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Katarina Build Guide by

Comprehensive Katarina Guide | Why? Because I can!【12.13】

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League of Legends Build Guide Author elnino9

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1538 92

9,164,250 Views

126 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author elnino9

Katarina Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (126) More Katarina Guides

Runes: Conqueror

1 2

Precision

Conqueror

Triumph

Legend: Tenacity

Last Stand

Resolve

Conditioning

Overgrowth

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

Ignite & Flash

Flash

Ignite

Items

Long Sword Start (Check Notes)

Dark Seal Start (Notes)

Doran's Shield Start

Core Items

Mythic Options (Check Notes for which to buy)

Item Options

Example Build #1

Example Build #2

Ability Order

Katarina Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Yasuo

Extreme

Keep track of how many minions he can E onto, try to fight Yasuo when there are no minions around for him to dash to so he can't dodge your spin damage on daggers. If he windwalls correctly, shunpo back. Setup Q dagger on minions and shunpo in, W for the full refund pre level 6, then go back out by shunpoing on your minions. Mainly a farm lane, call for ganks as he is very vulnerable to getting ganked since he lacks mobility. sync your Q when W lands, it animation cancels.

Warwick

Ideal

His speed, fear and his ultimate suppression shouldn't be ignored - Ideal jungler for Katarina because the fear and his ultimate are fantastic ability to keep someone locked down for Katarina to kill.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Warwick

Ideal

More Katarina Counters

Twitch Stream

Hey! I am a Katarina Main Twitch Streamer since 2013 and I have continously updated my Katarina guide since season 3, if you have any questions about Katarina, feel free to stop by and ask me questions live!

Follow my stream at Twitch.tv/Alninio9

Updates

This guide will constantly be updated for every Patch/every change that happens to Katarina - The most recent update to the guide and Katarina will be included in this section.

This Guide is now Up To date for Season 12.

Easiest method to reach out to me is through my Discord server if you have any questions regarding Katarina changes or if you are seeking simple advice, You can join our discord server here, which currently has over 300+ members:

Alninio's Discord Server ►https://discord.gg/AxG4AEr

What is Katarina's state right now in Season 12?

She's still great. She is still the reset snowball assassin and the new mythic items compliment a lot of her playstyle, she also has A LOT of health with how the new itemization and runes work, allowing her to be a bit more beefy while dishing out a lot of damage.

Video Format of The Katarina Guide

Catch Up On Katarina

I'd like to keep the changes to Katarina here incase you haven't caught up with the assassin rework.

Voracity (Passive):

Remains the same with her resets on assists/kills.
Her spin damage on is one of the most important things in her kit as it adds a lot to your damage, try not to miss it.
Spin damage scales up per champion level.

Bouncing Blade (Q):

Now bounces few units behind the enemy target/minion, dagger lands exact same time even if it doesn't bounce on 3 targets.
The dagger bounces 3 times instead of 5.
You can on before it lands on the ground.

Preparation (W):

Takes a little bit of time to land on the ground.
Gives movement speed/scales up with every point in it.

Shunpo (E):

AD % gone down from 65% to 55%, she still remains very solid with her early damage.
Can directionally on daggers/enemies.
Shunpo is refunded a certain amount of %CD when she uses on a dagger on these levels: 1/6/11/16

Death Lotus (R):

Still had AD/AP scalings.
Daggers thrown per second is noticeably faster.

Introduction

I have been playing for well over 7 years and have played her throughout many games. Her rework redefines her in many ways and so a new era arises for her. I started streaming games in 2013 and grew a fan base ever since.

Be sure to follow me up on my stream at:

Twitch.tv/Alninio9

You can look at my OPGG profile here to see how much experience I've had with Katarina over the years, this guide is purely from within learning from my own mistakes and improving as a player both mechanically and decision making wise.

http://euw.op.gg/summoner/userName=alninio9

Here is everything you need to know about - I hope this guide helps you out!

Why Katarina?

Here are the 6 reasons why you should play , a video that helps you see what makes a blade-wielding beast and why you should play her.

Skills

Voracity | Passive

Whenever an enemy champion dies within 3 seconds of Katarina damaging them, her cooldowns are reduced by 15 seconds.

DAGGERS: Whenever Katarina touches a Dagger on the ground, she uses it to slash through all nearby enemies, dealing 75 - 285 (Based on levels 1/6/11/16) (+ 100% bonus AD) (+ 55 / 70 / 85 / 100% AP) magic damage and consuming the Dagger.

Daggers last 4 seconds before disappearing.

Bouncing Blades (Q)

Katarina throws a Dagger to the target enemy that bounces to up to 2 nearby unaffected enemies, dealing magic damage to each target.

After bouncing to its targets, the Dagger then lands on the ground opposite from where it struck the first target. The Dagger always takes the same amount of time to land from the time it was cast.

COOLDOWN: 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 (Seconds)
RANGE: 675 Units
MAGIC DAMAGE: 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 / 195 (+ 30% AP)

Preperation (W)

Katarina tosses a Dagger into the air at her current location, which lands after 1.5 seconds, and gains bonus movement speed that decays over 1.25 seconds.

COOLDOWN: 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 (Seconds)
RANGE: On-cast ability where you're standing.
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90%

Shunpo (E)

Katarina blinks to the target location around the target unit or Dagger.
If the target is an enemy, Katarina deals them magic damage. Otherwise, she deals the same magic damage to the nearest enemy in range.

Picking up a Dagger reduces Shunpo cooldown by 78 / 84 / 90 / 96%.

COOLDOWN: 10 / 9.5 / 9 / 8.5 / 8 (Seconds)
RANGE: 700 Units
MAGIC DAMAGE: 25 / 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 (+ 25% AP) (+ 65% AD)

Death Lotus (R)

Katarina rapidly spins in place and channels for 2.5 seconds, throwing a dagger every 0.166 seconds to each nearby enemy champion, up to a maximum of 3 at a time, dealing them magic damage and applying Grievous Wounds icon Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds.

Moving or reactivating Death Lotus immediately ends its effects.

COOLDOWN: 90 / 60 / 45 (Seconds)
RANGE: 550 Units
MAGIC DAMAGE PER DAGGER: 25 / 37.5 / 45 (+ 19% AP) (+ 22% bonus AD)

Pros & Cons

Pros

- One of the strongest assassins in the game.

- No MANA! :D

- Can escape scary situations with shunpo, can be used on minions or allies

- Has the most amazing skins<3

- Snowballs hard

- Lots of AoE damage

- High mobility

- Healing/Damage reduction ability

- An aggresive laning phase.

Cons

- Countered by CC, Tanky Champions, and Champions with high mobility

- Needs time to master.

- Brings nothing to the team aside from damage

- Melee attack range

What Every Mid Laner Needs To Know

Mechanics are one thing - knowledge is another.

Hey folks.

Here are some tips to help you win mid lane, mechanics are a big part of the game surely but I've never really digged deep into what makes YOU a good mid laner in my videos as I mostly focus on the mechanical aspects of Katarina during both the laning phase and in teamfights, and pretty much every stage of the game and in this video I explain exactly just that.

I think it's important to take a step back and understand what makes you a good mid laner in every context rather than simply your ability to play Katarina, instead of focusing on your mechanical aspect of your playstyle, we focus on a wider range as it should be for all mid laners. The Video will help you see the full puzzle rather than the 3/4 of it.

Hope it helps out, see ya'll on the rift!

Katarina School

Katarina Combos Explained in one video

Every single combo you should know with Hextech Gunblade

How to WIN Games with Katarina & Why you lose

How to FULLY make use of your resets

Understanding all your Shunpo Refund Cooldowns on every level

How to wave clear with Katarina properly

In this video, I explain STEP by STEP how to all-in your enemy pre level 6 properly in the most consistent way possible. has a bad refund % pre level 6, so utilizing this technique will allow it so that your enemies can't dodge your dagger on the ground by moving left or right.

keep in mind this applies ONLY when you are pre level 6 as the refund is attrocious early on and the refund is further improved at level 6, and more so at 11 and 16 where using both and together would be more ideal rather than delaying your after .

In this video, I showcase Directional and how to fully utilize it during all stages of the game. Directional and how you use it means all the difference in the world and mastering this takes time and effort.

In this Video, I explain how to deal with displacements such as who can knock you away from your daggers denying you a refund on . Here is how to properly deal with that situation.

For this one, I showcase the basic fundamental concept of Clearing jungle camps and waves.

In this video, I showcase how you should work around and explain certain combos with the item. It's a very important item on and I consider it to be of utmost importance.

This video will explain and technique you can use during the lane or outside of lane, it is more of a patient waiting game but pays off when the enemy is away from your on the ground.

Warding Guide

If you are a ranked Solo queue player, this is by far the most important thing to keep in mind. EVERY League Of Legends player needs to know this, period. If you want to have better vision control overall, you need to understand how every lane manages their wards. Learning is not just understanding her mechanically, but understanding the entire game as a whole is truly mastering the game and allows you to perform at an extreme rate with as you begin to understand ward patterns and many other things such as the enemy player's behaviour, etc etc.

Mid Lane Warding

Here are my preffered warding spots when playing mid lane for both control wards and totems. It's a video showing the indepth precision with the warding and how it should be done inside bushes, even the placement of it matters and determines how much it actually reveals.

My Katarina Montages

I will post my latest Katarina Montage here when I do make them.

1/2/2017 - Katarina Montage #17 - 'If you don't fight, you die.'

Contact me

Click here for my Facebook fan page

Click here for my Twitter

Just message me through facebook fan page or on twitter.

Thank you - Comment & Rate!

Hope you guys found this helpful.

Thanks for reading!

Check me out on twitch livestream if you are interested in seeing more of me playing as Katarina, I can give you advice LIVE. All viewers can chat with me.