Talk:Katarina/@comment-39307696-20190430022631/@comment-26808509-20190502135229

To be honest, the shunpo delays aren't that bad in my oppinion. At least since they reduced the frontloaded delay massively (now it's almost instant, 0.15 seconds is nothing) but it has a backloaded lock out, which isn't that bad either (aa resets and E+Gunblade work like they did before).

What bothers me the most is the bazillion years that her Daggers need to land. In the early to midgame it's not too harsh, but in late game and teamfight scenarios it's brutal. In super late game, when everyone is fullbuild, it happens more often than not that you as Katarina die to an ADC before the Daggers reach the ground. With 2.5 attackspeed, a fullbuild ADC can aa three times! Which, in combination with crit, is just instant death.

I agree that Gunblade destroys the champ. There is literally no other item-champion interaction that crucial as Katarinas with Gunblade. Katarina doesn't feel like a whole champion without the item and with it she has the biggest power spike in the game. Not even Triforce bearers are that dependant on their item.

And the patch history reflects that. After the rework came out she wasn't touched for a while, until people started to rush Gunblade. It grants AD, which is good for Katarina early on. So they nerfed Sunpos AD ratio. It gives a slow that secures Dagger hits, so they nerfed Dagger damage. It made her early laning phase easier with good component items, so they nerfed Shunpos early cooldown to make her lane harder.

They balanced her around this one item. And that sucks. Not only does it take away her whole freedom of item choice, something a hybrid champion should technically have, it also screws her power curve. She starts off bad, has a powerwpike at 2 & 3, then falls off again and when she finishes Gunblade she spikes like Rammus when he presses W. And after that? Nothing. No real item powerspikes, no real level powerspikes (neither E, W nor R give real advantages if your rank them further). Amongst all assassins, she falls off faster and harder than anyone else, just because her Gunblade powerspike is so good.