Jade Rift

Katarina — LoL Classic counters & build

Who beats Katarina in League of Legends: Classic, who Katarina beats, and the Season 3 items, runes and masteries to run mid. Patch 26.17.

Katarina is weak against

• Anivia mid

  Wall and stun break every reset chain, and the egg survives her opening burst.

• Garen top

  Silence hard-cancels Death Lotus. Your ult executes her low. This is the classic Season 3 hard counter.

• Malzahar mid

  Nether Grasp suppresses her out of Death Lotus. A clean hard counter.

• Morgana mid

  Black Shield blocks the whole combo and Dark Binding roots you out of every reset.

• Veigar mid

  The cage interrupts Death Lotus and stops every reset in the chain.

• Fiddlesticks jungle

  Fear stops Death Lotus mid-channel and denies the reset chain.

• Galio mid

  Taunt interrupts Death Lotus and his magic resist passive blunts your damage.

• Kassadin mid

  Silence blocks your channel and his magic shield eats your burst.

• Sion top

  Old Sion's stun interrupts Death Lotus and your shield eats the reset burst.

• Fiora top

  Blade Waltz burst kills her before a reset chain can start.

Katarina is strong against

• Brand mid

  If your stun misses she resets on you and you have no escape at all.

• Heimerdinger top

  She gap closes past the turrets and resets off you before they retarget.

• Karthus mid

  Immobile with no escape. Your dagger reset gap closes onto him for free.

• Lux mid

  If the bind misses she is on top of you and you die to the reset chain.

• Ryze mid

  He has no hard CC to stop Death Lotus and your reset snowball beats his scaling.

• Twisted Fate mid

  Squishy with no self-peel. You gap close through his cards and burst him before Gold Card lands.

• Ahri mid

  If she dodges charm you have no way to stop the reset chain.

Katarina Season 3 build

Start:

Core:

Gunblade gives the spellvamp and active slow that makes reset chains survivable.

Alternative Katarina builds

DFG Katarina: Deathfire Grasp → Rabadon's Deathcap → Rylai's Crystal Scepter → Zhonya's Hourglass → Void Staff
Deathfire Grasp before the ult means the target is already under half health when Death Lotus starts channelling.

Katarina rune page

Flat magic penetration is the strongest first-blood stat in Season 3 - base MR is only 30 at level 1, so 9 marks strip a fifth of it. Scaling AP glyphs beat flat ones from about level 9.

Katarina masteries

21/9/0 Offense. Archmage multiplies your whole AP curve, and Arcane Knowledge stacks with magic penetration marks.

Open Katarina in the app