Katarina has been my favorite champion for longer then I can remember and I really liked playing her, so I thought, why not make a guide? NOTE: This is my first time ever making a guide on mobafire so sorry if it's not the best.
My stats for Season 3 and Season 4(6/18)S3:

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S4:

But enough about me, lets get to the real star: Katarina

Pros

+ Great mobility. + Almost all AoE. + Cooldown resets. + Snowballs well. + No mana

Katarina has a TON of AoE which is really good in teamfights. She has a great mobility spell which makes her really mobile and slippery. Probably the thing which makes Katarina, well Katarina is her cooldown resets which also makes her snowball REALLY hard. And one of my personal favorites is that she has no mana.

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Cons

- Squishy. - Countered easily. - No CC. - High skill cap. - No sustain.

As most you know, there are many reasons why Katarina isn't picked that much in LCS. Probably one of the biggest reasons is she brings no cc or sustain. She is countered quite easily by simply saving your cc or bursting her down first. And last but not least she is really squishy.

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Offensive Tree Tier 1: For the first four mastery points needed to get to tier 2 in the mastery tree, cooldown reduction will benefit Katarina most as it is a little bit useful early game Tier 2: Since Katarina has almost all AoE damage, Expose Weakness will be very useful to you and your team. We take Mental Force because we scale off of ability power rather than attack damage. Tier 3: Executioner is taking because Katarina needs to get resets off of low health champions, which is why this mastery is ideal for her. Tier 4: Dangerous Game is the perfect mastery for Katarina in my opinion. Having a close fight with your opponent leaving you with 30 hp and a few ticks of Ignite left? This will save your life. This also allows you to turn on half health opponents who are chasing you while you are low health for a surprise multi-kill (or single kill). Archmage gives us ability power. Tier 5: Devastating Strikes gives us some really useful penetration for that pesky base magic resist your enemies have. Arcane Blade works on towers (believe it or not), which can make you late game hit turrets harder marksman can (but not faster) and is surprisingly strong. Tier 6: Yay we've reached the end of the tree have a free 3% extra damage with Havoc

Defensive Tree Tier 1: Both Block and Recovery will help us during laning to sustain vs ranged mid laners with irritating auto attacks. Tier 2: Unyielding and Veteran's Scars will make us a bit more resistant to damage while making our hp bar look buffer early game. Tier 3: Our last point shall be spent on Juggernaut which gives us a health percent increase that will stack with our masteries, runes, and base health to give us a nice beefing up.

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• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: These are my preferred quintessences because of the amount of roaming you will be doing. Also, these quintessences have a great synergy with our start, Boots and three Health Potions. And in any case an Elixir of Brilliance can replace the bonus Ap (which only benefits early game) given by the Ability power quintessences.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: These marks are kinda the standard on most AP casters and probably will until the meta shifts greatly.
  
• Greater Glyph of Ability Power: These make up for the lack of AP in our quintessences. Katarina doesn't really need much magic resist because of our mobility
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Health: I prefer these over armor seals because it gives a better mid/lategame and makes Katarina feel more tanky than with armor seals. Also Zhonya's Hourglass will take care of most armor problems.

Flash is a great for initiations, surprise kills, escapes, jukes, and hilariously bad fails. This is a must on most champions, and even when it isn't I usually take it :P

Ignite is very good for finishing off people and also chasing through lots of bushs. A really troll trick when in a really close fight is to Ignite and then Zhonya's Hourglass.

Teleport is the spell you would use when you are playing top lane as Katarina to be able to roam with Teleport. I would rarely if ever use this spell in mid.

Voracity: This is probably what makes Katarina what she is, cooldown resets provide her with massive mobility, damage, and dive potential.

• If the enemy is at low health under tower, quicky combo and then instantly Shunpo out.
• If a jungler is ganking and the laner is low health, kill him/laner and Shunpo away.
• Sometimes surely killing a low priority target to get a reset is more important then uncertainly trying to kill a high priority target.

Bouncing blades: This is Katarina's ranged poke/cs spell

I prefer maxing this over Sinister Steel because it offers more burst, lowers the cd (while Sinister Steel's cooldown doesn't go down) more reliable poke, and is better to cs with in lane.

• Use this to farm in lane safely and poke the enemy.
• Remember that this ability bounces, use that to your advantage.
• Sometimes after using this you want to want to wait a half a second for it to reach the target before comboing, so the mark won't get wasted. (Common mistake)
  

Sinister steel Sinister steel: Early game you use this to get easier cs or to harass minimally, use this when chased/chasing to get a nice speed boost.

I max this second, after Bouncing blades because it doesn't reduce the cooldown and is less reliable then Bouncing blades. BUT if you are vs a melee match-up I take an extra point in it at level 4 then max q.

• If you e+w instantly it hits in both areas. (this is hard to do.)
• If you are vs a Twitch or Shaco, after they use their invisibilty if you use this and you get a speed boost it means they're there.
• If you are going vs a melee, use this as much as possible to harass.

Shunpo: This is Katarina's gapcloser (a great one at that) and is what makes Katarina so mobile and "slippery" in synergy with her passive this makes Katarina able to do many jukes.

This is Katarina's one point wonder XD.

• You can Shunpo to literally all units except enemy Jarvan IV flags and Thresh lanterns
• If a jungler is ganking Shunpo to him or an ally creep to escape.
• Use this to dodge cc or poke.

Death Lotus: This is Katarina's main damaging ability, once you get this in lane poke them down and at around 60% hp combo onto them for an easy kill.

We max this, as always, whenever possible.

• You can ult while being snared.(Amumu, Lux, Morgana etc..)
• You don't HAVE to Shunpo onto them before ulting. (Common mistake)
• The icon only lights up if there is an enemy champion around (bush or stealthed) use this.

I like to max Bouncing Blades because Bouncing Blades deals more burst damage than sinister steel. It also lowers the cooldown of Bouncing Blades while sinister steel stays at the same 4 second cooldown. Versus melees that you can reach easily you can also choose to take an extra point of sinister steel at level 4.

All in

sinister steel

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Running away

sinister steel

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Wave clear

sinister steel

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Zoning

>> minion >>

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All in harass

sinister steel

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Sneaky kill in lane

>> minion >> sinister steel

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Teamfights

sinister steel >> Repeat

Viable boots

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Core

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Defensive

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Example full build

Item Explanations

• Mercury's Treads Are good when you are vs a bursty mage like LeBlanc or Veigar
• Ninja Tabi These are good for when you are vs a hard AD lane such as Kha'zix or Talon.

• 516 ap.
• 35% magic penetration
• 50 armor.
• 10% cooldown reduction.
• Two great actives (Stasis and Deathfire)

• Guardian Angel is the standard pick if you can trust your team to do damage.
• Abyssal Mask is what you get if you can't trust your team to do much damage/or you have lots of ap casters. But still I normally get Guardian Angel

Laning

During laning phase you generally wanna just cs and poke your enemies whenever possible. If you manage to poke them down to 300-400 health (before level 6) do your all in combo with an auto and ignite for a surprising kill. One trick I like to do with Katarina is to buy a blue potion at level 6 for added burst. Once you reach 6 you get a few options:

• Kill the enemy laner.
• Roam.
• Keep farming. (if behind)

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Mid game

This is when you must be roaming practically constantly, killing your enemy laner constantly, and generally getting fed. During this time your team may start to group (so may the enemy team) this can be either good or bad. It is good if you play your teamfights right, but if you start to play wrong or throw. Your main priority in teamfights should be the adc. (You can go or ).

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Late game

Teams are grouping up, objectives are key, and deaths are worth A LOT. Don't be afraid to use your ult to get a free kill late game, for the cd is lower then their death timer. But don't do anything too risky, for it might be a bait. Just as mid game your main target is the adc. If you can kill the adc and ap carry in a teamfight lategame, you will almost surely win the teamfight (and even the game sometimes). When the enemy team is doing baron wait for your team to go in and then go in, but sometimes its better to not contest baron at all.

Medium How to play against Versus Ahri you want to dodge all her spells early which isn't as easy as it seems, especially vs one of the better Ahris. Poke her as much as possible to be able to go in at level 6 and kill her. If you do not have Death Lotus up do not underestimate her sticking and killing potential with Spirit Rush. In teamfights NEVER, EVER get hit by charm.

Easy How to play against In lane Bouncing Blades her and walk up to sinister steel. If she tries to Mark of the Assassin you don't be afraid because of your sinister steel's speed boost will prevent her from activating it. Follow Akali when she roams because you bring more to a skirmish then her. When Akali goes into her Twilight Shroud your ult will still hit.

Hard How to play against Anivia is one of those match-ups you'll be glad you've ran movement speed quintessences. Anivia will win against you during most phases of the game, so your best bet is to roam a lot and farm well. In lane make sure to dodge her Flash Frost or else you will be punished severely. In teamfights be careful of getting frosted. Don't underestimate her.

Hard How to play against Annie will demolish you early game, your only chance will be to farm and kill her at your strongest points. Some of these points include level 6(depending on who's getting more poke),your Deathfire Grasp buy, and later in the game when she has no stun up, or isn't suspecting and will be able to surprise kill her. Make sure to roam and farm a lot.

Medium How to play against When you are facing Brand an important thing to remember is to dodge his poke. Now this applies to most people but this ESPECIALLY applies to Brand. This is one the most even and skill match-up due to the fact you can both kill each other at any phase of the game. If Brand ults you, don't Shunpo into the middle of your team.

Medium How to play against Cassiopeia, your once loved sister. She isn't that easy to beat either especially early game. Levels 1-6 just try to farm and poke as much as possible. Once you have leveled up to 6 you should start poking a lot more, this will also mean dodging more Noxious Blasts. Later on in teamfights try to predict when she will ult, and then Shunpoing behind her.

Medium How to play against Diana has a worse level 1-5 than you and isn't the best roamer either. You will have to take advantage of these weaknesses. Try to kill her before level 6, because usually this is when Diana will get quite tanky. If you succeed in killing her then you should be fine. Try to snowball through this lane. Beware because late game Diana will probably start to hurt.

Medium How to play against To beat Malzahar stay full health until you are level 6. Then just go in with your full combo, so he takes a lot of damage, or wastes his ult. If he ults you have a window of opportunity after your ult goes off cd to get a full ult off. If he doesn't ult just kill him. Late game the only way you will be able to kill him or do much in teamfights is if you get him by surprise.

Hard How to play against Early game you will an advantage with your Bouncing Blades and sinister steel, make sure to abuse these. If he goes onto you save your Shunpofor when he uses his Playful / Trickster since most Fizz players will max it first. If you get his by his ult run away since you will not be able trade. Stay away if he has his Seastone Trident up.

• If someone places a ward next to you, auto attack it once, then Shunpo to it, and auto it twice again the ward will break, but be careful for this may put you in a bad position.
• If you are surrounded, kill the squishiest target, flash away and ward jump.
• Don't be afraid to Death Lotus without shunpoing.
• Don't forget about sinister steel's speed boost.
• Your ult will light up if someone is nearby, even when in stealth or in a bush.
• Never initiate teamfights unless you are REALLY fed and they are really squishy.
• During laning phase if you poke them down enough, your level 4 combo will do around 400 damage with ignite and an auto.
• If you Death Lotus inside the fog of war enemies will not be able to see the blades.
• Death Lotus has the range to hit people over walls.

• January 17, 2014:Guide Published.
• January 18, 2014:Minor typos, and fixes.
• March 15, 2014:Major update: Added Chapters and new build.
• March 26, 2014:Changed name a few times, came out with Spinning and Winning - a Katarina Guide.
• April 21, 2014:Added Runes, Summoner spells, removed one build, and Ability sequence. Match-ups and synergies coming soon!.
• April 23, 2014:Added first 6 match-ups, more coming soon!
• June 17th, 2014: Diana, Malzahar, and Fizz added to match-ups. One combo added and one typo fixed. Masteries added!
• June 18th, 2014:Stats added.
• June 20th, 2014:Small typos fixed here and there.