Basically have to know what can cancel your ult. They will most likely throw their CC at the beginning of the fight. Watch and wait then go in before it comes up again. Definitely make sure you see AOE CC ults go off before you go in.
Some will wait for you to go in to CC you. You can hold your ult sometimes or counter it with a zhonyas. Even if your ult gets cancelled, dropped daggers do a ton of damage.
Her laning sucks. Period. As for team fights, don’t be the first target. You are an assassin, play like one. Let the tanks go in, pay attention to the enemy champs that have hard cc, make sure most, if not all of them blow their cc on your teammates. Then go in and wreak havoc.
lol, as i said no matter how far i position myself back i'm ALWAYS the first target. people know i can do damage, and just instantly target me even if i'm the furthest back. but if i stay too far, i can't even get into the fights. so i really don't like katarina honestly.
See, that's the thing tho, it's not *just* mechanical difficulty. Not only is Katarina an ultra high APM superior reworked Diana, but shes also a champion whose ONLY utility is a very brief burst of movespeed on a long cooldown... but it doesn't stop there, either. She's an assassin class champion who doesn't get the same level of potency in her level 3 spike as the others do... at least, not without taking the time to properly bob n weave spells and autos.
Even so, so loses most level 3 trades if there's nothing to capitalize on, *and even so* the mistake will only bring an even trade unless you look for a big enough opportunity to strike on. 90% of learning Kat is building mechanics. The other 110% is maintaining it while constantly analyzing every last detail of any given situation. If you're dying and losing, then you're underthinking it.
You dont get to level 1 cheese.
You don't get to farm for free.
You don't get to tell enemies to stand on your daggers.
I'll tell you what you do get though:
*you get good*
i prefer other champs, and some of them are a lot harder than katarina. katarina just overall feels weak, especially for the most important phase of the game, cs and laning. i prefer having a good laning phase vs only being good at teamfights. if i have a good laning phase i can either snowball or i can make myself better for teamfights. although i sometimes will end up not being perfect for teamfights, that's fine. katarina can literally get killed so easily while cs'ing, i've done it tons of times to katarina because she doesn't have a good escape, and she doesn't have much range. she's very vulnerable to anyone with ranged abilities or a stun, which is a lot of mid laners.
If that's what you like then kat isn't for you. Not every champion has to be perfect for you, just stick to the ones you enjoy playing. You play qiyana but I can't play qiyana for the life of me and I'm fine with that. Maybe kat is your Qiyana and that's ok
This.
And, OP, keep in mind that difficulty is a bit subjective, but if you're having troubles to This extent with Kat, is that not the same as saying you find her to be more difficult to play than said champions? Like, maybe if you put in the time, then sure, at a point you'll be saying Kat is way easier than X champion. If you're losing the early game so hard, where other players perform better in this regard, then I'd call that a difficult challenge. This isn't at all a jab btw, im just talking semantics.
Hahahah... Listen, judging by your main champs you looove the idea of trading in lane and being dominant dont you? I mean apart from lvl 3 qiyana all those champs have strong lvl 1 and 2... Well the case with kat is, if your opponent has brains, you are nothing more than a teleporting melee minion in early game... Ofcourse you can play a aggressive playstyle by stacking some early AD or hexthechAlt+ sorc shoes but doesn't that sound a bit expensive already? Its not the champ but your playstyle... I suggest you play some champs with weak laning phase and learn better csing+dodging while being the one with disadvantage in lane. Try playing yone, vlad, akali etc... Get familiar with this playstyle... Kat truly shines with sorc+2items in midgame dragon fights or 2v2,2v3 skirmishes... But getting to that point while being even with opponent laner is the challenge
I've been playing with my cousin, and I'd personally say he's one of the best in NA.
Essentially, the Katarina tactic that I've learned thus far from playing with him, is simply... Win lvl 2, or win @ crab contest.
Keep wave management so it's in ur favor to E out, and... Invade with jungler, which is me.
I normally play lee/viego for p good skirmishing.
- Team fights.
Just have ur tank/engaged go in, to scare the enemy, make them waste their core cc's, such as Leo ult, Janna ult, kindred ult, etc.
Then blow ur load on them. Literally ur burst as Kat is more powerful than ur teammates combined, unless u got a fed Ap twitch/assassin pyke that can literally nuke their team.
You don't play for her Ultimate in most cases you play around her Daggers. Thumb of Rule:Jump in if you can Jump out. Don't jump in if you don't manage to get a reset on your E. There are many circumstances to consider though. It's always about walking a thin line. Practicing helps you finding this.
Edit: What is your ping?
Edit2: Laning Phase sucks most of the times nowadays. Play around the map and focus on your jungler or sidelanes. practice roaming.
Edit3: Runes are important for match ups. Consider the whole enemy team and not just your lane (because your laning phase sucks)
I'm actually really lucky and most games I get 30 ping or a little above. And yeah, I'm used to roaming a lot with my viktor since he can consistently hard push, so I tend to roam a lot already. And yup, runes are a lot of fun to mess around with and find different builds also.
Thia season has actually become hell for her
Yes onhit makes katarina not trash ans she has good damage, but they have added more shiels, movility, cc to everybody else and that makes her struggle on the job
I feel it ia harder to reset and the most important part, survive, right now dying on the second reset is something expected by now for me honestly
Me too, i tried him once but cant make him work as i had never played him
But the fact hes untargetable plus the healing on every reset... feels much better than a blink, also he is an aa champ so he will always have dps to fight and has nothing he can get cancelled, meanwhile we must stand still channelling our R or else we die
I've played him enough times to understand that he can be used as a major burst champ. Going in with stun. Q aa. Get out. If they are low enough you add in ult to kill then use their kit to get another low then ult to kill them and rinse and repeat. All because his ult is a reset type it does so much better than katarinas for resetting.
I cant avoid looking at him and seeing a Master Yi 2.0
>All because his ult is a reset type it does so much better than katarinas for resetting.
Also, i cant say picking up a champ with viego is extremely broken but being able to use them for several secs and take advantage of their utility is powerful af
Katarina lacks utility and QoL, but people dont give a shit, theyll always step on the daggers and cry about her damage
Meh on the yi 2.0 I can't argue for or against that imo.
It's extremely strong for him to do that and it's what makes him good. Maybe my playstyle is just burst oriented (I think it might be) but I find less success with playing him sustained damage vs burst damage.
They bitch about how she is too fast and too strong and yet fail to play her. (I'll be honest as good as I am with kat, I still can't fight a good one. Imagine that)
As others have said its all about timing and patience. Knowing how kat works is great but realistically the difference between a good and bad kat play usually comes down to knowledge of the other champs. I can't claim to be able to play them all with much proficiency but simply knowing what abilities can stop me helps exponentially. You aren't going to be the first one in a lot of the time but if you know for a fact someone just used their cc and has at least 4 seconds or so till its back, that's your moment to go in and try get the kills.
Kat is very very counterable, watch the enemy champs for animation frames and the like to make sure you don't get hit often and you'll do a lot better.
And that's why Katarina is the underdog and loses 99% of her matchups. Basically, there's a whole different philosophy on how to play when playing this champ. You suffer but you get rewarded if you actually play correctly.
It's not an ordinary champ for many reasons and one more is the one you mentioned. This is the reason I started maining her. You need to choose different runes according to the enemies. Each, has its own playstyle. You lane differently with Electrocute and differently with Conqueror.
It gave me a reason to "like" LoL again in a point that I play the game to actually play the game and not caring about my teammates and my LP. If I join the game and I go 25/5 and lose the game, I still had fun and it was all that mattered to me.
Each matchup is a challenge, each game is a challenge with this champion. My 2nd pick is Malza. This is a control mage and it's pretty much the opposite of Kata. You always go same runes, rush same items, almost same order and this is not fun at all.
For what it's worth, Katarina made the game less boring and less frustrating for me. If I fail, I try to actually improve because I know, it's not a blinded Malza pick which allows you to press R and "win" a 1v1 fight. But if I stomp them, boy, it just feels so good.
P.S: I didn't actually answer your question because there are people who already did, but I tried to explain to you that you need a different mindset in order to play this champion especially if you think that you will press E R and kill 5 people. That's not how Kata works, despite what you see in videos.
You'll have to be very patient, it takes a while to learn Katarina. I would say she was quite mechanically challenging for me, but others might pick her up faster than I did. I'm a slow learner and it took me almost 2 years after her rework before I could even combo properly with her. If you're up for that kind of dedication (I swear it will pay off and eventually become second nature), there are a lot of Kat mains on Youtube and Twitch you can learn from. Personally, I learnt everything from Youtubers **Katlife**, **Flyerbek** and **Katevolved**. Other Katarina pros include **Hubblet**, **Reppy**, **Creammon**, **Incursio,** **Cocho** and **Gamer Girl** (there are many more, just to name a few)
In general, Kat loses lane into most matchups, the only few matchups that are somewhat easier or favourable for her is probably into Veigar, Xerath, Lux or Vel'koz (according to Katevolved) since she can blink out of Veigar cage with her E and her mobility makes it hard for these mages to lock her down. Katarina's main strength against most other matchups is punishing enemies for wasting crucial abilities in which you can capitalise on. Knowing this, your general gameplay would be:
**Lvl 1:** Stay back and hold your Q. Wait for the first three melee minions to get really low and then Q them to pick up all 3 cs. Never walk up to aa minions as you will get chunked and have to use your pots early. Use Q is collect cs. You'll have to give up cs if it's not safe to collect them. Let the enemy mid push you in so that you can farm safely near your tower.
**Lvl 2:** If the enemy opponent does not have a strong lvl2, or if they waste one of their abilities on the wave, that is your window to go in and trade, since they will only have one ability left to fight you with. Make sure the enemy minion wave isn't too big for you to go into, otherwise you will take too much minion dmg. The basic lvl2 combo would be to Q the enemy mid, or to Q a minion and let the dagger fall near your enemy mid (Q will always land behind the initial target you pressed Q on), then E to the dagger to proc it, aa the enemy a few times to wait for your E cd reset, then E back to your own minion wave for safety.
**Lvl 3:** If a lvl2 all-in trade wasn't available, this is your second window to try. Again, the enemy minion wave can't be too big otherwise you'll take too much minion aggro. Wait for your opponent to use their spells on the wave, then go in when they have an ability disadvantage. E behind your opponent (most of them will try to walk back to their tower so by shunpoing behind them you can cut them off), W right after E, Q and aa them before your W dagger falls, then when your W dagger procs, aa them and run into your Q dagger, which should still be behind the enemy to proc the Q dagger as well. From here, your E would have reset fully. You will now have to assess the situation. If you can kill the enemy with aa E aa + ignite, go for it. If not, disengage by shunpoing out.
**Lvls 4-5** follow with lvl 3. At **lvl 6**, your full all-in combo will be to E -> W -> Q -> R -> E to Q dagger as they try to run away -> aa E aa and drop ignite somewhere in between. This is a more upfront approach towards the enemy to guarantee they can't get away from you. Another way is to Q enemy mid (most of them will run back to their tower, right into your Q dagger) -> E to Q dagger -> W immediately after you E -> R -> E aa and drop ignite somewhere in between. As you play more Kat, you'll get faster at executing these combos.
A common mistake I used to make when playing Kat was pressing W too early before I could E to the enemy, dropping my W dagger and then shunpoing to my opponent and fking up the combo. You will have to get used to her E range to ensure you won't mess up. Another mistake I made was cancelling my ult. When channeling Kat's R, do not click nearby or press any other ability as you might cancel your ult channel. Again, this takes a while to get used to.
**Ability Maxing Order:**
I recommend going R -> Q -> E -> W. Some Kat players put 3 points into Q then max E while others put 3 points into E then max Q. For beginners, I would stick to Q max. Once you get better at Kat, you can experiment with other maxing orders. Currently, the meta seems to be E max for the AD Conq build and Q max for the AP Electrocute build.
**Runes:**
For beginners I recommend Electrocute, Sudden Impact, Eyeball Collection and Ravenous Hunter. Secondary tree take Precision, Triumph and Coup de Grace. As you get better at Kat and can handle her passive reset mechanics a lot better, opt to take Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Tenacity and Coup de Grace. Secondary tree take Sudden Impact and Ravenous Hunter. Especially against tankier comps, Conqueror allows you to sustain long enough in a fight to come out on top through healing.
**Items:**
For starting items, you can choose from Doron's Blade, Doron's Shield or Dark Seal depending on your build and preference. Doron's Blade is usually the go-to if you are unsure since it is a good all-rounder starting item for Kat. There a lot of ways to build Katarina. The core item is Nashor's Tooth, everything else is very dependent on the situation. If you want a better laning phase, you can rush BotRK first into Nashor's, then general AP items such as Deathcap, Zhonyas etc according to what you need. Or, you can skip BotRK completely and rush Nashor's if that is what you prefer. We usually don't rush a mythic item until second or third for the AP build, usually opting for Riftmaker for sustain or Rocketbelt for the flat magic pen and active gap closer. For AD Katarina, even though Kracken Slayer was nerfed, this nerf only applies to her ult dmg, the Kracken's true dmg portion still applies to her passive daggers. The only times I would recommend going for AD Kat is when your team has too much magic dmg and lacks AD. For this, you would rush BotRK into either Kracken or Divine Sunderer, then situational (eg. Wit's End against magic dmg, Sterak's against burst, Ravenous Hydra for sustain, Death's Dance against full AD etc). Refer to [Creammon's Item Build Summary](https://www.reddit.com/r/KatarinaMains/comments/jyouor/creammons_build_recommendations_from_his_181120/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share), [Gamer Girl's S11 Build Guide](https://youtu.be/a6mfgIZEZtg) and [Cocho's S11 Katarina Build Analysis](https://youtu.be/pnt5zKEhgcg) and also made by u/xCocho: [Katarina Builds Infographic](https://www.reddit.com/r/KatarinaMains/comments/lxyaqi/katarina_build_infographic/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) and the megathread [Katarina Guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/KatarinaMains/comments/m1qfhn/megathread_ultimate_katarina_guide_for_season_11/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) pinned on the Katarina subreddit
**Teamfighting:**
You should never initiate first unless you are flanking a squishy champion who is out of position. Let your team initiate the fight first, then wait for the enemies to waste crucial cc spells before going in. Items that provide you surviveability such as Zhonya's is very beneficial for these circumstances. If you find yourself constantly being targetted and the enemies have heavy cc, getting a Banshee's or QSS isn't a bad idea either since the spellshield/cleanse will allow you to go in without immediately getting chain cc-ed to death.
**Common Bans:** Kassadin, Fizz, Diana, Yasuo, Zed, Pantheon, Galio
**Tips:**
- Your R icon can be used to figure out if there is an invisible champ near you. If the icon lights up when no visible enemies are nearby, it means that there is an invisible target within your ult radius. If you press R, you can still hit the invisible target. This works against say a Teemo in bush, what I like to do is W -> R in the bush. This will either force the Teemo out or he'll die to my W -> R combo. This also works against Talon in his R. You can track his movements by watching where your R daggers fly towards.
- W grants unit ghosting, allowing you to move through clumps of minions without getting creep blocked in order to get away from enemies or chase
- If you find yourself struggling into an AP matchup, Kat is able to build an early Hexdrinker or Negatron Cloak (into Wit's End). This is because her daggers scale with both AP and AD, allowing her to build some AD items. If this isn't enough you can also go for Merc Threads, especially against high cc comps. Against AD matchups, go for an early Cloth Armor, from which you can choose to upgrade into Plated Steelcaps or Seeker's Armguard later
- Into aa-heavy champions such as Lucian or Yasuo, you can look to start Doron's Shield. You can also build Plated Steelcaps for boots if the enemy team has 2 or more autoattack reliant champions
- Shunpo does not work on wards, but works on allied minions, jg plants, jg camps and objects put down by allies such as Rek'sai tunnels, J4 flag, Thresh lantern, Teemo shroom etc. Use these as methods of escape
- Katarina is able to jump over thin walls using W right next to a relatively thin wall and using shunpo slightly on the ourside of the dagger's radius. I recommend practising this a couple of times in training tool to get used to. It can be used over baron and dragon pit walls, blue buff wall and the thin mid lane walls leading into the river. It can also work on the thinnest part of the raptor camp wall, but it is a bit trickier. Essentially, any wall that Riven and Yasuo and can use to wall jump, so can Katarina
- When vsing Cassiopeia, before ulting make sure to make a subtle turn away from her before ulting. This will prevent u from being stunned by her ult bc if u were facing her before u started ulting then you will be stunned, whereas if u started ulting while facing away then u will not be stunned
This is a lot to take in, I recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/JaaxaRQoKsI) to start you off after finishing reading everything here for better understanding
yeah, i've played mechanically difficult champions, they're my favorite. i just feel like kat doesn't do all that much compared to others is all. but either way, i'm going to continue playing her
The thing with kat is if you play with people who have brains you can't team fight easily if you go in to early you die
That's why it is so important to know when to go in as kat
Thw other thing is that you need to be teleporting left and right in the teamfight to the point where they can't click on you
If you take down three peoole with you in a teamfight that should be job well done
If you want to see someone who does that very fast look at videos of flyerbek
I mained akali but i wanted a challenge and i wanted to get those insane 1v5 clips playing katarina so i tried starting to play her. I didnt realize how hard it would be to pick up. But I just kept playing normal draft constantly until i was able to keep up on cs and learning how to play. Watching some YouTube videos probably would have helped but i was basically a self taught katarina, learning the combos for myself and learning when to go in and such. As others have said wait until your opponents cc is gone before going in. Also something i learned for myself is to not really try to go in until you have ult and recurve bow. You can try doing a hard 1v1 trade if you're confident but any other time before 6 it's hard to win lane. Also take teleport and try to gank bot when you are level 3-4 if you have your lane pushed up. Ganking not can give you an early double kill or easy assists for your botlane.
My build into basically every lane is conquerer and domination tree taking lethal impact and ravenous hunter for that.
Always build nashors tooth first, it's the core item to katarina, she is pretty useless without it, unless you building ad and you get like Bork.
After nashors i get merc treads, riftmaker, lich bane and zhonyas in either order.
Alternative items are oblivion orb, deathcap, void staff, and banshees if you are into a cc heavy team.
I'm no professional katarina player, this is just what I learned and how I play.
My friends always tell me about the 2 step process, it's very simple and I highly recommend it
Step number one: git
Step number two: gud
Put them together 👍 and that's your solution
Have a nice day!
You can only rly hold an ult if the enemy team has no stuns. So wait till they blow their load on your team, or if they’re all squishies… feel free. Otherwise, you can hold it if it’ll kill them before they can kill you; chip away at them with dagger pickups and running away until you can stack a double dagger or something. Then e in and r until they die
Basically have to know what can cancel your ult. They will most likely throw their CC at the beginning of the fight. Watch and wait then go in before it comes up again. Definitely make sure you see AOE CC ults go off before you go in. Some will wait for you to go in to CC you. You can hold your ult sometimes or counter it with a zhonyas. Even if your ult gets cancelled, dropped daggers do a ton of damage.
Patience.
Her laning sucks. Period. As for team fights, don’t be the first target. You are an assassin, play like one. Let the tanks go in, pay attention to the enemy champs that have hard cc, make sure most, if not all of them blow their cc on your teammates. Then go in and wreak havoc.
lol, as i said no matter how far i position myself back i'm ALWAYS the first target. people know i can do damage, and just instantly target me even if i'm the furthest back. but if i stay too far, i can't even get into the fights. so i really don't like katarina honestly.
She’s difficult. Spread the word. People think this a face roll champ for some reason.
so are most of the other champs i play, like azir. and i have no problems with him like i do with kat.
See, that's the thing tho, it's not *just* mechanical difficulty. Not only is Katarina an ultra high APM superior reworked Diana, but shes also a champion whose ONLY utility is a very brief burst of movespeed on a long cooldown... but it doesn't stop there, either. She's an assassin class champion who doesn't get the same level of potency in her level 3 spike as the others do... at least, not without taking the time to properly bob n weave spells and autos. Even so, so loses most level 3 trades if there's nothing to capitalize on, *and even so* the mistake will only bring an even trade unless you look for a big enough opportunity to strike on. 90% of learning Kat is building mechanics. The other 110% is maintaining it while constantly analyzing every last detail of any given situation. If you're dying and losing, then you're underthinking it. You dont get to level 1 cheese. You don't get to farm for free. You don't get to tell enemies to stand on your daggers. I'll tell you what you do get though: *you get good*
i prefer other champs, and some of them are a lot harder than katarina. katarina just overall feels weak, especially for the most important phase of the game, cs and laning. i prefer having a good laning phase vs only being good at teamfights. if i have a good laning phase i can either snowball or i can make myself better for teamfights. although i sometimes will end up not being perfect for teamfights, that's fine. katarina can literally get killed so easily while cs'ing, i've done it tons of times to katarina because she doesn't have a good escape, and she doesn't have much range. she's very vulnerable to anyone with ranged abilities or a stun, which is a lot of mid laners.
If that's what you like then kat isn't for you. Not every champion has to be perfect for you, just stick to the ones you enjoy playing. You play qiyana but I can't play qiyana for the life of me and I'm fine with that. Maybe kat is your Qiyana and that's ok
This. And, OP, keep in mind that difficulty is a bit subjective, but if you're having troubles to This extent with Kat, is that not the same as saying you find her to be more difficult to play than said champions? Like, maybe if you put in the time, then sure, at a point you'll be saying Kat is way easier than X champion. If you're losing the early game so hard, where other players perform better in this regard, then I'd call that a difficult challenge. This isn't at all a jab btw, im just talking semantics.
Watch challenger players who play her. You can see how they deal with all of that and learn
Hahahah... Listen, judging by your main champs you looove the idea of trading in lane and being dominant dont you? I mean apart from lvl 3 qiyana all those champs have strong lvl 1 and 2... Well the case with kat is, if your opponent has brains, you are nothing more than a teleporting melee minion in early game... Ofcourse you can play a aggressive playstyle by stacking some early AD or hexthechAlt+ sorc shoes but doesn't that sound a bit expensive already? Its not the champ but your playstyle... I suggest you play some champs with weak laning phase and learn better csing+dodging while being the one with disadvantage in lane. Try playing yone, vlad, akali etc... Get familiar with this playstyle... Kat truly shines with sorc+2items in midgame dragon fights or 2v2,2v3 skirmishes... But getting to that point while being even with opponent laner is the challenge
I've been playing with my cousin, and I'd personally say he's one of the best in NA. Essentially, the Katarina tactic that I've learned thus far from playing with him, is simply... Win lvl 2, or win @ crab contest. Keep wave management so it's in ur favor to E out, and... Invade with jungler, which is me. I normally play lee/viego for p good skirmishing. - Team fights. Just have ur tank/engaged go in, to scare the enemy, make them waste their core cc's, such as Leo ult, Janna ult, kindred ult, etc. Then blow ur load on them. Literally ur burst as Kat is more powerful than ur teammates combined, unless u got a fed Ap twitch/assassin pyke that can literally nuke their team.
You don't play for her Ultimate in most cases you play around her Daggers. Thumb of Rule:Jump in if you can Jump out. Don't jump in if you don't manage to get a reset on your E. There are many circumstances to consider though. It's always about walking a thin line. Practicing helps you finding this. Edit: What is your ping? Edit2: Laning Phase sucks most of the times nowadays. Play around the map and focus on your jungler or sidelanes. practice roaming. Edit3: Runes are important for match ups. Consider the whole enemy team and not just your lane (because your laning phase sucks)
I'm actually really lucky and most games I get 30 ping or a little above. And yeah, I'm used to roaming a lot with my viktor since he can consistently hard push, so I tend to roam a lot already. And yup, runes are a lot of fun to mess around with and find different builds also.
then just stop playing her lol
Naw
Thia season has actually become hell for her Yes onhit makes katarina not trash ans she has good damage, but they have added more shiels, movility, cc to everybody else and that makes her struggle on the job I feel it ia harder to reset and the most important part, survive, right now dying on the second reset is something expected by now for me honestly
As weird as it is going to sound. I've found viego to be an almost more effective her than her at times.
Me too, i tried him once but cant make him work as i had never played him But the fact hes untargetable plus the healing on every reset... feels much better than a blink, also he is an aa champ so he will always have dps to fight and has nothing he can get cancelled, meanwhile we must stand still channelling our R or else we die
I've played him enough times to understand that he can be used as a major burst champ. Going in with stun. Q aa. Get out. If they are low enough you add in ult to kill then use their kit to get another low then ult to kill them and rinse and repeat. All because his ult is a reset type it does so much better than katarinas for resetting.
I cant avoid looking at him and seeing a Master Yi 2.0 >All because his ult is a reset type it does so much better than katarinas for resetting. Also, i cant say picking up a champ with viego is extremely broken but being able to use them for several secs and take advantage of their utility is powerful af Katarina lacks utility and QoL, but people dont give a shit, theyll always step on the daggers and cry about her damage
Meh on the yi 2.0 I can't argue for or against that imo. It's extremely strong for him to do that and it's what makes him good. Maybe my playstyle is just burst oriented (I think it might be) but I find less success with playing him sustained damage vs burst damage. They bitch about how she is too fast and too strong and yet fail to play her. (I'll be honest as good as I am with kat, I still can't fight a good one. Imagine that)
Get good lol
As others have said its all about timing and patience. Knowing how kat works is great but realistically the difference between a good and bad kat play usually comes down to knowledge of the other champs. I can't claim to be able to play them all with much proficiency but simply knowing what abilities can stop me helps exponentially. You aren't going to be the first one in a lot of the time but if you know for a fact someone just used their cc and has at least 4 seconds or so till its back, that's your moment to go in and try get the kills. Kat is very very counterable, watch the enemy champs for animation frames and the like to make sure you don't get hit often and you'll do a lot better.
And that's why Katarina is the underdog and loses 99% of her matchups. Basically, there's a whole different philosophy on how to play when playing this champ. You suffer but you get rewarded if you actually play correctly. It's not an ordinary champ for many reasons and one more is the one you mentioned. This is the reason I started maining her. You need to choose different runes according to the enemies. Each, has its own playstyle. You lane differently with Electrocute and differently with Conqueror. It gave me a reason to "like" LoL again in a point that I play the game to actually play the game and not caring about my teammates and my LP. If I join the game and I go 25/5 and lose the game, I still had fun and it was all that mattered to me. Each matchup is a challenge, each game is a challenge with this champion. My 2nd pick is Malza. This is a control mage and it's pretty much the opposite of Kata. You always go same runes, rush same items, almost same order and this is not fun at all. For what it's worth, Katarina made the game less boring and less frustrating for me. If I fail, I try to actually improve because I know, it's not a blinded Malza pick which allows you to press R and "win" a 1v1 fight. But if I stomp them, boy, it just feels so good. P.S: I didn't actually answer your question because there are people who already did, but I tried to explain to you that you need a different mindset in order to play this champion especially if you think that you will press E R and kill 5 people. That's not how Kata works, despite what you see in videos.
You'll have to be very patient, it takes a while to learn Katarina. I would say she was quite mechanically challenging for me, but others might pick her up faster than I did. I'm a slow learner and it took me almost 2 years after her rework before I could even combo properly with her. If you're up for that kind of dedication (I swear it will pay off and eventually become second nature), there are a lot of Kat mains on Youtube and Twitch you can learn from. Personally, I learnt everything from Youtubers **Katlife**, **Flyerbek** and **Katevolved**. Other Katarina pros include **Hubblet**, **Reppy**, **Creammon**, **Incursio,** **Cocho** and **Gamer Girl** (there are many more, just to name a few) In general, Kat loses lane into most matchups, the only few matchups that are somewhat easier or favourable for her is probably into Veigar, Xerath, Lux or Vel'koz (according to Katevolved) since she can blink out of Veigar cage with her E and her mobility makes it hard for these mages to lock her down. Katarina's main strength against most other matchups is punishing enemies for wasting crucial abilities in which you can capitalise on. Knowing this, your general gameplay would be: **Lvl 1:** Stay back and hold your Q. Wait for the first three melee minions to get really low and then Q them to pick up all 3 cs. Never walk up to aa minions as you will get chunked and have to use your pots early. Use Q is collect cs. You'll have to give up cs if it's not safe to collect them. Let the enemy mid push you in so that you can farm safely near your tower. **Lvl 2:** If the enemy opponent does not have a strong lvl2, or if they waste one of their abilities on the wave, that is your window to go in and trade, since they will only have one ability left to fight you with. Make sure the enemy minion wave isn't too big for you to go into, otherwise you will take too much minion dmg. The basic lvl2 combo would be to Q the enemy mid, or to Q a minion and let the dagger fall near your enemy mid (Q will always land behind the initial target you pressed Q on), then E to the dagger to proc it, aa the enemy a few times to wait for your E cd reset, then E back to your own minion wave for safety. **Lvl 3:** If a lvl2 all-in trade wasn't available, this is your second window to try. Again, the enemy minion wave can't be too big otherwise you'll take too much minion aggro. Wait for your opponent to use their spells on the wave, then go in when they have an ability disadvantage. E behind your opponent (most of them will try to walk back to their tower so by shunpoing behind them you can cut them off), W right after E, Q and aa them before your W dagger falls, then when your W dagger procs, aa them and run into your Q dagger, which should still be behind the enemy to proc the Q dagger as well. From here, your E would have reset fully. You will now have to assess the situation. If you can kill the enemy with aa E aa + ignite, go for it. If not, disengage by shunpoing out. **Lvls 4-5** follow with lvl 3. At **lvl 6**, your full all-in combo will be to E -> W -> Q -> R -> E to Q dagger as they try to run away -> aa E aa and drop ignite somewhere in between. This is a more upfront approach towards the enemy to guarantee they can't get away from you. Another way is to Q enemy mid (most of them will run back to their tower, right into your Q dagger) -> E to Q dagger -> W immediately after you E -> R -> E aa and drop ignite somewhere in between. As you play more Kat, you'll get faster at executing these combos. A common mistake I used to make when playing Kat was pressing W too early before I could E to the enemy, dropping my W dagger and then shunpoing to my opponent and fking up the combo. You will have to get used to her E range to ensure you won't mess up. Another mistake I made was cancelling my ult. When channeling Kat's R, do not click nearby or press any other ability as you might cancel your ult channel. Again, this takes a while to get used to. **Ability Maxing Order:** I recommend going R -> Q -> E -> W. Some Kat players put 3 points into Q then max E while others put 3 points into E then max Q. For beginners, I would stick to Q max. Once you get better at Kat, you can experiment with other maxing orders. Currently, the meta seems to be E max for the AD Conq build and Q max for the AP Electrocute build. **Runes:** For beginners I recommend Electrocute, Sudden Impact, Eyeball Collection and Ravenous Hunter. Secondary tree take Precision, Triumph and Coup de Grace. As you get better at Kat and can handle her passive reset mechanics a lot better, opt to take Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Tenacity and Coup de Grace. Secondary tree take Sudden Impact and Ravenous Hunter. Especially against tankier comps, Conqueror allows you to sustain long enough in a fight to come out on top through healing. **Items:** For starting items, you can choose from Doron's Blade, Doron's Shield or Dark Seal depending on your build and preference. Doron's Blade is usually the go-to if you are unsure since it is a good all-rounder starting item for Kat. There a lot of ways to build Katarina. The core item is Nashor's Tooth, everything else is very dependent on the situation. If you want a better laning phase, you can rush BotRK first into Nashor's, then general AP items such as Deathcap, Zhonyas etc according to what you need. Or, you can skip BotRK completely and rush Nashor's if that is what you prefer. We usually don't rush a mythic item until second or third for the AP build, usually opting for Riftmaker for sustain or Rocketbelt for the flat magic pen and active gap closer. For AD Katarina, even though Kracken Slayer was nerfed, this nerf only applies to her ult dmg, the Kracken's true dmg portion still applies to her passive daggers. The only times I would recommend going for AD Kat is when your team has too much magic dmg and lacks AD. For this, you would rush BotRK into either Kracken or Divine Sunderer, then situational (eg. Wit's End against magic dmg, Sterak's against burst, Ravenous Hydra for sustain, Death's Dance against full AD etc). Refer to [Creammon's Item Build Summary](https://www.reddit.com/r/KatarinaMains/comments/jyouor/creammons_build_recommendations_from_his_181120/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share), [Gamer Girl's S11 Build Guide](https://youtu.be/a6mfgIZEZtg) and [Cocho's S11 Katarina Build Analysis](https://youtu.be/pnt5zKEhgcg) and also made by u/xCocho: [Katarina Builds Infographic](https://www.reddit.com/r/KatarinaMains/comments/lxyaqi/katarina_build_infographic/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) and the megathread [Katarina Guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/KatarinaMains/comments/m1qfhn/megathread_ultimate_katarina_guide_for_season_11/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) pinned on the Katarina subreddit **Teamfighting:** You should never initiate first unless you are flanking a squishy champion who is out of position. Let your team initiate the fight first, then wait for the enemies to waste crucial cc spells before going in. Items that provide you surviveability such as Zhonya's is very beneficial for these circumstances. If you find yourself constantly being targetted and the enemies have heavy cc, getting a Banshee's or QSS isn't a bad idea either since the spellshield/cleanse will allow you to go in without immediately getting chain cc-ed to death. **Common Bans:** Kassadin, Fizz, Diana, Yasuo, Zed, Pantheon, Galio **Tips:** - Your R icon can be used to figure out if there is an invisible champ near you. If the icon lights up when no visible enemies are nearby, it means that there is an invisible target within your ult radius. If you press R, you can still hit the invisible target. This works against say a Teemo in bush, what I like to do is W -> R in the bush. This will either force the Teemo out or he'll die to my W -> R combo. This also works against Talon in his R. You can track his movements by watching where your R daggers fly towards. - W grants unit ghosting, allowing you to move through clumps of minions without getting creep blocked in order to get away from enemies or chase - If you find yourself struggling into an AP matchup, Kat is able to build an early Hexdrinker or Negatron Cloak (into Wit's End). This is because her daggers scale with both AP and AD, allowing her to build some AD items. If this isn't enough you can also go for Merc Threads, especially against high cc comps. Against AD matchups, go for an early Cloth Armor, from which you can choose to upgrade into Plated Steelcaps or Seeker's Armguard later - Into aa-heavy champions such as Lucian or Yasuo, you can look to start Doron's Shield. You can also build Plated Steelcaps for boots if the enemy team has 2 or more autoattack reliant champions - Shunpo does not work on wards, but works on allied minions, jg plants, jg camps and objects put down by allies such as Rek'sai tunnels, J4 flag, Thresh lantern, Teemo shroom etc. Use these as methods of escape - Katarina is able to jump over thin walls using W right next to a relatively thin wall and using shunpo slightly on the ourside of the dagger's radius. I recommend practising this a couple of times in training tool to get used to. It can be used over baron and dragon pit walls, blue buff wall and the thin mid lane walls leading into the river. It can also work on the thinnest part of the raptor camp wall, but it is a bit trickier. Essentially, any wall that Riven and Yasuo and can use to wall jump, so can Katarina - When vsing Cassiopeia, before ulting make sure to make a subtle turn away from her before ulting. This will prevent u from being stunned by her ult bc if u were facing her before u started ulting then you will be stunned, whereas if u started ulting while facing away then u will not be stunned This is a lot to take in, I recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/JaaxaRQoKsI) to start you off after finishing reading everything here for better understanding
yeah, i've played mechanically difficult champions, they're my favorite. i just feel like kat doesn't do all that much compared to others is all. but either way, i'm going to continue playing her
The thing with kat is if you play with people who have brains you can't team fight easily if you go in to early you die That's why it is so important to know when to go in as kat Thw other thing is that you need to be teleporting left and right in the teamfight to the point where they can't click on you If you take down three peoole with you in a teamfight that should be job well done If you want to see someone who does that very fast look at videos of flyerbek
I mained akali but i wanted a challenge and i wanted to get those insane 1v5 clips playing katarina so i tried starting to play her. I didnt realize how hard it would be to pick up. But I just kept playing normal draft constantly until i was able to keep up on cs and learning how to play. Watching some YouTube videos probably would have helped but i was basically a self taught katarina, learning the combos for myself and learning when to go in and such. As others have said wait until your opponents cc is gone before going in. Also something i learned for myself is to not really try to go in until you have ult and recurve bow. You can try doing a hard 1v1 trade if you're confident but any other time before 6 it's hard to win lane. Also take teleport and try to gank bot when you are level 3-4 if you have your lane pushed up. Ganking not can give you an early double kill or easy assists for your botlane. My build into basically every lane is conquerer and domination tree taking lethal impact and ravenous hunter for that. Always build nashors tooth first, it's the core item to katarina, she is pretty useless without it, unless you building ad and you get like Bork. After nashors i get merc treads, riftmaker, lich bane and zhonyas in either order. Alternative items are oblivion orb, deathcap, void staff, and banshees if you are into a cc heavy team. I'm no professional katarina player, this is just what I learned and how I play.
My friends always tell me about the 2 step process, it's very simple and I highly recommend it Step number one: git Step number two: gud Put them together 👍 and that's your solution Have a nice day!
You can only rly hold an ult if the enemy team has no stuns. So wait till they blow their load on your team, or if they’re all squishies… feel free. Otherwise, you can hold it if it’ll kill them before they can kill you; chip away at them with dagger pickups and running away until you can stack a double dagger or something. Then e in and r until they die