Karma vs Mordekaiser — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Karma against Mordekaiser · 36.67% win rate over 30 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27

Verdict: A genuine skill matchup — the favour swings window to window (2 apiece of the 7 stages). Karma wins 36.67% of games vs Mordekaiser in top lane (30 Emerald+ games analysed).

Favour timeline — who owns each window

StageFavouredWhy
Level 1Even / skillMantra is up at level 1 so you get a huge RQ first poke, but his W shield/heal and raw bulk mean neither of you can kill — it's an even setup window.
Level 2MordekaiserHis E pull into the isolated Q slam threatens to lock you in melee where his W out-sustains your chip, and he picks the moment to commit — respect the gap-close.
Level 3KarmaYour Q/RQ poke lands on his W cooldown and he has no dash to close the gap, so you fully own this trading window.
Levels 4-5Even / skillYou out-poke him here but he's stacking HP and W sustain toward his Level 6 spike — neither side lands a clean kill yet.
Level 6MordekaiserRealm of Death isolates you into a 1v1 and steals your stats, and your E shield only delays it while your W tether can't break the box — this window is entirely his.
First itemEven / skillYour first AP/haste item sharpens RQ burst and shield value while his R sits on cooldown — even tempo, your poke against his bulk.
Two+ itemsKarmaBefore Riftmaker/Rylai's fully come online you still out-range, out-tempo, and out-roam him — snowball plates and map pressure NOW before his scaling reclaims the lane.

Early game (levels 1–5)

At Level 1 you have an opener almost no juggernaut can match — Mantra is available immediately, so RQ Soulflare lays a delayed damage zone and slow before his W shield/heal is even leveled to refund it. Start chunking his oversized health bar from max Q range, and keep poking with Q and RQ while his W is on cooldown, because the shield-then-heal only returns part of what you land and he has no dash to punish you for it. Do NOT walk into E range: his targeted pull into the isolated Q slam yanks you into melee where his sustain beats your chip, and once he's on top of you your whole range advantage evaporates.

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Karma vs Mordekaiser 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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