Katarina Build Guide : Game over in a blink of an eye (ap Katarina)

Introduction.

Hi, Im holkos from the netherlands.

The reason why I made this guide is that Katarina really underplayed, and when I see a Kat at my elo lvl(1100), They suck like hell.

Pros/Cons.

PROS

+ A good set of abilities
+ Multi-ulti.
+ No mana.
+ Good ganker.
+ Good harrassing.

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CONS

-item dependant
-Easy interupted ulti.
-No natural cc.
-At the begin not the best farmer/ dmg dealer.
-Expensive build.

Masteries.

Masteries

is very nice for the begin because it gives (after using ignite) 5ad+ap which is very useful for the FB on an enemy.
is the start to your ap masteries and gives good beginning ap.
Sorchery can really helps you to spam and early, will penetrate that annoying MR.
1% bonus damage is pretty nice late game, as it will improve you late game pretty hard.
gives you 1 ap per level which gives at the end 1 X 18 = 1 ap which is really nice.
is a great ap boost end game.
executionor is a great finishing tool.
& are for extra begin survivability.
& are chosen to defend yourself early from damage trades.

Alternative choices:

I considered it: 2 points on or on will help you early, but they fall off late game when you want damage. That is why i'd pick over these two.

Runes.

Runes

After a long play time of the game I realized these are the best runes for Kat.
: This will help you to establish some early game DMG.

Greater Seal of resilence: This will is best thing to kill Kat's lack of armor early.

: You fight most of the time vs an ap carry, and some of them, like , wil try to one-shot you. This is a way to defend yourself from it.

: Use this to boost up your early game damage

Alternative options:

: A nice thing to add in your rune page. If you add these runes in your rune page, dont replace all your mr glyphs. Try to find your own balance. I recommend 4 force ap/level glyphs and 5 mr/level glyphs.

: This your personal choice, both quints work good on Kat, but always take one kind to make sure you optimise one them the best.

Summoner Spells.

My choice

: A standard issue for any who is lvl 12+. it can save your life with fleeing when there is no safe shunpo target or lets you jump invisble jump in a brush.
This also makes a vicious combo with your which allows you to travel great distances within a second.
: Great for getting kills early and for later to stop those peksy healers.
I pick this because pre-6 your burst is kinda lacky and after-6 it is a nice addition to use within your ult.

good choices

: I don't use this becuase I like ignite more. but feel free to use it.
: Great tool for chasing/fleeing but i like flash better for it. Greatly recommended for beginning pvpr's because it can save your life very easy.
The reason why I dont is because it doesnt have much suprise effects
: Great for good map control and aiding teamfights (2v2 turns in 3v2 which grants you easier kills). But it should be picked by your solo top.

I strongly Recommend to use only these spells

viable choices

: There are better spells, but this build is also for new lol players, who might need it.

: This gives extra ap, which might give you the needed extra ap that ensures the kill.

: Only good vs a heavy cc team.

DON"T EVER TAKE

: Kat doesn't have any MANA!

Skills.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

:Voracity(passive):25 extra gold on a assist or kill (nice^^). and 15 seconds cooldown reduction on all abilities (this make your ulti spammable).

:Bouncing blade: Fair farming ability, it benefits from bonus ad and ap what makes farming easier. It is also nice to harrass champs early. This works especially good If you are in a lane with a support
Quick note: each subsequent hit deals 10% less, unless killer instincts is toggled

Leveling: Max this first for good early game harassment.

: This is a good spell. the passive from it gives bonus ad and it buffs your and . This is what makes the spell so nice, the healing debuff on boucing blade helps you to waste enemy health pots and to do 100% damage to each. Where the buff helps early very good, does the shunpo buff improve your teamfights late game by taking less damage in the teamfights. This is a great spell, but with the lack of damage, I max this last

Leveling: Spend 1 point on it when lvl 3 and max it last.

shunpo: this is free flash!!!! this can save your life or end the one of the enemy.This can be used on a enemy or ally. You teleport to a target (deals damage to enemies). if there is anyone in range you can shunpo to it, what makes Kat great for ganks.

Leveling: Take 1 point on it in level 2, max it second.

death lotus: Kata spins for 3 secs and throws 30 daggers (max. 10 on a single champ)and deals nice damage with each one. Try to use this as a heavy dmg dealer and not as finisher, the instant refresh from / when you kill someone is a better way to finish.

Leveling: Level this up at 6,11,16.

Bouncing blade vs Shunpo

I think this is a very debateble thing. Both spells are powerful but which is the best?

Bouncing Blades is early game more powerful due to its great harassment, farmability and safeness. On the early levels it has also a lower cooldown then Shunpo. But the biggest downfall on Shunpo is that you teleport to your target. If you used Shunpo on the enemy laner for a harass (s)he will shoot you down easily. So, for early game is Bouncing Blades way better. But when it comes to late game, the damage from Shunpo becomes way bigger than that form Bouncing Blades on a single target.

Both spells are powerful but, Bouncing Blades is better early and Shunpo becomes late game more useful.

A in-depth look to Killer instincts

Tthe main thing to remember for Sinister Steel is that itstays active for a couple of seconds. So if you think that it isn't the right time to use it, don't use it! The buff on Bouncing Blades is a healing debuff what is very useful against healing enemies. P.e. a yi who is using Meditate. Later in the game this combo is great for creating % health advantage over the enemy. Dont be afraid when if you the tank first when the whole team sticks together, because every target that has been hit takes the full damage. This is late game a good addition to your buff.

Man, the damage reduction on this is like a mini-. The damage reduction after a + is usable in many ways. Like protecting yourself from delayed lock-on ults like or hard-based one-shot ults like . Just with good reaction to an allied/enemy unit and block some damage! Or use it to protect yourself from damage in the big teamfights.

For this, I created a video with LOLreplay and fraps.

As you see, wasted his ulti and I am left with only 100hp. With my still up, and a active health potion. I take the risk to kill, with keeping in mind that his only cc is not active and shunpoing directly to him. As he noticed he is being ulted by me, he charges at me and I kill him just in time and I will survive. After that were the enemy minions a big threat, but thanks to I was able to to an allied minion and i was out of the heat.

Quick note:

when you use it late, it has a lower cooldown then in the early levels, also it goes directly on cooldown when used. So use the buff from and after that when the teamfight comes loose, use the buff from .

Item build in the game.

Starting Items

+2x: This combo works very good against strong ap harass champs p.e. with .

+3x: This combo is the best against skillshot/aoe champs like or .

: You don't see many ad's mid, but when there is one, pick riot's recommended item on Kat. Use this against per example.

+1x: When you dont like to play defensive get this to start your damage up. It is also a nice part of the build comp from .

early game

& : When you have enough for both, you should go back and buy these on your 1st time back, but when youre lane is going bad, always go first for the revolver. These items benefit the most from each other and so you'll be able to do the most damage early on.

/ : this depends on the situation, when you got a high burst enemy in your lane, try to pick up because the high hp bonus on this item really helps you. But if the enemy is a good harassing one, build to quickly heal between his harassments.

mid game

/: Build the item you didnt use previously to even improve your sustainability.

: Gives 140 ap + the passive that the you get 30% bonus AP of your total AP. If you have a normal game (not OP/underfed) you'll able to get this item around the 20-30 minute count. This item helps you to dominate the mid-game and you'll be able to pulverize your enemies!

endgame

: Gives 70 ap and 57 MR. and a passive that reduces 20 MR of all nearby Enemy creatures. This is nice for its price, but i'll only pick it for the MR.

: Same as above, but with armor. Gives 100 ap and 50 armor. the item is expensive becuase of the active. The active gives for 2 seconds invulnerabilty but it immobilisez you. this has a 90 sec cooldown.

At the end of the core item build you'll be a great ap bruiser

Boots, which should I take?

1st.: after a good rethink, these boots are the best for Kat. I am using these to get an upper hand on the enemy team and with the fair magic penetration on it, you'll be able to dominate the end game on it

when to get it?

I see this as a standard issue on Kat. No need for other boots, unless in special cases

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2nd.
This is item is often used against heavy cc teams. Unfortunatly, when the enemy has low cc, it is less viable.

when to get it?

If the whole enemy team got more than 5 hard cc's (stun, fear etc.) consider to pick these up

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3rd.: the roamer/ganking boots, this item great for helping top/botlane to get kills by helping them with ganks.

when to get it?

Only when you are dominating your own lane or when the enemy is often ss.

Alternative items: offense

: This is a very strong combo item in combination with Hextech Gunblade. It gives pretty nice base ap and cdr and the active makes you even dealier and boosts up your burst. But only get this when you are winning the game and dont need defense that much.

replace this item for: Abyssal Scepter or Zhonya's Hourglass

This item give also a nice add to your burst, but it has great downfall with its mana bonus. On the other hand, it gives also some MR. So replacing an item wouldn't be very bad.

Replace this item for: when the enemy team is ap heavy or when you feel that the mr from is too high.

when the enemy likes stacking like , buy this asap to fight this.

Replace this item with: , because the mr reduction doesnt work well with the % penetration.

When you are combining this with , you have great hybrid power.

Use this when: you are working on a Kat hybrid way.

Alternative items: defense

this is the itemcounter against the heavy ad teams, nothing more to add.

This item works great on Kat because you are a carry, you are high priority targets. I always use this when the enemy has strong engage abilities like with or with . but otherwise i wont of its great mana part.

When your game is going bad and the enemy ap carry is fed, get this item. Its cheap, strong and works greatly against cc.

When the enemy has full focus on you, get this item. It gives some nice defensive stats and It gives you a second life and a time to get revenge!

Zhonya's hourglass Vs Guardian angel

The reason why I made this chapter is that these items are very debateble.

Yeah, Guardian Angel gives more defensive stats and Zhonya's Hourglass gives way more offensive power. But, you are buying these items for it active. And the active from Zhonya's is IMO way better then then one from guardians, because you can always use it and guardians is activated upon death. And when you die with the guardian there 80% chance that you wont live long through your second life. When you activate zhonya's, most of the time your team tries to get at least in your Shunpo range. so you can safely away. The last point: the cd from guardians is way longer than that from zhonya's!

laning enemies

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Easy enemies

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1/10

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He is the most easy opponent you could face in the middle lane. if you dodge his lay waste and throw non-stop at him he wont be able to do anything, your ulti cant be interrupted by him.

tips and tricks

1. Don't get too close to him, he could use .
2. When he is dead, he still does damage.
3. When he is charging , + to anything to block a part of the damage.

starting items

+3x

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2/10

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If you keep your feet hot against her, you´ll easy dodge all skiilshots.
Although if she hits her snare, she easily get your health easily down to a dangerous level.

tips and tricks

1. Her passive could do strong damage early, so stay out of her AA range if you are debuffed.
2.Her ult has a very low cd.
3.Don´t underestimate her shield.

starting items

+3x

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3/10

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This guy is maybe a machine, but that doesnt change a thing, almost all his skills are skillshots and you dodge them with ease

tips and tricks

1. When he ults you, walk/ away and it will be chasing you slower.
2. His stuns you over time. just out of it and dont take any stuns
3. when he has , his laser deals DoT to you over time.

starting items

+3x

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medium enemies

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4/10

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This little bugger bursts you to death if he lands his stun, so keep you feet hot and he is no match for you.

tips and tricks

1. Watch out that he doesnt farm to heavy with , otherwise he has outrageous damage late game.
2. His ult also scales with your ad, try some ad items to counter this.
3. You can through the edges of his without being stunned.

starting items

+3x

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4/10

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This Foxy-lady has proven that she can bug you. But if you keep your distance, she cant harass you. Also use your ulti only after she used her .

tips and tricks

1. Try to waste her ulti before you use yours, with her ulti down she is way easier to kill.
2. Try to + when her passive, is ready.
3. On the way back, deals true damage.

starting items

+3x

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5/10

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A other no-mana assassin. She shines early with harassing, but a strong counter harass and try to deny her farm makes her weak late game, when you get much stronger. She also like to strike from invisibility.

tips and tricks

1. Try to stay at range, so she cant trigger .
2. She cant jump to HER allies with her ulti.
3. Your ulti also target stealthed champs so just stay in her and ult away.

starting items

+2x

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6/10

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Master yi ap is a bugger for you, he keeps annoying with alpha strike and when you wan to have him he go just or runs away with .

tips and tricks

1. Try to + against him whe is meditating to reduce his healing.
2. His only strikes 4 enemies, so stay in crowded minion areas.
3. Dont try to chase him when is on, he is just too fast then.

starting items

+2x

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7/10

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His long range could be a bugger, but if you come close to him, you have a better laning phase

tips and tricks

1. When you are afflicted with he need to trigger it with another spell so try to stay outta range (this is very hard!)
2. His range increaser also anchors him to the ground, when he does this, he is vulnerable to a gank.
3. He can use his ult quikly 3 times in a row.

starting items

+3x

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hard enemies

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8/10

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Your housmate is stronger than you and he likes to show this, his early burst can keep you weak and his ulti is a complete death zone.

tips and tricks

1. He deals mostly physical damage, so he disbalances the enemy maybe. if this is true, consider thornmail.
2. He does more damage to cc'ed champs, so even Mercury's threads are useful against him.
3. He gets stealthed when he ults, counter it with your ult to locate him.

starting item

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9/10

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He has two hard cc's, a spammable heal and a super sick ult. You dont want these stick as laning enemy.

tips and tricks

1. When both his ccs are down, try to burst him down.
2. When he is charging, run away from him, he is try to perform his which deals tons of damage
3. When he is healing, try to apply your healing debuff from + to him.

starting items

+2x

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9/10

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Why did you recover his remanis Kat? no you got the curse of sion and he wants to destroy you now in the league, This guy just bullies your around in the lane with his stun and shield.

tips and tricks

1. He can absorb/interrupt you ult with ease, so try to ult him when thes 2 are down.
2. He runs out of mana pretty quick early
3. His shield does not block true damage, so when he uses it when he is low on hp, use .

starting items

+2x

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Surviving early.

The key on winning pre-6 is finding a good balance between harass/poke and farming. I think that you can find the balance really easy because your Bouncing Blades marks multiple targets. If you have worn the down to a critical level, Shunpo + Ignite the target and maybe throw a Bouncing Blades after it for scoring a pre-6 kill. It is also important that you keep Shunpo availible as much as possible because this is your only escape tool and it has a high cooldown on its early levels.

After you have hit lvl 6, you have unlocked your ult. It does a high amount of damage, but is easily interrupted. Ahri p.e. will immediatly throw her only cc on you when you get close to her. My advice is, let her cc you and throw your ult down her throat after the cc.

tips and tricks

- The debuff from is great for making the enemy health potions less effective.
- to minions or your wards so you can easy dodge a gank and take minimum to no damage.
- Try to never accept a blue from your team, there is probably a teammate that is using mana like hell and he needs it way more then you do.

Dominating mid game

The first turrets are destroyed, everyone has some decent items. Yep, mid game has been started

In my opinion is the mid game all about map awareness. This is because the dragon gets more importance. But still, farming is a important job. But if you are farming too much, you wont be helping your team and some teammates will not tale that very kindly. If I assume that you are only mid, always try to aid jungle teamfight P.E. Your carry and jungler are securing the blue buff, they get ambused by the enemy jungler, ad carry and the enemy supp. (assuming now that you are the purple team. React quickly and try to save them and ( Sinister Steel+) [shunpo]] over the blue wall and perform a suprise ult+ Hextech Gunblade active on the enemy and save the day! Or try to cut off a enemy champ that has escaped with critical hp and kill him with the ( Flash+) Shunpo.

Finishing late game.

Every mistake in this stage of the game could mean game over for you. The most important thing here is just keeping your head cool and the element of suprise, so try to destroy all the enemy wards. Also dont go straight in a team fight, striking from behind with Sinister Steel+ Shunpo and then Death Lotus is way more effective. This is because you are striking almost every time the carries this way. Also, coming in later is great for your ult as the most ccs are used, so you can ult freely. Also, baron plays a great role in this stage of the game. warding this place all of the time is the key to succes. But when there is a big fight around the baron, always go for the enemy champions. This is because your ult does only damage against champions.

tips and tricks

-When your team has a dps-jungler like or , faking baron with your 2 other teammates is a great way for distracting the enemy so your 2 dps teammates can take down the enemy nexus
-Try to get as much kills/assists in a teamfight so, you can make it rain with your abilities.

Teamfights

The place where katarina really shines IMO. you will be able to make teamfights for the enemy like a hell. The cooldown with Voracity is just so op that you will have minimal cooldown in the teamfights. This maybe sounds like a coward's saying, but dont jump right in a team fight because the heaviest cc's are used at the beginning and you dont want to throw only 1 round of Death Lotus and be interrupted. No, just jump to the enemy AD carry(most of the time (s)he doesn't have a interrupting cc) and deal tons of damage to him with your ulti. But dont be afraid to shut your ult down by yourself when the carry runs out of your ult. You must Shunpo or throw a Bouncing Blades to him because most of the time he is the nr.1 priority. If this doesnt kill him, try to ignite him. Return to the battlefield, because you must not let your team down for only 1 kill. When you have returned to the teamfight and you may have scored a kill/assist and your ult is ready, ULT! Most of the time the enemy team is blindly focussing on your ad carry and you are cutting them easily down

Tips and tricks

- Use the active to make sure someone does not run out of your ulti.
- is suited the best for teamfights, so dont forget to use to get at least an assist from every kill to keep your cooldown as low as possible.
- If both dont really initiate try to keep safely throwing bouncing blades down to their throats.

Alternate enemy team comps.

Heavy cc team:

This may be the hardest enemy teamcomp to fight against when you are Kat. It is just that katarina is one of the champs that is the most allergic to interrupts. Try to get a positioning champ on your team or someone with a aoe cc (most preferred Amumu with Curse of the Sad Mummy or Alistar with his knock up/knock back), this works great if using your ult is deadly. But instead of ulting, you are also deadly with item actives/passives like Lich Bane, Hextech Gunblade and Deathfire Grasp. But dont forget about your normal skills which are really good for damage upkeep

Recommended item build:

/

These items are giving you good durability and great burst damage in sacrifise to some magic penetration. also I gave the option between zhonya's/deathfire. the times you should run zhonya's is when the enemy is has many aoe's so you are able to block that damage. You should run deathfire if the enemy has mostly hard-based(the system used for Bouncing Blades). or easy dodged blocked skillshots and when the enemy doesnt deal much physical damage.

Heavy Magic Team:

This could be a pretty annoying thing to fight against, but it is easier to win against vs a heavy ap then a heavy cc team. Most of the are the heavy ap full of bursters. most of the time in and if they cant interrupt you, use

Recommended item build:

The reason why I dont leave out zhonya's is the great passive what should keep some enemies
busy. the enemies that are waiting to kill you will be destoyed by your team.

Heavy Ad team:

When someone thought to be smart when they picked to counter you mid, you have 80% a full ad enemy team. Most of the time the enemy will damage you the most with their AA. and when you could score some kills use + and maybe use

Recommended item build:

/.

This item build will bag you up with 200+ armor to block your enemy, so many of their AA's will be blocked. And also a nice thing is that returns 30% of the physical damage.

tanky enemy team:

UGH!!!! the enemy is soooooo tanky, how could we possible kill them with so muck tankiness?
In my opinion, + are both 2 items that really shine against tanky team comps because of their high damage vs tankers/high hp's.

. is also viable, but I dont like it, Because the enemy will wait just to chop down that 750 hp.

This build offers more mp, at cost of armor/mr, but enemy is tanky! They wont deal tons of damage

Warding.

Red stars: early game wards, these are important to protect yourself for ganks
yellow/green stars: these are the most important spots to ward mid/endgame
green stars: these are the (with exception of the baron spot) luxury spots to ward.

Ganking.

There are 4 conditions if you want to gank a lane:
1. Is my lane opponent out of the lane?
2. Could I miss some cs?
3. Is the lane I want to gank not too far pushed by my team?
4. The teammates in the lane that I want to gank, are they capable to help me?

If you can say yes on question 1,2 and 4, and no on 3, you must gank.

Green line: This is made for aiding/saving your teammates. This is the safest route.
Yellow line: Just the regular gank. Suprise the enemy and kill him
Red line: HIGH RISK ROUTE! this is pure if you want a turret dive. this brings high risks, but high rewards.
Blue line: If you see that your lane opponent is ss and you think that (s)he might gets his/her blue. Try to steal it with your jungler.

But remember! Dont gank until level 6!

I like to gank at post-6 because your ult does great damage and Shunpo is a great gap closer. My recommended sequence is: E+R(take care when using it, especially if the enemy has 2+ interrupting ccs.)+Q for the finisher.

thanks to ppl.

Jhoijhoi gave me great inspration with her own making a guide build.
here is the link:http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506

I would also like to thank SkullzX for his reviewing service,if you need reviews, visit his shop! http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/skullzx-office-223770

Another person that gives great reviews is IcyCreamy. He doesnt ask much, only a good build to review. So visit it here.
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/icecreamys-guide-reviewing-shop-193285

Summary.

more will be added soon.
any updates are coming here and & please rate this build so I can get experience on my build making. also send your result with my build
in the future there will be pictures & many more epic kat stuff ^^
26/01/2012: (1) Build made.
26/01/2012: (2) Update promises.
26/01/2012: (3) Pros & cons improved.
27/01/2012: (1) Hugely updated with adding pictures, using bbr-codes and changed the organisation.
27/01/2012: (2) Added the alternative items.
28/01/2012: Added some alternative runes.

29/01/2012: (1)Added masterie tips and early game stuff.
29/01/2012: (2)Added mid game and updated masteries.
29/01/2012: (3)Added end game + intro picture.
04/02/2012: Added all kinds off stuff.
23/02/2012: Many changes on all aspects.
22/06/2012: Brought new life to the build.
22/06/2012(2): Got some easy lane enemies.
22/6/2012(3): Got more laning enemies. (more are on their way!)
25/6/2012: Added midgame and endgame.
29/6/2012: Changed the ability cheat sheet and reworked the alternive items.
2/7/2012: Redone the main items, boots, early, mid and lategame section. Also added a warding map and ganking tips.
3/7/2012: added team fights and alternate enemy team comps.
4/7/2012: Added the in-depth view on killer instincts an a video!
5/7/2012: Added and changed some laning enemies, added a ganking map an I redid the video.
6/7/2012: Added Shunpo vs Bouncing Blades and thanked SkullzX.
2/8/2012: Added zhonya's vs guardians and redid the intro.

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Katarina Build Guide by holkos

Game over in a blink of an eye (ap Katarina)

Champion Build: Katarina

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

Masteries

Offense: 21

Defense: 9

Utility: 0

Introduction.

Pros/Cons.

Masteries.

Runes.

Summoner Spells.

My choice

good choices

viable choices

DON"T EVER TAKE

Skills.

Bouncing blade vs Shunpo

A in-depth look to Killer instincts

Quick note:

Item build in the game.

Starting Items

early game

mid game

endgame

Boots, which should I take?

when to get it?

when to get it?

when to get it?

Alternative items: offense

Alternative items: defense

Zhonya's hourglass Vs Guardian angel

laning enemies

Easy enemies

tips and tricks

starting items

tips and tricks

starting items

tips and tricks

starting items

medium enemies

tips and tricks

starting items

tips and tricks

starting items

tips and tricks

starting items

tips and tricks

starting items

tips and tricks

starting items

hard enemies

tips and tricks

starting item

tips and tricks

starting items

tips and tricks

starting items

Surviving early.

tips and tricks

Dominating mid game

Finishing late game.

tips and tricks

Teamfights

Tips and tricks

Alternate enemy team comps.

Warding.

Ganking.

thanks to ppl.

Summary.

Katarina

The Sinister Blade

This Week's Free Champions

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