Guide to midlane tank Karma in League of Legends season 13

From season 12 to 13, Karma was taken on a roller coaster of a ride in League of Legends. She was widely seen as a lackluster pick last season, but with the addition of new items since pre-season 2023, she has gradually but surely gained popularity.

The new tank Karma build, particularly in midlane, is a key cause of this surge. It has been getting a lot of attention thanks to one key item in particular: Radiant Virtue.

Karma is a typical enchanter support unit that excels at providing utility and crowd control for her team. Her skills may be employed in both supportive and offensive gameplay, making her eligible for a variety of team compositions.

She is perhaps one of the few League of Legends champions that can offer poke, sustain (through shields), and CC (crowd control). She is also one of the rare triple-flex champions that can be used on the toplane, midlane, and support.

Because of her flexibility and utility, the character has always maintained a strong presence in both ranked and competitive play. For instance, midlane tank Karma has now made appearances in competitive competitions around the world, including the LCK, LEC, and LCS. With all that in mind, this article will serve as a comprehensive guide to using midlane tank Karma in League of Legends season 13.

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Runes, itemization, and gameplay guide for midlane tank Karma in League of Legends season 13

Due to her flexibility and ability to impact the rift, midlane tank Karma is a solid selection in League of Legends Season 13. In this build, her goal is to instigate engagements, dominate the battlefield, and sustain in-lane and intra-team combat.

One might argue that the midlane tank Karma is more of a supporting option than the typical midlane carry pick, as she is undoubtedly the finest initiator on that lane. Having said that, this build for her is better suited to players who are comfortable roaming and trading. She isn't the sort of champion who will sit on the midlane and scale slowly. As a result, players with that type of playstyle should avoid this build.

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Runes

Midlane tank Karma primarily has only one rune choice that works best with her build, where Sorcery is the primary and Resolve is the secondary. This set synergizes perfectly with this pick.

This is due to Midlane tank Karma being granted access to Summon Aery, thanks to the Sorcery rune tree, which helps to enhance shielding, healing, and poke, along with Manaflow Band for mana sustain, Transcendence for cooldown reduction, and Gathering Storm for mid-late game scaling.

On the other hand, access to the Resolve rune tree improves trading prowess as well as Revatilze for better shielding and healing.

Midlane tank Karma runes (Image via Riot Client)

Primary Rune (Sorcery)

Summon Aery - Manaflow Band - Transcendence - Gathering Storm

Secondary Rune (Resolve)

Bone Plating - Revatilze

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Itemization

Itemization for midlane tank Karma is one of the most significant parts of this setup in League of Legends season 13. In a League of Legends champion like Karma, the mythic item Radiant Virtue is perhaps the most effective. R (Mantra), her ultimate move, allows her to strengthen her next ability, offering it extra benefits and making her E (Inspire) synergize well with the item.

Following her mythic item, the objective should be to rush Ionian Boots, which are unquestionably her strongest option for boots. The extra CDR (Cool Down Reduction) is highly important for midlane tank Karma in League of Legends season 13.

After that, her next item should be Chemtech Putrifier, a crucial staple choice for shielding/healing League of Legends enchanters like Karma.

As the team's primary healer/shielder, it is the enchanter's ethical responsibility to create healing reduction as Chemtech Putrifier allows other allies who are healed/shielded to apply the Grievous Wounds effect from it. This also helps the team's genuine carriers to focus more on the damage-centric build.

Following that, how the build will perform is determined by the lane match-up and the opposing team's composition. Frozen Heart offers 400 Mana, 20 Ability Haste, and 90 Armor while lowering approaching AD damage and delaying foes' basic attack if used against strong AD champions and team compositions in League of Legends season 13.

If the pick is up against AP heavy composition, opt for Spirit Visage to amplify healing and shielding further. After that, continue building traditional League of Legends enchanter items to further assist allies.

• Radiant Virtue (Core Mythic Item)
• Ionian Boots (Core Boots)
• Chemtech Putrifier
• Redemption (Opt for Frozen Heart if against heavy AD comps)
• Staff of Flowing Water
• Ardent Censer

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Gameplay

When it comes to midlane tank Karma's gameplay in League of Legends, it's important to bear in mind how powerful a champion she is. She is a fantastic lane bully with loads of utility and peeling potential for her team's carry.

However, it is critical not to miss the portion of the game when she's strong, which is her early-mid game. Tank Karma's R (Mantra) enables the character to empower her abilities. This makes her comparatively stronger than other champions in the early game; she is one of the few lol champions with access to R at level 1

The goal of a midlane tank Karma should be to bully the enemy laner and control the lane in most cases, which allows one to impact other lanes by roaming. Roaming and forcing skirmishes is quite enjoyable with her thanks to the champion's abilities, with her Q (Inner Flame) acting as a poke, her W (Focused Resolve) as a root, E (Inspire) as a shield sustain, and R (Mantra) as an ability empowering one.

Due to this, it is important to use her power spike pre-level-6, as other League of Legends champions will certainly gain an edge over her once they acquire their level- 6 ultimate ability.

One of the key combinations in Karma is to W the enemy, then E oneself to get more movement speed and shielding, and auto-attack the foe once until the W root time is over, after which auto-attacking again is advised.

During the training phase, it is best recommended to poke the enemy laner as much as possible with Karma's Q (Inner Flame) and also synergize the poke with Manaflow Band to make sure mana sustain is present.

Another aspect of midlane tank Karma is to initiate 2v1/2v2 skirmishes with an ally jungler, as she is arguably one of the strongest enchanter champions to have in early-mid-game fights with.

During clutch team fights, one should always empower E (Inspire) their allies and grant them massive shields along with movement speed. The shield is combined with Summon Aery and Radiant Virtue's passive, providing amazing utility and helping allies in the form of additional healing and shielding in League of Legends season 13.

During the mid-game, one's goal should be to continue impacting other lanes and catching enemies off-guard by contesting objectives. And during mid-late game team fights, one's focus should always be to empower E the allies to protect them, which also helps enable the Radiant Virtue passive to be used often. Empowered Q should only be used in cases where a guaranteed area of effect damage is almost certain.

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Whilst the midlane tank Karma in League of Legends season 13 is certainly a fun pick, it is best advised to practice this pick for at least a couple of normal games before selecting this pick in ranked.