Hey everyone! I'm Armini, and this is a guide for Katarina, the Sinister Blade.color=#00ffff]Hybird Kat (My favorite) is the build I have created. I bought Katarina directly after the rework, looking for a fun new champ after looking at her abilities. She quickly became one of my mains. The key to my Kat builds are that you MUST AGGRESSIVELY POKE in mid lane. You have to be hitting the enemy mid with your Q constantly, and get early kills. In fact, this build absolutely needs early game success to be at its full potential. This is why I recommend to break mid turret as fast as you can, so you can roam some.

I dont believe that having my exact listed runes or masteries will make or break you. Most importantly, I believe you must have the play style I will explain for you.

The Armor runes are a staple in most Rune Pages, for early game softening of minion and Champion autoattacks. I placed a large amount of AP runes for one reason and one reason only, early game dominance. I know I keep saying this, but you have to be aggressive. Finally, some attack speed runes, because one of the scariest things about early to mid game Kat is there will be times when its all your abilities are on cooldown and in those short few seconds you will be defenseless, thus having some attack speed (and eventually Guinsoos Rageblade will help you still be threatening during those times of waiting for w to come for a quick speed boost.

My masteries are pretty self explanatory I think. The points in attack amplify her deadliness overall, and the Defense points give her some cushion until you can get a hold of Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Abyssal Scepter.

Pros and Cons to Katarina:

Pro Con
[*] Amazing damage output all game [*] Relies heavily on high priced items
[*] Great Kill Stealing ability! [*] Allies might resent you for your awesome
[*] Can escape most fights with Shunpo [*] Not very tanky (Rylai, Scepter, Hextech helps)
[*] Ability refresh with kill/assist [*] Ult can be cancelled easily
[*] Shunpo also lessens damage [*] No more cons here!
[*] Bouncing Blades applies a mark that is utilized by Guinsoos Rageblade.
[*] By Q, E, W-ing an enemy you can do high damage and run away thanks to W's movement bonus

Ok, you picked Katarina and you are going mid. My build says to get Dorans Shield. You might think i'm an idiot. If you dont trust me, or there is a threatening Jungler, get regen pendant and a ward first. Ward top lane and have good map awareness. The Pendant or Dorans Shield is for sustainability. Eventually they will be low on mana, and you will not want to attack unless you have health. Then, say you Shunpo burst on the enemy. He's on cooldown plus no mana, so he is just wacking you with autoattack. Bet you wish you had Dorans Shield right now. You either kill him or leave, and you probably wasted his flash. If your jungle is ready for the challenge, he should be able to clean up.

Next,Who is your enemy and what does he/she do? If you are playing a mid that excels in close range (Mordekaiser, Akali, Teemo) keep your distance and bounce Q into them constantly, so they waste mana and whatever pots they might have. If you have a ranged champ on your hands (do you really need examples?) The E, W combo allows for quick damage and escape, but watch for stuns! Champs like Lux and Morgana can rape you if you try the E+W combo.

At your first recall, pick up Speed Boots definitely, and if you have the money pick either Ward, or Pot, depending on your unique game situation. If you have the money get Sorcerers Boots, which lets your Mastery and Rune AP do some good damage taking away from the Magic Resist your enemies most likely have in their runes. Go back in there and womp a little and if your mid starts getting stale (either recalls often or broken their turret) go help out bot or top with an epic gank. Jumping in with Shunpo, Exhausting, and then unloading everything will be super scary for them, and you can dive turret if they are super low health as killing them will refresh your Shunpo allowing you to tp out of range via minion, ward or allied champ.

I will update more soon.