Fire is even more powerful due to Karma’s new “Q” ability Inner Flame, a name previously reserved for Karma’s passive. Inner Flame is a single skill shot ability which, upon impact, damages enemies within a very small AoE and slows for 1.5 seconds with a cooldown of 7 seconds. The slow, base damage, and cooldown are all improved with every point invested in the skill.

This is Karma’s new go-to damage ability, and with a .6 ability power and its surprisingly low cooldown, it makes for a surprisingly effective skill. With a range similar to Brand’s “Sear” ability, it places Karma within a good choice for a poke team composite.


When used with Mantra’s active, Inner Flame is empowered to Soulflare. This increases Inner Flame’s damage, as well as creating a circle where Inner Flame hits (or at the end of its range), slowing anyone within its range. 1.5 seconds after the circle is created it erupts, damaging all enemies still within it.

In my experience, the additional damage given to the skill shot is a very noticeable boost. However, the circle created by Soulflare isn’t as effective as it might sound. The circle is of mediocre size, and to get its best effect requires nailing the enemy champion directly. Even under those best case scenarios, the slow is a constant 50%, which may sound impressive but is not enough to ensure that an enemy champion will get caught in the blast. This additional effect is underwhelming to harass with, but with practice would work well as an escape tool, to wave clear or to inflict damage during a team fight.


Focused Resolve is Karma’s “W”, and the spiritual successor to Spirit Bond. However, it has some noticeable differences. First of all, it has a terrible name which doesn’t really suit the ability at all. Secondly, Focused Resolve binds only to an enemy champion, no longer slows as Spirit Bond used to, and now does damage over 2 seconds. If the enemy champion doesn’t get out of range by the end of that time they also get rooted to the spot for 1 to 2 seconds, depending on the level of the skill.

This makes for a nice way to initiate on an enemy during the laning phase, or to ensure a successful gank from your jungler, but with a cooldown of 16 seconds it doesn’t make for a great harassment ability. Also, because it requires the enemy to be within a certain distance during its duration to root them, it usually evokes a large amount of aggro towards Karma.


A helpful response to this aggression is using Mantra to change Focused Resolve into Renewal. Renewal adds bonus damage while linked to an enemy champion, but also heals her for the amount bonus damage dealt. This helps to reduce the chance of dying while linked to an enemy champion, but overall doesn’t ensure that she will live through the trade.


To make sure that Karma has a chance the make it through these type of encounters, Riot has included Karma’s new “E”, Inspire. Similar to Karma’s old Soul Shield, it is a targetable shield for herself and allies which lasts for 4 seconds. The base shield of Inspire is the same as Soul Shield was, but with the notable difference that it only scales at .5 for every point of AP, rather than Soul Shield’s .8 ratio.

This means it's a shield which is great for early levels, but falls off pretty quickly compared to other support champions who have a shield. The reason for this reduction in power is because it also provides a movement speed buff of between 20%-60% for 1.5 seconds, depending on the level of the skill. This is a great addition as the increase in movement speed works well in a variety of situations. Inspire can be used to get your tank to initiate, to close the gap for Focused Resolve while protecting Karma, or can be used to help your AD carry get that final hit on a fleeing champion.


If Mantra is used before Inspire is activated, then the ability will be empowered into Defiance. When Defiance is activated, Karma damages enemies in an AoE centered on her. In addition, allies who are in the AoE obtain a shield worth half the amount of her Inspire shield, and receive the full movement speed increase of Inspire. Defiance makes for a great wave-clearing tool, and has potential for team fights. With a 12 second cooldown it sounds like a great way to damage enemies, but again, it’s tied to Mantra’s cooldown which greatly limits it, making it a very situational skill. Since it causes an AoE which will damage enemy champions, it can also proc her passive Gathering Fire which can shave up to 5 seconds off of her Mantra cooldown. Though, in my experience, that doesn’t happen very often.


First Impressions

When played as a support, Karma has three very obvious roles, one for each of her abilities. Inner Flame allows for her to always be on the offensive. Her poke prevents enemies from lingering in the bush too long, and punishes anyone foolish enough to step beyond the creep line. It takes some practice, but those who can nail the skill shot proficiently will be able to zone out enemy champions and cause them to miss CS. Unfortunately poking too much will eat Karma’s mana like no one’s business, preventing her other skills from being used.


Inspire is a great way of helping your ADC out of any tough situations he might find himself in. The shield mixed with the speed buff can help them get in and out with a bit of harassment without worrying too much about retaliation. When used on herself it allows Karma a good opportunity of getting in to bind with the enemy ADC or support, hopefully wasting their flash or even gaining a kill.


Focus Resolve makes for a great way of helping a jungler gank the enemy, but has several downfalls while in lane. I’ve found that trying to initiate with it when the enemy isn’t on the retreat usually ends up with me out of position. This in turn leads to getting pounded on mercilessly, and because Focus Resolve’s full channel only ends up rooting the victim and not actually stunning them means that an ADC caught by it is still a large threat. Tread carefully when using Karma’s bind, and make sure you and your ADC are on the same page when initiating with it.


Going Ham in Mid

First of all, congratulations on finally getting mid as Karma without invoking the full wrath of your peers. Karma was remade with the idea of carrying being a real possibility. Her AP ratios, while not stellar, do allow for the investment into AP with good return.


I’ve harped on the poking power of her Inner Flame several times already, but it I’m going to stress it once more. With great base damage and a low cooldown, this is the bread and butter of AP Karma. It does a great job of harassing with great damage output, and can be spammed often. But using it too frequently leads to serious mana problems. Unless you’re perfectly confident in your jungler to feed you blues, I recommend rushing Chalice of Harmony into Athene’s Unholy Grail for the synergy between its mana regen, magic resist, and its cooldown reduction.

Cooldown reduction is especially important when playing as Karma. Gathering Fire is a great passive which helps bring down Mantra, but it isn’t enough to have Mantra always available when you need it. There will be numerous times when you expect that it is available only to find yourself in the heat of battle without its benefits. By maxing out cooldown reduction, or getting it close enough that blue buff or an Elixir of Brilliance will cap it, you will have a much heavier arsenal at your fingertips.

An aspect which has always been important on AP Karma is her need to be aggressive, and the new Karma is no exception. By using Inspire into Focused Resolve followed by a volley of Inner Flame, a skilled Karma player will always be able to trade well against her opponent. Since Inspire applies such a large movement speed bonus, Karma is able to contest objectives or gank other lanes with a well placed Focused Resolve. The most vexing part of AP Karma’s kit is her inability to finish off a low opponent. This is large part due to her lack of a damaging ultimate, and usually causes her to rely on her jungle to get the finishing blow.

When it comes to team fights, AP Karma is still a very support oriented carry. Using Inspire to get your tank into the middle of the fray is usually a sound strategy, following up by poking with Inner Flame/Soulflare from out of harms way. When you see an enemy champion getting low and think there’s a chance they’ll turn to flee, that’s when it is time to pull out Focused Resolve, and stop them before they have the chance to get away.


Was She Worth the Wait?

Karma 2.0 is a great insight into Riot as a company. She shows us that they’re willing to listen to their community, and aren’t afraid to admit when something’s just not right. They took her into the back of the metaphorical workshop, and rebuilt her for the more competitive scene of today. Long standing fans will appreciate that Karma hasn’t strayed too far from her roots, and have received a much more feasible champion in return.

But, if I’ve learnt anything from watching so many reruns of Extreme Makeover, just because you change how someone looks doesn’t mean that you’ve changed what they are at the core. What’s at the core of Karma is still a champion who lacks a solid role in the team. She’s acceptable as a support, and she’s an okay AP carry, but nothing about is overly exceptional. For now there are simply stronger, more reliable champions available.

Karma has potential, and she has just begun a long wait in PBE limbo. Chances are when she is eventually released to the live servers she will be much more viable, but don’t expect to see her as the first ban in LCS anytime soon.