This is a basic, comprehensive guide to one of my favorite champions, Katarina. I play Katarina as a AP nuke, and have been very successful. In the last 10 games I have played using this build my average K/D was 4.9 and I have won 9/10 of those 10 games. The results should speak for themselves. Let us continue on...

I did 10/20/0 in masteries. I placed the common 9 in offense for Archaic Knowledge, but I find that adding that 1 point for Burning Ember's helps a lot early game. I put 20 into defense for survivability and a small boost in ability power.

I went with magic penetration marks to increase your overall damage, ability power glyphs to increase early game ability power and over-time a "free" whopping 27 ability power is nice, and health seals and Quintessences for early game survivability.

I recommended exhaust and ignite .

Other spells to consider are:

--->Heal isn't really needed but it works.

--->Katarina has an escape built into her abilities, so ghost is not needed; but some people want the extra insurance.

--->Flash can be another option for an extra escape ability.

--->Cleanse is a great option, it can help you keep your ultimate up, but I prefer the extra killing power with exhaust and ignite.

**ANY OTHER SPELL IS NOT RECOMMENDED**

Your core item build consists of the following:

, , , , and . We grab the for magic penetration, grab the for a health and ability power bonus, and that passive slow will make your ultimate really viable, the is mainly for the passive (great for keeping your ultimate up and running) and the health bonus, we take the for the major increase in ability power, take a for extra magic penetration and bonus ability power, and finally grab a for its bonus ability power, but mainly for it's passive. Pop Zhonya's passive ability just before you use your ultimate for maximum damage output; the passive can also save your life in sticky situations.

Choosing a lane: I recommended going to one of the side lanes if your are new, but if you are well experienced take middle lane. We should start out with , 2x , and a . When laning try to harass with your abilities a lot, after you have hit level 6 you should have enough to go back and upgrade yours shoes into and either a or a . After your first port you go back and farm, go and GANK, I cannot stress enough how important early game ganking is. Now as we approach mid game we should have finished our by now.

As we enter mid game we want to be working on our for survivability. After you have finish the Veil, we start a long process of killing, you should be the last one into a team fight, but right as you enter you want to pop your ultimate. After a couple team victories we want to move onto an amazing item, a . After this item is built your abilities should wreck everyone but the toughest of the tough. Before mid game is over though we want to be working on our . As we enter Late game the game should be close to over.

We have entered Late game, after we finish the . Your damage should be insane at this point, and they should be learning to concentrate on you. To solve this problem we start to build a . Though I doubt you will finish it because the game should be over or close to it, yet sometimes you get those games that seem to never end. This item fixes that problem in your favor.

As you can see Katarina is a very powerful champion and is a viable champion option for those new to the game. I will later come out with an AD build as well but for now I hope you enjoy this. The one thing I ask from all the readers is to try it before rating it. I would also appreciate any help into how to make this guide better in any way possible. Thank you