Katarina Build Guide by ilke994
This build has been archived and is for historical display only.
PLEASE NOTE: This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.
We recommend you take a look at this author's other builds.
Champion Build: Katarina
| Health | 1889 |
| Health Regen | 16.85 |
| Mana | 0 |
| Mana Regen | 0 |
| Armor | 149.44 |
| Magic Resist | 52.5 |
| Dodge | 0 |
| Tenacity | 0 |
| Movement Speed | 412.775 |
| Gold Bonus | 4 |
| Attack Damage | 177.47 |
| Attack Speed | 0.965 |
| Crit Chance | 0%S |
| Crit Damage | 0% |
| Ability Power | 587.54 |
| Life Steal | 10% |
| Spell Vamp | 32 |
| Armor Penetration | 0 |
| Magic Penetration | 0 |
| Cooldown Reduction | 10% |
Recommended Runes
Ability Sequence





Mastery Tree Is Outdated
WARNING: These masteries are still using the old tree and have not been updated to the new tree by the guide author. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Introduction - Hear the Seductive Voice
"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.
Marvelous Pros / Sinister Cons
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.
| SPACE |
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 |
SPACE |
|
SPACE |
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 - One of weakest 1-6 level fighters, she will lose in a lot of situations until level 6. |
New Masteries
Alright guys, after some brief testing, it was decided that 21-9-0 actually does better than 9-21-0 and here is why. With the newest changes to masteries, offensive tree became extremely wanted for spell casters because of major DMG increase, with the right runes
We pick up standard AP caster masteries, and we take 9 points in defense, taking MR over armor because
IP Biting Runes
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed 3 |
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3 |
Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration 3 |
Greater Quintessence of Health 3 |
||||||||||||
|
Q
u
i
n
t
s
|
SPACE |
|
SPACE |
Q
u
i
n
t
s
|
|
M
a
r
k
s
|
SPACE |
|
SPACE |
M
a
r
k
s
|
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Seal of Scaling Health 9 |
Greater Seal of Armor 9 |
Greater Seal of Health 9 |
Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power 9 |
||||||||||||
|
S
e
a
l
s
|
SPACE |
|
SPACE |
S
e
a
l
s
|
| Runes | |||||||||||||||
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9 |
Greater Glyph of Armor 9 |
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power 9 |
|||||||||||||
|
G
l
y
p
h
s
|
SPACE |
|
SPACE |
G
l
y
p
h
s
|
Viable Summoner Spells - Take it to the next level
- 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.
SPACE| SPACE |
Flash: Alright, first of all I'll just say I used to be HUGE fan of having |
SPACE |
SPACE| SPACE |
Ignite: Do you remember back then when we said that we should focus more upon |
SPACE |
Katarina's Sinister Skillset
SPACE
|
SPACE |
Voracity(Passive): This is your baby, your best ability ever, your, whoa this passive is EVERYTHING for |
SPACESPACE
- 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.
SPACE
|
SPACE |
killer instincts (W): Quite a nice addition to Katarina, use it before team fight when you |
- 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.
SPACE
|
SPACE | 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. |
- Use this skill to get into your enemies and use your
Death Lotus, make sure to combine it with
Sinister Steel 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.
SPACE
SPACE
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.
- A fast lane tip against
Skill Sequence
SPACEAlright, it may seem a bit strange to max
I believe the rest doesn't truly need to be explained, you get
Core Build - First Gun then Knife
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 :)
SPACE
|
SPACE |
20 Magic Penetration. Best boots for Katarina, no other say about it, you don't need cooldown reduction boots, and you don't need |
|
SPACE |
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 |
|
SPACE |
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 |
SPACE
|
SPACE |
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 |
|
SPACE |
50 Armor, 100 Ability Power, 2 second immunity. Get this instead of |
|
SPACE |
56 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Active: Removes all debuffs from your champion. 90 second cooldown.. Get it before |
|
SPACE |
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 |
Rylai's Crystal Scepter - I hope you freeze yourself and break in pieces!
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.
SPACE
| SPACE |
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
|
SPACE |
SPACE
|
SPACE |
I will tell you right away that |
SPACE |
While
Items - Damage, one sinister calling
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:
|
SPACE |
140 AP, + 30% increase of AP. If you had taken upon |
SPACE
|
SPACE |
70 AP, 57 MR, 20 MR reduction aura. A replacement to |
|
SPACE | 75 AP, 12 MP5, 20% CDR. Don't get it, cooldown reduction is wasted and there are much better AP options for you. |
|
SPACE |
50 AP, +30 AP and 25% Spell Vamp aura. You will usually have enough lifesteal with |
|
SPACE |
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 |
|
SPACE |
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 |
Items - Survivability, don't test your luck, summoner
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.
|
SPACE |
375 HP, 375 Mana, 50 MR, blocks a spell every 40 sec. This item is kind of lazy item to get on |
SPACE
|
SPACE |
68 Armor, 38 MR, Revive every 5 minutes. One of better defensive item for |
|
SPACE |
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 |
Gameplay - One sinister calling!
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
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
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
Now use your auto-attacks to last hit the minions NOT
Although when you can't reach the minion or if your mid opponent is highly aggressive zoning champion
Remember that
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
Here is how you do it, you
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
SPACEHere I'll walk you through the rest of the game, so early game is over and you probably have your
So your usual thing to do in fight is pretty much
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
They will be in confusion now because you didn't use
Remember if you have
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
SPACEThere 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
SPACEThis is VERY IMPORTANT, how to react when you are getting ganked, first of all, your main escaping tools are
Alright first of all, don't ever use your
In this case scenario you’d have to blow your
So yeah, keep your escape mechanisms there, because you're going to need them.
TiensiNoAkuma's youtube channel - makes your 85% deadlier.
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.
Recommended Videos:
Summary - It had come to an end
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 :)
|
|
|
Latest on MOBAFire TV
More Mobafire Video
Scheduled Tournaments
|
MOBAFire Community Cup NA May
Registration Open
|
|
Dominate Dominion #57
Finished
|
|
Dominate TT #10 (NA)
Finished
|
|
Dominate Dominion #56
Finished
|
Drop-in Games
![]() |
MOBAFire Inhouses
Registration Open
|






Build Guide
Discussion (243)














(Only first game is this build)



