Katarina Build Guide by zer0nightmare

Katarina - The Soul Breaker

Hello guys!, welcome to my first guide. I'm new with this so I don't know how to put images, etc, (so n00b but I hope u'll only take a look at the guide). This guide is about Katarina - The Sinister Blade, and is full AP, and u will see that i'm not maxing Shunpo first, why?; well, i'm gonna explain it later.

Pros / Cons

Pros
- No Mana (That's the best s*%t ever)
- Low Cooldowns
- Can harass very well in mid
- Ultimate is AoE
- Shunpo: You can escape, or initiate, or make a lot of damage with this skill
- Awesome chaser.

Cons
- Squishy as hell
- Ultimate can be disabled with stun, airborne, etc.

Why AP?

Well that's simple, because I realize that AP Katarina is the best. Shunpo only do more damage with AP, and Shunpo in late game is a nuclear bomb to squishy players. So Shunpo, mixed with a successfull Mejai's Soulstealer, u'll destroy enemies for sure.

Actually, I don't gonna put maths in ap, ad, hybrid, I will not calculate the damage because i'm not that geek to do that (but I'm doing this guide so nice one!), that's only my experience, AP Katarina is the best one to choose.

Mejai's Soulstealer?

I've noticed that recently not too much people uses snowball items like Mejai's Soulstealer or sword of occult, but you have to try these items! they are awesome if you know how to use it.

Katarina is a very squishy champ, so you can think that Mejai's Soulstealer is waste of money and time, but remember that you have Shunpo and Flash, so you can escape very well from ganks or from losing teamfights.

Because Death Lotus is AoE, you can easily get double or even triple kills so you can raise ur Mejai's Soulstealer fast.

In conclusion, Katarina and Mejai's Soulstealer are an excellent combination if you and your team are doing a god job.

Some changes I made recently to the guide

1. Changed Ionian Boots of Lucidity to Sorcerer's Shoes: That's very simple, it's because u HAVE to kill your enemies with your cicle of skills, you are AP, so u can't wait to kill them with autoattack, that's why I prefer magic penetration than cool-down reduction
2. Added Mejai's Soulstealer: Because is awesome to have snowball items. With Kat, it's most probably that you EVER get kills, so it's very effective to have Mejai's. Of course if your team is failing or you are failing FFS don't buy it, or sell it if you already have one.
3. Oh no!, they nerfed Shunpo so now we have to use Sinister Steel to be more aggressive and Shunpo is for escaping or ganking.
4. I made some changes in the Gameplay section that you must see.

Masteries

Masteries

1/1

3/4

4/4

3/3

1/1

3/3

1/1

4/4

1/1

4/4

1/3

3/3

1/1

Katarina

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Ability Power 9	Greater Glyph of Ability Power 9	Greater Quintessence of Ability Power 3

Mejai's Soulstealer

Summoner Spells

Best Summonner Spells:

: The problem with Kat is that if you can't kill a champion with your skill sequence, we got trouble, so if you know that you can't kill an enemy with your sequence, just add Ignite while you are using Death Lotus.

: It's the best spell for Kat, if you are chasing a champ and u can't reach him even with Shunpo, you can flash in and next use shunpo to engage the battle. And if you are escaping from a gank or somewhat else, we all know that flash is a great weapon for that purpose.

Other good Summonner Spells:

: Very good spell if you are chasing, but I prefer ghost for melee champions that can autoattack while running after the enemy, so if you love Ghost use it, but I strongly recommend Flash.

: That spell is so good in Kat because you can use it while you are channeling Death Lotus, and your enemy (or enemies), can't escape, but in this build I add Rylai's Crystal Scepter, so you don't need this one.

Please never use it!:

: LOL!
: Just if you are lvl 1 ROFL
: I don't like heal, just if you are Vayne or Kog'Maw
: I don't know if jungle kat is even viable lol

Core Items / Item Build

The Core items for Katarina are:



When you have this 3 little friends you starting to kill like a bi*ch. Remember that if you are getting ganked too much, or your team is garbage, just don't take Mejai's Soulstealer, change to Deathfire Grasp and continue your item sequence as normal.

Final Build:



Rabadon's Deathcap: I don't know why I'm explaining this if ALL ap champions use this item because it rocks!, it enchances your Magic Damage in a outrageous way!.
Hextech Gunblade: The reason of this item is the active; you can use it while you are channeling Death Lotus, chasing enemies, it's another skill to take your enemies. Of course is always good to have spell vamp and life steal =).
Banshee's Veil: The passive skills from this one is awesome, and it gives you MR so this is a must have for your build, also if you are getting killed too much you can buy Guardian Angel


Situational items:

: If you fail with Mejai's Soulstealer I prefer to use this because of the CDR and the active, and the new rotations of skills are:

1) Deathfire Grasp
2) Bouncing Blades
3) Shunpo
4) Sinister Steel
5) Death Lotus
6) At this point ANY champion MUST be dead lol.

(Thanks to IcyFireKnight for telling me this awesome item for Kat).

: Well, you can think that this item have to be in the build and not Hextech Gunblade, but I prefer this one because the active: You can use it while you are chasing or channeling Death Lotus, and the attack damage and life steal are ok while you are autoattacking. So if you forget the active or don't like mix hybrid in a AP build, change for Will of the Ancients.

: If the enemies are more AD and you are dying too much you can buy this one and use the active to raise your survivability.

: Just if they have too much magic resist.

: Just if you are getting killed too much.

Gameplay

Early Game:
First you have to know to who you are fighting with.

There are some easy champions to lane against in mid:
Lux Veigar Twitch Viktor
And there are some tough champions to lane against in mid:
Kassadin Warwick (dat lanewick build lol) Caitlyn Vayne Malzahar

In early game you just have to harass with Bouncing Blades and when you feel that's the right time (enemy's low hp or he is near your turret) you can engage with Bouncing Blades, next Shunpo, Sinister Steel and finally kill him with Ignite. If you have luck and good skills, you can buy Mejai's Soulstealer at level 6-8. When you have your snowball, it's time to gank lanes and help friends.

Mid Game:
In mid game you bassically continuing ganking lanes and move around all the map searching for kills, remember that you are stacking Mejai's Soulstealer so when you are in a gank, try to use Shunpo, Bouncing Blades or Ignite when the enemy have low hp to take the kill, If you are lucky, you can have your Mejai's in 20 at lvl 15.

Late Game:
At this point Katarina it's a blood thirsty beast, your Shunpo will nuke all your enemies, with Death Lotus you can make a lot of double kills, even quadrakills and pentakills if you are lucky and you are in the correct place in team fights.
The bad thing is that Katarina can easily be killed, and you can lose your stacks in Mejai's Soulstealer, so what do you have to do?, simple, you need to have map awareness, use Shunpo to fight and escape, have a finger ALWAYS in flash button for fleeing from a gank, and try to never being along in the map.

Hall Of Fame

Well, I know that my build it's not very different from other builds, but please take a look and give it a try, if you don't believe me take a look at my match history, please feel free to send me your KDA ratio if you like this build.

Please take a look at the third match, I was just lvl 14 and has 21 kills!, that was a extreme pwnage lol xD.

End

Well guys, that's all. I hope you enjoy my build and PLEASE forgive my bad english (I am from Chile) and my poor bbcode knowledge but I tried my best and this is my First complete build

Se ya around!

P.S.: In game my name is Aikaryu, my main characters are Katarina, Akali, and Ashe.