Katarina/Strategy

Skill usage

 * If you do kill an enemy, remember that refreshes her cooldowns by 15s, and since  cooldown is lower than 15s (at all ranks), you can use it to get out of range.
 * belongs on the battlefield, as her rewards you extra gold for kills and assists. Try ganking more than you would with other champions
 * is often best placed in a side lane in 5v5 matches. Her rank 1 is very good at harassing enemies with its ability to hit more than one target.
 * When facing a team with healers, use and try to time your  in order to hit as many enemy champions as possible, hindering their healing capabilities.
 * Try using active and  before activating  to increase your survivability. You can also use it when running away to stop potentially fatal damage.
 * can easily escape, , , , , or even an enemy by using  on a unit that's out of range. She can leave the area of effect of special abilities unless these have a Crowd Control effect like a toss-up, stun, silence, etc.
 * can to, , , , Demacian Standard, and , so keep an eye on the battlefield and coordinate with your teammates to give you an easy escaping route.
 * Using on a  or  will reveal the ward.
 * will always place her on the opposite side of the target from her current location. This is a buff for chasing enemies, but can put you in some less-desirable spots as well.
 * With quick reactions, can be used to dodge skill shots like  and.
 * When the enemy is low on health behind their tower, consider a into  combo, as very few champions can withstand the onslaught at critical health. An inexperienced player may not expect the sudden tower dive, though a stun will shut you down quite quickly. Make sure you have enough health to make it out alive.
 * This strategy can also help you in team fights. If you see an enemy who has low HP, you can in, kill them, and then  out right away. Be mindful of stuns.
 * A surprise can turn the tide quickly. This is best used in coordination with hard AoE crowd control, as not having any form of crowd control can leave Katarina vulnerable during . If your team can keep enemies from escaping, Katarina can put out plenty of damage.
 * Remember that hard crowd control will interrupt, specifically any stun, silence, taunt, fear, knockup, or knockback. Enemy tanks will save their abilities such as or  specifically to stop you.
 * Try waiting until the other team is already engaged with your team before using followed by.
 * also hits enemy champions which are stealthed. Furthermore, it becomes usable when a stealthed champion approaches, so keeping an eye on its icon may notify the player of incoming ganks.
 * is one of the few manaless champions based entirely on cooldowns. Use this to your advantage by using spells whenever possible.
 * has no crowd control spells, so consider getting to avoid enemies running away from you when using.

Build usage

 * The first thing to note is that due to having no mana but relying on abilities is that certain AP items are inefficient.
 * In addition, due to her CD basis, having at least some CDR is a good idea, whether you get it from Runes, Masteries, or Items. Her innate makes CDR less useful, though CDR is reliable while her passive is not so much.
 * is very useful due to her lack of other forms of crowd control. also applies the full slow, which makes it much harder for enemy champions to leave range.
 * Although two of her skills scale with her attack damage ( and ), they deal magic damage, so a high amount of magic penetration is always useful
 * is the preferred choice of boots.
 * and scale from both ability power and attack damage, making hybrid builds effective. However, remember that her base damage and attack speed are not as good as those of other hybrid champions and scale less on level.
 * is a core item of any hybrid build, as it provides large amounts of both attack damage and ability power. In addition, it gives significant regeneration power and a crowd control ability. However, due to its cost, rushing a leaves you much squishier early game.
 * can greatly increase your auto-attack damage output as well as give you increased movement speed for easier ganks.
 * Both and  can work well if you are performing well, but carry high risks.
 * Building some survivability is a good idea, as you're naturally fairly squishy and have no CC to keep enemies at a distance. A will block a spell intended to interrupt Death Lotus.
 * Activating while  is active will interrupt it, making the Hourglass a poor survivability option.