This is the otakupirate and the way that I prefer to play as Katarina, the Sinister Blade. The main goal of how I build her is to keep myself alive and to wreck havoc into everyone else. I have previously tried glass cannon Katarina and while I do kill that one person, I die to whoever is left. I have seen similar guides, and while they have worked wonders for me, I personally think the tweaks help, at least me, a lot more. If you have any tips or additional tricks, I would love to hear them.

Pros:

Survivability
Easy Escape
Really fun imo
Shunpo heavy(explanation later)

Cons:

Ulti is easily ended
Easy to use in generally, but not so easily to use to full potential
Scrutinized for being recommended and 'easy' or that you Shunpo in and unintentionally ks
Dependent on that damn Banshee's Veil to save from having ulti screwed up.
Can be very tender

Teamwork is somewhat key when dealing with Katarina. the reason I say it is key is that the particular way I build her, Shunpo does hella dmg and will nuke **** hard. This means that if an enemy champ is low and you teleport to them, they will likely die, and you will likely have someone call a ks on it. After you get use to her damage, you can better judge when you might actually ks on accident and until then, just try.

CC is also important with Katarina. Her ulti, as stated, can and will more than likely get interrupted with almost anything. So many times have I almost gotten a triple kill only to be stunned by that stupid taric or knocked into the air by cho'gath. Banshee's Veil helps this, but also look to your teammates like Ammumu and his ulti to keep the enemy steady as you truck them over with Death Lotus

Personally I go with Flash and Exhaust. I could easily see Ghost being viable with her however. I use Flash for the offchance that Shunpo is on CD to escape or get close (perhaps to get in range and then Shunpo). Plus if there are no allies or minions close enough to Shunpo to, then Flash will get you that escape, maybe over a wall.

I max Shunpo first and here is why. This is her only ability that will help you escape, aside from a summoner spell. This ability allows you to teleport to an ally or enemy that are within your range. Not only that, but it scales great with AP and using this build, you should be able to do immense damage with it, using it to initiate a fight.

Preparation Now with this ability, I am unsure whether to max it outright or put just those first 2 in then max Bouncing Blades. The reason I am unsure is her overall squishy-ness means if she were to enter a fight, she might be overtaken by damage and die. If you max this ability, it reduces the dmg taken by a LOT thus allowing you to escape much easier.

Bouncing Blades is a useful ability when you time it correctly. I personally like to 'w' then 'e' then either 'q' or 'r' depending on the situation. If you know that Death Lotus will kill the champ(s) just go for it, or simply Bouncing Blades the champ(s) and if you can, Shunpo closer before thnking to use the ulti to finish.

Death Lotus is easily the best finisher and even as much as I love Kat, I feel its way too good. In a bot game, beginner it worked, have not payed much attention in pvp, but it took a lvl 18 Taric from full to dead(missed my shunpo, picked off a minion). I love this move though for the idea of its possible utility. No one likes to get daggers to the face repeatedly, and this easily breaks up groups of enemy champs if they are all together. Obviously put a point here whenever you can.

Personally I tend to go with champs that I can take to the mid lane and be a boss. I rarely see it done with Kat, and I rarely see it go over well. I do try it, if it is required of me, and I do decent at it, against bots. Humans are smarter and if anyone else can go mid more effectively I advise it. However:

To Solo Mid:

Shunpo is nice, however possibly take Bouncing Blades first for that initial poking and then at lvl 2 get the Shunpo for better poking( i like to 'e' then 'q' but do whatever you want). Farm last hits with 'q' best you can and try to ONLY last hit, getting them all close to your turret for a better farm. Don't let the enemy champ just sit at their turret not letting you get to them.


Bot/Top Lane:

I like being on the bottom lane always. Just a habit, however I do not

see a reason this strat won't work on the top. Just follow the overall idea of the guide with getting Shunpo first etc and last hit those minions with Bouncing Blades.


Wandering Phase:

Wander and lead the champs to the jungle if you want. It is amusing to lure them in,

Shunpo around and disorient them at the edge. Do not dive into groups of champs without someone else there. It is very hard to get in and out without dieing so having the help there to take some pain off of you is nice. I like to travel with a bubbling support or someone with cc such as Ammumu. With that, you can easily severely injure or kill a small group of champs by using Shunpo to engage and Death Lotus to wipe them out. Bouncing Blades to get the strays.

I like to finish Hextech Gunblade as soon as I can while not losing speed(thus finishing my Sorcerer's Shoes prior to). Reason being is the spellvamp you get(heals pretty nice when you use that pretty Shunpo and the activation ability of a slow and dmg is really nice.

Boots are obvious. Spell pen is wanted for that Shunpo.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter will keep your enemy within Death Lotus longer as it slows them down, possibly really long and rlly long almost always for me as I try and Shunpo as much as possible.

Void Staff Self explanatory. Magic pen. Makes stuff hurt.

Banshee's Veil is, I feel, a must. It will cancel 1 spell used on you and hopefully that wasted spell is a form of CC when you are using Death Lotus.

Other stuff is simple. More AP for more Shunpo power

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is an easy choice if you are planning to go with a Shunpo to death style. Magic pen ftw.

Greater Seal of Armor is just my personal choice to get more armor to save yourself from AD people. Makes them not hurt so bad early game so you can get away with more health.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction is another personal choice. I love cdr and getting to spam Shunpo is amazingly fun. You can pop in, pop out without a thought.

Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration is just more magic pen for more fun.

Not gonna go over every choice I made. Basically, Kat is soft and theres more AP amplifier near the bottom. I want defense, I want AP so hell go all the way down it. You get survival and AP then go into offense to pick up, well more AP ****, pretty basic. I try to make me not die while being able to nuke.

In summary I try to get cdr to max the usage of Shunpo and more AP to max out the damage it will deal. I try and get myself to survive if I cannot kill everyone at once so I do not get ruined. Kat is glass, I try and make her as sharp as glass but reinforced like a car window, mostly shatter proof.

Please tell me what you think and give any suggestions that you might have!