"Your choices please me, for now."

-Just as Katarina herself would say, your choice to visit this guide for now is definitely pleasing, and it shall continue to give. Hello my name is ilke994 and as you all can assume I am LoL player since Oct 2010. The main thing that attracted me to Katarina are her tentacles- HAIR., I meant hair. And yes your heard right, I don't judge champions by skills I judge them by looks, sue me.

Anyway she is a really fun champion to play and extremely powerful DMG dealer and assassin. People mainly focus on her ultimate, while it is powerful skill, focusing on it will bring you doom in ranked games, as I and my friend and co-writer TiensiNoAkuma know. But focusing on the killing power of her passive combined with good timing will land amazing results even if they have Leona and Blitzcrank in their teams.

Every champion tends to have their pros and cons, you know, if it's not Kassadin. Anyway the key to using a champion is accepting them with their pros and cons and using your knowledge of both to get the best outcome possible.

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Marvelous Pros: + Can lane both top lane and mid lane. + Outstanding DMG output if timed correctly. + Makes use of both AD and AP, hence armor and MR will make less of a problem to her early game, if you get MR up there is AD, if you get armor up there is AP. + Amazing mobility, probably one of the most mobile champions in this whole game, her Shunpo combined with Voracity and Flash makes for a champion who can move half a map in no time and is extremely hard to gank.

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Sinister Cons - Very squishy, which means without proper positioning and timing she can die quite easily. - Her ultimate ability can be interrupted with an easy stun, but if you time it right and position the surprise element should usually give you 3 seconds of Death Lotus which is full duration. - One of weakest 1-6 level fighters, she will lose in a lot of situations until level 6.

Q u i n t s

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Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: These are our preferred runes, you just can't go wrong with Swiftness runes because they maintain themselves useful through the whole game and on level 1 your speed is 403. That little bonus of movement speed is what decided if your enemy is catching up to you or if you'll catch him up for Shunpo on chase, they help you dodge skill shots of Cassiopeia or Orianna on lane and are generally very useful. Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: A decent early DMG option, they are 3rd best choice, you can work very well with these as replacement to Swiftness. Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration: Second best, they give Katarina a lot of early game DMG, and maintain presence through the game if those squishies refuse to buy MR. Greater Quintessence of Health: Decent choice if you are top laning most of the time, we still prefer Swiftness, but they are quite useful as well.

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Q u i n t s

M a r k s

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Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: There is no other option for marks, these are a must, they get your DMG output so high from early to end game it is amazing. Combined with Sorcerer's Shoes these babies will get you 30MR which is base MR of most squishies.

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M a r k s

S e a l s

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Greater Seal of Vitality: Ever since the dodge runes have been removed, HP per level became the best and they get along really well with your masteries Durability and Veteran's Scars giving you more HP for early and mid game needs and complementing some of the "loss" of HP from not buying Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Greater Seal of Armor: They are good if you are going top lane since in the middle you will hardly ever find an AD champion, they will allow you to survive harassment by Gangplank or Jarvan IV or so easier, good alternative if you are facing AD early game. Greater Seal of Health: They give more early level power than Vitality but less mid power, you can pick either depending on your preference really. Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power: If you just suddenly decide you don't need to survive more, but you want to deal more DMG, go this way, but it is risky and not recommended - yet note seals don't mean TOO much for Katarina so don't focus on them.

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S e a l s

G l y p h s

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Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Since we take offensive masteries you really want to go defensive on Glyphs too, with this baby and bonus MR from masteries you will be a monster to deal with on mid when it comes to AP casters. Greater Glyph of Armor: This isn't bad alternative for the MR runes, it really depends if you are going top or bottom and the kind of team you get against yourselves. Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: I REALLY don't recommend this but if you don't have defensive glyphs and you can't buy them, you may go offensive with these or some other ones you have.

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G l y p h s

• New Katarina: Ignite + Flash
• Intermediate Katarina: Ignite + Flash
• Skilled Katarina: Ignite + Flash
  
  Both Flash and Ignite are simply a must for Katarina, you CAN'T change them, as their uses are essential, read below why.
  

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Flash: Alright, first of all I'll just say I used to be HUGE fan of having Ghost on Katarina instead of Flash, but then with time I actually realized how much better Flash works. The thing with Flash is that it gives you a surprise element, a quick escape and I can't count how many times I was in middle of a fight and I dealt my DMG and I REALLY had to get out of there not to die Flash allowed that. Or when I turret dived my enemy Annie who had her stun prepared but low HP, Flash surprised her too, OR when I had low HP Ziggs on my name and kept my distance so he things he is safe and suddenly Flash - Shunpo - Bouncing Blades comboed him into his oblivion. Yes Flash has many uses and you have to pick it up.

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Ignite: Do you remember back then when we said that we should focus more upon Voracity and not Death Lotus - well this summon spells helps doing just that. Once you use your combo you are left with nothing but auto-attack for time being, and even through you have some AD and your attack are alright, they are usually not enough o kill the target and Ignite will seal the deal and once target is dead your passive shall proc and you can just jump onto your next victim - wicked isn't it?

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Voracity(Passive): This is your baby, your best ability ever, your, whoa this passive is EVERYTHING for Katarina and we will focus onto it. If you manage to burst down your enemy guess what it give - more burst, it gives amazing mobility through refreshing Shunpo, amazing DMG, and can grand you tripe-quadra - curst it, it can give you penta kills!

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Bouncing Blade (Q): Great harassing and overall damaging tool, good for lane and can control it quite well, high AoE DMG and it's power can harass all 5 of enemies and get them to 75% of their health in pre-team fight phase, which is a lot.

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• Don't use it to last hit all the time, you don't want your lane far pushed, if you don't need it to last hit you can use it very well to harass your enemy. Use it to last hit only when you really can't reach the mob with auto attack and have to, or if your lane is too tuff.
• Don't open with it when you start off a gank, starting gank with Shunpo instead allows you higher distance to attack at and then you can Death Lotus and AFTER that use this skill for maximum DMG output.
• Use it's sexy healing reduction against champs with health pots on or Dr. Mundo and especially Vladimir, it really cuts him off.

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killer instincts (W): Quite a nice addition to Katarina, use it before team fight when you Shunpo in, and use it with Bouncing Blades at the laning phase or when you have to gank a healing champion.

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• Using this can help you out-sustain your opponents by disallowing them the healing.
• Combined with Bouncing Blades you can hit all 5 enemies pre-team fight for max DMG and get nice life back.
• [Shunpo]] using this in 1v1 situations so you are dealt less DMG unless opponent can heal himself, also use it before getting into team fight.

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Shunpo(E): One of best mobility skills in game, it scales purely on AP so we take max it second since range is same at all times, you can use it to get to your targets or away from them.

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• Use this skill to get into your enemies and use your Death Lotus, make sure to combine it with Preparation before you do.
• On killing spree when most enemies are low use it to move around them by abusing your passive as you kill them all for huge killing sprees.
• You can use it on friendly mobs, great for gaining distance when that surprise mid gank comes up, you need swift eye and you can train it.
• It can luckily once again be used on wards so having a ward in you inventory and using it to go over the wall and one your enemy Flash to you, you use your own Flash to go right back to the other side can really fool your enemy, unless it is Kassadin or LeBlanc.
  
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  Death Lotus (R): The reason people don't like Katarina in ranked, this ulti is easy to interrupt, but the truth is, if you can position yourself properly and time it well enough, you will ATLEAST get 3-4 seconds which is still amazing DMG for this skill, and it is not your main focus anyway.

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  Tips and Tricks
  • A fast lane tip against Cassiopeia while using this ultimate, when you Shunpo to her, TURN AROUND and show your back to her and THEN use Death Lotus, she won't see if you are facing her and will randomly just ulti you with her gaze, but you will keep spinning and damaging her, catching her by surprise with continued DMG, many Cassiopeia players fell to us this way.
  • Almost NEVER use it right away, that is what most Katarina players do, and that is what most enemies expect, surprise them by not using it instead let their confusion go at them while striking with Q and W, trust me they will use their defense mechanism, and once they do go right at them with it.
  • Same for team fight, wait it out REALLY be in the fight and WAIT it out by going melee + Q + W at them and make them use their disables and then just go in and ulti them off.

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Alright, it may seem a bit strange to max Bouncing Blades over Shunpo, but early game is laning phase, and the blade just DOMINATES over Shunpo. Let's see what happens when you have Shunpo, as for last hitting you can jump to mob and last hit it and then get harassed by your enemy, as for enemy harassment you can jump towards him, hit him, but again get harassed even harder back to yourself, and now at the Bouncing Blades, you can last hit with it safely, but don't overdo it, only when you have to, and you can harass enemy from amazing range while he won't be able to touch you. I believe I made my point pretty clear, and as for the DMG, you first item gives both AP and AD, and Bouncing Blades uses both while Shunpo uses only AP so yeah, you will even have more DMG, more farm and more kills using the blade over shunpo :)

I believe the rest doesn't truly need to be explained, you get Preparation at level 4 to be able to deal more DMG to your enemy through dagger, it also allows for DMG reduction buff for you and healing debuff for the enemy, and ulti whenever you can for obvious reasons.

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Now we'll go through each and every item in this build and explain what each does or Katarina and why we picked it. If you are wondering why "Knifing Gunner" I tried to make funny reference to Katarina who uses knifes having a gunning blade :)
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20 Magic Penetration. Best boots for Katarina, no other say about it, you don't need cooldown reduction boots, and you don't need Mercury's Treads because of your masteries, you have MS quints so Mobility Boots aren't even an option, while these combined with reds give 30 MR which is base MR of most squishies.

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40 AP, 15% Spell Vamp. This items just gives SO MUCH sustain, it is great, and the AP helps you a lot and one more plus it builds into Katarina's best friend Hextech Gunblade, what more can you ask of the poor item?! If other Katarina doesn't have this item you have a lot of chance to dominate her, because life steal is really useful even though it's reduced when you do AoE.

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Ability Power, 40 Attack Damage, 15 Life Steal. UNIQUE Passive: +20% spell vamp UNIQUE Active: Deals 300 magic damage and slows the target champion by 50% for 3 seconds (700 range). 60 second cooldown. Here is our baby, item that makes us blow away our enemies, Hextech. Let's see what it gives, it give more DMG to your Death Lotus, Bouncing Blades, and some DMG to Shunpo, BUT it also gives addition skill that slows and deals DMG, it gives more DMG than Rylai’s crystal scepter on ulti, mainly because it has both AP and AD and battle through resistances quite easily, not to talk about infinite sustain through lifesteal on both spells and auto attacks.

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80 Ability Power. UNIQUE Passive: Reduces ability cooldowns by 15%. UNIQUE Active: Deals magic damage to target champion equal to 25% of their current health (+4% per 100 Ability Power) with a minimum of 200 damage. 1 minute cooldown. (750 range). OP mod: On, new DFG is such a great item, good for cost and the burst will be amazing, not to mention a little bit of bonus CD reduction :D Get this!

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140 Ability Power, 30% Increase of Ability Power. This item just adds up to your DMG and leans your from hybrid build into AP one and you get it just about time you max Shunpo so it deals very nice DMG to your enemies.

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50 Armor, 100 Ability Power, 2 second immunity. Get this instead of Rabadon's Deathcap if you are getting focused early on, DMG won't fall off too much and you will live much longer, check below on how to use it.

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56 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Active: Removes all debuffs from your champion. 90 second cooldown.. Get it before Rabadon's Deathcap if you have Malzahar or Warwick in lane against you, or pointing at your early, you will need it.

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Grants 140-235 Health (based on champion level) and 10 Attack Damage for 4 minutes. Stacks 3 per item slot.. A very useful item, which both of us get very often, usually once you get Hextech Revolver and Sorcerer's Shoes, but DO NOT use it same instant, it is your surprise move, like your healing mastery, it instantly gives 200 hp more and more AD which means more DMG, use it as surprise when you feel it's needed, buy more of them - again, when you feel it's needed but do not spend too much on Elixirs because you need your actual items too.

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Alright, there is a special reason why we dislike this item and well, PLEASE don't rage about it, we are not saying it is BAD item, but this item doesn't work for Katarina unless you want to be a support and in this guide we are aiming to carry our teams, we see a lot of you get this and let us try to change your mind.
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Let us begin by comparing what these two items give. So if you buy Hextech, you get additional AD, AP, lifesteal on both AP and AD, if you buy Rylai's Crystal Scepter you get 500 flat HP and 80 AP. Now let's compare stats without effects, Hextech Gunblade gives you more DMG, I am talking about A LOT more DMG, mainly because it uses both AP and AD aspects of your skills, and this is good because AD actually has quite high scaling on Death Lotus and Bouncing Blades hence the added piece of AD will rally help deliver more DMG, not to talk about the active skill DMG, with Rylai's Crystal Scepter you have some AP that won't even make that much of a bursting difference and if they pile MR say bye bye to your early DMG. As for defense, the life steals gives a lot of sustain while you use your abilities, as for additional flat HP, it has no surprise effect and just one additional nuke from the focus will tear you down. Next up, the effects, so Hextech Gunblade's effect fits Katarina SO MUCH better, and here is why, you will slow one target you are focused on, and you and your team will burst it down, note this slow deals DMG as well so you will be more of a burst yourself, with Rylai's Crystal Scepter's slow, you will have no DMG just slow and this is basically what you're saying to your team "Guys I'll slow them and you pick up the kills" - which won't work because in such case you will have two support, yourself and some Janna or Sona or whatever.

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I will tell you right away that Hextech Revolver wins, it gives more DMG and that DMG gives you sustain, while Giant's Belt just gives you additional HP which can be removed by simple harassment, not leaving sustain in lane.

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While Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a good item, it will only slow your enemies and not give you enough DMG, where in combination of your team and hextech you will do a load of DMG while your team slows the enemies for similar price, think about it.

Usually after getting your core, you'll want a defensive item, but after that item you will turn to offense once again, so here are some options for you to pick from to suit your game the best:

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140 AP, + 30% increase of AP. If you had taken upon Zhonya's Hourglass or Quicksilver Sash now is the time to get this baby, it's DMG boost is too good to pass up.

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70 AP, 40% Magic Penetration.First of all, you are allowed to get this item very late in the game, mainly because you don't become AP carry until a bit later, you are hybrid in most of early-mid game, in the late game if MR gets in your way, this is the way to go..

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70 AP, 57 MR, 20 MR reduction aura. A replacement to Void Staff in case MR is getting in your way but it is not over 100 yet, still if MR is your only problem you may not want to get it since lower MR can still be beat with some AD from Hextech Gunblade, it will be of use if some AP on enemy team is fed. Also NEVER get it together with Void Staff NEVER.

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75 AP, 12 MP5, 20% CDR. Don't get it, cooldown reduction is wasted and there are much better AP options for you.

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50 AP, +30 AP and 25% Spell Vamp aura. You will usually have enough lifesteal with Hextech Gunblade and this item will probably be already picked up by someone else, it usually is in my team, yet it is viable choice I suppose.

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80 AP, 350 Mana, 30 MR, 7 Movement Speed, passive deals your total AP in damage on your auto attack after cast. I saw a lot of discussion over this item on Katarina and my opinion on it is kind of neutral, I guess it is a nice item, but where would you exactly fit it in and make it do better than other items in the build, still unsure about this, but you can try.

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20 AP, 8 more per stack, kill is 2 stacks, assist is 1 stack, you lose 1/3 of stack when you die, 20 is stack cap, 15% CDR on 20 stacks. Instant death in ranked gameplay, don't get it in ranked, yet Katarina is amazing snowballer, and if you do get it in normal games, more often than not, it will pay off, get it right after Hextech Revolver.

After your core items, defensive item is going to be needed, simply because you will be focus of other team and you need something to defend yourself with.

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375 HP, 375 Mana, 50 MR, blocks a spell every 40 sec. This item is kind of lazy item to get on Katarina, simply because unlike some other champions like Ryze she just makes more of deciding which CCs to stop or not which is not offered by this item.

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50 Armor, 100 AP, grants 2 sec immunity. This item is very useful on Katarina, sometimes all of your cooldown will be off, or you will get REALLY high focus on team fights, and this by the way happens often when you are Katarina, at these times, turning this item's active on is PRICELESS, it leaves enemies in complete confusion and breaks their tempo while your team takes on them and by the time it ends, your team should have already killed someone and gave you assist to have cooldowns refreshed.

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68 Armor, 38 MR, Revive every 5 minutes. One of better defensive item for Katarina. If you die, it will ress you with all cooldown refreshed and if you ally is nearby you can Shunpo over and escape with your life.

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56 MR, removes all debuffs every 90 seconds. You should get it quite early if you ask me, but if the surrpresser is not in your lane you can push it off past your core. P.S. Doesn't work on Skarner's ultimate.

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Alright, it's time to explain this, top to bottom, let's begin. So you are in the pick and you picked Katarina, naturally someone goes at you saying "What is this Katarina in ranked rawrawrawrawrawr" - my suggestion is not giving a **** and ignoring the said person.

The opposite team will probably pick load of stuns - you can expect Leona or Blitzcrank, and as mid opponent, you could be facing Malzahar Ahri LeBlanc or if you are going top it could be Warwick, but they will assume you go mid.

Now most of you would probably freak out with these chain stunners in your team, but you have nothing to worry about as long as you time you spells well, see - if they save all their stuns for the moment you use your Death Lotus, they have made biggest mistake ever and you shall win.

So you are in game at the beginning area, wait around 12 seconds for CVs to come down and then pick up your items and go either MID or TOP lane, do not go bot because you just like ad carry need CS. Take Bouncing Blades first, pull the blue / red buff and head to mid.

Now use your auto-attacks to last hit the minions NOT Bouncing Blades, main reason being you don't want to push that lane too hard, and if you have Bouncing Blades available and are able to auto-attack minions you can directly harass the opposing champion.

Although when you can't reach the minion or if your mid opponent is highly aggressive zoning champion Malzahar or Cassiopeia, feel free to use your Bouncing Blades to farm up, you NEED a good CS.

Remember that Katarina is one of weakest champions from level one to six, so please don't engage to solo kill until level six, if you jungler ganks, then fine you may score a kill or if you gank, but solo, you won't make it before six.

If you are in the top lane, you will be able to auto attack minions more and harass the opponent, if your opponent is extra beefy and can heal it all up, then focus ALL your effort on the minions. As for mid, focus more on farming and then onto harassing you enemy.

Now that you are level six, things change, you have your ultimate and you can solo attack, once enemy is around half their HP you can Shunpo - Death Lotus - Ignite them, yet remember a lot of champions CAN and WILL stop your ultimate, the thing here is TIMING.

Here is how you do it, you Shunpo to your enemy and then Bouncing Blades him and wait for reaction while auto-attacking, most enemies like Ahri for example will blow their CC the first moment, expecting you to Death Lotus as soon as you came close, but since you didn't use it, you can now safely Death Lotus - Ignite them to their deaths. In case they did not blow their CC, simply go back unless you can kill them with one more combo of Shunpo - Bouncing Blades because otherwise you just wasted your time and possible gave THEM a kill.

Remember that ganks are very important aspect of your early game, ask your jungler for ganks and while your enemy on mid is missing, if you think you can gank someone on top or bot lane, DO IT, ganks bring you gold that you need and you shouldn't miss the chance to get it.

Another good thing about Katarina is that she doesn't need blue buff at all, so feel free to let your jungler or top or bot, whoever, have it.
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Here I'll walk you through the rest of the game, so early game is over and you probably have your Hextech Gunblade by now. Getting this item makes your burst SO MUCH higher, and you have a slow, which makes you the perfect ganker, so go ahead and gank but don't forget to farm some along the way because farming is easy for Katarina at this point.

So your usual thing to do in fight is pretty much Shunpo - Hextech Gunblade - Bouncing Blades - Ignite - you can see there is no Death Lotus in this combo, mainly because it is not combo material, it is ultimate that has to surprise the enemy when he least expects it.

Most enemies expect it right as you head into the fight and they will probably blow their CCs right as they see you and try to reach you, but remember you have both Shunpo and Flash you can move around the battlefield and you team will protect you.

They will be in confusion now because you didn't use Death Lotus right away, and when you notice the CC is blown away, feel free to start your Death Lotus, no need for Shunpo even if you are already in middle of the fight, and after it, simply pick up the kills with the help of Voracity.

Katarina is not ulti and win champion..well maybe I am lying, but still you must use your brain constantly and have a quick eye to spot enemies and react fast if you shall play her.

Remember if you have Zhonya's Hourglass USE IT, when you enter the fight and they all focus you, use it and leave them confused for your team to bash on, you will often be center of the fight and spotlight, and removing yourself from the spotlight when they least expecting and becoming the DPS spotlight when they least expect it, is the key to winning team fights, and winning team fights is key to winning games.

Here is the video guide for all your dudes who hate to read, yet this guide gives simple guidelines along runes and item build (masteries are outdated) made by TiensiNoAkuma himself

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There will be situations when your mid opponent had gone away to gank top or bot lane, and he will be focused mainly onto his gank and not give a **** about where the hell you are.

After the gank he will be getting back to lane and go past bushes in river, and these bushes is where you should hide, just about as he comes close use Death Lotus + Ignite onto him, your ulti shall last for quite a duration because he won't realize what is happening until it's too late, follow up with Shunpo and then Bouncing Blades, if he is not dead, chase him because no one escapes Katarina with 400+ MS and Flash.

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This is VERY IMPORTANT, how to react when you are getting ganked, first of all, your main escaping tools are Shunpo - Flash - sight ward.

Alright first of all, don't ever use your Shunpo to last hit in lane OR to harass, because this is what's going to happen, you use it and then you get out-harassed because you are at melee range, and the worst thing, you just blew your escape mechanism and there's a maddened Shyvana running at you.

In this case scenario you’d have to blow your Flash but imagine if it was down, exactly, you need your Shunpo up to escape, as for sight ward, you can once again Shunpo to these and be awesome, because using them you can Shunpo over walls for escape, so remember to have them in your bags because if you are chases 1v1, you can use it to get over wall and your enemy Flash to follow you and you Flash right back over that wall, as if you're LeBlanc.

So yeah, keep your escape mechanisms there, because you're going to need them.

First of all I'll say that TiensiNoAkuma could very well be best Katarina player in the world, he allowed me to use his name, his guide and his tips along with his whole strategy to show you and help you guys improve with Katarina and put her into competitive scene - hence I put him as co-author of the guide because that's what he really is.

THIS IS HIS CHANNEL

Visit his channel and there you'll find SEA of high elo Katarina games all for you to watch, he goes top, he goes mid, he goes against sun heavy teams and more and he wins, so just make sure you check it out because it has given me a lot of information and it will provide you with lots of information yourself, even more so if you subscribe.

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YOU MADE IT :O

Well yeah, you made it till the end of the guide, I hope all of you enjoyed and that you have more insight on how to play Katarina in ranked games than you did before, she is easy to play in normal, yet she is a monster to be mastered in ranked, and that is sort of unique with her.

Just remember to save your Shunpo in lane, to position and time your Death Lotus well and to communicate with your team mates, if they rage like *****es, so be it, you are doing your job right.

So that's all for this guide, thank you all for reading and subscribing to TiensiNoAkuma's youtube channel above, bye :)

P.S. Credits for the whole guide formation along pictures of those cute red lines go to JhoiJhoi, you can check her guide on making guides if you wish to find out how to put your guide together like this one :)

(Only first game is this build)