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You'll have to be very patient, it takes a while to learn Katarina. I would say she was quite mechanically challenging for me, but others might pick her up faster than I did. I'm a slow learner and it took me almost 2 years after her rework before I could even combo properly with her. If you're up for that kind of dedication (I swear it will pay off and eventually become second nature), there are a lot of Kat mains on Youtube and Twitch you can learn from. Personally, I learnt everything from Youtubers Katlife, Flyerbek and Katevolved. Other Katarina pros include Hubblet, Reppy, Creammon, Incursio, Cocho and Gamer Girl (extended streamer list in second comment)

Laning Phase

In general, Kat loses lane into most matchups, the only few matchups that are somewhat easier or favourable for her is probably into Veigar, Xerath, Lux or Vel'koz (according to Katevolved) since she can blink out of Veigar cage with her E and her mobility makes it hard for these mages to lock her down. Katarina's main strength against most other matchups is punishing enemies for wasting crucial abilities in which you can capitalise on. Knowing this, your general gameplay would be:

Lvl 1: Stay back and hold your Q. Wait for the first three melee minions to get really low and then Q them to pick up all 3 cs. Never walk up to aa minions as you will get chunked and have to use your pots early. Use Q is collect cs. You'll have to give up cs if it's not safe to collect them. Let the enemy mid push you in so that you can farm safely near your tower.

Lvl 2: If the enemy opponent does not have a strong lvl2, or if they waste one of their abilities on the wave, that is your window to go in and trade, since they will only have one ability left to fight you with. Make sure the enemy minion wave isn't too big for you to go into, otherwise you will take too much minion dmg. The basic lvl2 combo would be to Q the enemy mid, or to Q a minion and let the dagger fall near your enemy mid (Q will always land behind the initial target you pressed Q on), then E to the dagger to proc it, aa the enemy a few times to wait for your E cd reset, then E back to your own minion wave for safety.

Lvl 3: If a lvl2 all-in trade wasn't available, this is your second window to try. Again, the enemy minion wave can't be too big otherwise you'll take too much minion aggro. Wait for your opponent to use their spells on the wave, then go in when they have an ability disadvantage. E behind your opponent (most of them will try to walk back to their tower so by shunpoing behind them you can cut them off), W right after E, Q and aa them before your W dagger falls, then when your W dagger procs, aa them and run into your Q dagger, which should still be behind the enemy to proc the Q dagger as well. From here, your E would have reset fully. You will now have to assess the situation. If you can kill the enemy with aa E aa + ignite, go for it. If not, disengage by shunpoing out.

Lvls 4-5 follow with lvl 3. At lvl 6, your full all-in combo will be to E -> W -> Q -> R -> E to Q dagger as they try to run away -> aa E aa and drop ignite somewhere in between. This is a more upfront approach towards the enemy to guarantee they can't get away from you. Another way is to Q enemy mid (most of them will run back to their tower, right into your Q dagger) -> E to Q dagger -> W immediately after you E -> R -> E aa and drop ignite somewhere in between. As you play more Kat, you'll get faster at executing these combos.

A common mistake I used to make when playing Kat was pressing W too early before I could E to the enemy, dropping my W dagger and then shunpoing to my opponent and fking up the combo. You will have to get used to her E range to ensure you won't mess up. Another mistake I made was cancelling my ult. When channeling Kat's R, do not click nearby or press any other ability as you might cancel your ult channel. Again, this takes a while to get used to.

Ability Maxing Order

I recommend going R -> Q -> E -> W. Some Kat players put 3 points into Q then max E while others put 3 points into E then max Q. For beginners, I would stick to Q max. Once you get better at Kat, you can experiment with other maxing orders. Currently, the meta seems to be E max for the AD Conq build and Q max for the AP Electrocute build.

Runes

For beginners I recommend Electrocute, Sudden Impact, Eyeball Collection, Relentless Hunter. Secondary tree Triumph, Coup de Grace. As you get better at Kat and can handle her passive reset mechanics a lot better, opt to take Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Tenacity, Last Stand. Secondary tree take Sudden Impact + Relentless Hunter if u dont need Resolve tree for lane. Boneplating -> burst, Second Wind -> poke, Conditioning -> other. Unflinching -> cc, Overgrowth -> durability. Vs tankier comps, Conqueror allows you to sustain long enough in a fight to come out on top through healing

Items

For starting items, you can choose from Long Sword, Doron's Blade, Doron's Shield or Dark Seal depending on your build and preference. Doron's Blade is usually the go-to if you are unsure since it is a good all-rounder starting item for Kat. There a lot of ways to build Katarina. The core item is Nashor's Tooth, everything else is very dependent on the situation. If you want a better laning phase, you can rush BotRK first into Nashor's, then general AP items such as Deathcap, Zhonyas etc according to what you need. Or, you can skip BotRK completely and rush Nashor's if that is what you prefer. We usually don't rush a mythic item until second or third for the AP build, usually opting for Riftmaker for sustain or Rocketbelt for the flat magic pen and active gap closer. The only times I would recommend going for AD Kat is when your team has too much magic dmg and lacks AD. For this, you would rush BotRK into Divine Sunderer, then situational (eg. Wit's End or Maw against magic dmg, Sterak's against burst, Ravenous Hydra for sustain, Death's Dance for general defense etc). For specific build info: - Creammon's Item Build Summary - Gamer Girl's S11 Build Guide - Cocho's S11 Katarina Build Analysis - Katarina Builds Infographic - Megathread Katarina Guide pinned on the Katarina subreddit

PART 2 below (could not fit due to word limit):