How to win lane as Karma against Graves · 50% win rate over 124 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Karma | Mantra is up at level 1, so I open RQ Soulflare and chunk him with the delayed zone before his shotgun autos are in range — he has no level-1 answer. |
| Level 2 | Karma | Every Q and auto I land refunds Mantra off my passive, so I rebuild Soulflare and out-tempo his short-range step-and-shotgun poke. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | He brings his E dash and Smoke Screen online to close my range and blind me, so the trades start to even out around levels 3-6. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | His True Grit armor and point-blank auto burst can beat my E shield if I overstep, so it becomes a coin-flip of who lands their window first. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | At 6 my R is only re-empowerment, not a new spike, while his E-plus-shotgun all-in stays just as lethal — genuinely even. |
| First item | Even / skill | My first AP-haste item sharpens RQ poke and shield value, but his auto burst spike matches it, so neither of us pulls ahead. |
| Two+ items | Karma | A tanky-ADC Graves stalls as a solo threat while my RE shield, RW heal and roams swing the fights my team needs. |
My Q out-ranges his shotgun autos and Mantra is up from level 1, so I open RQ Soulflare the second he walks up to last-hit — the delayed zone plus slow chunk him before he can burst-auto back, and he has no level-1 tool to answer it. Levels 2-3 I keep Q on his head; every ability and auto I land refunds Mantra off my passive, so I rebuild Soulflare faster than he can punish. The thing to respect: his E dash and Smoke Screen can suddenly close the gap and blind me, so I poke from range and never sit flat-footed inside his dash-and-shotgun distance.
The full Karma vs Graves report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Graves vs Karma guide →
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