[ Season 8 Updated ] From Zero to Hero: Support Karma

VicLeague on November 19, 2017
Karma

the Enlightened One
  • ABILITIES
  • TIPS
  • LORE

285

VIEWS

0

COMMENTS

0

STARS


Introduction

Hello again my fellow readers! This is the third guide of this From Zero to Hero series and I if you think I am only picking champions that are not very mechanically demanding...well you are right! The reason for that is in Solo Queue at least, if you don't need to focus on learning difficult mechanics you can focus more on the macro plays and macro plays are what win you a game.

Now, for this one guide, I will try to deeply talk about Karma and what you should be doing to play her decently as a support.

I hope you enjoy and as always feel free to ask me any questions you have or give me any suggestions to improve the guide.

I love playing support, but as I am not a support main I really encourage you guys to help me improve this guide, thank you!

1

Table Of Contents

  • Summoner Spells
  • Abilities
  • Runes
  • Warding
  • Itemization
  • Tips And Tricks
2

Chapter 1: Summoner Spells

Although I recommend always taking ignite as Karma, this is still completely your preference, but if you are very indecisive I will give you a situation where you should pick Exhaust and a situation where you should take Ignite.

Let's say that your bot lane is Ezreal and Karma versus Caitlyn and Soraka, well in that case you always want to take Ignite because first, this is a favorable match up for you, second ignite cuts half of the healing effectiveness so really try to use this in you favor

Now, on the other hand, let's say that your bot lane is Vayne and Karma; due to Vayne's weak early game it will be hard to actually pressure the enemy bot lane, especially if they have a strong duo (e.g. Sona and Lucian) plus you have to deal with an assassin mid laner and jungler, well in that case it makes a lot more sense taking Exhaust instead, just try to use it when the enemy is about to engage a fight to mitigate the damage from their combo.

3

Chapter 2 :Abilities

As support, most likely you will max your Q first, followed by your E and then W.
In tough match ups though, you can choose to max your E first, followed by your Q and then W

Inner Flame: This ability is one of the best poke abilities in the game, it does a huge amount of damage in the early game, allowing you to pressure the lane as no other support would. The new runes makes it even better, so be sure to hit Inner Flame whenever Summon Aery and Scorch are up!

Focused Resolve: This one fits her kit of abilities really well, try to use it whenever you hit you mantra-buffed Q (AKA Soulflare) to give your AD Carry a window to hit his abilities and basic attacks.

Inspire: This ability is what makes Karma a great support, when this ability is maxed, considering that you will be running Transcendence and Cosmic Insight it will have almost no cooldown and the movement speed + area shield (when buffed with Mantra ) is certainly a game changer if used in the right situation.

Mantra: There are many different situations where you can use Mantra, the most common is buffing your Inner Flame, thus transforming it in Soul Flare to harass in lane. However in Team Fights you really would prefer to use it in order to buff your Inspire instead

4

Chapter 3: Runes

In the runes section above I suggested taking the Sorcery tree followed by the Inspiration tree as secondary choice and I will explain why I think this is one of the best combination of runes for Karma.

Sorcery Tree

Summon Aery Is probably a must have for Karma now, if you manage to hit a Mantra-Buffed Q (AKA Soulflare) anytime on the early game your enemies are just screwed!

Arcane Comet seems OK for her, and maybe it will be more used once Aery gets nerfed.

Phase Rush: Honestly, this rune was promising but many say that it is utter crap, plus I don't think this one is any good on Karma whatsoever.


Nullifying orb: I don't see why you'd take this for Support Karma.

Manaflow Band: If you want to potencialize your poke-ability even more you can take that instead of the Nimbus Cloak. Although I think Nimbus Cloak is a must have for her it all comes down to your play-style as a support.

Nimbus Cloak: By far the best out of the three. Since you spam your ultimate a lot!


Transcendence: OK, this is so good for Karma, 10% cooldown reduction at level 10 helps a lot considering that at this mark you'll already have Ionian Boots of Lucidity if you are winning the game. Plus, Karma's standard itemization allows you to exceed the 40% CDR Limit, and all this exceeding CDR becomes AP, isn't that awesome?

Celerity: Why would you ever use this?

Absolute Focus: Also an excellent rune if you want your poke-ability to be even stronger, if you want to completely obliterate your enemies in laning phase you can take this one for sure.


Scorch: I am positive that this is the best rune for Karma so far, your Inner Flame gets so much stronger with that, and assuming that you will be running Summon Aery as a keystone your Q becomes absolutely annoying! (Laughs in lane-harassment)

Waterwalking: This is decent if you are roaming a lot to other lanes, definitely would consider taking this sometimes.

Gathering Storm: Many of you may argue that Gathering Storm is good, and I really think it has potential, but if you look at the games in pre-season, we are basically having pretty one-sided games that end before the 30 minutes mark, though is at this same mark that the rune starts getting really good, at 20minutes though, it is nothing more than an Amplifying Tome , thus worth 435 gold.


Inspiration Tree

There are many different combinations that you can possibly make for this one tree, it is very flexible and I really encourage you to try it out, so definitely don't just stick to the ones I will point out here!

Magical Footwear : basically 350 gold for free at 10 minutes, assuming that you will get Ionian Boots and they are very important for Karma's build but we never really focus on getting boots early on, being able to have it for free plus a discount on the actual tier 2 boots really helps you out.

Cosmic Insight : Allows you to exceed the maximum CDR plus gives you 5% starting CDR and a lot of minor Cooldown Reductions (+5% Summoner Spell CDR/+5% Item CDR). I think this fits really well for Karma as support.

Biscuit Delivery : I don't have an opinion on that one since I haven't tried it for Karma, but in my opinion it has a lot of potential for supports.

Future's Market: Decent, consider this if you want to rush Ardent Censer or some other expensive supportive items like the Athene's Unholy Grail.

5

Chapter 4: Warding

So, I just want to give you an idea of where you should be warding in certain marks of the game. This is not mandatory and the locations that you ward may change depending on the game. I just wanna give you a general idea so you can build up your strategies yourself.

So,just to clarify the PINK points indicate where you should be putting control wards and the GREEN ones indicate where you should be putting your Vision Wards.

Warding as Blue Team

[spoiler]
Early Game Wards

wardmap
This is pretty standard, these wards only help you to avoid ganks.

Mid Game Wards
If you are winning:

wardmap

Usually if you are winning the game at this point you wanna do objectives like Dragon or pushing the mid turret. These wards help you to get information on the enemy's position, so your team will be able to easily focus the right person assuming they'll know their locations. You can change the pink ward on the Dragon Pit to elsewhere if you are not doing dragon anytime soon, as I said before, this is not mandatory, it's just to give you an general idea.

If you are losing:

wardmap

You don't wanna put yourself at any risk when you're losing so just stick to your own territory and try to protect it. The ward on the river will give you the information if the enemy team is preparing for the Dragon or not. Also when you are warding never forget to use your Oracle Lens to clean up the enemy vision.

Late Game Wards
If you are winning:

wardmap

After 20 minutes having vision on the Baron is essential and as the mid-game wards, if you are winning you must put advanced wards to have information on your enemy's location. With those wards you have plenty of information on the enemy jungle and this allows you to easily pick someone out of position and do the Baron.

If you are Losing:

wardmap

AGAIN, if you are LOSING protect your own territory and do not put yourself at unnecessary risks, that's why your getting vision for your side of the jungle. This prevents the enemmy to pick you out of position. Always remember to ask someone to come with you when you feel you're gonna be at a risky situation to prevent an eventual pick off.

[/spoiler]

Warding as Red Team

[spoiler]
Early Game Wards

wardmap

Mid Game Wards

If you are winning:
wardmap

If you are losing:
wardmap

Late Game Wards

If you are winning:
wardmap

If you are Losing:
wardmap

[spoiler]

6

Chapter 5: Itemization

In this section I will quickly talk about Karma's itemization.

Starting Items
+ + +

Basically the best start for her, Spellthief's mana regen and extra damage on early is all you want when play Karma.

Recommended Full Build

+ + + + +

I personally really like this build, you get a decent amount of HP and defense while being able to protect your AD Carry really well and also provide him more damage with the Ardent Censer and Zeke's Convergence. You can do this build when your AD Carry is doing really well, if not you can choose for the Situational items.

Situational/Offensive
or or or

You can choose one of those as an option for more damage if you happen to need it. I personally love the Liandry's Torment and Grail. The Grail also heals your based on how many charges you have collected so it is pretty decent for Karma and any other support that provides shields.

Mikael's Crucible is also a good situational item if the enemy team has an astounding amount of CC so you can use this item in anyone who gets CC chained in your team.

I think that is it for the itemization section! Let's hop onto the next one

7

Chapter 6 : Tips and Tricks

EARLY GAME

Laning phase is something that many people struggle with, there's a lot of different situations that might cause you to lose the lane, but don't you worry, I'll help you with that!

Firstly, Karma has a really spooky level 1 as she starts with ultimate, so use this in your favor and try to hit them your empowered Q during the whole laning phase.
Also, Try to hit the mage minions to help you ad carry push the wave at level 1 so you can force them to farm under the turret while you harass'em even more!

As Karma you can be as cocky as you want in lane, but be careful not to go crazy and forget to ward properly, if you are playing too aggressively you gotta be aware of their jungler camping bot.

Tip! if their jungler started Bot Side he will most likely try to gank Top or Mid Lane early on, so you don't have to worry about warding until 4 or 5 minutes.

MID GAME

At mid game you should along with your jungler start shotcalling, always try to tell your team what are you going to do and where you need wards. Usually you want to tell them to either help warding the upcoming objective or your own jungle - if you're losing - .

If your team is all split you should always try to stay with your AD Carry getting more experience and gold.

If team is ahead but your ad carry is behind you should tell him to farm safely and ward possible gank routes for the other team. In this particular situation you should leave your AD until the point where he catches up with the experience lost.

Also at this mark you still do a good amount of damage with your empowered Q, so try to force objectives and poke the enemies whenever you can.

LATE GAME

Usually you don't want the game to drag on to this point because Karma really falls behind compared to other supports, therefore you need to group with your team buff your AD carry or help anyone that needs your help.

Don't put yourself at any risk. You don't do as much damage anymore, so try to use your Mantra to empower your E instead. Also use all of your protective
resources to help your team as a whole and trust them to win the fight.

PLAYING FROM BEHIND

Now let's say that you were up against a counter or you messed up in lane, how do you play from behind as Karma and supports in general?

Well, first you gotta ward correctly, so keep that in mind and refer to the 4th chapter if you still have any doubt.

Next, if you are behind you really just wanna be along with your AD and wait for him to farm and get experience for you. Ideally you want to gather as much experience and gold as you can to fight for the next objectives.

Once you gathered resources again you are good to go, so focus on helping your team's strongest carry and don't let them die!

Well, that is it for this section and pretty much the whole guide, as always, thank you so much for reading!

8

Conclusion

Well guys, that is it! I hope you enjoyed the guide and I really hope you can help me improve it as well, give me your opinions and suggestions, I will appreciate to hear your feedback as am I not a support main, but Karma is still one of my favorite champions, so I decided to make this guide for her.

There will be no special thanks for this one guide since I learned this all by myself!

I hope you enjoyed the guide as much as I enjoyed making it, and if you did, don't forget to leave a comment and vote!

Thank you! Much love

karmaqg