Karma Rework Now on the PBE!

So 2 weeks ago, I made a post about the Karma rework that was recently announced. Now for those that are looking forward to it I have some great news: The Karma rework is now available on the PBE :D

For those who don't know, the PBE (Public Beta Environment) is a League of Legends server that allows players to test content before it's released on the live client. The purpose of this is so Riot gets feedback on the content and is able to fix any bugs that players may find. Unfortunately, most players use the PBE as a means of playing new content before it's released, so Riot has limited PBE sign-ups to the first few days of each month. So if you didn't sign up yet, you have to wait another week :(

But for those who did sign up, you can now patch your PBE client to test the new Karma ^^

Karma's reworked kit is as follows (Copy-Paste from Scarizard's post)


Passive: Gathering Fire – Hitting enemy champions with Karma’s spells and basic attacks lower Mantra’s cooldown.

R: Mantra – Empowers Karma’s abilities, adding an extra effect to the next ability cast.

Q: Inner Flame – Skillshot that deals magic damage and slows enemies in an area.
Empowered by Mantra: Soulflare – Increases damage and leaves behind a zone that slows and, after a brief delay, explodes for AoE damage.

W: Focused Resolve – Enemy-targeted tether that deals damage over time. If the tether is unbroken after a short duration, the tethered target is rooted in place.
Empowered by Mantra: Renewal – Deals bonus damage and heals Karma for the duration of the tether.

E: Inspire – Shields an ally and grants them a short speed boost.
Empowered by Mantra: Defiance – Enemies near the shielded ally are damaged while nearby allies are shielded and granted a short speed boost.

I'm going to play the rework today and I'll post my thoughts on it later. Right now I'll talk about what I think of her new kit.

I really like how instead of removing the mantra system, they improved it. The mantras are what made Karma unique, and at the same time prevented her from being powerful. The new passive allows Karma to be rewarded more for harassing, instead of her old passive which encouraged her to make risky plays. Her new Q is more aggressive than her old one, which is what Riot was trying to get at. However, this also means Karma no longer has an ability to heal her team.

Her new W is a lot better than her old one. Although she can no longer speed up her teammates, she can now do damage AND apply hard CC (snare/root). Her W also gives her some nice sustain, although I don't know how good the sustain is since I don't know the actual numbers.

Her Q, which was my favourite skill, is still the same, but with one change: it now applies a speed boost when mantra'd. So not only does the shield have a lot of health, deal tons of damage, but it can speed up your entire team, provided that they're positioned properly.

Overall, I really like how Karma is designed as an aggressive support who can do well as an AP mid (Similar to Lux).

That's all for now, but I'll be back later with more info on the Karma Rework.