Wild Rift Katarina guide: Runes, items, tips, and more

The new 2.1a update has arrived at League of Legends: Wild Rift, bringing all sorts of balance changes to some champions, items, new skins from the Omega Squad line, and most importantly, a new addition to the roster.

This time, straight from the violent lands of Noxus, comes a fearless assassin, known for her fiery ambition and that will not hesitate to carry out her duty amid a whirlwind of serrated daggers.

Introducing Katarina, the Sinister Blade.

Remember there are two ways to get your hands on Katarina, you can either buy her through the in-game store, or for a limited time complete Katarina's Challenges and pick her up for free.

Katarina's active and passive abilities

(Picture: Riot Games)

Her passive ability, Voracity, allows Katarina if she deals damage to an enemy and dies shortly after, to have significantly reduced cooldowns in her remaining abilities. Also, if Katarina picks up a Dagger, she will use it to slash all nearby enemies, dealing magic damage.

Let's move on to her active skills:

• Bouncing Blade: Katarina throws a Dagger at the target which will bounce off to nearby enemies before landing on the ground.
• Preparation: Katarina gains a movement speed boost and throws a Dagger into the air above her.
• Shunpo: Katarina will transport herself towards a target and damage it if it is an enemy champion. If not, she will damage the closest enemy.
• Ultimate - Death Lotus: Katarina will become a flurry of blades that deals massive damage while channelling towards the three closest enemies.

Recommend runes and spells for Katarina

Katarina is known for being one of the champions with the greatest siege power in the game, thanks to her Daggers that can frustrate any enemy if they are placed in the wrong place, as well as for her ease of cleaning her lane in the early game. These are her recommended runes:

• Electrocute: Triggers on successful skill combos and trades, dealing bonus damage to affected enemies and increasing her burst damage.
• Brutal: Grants bonus attack damage and armour penetration.
• Backbone: Adds a bonus 10 AR or 10 MR, based on whichever stat you have less of.
• Hunter - Genius: Grants additional ability haste for each unique takedown.

(Picture: Riot Games)

As in the PC version, Katarina is mostly played on the mid lane, so her summoner spells are also a standard in her comp:

• Flash: Allows you to have more offensive options to enter combat, in addition to serving as an escape tool.
• Ignite: Use it as a tool to finish off enemies in case they want to escape with low health, as well as open a window of opportunity against enemies with lifesteal or healing abilities.

Best items for Katarina

(Picture: Riot Games)

Due to her massive burst magic damage, Katarina's item build will be focused on dramatically increasing her ability power, as well as increasing the impact of her abilities with magic penetration and ability haste, making her a difficult enemy to contain in any stage of the game.

• Hextech Gunblade: Hitting an enemy champion with a basic attack or ability shocks them for 100 - 200 plus 30% AP magic damage and slows them by 40% for 2 seconds. It also grants omnivampirism, AD and AP.
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity: Increases the ability haste of abilities and summoner spells. It’s recommended to wear them with Stasis Enchant to counter enemy burst damage or Quicksilver for crowd control.
• Morellonomicon: Grants magic penetration and Grievous Wounds, essential for countering tanks and omnivampirism.
• Void Staff: Grants a tremendous amount of magic penetration.
• Rylai’s Crystal Scepter: Grants a slow effect on attacks hit on any target, plus additional health and ability power.

To finish, you can complement her itemization with Rabadon's Deathcap, to increase even more your AP stats together with the Void Staff, or Liandry's Torment in case you have to face a tanky enemy team.

Tips for Katarina’s playstyle

(Picture: Riot Games)

Since her release in 2009 and her subsequent rework in 2016, Katarina has always been known for being a Champion with a risky style, as you're able to take as many enemies as she can before falling in combat or if you're highly skilled, live to tell the tale.

With this in mind, it's preferable to use Katarina in close team fights, as well as to take advantage of any low health enemies to finish them off and be able to assemble more effectively her items composition.

It is important to learn to handle her Daggers, since these will be the gateway to any confrontation you want to engage in either the lane phase or against several enemies at the same time. But be careful about your use of mana as spamming them can often leave you with nothing to protect yourself or to face a duel.

(Picture: Riot Games)

Katarina is usually a very flexible champion, allowing several ways to contribute to any fight thanks to her interesting arsenal. From her Bouncing Blade which can unbalance the position of your enemies, to her Shunpo which allows you to fool unsuspecting champions, causing them to spend resources to escape from you.

To finish, try to use her Preparation and the Death Lotus only when the situation requires it, since these are your most vital resources for both clashes with other enemies, as well as to take some gold in your favour and to get out of any situation alive.

• Read more: Wild Rift Katarina's Challenge: Schedule, rewards, missions, more

With the arrival of the Sinister Blade to Wild Rift, the landscape of the mid lane will change a lot thanks to her explosive power, so we recommend you get your hands on her so you can learn how to handle her abilities set properly to reach the top of any game with her killing Daggers.