Assassin rated 70 physical offense, 50 durability, 40 difficulty in Moonton's in-game data, built around the passive Shadow Combo scaling at 3% Total Magic Power.
Karina is an Assassin hero in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang who excels at rapidly eliminating squishy targets and snowballing through teamfights. Her unique kit allows for incredible mobility and damage resets, making her a formidable force when played aggressively. Master her ability to chain kills and dominate the battlefield with precision and burst, turning every skirmish into an opportunity for victory.
Build guide Matchups & counters
Skills, ratings and recommended gear on this page are read directly from Moonton's official in-game hero data for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang — not scraped from another fan site, and nothing is invented to fill a gap. Data retrieved .
Written by EllieAnth — playing MLBB since 2017 (9+ years), peak rank Mythical Immortal, 1126 stars.
Assessment
Karina possesses a unique blend of offensive power and surprising resilience for an assassin, though she demands precise execution to unleash her full potential. Her high physical offense rating of 70 indicates her strong burst capabilities, despite her skills dealing magic damage, allowing her to quickly dispatch priority targets. Coupled with a durability rating of 50, she can withstand slightly more punishment than typical assassins, enabling more aggressive plays or allowing her to escape tricky situations. Her kit is designed for snowballing, with skill resets that allow her to chain kills effectively in teamfights.
However, Karina's moderate difficulty rating of 40 suggests that mastering her requires practice. She is heavily reliant on securing kills to reset her ultimate's cooldown, meaning misjudging an engagement can leave her vulnerable without an escape. While her damage is immense, she can struggle against highly durable enemies or those with strong crowd control if she cannot quickly burst them down. Her effectiveness hinges on precise target selection and timing, as committing to the wrong target can severely limit her impact.
Kit
Passive
Karina's third consecutive attack on the same enemy deals extra True Damage equal to 50 plus 5 (+3% Total Magic Power)% of their lost HP (up to 2000 True Damage against creeps).
If the target is an enemy hero, the cooldowns of Karina's non-Ultimate skills are reduced by 1.5s.
This is Karina's key skill for securing kills, due to it doing more damage to low health targets. The true damage effect ignores the enemy's physical and magical resists.
Skill 1
Karina enters the Dance of Blades state for 3.5s, during which she gains 45% extra Movement Speed, blocks all incoming Basic Attacks, and reflects 100 (+30% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage back to the attacker (the damage reflection effect has a cooldown of 0.4s).
Karina's next Basic Attack within the duration deals 150 (+55% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage, slows the target by 45% for 1s, and is guaranteed to Crit. Casting the enhanced Basic Attack or Shadow Assault ends the Dance of Blades state early.
This first skill have OP effects, speed increases, enhanced basic attack with guaranteed crits and slows. No matter if you're escaping or pursuing, this skill is useful. The penetrating basic attack's extra effects can be used to deal devastating damage. Kills and assists will also substantially reduce this skill's cooldown, making this another one of Karina's core clean up abilities.
Skill 2
Karina launches a spinning slash, dealing 375 (+125% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to nearby enemies.
AoE damage, mainly used in the early game to quickly proc your passive effect, max this last.
Ultimate
Karina dashes to the target enemy hero, dealing them 350 (+160% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage, applying a Shadow Mark to them, and leaving a Shadowform behind them. The Shadow Mark and Shadowform both last 5s. If the enemy dies within the duration, the cooldown of this skill is reset.
Use Again: Karina dashes back to the Shadowform's location, dealing 150 (+50% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to enemies along the way.
Mobility skill, during team fights use this carefully, for using it incorrectly will make you lose your escape. Use it when you know you can get the skill, don't hesitate when using. Kills will refresh the cooldown, while assists will substantially reduce the cooldown allowing Karina to finish off enemies continually with burst damage.
Items
Unique Passive - Crisis: Within 3s after casting a skill, the caster's next Basic Attack will deal additional True Damage equal to 100 plus 100% Magic Power and briefly grant 10% Movement Speed. This effect has a 1.5s cooldown.
Unique Passive - Hunter: After dealing damage to a Creep, deal 25 + True Damage to the target over 3s (damage is increased by 100% for non-Marksmen heroes).
Unique Passive - Magic: Dealing Magic Damage to enemy heroes will reduce their Magic Defense by 3-7 (scales with level) for 2s. Stacks up to 3 times.
Unique Passive - Recharge: Increases Magic Power by 5 after dealing Magic Damage (this effect stacks up to 6 times and can only gain 1 stack every 0.4s). When reaching full stacks, increases Magic Damage by 12% for 3s.
Unique Passive - Mystery: Gains 21%-35% extra Magic Power (scales with level).
Unique Passive - Guard: Gains a shield equal to 200% of Magic Power. The shield will regenerate 20s after being damaged, and grants 30 Movement Speed while it lasts.
Read the full Karina build guide — item order, why each item earns its slot, and how to adapt it
Matchups
Best ally
Diggie’s ultimate can help out Karina in a pinch, and Cyclops’ ultimate can create more opportunities for Karina to deal damage.
Counters
Karina’High Mobility make her a nightmare to marksmans and mages who have no displacement skills.
Understanding Karina's matchups can significantly impact your performance on the battlefield, allowing you to capitalize on advantages and mitigate threats.
Diggie makes an excellent ally for Karina. Diggie’s ultimate can help out Karina in a pinch, providing crucial crowd control immunity that allows Karina to dive into teamfights without being locked down, ensuring she can execute her combo and secure resets.
Karina's high mobility makes her a nightmare for mages like Odette. Karina’s high mobility makes her a nightmare to marksmans and mages who have no displacement skills, allowing her to easily close the gap and burst down Odette before she can unleash her powerful area-of-effect ultimate.
Akai can be a significant threat to Karina. Akai’s ultimate can effectively stop assassins from attacking. His ability to pin Karina against walls or knock her away from her targets can completely disrupt her combo and prevent her from securing the crucial ultimate resets she needs to be effective.
See every Karina matchup explained — who counters Karina, who Karina beats, and how to play each one
In practice
Imagine a teamfight unfolding, and you spot an enemy Marksman, perhaps Odette, positioned slightly out of place with about half health. This is your cue to strike. First, activate Dance of Blades (Skill 1) to gain movement speed, block any incoming basic attacks, and prepare your enhanced basic attack. Dash towards the Marksman, using the movement speed to close the gap quickly. As you reach them, unleash your enhanced basic attack from Dance of Blades, dealing significant magic damage, slowing them, and guaranteeing a critical hit. Immediately follow up with Dance of Death (Skill 2) for an additional burst of magic damage, which also helps to quickly proc your passive, Shadow Combo. With the Marksman's health now critically low, activate Shadow Assault (Ultimate) to dash onto them, dealing the final burst of magic damage and securing the kill. Because you eliminated an enemy hero, your Shadow Assault's cooldown instantly resets, allowing you to immediately look for another low-health target to continue your rampage, or use the second cast of Shadow Assault to dash back to your Shadowform for repositioning.
Summary
To truly excel with Karina, focus on these actionable strategies:
FAQ
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