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Choose Champion Build:
-
Cooking with Kat
-
Killer Kat
Recommended Items
Spells:
Ignite
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Voracity (PASSIVE)
Katarina Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Cho'Gath
**He's tanky, and his Q & W can shut down your ult. Utilize your mobility and try to bait out Q & W before engaging. Roam for kills.
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
















Caution: Contents are highly flammable and toxic. Handle with care.
Wow you actually found this! CRTL+F "Secret Ingredient" for your prize!
The 'Killer Kat' builds are in no way sanctioned for use in ranked games. They are meant to be fun builds and I am not responsible for any griefing/rage quitting they may cause on either end of the field. That being said if played correctly, these builds can help you achieve everlasting glory on the Fields of Justice.
This "Secret Ingredient"
Enjoy at your own risk.



Hello and welcome to my first ever Recipe for Dzaster feat.

Remember, if this recipe helps you play Katarina and/or open up your own restaurant, please upvote, subscribe, or donate!
Important Patch Information: Starting on 6.4, Katarina received a buff to her Q,

Today's recipe calls for 2 cups of AP, 1 Tbsp of Magic Penetration, and a pinch of CDR. With proper timing and execution you'll be more fed than your fat uncle after Thanksgiving dinner, so without further ado.. Let's get cookin'!


Pros
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+Spammer: She doesn't require mana/energy +Déjà vu: Her Passive ability resets cooldowns after kill/assist + Shinigami: Great escape/gap-closer + Spin2Win: Her ult deals TONS of damage to multiple targets + Blind Love: Clear fresh wards single-handedly + IN-N-OUT: Great tower diving capabilities-and fries! +The reason why janitors unionized: Amazing clean-up potential +360-No-Scope: No skillshots +Ménage à trois: Lots of AoE damage +MEOW: She's HOT |
SPACESPACE |
Cons
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- Hunter-not Gatherer: Difficult to farm early game - Up Close & Personal: She's a melee champion - Diet: She's squishy - Date-Rape: She's vulnerable to being drugged and raped (CC'd and killed) - Bukakke: She's vulnerable to gangb*ngs (being focused in teamfights) |

My theory for building Katarina is "Offense is the best Defense":
More AP-> More Damage-> More Kills-> More Resets-> Even More Kills-> More Objectives-> More Wins-> More ELO-> Nirvana
So there you have it, AP will help you attain Nirvana.

cookie "Secret Ingredient"
While the main focus is to build AP, you're also going to need MP and some survivability (you can't kill if you're dead).
Katarina's kit is very versatile and ranges from single-target assassinations (killing) to taking out entire enemy teams (more killing...ok maybe not so versatile). With the proper build, you will be able to carry out your role as the team's APC/ Assassin and lead your team to victory! You're done with the appetizer, now on to the main course!

18 Ferocity/ 12 Cunning/ 0 Resolve
Core Masteries
Sorcery: Despite popular belief, Attack Speed will not help you kill your foes faster, grab this one instead.
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Double-Edged Sword : As you will quickly learn, offense is the best defense for Katarina.
Kills = Resets, which in turn = escapes. This reasoning voids the drawback to this mastery since securing the kill will also secure your safety. Additionally, since Katarina is melee she gets the better bonus.
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Natural Talent : Some AP eventually is better than no AP ever. The AD isn't bad either.
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Bounty Hunter : Helps you get up to 5% increased damage, which works a helluva lot better than
Oppressor since you have no innate CC in your kit. TIP: Remember to try and score a kill on each member of their team to max out the potential of this mastery!
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Wanderer : Helps you roam and get to lane faster.
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Assassin :
Katarina.
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Merciless : Adds that little *umpf* when your opponents are low.
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Dangerous Game : The mana refund really helps you replenish ..PSYCH.. Just making sure you were paying attention. Getting some health back every kill helps you continue your chain of kills.
Precision: I previously had
Piercing Thoughts and
Deathfire Touch , but after some deliberation I decided to go with this and
Thunderlord's Decree (as I'll explain in the next point).
Intelligence isn't a bad choice per-say because CDR is always nice but I decided that MP is a more valuable stat for Kat, who already has pretty short cooldowns.
-
Thunderlord's Decree : This mastery actually packs quite a punch. Initially I disregarded it because damage every 30s sounded a lot worse than
Deathfire Touch 's 3s. However, after some testing I discovered that every damaging ability only RESETS the tick for DFT and does not stack. For Katarina, who busts out her combo nearly under a second,this mastery is not used to its full potential as opposed to another champion such as
Brand who deals plenty of DoT. Thunderlord's Decree works well with Kat's 3-piece combo and adds a nice bit of damage to her burst. On another note, Thunderlord's Decree scales a lot better than DFT because of the per level dmg. That being said, DFT may be useful with the Tanky/Damage build.
Viable Masteries
Dangerous Game isn't on this tree?
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Recovery : Health regen sure beats increased BONUS armor/MR when you are not going to build much of either.
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Explorer : Gotta go fast! ~Kata~ Gotta go fast! ~Kata~. Sonic fans will get me. This really helps you roam and even escape from some hairy situations.
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Veteran's Scars : More health can help put some meat on your bones.
-
Insight : More
Ignite and
Flash? Yes please.
-

Core Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Marks give more MP than AP.
Greater Seal of Health: Flat health seals to counteract your squishiness and keep you from being bursted down early on.
Greater Glyph of Ability Power: Flat glyphs give a solid amount of AP to start with.
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: You can't get enough AP.
Viable Runes
Seal of Armor: Good choice when facing an AD opponent.
Glyph of Magic Resist: For those times you're going against match-ups that make you re-think your life choices. I'm looking at you
Azir.
Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction: With the proper masteries (
Sorcery), you can get about 20% CDR by Lv.18 with no items.
Quintessence of Movement Speed: Helps with chasing,escaping, and dodging.
So now that you've prepared all of your ingredients, you are ready to cook! Here's an example of a typical game with Katarina. Note that each game is unique and will require adjustments made at your personal discretion.*NOTE* This chapter of the recipe pertains mostly to lower tier games around Bronze/Silver ELO. If you're in Gold+ you should be able to differentiate the strats that will/will not work in your tier and adjust accordingly. If you thought the prep time was long, cooking isn't for you .
Early Game
Standby Phase
Typically you will start the game with boots, 4 pots, and your trinket. Your other option is the AD Start (see build notes above). Go to the side that your jungler is starting his/her route and place your trinket in the river bush at around 1:00~ and stick around near the ramp into river until about 1:20 in case of an invade. The first minion will usually be ready to last-hit at around 1:30 so be in lane by then. Your trinket will last long enough to keep your jungler's first clear safe and will be off CD by the time you need it (when their jungler is ready to gank).
First Blood is as easy as 1-2-3
*This method is detrimental to your laning phase (makes you lose farm and take more damage than necessary) and is recommended for those who like to live on the edge and snowball, AKA Kat mains*At Lv.1, you want to keep your distance from the enemy champion and farm with your Q, trying to ensure each one last-hits as well as pokes your opponent. At Lv.2, you will get your E and use it to proc Q marks on your opponent whenever it is safe. This usually means that your opponent is overextended (lower chance of gank) or when there are few to no enemy minions in lane (less aggro during trade. If you feel riskier you can choose to trade when you simply have more minions than opposing ones so if your opponent trades, they'll draw more aggro than you. Continue the farm/poke process until you hit Lv.3, when you'll get your W. At this point you can harass with your full combo, Q-E-W and lower your opponent's health even further. Remember to use a health pot anytime you fall below 1/2 of your max health. If you are doing all of this successfully, your opponent will be near critical health soon;

Early Laning
While the above scenario applies to match-ups where the difficulty rating is about 1-4, or you are significantly better than your laning opponent, most ranked games will pit you against an equally skilled foe. For this scenario, use your Q to do a majority of your farming and focus on getting CS and keep an eye out for ganks. Sounds boring but it's the general principle of League. Any lane, any game. When you can't flat out beat your opponent by outplaying them, you have to get an advantage by farming, and acquiring gold->items->stats.
Laning Phase
It's okay if your farm isn't stellar up until this point. It's a universal truth that farming early is difficult with Katarina. Don't sweat it. Do raptor and wolf camps if you need to. Your ideal goal is to reach ~860 gold as soon as possible so you can buy a 



From Lv.4-6, you will continue your poke/farm strategy and try to go for another kill once you hit 6. You should have backed at least once at this point, purchased your first core-path item. If you successfully bought






Roaming
Once you hit Lv.6, you're ready to roam. If you haven't bought your first core-path item yet, use the gold from roaming to do so. My most frequently used method for roaming is to wait until the enemy bot lane is low and pushed in, or under tower, and then push out my lane to sneak away towards bot. Making note of any wards, and jungler positions I go to either the enemy's tri-bush or river bush and signal my teammates to engage. If the enemies are low and under tower, even better! Jump IN, clean up, N jump back OUT. Also, don't hesitate to KS- you farm CHAMPIONS, not minions. They'll thank you later..probably.Mid Game
Objectives Phase
If everything is going according to plan, you're snowballin' so hard Olaf is getting jealous (Frozen reference- sorry




Late Game
Team-Fight Phase
It's officially late game once you group up with your team and hunt for stragglers like a pack of hungry wolves. This is of course the most crucial part of the game, where a single death can spell defeat..






End Phase
While taking down the Nexus make sure to show sportsmanship and say "ggwp" to your opponents, then go ahead and tell them to report your useless jungler for unskilled. Also make sure to do a victory /dance in front of their fountain to establish dominance. Perform a mid-air Zhonya freeze frame for bonus points. #KatKarryKomplete #KKK

Core Items
![]() |
Katarina's glass slippers. They're a perfect fit, providing good MP and of course more MS. All you need now is your Prince Charming
![]() ![]() |
![]() |
The go-to item for when your opponents stack MR. It's most viable mid to late game when people start building defensive items. I prefer this over ![]() |
![]() |
Everyone deserves a second chance, especially Katarina. It gives good hybrid-defense stats and the wind-up time for its active will usually get most of your abilities off CD. |
Situational Items
![]() |
Very situational item used mostly for its active. Works wonders against ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
An okay amount of health, with a small amount of MP and AP. The item is not very gold efficient, and its passive isn't too great on for your kit. Combine with
![]() |
![]() |
A solid amount of health combined with a good amount of AP and negligible passive (reduced version of the slow applies mostly). Best offensive-health option since ![]() |
![]() |
A somewhat lesser version of ![]() ![]() |
Item Combos
Liandry's Torment & Rylai's Crystal Scepter


Spirit Visage & Will of the Ancients
The only time you want to consider getting


Itemization Procedure
- < 435g =
Health Potions + 1-2
Stealth Wards
- ≥ 435g =
Amplifying Tome +
Health Potions +
Stealth Wards
- ≥ 860g =
Blasting Wand +
Health Potions +
Stealth Wards OR
Aether Wisp+
Health Potions +
Stealth Wards OR
Needlessly Large Rod
Second back/First Core-Path Item-
- < 1250g =
Null-Magic Mantle or
Negatron Cloak if you need
Abyssal Mask, otherwise grab a
Blasting Wand for your future husband, ahem
Void Staff, or
Rabadon's Deathcap.
- ≥ 1200g =
Seeker's Armguard if you're behind or
Needlessly Large Rod if you're ahead
At this point the General Build is simple. Finish















Tips and Tricks



Tips and Tricks

sinister steel Sinister Steel: A close-range AoE spell that damages and gives a MS boost if you hit an enemy champion. This skill is great for wave-clearing, proc-ing marked targets, and as a harassment tool.
You're going to want to max out Sinister Steel first if you're facing a low-mobility champion, as it is easier to harass them from close range. For the most part, I tend to max W first mainly because your E allows you to close gaps. Assuming you always chain Q and W together, the damage dealt is always the same, regardless of which skill you max first. However, your W has the added bonus of giving a MS buff and having a much lower CD than your Q, allowing you to use it almost twice as much (great thing considering you don't require mana). Therefore, the only times you should max Q are situations where you cannot consistently chain your Q and W together (usually against ranged/poke heavy opponents).
Tips and Tricks


You're going to want to max out

Tips and Tricks


You're going to want to max out

Tips and Tricks


Recommended Summoner Spells
Ignite & Flash
These two will be your primary Summoner Spells.





Other Viable Summoner Spells
-
: This Summoner Spell can be useful for certain scenarios. I like to grab it for high burst champions that also have a stun (
Annie,
Syndra, etc) because you can still use Summoners while stunned!
-
: Good for when teamfights break out and you're not present. Tell your team to place a call (
) to 1(800)-KLEAN-UP and port in to take out the trash.
Tips and TricksSpoiler: Click to view
Zed Counter Tip

For Dzert, here are a few helpful notes!
- Your most basic "Kill Combo" is as follows:
Bouncing Blades >
Shunpo > sinister steel >
Death Lotus >
Ignite. The reasoning behind this is that your Q marks the target for extra damage which you then proc with your E, and once you're next to them you can W and use the MS boost to reposition yourself ahead of your target to finish them off with an R. They will take damage for longer if you positioned correctly. You can use ignite to secure the kill if you think they'll make it out of your ult alive.
- During the early game, most mid-laners will place their trinket on one side and will stay closer to that side to prevent ganks. This method does not apply to Katarina as it is more useful to hold on to your trinket for a quick ward-jump if a gank does come. However, this does not replace the need for vision, and you should ward whenever possible.
- One of the advantages of being a mana-less champion is that you start off with 4
Health Potions (600 'extra' hp), whereas your opponent will usually start with a
Doran's Ring and 2
Health Potions (360 'extra' hp). This means you can be extra aggressive early on, since you effectively have 'more health' and no mana to worry about.
- Try not to level up your first ability until it is absolutely necessary. This comes in handy when there's a surprise Lv.1 invade or early gank and you need E to escape rather than Q.
- Maximize your lane-time by shopping efficiently. You can leave the spawn fountain with -5g. This means that you are able to start leaving the platform when you are 5 gold short of your purchase, and still be able to buy your item at the last moment, before leaving the 'purchasing range'. For example, if you're waiting to buy an
Amplifying Tome, you can command your character to leave the base at 430g, and by the time you reach the required 435g, you will still be in range to make your purchase while still moving. Shopping on the go has never been easier.
- Quick-cast ALL of your abilities, as well as two of your item slots and your trinket. The two item slots will house your stealth/vision ward(s) and any active items you may have. Quick-casting works great on Katarina because it helps cut down the time to cast her abilities and items, which really helps with getting faster ward-jumps and combos. If you're not familiar with her abilities' ranges, activate the "Show Range Indicator" option for Quick-casting.
- If you're losing your lane hard, AP should be your second priority- BUT a priority nonetheless. Many people build full defensive items (
Thornmail,
Spirit Visage, etc) and become useless.
- Bonus: Bind your /laugh to a key and spam it in lane every time your opponent misses a skillshot/fails to kill you/dies. This simple tactic can really mess with their psyche and throw them off their game
. Plus.. you know, #SWAG.

Thank you for taking the time to read my recipe, I really hope it helps~
If you happened to like my guide go ahead and upvote, subscribe, or donate! If this guide was sub-par and/or offended you, vote accordingly but please leave feedback so I may improve it. As a reminder, everything I put on here is a reflection of my personal experience with this champion and you may or may not agree with it. As such, feel free to PM me with any questions/concerns you may have or leave a comment.
Have fun Dishing out Dzaster!

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