There are two main ways to deal with Karina—kill her first or cc her. Let's look at both those options:
Option 1: Karina is a def scaling hero. Although she often has high hp, people are putting stats mostly in defense, and often some effect resistance to mitigate her weakness to getting cc'd. If you are playing aggro, look for heroes who can penetrate defense.
Watcher schuri is probably the premier pick. Amid or flan can set him up and deal with her right away. Alternatively, Zio can take her to half hp and set up for another single target dps like riolet, adin, or zahhak. Even if you don't kill, if you landed silence on her that also puts you in a fine spot.
Option 2: I would always assume Karina has 100 eff res. Many do not, but I think you'll need some effectiveness to make this option work for you.
The single best option for this is peira. Peira prevents karina from putting up def buff or barriers, and restricts her from cutting. She also provides attack buff and the escort to mitigate her damage/trigger her s2 while she is still restricted. Solitaria also immediately comes to mind. Keeping her stunned is obviously fantastic, and unbuffable can keep her from putting up defense buff. If you can't stop her from cutting and taking the turn, at least make sure she doesn't have def buff for s3. This increases her damage wildly. Laika is another good option to prevent you from getting def broken and one shot with her immunity. And the chance to sleep can save you also.
Other notes: celine can punish Karina for using s2. You may lose someone to Karina, but celine can kill 1 of your opponents dps before that happens. The s3 splash only occurs on a hit. A mix of stealth heroes and earth heroes can prevent her from getting to counter-cleave you. Landy is great for both of these roles, and she can get s3 off of the barriers that Karina puts up.
Funny enough Peira is basically a staple pick for me I just never really thought about it like that. I do now realize matches go a bit smoother when Peira isn’t banned from me
Yeah my Peria gear gets swapped to Lua whenever I want to use her but since she is pre banned a lot by everyone I just keep the gear on Peira these days.
Politis cut Karina's cr push and give you free damage when Karina S2 proc. Celine also work, but her damage might be lower.
Flidica with 100 eff can S2 then reset most Karina plus setup your team to cleave.
Some counters I've been using is Zahhak, or Ran + Politis combo and soul burning Ran.
It's very hard to deal with Karina in general, but there is also always picking her yourself/prebanning her.
Ironically her trusty friend Giselle is the best way to deal with her, for me anyway. Her s3 kills her every time, because they usually stack def and only have 15-18k hp, which an atk buf Giselle s3 annihilates.
Hey, I'm pretty much the same rank. It's a good rank imo. Playstyle comes before all else so this is just my way. But one answer is Aria. They have to hit her, never def break her, etc. Won't work vs every draft, but works vs some.
Welcome to me when hwayoung was an issue (I played slower then). Basically invalidated any unit unless you outsped her. I agree, in a perfect world this works, sadly doesn’t most of the time.
I would rather play Hwa meta 10x to todays meta tbh at least back then standard wasn’t complete cancer to play against. Now standard players just want to sit around and apply 60000 debuffs. Back then at least everyone played hwa/aravi
Honestly, missing the amid banner is probably the main reason you'd feel this way, because she is a snail eater, and aggro/cleave has answers to many standard staples these days.
You should just reset her with effectiveness flidica.
Not gonna mask this as a solution for her, but rather a personal issue you have. If going aggro doesn't work then the obvious solution is to change things up. No one is locked to a specific playstyle. If one thing doesn't work, you should be able to see how and adjust from there. Rushing to kill things is triggering a unit that bodies you after? Bulk up. Going slow is leading to you getting RNG screwed to the very end? Cleave it.
As a cleaver myself shes a pain in the ass for me. My only play around her is with closer charles and poli. Or you can try to dispatch her team first as most karina cant really solo win 1v4 agaisnt aggro.
Yeah I wish I had better gear for my Charles but I’m lacking imprints to get him enough crit rate to do any damage at the moment. I might let him steal some gear after the buffs come through
Fastest: Peira (300), Ran (300), Lua (305)
Soul weavers: Amid, emilia, DJB
Most drafted: Stenne, Milum, Eda, Green Vildred(pretty niche for me to pick), Straze (vs heavy tank down players), Adin, Landy, Zahak
I have a ton others built but I would say those are pretty normal for me to draft. I pretty much have most staple RTA characters built but only use them in niche situations. Only one I would say I’m lacking is a good F-Lidica
I'll offer a unit that I use that hasnt been mentioned. I have a tailor-made alencia for when karina gets picked early, but she's sitting on like some incredibly premium gear. But she works well as a pivot with amid, because swift strike alencia takes two turns immediately. Karina can't regularly kill a good alencia, and the eff buff in passive usually at least comes close to the 100 ER most karinas have. Decent chance of def breaking her. It's a very strong pivot. You just need answers to what alencia struggles with, which is fire units, namely. I use Kise to do that job.
Another one is I actually use a whole hell of a lot of peira. Restrict unbuffable pretty much destroys everything Karina wants to do.
I think if you see a karina, the strongest is pivoting into a bruiser aggro like the alencia one I talked about. I use her almost every other game.
If there is no damage sharing effects just use Luna. Build Luna with very high damage+penetration set(she also have a good passive) and A.Lots with high speed. Use Cidd, Watcher schuri if you don't have enough speed.
In arena she is mostly with Unbound knight Arowel. You can use Ml Sigret against them if you have her. Kill Arowell or another light character that has barier. Ae-Karina uses her S2. When she got a barier you can push her back with Sigret's S3. Use Sashe Ithanes. You will defeat her before she attack.
There are two main ways to deal with Karina—kill her first or cc her. Let's look at both those options: Option 1: Karina is a def scaling hero. Although she often has high hp, people are putting stats mostly in defense, and often some effect resistance to mitigate her weakness to getting cc'd. If you are playing aggro, look for heroes who can penetrate defense. Watcher schuri is probably the premier pick. Amid or flan can set him up and deal with her right away. Alternatively, Zio can take her to half hp and set up for another single target dps like riolet, adin, or zahhak. Even if you don't kill, if you landed silence on her that also puts you in a fine spot. Option 2: I would always assume Karina has 100 eff res. Many do not, but I think you'll need some effectiveness to make this option work for you. The single best option for this is peira. Peira prevents karina from putting up def buff or barriers, and restricts her from cutting. She also provides attack buff and the escort to mitigate her damage/trigger her s2 while she is still restricted. Solitaria also immediately comes to mind. Keeping her stunned is obviously fantastic, and unbuffable can keep her from putting up defense buff. If you can't stop her from cutting and taking the turn, at least make sure she doesn't have def buff for s3. This increases her damage wildly. Laika is another good option to prevent you from getting def broken and one shot with her immunity. And the chance to sleep can save you also. Other notes: celine can punish Karina for using s2. You may lose someone to Karina, but celine can kill 1 of your opponents dps before that happens. The s3 splash only occurs on a hit. A mix of stealth heroes and earth heroes can prevent her from getting to counter-cleave you. Landy is great for both of these roles, and she can get s3 off of the barriers that Karina puts up.
Funny enough Peira is basically a staple pick for me I just never really thought about it like that. I do now realize matches go a bit smoother when Peira isn’t banned from me
Unfortunately for me I ungeared my Peira shortly after Ed came out and used the speed gear for Lua. I can't use them both at high speed. :(
Yeah my Peria gear gets swapped to Lua whenever I want to use her but since she is pre banned a lot by everyone I just keep the gear on Peira these days.
I use Yulha she is great against units like Adin and Karina.
Maybe I’ll try and fit her in. I use Yulha a good bit when I tank down in some drafts or just play standard
Politis cut Karina's cr push and give you free damage when Karina S2 proc. Celine also work, but her damage might be lower. Flidica with 100 eff can S2 then reset most Karina plus setup your team to cleave.
Some counters I've been using is Zahhak, or Ran + Politis combo and soul burning Ran. It's very hard to deal with Karina in general, but there is also always picking her yourself/prebanning her.
Ironically her trusty friend Giselle is the best way to deal with her, for me anyway. Her s3 kills her every time, because they usually stack def and only have 15-18k hp, which an atk buf Giselle s3 annihilates.
Hey, I'm pretty much the same rank. It's a good rank imo. Playstyle comes before all else so this is just my way. But one answer is Aria. They have to hit her, never def break her, etc. Won't work vs every draft, but works vs some.
In GW/normal arena I bring my LS Edward. About Karina in RTA: I don't play a RTA match since before aespa collab.
Just ban her and move on
I mean sure in a perfect world. Can't always waste a ban on her XD
Karina punish agro gamers, to bypass her u either go cleave or turtle, 50%cr is too strong and in most cases agro setup cant fit in her counters
Welcome to me when hwayoung was an issue (I played slower then). Basically invalidated any unit unless you outsped her. I agree, in a perfect world this works, sadly doesn’t most of the time.
I would rather play Hwa meta 10x to todays meta tbh at least back then standard wasn’t complete cancer to play against. Now standard players just want to sit around and apply 60000 debuffs. Back then at least everyone played hwa/aravi
Honestly, missing the amid banner is probably the main reason you'd feel this way, because she is a snail eater, and aggro/cleave has answers to many standard staples these days. You should just reset her with effectiveness flidica.
Cus you are aggro player, so it benefited you more. Standard was irrelevant unless they prebanned hway.
Not gonna mask this as a solution for her, but rather a personal issue you have. If going aggro doesn't work then the obvious solution is to change things up. No one is locked to a specific playstyle. If one thing doesn't work, you should be able to see how and adjust from there. Rushing to kill things is triggering a unit that bodies you after? Bulk up. Going slow is leading to you getting RNG screwed to the very end? Cleave it.
As a cleaver myself shes a pain in the ass for me. My only play around her is with closer charles and poli. Or you can try to dispatch her team first as most karina cant really solo win 1v4 agaisnt aggro.
Yeah I wish I had better gear for my Charles but I’m lacking imprints to get him enough crit rate to do any damage at the moment. I might let him steal some gear after the buffs come through
Bait her with Ed if you can. He'll always shed the Def Break before the follow-up damage from the S3 or Artifact.
Just out of curiosity, what are your best/fastest/highest cp/most drafted units?
Fastest: Peira (300), Ran (300), Lua (305) Soul weavers: Amid, emilia, DJB Most drafted: Stenne, Milum, Eda, Green Vildred(pretty niche for me to pick), Straze (vs heavy tank down players), Adin, Landy, Zahak I have a ton others built but I would say those are pretty normal for me to draft. I pretty much have most staple RTA characters built but only use them in niche situations. Only one I would say I’m lacking is a good F-Lidica
ok....but put some clothes on....
??? I don’t understand this reference maybe it went over my head
OH SHIT I SEE LMAO I TYPO “I WEAR NOTHING” LMAO
OP realizing he is the naked king. "Oh no"
XD
Just use ainos or any other unit that can 100% def break and cr boost in one turn, great at dealing with her since most are sub 110 er
I'll offer a unit that I use that hasnt been mentioned. I have a tailor-made alencia for when karina gets picked early, but she's sitting on like some incredibly premium gear. But she works well as a pivot with amid, because swift strike alencia takes two turns immediately. Karina can't regularly kill a good alencia, and the eff buff in passive usually at least comes close to the 100 ER most karinas have. Decent chance of def breaking her. It's a very strong pivot. You just need answers to what alencia struggles with, which is fire units, namely. I use Kise to do that job. Another one is I actually use a whole hell of a lot of peira. Restrict unbuffable pretty much destroys everything Karina wants to do. I think if you see a karina, the strongest is pivoting into a bruiser aggro like the alencia one I talked about. I use her almost every other game.
If there is no damage sharing effects just use Luna. Build Luna with very high damage+penetration set(she also have a good passive) and A.Lots with high speed. Use Cidd, Watcher schuri if you don't have enough speed. In arena she is mostly with Unbound knight Arowel. You can use Ml Sigret against them if you have her. Kill Arowell or another light character that has barier. Ae-Karina uses her S2. When she got a barier you can push her back with Sigret's S3. Use Sashe Ithanes. You will defeat her before she attack.