Katarina is a high-skill, snowball-heavy assassin who wins by creating chaotic skirmons, resetting cooldowns through takedowns and dagger pickups, and cleaning fights. Play her when your team can create skirmish windows or when you can safely roam — build AP (Lich Bane + Shadowflame/Zhonya) in nearly all standard games; AD/off-meta builds exist but are niche.

Role & identity: Katarina is an assassin / melee mage that thrives on resets and mobility: she creates daggers, blinks (Shunpo), shreds target(s) with area blades (Death Lotus) and gets massive cooldown reductions on takedowns so she can repeatedly combo in teamfights. She is fragile if locked down by CC but devastating when allowed to finish off targets

P — Voracity (Passive)

When an enemy champion dies that Katarina recently damaged (window ≈ 3s), her remaining basic-ability cooldowns are dramatically reduced (this reset is large enough to act like a full reset on Q/E/W in most cases). Picking up a dagger causes an AoE slash around Katarina that deals magic damage and applies on-hit effects. This is the core “reset engine” that allows multi-kill sequences.

Q — Bouncing Blade

Throws a dagger that hits a target, bounces to nearby enemies, then lands a dagger on the ground at the final landing spot. That dagger can be Shunpo’d to (E) or later picked up for AP/ON-HIT damage and to trigger Voracity’s dagger slash. Q is your primary poke and dagger-placement tool.

W — Preparation

Katarina tosses a dagger at her location (leaving a dagger) and briefly gains movement speed (useful to reposition onto your dagger or to bait spells). W is mostly used to plant daggers to enable multi-dagger setups and to skim outside CC ranges.

E — Shunpo

Blink to a target (enemy, allied unit, or dagger) dealing damage on arrival. E is Katarina’s gap closer, mobility tool and escape; it is the backbone of all combos because it delivers you into dagger range and sets up resets. After some interactions, dagger pickup refunds a large portion (or nearly all) of Shunpo’s cooldown, enabling rapid re-entry.

R — Death Lotus

Channel that sends many blades at up to 3 nearest enemy champions, dealing massive magic damage and applying multiple hit instances (so it triggers Electrocute, Conqueror stacking per hit, etc.). Because of the passive resets, you can sometimes use R, get kills, reset, and R again in the same fight if conditions are right. R is your “clean the fight” tool but is vulnerable to interruption/CC

Daggers = map of opportunity. Where daggers land dictates where you can E, how you will trade, and your follow-ups. Good dagger placement is more important than raw cooldowns.

Reset engine: Damage → kill within ~3s → ~15s cooldown reduction on basic abilities. This is why Katarina is a cleaner — she snowballs off single takedowns.
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Power spikes: level 6 (Death Lotus), first core item (Lich Bane / big AP spike), completed Zhonya’s (survivability for risky plays), and levels with rank in Q/E for lower cooldowns.
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Deadly combo synergy: Throw daggers (Q/W) → E to dagger/enemy → pick daggers to proc AoE + big damage → Passive resets let you E/ability again. Timing matters more than raw mechanical speed.

Farm safely with Q: use Q to bounce from minion to enemy and drop a dagger behind them so you can threaten an E into it.

Short trades: bait out an enemy ability, then E → Q/W (or Q → E into dagger) to burst, pick up dagger to finish and get the cooldown reset to escape or re-fight. Don’t all-in before you have Shunpo up.

Wave control & roam windows: Katarina is a top roaming champion — shove (Q last-hit) and look for fast roams to bot/top when you get level 6 or a big cooldown. You want to convert laning pressure into side-lane kills more than long lane laneswaps.

Play for skirmishes and picks. Katarina excels when fights are small (2v2/3v3) or when enemy CC is used and on cooldown. Ping and rotate quickly after a successful shove — your resets let you 1-shot opponents in side lanes.

In all skirmishes wait for CC to be burned before committing R (Death Lotus) — if CC is down you can channel freely and clean up.

Role: clean, flank, and reset-driven cleanup. Your goal is to enter when key enemy peel/CC has been used and to one-shot high priority targets or to clean up after the fight’s initial burst.

Positioning rules: don't be frontline. Use side flanks, or E on a dagger behind the frontline; avoid using R too early (it’s channelled and interruptible). Use Zhonya’s to bait or survive long enough for resets.

Primary: Domination — Electrocute (keystone) → Sudden Impact → Grisly Mementos (or Eyeball Collection variants) → Relentless Hunter / Ultimate Hunter depending on playstyle.

Secondary: Precision — Triumph + Coup de Grace (common), or other precision options for sustain/damage.

Shards: Adaptive Force / Adaptive Force / Health scaling (or situational resist shard).

Summoners: Flash + Ignite (standard for kill pressure and snowball).

Why Electrocute? Katarina’s multiple hit sequencing and R’s multiple damage instances mean Electrocute reliably procs in short burst windows for big early burst. Sudden Impact synergizes with Shunpo, and Ultimate/Relentless Hunter improve roam / hunt potential.

Lich Bane (first core item) — massively improves burst after E/Q/W because Lich Bane procs on spells and E auto timing.

Sorcerer’s Shoes (or spell-pen boots)

Shadowflame (or other magic-pen)

Zhonya’s Hourglass (defensive timing tool — essential vs heavy AD/CC)

Rabadon’s Deathcap (huge AP scaling)

Void Staff / situational (Banshee’s, Mejai’s when snowballing)

Notes & alternatives: Pro builds and high-elo often include Mejai’s when highly snowballing; Mercury’s if tons of CC; Void Staff vs MR. Some pros also take Spell-blade / on-hit items in off-meta lines, but the AP Lich-Bane path is the staple.

AP Katarina — default pick (recommended almost always)

If your team needs burst, cleanups, or you expect skirmishes and pick opportunities. Core items and runes scale with AP, and the current meta favors AP builds (Lich Bane → Shadowflame → Zhonya/Rabadon). If enemy team MR is not overwhelming, AP is superior.

AD / On-hit Katarina — niche / off-meta

Pick only if: you’re in a super-weird draft where your team lacks sustained DPS and you can play a different, unorthodox win condition, or in certain top/jungle off-roles where auto-attack builds make sense. Probuilds show occasional AD/Conqueror builds, but they are specialist and much less common. If you're writing a general guide, mention AD as an experimental off-meta option, not the main path.

(Use these in this order: pre6 trades, level-6 all-ins, multi-dagger resets.)

Basic poke / trade (safe):

Q (place dagger) → harass with auto / wait for Q damage tick → E to dagger if the enemy mispositions → W (if you need dagger at your location) → pick dagger for extra AoE

All-in pre-6 (short kill):

E → Q → W → auto/ignite → pick dagger → reset

Level 6 kill / ultimate pattern (standard):

Create daggers (Q on minion to get dagger behind enemy) → E to dagger/enemy → W (if needed to plant another dagger) → R (channel) → when you get the kill, passive resets → E back in / R again if possible

High-level double/R (cleaner):

E to dagger → Q → W → pick daggers → R on target -> kill → passive reset (~15s reduction) -> E to another nearby dagger/target -> R again (if possible)

Notes: sequence timing and dagger pickup order control whether you can reset Shunpo or use R again; practice these in custom where daggers land predictably.

Double-dagger setups: plant multiple daggers (Q into minion, W at your feet) so you can E to one dagger, pick another, then E again for insane mobility and damage. Watch pro vods and practice in customs.

Pick timing on Death Lotus: begin your R when enemy CC is used or during instant window after a big cooldown is wasted — don’t R into guaranteed stun.

Dagger pickup AoE orientation: the dagger slash AoE is centered on Katarina; picking up a dagger at edge range increases effective reach — use this to hit champions who think they’re out of range. (Known interaction used by mains.)

Mistake: R too early into CC / crowd — Fix: wait for CC to be used or bait it with Zhonya’s.

Mistake: trying to 1v5 without vision of enemy flank — Fix: only commit when teammates peel or when you see enemy frontline abilities used.

Mistake: bad dagger placement — Fix: practice Q + W setups in customs; think ahead where fights will move.

Mistake: ignoring item timing — Fix: once Lich Bane is online your all-in windows are different; play more aggressively to use it.

Is enemy CC up? → No → look for R/skirmish; Yes → wait or bait.

Can I get a 1v1 kill or roam? → Yes → shove & roam; No → play safe, farm daggers.

Do I have Lich Bane + boots? → Yes → look for aggressive plays; No → scale safely.

Patch and data snapshots used: Patch 25.19 notes (Sept 23, 2025) and up-to-date stat aggregators (U.GG, Mobalytics) plus Probuilds for pro patterns; these show Electrocute / Lich Bane / Shadowflame / Zhonya lines as the dominant Katarina approach and explain the recommended skill order (Q > E > W).

Katarina is a high-skill assassin who snowballs through dagger control and takedown resets. Master her dagger placement (Q/W), Shunpo timing (E), and the Death Lotus window (R) — play around cooldown windows and enemy CC. In the current meta (Patch 25.19, Sept 2025) the standard build uses Electrocute, Lich Bane → Shadowflame → Zhonya → Rabadon / Void, Flash + Ignite, and the Q > E > W skill priority; pick AP Katarina in almost all normal games and treat AD builds as niche experiments. — (meta sources: Riot, U.GG, Mobalytics, Probuilds).