Hi to all of you! First i want you to know this is my first guide by now and i thought I just gonna try it with my main char. Katarina. Until level 22 i hardly played any other champs. Reason Kata is a superb hero for anyone. For beginners quite easy to learn with and for experienced players a lot of cool **** to do with her :D. AS it is my first guide i will probably release it and i might have forgottn some things. Im very openminded for every single piece of advise or critisizm or questions. Just let me know so we can improve this guide together for an ultimate owning imba kata guide :D

Okay so lets start with runes. As we play an AP Kata we got loads of options here. I personally prefer focusing on ap and penetration, but depending on your playstyle you could also choose cooldownreduction or maybe some hp as well.

I for my own prefer Greater Glyph of Ability Power to increase your AP.
Then I choose Greater Seal of Evasion because this goes along with your masteries. The evasion boost will grant you more survivability.
Moreover I'd recommend you to choose Greater Mark of Magic Penetration for Penetration, which is always useful and making ur spells even more dangerous.
Last but not least do even more boost your AP choose Greater Quintessence of Ability Power

Alternatively you might choose Cool down reduction Runes such as Greater Glyph of Celerity Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction or Greater Glyph of Focus Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction depending on your personal preferences and your playstyle.

If you feel yourself too squishy you might also choose Greater Quintessence of Fortitude Greater Quintessence of Health.

Let's just have a look at our masteries now. I won't go into detail right here becaus most things are quite obvious. But if there are any questions feel free to ask and I'll try my best to help you.

Some people might be like "lul wtf omg 10/20/0 masteries?" well let me try to explain why.
Offensive spells should be quite easy understandable we have reduced cooldown, more AP and some penetration as well as improved summoner spells.

About deffensive spells. As a squishy champ (especially early game!!!) i think it isnt a bad idea to choose defensive masteries. I mean you wont be a super tank ;) but at least be a little less squishier than without.

According to your summoner spells choise you might leave the ignite or exhaust masterie and choose Tenacity.

MAIN BUILD

I personally prefer starting with Boots and 3x Health Potion. Some actually choose a Doran's Shield. I still would recommend you playint without Dorans. My simple explanation is. You might take more damage thats true but because of your potions you can equal it out easily. AND its an advantage that you allready have a part of your Sorcerer's Shoes.

Then you should try to last hit-and farm as much as possible. So you can build your Mejai's Soulstealer
. Let me tell you some things about Mejai's. Only buy it if you are
a) sure of yourself
b) have at least 5 stacks (otherwise isnt worth it)
i wouldnt reccomend it if your team is full of bob mates, or you think you cant handle getting 5 stacks ... but then you sh o uld think over your champion choise^^.
The great thing about the soulstealer is the more you kill the stronger you get. Per stack you receive another 20 AP. Alltogether this means 20 stacks = 180 AP without deathcap. Moreover at full stack you get 15% cooldown reduction. This goes perfectly along with your passive (explained below.)

Next thing you should do is complete your Sorcerer's Shoes, because with your runes and your boots you got quite some penetration by now. This is if your team has at least one good tank. You might as well choose Ionian Boots of Lucidity for more squishy enemies. Because Cooldownreduction perfectly fits to your passive and the mejai's soulstealer.

From now on you got several options. I personally use to go for Hextech Revolver first. First of all it is quite cheap and grants some nice early ap boost, as well as 15% spell vamp (5% for bouncing blades and death lotus]. This will perfectly go along with your low cool downs. you can just shun po onto enemies or champs to regain some of your hp. This can be very usefull. You might not back as often as without your revolver.

Then you should rush over to your Rylai's Crystal Scepter. This is simply a must have for your kata. Extra HP so you lose a bit of your squishiness you gain bonus AP AND you can slow your enemies for being more offensive aggressive and even more dangerous. Depending on the game i usually start to build i use to start with Blasting Wand because u get bonus hp and more powerful. BUT if you feel yourself too squishy then just start with a Giant's Belt for an extra 430 hp which should make you less squishy. If you have finished your Scepter its just nice with the passive of it. It slows down enemies for 35% (15% for bouncing blades and death lotus).
You can just shun po onto enemy slowing him. Then you can bounce your blades and again shunpo and/or death lotus if necessary.

You should be quite powerful by now not far away from lvl 16 and maybe 10 or more stacks at your Mejai's. There is one amazing item you will need right now. The Rabadon's Deathcap is what u need right now. This grants you an extra of awesome 155 AP !!!!! But thats not all moreover it gives you an extra 30% of your total AP. THIS IS JUST DA **** for you.

Now in late game I'd recommend you Void Staff especially against tanky teams. BEcause with your runes, your boots and your masteries tanky people shouldnt be a problem anymore. The 40% magic penetration as well as the 70 bonus AP will boost your champ enormously.

Last but not least you finally can finish your Hextech Gunblade . I know there are still some people who are not sure about if to buy a hextech gunblade or not. Let me try to convince you to buy one if u play Kata. You might remember having bought the revolver. You can upgrade this revolver to the HExtech Gunblade. It adds another 5% spell vamp to your revolver as well as 35AP and 60 attack damage and 20% life steal. But thats not all. You will also receive an active dealing damage and slowing enemies. A lot of people aren't sure about the item because as we play an AP Kata we have some AD here? But as I described above the Spell vamp can save your life and make the game a lot easier for you.

SITUATIONAL ITEMS

One possible situational item i can think of right now is Banshee's Veil . First of all I����¯�¿�½������¤d like to mention this item can totally save your whole life. Especially CC's or some ultis as karhtus' maybe. Because it does not grant only extra 375 HP it also has an unique passive. Every 30 seconds it blocks a negative spell. For example immagine following situation. You run away on low hp want to back. And oh my gosh. A Karthus ulti. This means your dead. NOT!!!! You have your Banshee's Veil and it blocks Karthus ulti. And survive. This passive can make your enemies go mad :)

There are loads of other situational items like Quicksilver Sash against CC's for example but if there isnt any very particular situation you should usually do fine with your build and it isnt worth letting out one of them. :)

As Updates will follow i will add more and more situational items as there are a lot of possibilities such as an and so on.


NOTE: FOR EXPERTS playing Kata i have a nice hybrid build for you which you will totally enjoy if ur good enough. You stard with your Boots then go over to your Mejai's Soulstealer and a Sword of the Occult now go for a Leviathan and more over you need two Hextech Gunblade xD u dont trust me or it seems strange to you? if youre good enough not to die very often in early game you will be invincible trust me ;) ultra ap boost ultra ad boost as well as a hp boost kitty kat katarina will pwn everything :D

RECCOMENDED:

Ignite

I think ignite is a great choise for Katarina. You know that feeling if an enemy escapes on very low hp? Well ignite is your chance now. ANother great thing about ignite is. If it is on cooldown you gain 10 extra AP from your masteries. This is why I personally often use Ignite for Katarina. You can catch enemies quite easy if theyre low on hp.

Exhaust

Well Exhaust is a great spell for Katarina. YOu might use it as a defensive spell but of course you can also use it for offensive situation. It slows your enemies movement speed his attack damage as well as ability and item damage. This can also cooperate very nicely with your Scepeter and it's slow effects.

Other great options

Cleanse

Cleanse is another great option for Katarina. You can simply debuff taunts, slows, stuns, any immobilizations etc. and reduce the power of new ones casted. In addition with your shunpo you can easily escape dangerous situation. Cleanse + Shun po and you should be out of range in most cases.

Flash

"Zomgroflbbq flash as Kata???" Yes allthough you have shun po flash can be a very nice addition to it. If an enemy is out of range you can flash towards him and then shun po onto him. OR if you have to flee and no minions heroes or what ever is near you. You simply can flash and then use your shunpo to get out of battle and survive.

HMMM you really want to take this?

Ok i see your point with ghost.. catching up or escaping can be very nice with it BUT why i wouldnt recommend? Simple reason.. To me the spells above are much more useful for Kata. If Ghost is your playstyle take it! But i for my own do not really like it:D
Teleport

Well if u think u need this for fast tower def. etc... as an assasin thats not really your job i wouldnt take teleport as kata

Heal

well heal is a thing in early game can be fine .... but in late game just sucks there are much more effective spells for kata, as well as your 3x Health Potion, you should be ultimately fine :)

Absolutely no go

Clarity: Ah exactly Kata doesnt have mana :D
Rally: Can you give me one reason using it ? :O
Smite: Jungle Kata ? EEEEERM no!!!
Clairvoyance: According to me obiously not your job
Fortify: See Clairvoyance^^
Revive: Seriously???

HEre i wills summerise my playstyle of Kata in a few important points.

- I personally prefer mid lane and try to last hit the first few levels
- Depending on your enemy shunpo and your bouncing blades do a very nice harrasment
- I prefer w skill using at lvl 8 first. Most ppl dont it depends on your playstyle
I try to lasthit and harrass a little with ur ulti you can kill enemies and if not lvl 8 will give you the **** with your w skill and bouncing blades
- at team fights make sure you have a tank in your team wich initiates ur fight ... as strong as kata can get dont be to cocky initiating a team battle and instantly die ;)
- Kata is a great chaser with shunpo and (if u take maybe flash)
u can easily do a lot of damage with ur ulti and then chase ppl running away


I hope you enjoyed my guide and give me some tips or ideas :)
im looking forward to it and i hope you will be a Kata freak such like me ^^

greets Schneeflittch3n

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/qvl6bj56/kata1.jpg
http://www.imagebanana.com/view/rj0gwumk/kata2.jpg

Here are some of my stats with kata (Sry i was fail to upload them here so i gave u links if anyone knows how it works pl slet me know thx xD