'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
"Katarina, the Sinister Blade" is considered a little too overpowering in League of Legends preseason 11 by a large section of MOBA's player base.
Katarina is unmatchable with her build-path versatility, application of on-hit effects, and combination of abilities. It make her one the most overpowering champions in League of Legends.
She is a mid-laner considering her inbuilt ability kit. But with her splendid adaptive skill sets, Katarina has the potential to outclass many top laners and bot laners. She is effective in the support role too.
The inbuilt abilities of Katarina can now be enhanced with the 10.23 update. This allows the assassin champion to trigger on-hit effects using E- Shunpo.
She can also triple-up all her on-hit effects using R- Death Lotus. This has given Katarina more versatility, considering her playstyle and build paths.
Katarina and her versatility
Katarina's strengths lie in her versatility. She has the unique ability to go on any build path as per the player's choice. She can sync effectively and also stand out as an effective role player in each of them.
Katarina as an Ability Power Carry
November 2020's preseason update 10.23, saw another minor Katarina buff that applied on-hit effects to all her abilities except for her Q. Katarina has also inherited the power to one-shot enemies with just her Shunpo.
The new Icathian Bite's basic attacks deal 15 (+20 AP) bonus magic damage on hit.
Katarina can't be killed without a hard crowd control or heavy deal when a riftmaker is picked up for the 15% omnivamp. The mythic item also allows her to deal with true damage while providing a scaling magic penetration.
Katarina as a Tank
Katarina can be a tough champion to deal with in League of Legends season 11 due to her brilliant tanking abilities. With a proper build path, Tank-Kata is pretty effective in end games.
Boots of Lucidity, Sunfire Aegis, Titanic Hydra, Spirit Visage and Ohmwrecker work perfectly for Katarina to deal heavy damage from enemy champions.
Players can use Deadman's plate or Randuin's omen for synergizing grasp and hydra. Split pushing is easy with her when she absorbs a good amount of hits.
Tank-Kata has also proven effective by simply running flat magic penetration runes. Sunfire aegis, along with abyssal mask, sorcerer's shoes, and void staff is a good build path for Katarina to soak heavy damage.
Because of the flat magic penetration, Katarina can blow up squishy champions in late games without much damage. Katarina soaks up many enemy abilities during mid-game team fights, as she often is the primary target of opponents. It helps the team as a whole.
She can now stack the Grasp of the Undying rune to opponents with a Q. Grasp proc combined with Sunfire Aegis makes her tanky. Opponents find a Tank-Kata extremely difficult to kill.
Katarina as an Attack Damage Carry
Along with her AP and tanking traits, Katarina is a splendid attack damage carry. In fact, an attack damage-Kata is currently considered to be stronger than her ability power version.
For an attack damage build of Katarina, Kraken Slayer is the preferred mythic item. It empowers the other legendary items with 10% bonus attack speed.
A Kraken Slayer with Blade of the ruined King, Sorcerer's Shoes, and Ravenous Hydra also works perfectly for the assassin champion. It deals 60 (+45 % bonus AD) bonus true damage on hit.
Kraken Slayer is deadly with Katarina's ultimate Death Lotus. It is, perhaps, the best mythic item for her R. Katarina's ultimate normally hits 15 times (six times per second) for over 2.5 seconds. It procs on-hit effects with 25% efficiency.
But if the Kraken is used with R, enemies take full true damage on every 3rd ultimate hit for every 0.5 seconds.
Now that the new effect of Death Lotus deals 15% bonus AD (+9.9 % attack speed) physical damage per dagger, Katarina has become a League of Legends battle machine with her shredder blades.
Should Katarina get further nerfs in future League of Legends updates?
Katarina has frequently featured on the nerf list in the past couple of League of Legends updates. But fans still consider her to be overpowering due to her item versatility.
Recently, a League of Legends fan and redditor u/mbbroXD raised a query on the same.
" I legit don't know what to expect when facing a Katarina. If she wants, she can go on-hit (While doing 3 types of damage simultaneously), or she can go full AP, or she can even go Sunfire too. I played against a Kat OTP who went Prowler's Claw first even. She builds On-Hit Items, AP items while being a mobile assassin with a blink. Does anybody actually think that Kat is in a good spot right now? Good spot being balanced or being in a similar spot as she was in S10. She is miles better than she used to be with Gunblad. Safe to say that she doesn't care about losing the item after her entire kit was buffed to match. Losing one item shouldn't mean that your entire kit gets buffed to compensate. "
Many League of Legends veterans want her to be nerfed. But it was certain that she won't get a tweak anytime soon. One of the key reasons being, her negligible screen time in pro-play over the years. She also has a high skill cap and is extremely hard to play with.
Katarina’s recent pick rate as a League of Legends mid laner has improved drastically since the preseason 2021 patch, 10.23.
DAMWON Gaming's Heo "ShowMaker" Su in a recent interview had a few words on Katarina.
" Katarina has become a lot better, so I’ve been playing her a lot in a solo queue. She goes well with the items. But Katarina is still Katarina. I’m not sure. In some games, she’s really good. I get to think that she’s playable in pro games. In the game right after that, I think this League of Legends champion is just wrong. Her HP is too low. In my opinion, real “masters” play only that champ. "
As recorded by OP.GG, Katarina currently ranks 2nd in terms of pick-frequency among mid-laners. She has a staggering pick-rate of 11.27%.
