Best Katarina Build Guide | Runes | Spells | Items in League of Legends

Sometimes Riot Games goes a bit over the top when designing a character, the case being Katarina, AKA "Pentarina", the perfect champion to get officially involved in team fights and who's most likely to end up taking at least one kill thanks to her "Death lotus", "Bouncing Blade", and pretty much the rest of abilities in her kit.

But for that you need the best Katarina build for your League of Legends games.

Best Katarina Build

The best Katarina build in League of Legends focuses on her ability power to face the enemy team in the mid lane. Playing Katarina mid lane is the most common and best choice, because thanks to her magic damage, she can roam around the map to get some kills and eventually get fed up.

But as strange as it might sound when it comes to managing League of Legends champions like Katarina, some AD items are viable on her as well, such as the "Divine Sunderer"

Best Katarina Runes

When playing Katarina mid-lane, an excellent rune set for most matchups can be found in the "Domination" tree, with "Electrocute" as the keystone and other runes such as "Eyeball Collection", "Relentless Hunter", and "Sudden Impact". with secondary runes such as "Coup de Grace. Most Katarina players can deal a lot of damage in the early game of League of Legends with the right combination of abilities.

Best Rune Path	Domination	Precision
Best Keystone	Electrocute
Best Slot 1 (Rune)	Sudden Impact	Triumph
Best Slot 2 (Rune)	Eyeball Collection
Best Slot 3 (Rune)	Relentless Hunter	Coup de Grace

When it comes to her "best runes" you can also go for a "Conqueror Katarina" because this rune works really well with her abilities and the way she's supposed to be played, which is like a bruiser.

Best Rune Shards

The ideal shards to accompany the best Katarina runes, the shards you need to get are meant to maximize her ability power, so you can do as much damage as possible, starting with "Adaptive Damage" for "Offense", and choosing the same for "Flex".

BEST RUNE SHARDS	EFFECT
Offense	+9 Adaptive Force
Flex	+9 Adaptive Force
Defense	+8 Magic Resistance

Lastly, for "Defense" go with "Magic Resistance", so you can resist magic damage from any other mage you mid find in League of Legends or during a team fight.

Best Spells

For this patch 12.14, the best summoner spells for Katarina are "Ignite" and "Flash". The first one will get you some extra damage, ideal to deal more damage and take down enemies after a well-performed combo.

BEST SPELLS	ICON
Ignite
Flash

Flash is an excellent choice for her as well, besides the obvious uses this spell has, it can also be used in different combos with Katarina's "Shunpo" whether it is in the laning phase or late game, so she can reach anyone from the enemy team and secure a kill.

Best Abilities Order

The best skill order for Katarina is quite simple. Being the first ability to level up "Bouncing Blade", follow it up with her ability "Shunpo", lastly "Preparation", and of course, whenever you can in this skill order, upgrade her ultimate ability "Death Lotus".

"Bouncing Blade´" is the ability to use when you want to poke the enemy team or engage in a team fight, regardless of her skill order, when you attack the enemy with an ability, you should always try to hit enemies with the auto attacks of the "Sinister Blade" herself to deal more damage.

Best Katarina Items

The usual Katarina build or items, whether it is that you play Katarina mid or top lane, is AP that of course increase the damage she does with her abilities.

Best Starter Katarina Items

In this Katarina build the first items are the "Dark Seal", "Refillable Potion", and of course a "Stealth Ward". "Dark Seal" is an excellent item for mages such as Katarina, thanks to the extra HP and AP it grants the user, plus, its passive it's quite useful if you manage to get a few kills in the early game.

Besides, the "Refillable Potion" will help you stay alive if you're against a tough matchup in the laning phase.

FIRST ITEM	SECOND ITEM	THIRD ITEM
Dark Seal	Refillable Potion	Stealth Ward

Best Mid Game Katarina Items

Once the game has advanced, by half of it, you should have equipped the "Nashor's Tooth" which is excellent on any Katarina build, allowing you to use your auto attacks faster, "Sorcerer's Shoes" are great as well due to their magic penetration and of course extra movement speed, finally the best choice among mythic items would be the "Hextech Rocketbelt".

FIRST ITEM	SECOND ITEM	THIRD ITEM
Nashor’s Tooth	Sorcerer’s Shoes	Hextech Rocketbelt

If there is any tank champion in the enemy team, any source of magic penetration is recommended, which is why "Sorcerer's shoes fit well for her in this item build.

Best Final Late Game Katarina Items 

When it comes to the final item for our Katarina build, in the fourth spot we can find "Zhonya's Hourglass", an object that, in any item build can be as important as the spell "Flash" thanks to those precious seconds of invulnerability that can save you from the gray screen during your games, and even more so for Katarina in this patch 12.14.

FIRST ITEM	SECOND ITEM	THIRD ITEM	FOURTH ITEM	FIFTH ITEM	SIXTH ITEM
Nashor’s Tooth	Sorcerer’s Shoes	Hextech Rocketbelt	Zhonya’s Hourglass	Shadowflame	Rabadon’s Deathcap

Meanwhile "Shadow Flame", and "Rabadon's Deathcap" will push Katarina's AP further. Still, these two items can be replaced if the situation requires it, for something like "Mejai's Soulstealer" or even the "Night Harvester", but equipping "Mejai's Soulstealer" with Katarina should only be for those who are confident in their skills and want to replace "Rabadon's Deathcap" by something else in the item build.

Best Champions to pair Katarina with

Warwick, Ivern, and Amumu are excellent companions for Katarina thanks to their crowd control, which Katarina can take advantage of during a combo and use her "Death Lotus", especially with Amumu's ultimate, which has a huge AoE for Katarina to get officially involved in a fight.

CHAMPION	WIN RATE %	ICON
Warwick	53.8%
Ivern	53.8%
Amumu	53.7%

Ivern and Warwick can initiate as well team fights for Katarina to jump in and obliterate the enemy champion in a matter of seconds, hence their high win rate.

Strongest Champions against Katarina

Katarina has a specially hard time against these champions because they all have several forms of crowd control, or can dodge her abilities. When it comes to enemy champions who have an ability that can stun or root, you have to be extra careful with Katarina and not make any mistakes that might take you to the gray screen.

CHAMPION	WIN RATE %	ICON
Vladimir	45.5%
Cassiopeia	46.3%
Vex	47.0%

Weakest Champions against

All of these champions have a rather low win rate in a game against Katarina. Despite being champions who can stun her and interrupt her “Death Lotus” rather easily, Katarina can still kill them thanks to her lotus and high mobility.

CHAMPION	WIN RATE %	ICON
Syndra	56.9%
Twisted Fate	56.3%
Taliyah	54.8%

Katarina is a character that has a rather low pick rate due to how hard she is to play, which might confuse players who try her for the first time, and it is understandable because she takes a lot of time and practice to fully master, but is one of the most rewarding characters to play once you understand her kit of abilities.