Karnak Or Elektra

What’s your first instinctual answer to the question of who is a better pull:  Elektra or Karnak?

Most say Elektra, but they are wrong.

I’m not making the argument that either one is the best in the Skill class.  However, I see more people using Elektra over Karnak in the mid tiers, and my point is that if these two champs did the ol’ switcher-roo face-off where they swapped stats and abilities—then Elektra (with Karnak’s abilities) would still be used more frequently.  That is, Elektra is more popular now primarily because of her looks despite Karnak having the edge as an attacker.

Let’s break it down based off the abilities that I see with both of mine as four stars at 4/40:

Ignoring Evade

The primary draw to use both of these champions as attackers is their ability to ignore evade (of course Iceman is better but that is a different discussion and not everyone has Iceman).  Karnak’s sp1 has a 100% chance to ignore 100% of potential evades for 8.5 seconds (or 11.5 seconds with the Medusa synergy), and it activates even if you miss connecting for damage on the sp1.  Elekra’s sp1 has an 75% chance to activate for 7 seconds if the defender can bleed (9.5 seconds with 5/5 deep wounds; or 70% chance to activate for 9 seconds vs bleed immune), and when it does activate there is still a 15% chance the defender can sneak in an evade.  Anyone who has used Elektra has seen Spidey evade her sp1 completely, or they’ve seen the bleed not activate at all after hitting the sp1, or they’ve seen Spidey evade and counter attack while bleeding.  Winner—Karnak with his 100% reliability.

Armor Break:

Karnak’s true strike from the sp1 ignores all armor.  Elektra’s armor break only activates vs bleed immune opponents, and it ignores just a percentage of the armor rating.  Winner—Karnak.

Critical Rating and Critical Damage:

Karnak’s “Focused” buff boosts his critical rating after 9 seconds of not getting hit or immediately after any sp1.  But awakened Elektra has guaranteed critical hits when the opponent has below 25% health and she also gets increased critical damage during that time.  Winner—barely Karnak (it’s a close call but I’d lean towards Karnak in a longer fight because his Focused buff could be up almost the whole fight when used by a skilled player)

Misc:

Elektra has strong bleed but only from her special attacks.  The fact that it only activates vs special attacks means she is not very useful against safeguard, but she is very useful against Power Shield (the node where only specials do damage).  Still not 100% reliable.

Karnak reduces class disadvantage by 2% every 5 seconds, which is certainly useful against their primary responsibility of taking down those evade defenders—Nightcrawler.

When awakened, Karnak reduces poison damage by 65% and can shrug off non-damaging debuts 40+% faster than normal.  Nothing exciting there but worth mentioning.

Block proficiency (both 4* 4/40):  Karnak 3,468.  Elektra 2,807.

Karnak has higher PI.

Both are good champs, but Karnak seems to be the better champ.  So why is Elektra more popular?

Comments

SpiritOfVengeance

I love using karnak in aw and sometimes aq helps against spideys and hits hard. The reduction in poison and non damage debuffs also help a lot.

Never bothered ranking my elektra tbh.

AgentOfSHIELD

its not just evade elektra also bypasses limbo thorns and electro's shock the main problem I have with karnak is his awful l1 it does almost no damage is very hard to land

Apocalypse189

I personally think that Karnak hits like a fly, his damage is terrible

TellthemIAM

Duped Electra is a monster. I’ve never been a fan of Karnak, I think he hits like a wet noodle but to each his/her own.

Sungj

Sorry but you are quite wrong here, first off, in your comparison you had some useless categories that really didn't factor into who is better overall, those being the true strike damage, critical rating, and critical damage. All of these things are just damage boosters, yes even though Karnak wins these categories with his huge increased crit from true strike and armor ignoring attacks but since Elektra still has superior damage output in both short and long fights these categories are really redundant and Elektra comes out on top in what really matters which is damage.

The second part and a big one you are missing is that elektra unlike karnak isn't just used to stop evade, her ability allows her to bypass all defensive abilities. This makes her a very good option for any champion with tricky defensive abilities like elektro, modok, magik, etc. Her 75% on her sp1 still makes her very reliable since its 2x 75% and her defensive ability reduction can still activate on parries.

Yes, karnak can be a better option in certain circumstances like debuff immune evade champions but in almost every other scenario elektra is better and by a quite a large margin. She has better damage, better utility, and more diverse uses.

Winner : Elektra

ss1100

HomerJBond wrote: »

What’s your first instinctual answer to the question of who is a better pull: Elektra or Karnak?

However, I see more people using Elektra over Karnak in the mid tiers, and my point is that if these two champs did the ol’ switcher-roo face-off where they swapped stats and abilities—then Elektra (with Karnak’s abilities) would still be used more frequently. That is, Elektra is more popular now primarily because of her looks despite Karnak having the edge as an attacker.

thats abit inaccurate dun u think?? didnt know blade looks like tom cruise, ghost rider definitely dont look like brad pitt neither.

i use elektra alot cause her damage is good (p.s. there's alot of "hotter" champions in the game)

HomerJBond

AgentOfSHIELD wrote: »

its not just evade elektra also bypasses limbo thorns and electro's shock the main problem I have with karnak is his awful l1 it does almost no damage is very hard to land

Good points! Karnak’s sp3 also bypasses those but takes longer to get there. Elektra is better vs Electro and the rare thorns. Scale tipped a little bit back towards Elektra’s favor but I still prefer Karnak 100% reliablity vs the evade defenders

KyrieRed

None

HomerJBond

ss1100 wrote: »

HomerJBond wrote: »

What’s your first instinctual answer to the question of who is a better pull: Elektra or Karnak?

However, I see more people using Elektra over Karnak in the mid tiers, and my point is that if these two champs did the ol’ switcher-roo face-off where they swapped stats and abilities—then Elektra (with Karnak’s abilities) would still be used more frequently. That is, Elektra is more popular now primarily because of her looks despite Karnak having the edge as an attacker.

thats abit inaccurate dun u think?? didnt know blade looks like tom cruise, ghost rider definitely dont look like brad pitt neither.

i use elektra alot cause her damage is good (p.s. there's alot of "hotter" champions in the game)

Haha I thought that would strike a cord. Maybe I’m just bitter because Modok is now my main avatar and I’m tired of looking at his ugly mug.

I do think Karnak’s damage is underestimated in the longer fights no one crits more than him and with ignoring the armor it all adds up. He’s not in the highest tier but underestimated with damage

DiablosUltimate

Crossbones is more reliable than these 2, for all purposes that you are discussing here

HomerJBond

KyrieRed wrote: »

None

I created this post after reflecting on giving advice to a newbie about who to take to 4/40 for their first skill champ. Those were the two options. Better to rank up one skill champ to 4/40 than none.

Bahamut

“Elektra is more commonly used because of her looks” Do u even game bro? That’s not how the game works lol. If people only used champs based on how the look (how badass, how cute etc.) then endgame content wouldn’t be possible and no one would even play the game. Elektra can also prevent evade. She can cause residual damage in most situations, and when she can’t she can cause armor break. Her attack is much higher than Karnak’s too. Even when Karnak is focused and constantly criting, a 4/55 5* deals like 800 per hit. My 3* GP hits harder than that. People use Elektra more than Karnak because in almost every scenario she is better

G0311

Nope, your wrong lolThat's on paper. Electra is much better plus if u have deep wounds and assassin big plus.

taojay1

DiablosUltimate wrote: »

Crossbones is more reliable than these 2, for all purposes that you are discussing here

I like Crossbones the most of the 3, but he is definitely not the most reliable. You have to be lucky and get a few furys before he is usable.

HomerJBond

I spammed Elektra’s sp1 to maximize bleed. Karnak sp2.

Hard to believe Elektra’s does way more damage like some of you say. She probably does a little more but not a lot. I still like Karnak’s evade shut down better because you don’t need to worry about it being evaded.

HomerJBond

Bahamut wrote: »

“Elektra is more commonly used because of her looks” Do u even game bro? That’s not how the game works lol. If people only used champs based on how the look (how badass, how cute etc.) then endgame content wouldn’t be possible and no one would even play the game. Elektra can also prevent evade. She can cause residual damage in most situations, and when she can’t she can cause armor break. Her attack is much higher than Karnak’s too. Even when Karnak is focused and constantly criting, a 4/55 5* deals like 800 per hit. My 3* GP hits harder than that. People use Elektra more than Karnak because in almost every scenario she is better

Do you really still think a 4/55 5* does 800 per a hit?

HomerJBond

You all are just blinded by Elektra’s good looks, hahaha just kidding / half kidding

Patchie93

Do you have deep wounds? Assassain? Or are your masteries set more to help Karnak since your such a big fan of him

HomerJBond

5/5 deep wounds 4/5 assasin

HomerJBond

I have 4 skill champs ranked up past rank 4 none if them Karnak or Elektra. Just pointing out between the 2 Karnak is better.

Patchie93

I don't use either as neither is duped. But your comparing 2 champs on very specific things but continuing to ignore the fact that well Karnak is 100% against evades, he is 0% ability reduction. So against magik, Thorns, electro and others he has no benefits.
Where as Elektra inflicts that 85% ( I believe not sure exact number) ability reduction. Which means against electro, thorns, magiks limbo and evade champs she is useful.
Which means overall she has way more uses.
As well she how is she bad against safeguard? She crits and can bleed enemies which both bypass safegaurd

HomerJBond

This is why I’m trying to educate everyone. You say he has 0% ability reduction. Read his abilities. Karnak has defensive ability reduction on his sp3.

If you are doing RTTL vs safeguard, you want an attacker that does bleed/residual damage from basic attacks. Elektra can be used there for her specials but there are dozens of better champs vs safeguard.

HomerJBond

Patchie93 wrote: »

As well she how is she bad against safeguard? She crits and can bleed enemies which both bypass safegaurd

Every champ crits, but none of their crits bypass safeguard, not even Elektra

Patchie93

That is incorrect my BW has bypassed safegaurd with her crits not really sure why and I realize it is irrelevant to the topic.

And yea there are plenty of better champs then Electra for safegaurd between Karnak and Electra she is the better option.

Ok his sp3 which by the time he gets to it that's at least 3 limbos and a ton of thorns/static shock damage taken.

Electra can span her l1 which the throwing stars mean 0 thorns/static shock damage and only a bout 1 limbo

DL864

HomerJBond wrote: »

Patchie93 wrote: »

As well she how is she bad against safeguard? She crits and can bleed enemies which both bypass safegaurd

Every champ crits, but none of their crits bypass safeguard, not even Elektra

If you have a debuff on the opponent she will bypass safeguard. She can also not tigger arch overload or ultron regen.

HomerJBond

Patchie93 wrote: »

That is incorrect my BW has bypassed safegaurd with her crits not really sure why and I realize it is irrelevant to the topic.

And yea there are plenty of better champs then Electra for safegaurd between Karnak and Electra she is the better option.

Ok his sp3 which by the time he gets to it that's at least 3 limbos and a ton of thorns/static shock damage taken.

Electra can span her l1 which the throwing stars mean 0 thorns/static shock damage and only a bout 1 limbo

That is cool that BW can do that over safeguard. I don’t have her duped.

My opinion is that the point about Elektra bypassing thorns is barely worth mentioning because thorns isn’t in AW. And Electro is kind of a joke as a defender. The better block profiency of Karnak makes up for that and more on a long path.

Bypassing limbo is very useful so that is definitely noteworthy for Elektra. Karnak does get the same reduction for 40 seconds from his sp3–that is a long time. So on a boss fight after the first sp3 that reduction will stay on without worry or hurry, whereas Elektra’s can run out while baiting or just not activating (bleed not guaranteed).

HomerJBond

My point was never that Elektra isn’t very good. Just Karnak is underestimated.

I think a lot of people assume Elektra is better, not becasue of her looks (I was always joking about that and I still find it funny) but really because Seatin’s list said she was better and that Karnak wasn’t very good so they just never gave Karnak a try. Seatin is sharp but not always right. Karnak takes time to learn to use well. He’s probably in that top 6-10 in the skill class right where Elektra is.

Bahamut

HomerJBond wrote: »

Bahamut wrote: »

“Elektra is more commonly used because of her looks” Do u even game bro? That’s not how the game works lol. If people only used champs based on how the look (how badass, how cute etc.) then endgame content wouldn’t be possible and no one would even play the game. Elektra can also prevent evade. She can cause residual damage in most situations, and when she can’t she can cause armor break. Her attack is much higher than Karnak’s too. Even when Karnak is focused and constantly criting, a 4/55 5* deals like 800 per hit. My 3* GP hits harder than that. People use Elektra more than Karnak because in almost every scenario she is better

Do you really still think a 4/55 5* does 800 per a hit?

There was footage somewhere on YT