Talk:Katarina/@comment-26040142-20150221044320/@comment-25660105-20150225182241

Katarina main here. I can help.

Start Crystalline Flask and 3 Health Potions. Katarina is manaless, yes, but the Flask starts gives you sustain. Most midlaners outdamge you very early, and you honestly can't really even do anything until level 3. If you take too much poke pre-3 from someone like, let's say, Xerath, you'll be forced under tower, denied farm, and you'll be weak. Most Katarina players max Q first and it's the safest if you're new to her, but if you get a little more experienced, you can do what I do, start Q, take E, then start maxing W. The Damage on Sinister Steel is not as impressive as Bouncing Blades and Shunpo, but the low cooldown basically allows you to spam the crap out of it. What you want to do when playing aggressively is Q, E, W, and try to move backwards as you W, this will put too much distance between you and the enemy laner before their natural instinct kick in. If they see it coming and put some aggro on you, don't worry, this is what Flask is for. You have lots of sustain now. The extra movespeed on the W allows you to disengage faster, and it scales. Start out maxing the Q first though. It's way easier. Some Katarina players start Boots and 4 pots. This is a good start, but it's not the best because Kat is already super mobile and this start makes her super mobile. If you're against and AD midlaner, start a cloth armor and 5 pots.

As for what to build, it depends on your lane matchup. In terms of the early game, Flat Magic Pen is way more important than Ability Power. If you're against AP midlane, your first item should be Abyssal Scepter. Against an AD mid like Yasuo, Zed, or Talon, I usually pick up Seeker's Armguard early, but I don't upgrade it right away because I need the flat pen, so my next item is usually Haunting Guise. Sorcerer's Shoes come next. If you're against that AP midlane, you have to look at what they have, if they're starting to look at getting MR, you may need to get Haunting Guise or even Void Staff at this point. You still are AP, so Zhonya's and Rabadon's can be acquired in the midgame. If they are quite AD heavy or you need the active, get Zhonya's first, if you're really ahead, get Rabadon's Deathcap first because with all your magic pen, it's a big spike in power. Always pick up Void Staff at one point or another. Hextech Gunblade works well on Katarina now because the rework causes it to add more damage to her ult than a 120 AP item would, plus AD for last hitting! Plus some CC! An alternative is to buy Rylai's Crystal Scepter and then upgrade Liandry's. This is a good alternate option against AD, but I generally don't like this because it prevents you building pretty much MR and the combo only works if you get both items.