LoL Classic - Katarina Build

Changes for Classic

• Killer Instincts (W) chances her other basic abilities
• Voracity (P) grants gold and reduces cooldowns on kill

How to Play

Katarina is a snowball champion who becomes increasingly dangerous as the game progresses. During the early levels, focus on farming with Q while looking for opportunities to chop away at your opponent's health.

Once you unlock E and W at level 3, you can begin taking quick trades before backing away. Don't force fights if the enemy is healthy, wait until you've poked them into kill range or your jungler is nearby. Level 6 is your biggest power spike, as your ultimate gives you enough burst to kill most mid laners from around half health.

If your lane becomes difficult or your opponent plays safely, don't be afraid to roam to the side lanes, as Katarina is great at picking up kills and snowballing through ganks.

Runes Explained

Katarina wants a mix of Ability Power and defensive runes since she'll be diving into team fights, dealing huge amounts of damage while often being the focus of the enemy team. Magic Penetration Marks help her cut through tankier champions, making it easier to secure kills and reset her abilities.

Flat Ability Power Quintessences provide a strong boost to her early-game damage, while Armor Seals and Magic Resist Glyphs help protect her against both physical and magic damage throughout the game, making her laning phase and team fights much safer.

Masteries Explained

For Katarina's masteries we want to focus on the Offense tree to give her as much damage as possible during the early game, allowing her to snowball and take control of the game. Since Katarina is a melee champion, she'll be trading often and looking for early opportunities to pick up kills.

Taking Defense as your secondary tree gives you extra health and resistances, which can make a huge difference when exchanging damage in lane and help you come out ahead in early fights.