Hey guys, my name is Ðantini. This is my first guide and I am going to explain to you the basics of my favourite champion, Katarina.

You want to start with Boots and 3 health potions, this should give you nice sustain in lane, and it is better than Amplifying tome because you need health potions and the speed from boots to avoid harass and get in to Auto Attack the minions, because your basic attack is Melee.
You arent very strong in the lane until level 6, but you can use your Q to poke the enemy and to help with farming, try to use Q on a minion wave and finish it off with W or basic attacks.
You should have about 75 Farm by 10 minutes, or more if you take enemy Wraith camp or your own junglers one (ask permission from your jungler). Once you hit level 3, harassing and dodging is easy with your Shunpo. You can Q E W combo and get some nice damage onto the enemy preparing them for your ultimate at level 6. If they do more damage than you or you are counterpicked, Example Annie, Hit them with Q and W then E away to safety before the can lay out their full combo. It doesn't do as much damage but you will most likely win the exchange.

I choose AP per level Yellows and Reds, because these are the most efficient runes in the game for AP, and seeing as you dont use mana at all its useless to use Mana regen blues or yellows
I use Magic Pen Marks because these work nicely with Void Staff and Sorcerers Shoes that if enemy Carries build no magic resist you will deal near true damage to them! This can really hurt if you are Fed! Also Movement speed quints are an option, but I prefer the Flat AP Quints over Magic Pen Quints, I don't have any formulas to prove why, but it normally does more damage unless against Galio or Chogath.

I prefer 21-9-0 than 21-0-9 because the utility page is normally for Cooldown Reduction and for Mana regen, this is not what you need on Katarina because of her passive, you don't need any cooldown reduction at all! :D

Max Q first for Poke then W then E because if you max E before W you are missing out on so much damage, alot of people prefer a lower cooldown on E but it is better to max W for epic AOE damage and cooldown reduced!

I like Flash and Ignite, other options are Ghost and Ignite, Ghost and Flash, Exhaust and Flash, in some cases clairvoyance and Flash, but ignite is very important on Katarina :)

I will now explain some of the lane matchups you may be faced with
VERY HARD
Kassadin - He is just annoying, enough said

Annie - She can stop your ult and drop you in half a second, be careful and ask for ganks from your jungler

Diana - So tanky, she can stop your ult with her pull, and she can chase you, try to dodge her Q and avoid going close unless she has low Mana

Galio - Forfeit at 20

Chogath - Rush void staff before rabadons, try to outfarm him and ask for ganks/wraith from your jungler, try to roam and gank top/bot lane for extra gold, you will struggle to kill Chogath, but it is not impossible.

Mordekaiser - You cant outfarm him, outpush him, outdamage him, or outpoke him, but you can outplay him, mordekaiser's weakness is ganks, he has NO escape, and if your jungler has red buff or a stun skill, you will most likely enjoy a kill. ask for frequent ganks from your jungler, and try to sit back and farm under your tower.


Malzahar - Very hard, he can outpoke you, outdamage you, stun you, silence you, and if he gets a few ganks, its near impossible to win lane. try to hug tower and farm under it so you dont get poked too much :)

Fizz - Now this is an annoying lane. Fizz can dodge your ult, knock you up, and do alot of damage to you, ask for ganks and try not to feed him.

AP Sion - He will outfarm you with ease and Roam if he's any good. you should try to pop his shield so it doesnt do any damage, he is very mana hungry, deny him blue buff or suffer the consequences.

Leblanc - She's gonna silence you and its gonna hurt, she can juke your ult and dodge your shun po with her skillset, build an abyssal scepter instead of void staff, and maybe an early rylais.

Alistar - Not in the mid lane, but he counters you pretty hard. If hes been picked on the enemy team hewill skrew you over pretty hard, avoid picking katarina if they have picked Alistar :)

MEDIUM

Ahri - If she's good she can destroy you, but if you play right you can destroy her, dodge her skill-shots with jukes or your Shunpo, and go in when she has low HP/Mana or her flash is down, she can ult away from your ult and destroy you easily if she builds Deathfire Grasp. Be careful.

Viktor - His Lazer will hurt, do not go into his stun, and shun po away when he ults, ask for ganks from your jungler, if you dont understand viktor he will beat you.

Orianna - can be annoying if you have lag or low reaction time on shun po, you will outdamage her but be careful once shes level 6 she can stop your ult and possibly
kill you.

Anivia - Now heres a bugger to verse, if you havent got the hang of juking with shun po, you're likely to lose lane to the articuno. Try to outfarm and avoid her Q, or suffer the 'chilled' consequences.

Nearly every other lane matchup should be EASY
Twisted Fate
Lux
Karthus
Morgana
Swain
Veigar
Xerath
Zyra
AP Ezreal
AP Tristana
Ziggs
Zilean
Vladmir
Teemo
Syndra
Sona
Ryze
Cassiopia
Brand
Kennen

LOL AP NUNU, AP SORAKA AND URGOT WILL RAPE YOU JUST FORFEIT PLS.

DO PICK
- When your team has good CC and tanky champions
- When you have a team who can protect u from CC in team fight
- When you have no AOE damage in your team
- If enemy is very Squishy team comp

DONT PICK
- If they have Alistar
- If their mid hard counters Katarina
- If enemy has alot of CC
- If your team lacks CC to protect your ult in team fight

Pros
- High Damage
- Good sustain with Hextech revolver
- Big AOE Damage
- Easy to pick up multi kills
- Good escape (shunpo)
- Snowballs really well

Cons
- Squishy
- Squishy
- Doesn't deal with CC well
- Annoyingly long cooldowns in team fight if you don't pick up kill/assist
- Can be shut out easily with ganks
- Can be difficult to position yourself if you are inexperienced

Thanks for reading my First guide.
Good luck shredding faces with Katarina, I hope you can be as successful as I have been with Katarina, she is truly overpowered.