Skill matchup. Dodge her E and you usually win if she can't ult away. Take Cleanse if you wanna be safe.
Akali
Too much burst and execute damage, especially post-level 6. She can move into and out of your range with her E and R constantly, never allowing you to get your damage out. Decent poke with her Q aswell. Your R still hits when she's in her shroud, but you will never win this 1v1 if you're even.
Akshan
Annoying for almost all midlaners, including Kata. Never let him get his passive or PTA through, you won't be able to sustain long enough. Try to farm as best as you can and try to avoid getting ambushed by his E when you're outside your turret range. Good luck surviving.
Anivia
Generally almost impossible to play against if she knows what she's doing. She has a lot of ways to interrupt your combos and hitting any meaningful daggers. She will always win trades by casting Q and/or R on your dagger location and cutting you off with W.
Annie
You can't really do much against her R + stun engage, aside from trying to bait it out by overstepping into her direction and then using E on to jump away. If that doesn't work, it'll hurt.
Aurelion Sol
If you're going against an Aurelion Sol that's not an OTP, you will likely destroy him. He can't reactivate his Q immediately after casting. As long as you stay close to him and mind his R, you should be good.
Azir
Disgusting matchup, since he outranges and pokes you constantly. Try farming as best as you can. One good thing is that he can't really ult you out from under your turret because you can usually just jump back over his wall with your E.
Brand
Not many people play Brand mid in 2022 but if they do, it won't be fun. He can constantly poke you by casting W-E on the wave. If you jump to a dagger, you can try dodging his skillshots with the movespeed from your W. but if his monitor is on, either his W or Q will hit you. You can't stay close to him either because you will eat his full R, automatically losing the fight. On the other hand, if you jump away to a minion and you don't time it well, his R will instead bounce between you and the minion, still dealing a ton of damage to you.
Cassiopeia
Skill matchup, but she can make way more mistakes than you. Her W grounds you so you can't jump from inside it. Make sure to dodge her Q as best as you can, if you get hit by one, try gaining some distance so she can't run you down spamming E for free. Also dodge her R stun. Aaand if you don't mess any of that up, it's winnable.
Corki
Nothing really happens in this lane. He can't push against you because the way to his turret will be too long to escape your E-W-Q combo. Always wait for him to use his W before throwing your second dagger (Q), so you can follow him.
Diana
Not a very popular pick on mid in 2022, but just as horrible for you as it was 4 years ago. Pokes you 24/7. Can interrupt your R with hers in every fight. You can jump away from her R but even then, she usually has her E still up to follow you. Generally, she just outdamages you in every 1v1. Try keeping up in farm and that's it.
Ekko
Not a great matchup for you. His damage output is constantly high and he is hard to get away from. Additionally, after Level 6, you can almost never finish him because of his R.
Fizz
Not a great champ at the moment, still a pretty bad matchup. He has two gap-closers and he always picks the fights, not you. He even makes roaming difficult because as soon as you lose vision on him, you are always in danger due to his long-range R. Exhaust and early Zhonya's is a must here.
Galio
The definition of an unplayable matchup. It's like he was created to counter Katarina. Constant max-health% poke from his Q, no chance of winning any engages because of his W into E. His R allows him to follow you when you're roaming so you can't even gain an advantage through that in a lot of cases.
Gangplank
Pretty decent matchup. Dodge his barrels and don't let him poke you with Q too much. Focus on all-ins as you can almost always destroy his barrel first with the automatic AA after your E. Your R reduces the healing from his W. As long as you don't tank his entire R, you're good.
Heimerdinger
Not a good matchup. Pushes very fast. Constant poke from his E and W. Immediately stuns you after your engage. Can't fight him inside his turrets anyway.
Irelia
Just how it is for most melee midlaners, Irelia stomps you as soon as you try contesting her. Farm with Q, dodge her E with your own E. Try surviving lane.
Karma
So much poke, so much sustain. Just doesn't die. Can always use her W to root you or force you to E away. She just doesn't die. Ever.
Kassadin
Extremely difficult. You can't deny his scaling and Electrocute, Resolve and Ignite give him incredible trading and kill pressure, even early on. Try punishing him pre-Level 6 as best as you can. After that, he can always follow you or R to safety, giving him full control of the lane. Also, his Q gives him a magic shield AND interrupts your R.
LeBlanc
LeBlanc is a complicated case. She will almost always Q-W you and then follow it up with her E. Now, a smart Katarina will try dodging that E by running to one side or the other. But a smart LeBlanc will wait, basic attack you and safely hit her chain when the movespeed wears off. All in all a skill matchup but extremely LeBlanc-sided, since she can engage and disengage for free so often with her W. Generally outdamages you in lane aswell.
Lissandra
No huge kill pressure on her end, but basically impossible to kill, especially if she has Aftershock. Pokes with Q, instantly roots you and denies your combo with her W once you're in range. You have to always respect her E and her R is not only a great stalling technique for herself but also your certain death if she uses it on you when her jungler ganks.
Lux
Not very hard. Dodge her Q and try avoiding her E as much as possible. You won't really be able to reach her often but she's not a big threat to you either. Most annoying thing is probably her low R cooldown, which lets her push waves very fast, thus punishing you harder for roams.
Malzahar
Just like any other Malzahar matchup, extremely boring. He shoves every wave so your jungler has to hold mid when you roam. Dodge his Q when you engage, don't let his E spread to you from minions. Try removing his shield before your jungler ganks. If you really need to win the 1v1, buy QSS. And keep in mind, Cleanse doesn't work against his R.
Orianna
Her massive range usually allow her to stay close to her turret, so even if you get close to her, she will likely not die so easily. Don't let her basic attack you early on, those hurt a lot. Try answering her Q-W by jumping on her, effectively ignoring her massive slow. A massive plus is that you can always dodge her R by jumping away.
Pantheon
Not popular on midlane at the moment, but unplayable if you face him. Everytime you make any move, he will shred your HP bar with his point-and-click W into Q. Try dodging his spears, especially the close range ones and all spears when you're low HP. Keep in mind that he can follow your roams easily with his R.
Qiyana
Arguably a skill matchup, but Qiyana undoubtedly has the upper hand. She has incredibly high and early one-shot potential, allowing her to annihilate you as soon as you jump to any dagger close to her. She's the one who picks the fights. She will stay right on top of you and delay the fight in her favor by staying invisible in her grass Q. She has multiple ways of interrupting you and it's even impossible to roam against her because of her R and ambush potential.
Ryze
Ryze doesn't deal too much damage early on. Even his range isn't huge but you can never really punish him for overstepping. As soon as you jump onto him, he will use E-W, rooting you. If he hits one more spell or attack, he may even activate his Phase Rush, making it impossible to hit more than an E and a Q on him in most circumstances.
Seraphine
Seraphine is not really a threat for you as she has no reliable way of killing you. Her poke is a bit annoying but if doesn't abuse her ability range once and oversteps, you can punish her and she has no real way of escaping other than R into Flash.
Swain
Haven't played against the new Swain much but after Levels 3-6, you don't wanna stand close to him, ever. He will constantly use Q to poke you for a ton of damage. Once he hits his E, he forces you to jump away and lose the trade, or automatically hits his Q and W aswell, winning the trade anyway. As soon as he presses R, all you can do is run or jump away, but as soon as he has Rylai's and Ghost up, even that won't help anymore.
Sylas
You have to punish him pre-level 6, but after that, he does what you do in the 1v1, only better. He generally outdamages you, his Q is good poke, his W heals him for ungodly amounts of HP and his copy of your R is arguably worth more than your own, because his E not only serves as a double-gap-closer, but also as a knockup that can interrupt you. Generally impossible to play as soon as he has a few points in his W.
Syndra
Syndra doesn't have to stop moving to cast anything, so hitting daggers can be challenging. If you use your mobility to avoid her Q and W, she can't really kill you. Dodging her E and E-Q is almost impossible if she doesn't mess up, but once that's out and you still have another E up, you have kill pressure.
Taliyah
Skill matchup but very Katarina-sided. If you're Bronze and Taliyah is Diamond, you can lose, but since you have a blink (E) that can't be punished by her own E, you're already really good against her. Don't eat her Q poke and try jumping to the left or right instead of directly on her with your E, so she can't prematurely put her W down. Just be careful with risky botlane fights and such, because her R is an easy follow-up.
Talon
Horrible matchup. A lot of single target damage, almost none of which you can actually dodge. Very high burst damage, even early on, due to his W-Q bleed combo. His R allows him to wait for his cooldowns and re-position himself so he can kill you more easily. And even his roams are better than yours due to his E.
Twisted Fate
Generally not a hard matchup. He can push decently fast once he gets a few items. He can follow your roams with his R, but as long as you respect the Gold Card in lane and your teammates respect his R, he is never a real threat.
Veigar
Probably the easiest matchup for Katarina. His cage is useless because you just jump away or onto him. He can't his Q or his W and if he doesn't get you to low HP, his R doesn't do anything either. Completely free.
Vel'Koz
Easy matchup as long as you don't eat every spell he throws. Dodge his Q so you don't get slowed, predict him casting his E under himself when you engage and dodge his R by jumping behind him whenever possible. GG.
Vex
One of - if not THE - hardest matchup for Katarina. She will poke you with basic attacks and Q all day. Your jumps constantly fill her passive meter, she can instantly fear you the second you engage, also hitting her entire combo on your for free while you can't move. Not much else to say, you can try roaming, but her waveclear is insane too.
Viktor
He is useless until he has his first upgrade (E) and Lost Chapter, from which point onward, he will constantly abuse his range by poking with Q and E. His W doesn't allow you to stand close to him for longer than a second and his R interrupts yours. All in all terrible to play for you and free scaling for him.
Vladimir
Not too strong early on in general, but you are very powerless against him. He can push pretty fast and heal back up while doing so. If you ever all in him, he can W to safety or dodge your damage as a whole, punishing you with Q and E while you're disengaging again. Don't let him use his empowered Q on you and try snowballing through roams.
Xerath
Not much to say. Very high range. Dodge his poke. Keep up in farm. Roam when you can. Try not to fall asleep challenge midlane-edition.
Yasuo
A good Yasuo can make your life hell. You can only ever step forward to your wave when you have another one behind you that's coming from base. Otherwise, you can't jump away when he inevitably dashes onto you through minions. In general, his E allows him to close large gaps as long as there are minions. If he's on top of you, there's no way of preventing his R either, since he will just E-Q-R you. Also, his windwall prevents your Q and your R blades from hitting, and even your Q dagger from landing.
Yone
Yone is just as much of a lane bully as his brother, the difference being that Yone is not even hard to play. He will constantly look for engages on you with his third Q. Just like with Yasuo, if he starts running you down with E and you don't have a far-away wave to jump to, you're probably dead. Same goes for dodging his R. Also insane dive potential once you're below half HP, since he can just E away. Try farming and not dying.
Zed
You're not entirely helpless but if he knows how to hit his double Q, your lane will not be fun after Level 3. Try dodging his shurikens with your E as best as you can, especially after he ults you. Other than that, call out when his W is on cooldown, as he is very vulnerable to your jungler then. Also rush Seeker's Armguard and in some bad cases even Zhonya's first, if possible.
Ziggs
A very rare sight on midlane nowadays. His poke is annoying and you can't ever really siege a Ziggs, but as long as you play around his W and keep an E reset to dodge his R, you should be fine.
Zoe
She will poke the hell out of you and never let you close to her. If she ever does, punish it. Getting hit by her sleep is usually your death sentence, especially post-level 6. Cleanse makes your life easier, but it's not always a good option if her E is the only CC worth cleansing.
HEXTECH ROCKETBELT is the go-to Mythic item for Katarina. It gives you great stats, an additional dash AND the movement speed afterwards. Once SUNFIRE AEGIS gets nerfed, this will be the uncontested, best Mythic on Katarina again.
SUNFIRE AEGIS somehow still not having been nerfed on Patch 12.13, if you wanna go for more tankiness and longer fights, DEFINITELY consider this. It is insanely strong right now.
DIVINE SUNDERER used to be the best Mythic item on Katarina, but fell off hard after her AD-scalings were recently nerfed. Still, if you want a slightly tankier AD build, this remains a great option. Also, Sheen is a really strong early power-spike.
RIFTMAKER can be good in longer fights due to the ongoing passive damage and additional Omnivamp, but I would personally only recommend this on toplane.
NIGHT HARVESTER gives you short bursts of damage and movement speed, but I wouldn't recommend it over the other options on the current patch.
KRAKEN SLAYER is an item that I haven't personally tried recently. I don't see it being better than any of the other options, but I'm sure it can be fun in an off-meta build.
All of the above is accurate to Patch 12.13. This section of the guide is still being worked on (WIP).
[12.13] KayyeN's KATARINA Guide | MATCHUPS | DIFFERENT BUILDS | Meta & Off-Meta
Build Guide By KayyeN
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