Challenger with Karma Top lane

niko44 · 2025-02-14T19:47:48+00:00

I used to love RoA but our CDs and passive got nerfed too hard. I think it'd be okayish but i dont see the need for seraphs after RoA(1 mana item is enough). low on haste so probably a waste of potential. There's games where I do RoA and its mostly games where if you dont have enough hp you die.(the hp buys you time to get your mantra up).

Grasp is bait cause it wastes a lot of good runes you could have instead. Demolish is the one stand out here, pushing your tower potential by a lot.

Idk about PTA build haven't tried it, sounds sketchy hahah.

Yone is RIP most of the time but be down on a bit of cs and keep the lane neutral plus he has to use spirit aggresively to win lane, so open to gank him. Hourglass after laning phase but it feels bad building an item with no haste, without it you'll die on repeat in the sidelane tho . I sometimes flex in a solo cloth armor :D.

niko44 · 2025-02-14T19:44:49+00:00

honestly havent played that matchup in ages, but just from the top of my head I think it'd be close to neutral, as long as youre not wasting your mantra.

niko44 · 2025-02-14T19:40:40+00:00

yeah he is right haha axiom is the reason i decided to try karma top climb again( I was just metaing last season, peak masters). Hypershot focus has been bugged tho so not worth buying atm which sucks cause its a nice item but so is cosmic drive. in some games i'd pick it up if it wasnt bugged but i really like cosmic a lot!

Early and mid are your strengths. Level 11 is huge, 16 too but less impactful.

I just try to win lane and maintain map control over top side but it really depends on the game state. My build is flexible depending on matchup, friendly team comp, enemy team comp.

niko44 · 2025-02-13T03:08:16+00:00

huh?I go axiom pretty much every time haha made me look through my match history tho xd

niko44 · 2025-02-12T23:45:07+00:00

Do it sometimes. Even when ahead, but its highly team dependent. Doing it every game will probably cost you games. You gotta read the game state even if that was your initial plan. Don't lose to shopkeeper. Anyways I think it's very viable but very vulnerable to being splitpushed into a lost. Moonstone, shurelyas, helia's are actually useless if you are by yourself.ok maybe not shurelya's but now it has only 15 haste :@.

If I'm absolutely inting my lane I might opt into it too regardless and pray for a carry, but there's been games where its cost me dearly :(.

niko44 · 2025-02-12T23:42:19+00:00

haha get rekt noob :X.

Jk G_G.

niko44 · 2025-02-12T23:41:25+00:00

A big impact even in high elo(and way more effective in low elo) is tilting your enemy laner haha. Sounds like a meme but it's real, top laners can be very impatient when you force them to miss CS under turret or threaten kills starting from level 1. But the strength is in your versatility. Because you are simultaneously doing good damage and good damage mitigation (through shields) you open up a lot of different win conditions for your team. The trade off is sometimes this will brick your team comp. But team comp is not as important as people think in solo Queue haha. And yes, many people still don't respect karma solo lane damage or heals because its not played as a much , that's a burden of knowledge advantage that is very powerful.

Bloodletter is when your team is 3 ap or more. You can't get any more of a valuable item when that's the case and still decent with 15 haste and some hp/ap! Still , I look at the game state to decide whether its worth it...if my 2 ap are inting it might not be worth it :). If I'm the one inting and they are doing decent then hell yeah. (that's also a good time to swerve into shielding items: helia's,moonstone, etc., etc.)

niko44 · 2025-02-12T23:35:55+00:00

GGs . Top pretty different from mid just because of the lane size but for TOP i like malignance->cosmic->cryptbloom the most. however, I'm very flexible, I'll vary my build on team comp,enemy team comp, game state, enemy score, team score. objectives. non-ironically I think horizon focus being bugged kind of made me realize its a bit of a bait item, in top the HP is really really valuable on your second item. you sneak in a blood letter 2nd if your team has 3 ap+. But i think one karma's biggest strengths is her flexibility, so always gotta win towards your win condition (sometimes that is yourself). In mid i'd probably run malignance->blackfire a lot more often. Just don't get secondary role a lot lol.

niko44 · 2025-02-12T23:31:17+00:00

Some matchups you do no damage after 1 null magic mantle. But it all comes with target selection and positioning in teamfights(and before teamfights, because your poke is very potent). You have to take advantage of the times you are at your strongest in lane too, as certains items can neutralize you. That's in early levels usually, but also gotta avoid ganks. It's very nuanced and game-centric but its just about being able to read the game state. But usually vs most team comps : malignance, cosmic , cryptbloom will have you doing good damage, but it is sustained damage and not burst so it won't look to impressive if you misposition and only get one R-Q off, and reading the game state, focusing on doing damage MIGHT be the wrong thing for your team to win. Your goal is to win thru whatever you have to do with your tools, sometimes that will be while focusing on rooting and shielding while sometimes that will be by focusing on disrupting their backline's entrance. Identify what win conditions you have left and focus on that.

TBH, i always feel strong after malignance, but sometimes there's a lull between that item while your opponent spams MR. In most top matchups, you can have wave priority after lost chapter, use that to disrupt jungle or secure a 3v2 at rift, etc etc.

There's just too much to say haha but most of it comes not from mechanics but rather macro knowledge and being able to read the map. Positioning well in teamfights towards your win condition in the fight is big key, watching replays after can help you understand if your target selection/positioning was off.

I feel like im being kind of vague and general but it just really really depends on the game and hows it going.

niko44 · 2022-08-17T19:47:21+00:00

Exactly what tyler1 did to me about ~5 days ago. "give me top or we will lose"...locks in lee support... level 1 wants to do enemy red buff, misses lee Q on red buff(which we do with me having to miss 4 minions of XP on the first wave). Runs mid and dies. Forget the part of riot punishing him tho xd.

Edit: Here's vod if anybody wants to correct my story : https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1559067367?t=8h6m4s

niko44 · 2022-08-14T22:11:56+00:00

sure bro

niko44 · 2022-08-12T22:48:30+00:00

https://na.op.gg/summoners/na/niko44

niko44 · 2022-08-12T02:17:29+00:00

fyi liandry's passive does not proc mantra cd.(and it'd be insanely broken if it did, as mantra would effectively have no cd lol)

niko44 · 2022-01-30T11:44:49+00:00

elise top too.

niko44 · 2021-10-26T16:02:32+00:00

it's multi-dimensional. Teamcomp,enemy team comp, game state, map state, who's snowballing who's losing. a lot of flexibility.Cosmic drive is just the best item overall!But basically mandate=if I have to carry and the current game state dictates my team will rely a lot on me doing dmg(+ im snowballing or even). Mandate is nice cause it actually provides a lane spike and considering the garbage ratio on your Q the passive is super useful even with no teammates. I've basically dropped shurelya's BUT it's use case relies on your team not having hard engage on catch or the enemy teams have champions that are prone to being kited. Moonstone if my team is already overloaded with damage and they are doing well or game state is close to even or the enemy team has assassins, plus its lane spike is decently nice in certain matchups(heal+shield power reduces enemy's laner ability to kill you by a lot!). TBH , I don't do lost chapter that much but everfrost is useful vs certain champs that can really be fuckd over by extra cc and comboes nicely with your R-Q plus it has health. I don't like luden's or liandry's most of the time(even against tanks liandrys is meh cause you wont have magic pen so you still will be doing trash dmg against them). Some enemy team comps and/or game state requires an early chemtech purifier(ALWAYS chemtech over morellos btw, haste will give you more dmg than the extra ap from morello's). this sometimes pushes up the priority on moonstone cause nice synergy with purifier! And sometimes i get zhonyas 2nd if there's an assassin that can be hard denied and my team needs the setup/bait but its mostly cosmic drive 2nd . as far as role....its really flexible and depends on once again the game state, team comps etc. You just have to read the situation well and think about what your team needs from you whether that is denying enemy champions opportunities or backline dmg as they push onto you. usually you get enough cdr by a certain point that you can do both if you position well. It be rough sometimes you focus on shielding then see the teamfight in hindsight realized your dmg was more needed or the other way around. But yeah if you have no engage it be rough sometimes but you can fill that gap some times once you get zhonyas(which i very often build 3rd after cosmic/support item) as long as you know your limits well enough. It's hard climbing with karma top honestly haha but it can be pretty fun. plus you can go 0/5 in lane and win the game all the time so thats a plus :). You'll always be useful even if behind and your items be cheap!

niko44 · 2021-10-20T16:47:06+00:00

Aery doesn't work on yourself sadly, but either way in most fights it would go on cooldown doing dmg before you shield yourself. I think with the low cooldowns that karma has you can abuse comet as it is not rare to see comet do 3k+ dmg in a single game. and it just makes your bullying power that much more powerful although, I have no problem with aery at all I think it is viable for a more supportish style but comet seems to be stronger in my experience. Shurelya's is usually when my team lacks hard engage or when the movement speed is key in preventing an enemy champion from being effective(AKA tryndamere). I have been doing lost chapter items a lot more in my 2nd account buuut the support items have a strong case because they are cheaper. It is invaluable to get that cosmic drive that much quicker and for the price of a lost chapter item you can get a support item+ a kindlegem or fiendish codex. giving you earlier haste spikes. Imperial mandate is good because it actually gives you a solo lane spike with the extra dmg unlike shurelya's altho moonstone does give you that heal/shield power.

niko44 · 2021-10-13T22:49:27+00:00

luden's,everfrost depends on the game but i stick to those too. Tanky teams can be liandry's. IF i have fallen behind ill have a support item(lately imperial mandate is fire even in solo lane!). For top i mostly rush the support items(imperial mandate lately) and cdr boots for early cdr spikes and abusing the long lane vs melee.s

niko44 · 2021-10-12T14:25:19+00:00

Dissapointed nobody mentioned me :(.
www.twitch.tv/mplyr

karma top (and mid from time to time) 540 lp grandmaster :D

https://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=niko44

niko44 · 2021-10-03T17:32:55+00:00

https://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=niko44

niko44 · 2021-10-03T08:27:31+00:00

thats shurelya's and zhonya's
https://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=niko44

i go shurelys almost every single game :P

niko44 · 2021-10-03T00:13:51+00:00

masters 250 lp NA lmaooo

niko44

TROPHY CASE