Click to open network menu
Join or Log In
Mobafire logo

Join the leading League of Legends community. Create and share Champion Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

MOBAFire's first Mini Guide Contest of Season 14 is here! Create or update guides for the 30 featured champions and compete for up to $200 in prizes! 🏆
Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

x
Katarina Build Guide by Center

Katarina, With Knives

Katarina, With Knives

Updated on September 3, 2010
New Guide
Vote Vote
League of Legends Build Guide Author Center Build Guide By Center 4,062 Views 10 Comments
4,062 Views 10 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Center Katarina Build Guide By Center Updated on September 3, 2010
x
Did this guide help you? If so please give them a vote or leave a comment. You can even win prizes by doing so!
Vote
Comment

You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.

I liked this Guide
I didn't like this Guide
Commenting is required to vote!
Would you like to add a comment to your vote?

Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.

New Comment

You need to log in before commenting.

1
Center | September 19, 2010 2:00am
No one has a comment, a question? I exist to serve!
1
Center | September 3, 2010 11:48am
Ah, well, it does seem you are right about that.

Boy am I embarrassed!

And yeah, without the innate chance to crit, lethality shall find itself dropped, likely in favor of alacrity.

Survivability is inversely proportional to damage taken (if you take half the damage you survive for twice as long) so Survivability = 1 / (Incoming Damage)

=)
1
Searz (444) | September 3, 2010 1:02am
Center wrote:

Katarina has a base chance to crit hit at level 18 of 13.35%, not 0%. 2% from deadliness increases that to 15.35% with crits for 210%.

Dodge gives added survivability of 1 / (1-.08615) = 9.43%

If you have 50% dodge change you don't have 50% more ability to take damage, you have 1/.5, or twice the durability (you're dodging half the attacks, and therefore can take twice as many)

Haha, then you're quite misinformed my friend :P
There is no basic crit chance.. They removed it 2patches back. So my calculations are correct. Lethality gives +0,2%dmg, so just skip it.

Ah, you're probably right about that. It just gives the same amount of dmg resistance as %dodge, not the same amount of extra durability. But why do you divide 1 by 1 - 0,08615? Explain the calculation, I could benefit from knowing how/why to do that ^^
1
Center | September 2, 2010 4:23pm
Eh? Lethality increases the damage from your critical hits.

Katarina has a base chance to crit hit at level 18 of 13.35%, not 0%. 2% from deadliness increases that to 15.35% with crits for 210%.

(dmg* .8465%) + (dmg * .1535 * 2.10) = 1.16795 with both

(dmg* .8465%) + (dmg * .1535 * 2.00) = 1.1535 with just deadliness

(dmg* .8665%) + (dmg * .1335 * 2.10) = 1.14685 with just lethality

(dmg* .8656%) + (dmg * .1335 * 2.00) = 1.1335 with neither

Both -> 3.04% increase over neither

Deadliness -> 1.8% increase over neither

Lethality -> 1.2% increase over neither

The important part is that they all can go off on a single hit, alacrity will take atleast two hits to have any impact.

But youre certainly right, its not going to make a big difference.

Dodge gives added survivability of 1 / (1-.08615) = 9.43%

If you have 50% dodge change you don't have 50% more ability to take damage, you have 1/.5, or twice the durability (you're dodging half the attacks, and therefore can take twice as many)

I understand why youd go with health, I just dont think its clearly better than dodge, or that dodge is clearly better. Id just go with
1
Searz (444) | September 2, 2010 11:47am
Center wrote:

Dodge: 6.75% dodge, increases dodge from 2% (Evasion) to 8.75% --> some math --> roughly 7.4% more survivability v. melee attacks.

Masteries

lvl 3 Deadliness gives an average of ~1.8% more damage per hit to Kat
lvl 3 Lethality, ~1.2% damage per hit
lvl 3 alacrity 3% more attacks per second(level 3 instead of 4 to keep points spent even)
alacrity only increases attacks when you attack without moving

Only Lethality gives no increase in dmg at all, Deadlyness gives +2%. Lethality and Deadlyness gives exactly +2,2%dmg at all times. I have no idea how you reached those numbers, but they're wrong :P
this is how to calc it: dmg * 0,98 + 0,02 * 2,1 * dmg = total dmg | (total dmg/dmg) * 100 = %increase in dmg
The best choice would be to only get Deadlyness and skip the +0,2%dmg from Lethality to get something else with them
But however you look at it; those bonuses are very small so it will hardly matter which one you choose.

As for dodge; they use a system called diminishing returns for dodge. Each source of dodge is mutiplied with the chance to hit you, so the actual chance is smaller than the theoretical one. You must have used your crooked math on the extra durability too since you gain exactly the same amount of resistance as your dodge chance :P
(1 * 0,98 * 0,9325) * 100 = 8,615%dodge chance
So you get 8,615%extra durability against attacks. But you also have to waste mastery points on that.. Sure, the move speed is nice. But I'd much rather go with the extra hp since it's not a gamble..
1
Center | September 1, 2010 5:22pm
Runes

Thats interesting, I hadnt put much thought into going the health direction with them. Time for some math!

Dodge: 6.75% dodge, increases dodge from 2% (Evasion) to 8.75% --> some math --> roughly 7.4% more survivability v. melee attacks.

Health: 175 more health, an increase of 7.2% --> roughly 7.2% v. all attacks (well, not percentage ones, but how many of those are there).

I think you're right about the Health Regen, one bloodthirster and it becomes obsolete, while before that it would be helpful, not enough of a bonus to really take.

So, you're right, the health runes do give slightly more ability to absorb damage (since they can help with magic attacks). My preference is still for the dodge runes - not for their dodge so much, though that does help, but for the potential to kick in the 10% bonus to speed. If I'm surrounded by enemies trying to kill me, and sadly, I am, since that's when Death Lotus works the best, death is inevitable. 500 health or 50% dodge wont make a difference, Katarina is dead. That's why I don't like HP giving items, if you have enough to matter, you've crippled your own damage.

So! The situation I'm concerned with becomes running away. I think a melee attacker is more likely to chase me down as I run from a fight (there are a few exceptions, Katarina herself for example, but I've found attack damage characters are more likely to be the ones chasing me) In this situation the 8.75% chance for 10% increased speed from nimbleness gives me a better chance of reaching a target to shunpo to and get away from the chasing hero than the added health.

I want to stress that despite spending two paragraphs on it, this is not an important decision, and any player should do what they feel most comfortable with. For me, that is the dodge and speed bonus.

Masteries

More math!

lvl 3 Deadliness gives an average of ~1.8% more damage per hit to Kat
lvl 3 Lethality, ~1.2% damage per hit
lvl 3 alacrity 3% more attacks per second(level 3 instead of 4 to keep points spent even)
alacrity only increases attacks when you attack without moving

So, against a sitting target, alacrity provides the best damage increase. However, targets that dont move are limited to (a) minions, (b) towers, (c) creeps and (d) people trying to kill me in melee (e) tanks tanking and (f) people who overestimate themselves.

For (a) (b) and (c), dps doesnt matter that much. Its nice to be able to kill that minions a little bit faster, or that creep, or tower, but its unlikely to matter ( you probably wont notice 4%) and not really the role Katarina has in the team. Late game minions are primarily damage by abilities, with maybe a single physical attack used to finish them off, and creeps are physical. But you should never be doing either when there is pressure to do it quickly.

For (d) and (e), the damage from your attacks still doesnt matter that much. If someone is in Kat's face attacking her, Katarina should either death lotus or run. If you just finished Death Lotus and they are still alive, one of you should be running. If its you, then attacks don't matter, if its them, then attack speed doesn't matter because you're not going to be able to land more than one attack before they take off running again.

And then (f) people who you've mostly killed for some silly reason think they can stick around and finish you off. Attack speed helps you kill them faster, but the are dead regardless.

So! Attack speed rarely helps you deal more damage v. heroes. I am only in a position to hit an enemy hero with physical attacks without them moving once every three or four games, its quite rare. Critical damage helps increase the damage of a single hit, and is much more useful if you shunpo -> hit -> boucing blade, or are chasing down an enemy, run-> hit -> run.

Offensive mastery just kinda blows for Katarina atleast. If you pay attention and only hit minions that are about to die, the +4 never comes into play. With a full bloodthirster it provides 1 more lifestyle per hit, around 2% increase in damage per hit. End game it gives less than 1% increase...to minions only. Its the same as why you don't see smite that often, even a tiny bonus to damage v. heroes trumps damage to minions.

Im not seeing the interaction between Killer Instincts and Alacrity you mentioned, though I did notice that either Killer Instincts description has changed or I misread it the first several times.
1
Searz (444) | August 28, 2010 8:56am
Then I've got good news for you. I'd recommend Greater Seal of Regeneration(20/5 @lvl18) for ap atleast, but I'm not sure if it's as useful for ad because of the bloodthristers. It will help before the fist bloodthirster atleast. If you don't fancy more hp-reg Greater Seal of Vitality(175 @lvl18) is the best choice.

As for the masteries: I'd get Alacrity and Offensive Mastery over Lethality and deadlyness. In terms of (normal)attack dps; Alacrity will give the same bonus as both Lethality and deadlyness, while also making your Preparation increase ad faster. While you may say "ew" to Offensive Mastery , it's not bad. +4dmg to minions may help you get a few extra kills. It will also increase your lifesteal from creeps. Lethality and deadlyness on the other hand will help with almost nothing..
1
Center | August 27, 2010 4:10pm
My first comments! I'm so excited XD

Searz wrote:

Why dodge? Isn't dodge more useful for fighters? And why do you get Banshee's Veil as the last item?.. Isn't it best to get it after the first or second dmg item? Kinda too late to get it that late..

Don't compare "shunpo that" to this build.. This is probably the best ad kata build on this site. "Shunpo that" isn't a very good build.. (why?) Nashor's Tooth is a bad item with kata..


Heh, I did forget to include a rune section, how embarrassing. I've never seen anything that looked appealing as far as seals go. No magic penetration, less than 1 AD? Almost 2 AP? Sheesh. By level 18 the damage bonus from either of these is going to be unnoticeable. (and that's where you get the full bonus since they scale with level) With dodge runes I am at least improving the chance for the speed bonus. But I'm not attached to it, if you have a better idea I'd use it in a heart beat.

I just wanted to compare AD to AP, and Shunpo That is the highest rated AP guide on here I think (and I had already done a bunch of the math for it)

Tinaby wrote:

You should get Tabi or change your masteries. You have 2% dodge so the +10% MS on dodge is useless. CHange LEthality too. Anything else should be better, you have 0 crit chance item and only 2% from masteries.

As Searz said, banshee comes far too late. You should get it after the first BF, or it won't be really worth it. If you manage to get 3 bloodthirster, you don't need banshee anymore, game's done for a moment.

Really good guide otherwise.

Lethality is purely to reach Havoc. The other choices are for summoner spells I don't use (smite, incinerate, rally) damage to minions (ew) and increased attack speed (only one worth considering). As rare as a crit will be, (13% of the time about) consecutive attacks on a target that is standing still will be even rare after the first 5 minutes of the game. But if there's a better option, I'm all ears, I dont like wasting points on Lethality, I just dont see a better choice.
Dodge was for lack of a better option, and it does come to around 9% with the runes. But you're right, it is a weak choice, I don't like feeling like I backed into decisions...but I do with the seals and some masteries.

I think ya'll are both right about the Banshee's veil though. I should make it clear that it depends on how the game is going - sometimes I've been able to confront and kill heroes for most the game while avoiding heroes with disables, sometimes I'm being crippled by one a few minutes in. But, I have changed this build, now it suggests getting Banshee's Veil after two damage items, and I am going to try using that as the base idea now when I play. I hope it'll be quite frustrating to enemies.
1
Tinaby (3) | August 27, 2010 2:33am
You should get Tabi or change your masteries. You have 2% dodge so the +10% MS on dodge is useless. CHange LEthality too. Anything else should be better, you have 0 crit chance item and only 2% from masteries.

As Searz said, banshee comes far too late. You should get it after the first BF, or it won't be really worth it. If you manage to get 3 bloodthirster, you don't need banshee anymore, game's done for a moment.

Really good guide otherwise.
1
Searz (444) | August 27, 2010 2:19am
Why dodge? Isn't dodge more useful for fighters? And why do you get Banshee's Veil as the last item?.. Isn't it best to get it after the first or second dmg item? Kinda too late to get it that late..

Don't compare "shunpo that" to this build.. This is probably the best ad kata build on this site. "Shunpo that" isn't a very good build.. (why?) Nashor's Tooth is a bad item with kata..
Loading Comments...
Load More Comments
Download the Porofessor App for Windows
League of Legends Build Guide Author
Katarina Guide
Vote Vote

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide