Katarina Build Guide : KATARINA | IN DEPTH GUIDE | 8.4 :: League of Legends Strategy Builds

Introduction

Hi, Im a OTP with 400k points on my account "Lepmos". I was first introduced to League Of Legends in 2011 and thought it was the worst game in the world and asked my mate "why would anyone else play this game?". I ended up making an account some time in 2012 and played it on and off, however I didn't start to play with my League a lot until the middle of season 5. I never played ranked during season 5 or 6 as I didn't like it, so season 7 was the beginning of my ranked climb. Since this was my first season of ranked and I was pretty nervous, I was placed in Bronze 1. With time and practice I managed to climb to Gold, which was a goal of mine to complete by the end of the season. i have played 180+ Games of in ranked, across solo queue, flex 5 V 5 and flex 3 V 3. Around 150 of these games where on Solo Queue. I have finished this season with an 62% Win rate. This is also my first guide, so please give me feedback.

November 16, 2017

Pros / Cons

Pros of Katarina
- Easy To Play
- High Damage
- High Snowball Potential
- High Potential To Carry
- Low Cooldowns
- No Mana Costs

Cons of Katarina
- Hard to Master
- Shutdown with CC
- No built in CC
- Team fight oriented
- Melee
- You need a brain
- Mental Game

Pros and Cons in detail:

can be picked up by anyone who knows how to press some buttons on a keyboard however because of this she is quite difficult to learn how to play effectively and carry with. Playing in lower ranks is very easy as not many people play her and have played against her.

Another pro of is her insane damage and burst that she brings to a team fight, if a fed can strategically play out a fight and predict what will happen during the fight you can carry quite easily, make sure to go for objectives instead of backing as death timers give you the opportunity to get a tower, dragon or baron one objective at a time leads to the end of the game and more gold for your team. More gold for your team is important as does fall off during the later stages of the game, with supports having 6 different shields and heals to keep their team alive makes it difficult to win later fights, one great way of guaranteeing the fight to be won is by playing it patiently, waiting for CC to be wasted and shields to die or be on cooldown.

during the early game has quite a lot of damage however my runes, although give less damage early, allow for greater 1 shot potential on high priority targets like the ADC.
In my opinion it is more effective to farm minions than to farm kills however if you can get games where you can farm both that is great and ultimately should mean the game will be over very quickly. Getting as soon as possible is one of the best ways to build a lead as you now have an even greater kill potential as gives even greater burst to 's already insane burst.

Even though can 1 shot any squishy she can also be 1 shot by anyone else, so playing team fights is one of the hardest things to master about , learning how to position, predict enemy movement's and what combo to initiate with is essential to winning team fights.

An issue can have; is playing against ranged opponents, yes you can farm with Q but it is on a 11 second cooldown level 1 which means it can be difficult for you to keep even or even get ahead in cs and you are most likely to get bullied for taking cs so choose wisely but make sure to get as much farm as possible. If you are getting bullied in lane ask for some help from you jungler as it may just be what decides the lane and game for you and your team.

Spells

Katarina mid lane is typically seen with Ignite, however summoner spells such as Teleport, Exhaust and Cleanse are good options as they all give positives in certain lane match ups and overall team fight potential.

Very good for getting early kills and reduces the healing of champions that have in built sustain or have bought life steal.

Good for roaming and split pushing, typically take this if you feel you will be pressured a lot in lane and you dont have enough kill pressure.

Good for match ups such as Yasuo and Fiora, as they are easier to kill with the debuffs from exhaust.

Typically I don't take this summoner spell as it can be a waste, however match ups like Malzahar and Twisted Fate it is good to take because of their point and click CC giving you the opportunity to escape and re-enter the fight within a few seconds. With their cc being on cool down.

Summary

I do believe taking is the most effective spell for even though 's Ultimate can be difficult during the later stages of the game and having the escape that cleanse brings can save you and most importantly the game. is good for certain match up's but makes them even easier to snowball as you get increased damage, similarly however it is more for when you want to farm up till and then focus on team fighting.

Runes

These are my current runes I am taking on , I will be changing constantly to see what works best. So far proc's very easily with 's combo, it is exactly like as it increases the damage and kill potential has on the lane opponents. Another rune I have tried is , it is really good against melee match ups but isn't the best against ranged match ups. Ranged match up's are harder to use effectively, you can get punished in the early game when you can't jump in and out. I feel is less effective than , only in ranged match up's. For melee, is really good as it gives you that extra amount of damage and you might not be punished as hard.

1 1

Domination

Electrocute: This keystone works quite well with and it proc's easy with Auto attack combo. You can change too as I feel it is ok on , from watching people like Katlife and trying it out myself.

1 1

Sudden Impact: Works really well as you have , this counts as a dash. It gives you an increase in lethality and magic penetration.

1 1

Eyeball Collection: This is such an good rune too take, it gives you bonus damage for killing people and makes it easier to keep on killing people.

1 1

Relentless Hunter: For each person kill's, you receive out of combat movement speed. This is really good as you should be roaming around the map helping other lanes win, also making you snowball and win the game even quicker.

1 1

Sorcery

Absolute Focus: Adds too your damage during lane phase being. You should be above 70% health most of the time during the lane and your all in's.

1 1

Scorch: Scorch adds that extra bit of damage during Lane Phase, constantly throwing at your lane opponent picking away at their health bar.

Secondary Option

1 1

Precision

Coup De Grace: is much better than , it is really good for team fights and solo kills in the lane phase. You are going to be taking trades and dealing more damage if you opponent stays in lane and is low, combine this with and you have a ticking time bomb waiting to be ignited.
Excuse the pun.

1 1

Triumph: is a great rune as you will find yourself being extremely low. The health that you gain back can make it easier to escape.

Junglers who Synergise with Katarina

These are from my experience playing with these champions as my jungler.

is a great pick that works well with . has great potential for level 2 ganks, giving an advantage and enabling her snowball so that can focus on other lanes instead of yours. Another pro of is his ultimate and damage is very high as it creates a circle that cant be escaped by anyone unless they have flash.

's ultimate is an amazing aoe hard cc, it leaves the enemies unable to auto attack, giving free rain to take out high priority targets like the ADC.

is pretty good at early ganks and is great for blowing the summoner spells of your lane opponent if they don't have an inbuilt escape or peel.

Really good pick, she brings a lot of burst damage and has her own cc and peel incase she gets into trouble. Make sure to pay attention to where she is on the map and synchronise a gank to get a kill or summoner.

is similar to , he brings alot of early damage and burst and can set up plays during team fights.

Summary

Any jungler who has hard cc that is aoe or even single target cc is really good but jungler's who have great early gank potential are even greater as they can get in a position to snowball and potentially carry the game.

My Build In depth

One of the reason Katarina is a very effective AP assassin is the fact that she has huge amounts of damage giving her options for many different builds each with variation and effectiveness.

My build is all about that 1 shot effective in and out ;) move that leaves the other players with no other option but to ping '?' on the body of the dead.

This was my most picked starter item during season 7. It had great sustain, allowed me to take trades, heal up and farm easier. But due to adaptive damage being amazing in the earlier stages of the game. I would recommend not starting this unless you are going to be bullied or have trouble in certain lanes.

This item is really powerfull in the early stage of the game, it gives you an increased 11+ Adaptive Damage, combine this with . You get 24 extra physical damage.

This is my second choice, it offers good sustain but lacks the greater damage that long sword gives in adaptive damage.

My first buy is , building is not a must however i recommend rushing it first as it gives greater potential to kill your lane opponent and other high priority targets. offers good sustain and allows you to get snowballing out of control extremely quickly. Make sure you sneak in as the movement speed allows you to roam and make plays and pressure your all the other lanes, jungle camps and objectives across the map.

For Tanks

Rush and as you need the magic penetration to get through their general high base HP and MR stats.

Second buy is or + /. I say 'or' because you may not have enough gold for so it is better to grab and an item that builds into . Either item is good however I would prefer to build first over as it gives more ability power.
Make sure to buy before you buy .

Third - Fifth buy is or or . Typically after buying I usually build however this can change as upgrading the and then buying makes team fighting easier and you become even harder too kill while making it harder for the enemy to escape. The increased burn damage of combined with the slow of makes for an even greater spike in damage. I recommend building this when you are having trouble getting atop of high priority targets and or are worried about how squishy you are. is good and increase the damage of while also giving her even more shred to Magic Resist heavy opponents.

Final buy is any defensive item however if you feel you need the stats from the item feel free to buy it before you buy any of the above as that can always be bought later. I would recommend going into lanes such as , as the increased healing and magic resist offered by gives you more sustain and can make you survive and potentially get the kill in the tense situations that you make face during your game. Building against a snowballed ADC or even crit heavy team is very good and the added slow also makes it harder for the enemy to escape.

Certain Items

Building is very good when you are snowballing and want to be as annoying as possible because you have that second life to allow you to initiate a fight or get your team to come save you because you get too big in your head.

I would recommend staying away from , Death Cap as it is not worth the investment of gold during any stage of the game. Having more ability power doesn't always win late game fights, playing out the fright in your head and predicting CC and movements of other players is what will win you the game.

I don't build this personally however it is a good item for that extra survivability and allows you to dive in 1 v 5 and then go invulnerable while your team cleans up or peels for your mistake.

I don't build this often, as has no mana cost. Investing the gold is not worth it in my opinion because you are not getting the full use out of the item, a great alternative is . As you are not wasting any gold and it has a great passive.

Mechanics

Mechanics on aren't key for making game winning plays and highlights, having the ability to think about the situation and different outcomes of each fight are what makes a good great.

has a huge amount of mechanics that can be used to outsmart and kill your opponent.

Auto Attack Reset

This is great for taking towers quick but also giving an increased amount of burst, often surprising enemies with the amount of damage that get's outputted. To do this you need to first have you available. Click on your target and auto attack, then after the animation ends and auto attack again. Keep in mind this cant be done on towers unless you have a minion to too. This is one of the most basic mechanic that can be used to increase the damage during lane phase and sieging towers.

Flash to Dagger

Another great mechanic that can abused by any Katarina is flashing onto your dagger to get the reset, this is good to secure a kill when your is on cool down, however this means you blow your flash and can be at risk of being ganked or targeted in lane or team fights, so make sure you play safe or have jungle pressure and vision so you know where the enemy jungler is.

Move Dagger Damage to Enemy

This is one of the hardest mechanic to do as Katarina and requires perfect timing and incredible amounts of skill however it pays off for learning how to do it. I often use this to get more damage to my selected target often killing the target. To do this requires you to walk onto your dagger and just as you touch it or flash too or near your target. This can only be done with precise timing.

INTO OVER WALL

You can use this to escape ganks and fights across certain parts of the map. This is quite easy on the thinner walls however can get tricky with the thicker ones. It is very simple, walk up to your wall, use and move your cursor to the edge of the dagger and press .

There are many more mechanics that can be learnt with time and practice and hundreds more that can be found by just having fun during your games. Please comment if you feel any other important mechanics should be added.

Lane Phase

During the lane phase can seem weak for first time players, I didn't think that she sucked during pre-season 7 and when first started playing her in season 6, but that was lack of a not knowing how to take effective trades and maximising gold income.

For first time 's lane phase may be extremely difficult for you as she is melee assassin who is often playing with her against ranged opponents such as and who can dominate a newer . I will use the two champions and above as a way of explaining how to play against both ranged and melee champions during the lane phase and ways you can use the skills into other champions.

Playing into and other ranged opponents

Starting Item: + 1
's Starting Abilities: or

Level 1:

Start

During the first wave you want to be behind minions and see if the will try to push or just leave the wave in the middle, if she pushes let her this but stay away form your minions as she will most likely have started to get the wave crashing into the tower. Make sure to constantly throw your at the as she doesn't have her to block the damage giving you an opportunity to kill her level 2.

Start

When the wave is in the middle, Oriana will typically have started E, try killing the 3 Melee minions at the same time with and then focus on getting the last 3 Caster minions, don't worry if the auto attacks you and procs as will passively heal you back up soon enough for you to abuse Level 2, rush level 2 off of the first minion that will die.

Level 2: Once the first minion of the second wave comes in focus on killing it as quickly as possible, using your advantage is key at this early stage of the lane phase. Once the minion is close enough to die with one auto, throw your at the , auto the minion, get and to the Oriana and walk towards your dagger while auto attacking the , then when your comes back on cooldown jump back to your minions and reset the agro or upon your last Auto Attack do the Auto reset and ignite if they're low enough giving you a successful first blood and bonus gold to be used on a and . If you did not go for the kill you can use your pot if you're below 30% however I typically wait to use my pot before I'm going to commit to a kill.

Level 3: This is where your kill potential at one of the highest points. You will have all of you abilities before your ultimate, giving you more damage and abilities to reset your . If you are level 3 and have used your ignite for a level 2 all in don't worry, because you still have enough damage to kill as long as you fight went she is level 3 (You don't want to initiate if she is close to level 3 because she will get health and her abilities that will inflict more damage to you.) During the level 3 all in, you want to be waiting around your back minions but in range for you to to as soon as she throws her out to your wave, she will also most likely try to the wave and you, if you are near to proc her with one more Auto Attack, meaning that you should be able to dodge Her and leaving her with 2 of her 3 abilities on cooldown. Once you have jumped to the , make sure to weave in as many Auto Attacks as possible and walk forward and use your to reset your cooldown. Then continue Auto Attacking and keeping your until your has around .5 - .25 seconds until it can be used.Then jump to it and ignite to kill her. Hopefully the will either burn 1 or more summoner spells or give you a kill leaving the rest of the lane pretty much in 's favour.

Levels 4-6: You want to be continually shoving your wave and roaming around the map, it doesn't have to be a guaranteed kill, but getting vision of enemy jungle and being close for skirmish's that may occur across the map, this is good for getting pressure around the map. Instead of shoving your wave you may want to set up a freeze to deny farm and experience and also forcing her to walk up leaving her open to ganks from your ally jungler.

Once you hit 6 you want to be making a play either in your lane or in bot lane, who ever gets ahead in the bot lane with the game currently. If you choose to kill you lane opponent make sure to know where the enemy jungler is before committing, if you know where they're call for your jungler to be prepared for a counter gank. Roaming bot can definitely win you the game a lot easier but don't underestimate the damage that you can output during team fights, if you can dodge enough CC or wait until they're on cooldown you can easily wipe the enemy team and continue to do so with a lot of successes to get your team back into the game. If you decide to roam bot make sure there is not vision firstly or that the enemy team wont have enough time to escape because they're pushed up way too far, it may seem bad but try to secure one kill for yourself as that gold that you get from it will help sufficiently in winning the game quick and early.

Playing into , , and other melee opponents

Level 1:

Start

Playing into champions that are also melee, such as , and who all scale better as the game goes on once they get their core items. During the early stages of these lanes you want to be dodging as many skill shots and using your to poke down your opponent. Try keep the wave in the middle as you don't want to be pushed in or pushed up to far. and can be killed quite easily level 2 or 3, it just depends on how much you have poked with during level 1. Don’t be afraid to auto when your lane opponent goes to auto attack a minion, this is one technique of trading that can be used to slowly lower the health bar of your lanner, as they’re melee they wont be able to punish you like a ranged champion.

Level 2: Level up and look for an all in or quick trade or set up for a gank from you jungler. If you hit level 2 first make sure to use your advantage and take trades before they hit level 2. Don’t do this in every match up, you will find that players can punish you extremely hard which can ruin your lane, another thing to mention is the size of the wave you will find that most trades are won if you don't take unnecessary damage. Continue to trade with auto attacks and or combo.

Level 3: Same as level 2 except you now have all your abilities you want to look for a kill or trade, but be cautious as the enemy jungler may be near.

Levels 4-6: Continue to farm and look for kills or quick trades. Again if you hit 6 first use the advantage to kill or make your lane opponent leave lane giving you the option to roam or push towers.

For all match ups

Levels 6-18: You typically want to be looking for team fights and objectives to take across the map, if rift herald is up make sure to attempt to take it and get the first tower in the top lane, then group mid to take the mid tower then siege bot lane or take the dragon.

Objective Prioritisation

As you always want to prioritise objectives over kills making it a team death match. As you play with and learn your you will find that she is most effective during the early - mid game when her damage can be used to its full potential, during the later stages of the game you will find it hard to close out and win the game as every champion will have enough damage or protection to render almost usless.

Skins

My rating for the skins available for .

Below are the skins, click view any of them.

Conclusion and Thanks

Thank you everyone for reading my guide, It's really heart warming to see that I may have helped some summoners with their Katarina skills. I hope you enjoyed my first guide on Katarina, I hope this guide helps you with your climb in ranked or if you don't play ranked and just enjoy a casual game. Once again if you have any enquiries don't hesitate to ask and please give me your opinion on how i can improve. :)

Please check out my Channel. I don't upload much, mostly montages.

Thanks Dr Eggmund for helping with some visual aspects of the guide.

Make sure to check out his guide as it really helped me. Dr Eggmunds Vladimir Guide

KATARINA | IN DEPTH GUIDE | 8.4

KATARINA | IN DEPTH GUIDE | 8.4

Recommended Items

Runes:

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order

Voracity (PASSIVE)

Bouncing Blades (Q)

Preparation (W)

Shunpo (E)

Death Lotus (R)

Threats & Synergies

Akali

Ahri

Azir

Malzahar

Yasuo

Zed

Vladimir

Lissandra

Ekko

Jayce

Galio

Ziggs

Viktor

Xerath

Veigar

Vel'Koz

LeBlanc

Diana

Lucian

Orianna

Aurelion Sol

Anivia

Taliyah

Gragas

Heimerdinger

Annie

Riven

Darius

Karthus

Brand

Kennen

Gangplank

Fizz

Kayle

Urgot

Swain

Karma

Garen

Fiora

Irelia