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Chapter I
Let's talk about Katarina

Chapter II
Building Katarina

Chapter III
Runes

Chapter IV
Items

Chapter V
How to lane, farm and fight



made by: Princess Noob

Let's talk about Katarina

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Untill now, Katarina is one of my most played champions ever. I played her from around level 10 till level 30, and still loving her. She's very mobile and has a really stong magic damage. After playing her a lot I found a way to get more out of her mobility and found a way to use it wisely. Katarina is a really good snowballer. So that's where this guide is build on. It sure will be different than other guides.

Pros:

Cons:

- No mana

- High early game cooldowns

- A great snowball champion

- Needs kills and assists for her passive

- Multi-target ultimate

- Interruptable ultimate

- High and easy mobility

- Really great farmer

- Great at finishing team fights

- Easy to kill escaping enemies

Building Katarina

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Spells

Ignite

The one spell I always take is Ignite. It gives just that little extra if the enemy runs away or if the enemy almost dies. I actually always take Ignite.

Flash

Teleport

Try to choose between one of those. Flash is really handy to sneak out if Shunpo is on cooldown, but if your Shunpo is good enough and your team needs Teleport. I highly recommend to take Teleport as a midlaner. It makes you even more mobile and great for ganking bot and top. It could be handy when the team is pushing mid or fighting the baron, while you sneaky farm to the enemy's turrents.

Runes

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Using the perfect Runes on Katarina is still a mystery to me. I honestly think it's really difficult. I tried a lot and finally found the best runesbuild for me.


Greater Mark of Attack Damage
Using nine of these marks gives you a pretty big advance in early game play. You will be more stronger in the start so the snowballing will be easier. By keep building up with Items you turn out to be very strong. The good things about using Attack Damage Marks are the great start and having great basic attacks in the beginning, when your cooldown is high and skills are not much. You may even kill a weak enemy by only just hitting basic attacks. Katarina is a close fighter, so I think it's important that she had really powerfull auto attacks. You can also choose for Greater Mark of Magic Penetration. It get things done but I personally prefer high attack damage.

Greater Seal of Armor
This seal might be more important then you think. I tried using attack seals for a stronger Katarina but sorry, no matter what happens, your Katarina will be too weak. Try to keep your ability power and damage high by using items and the other runes. Armor is just very important for Katarina. If you want her to jump into fights, she needs armor runes. Otherwise she will be an easy target for the enemy.

Greater Glyph of Ability Power
Also very important but less to tell about. As you can see in this guide, Katarina's ability power is very important. So it's wisely to use these kind of ability power runes.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
I think a lot of people won't agree with me and give Katarina more Greater Quintessence of Ability Power or Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage, but I just really really love Quintessence of Movement Speed on her. Not because she walks faster and can run after escaping enemies. I think it's also really important to avoid sertain attacks from enemies. For example Nidalee's Javelin Toss, Fizz's Chum the Waters or Twisted Fate's Wild Cards, just walking aside is more than enough to not get a javelin to your head if Nidalee is on the hunt. I think it's really fun to play Katarina with that extra little movement speed.

Items

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Starting Items I

I usually start with Boots and 3 Health Potions. I know I already tried to get more movement speed by my runes, I still start with the boots. They give you that little extra to not get hit too much by the enemy's abilities.

Starting Items II

If you are looking for a more harassment early game, use Amplifying Tome. It's more easy to build Haunting Guise if you start with this choice than building it up from you boots.

Starting Items III

Use this as starting items if you're up against a range. Their auto attack will be pretty strong. Be carefull with that by using Doran's Shield.

Important Items, Purchase Order

These items are really important on Katarina for a good build up. From this section you can really easy build up to your final build. Try to buy Haunting Guise as soon as possible. It gives you that extra snowball in early game play. Buy the rest of the items for your build up. These items are important for your later items. When you bought Needlessly Large Rod sell Haunting Guise. I know it sounds strange but it really helped me out. You have a strong ability power with the rest of your items. The Hauting Guise is a really good early game snowball item on Katarina. Sell it to build her up to the next level. With the gold you got back you can buy the Deathfire Grasp. I read it before and it did really helped me out well. If you don't feel like selling it, it's smart to upgrade it to Liandry's Torment.

Offensive Items

After you sold Haunting Guise try to get Deathfire Grasp and Abyssal Mask for less cooldown and much more Ability Power. While you farm and push your lane you will collect a lot of gold to buy the other offensive items. These items will give you more ability power.

I usually start with Deathfire Grasp. Katarina's abilities could have a lot of cooldown. Your abilities are really important so it's smart to buy Deahtfire Grasp first. I also recommend buying Abyssal Mask in midgame. It's a great item to push. It has a great Ability Power and Magic Recist. It will make her very powerfull and strong to whipe someone off the map.

Defensive Items

It's important to own a defensive Item. This Katarina doesn't have much Health, so it's important to own armor or extra health. I prefer Zhonya's Hourglass over Guardian Angel because it has a less cooldown and it has more ability power. But Guardian Angel does give you a pretty nice escape route.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter can be used for the health you are missing. It just a choice of armor or health. It just really depends what you are up against.

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How to lane, farm and fight

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Katarina is really great to snowball. One of the ability's to snowball, is using her "Q" Bouncing Blades. It's not only bouncing from enemy to enemy, it will also bounce from minion to minion. As a midlaner it's wise to take it on level 1. It's always the first hit I do in a match. If you start in mid you can use this ability to hit every minion, if they are still walking in streight line. What's easy about minions is that they are always trying to stand in a line. So try to use boucing blade in a streight line. From left to right, right to left, front to back or the other way around. The blade will always hit in one line, a bit of a cirkel. So it wont get out of range. The blade always hits 4 enemies or minions. So when it hits 4 minions, it won't hit the enemy.

The Bouncing Blades is the only distance skill Katarina has. So try to use it to keep the enemy on distance. Try to play safe with the enemy that's in front of you. You don't want to be the first kill. To test a bit of his early game health or armor, throw just a little bouncing blade to see how much damage it really does. The more you play Katarina, the more you know by that little blade how early game strong the enemy in front of you is.

Bouncing blade is also very nice to use at "trying to escape" enemies. There are two ways to catch the enemy if it almost dies. One of these ways is, if the enemy is alone and low on health, it's easy to throw just a little bouncing blade to kill the enemy when he tries to run away. Like I said before, the better you know Katarina and your enemy by throwing the first bouncing blade, the better these kind of things work.

"W" sinister steel. This ability isn't my favourite. Still i take it from level 3 till 5. I think this skill isn't really important but can be handy. I take it highly in early gaming for harassing the enemy by trying to use: Shunpo --> Sinister Steel --> run away and throw a little Bouncing Blades. The enemy might not be dead but it's a great harassing snowball. I do this a lot in early game, when they are off cooldown try this again and again and again. Some people may do it different but it works out for me.

Our great "E" Shunpo. I think this skill is pretty important. I recommend taking Shunpo on level 2. Usually people take it at level 3 but I think it's really easy for harass in the first few minutes. Don't harass a enemy too much in early game. The level 2 Shunpo is fun to poke a little. Don't do it too much, you don't want to give too much about your skills in the beginning ;)

Shunpo creates a "non-escape"- number 2 route for the enemy. If the enemy is low on health we can use Bouncing Blades. But if you are not sure it will work or know that won't work, try to use your Sinister steel after your Shunpo. He might be dead after only using Shunpo, but you will notice after using Sinister Steel because your key work was even too fast for you. A fast using keys will make your Katarina stronger. Practise makes perfect. Shunpo is also really handy if the enemy already runs away while he isn't even low on health. Try to use Death Lotus after Shunpo, but make sure he wont run out of range.

"R" Death Lotus. I think this skill gets really underestimated. It isn't as easy as it looks like. The main thing about Death Lotus is that it sepose to cause death, but if you are not using it wisely it will cause your own death. There are many ways how you should use it, but there are more ways to not use it.

I'll start with those. First of all, the cooldown of Death Lotus is very high. The only way to get it down *except using items* is to get to your Voracity. The passive voracity will only help you if you kill a champion or have an assist. So using Death lotus as first hit isn't smart. Try to get the enemy a bit lower on health before you use it. There is a little trick. Katarina can make a pentha kill and save her allies if she falls in the fight last. Jump in with your Shunpo and fire Death Lotus if your enemies are low on health.

Or try the other way around. Jump into the group and use Death Lotus. You will die, but your allies can finish what you started. It isn't always a feed if you die when a second later your team killed the entire enemy team. I really recommend to try this if you know Katarina, your damage and your team well. It's still very very risky.

But be careful with Death Lotus when you have a champion with a disable attack in front of you, like Command: Shockwave and many more. Try to use it when his attack is on cooldown, or when the enemy is low on health or mana. He will be dead before he can disable you.

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This was my mid lane pusher, Katarina guide. Thnx for reading and if you have any tips or tops, please write a comment below!

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