Hey everyone, I am Toniev and I am an aspiring Twitch Streamer, playing on the EUW server. I have been playing League of Legends since the release of Talon and a bit before that. For all these years I’ve been playing mostly mid lane.

NEW: Updaded for patch 10.7!
Basically the guide is the same and the match-ups.

My peak ELO is Master tier, and back in the day I was in the D1 50+ lp bracket (before the invention of Master and Grandmaster tiers). Katarina is definitely my favorite champion in League of Legends. She is the first champion that I played for more than 6 years (since season 4). I‘ve always had positive win rate on her (55% and above) throughout all the seasons.

I decided to share my thoughts and opinion on this champion for all the new Katarina players or wannabe OTPs. This is going to be a rather short guide, but feel free to follow me on Instagram HERE and Twitch, HERE so you can ask more questions and watch me play some of the match-ups and scenarios.

#1. Basic Poke

Basic poke during the laning phase really depends on the match-up, but I favor just poking with Bouncing Blades, whenever possible. In some scenarios, which I will specify below in the section for Match-ups and Laning, you can do some more extended versions of poke with Bouncing Blades. The most basic short trade you can do is : > > > AA > The second cast of Shunpo is used to escape, NOT for DPS.

#2. All-In Burst

The most commonly used burst all-in combo is going to be: > > > > This combo can be used when you want to quickly kill a priority target in teamfights or all-in your laning opponent. Ignite can be used as a finisher to make sure that your passive Voracity triggers. Be adviced that this is indeed an ALL-IN combo, meaning that the chances of survival are minimal at best if you Shunpo into 2+ enemies. A pro tip on successfully utilizing the combo is to use your passive Voracity and jump on another enemy to extend the combo or jump on a close by ally to exit the fight.

#3. Flashy Combo

The Flash combo includes using the summoner spell to land yourself on an already prepared dagger from Bouncing Blades. This is a tricky combo to pull off since you need to simultaniously cast both Bouncing Blades and Preparation, in that order. Messing up the timing will fail the combo and Katarina will only pick up one dagger. > > During close fights with melee champs, such as Zed, Yasuo, Mordekaiser or Riven, you can do the Flash combo to catch both daggers at the same time for more burst when you are really close (in AA rage) to your target. The combo requires a lot of practice, perfect timing on Flash and very good mouse accuracy. Furthermore, the cast on both Bouncing Blades and Preparation need to be in proximity to AA range, but not so close to the enemy as to have the dager fly behind them. If the combo is perfectly executed the cooldown on Shunpo is fully reset.

#4. Preparation within Death Lotus

This combo is rather simble but efficient at squeezing a little bit extra damage in an engage. The combo needs to be executed in the given order, meaning, Preparation followed by Death Lotus. If you try to cast Preparation in the middle of the Death Lotus channel, the ultimate will be interrupted. > You cannot cast Hextech Gunblade in Death Lotus animation, but you CAN cast Ignite and it doesn’t stop the channeling. You cannot proc Daggers while under the effect of Zhonya's Hourglass, but you can set up a nice reset with Preparation. Preparation + Zhonya's Hourglass + Shunpo ( Shunpo is used to escape or dodge a crucial skillshot). You can use your Shunpo on EVERYTHING that can be targeted – Zyra plants Rampant Growth, Jarvan IV’s Flag Demacian Standard, Yorick’s Ghouls Shepherd of Souls, Honeyfruit (those green things that drop healing blobs), Blast Cone, Scryer’s Bloom, Teemo’s shrooms Noxious Trap, LeBlanc’s passive Mirror Image, Jhin’s flowers Captive Audience, Rek'Sai’s tunnels Tunnel etc. Shunpo is also an AA reset – which means you can cancel the wind-down animation of your AA by casting Shunpo as soon as the damage of your AA goes through and it will make Katarina to AA again the same target (or the nearest) if you didn’t input another command alongside with the cast of E. Shunpo can be cast on every possible position around the target AND the Daggers! This is a very important note – never try to pick up daggers by their center, you can use Shunpo on the edge of the Dagger and Katarina will still pick it up, deal damage from it and get the partial cooldown reset. Your Preparation can be used throughout the whole game, not only for setting up a Dagger, but to gain some movement speed in order for you to dodge skillshots easier. Katarina has a few other tricks and treats in her kit but to learn about them I advice checking out my stream over at Twitch. Be sure to follow for exclusive tips on Katarina, LeBlanc, Kassadin, Fiddlesticks and other champions.

In most scenarios I max Bouncing Blades first then Shunpo, as in most guides or videos you will find. In some scenarios I take 3 points in Bouncing Blades then proceed to max my Shunpo.

At lvl 10 if you jump to a Dagger with Shunpo and your Shunpo is Rank 5 by then, your cooldown of Shunpo will be a bit less than 2 seconds. In games where you need to go in and out quickly and maneuver a lot, this is the better way to go when it comes to skill level-up order, because this extra 1 second is A LOT in this game, especially for champions such as Katarina.

PROS + low skill floor + very mobile + high burst damage + manaless + low ban / pick rates Katarina is an increadible easy to pick up but hard to master champion. In a meta where speed and burst damage reign supreme, The Sinister Blade can get in and out of combat in a blink of an eye. Due to her passive Voracity she can reset her skills whenever she lands a kill or assist. This gives Katarina extremely high mobility and kill pressure in teamfights.

CONS - squishy - extremely hard to master - vulnarable to CC - countered by tanks - low damage before level 16 Katarina relies mainly on the proper use of her passive Voracity. Unless she lands a kill or assist she will be stuck in the middle of the enemy team. Build path and build order are extremely important, based on match-ups. Timing plays an important role in successful Katarina plays. Knowing when to let your ultimate Death Lotus channel fully and when to interupt it can be the difference between a double kill and a pentakill .

Hextech Gunblade

Sorcerer's Shoes

Death's Dance

Hextech Gunblade is Essential. Without this item you’re like half a champion. A completed Gunblade is the first and probably the biggest power spike you will feel when you play Katarina. It synergizes so well with Katarina, because of the base stats it has – AD and AP, from both of which Katarina scales really well because she has AD and AP scaling on her Voracity, Shunpo and Death Lotus. Also the bonus damage from the active part of the item and the slow are really nice to have for an assassin that will try to burst one target down and continue with others, on top of the extra sustain it provides. It is an expensive but solid item. Also. in the early game those auto attacks hurt! After this you can build pretty much anything, as long as it’s not a complete troll build. During the past 10 patches or so I’ve been building mainly like this:

In most games I get to Rabadon's Deathcap really late into the game, unless it’s a STOMP game. My play style is really weird when it comes to laning and teamfighting, because I can be as passive as possible and do pretty much nothing but shoot Bouncing Blades and maybe follow up (when possible) with Shunpo and Hextech Gunblade or Death Lotus. On the other side I can go full agro and Flash into their whole team, burst the enemy AD Carry or AP carry (my juicy target) and then use Zhonya's Hourglass or just try to leave with the Shunpo resets.

In some scenarios I go for Morellonomicon over Liandry's Torment if the enemy team are really squishy. I can instantly pop them with one fast combo or when my team REALLY needs some healing reduction effect, besides the unreliable Death Lotus (even though it has higher percentage of healing reduction 60% instead of the standard 40%).

You can also go with full agro build which looks something like that:

Katarina

VS

Diana

Diana has always been considered a tough match-up for Katarina, although I slightly disagree with that. In the early game, especially pre-level 6, both of you have an equal chance of killing one another. After level 6 you should be a beast in teamfights compared to Diana, because all you have to do is not to channel your ultimate Death Lotus near Diana or before she uses her Moonfall. This is her only spell to stop your Death Lotus channeling. Early game let her push and do whatever she wants, don’t eat too much poke from her Crescent Strike. Don’t try to poke her with Bouncing Blades, because most of the time, if not all of the time, she will negate the poke damage with her Pale Cascade and you will lose DPS on the minions and potential last hits.

Farm with Bouncing Blades safely from a distance, if your jungler has some sort of CC you can try to cooperate an early gank when you’re pushed almost under your turret. I usually start with Long Sword if I want to fight her, combined with Electrocute, or Doran's Shield if I want to sustain enough to guarantee a later back for Boots and Dark Seal, after which I will look to roam. If she goes to split-push don’t try to match her if you are even with her, only if you are ahead.

Katarina

VS

Vladimir

Vladimir is an interesting match-up before he gets 2 items for CDR. You can easily kill him before level 6, especially around levels 3 and 4. BEWARE his empowered Transfusion, but luckily we have an yellow indicator to warn us when it’s about to happen. Usually you want to start in this match up with Doran's Shield to negate the poke and harass from his Auto attacks and Transfusion. Try to use your own minions as a shield when he charges up his Tides of Blood. His combo with Empowered Transfusion, Flash, Tides of Blood, AA and Ignite will be more than enough to kill Katarina with 1 magic resist small rune and with around 400 HP around levels 3 and 4.

If he’s playing with Phase Rush you will be annoyed and maybe not be able to kill him that easily, but he has a significantly lower chance to kill you during the laning phase. Play around his W Sanguine Pool cooldown, which is 28 seconds at rank 1 without any CDR! This is a huge window for you to go for trades or even all in. In teamfights don’t try to focus him first, because of his Sanguine Pool and possible Zhonya's Hourglass which will negate your damage and potential reset.

Katarina

VS

Kassadin

Kassadin is probably the easiest match-up of all in the first 5 levels. You take Electrocute, start with Long Sword and you should be able to kill him with Ignite around level 3 or 4. You just have to make smart trades before that so you don’t lose too much HP.

Mid game and in teamfights try to kill him as soon as possible when he goes in, if he doesn’t have Zhonya's Hourglass . If he goes to split push you should stay grouped with your team, because he cannot take turrets really fast before a completed Lich Bane, also his waveclear is bad without Blue Buff . Check out my stream to see exactly what I mean! TWITCH.TV

Katarina

VS

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is a really tricky match-up. You can start with Long Sword here if you are looking to try and kill her before she gets her Tear of the Goddess, but don’t attempt to kill her if she has Exhaust. She is really difficult to deal with when she hits level 3 or 4 (whenever she levels up her Miasma ) and when she completes her first core item – Tear of the Goddess. Early game she can go out of mana really REALLY fast if she doesn’t have Tear of the Goddess or Corrupting Potion.

You can try to bait her to chase you down into your minion wave around level 2 or 3 and with Ignite you can kill her, because she will likely run out of mana and will be stuck between you and your minions which will attack her as soon as she fires her 1st E Twin Fang at you. In teamfights you should wait for her to use her Miasma because it negates your Flash and Shunpo possibilities. This ability can solo lose you the fight if you are not careful. It’s more dangerous than the stun from her ultimate Petrifying Gaze in my opinion, so try to dodge her stun from Petrifying Gaze and don’t step into the Miasma.

Katarina

VS

Zed & Yasuo

Zed and Yasuo have one thing in common when it comes to laning phase and that is their Q abilities - Razor Shuriken and Steel Tempest. If you dodge as many Qs as possible when playing versus Zed or Yasuo, you will be fine. Both of them I would rate with the same level of difficulty because it really depends on the player. If you are versus OTP Zed or OTP Yasuo you will notice a difference in the play style and in the itemization order as well as in landing their crucial skillshots – Razor Shuriken and Steel Tempest. Early game you have a high chance of killing them around level 3 or 4. With Yasuo the tricky part is to play around his passive shield Way of the Wanderer and a bit careful with his Wind Wall, because it can negate the damage AND the Dagger from your Bouncing Blades. With Zed you have to wait for him to use Razor Shuriken or even better – to use his Living Shadow and then you can go for all in. In both match-ups you can start with Long Sword or Doran's Shield. In my opinion both work really well no matter if you want to farm in the first levels of the game or you want to fight.

Doran's Shield in these match-ups doesn’t put you too much behind in terms of damage output, because Yasuo and Zed are not really tanky in the early levels before their first back. In teamfights don’t try to burst Zed because he will swap positions with his Living Shadow constantly unless you have some sort of hard CC (stun or suppression). In teamfights when there is Yasuo in the other team, don’t get caught by any knocking up abilities and move around his Wind Wall before using your Death Lotus. During the laning phase you can use your Shunpo to dodge their Qs and this should be the only time you use Shunpo offensively. Also there is a small tip for playing against Zed, Yasuo and Irelia – there is a really sweet spot where you can stand while last hitting and if one of them tries to auto attack you or dash into you they will end up in the range of the turret…

Katarina

VS

Syndra

Syndra is a really tough match-up. She can bully you even out of experience range during the laning phase and especially if she goes back around the 4th minion wave to get 2nd Doran's Ring. If she is with Electrocute and Exhaust do not attempt to fight her. Avoid the laning phase by roaming whenever possible and try not to fight her at all costs. Try to dodge her Stun Dark Sphere + Scatter the Weak combo, or Scatter the Weak + Dark Sphere if she’s a more advanced player) during the laning phase and in teamfights.

Building Zhonya's Hourglass around mid-game will be optimal for you so if she tries to burst you down with her Ultimate Unleashed Power you can negate the whole damage and buy yourself a bit of time to orient yourself to what’s happening in the teamfight and what are your options. There is a bit similarity between Syndra and Veigar when it comes for mechanics and outplay potential – you can use your Shunpo, if you are close enough, to dodge and move out of their stuns - Scatter the Weak + Dark Sphere and Event Horizon.

Katarina

VS

Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate is one of the rarely seen match-ups but recently he might pick up some play rate and this is why I would like to mention him here. His recent buff may bring him back into the mid lane so beware. In this match-up I don’t think you need anything defensive or specific except for maybe swapping your Sorcerer's Shoes with Mercury's Treads so you can negate partially his burst damage and CC effect of his Pick A Card when he uses the Yellow Card. They are good when there are other champions in the game such as Elise for example in the opposing team.

When playing versus Twisted Fate you should rush your Boots as soon as possible so you can try to match his roaming with his Destiny, or you should rush Hextech Gunblade so you can wave clear faster and try to roam before he does or even kill him. With finished Hextech Gunblade and a well executed combo you can kill Twisted Fate before level 9 or so if he doesn’t have any items for magic resist or Exhaust, Heal or Barrier. Teamfighting should be easy for you – just stay grouped with your teammates, play around big objectives – Baron Nashor , dragon , Rift Herald or Inhibitor and try to focus him so he doesn’t use his stun more than 1 or 2 times in a fight.