Table of Contents > About Me > Summoner Spells > Rune Breakdown > Itemisation for Katarina > Ability Breakdown > Early Game > Mid Game > Late Game > Pros and Cons > Team Fights > Roaming Tips > Tips and Tricks

Hello everyone, my name is Katawina and welcome to the long-awaited Katarina guide. I’ve been playing Katarina since Season 4, and have reached EUW Challenger for several seasons with her in a row now. I peaked at rank 40 in S9 as a Kata OTP. Useful links: Subscribe to me on Youtube Follow me on Twitter Join my Discord Follow me on Twitch

When playing Katarina, you should will mainly use Flash and Ignite, however, You can go Exhaust against all in champs like Akshan or Tristana. Can take Cleanse against champions like Twisted Fate, Zoe or Lissandra if u don't go tenacity in runes.

FLASH

Flash allows you to make flashy plays, escape ganks and dodge damage.

IGNITE

Ignite gives you extra kill pressure in lane.

TELEPORT

Teleport can be used to get back in lane to not miss waves + useful after 14 minutes.

EXHAUST

Exhaust will stop burst damage. always!!! take vs ad mids

CLEANSE

Cleanse will help you escape sticky situations if you don't take Legend: Tenacity in runes. Only take vs champions with point and click CC like Twisted Fate , Zoe or Lissandra.

I prefer to take Conqueror , Electrocute or First Strike as the main rune pages, but you do have some flexibility depending on the matchup you’re in/Your comp or your mood :P. You can take alternative secondary runes depending on the matchup too or for example Dark Harvest in lower elo's is really good.



General pointers for Conq setup:

+ Swap armor/magic resistance depending on the matchup.

+ Take health if you’re unsure what enemy you’re against (a flex pick).

+

Treasure Hunter or Relentless Hunter both good

+ Alternative second picks are

Bone Plating or Second Wind with Overgrowth or Unflinching

Coup de Grace is more consistant and Last Stand is more high risk, high reward.


Electrocute is a viable option when the enemy laner and the enemies team as a whole are more squishy. Electrocute is good for a safer laning (general tip 2 short trading pattern). The Conqueror rune is better versus tankier enemies and better skirmishes. I go First Strike if they don't have much cc in the first place and if i'm in the mood to get rich :D

However, you can technically get away with taking either rune setups (unless u go AD path, then you should go Conqueror or First Strike, it all comes down to personal preference and your playstyle, because you could go conqueror with the full AP build path aswell, so try to play around with runes and which you prefer, can go Dark Harvest too in lower elo's



General pointers for Electrocute:

+ Swap

Coup de Grace or Triumph for Legend: Tenacity if the enemy has a lot of CC.

+ Swap armor/magic resistance depending on the matchup

+ Take health if you’re unsure what enemy you’re against (a flex pick).

+ Alternative second picks are

Absolute Focus + Gathering Storm or Bone Plating / Second Wind GO SECOND WIND VS POKE/HARD MATCHUPS or if u wanna play safe.

+ Can go

Treasure Hunter or Relentless Hunter

Starting Items:

> Long Sword start will be your main starting item if you’re intending to rush Blade of the Ruined King , Divine Sunderer or Kraken Slayer as your 1st item. > If you’re in a tough matchup or a poke matchup (a lot of matchups :P), go for a Doran's Shield start. This will offer you some extra protection during the very early game, Can synergise this with Second Wind for a nice combo. > Dark Seal Agressive laning with Electrocute if you don't need the Doran's Shield.

Core Build Path:

Your general item build will depend on a variety of factors including the matchup, your team composition and the enemy team composition.

(NEW BUILD) Always good to go, VS Tanks too:> Nashor's Tooth > Kraken Slayer > Guinsoo's Rageblade > Situational. Situational items: Rabadon's Deathcap, Wit's End, Zhonya's Hourglass, Guardian Angel.

This build is generally good to go after new item changes. U could go Kraken first too instead of Nashor's and after guinsoo it's situational.

If your team has 2/3 other AP carries:> Blade of the Ruined King > Divine Sunderer > Wit's End > Situational items Situational items: Death's Dance, Sterak's Gage, Maw of Malmortius, Guardian Angel, Titanic Hydra.

When your team has multiple AP champions such as an AP bot laner, damage-dealing Support, AP Jungler or whatnot, U can build AD items so the enemy doesn’t stack MR as much. Take this build with Conqueror or First Strike.

(most consistant build) Versus squishy lanes and squishier teams:> Nashor's Tooth > Hextech Rocketbelt > Situational Items Situational items: Void Staff, Zhonya's Hourglass, Rabadon's Deathcap, Lich Bane, Banshee's Veil.

If the enemy doesn't have 3 tank/bruisers, this is a good build as it offers you a lot of burst. You can go with this build if you have Electrocute, Dark Harvest, Conqueror and First Strike.

Good in lower elo's or versus squishies while having a hard lane:> Nashor's Tooth > Hextech Rocketbelt > Situational Items Situational items: Void Staff, Zhonya's Hourglass, Rabadon's Deathcap, Lich Bane, Banshee's Veil.

Go Dark Harvest if you're in lower elo (Below diamond) or if you want a strong scaling AP rune, but remember that if u take this rune u are really weak in laning phase so wait for skirmishes/roams.

Cash money rich rich >With Cash money rich rich rune u could run any of the above items that I listed.

General Build Advice:

+ Find your own build path and adapt your build according to the matchup and game you’re in. Use my builds as an example and build from there. You may favour different build paths for Katarina and that’s okay! She is super versatile and can build a ton of different items. For example you can go Blade of the Ruined King instead of Nashor's Tooth or u can even build no mythic item with Blade of the Ruined King > Nashor's Tooth > Wit's End > situational etc. There are so many different paths, so see for yourself what u enjoy the most and like the most. For me personally I go every single path (vs tankier enemies Riftmaker, Squishier stuff Electrocute, Full on-hit path Blade of the Ruined King > Nashor's Tooth > Wit's End > Situational. And with each of these I swap the build path aswell, for example if I feel like going Conqueror for skirmishes but enemies are still squishy I go Conqueror with the Electro path ( Hextech Rocketbelt) or if I wanna be rich I go First Strike. See what you prefer and like ^^ > Go Mercury's Treads if the enemy has a lot of CC or AP champions. > Versus Assassins like Fizz, Kha'Zix or Zed, always invest in a Zhonya's Hourglass. > Always rush Seeker's Armguard if really hard lane or you're vs ad mid + jungle > Build Sorcerer's Shoes as your main pair of sneakers

P

Takedowns on enemy champions within 3 seconds of being damaged by Katarina reduce her abilities' current cooldowns by 15 seconds. Whenever Katarina picks up a Dagger, she slashes around herself dealing damage to nearby targets. Retrieving a Dagger also reduced her Shunpo cooldown. Daggers take 1 second to land and disappear after 4 seconds.

Q

Katarina throws a Dagger at the target enemy that bounces to up to 2 nearby enemies, dealing damage to each target. The Dagger then lands 350 units opposite from where it struck the target.

W

Katarina tosses a Dagger into the air and games bonus movement speed for a small period of time.

E

Katarina blinks to a target location dealing damage to the nearest enemy. Shunpo is an auto attack reset.

R

Katarina channels for up to 2.5 seconds, spinning rapidly and hitting the closest 3 enemy champions. Her Death Lotus applies on-hit effects and inflicts grievous wounds to targets.

Against harder matchups where the enemy has the range or poke advantage, your goal is to survive the very early game and first few levels. Pick up as much farm as you can, but avoid losing a lot of HP in return. If you lose a lot of health early, you will not be able to go for an early all-in, but keep in mind that the only time you want to go for an all in is if u got Long Sword/ Dark Seal ( Dark Seal for short trades). U can play the lane like this or u can go Doran's Shield with Second Wind and go for short trades only (safer route). A way to play the laning phase as I mentioned before is either the safe route with Doran's Shield which I only suggest in higher Elo's OR the rest which is going for trades and play aggressive. Its important to know that Katarina is in no way a strong laner so don't give up if u cant win laning phases, because over-time it will get way easier. So if u go for the aggressive route u will always want to start off by short trading, so for example: Q a minion > E to the Q dagger when it lands > W out or W and stay in the W to hit the dagger > E out. After u short traded u can look for an all in as long as u know where the enemy jungler is roughly. Remember that u need to be healthy before u decide to all in, dont ever all in if you're not healthy , because if u go for an all in u will probably also get minion aggrod. Reminder that Electrocute is way stronger for the short trades and Conqueror for the all ins. The early game depends heavily on the matchup and the enemy you’re playing against. It also depends on the Jungle matchup as the enemy Jungler likes to gank a Katarina. Check out the matchup section for tips and tricks to lane against the enemy Mid laner.

Once the laning phase is over, the enemy will start to roam around the map and they might come to the mid lane. If this is the case, make sure your allies come to the mid lane too. Make sure to always try to catch up waves in the sideline so u don't fall behind and stay ahead, IF in some way u struggle with this because your team always dies consider always taking Teleport so u have it while catching up sidewaves or you can look to move mid first then into mid bot/top if there's nothing happening. As Katarina is a strong team fighting champion, you should be looking for team fights and trying to get kills. Whenever you’re split pushing or away from your team, look at what they’re doing and be prepared to follow and group with them if you’re sure you can win the fight. When roaming to help your team- be quick about it overwise the fight may be over before you get there and the enemy may win a 4v4 or 4v5. If you fell behind in the early game, try to get as much gold and XP as possible so you can help your team kill the enemy in mid and late game team fights.

In the late game, your goal is similar to the mid-game, but you need to be closer to your team. If your allies get caught out in the late game, the game’s basically over, so you need to make sure that you’re always near them if possible, so no sidelaning ever unless you have Teleport. Play around your cooldowns and active items like Zhonya's Hourglass if you purchased it as you’ll need it to survive team fights. As death timers are very long in the later parts of the game, it’s important that you do not get caught out or die as the enemy will be able to take objectives like the Baron, Elder Dragon or even your Nexus. 1 small mistake and your entire game is lost that's why its important to try to wait etc for your coldowns like Zhonya's Hourglass before deciding to take the fight (ping your team for it and tell them to wait). Your job in late game team fights is to wait for your allies to go in first and then clean up the team fight with your damage. Waiting for the enemy to use CC tools first is incredibly important especially in the late game team fights, because 1 small cc and u can instantly die. At the end of the day, Katarina relies on her team a lot in team fights- especially in the late game, because if you don't have any setup/frontline/peeling you won't be able to win the fights. Staying alive is very important for Katarina just be patient and strike at the right moment.

PROS + Katarina is a strong team fighter. This is because she can get in and out of team fights with ease thanks to her Shunpo. Her ultimate and daggers is also incredibly strong in team fights thanks to the AOE damage it deals. + Katarina is strong in 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 team fights. This is because she can get resets from her Passive and be able to clean up team fights, this is why I love the Conqueror Rune. + Katarina is a snowball heavy champion. Once the enemy blows Flash or dies once, she can get kill after kill. + She is a very strong roaming champion, because she snowballs heavily so 1 good roam and you're rolling. + She's a mechanically challenging and fun champion.

CONS - If Katarina is unable to snowball her lane or get kills in the early game, she will find it hard to carry and get kills in the later parts of the game. Your kit relies on getting kills and dealing damage. With less gold income, you will be unable to deal a lot of damage. - If the enemy takes Exhaust (or multiple Exhausts), you’ll find it hard to get kills in lane and in team fights as it will severely reduce your damage output. - Katarina is a melee champion. This means she will need to get into melee range to deal damage. You’ll be in a vulnerable position in team fights and an easy target for CC and damage. - Similarly to our previous point, it’s easy for the enemy to bully you in lane and get you low. You may have to sacrifice some CS for XP until you find a good opportunity to all-in them.

Patience is very important in team fights. If you go in at the wrong time, you’re going to get CC’d and blown up by the enemy team. Your goal is to go in at the right time with your allies and avoid going in alone, this is especially important in the late game teamfights, because you get oneshotted even harder and it matters even more then.

+ In team fights, wait for the enemy to use their CC tools first so they’ll be unable to interrupt your combo. Always keep track of their cc usages so u know when/who to go in on.

+ Wait for your allies to go in before you, so the enemy wastes their tools on them instead or wait for your allies to have a good engage/get baited before you want to strike.

+ Getting kills in team fights will allow you to get resets which will help you dish out more damage to the remaining enemies, so sometimes the better option is to just front to back with your team to get rolling with your resets.

+ Always look for missing enemies before going in for a fight as they may pop up and surprise you with cc/burst.

+ Remember that you don't always have to look for squishy enemies/backline to focus on, a lot of times if u do this u just get oneshotted. Try to play slow and be patient and play with your team front to back until u strike at the backline (never go in the backline instantly unless you're fed of course)

Learning how to team fight properly as Katarina is key, but it does take some time to master. Don’t worry if you start off badly in team fights, with more practice, you’ll learn when and when you can’t go in and teamfight. Once you master teamfighting you will climb really hard.

Roaming is key for Katarina. Not only will it allow you to get more kills, but it can also get your allies ahead too. Although, we want you to get ahead over them…

Look to push the minion wave and try to roam. You could push the wave, run towards the river and look to either gank or counter gank an ally. Even if you don’t think you can get something out of it, you will not miss out on a lot of XP as the wave has been pushed and if something happens on for example bot side and you're already hovering bot a bit you're earlier and ready to pick up kills.

Good times to roam and help your allies are when:

+ You’ve dominated the enemy laner and got some kills from them.

+ When the enemy laner is playing really safe and you’re unable to kill them.

+ You’ve pushed the minion wave.

+ You have lane priority and can influence a nearby skirmish.

+ You’re in a hard matchup and cannot kill the enemy alone.

+ When you can snowball off killing the enemy squishies in the bottom lane.

When roaming, keep an eye on the minion wave in the mid lane. Do not fall behind by trying to help your allies. You’re the carry after all, so you need as much XP and gold as possible. Be prepared to call off a roam if it doesn’t look favourable and don’t waste time trying to force something if it might backfire. The only time it's worth is if you're sure you get kills by the roam only then can u give up cs/the push mid (your bot is getting dove or drake fight is happening etc).

BASIC KATARINA TIPS AND TRICKS!

+ When you’re new to Katarina, focus on roaming and teamfighting before focusing on the matchups and farming. Once you’ve mastered or at least understood roaming/teamfighting, mechanics/lane phase etc come automatic over time just dont ever give up, because the only way to master Katarina is by playing her over and over again. + Look to push the minion wave and then look for a roam on a side lane. Even if you can’t get anything out of it, moving to a nearby lane could allow you to counter gank the enemy or turn around an exchange. Predicting team fights and ganks is key to getting ahead on Katarina. + Patience is key in team fights. Wait for cooldowns or for your allies to go in first before joining the fight. Going in too early will mean the enemy just focuses you down and kills you. + In the lane, hug the side of the lane where you have a ward or where your Jungler can easily gank you. Standing near the ward will offer extra protection. + Some tips for your Shunpo: you can ward hop with your Preparation > Shunpo to get over small walls. Your Shunpo range can be extended if you use your Shunpo at the edge of the dagger instead of the beginning circle. For example, if you use Bouncing Blades on an enemy and they Flash away, pressuring the edge of your dagger can allow you to travel further and cheat the system. + Go for short trades in the early game. Avoid over-committing or going for long trades until the enemy is a bit lower and you're not low yourself too. Example short trade: Q a minion > E to the Q dagger when it lands > W out or W and stay in the W to hit the dagger > E out + Remember that your Shunpo is an auto-attack reset, so you could do AA>E>AA.