Katarina guide: build, runes, matchups and mistakes to avoid

At a glance

Runes

Spells

Start

Build

››+

Skills

Q›E›W

Katarina in figures

Games in mid lane

28,70186.5% of its games

Win rate

49.9%

Pick rate

≈ 8.8%

Ban rate

≈ 13.4%

The figures come from 378,251 ranked solo games on EUW (patches 16.18 to 16.21, Riot’s official API, up to 24 October 2026): the same sample as Gankademy’s champion pages. “≈”: a figure the app gives as indicative.

Strengths and weaknesses

When Katarina is strongest

The build that wins most

A build, here, is the order of the first three finished items. Out of the 4,740 Katarina games in mid lane where they are known, the three most-played paths:

Build	Items	Played	Win rate
Survival	››	19%	≈ 49.2%
On-hit	››	19%	≈ 58.6%
Burst	››	15%	≈ 55.7%

Katarina’s two most-played builds share nothing: Lich Bane then Shadowflame for magic, Kraken Slayer, Blade of The Ruined King then Terminus for on-hit. They are played as often as each other, but on-hit wins clearly more (≈ 58.6% against ≈ 49.2%).

With build 1, the game most often starts with Dark Seal + Refillable Potion, and the boots are Sorcerer’s Shoes (91% of games).

Depending on the game

What build 1’s players buy next (5% of its games or more):

Item	Bought	Why
Rabadon’s Deathcap	39%	damage
Void Staff	10%	vs tanks (×1.31)
Mejai’s Soulstealer	9%	damage

×: how many times as often it is bought against that need (191,000 games checked by Gankademy).

Skill order

Level by level, the most-played order in mid lane: 79% of the 1,574 games where Katarina reaches level 18.

Q	1			4	5		7		9
W			3											14	15		17	18
E		2						8		10		12	13
R						6					11					16

Runes and summoner spells

The most-played rune pages of Katarina in mid lane, by keystone and trees:

Page	Games	Win rate
ElectrocuteDomination + Precision	13,703	49.8%
ConquerorPrecision + Domination	6,572	49.0%
ConquerorPrecision + Resolve	4,819	51.0%
ElectrocuteDomination + Resolve	1,808	49.2%

Electrocute with Precision is the most-played page, in almost one game out of two. Conqueror comes next, and wins more with Resolve (51.0%) than with Domination (49.0%). Dark Harvest, rare, wins the most (53.3%), on far fewer games.

Electrocute, Sudden Impact, Grisly Mementos, Relentless Hunter, Coup de Grace, Triumph

Summoner spells: Flash + Ignite in 95% of games.

Matchups: the easiest and the hardest

Katarina’s win rate against each opponent in the same role, against the usual 49.9%: the gap in points, from 200 games.

Easiest against

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Gap
Azir	210	61.4%	+11.6
Orianna	358	60.1%	+10.2
Ryze	206	≈ 56.3%	+6.4
Qiyana	440	55.9%	+6.0

Hardest against

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Gap
Fizz	951	43.2%	−6.7
Kassadin	460	43.5%	−6.4
Vladimir	610	45.1%	−4.8
Twisted Fate	348	≈ 45.1%	−4.8

Katarina’s ultimate keeps her in place, so her hardest lanes are the champions who escape it or cut it short: Fizz hops out of reach and can’t be targeted, Vladimir sinks into his pool of blood, Twisted Fate stuns her with a card, and Kassadin’s passive cuts the magic damage he takes. Go in once that spell is spent; until then, farm and wait for your jungler. Against Azir, Orianna or Ryze, your blink reaches them before their damage is set up.

Matchup sheet

The 12 most frequent opponents in mid lane. The difficulty is the app’s: the gap with the usual 49.9%, and whether it holds.

Opponent	Games	Win rate	Difficulty
Ahri	1,599	48.1%	Even
Yone	1,513	49.4%	Even
Yasuo	1,467	45.3%	Hard
Malzahar	1,143	48.4%	Even
Zed	1,041	54.5%	Easy
Syndra	1,015	52.1%	Even
Locke	963	55.6%	Easy
Fizz	951	43.2%	Hard
Ekko	946	≈ 46.4%	Hard
Akali	941	48.5%	Even
Viktor	862	48.3%	Even
Diana	846	≈ 46.5%	Hard

Bans to consider

The opponents Katarina beats least often in mid lane, among those met at least 300 times:

Opponent	Win rate	Games
Fizz	43.2%	951
Kassadin	43.5%	460
Vladimir	45.1%	610

What the specialists do

40 players of the sample play Katarina in at least 40% of their games, and at least 30 times. Their 1,540 games in mid lane, against all its players:

	Specialists	All players
Win rate	≈ 51.6%	49.9%
Build	›› 19%	›› 19%
Rune page	Same 48%	48%
Skills maxed	Same 87%	Q›E›W 89%

What changes with them: the build. Their win rate: 1.8 points higher.

The most frequent mistakes

Two habits measured on the 7,074 games with a timeline, then the champion’s own mistakes. These gaps go with losing without proving the cause.

• Dying before 15 minutes. 55% of games have three or more deaths before the 15th minute; they win only 40.5%, against 65.7% when Katarina dies once or less (23% of games). Instead: before going in, check what you can blink back to — a dagger, a minion, an ally — and whether their crowd control is ready. Before your ultimate, pick up a dagger, slash and step back.
• Falling behind on farm. At 10 minutes, games with 57 minions or fewer (27%) win 40.3%; those with 73 or more (26%), 59.7%. Instead: last-hit with your bouncing dagger and your daggers’ slashes, and push the wave before you roam: Katarina needs her items as much as her resets.
• Zhonya’s Hourglass third. Lich Bane → Shadowflame → Zhonya’s Hourglass is one of the two most-played builds and wins ≈ 49.2%; the same start with Rabadon’s Deathcap as the third item wins ≈ 55.7%. Instead: Rabadon’s Deathcap, and Zhonya’s Hourglass only when a single burst would kill you.
• Starting the ultimate into their crowd control. Your ultimate keeps you in place, and a stun, a silence or a knock-up cuts it short. Instead: go in once their control is spent, and cancel the ultimate with your blink if the fight turns.
• Blinking in with no way back. Your blink needs a unit or a dagger to land on: going in with nothing behind you leaves you stuck among the enemies. Instead: keep a dagger or a minion within reach as your way out.

With Gankademy

These are the figures of Gankademy’s Katarina page: the draft compares your options against your lane opponent and imports your rune page in one click. The draft · The coaches · What it reads.

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