The ultimate Katarina guide - bury your enemies in blades!
This is your quick and dirty guide to mastering Katarina Mid in the latest patch - bury your enemies in deadly blades?!
Summoner Spells
Flash: Essential for positioning and escaping.
Teleport: Useful for map presence and returning to lane.
Katarina - Runes
Primary: Precision
Conqueror: For sustained damage.
Triumph: For extra healing on takedowns.
Legend: Tenacity: To reduce crowd control effects.
Last Stand: For increased damage when low on health.
Secondary: Domination
Sudden Impact: For extra penetration after using E.
Ingenious Hunter: For item haste.
Stat Shards
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+15-140 HP (lvls 1-18)
Katarina - Items to Buy
Starting & Boots
Doran's Shield: For sustain.
Sorcerer's Shoes: For magic penetration.
Doran's Blade: Alternative starting item.
Core Build
Nashor's Tooth: For AP and attack speed.
Hextech Rocketbelt: For mobility and burst.
Zhonya's Hourglass: For stasis and armor.
Void Staff: For magic penetration.
Rabadon's Deathcap: For a significant AP boost.
Situational Items
Mejai's Soulstealer: If snowballing.
Shadowflame: For extra damage.
Banshee's Veil: For magic resist.
Lich Bane: For empowered auto-attacks.
Ability Skill Order
Q - Bouncing Blade: Max first, levels 1, 4, 5, 7, 9.
W - Preparation: Max second, levels 3, 14, 15, 17, 18.
E - Shunpo: Max third, levels 2, 8, 10, 12, 13.
R - Death Lotus: Level up at 6, 11, 16.
Katarina - General Playstyle
Early Game
Katarina's early jungle is weak, so focus on surviving the first two full clears.
Consider a level 2 gank if the enemy bot lane is pushing.
Mid & Late Game
Play like AP Katarina, utilizing the jungle item's passive.
Advice on Farming
Focus on full clearing all 6 camps, skipping Scuttle most of the time due to slow clear speed.
Team Fighting
Look for opportunities to engage with E and follow up with R.
Use Zhonya's strategically to avoid focus.
Dragon and Baron Objective
Coordinate with your team and look for picks before attempting these objectives.
Use your mobility to zone or catch out-of-position enemies.
Matchups
Extreme Threats
Akshan: Start with Doran's Shield, focus on farming, and go full AP.
Ideal Synergies
Sejuani: Great jungle duo, as your abilities proc on her E.
Katarina is a high-risk, high-reward champion that can snowball hard if played correctly. Focus on surviving the early game, and look for opportunities to engage in team fights. Adapt your build and playstyle based on the enemy team composition, and communicate with your team for objectives.This was Katarina’s ultimate guide for the latest patch.
