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Recommended Items
Spells:
Ignite
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Voracity (PASSIVE)
Katarina Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Karthus
Not a tough matchup at all, his early is very weak and your early is very strong. He can be killed at level 2, he needs to hit level 6 to be effective. Even then, he has nothing to cancel your ult and this matchup is just really easy to deal with as you overpower him in damage in almost every way. Buy a Zhonya's to avoid his ult damage. All in him at level 2 or 3, you'll either force him to flash or simply kill him, he can literally do nothing about it.
Teemo
I put him here, because I hate him, and because he's super easy to burst, you won't ever see a teemo mid but if you do, just know this is probably the easiest laning phase. Kill all Teemo mains. 8)
Lulu
Yes she has ways to cancel your ult, so many ways actually, but in lane she's incredibly poor. You out damage her in almost every way, she has an obnoxious shield however and can turn you into a squirrel aswell, so you want to watch for that. Overall, you won't be seeing a Lulu mid in a while, but do keep out for her as a support. She becomes obnoxious in the late game, but if you ever lane against a lulu, it's generally not a very scary matchup due to your strong early damage, playing properly with your daggers here also means a lot as when she turns you into a squirrel, you should have already thrown out your W to then grab a reset on it and all in her by shunpoing on your Q dagger.
Akali
You can use death lotus inside her ult, becareful level 6 as most Akali players try to look to make a play around that time. Don't walk up to last hit a minion when you have a Q mark on top of you because she will simply auto attack you and you lost health for no reason, it's okay to miss minions so long as you don't recieve unnecesary poke. Last hit minions with Q and keep your eyes on her, if you see she's far from the minion you're trying to last hit, you can safely auto attack a minion for a last hit. Overall, not the toughest matchup, you're both melee range and she has no way of cancelling your death lotus.
Aatrox
His passive denies you a reset, always left click him to make sure his passive is down when you attempt an all in. Overall, he's not THAT threatning to deal with. Avoiding his Q is also super easy because you can see it's cast animation, you can avoid it with shunpo and punish him for it by damaging him as he's very immobile without his Q. Avoid his E during the lane and always watch out for it, if he uses E on a wave, you can punish him with E > AA > W > Q > Pick up W dagger, pick up Q dagger, AA. Make sure you directionaly shunpo to where he's running towards.
Azir
Azir players tend to zone you with their W and Q, thankfully his zone power isn't as strong as it used to be but don't be fooled as he is still a pretty strong champion overall. Don't fall for his ult otherwise you get ulted into his turret, keep in mind of that when you all in him and know where you are. Pre lv 6, you do out-trade him. All in him at lv 2, he literally can't do much to you until he hits lv 6, you out damage him early.
Twisted Fate
Punish Twisted Fate when he doesn't have his W up, it's ideal to punish TF when his W is on cooldown because he can't stun you. You out-damage him pre lv 6, if you see him pop a blue card on a minion, all in him with E > AA > WQ > Pick up W, Pick up Q with shunpo. Good twisted fate's will build CDR so as you enter the later stages of the game, his W will be up a lot more frequently so becareful about punishing him for using W here. Avoid Q's by side stepping during laning phase, Avoid fighting him when he has his 4th empowered card Auto attack as it will deal extra damage to you. Wait for him to use it on a minion and then you can try to fight him, but remember that it's more ideal to punish TF when he uses W rather than the empowered card AA. If he uses both on a minion, you absoloutley should punish him. Shunpo behind one of his minions if you have to gap close to him, keep in mind not to shunpo where his minions are facing so you can go as much to his side of the map as possible. When TF hits level 6, he will try to look for roams, so let your team know when TF hits level 6. If he does roam, your options are to shove lane or quickly go help your team if the enemy team doesn't manage to pull off a good execution with the TF ult, you can go full janitor duty and clean up. Make sure to shove you lane before-hand so they don't see you coming bot AND so that TF loses out on CS that would die from his turret. Overall, not the toughest matchup in the world, just watch out for the good TF players who will try to walk back as further away from you as possible when using W as they're aware of your attempt to punish
Ahri
Avoid Charm by staying behind your minions, punish her Q's when she uses it on a minion wave unless it's too risky, keep in mind she has 3 dashes which makes her extremely mobile. Commit to all in and use your daggers to gap close to her, overall you out damage her pre lv 6 due to Kat's oppresive early. Becareful when she hits level 6, still a managable laning phase.
Brand
Has pretty strong poke, solid champion overall. Stay behind your minions to avoid his Q stun, when last hitting a minion with a basic attack, Brand players will tend to W you as punishment, this is where you have to already have it mapped out in your brain and use shunpo to avoid it. It really is more of an anticipation. You PREDICT it, you EXPECT it, and you react accordingly if he does it. Stay away from other allies/minions when he uses ult, Best fighting situation is when his Q is on cooldown and there are no allies/minions around as his ult can bounce.
Orianna
A managable lane, Orianna can shield herself, but by no means is her shield more threatning than a Diana shield for example. Don't use abilities when she uses shield, instead basic attack her to drop her shield down or simply wait for her shield to run out. She also gains more MR/armour when the ball is on her, so if you can Shunpo > AA > WQ when she doesn't have the ball on her you'd deal a pretty good amount of damage pre lv 6. Anticipate her ult, can be avoided with a shunpo or flash. When going for an all in, E > AA > WQ - Walk back, incase she ults. if she doesn't, Get the spin on W, shunpo on Q dagger > AA then get ready to flash away if she ults here, if she doesn't, simply use R. even if she ults, you can shunpo on her since you got the reset on Q.
Viktor
His Q gives him a shield and an empowered basic attack, always try to avoid being auto attacked with that hit by a viktor, don't try go for a minion as his Q empowered AA is ready to go, you'll just eat damage for no reason. Pre lv 6, watch for his Laser. Sometimes, you'd think you're far away enough but always stay on your toes, his range with E can be somewhat unpredictable if you aren't paying attention to his movement. You can avoid laser damage using Shunpo. Best time to punish viktor is pre lv 6 after he uses Q or E on a minion wave, you don't want him to have his shield up when you're dueling him in a 1vs1 BUT thankfully his shield is incredibly small and it doesn't lose out on a lot of your damage at all. You pretty much destroy him pre lv 6 due to Kat's early aggresion, but don't take that to heart because not every game is going to go your way. If viktor pushes all the way to your turret, stay back and farm safely with Q, Shunpo to Q when it's safe. wait for him to miss his E. Last hitting under turret against viktor can be ludicrous because he can safely hit you under you own turret. It's OKAY to miss minions, as long as you don't take damage for no reason. Once he gets lv 6, his ult can cancel your ultimate upon cast, So don't use your ult until he uses his in a 1vs1 scenario. You DON'T need to get an abyssal, you can if you think you need it, I recommend zhonya's in this matchup after purchasing gunblade as the statis is super good to have in all stages of the game. Don't be discouraged when I said don't purchase abyssal, I personally wouldn't buy it against a viktor. Only situations I'd buy an abyssal are against champions such as Annie/Leblanc who have burst damage in quick succession, Annie being very high on that list. Late game teamfights, watch out for his ult, his W can be obnoxious to deal with as it slows you, make sure to have shunpo ready to escape the W radius. Overall there's a lot more harder matchups, Viktor is managable.
Morgana
We all shout at our screens when a morgana lands a Q, because we all know that her Q is one of the most obnoxious skillshots in the game. Thankfully, it doesn't stun. it ROOTS, which means you can ult during it should you find yourself in a certain scenario where she's melee range of you. When her magic shield is on CD, all in her. That's one of the best times to fight a morgana because she needs to lower your damage and has no way of doing it when it's on CD. You can force her to use shield by shunpoing directly on to her > AA > W > Move to the side to avoid her Q and she would've used her shield hopefully by this time. Pick up W, pick up Q, land some basic attacks as she has no Q or shield. AA do Attack damage, so her magic shield won't mean anything. Furthermore, you go long sword start which means auto attacking in this matchup is great. if she missed Q, all in her. her main spell is the most important thing to her and missing it should be punished with an all in. Shunpo on a minion of you have to get closer to her and then full combo with WQ, pick up W and then shunpo on Q dagger. When she hits lv 6, that's when you want to becareful. I recommend zhonya, NOT abyssal as zhonya helps you completley avoid her ult stun if you timed it properly as her ult is on it's last seconds of finishing. she might even throw her Q after she stuns, thinking she'd get you when in reality you used zhonya to avoid it. Go gunblade into zhonya, Overall there are much tougher matchups than this one, this one's manageable as morgana is very immobile and relies A LOT on her Q.
Ekko
Pre lv 6, punish him when he uses Q on your minion wave. Ekko players LOVE to use Q on minions as that's their only source of wave clear. Wait for his Q to come back to him, then E on him > AA > WQ > pick up W, pick up Q, then keep auto attacking. he needs his Q to land his 3rd auto attack with quick succession and without it, he can't do it fast enough. DON'T Allow him to land 3rd hit on you, avoid it as best as you can during the all in by manuvering around or shunpoing back to one of your minions. At lv 6, pay attention to his clone. When using an all in, if you usee the clone is on top of you, get ready to shunpo out to a minion or even flash, his ult hurts and any damage avoided is the way to go, especially an ultimate. Once you hit level 6, if he doesn't have ult or it's on cooldown, all in him. He simply can't out-trade you or cancel your ult, he can't even save himself because his ult is on cooldown. his W takes too long so he can't exactly stun you quick enough when you all in him. Punish Ekko for trying to last hit minions with basic attacks aswell by shunpo comboing, same way we explained earlier.
Kennen
Always watch for his shuriken, it glows/makes an electric sound when it's ready. This is his 4th shuriken attack as it triggers his passive. So what do you? Walk back, you absoloutley don't want to recieve that damage. It's really simple, if you recieve an AA from him, he will use his E to poke you and then try to go for a Q to stun you. During lane, just don't take it, even if it means missing a last hit on a minion, it's not worth it. Most kennen players will build protobelt and zhonya's, he can be pretty annoying but after his zhonya/ult is down, he becomes managable to deal with. In teamfights, absoloutley stay BEHIND your team, if Kennen is missing you know he's going to try something as his ult AOE makes him a strong engage tool for a team, he can flash ult and then pop zhonya and that allows his team to engage. Sit back, let your team know about him, always know where he is. If he's missing and you're grouped, split up a bit so he doesn't get all 5. Overall, not the hardest matchup but it's definatley up there. You should take advantage of him pre lv 6 as you do tend to out-trade him with your AD % damage on voracity and basic attacks. All in him when his 4th shuriken is thrown on a minion or if he uses Q to last hit a minion. When you shunpo on him, AA then W and move to the left/right to avoid his Q, because that's the first thing he might do. Becareful at level 6.
Diana
Her shield is the biggest threat, she can walk right through minions and take minion aggro without a care in the world. Once she hits level 6, you want to becareful. Her E uses A LOT of mana, so you want to force her to use it as much as possible during the lane, however good diana's don't even put a point in E early on until level 4 but even then, they'd never use it, they know how much mana it costs. Don't fight Diana when she has a shield as it will block your damage, wait for it to go on cooldown. If Diana misses Q, try to go for a Q poke on her, I wouldn't suggest an all in because if she still has W she will out-trade you ALL the time, especially if she puts 2 points in W early. Something to watch out. Becareful of her level 6 as she can QRW and there's nothing much you can retaliate to that, good Diana players will also save their E for when you ult. Don't be discouraged against this matchup, it's winnable if you know what you're doing and not everyone is a GOOD Diana player. Punish her W's, force her to use E in lane by all-ins, poke her when misses Q/uses it on minion wave if possible. Don't E on her when she uses Q as she will shield your damage, the orbs explodes and that also gives her ANOTHER shield, so your best course of action is to fight her when used W already or you can try to bait her to use it by all-ining when she misses Q. Shunpo > AA > WQ - then Back, see if she uses Shield. if not, forget the all in. If she does use shield, wait for it to run out and see if she's still on top of your dagger or close to it so you can shunpo directionally. You can still play aggresive in this matchup, so don't be dishearted. Knowledge is power.
Xerath
Pokes can be obnoxious, but managable. Dodging the Q's always seem hard against him, so try to move around more often and be less predictable by clicking left/right of your champion very quickly. You leave him to guess where you will Q. Do this often in laning phase so he doesn't know which direction you will go, then pick one direction when ready or simply use shunpo on a minion to dodge it or W to gain movement speed to dodge it. Avoid his Stun by staying behind your minions, when all-ining a xerath, he will always stun. Shunpo > AA > W - Move to the left or right to dodge stun > Q the direction he's running, pick up W dagger, Shunpo on Q dagger, ult.
Zed
Skill matchup, a good Zed is tough to deal with. Buy Gunblade into Zhonya's against this matchup, If zed uses W in lane, punish him for it by all-ining. it's his only escape + he needs to land 2 shurikens to do a lot of damage to you. You can kill him at lv 2 or 3, punish a missed shuriken or W, all in with E > AA > WQ > Pick up W, Pick up Q dagger using shunpo. Long sword start here does A LOT of work for Katarina as the voracity spin damage is very strong pre lv 6 and the AP parts of it scales really well AFTER level 6.
Lissandra
Good Lissandra players save their ult for you. Punish a Lissandra in teamfights for using her ult on someone else. During lane pre lv 6, avoid her Q's by moving to the side AWAY from minions. Her Q is also on a short cooldown, so those are very easy to predict as she will always try to throw them out. All in Lissandra at level 2 or 3 if possible, Punish her when she uses Q on a minion wave so she can't defend herself when you all in her, she'd be forced to use W and walk away or simply AA you back. All in her with E > AA > Q at level 2. Level 3, all in her iwth E > AA > WQ > Pick up W, shunpo to Q. She will always escape you by using her E, so the next time she comes back to lane after using her E, you can all in her and she won't have her escape ability. Punish her usage of E as MUCH as you can. The reason she's a high threat is simply because of her ult, she can shutdown a Katarina with it and it is a pretty annoying ability to deal with, always know where she is in teamfights and anticipate she's behind a wall if she's missing.
Malzahar
His ultimate is a threat in the late game. Pre lv 6, voidlings can really hurt you when you try to all in-him, so I'd advise against all-ining him when his voidlings are up. if he uses E on you and then lands his Q or ult, it will refresh his E. Pre lv 6, try to avoid his Q so he doesn't thrown down 2 E's on you. Overall tough matchup, break his passive with your shunpo then AA > WQ. Best time to fight a malzahar is when he's pre lv 6 and just used his E on minions, however the voidlings are a problem as they tend to out-trade you pretty easily and it's also on charges cooldown of 20 seconds at one point in it and goes down by 1 second every point in it. Try to see if he uses his voidlings on minions, don't all in a malzahar when his pets are around as they prioritize you when you are close to malzahar and they gain 100% movement speed. If he has no mana, all in him. If he has no ult and you have the damage to kill him, all in him, dodge his Q so he doesn't silence you during your ult and keep chasing him with Auto attack and avoid his Q with a directional shunpo the direction he's running towards.
Annie
We all hate her, but she can be dealt with. If annie uses her stun on a minion, all-in her. Even if she has ult and uses all her abilities on you, she won't have the stun up. If she uses her Q on a minion to gain 1 stack, you can also all in her. Her Q would be on CD and she won't have enough to stun you, but you have to do this INSTANTLY because her Q CD is somewhat on a short cooldown. Pre lv 6 is not as threatning, but once she gets lv 6 you want to watch out for her flash R, read her body language and play the psychological game. If you see her try to walk to you or hovering back and forth, she's trying to flash ult you or her jungler is nearby. Understanding an Annie's player's movement is the key to beating her, good Annie players will zone you with their stun and simply not use it during the lane, she saves it to simply stun you. The best thing to do is to understand your situation and stay back and last hit, there's nothing you can do about it. Furthermore, Try to fight annie when her E is on CD as much as you can as her Shield gives her extra defense stats.
LeBlanc
Pretty annoying matchup, one of my least favourite, but it's managable. Avoid her W damage with your shunpo, anticipate she will use it by judging from her body language and how she walks. Most players walk back and forth, and that's a good indication they are trying to seem like they don't want to all in but in reality their intentions are to use W on you. You have to see through that. All in combo is E > AA > WQ > Pick up W, pick up Q with shunpo. best time to all in a leblanc is when her W is on cooldown as that's her only escape. Your Q also FOLLOWS the enemy champion you target so even if they do flash or W, it follows them and then lands, so you can finish them off by shunpoing on the Q dagger.
Anivia
Her passive stops you from getting a reset completley, keep in mind that her passive has a 4 mins cooldown, that's when she's a lot more vulnerable. When she uses ult on a wave, punish her by all in-ing her. Her ult cooldown is 6 seconds and she won't be able to use her ult on you when you all in her as she just used it on a minion wave, this way you don't get the slow + don't allow her to E to deal double magic damage. Keep in mind her ult needs to be FULLY formed at maximum radius for her E to deal double magic damage. She also fairly uses a lot of mana, punish her by all in-ing when she has no mana. Try to break her egg form whenever you can so that your jungler can go ahead and gank her, she's EXTREMELY immobile and has no escape abilities. Flash lasts 5 minutes, so time her flash and let your jungler know when it's down. Best time to all in an anivia is pre lv 6 as she has one of the lowest base healths in the game. Combo with E > AA > W - walk to the side to avoid her Q stun > Q, pick up W, pick up Q with your directional shunpo based on where she's running.
Kassadin
Farm, Kill him before 6 with jungler's assistance. Remember his Q stops your ult.
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