Unpopular opinion: Kat's rework turned her into a more unhealthy champion

Śhunpo·Oct 11, 2019·5 votes·3,195 views

She legitimately just got a better Sinister Steel, an auto reset on Shunpo and an on-demand movement speed buff that just adds to her general safety, annnnd she also can Shunpo up to 3 times WITHOUT resets.

Oh, and to be quite honest with you her speed feels exactly the same once you actually master her.

So, what was the point of reworking her again? Because they didn't really "slow her down", they initially made Shunpo a clunky mess, changed it back to be almost the same and now we have a Kat who mirrors old Kat in terms of speed, except for the fact that this Kat has far more mobility, damage and variety.

21 Comments

ChalzeOct 11, 20196 votes

When the Katarina rework first got leaked, I thought to myself: Players who suck at Katarina will suck way harder whereas players who are good at Katarina will be far more devastating than pre-rework Katarina. Honestly, her average power/effectiveness hasn't really changed much, but her range of skill expression really has.

ŚhunpoOct 12, 20191 votes

If you're good with Kat the only counterplay to her is untargetability or being in a 1v9 game.

But you are right, terrible and average Kats are easy to tell apart from Kats that actually know what they're doing.

Sewer SideOct 11, 20193 votes

Not really. Biggest complaint is all her damage takes forever to come out for an assassin.

Previously, she rolled face and got kills. Now she has to lead opponents into kills

You can now react to Katarina’s burst, previously you wondered where all your HP went post gunblade because she was in Shunpo range.

ŚhunpoOct 12, 20191 votes

Late game, sure. Every other stage of the game? Hell no.

She needs the damage to come out later as she hits like a semi-trailer post Gunblade. Legitimately, you kill almost every champion in the game post Gunblade unless they're running Aftershock, Exhaust or stack shields.

previously you wondered where all your HP went post gunblade because she was in Shunpo range.

It's still the same thing, and I can say this because I main her. E to creeps->W->Q+Gunblade->E(auto+Ignite) is the same thing only she doesn't need Flash, she can do combo you from double the range and she can adapt the combo to kill you no matter what unless the player on Kat misplays.

#RemoveGunblade

Sinister AnubisOct 12, 20193 votes

Ok as someone who has mained kata for seasons on end this was the biggest issue from last reworked kata and why they had to rework her. Her E,W combo when fed was insane she was legit whipping teams with just E,W all day long and it was insanely fast. Also old kat had really shit laning and wave clear vs like say a zed who can legit farm from miles away. Her safety net was shunpo to ward after walking into melee range to Q W wave. It was really sketchy and messy and once junglers got around this kata was an easy stomp.

So this new kata aka current rework hit it slowed down her damage and made her more predictable aka daggers on ground. Her damage wasn't instant like previous E into W. In turn the dagger on ground mechanic was nice to give her a reduced cool down on E not even a complete reset even at max rank there is still windows to cc and stop her. So what this new kata aimed to solve was her crap laning phase and reduce some of her keyboard face roll with a 2 button smash, which i think it did pretty well. The rework wasn't put in to making her worst but making her better with new mechanics and a more skill expressed play style. Honestly its probably one of the best reworks riot has done to a champion. She still has the same weakness's as before aka tanks and CC and shes the only assassin that is an all in champion with no type of cc what so ever.

Just my thoughts as a kata main. Take it for what you will and feel free to look me up you will see i played and mained her since season 1. I dont claim to be a kata god just very knowledgeable on her current state and past reworks. [slayer-jinx-catface]

ŚhunpoOct 12, 20191 votes

Thank you for sharing your opinion as a Kat main, you are definitely correct in what you are saying; for the most part. That said, she feels almost identical in teamfights given her mass AOE (especially after first reset).

While her damage isn't instant, it's pretty much instant the moment her first dagger lands, as that's all she needs to start her multikill.

Her laning is also still rather crappy, she's just a little better, just a lot less safe.

Honestly its probably one of the best reworks riot has done to a champion.

Sort of...I'm still extremely skeptical about every rework that came from the Assassin Class Update, which just felt unnecessary. She's definitely one of Riot's better reworks, and yet, she still feels like a balance nightmare. Like, when I get fed I know it's because I am better than my opponents (my friends drag the elo down dramatically), however, there is an element of me knowing that I could never demolish this hard on any of the other champions I play...and I don't know whether that's because of me or my champion. With pre-rework Kat I knew it was me carrying a terrible champ, but with this Kat I never know.

I do think she's a lot easier to counterplay at low-mid levels of play, however at higher levels of play where Kat one tricks actually possess brains I feel like she's an extremely unhealthy champion that is impossible to balance. She's essentially just an AP Riven at this point, minus the CC and shield.

tl;dr She's healthier in a lot of areas but a nightmare in others

Sinister AnubisOct 12, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Thank you for sharing your opinion as a Kat main, you are definitely correct in what you are saying; for the most part. That said, she feels almost identical in teamfights given her mass AOE (especially after first reset).

While her damage isn't instant, it's pretty much instant the moment her first dagger lands, as that's all she needs to start her multikill.

Her laning is also still rather crappy, she's just a little better, just a lot less safe.

Sort of...I'm still extremely skeptical about every rework that came from the Assassin Class Update, which just felt unnecessary. She's definitely one of Riot's better reworks, and yet, she still feels like a balance nightmare. Like, when I get fed I know it's because I am better than my opponents (my friends drag the elo down dramatically), however, there is an element of me knowing that I could never demolish this hard on any of the other champions I play...and I don't know whether that's because of me or my champion. With pre-rework Kat I knew it was me carrying a terrible champ, but with this Kat I never know.

I do think she's a lot easier to counterplay at low-mid levels of play, however at higher levels of play where Kat one tricks actually possess brains I feel like she's an extremely unhealthy champion that is impossible to balance. She's essentially just an AP Riven at this point, minus the CC and shield.

tl;dr She's healthier in a lot of areas but a nightmare in others

Np man. I do think the rework was a success. Most of us Kat mains was really mad about ward hope removal but ot was a design choice to give her the Shunpo resets. Most competent people avoid standing near daggers to avoid the passive damage and some even position them selves in such a way that daggers dont land predictably and then dash in another direction. Iv noticed my self miss playing on a lot of situations with split thinking decision and daggers landing in off spots.

Back on the rework aspect. They wanted to keep her over all feel and core game play bit aimed to make her more skill expressive but not over loaded. I think they succeeded in that regard. I remember when she was reworked and even after 4 kills she still wouldnt get her ulti back, which they fixed that same week. She does her job well in the right hands she is gated by her build aka hybrid. Imagine if she could.build full AP and have the ratios to support it she would be an insane nightmare. Riot has always had an issue with balancing reset champions and I think kat is as good of an example as it can get without making her useless or too good. Riot is to scared to touch her numbers in fear of finding them selves in another iralia pr akali or even ryze kind of state.

Over all I think shes fine she does have ear weaknesses. CC tanks and she cant split push to take towers very well and does crap damage to dragon and baron even if shes fed. Her job is to count abilities go in when she can get a reset and clean house. That's basically her only job, she still needs a team to help end the game especially at high elo.

ŚhunpoOct 13, 20191 votes

Hmm, I think the fact that she's "hybrid" is an issue in-of-itself as Gunblade is such a ridiculous item. Seriously, Kat post Gunblade is arguably the best champion in the game with 1 item.

Sinister AnubisOct 13, 20191 votes

{quoted}

Hmm, I think the fact that she's "hybrid" is an issue in-of-itself as Gunblade is such a ridiculous item. Seriously, Kat post Gunblade is arguably the best champion in the game with 1 item.

That's the thing gunblade is the ONLY hybrid item. If there was more then just one it would be different on scaling. So my statement still stands as she is gated by having to buy one of the most expensive items in the game with split ratios. If she could rush deathcap or ludens and build full AP she would be a nightmare.

ŚhunpoOct 14, 20191 votes

Gunblade is expensive, but its components are incredible.

Der LindwurmOct 11, 20192 votes

They'll rework her again. I know it's simply a matter of time.

They should just give her mana if she's so impossible to balance otherwise.

ŚhunpoOct 12, 20191 votes

Her not having mana has never been a problem since she is almost entirely melee besides her Q.

LatetotheRaceOct 12, 20192 votes

This opinion is unpopular? It just felt like a solid mechanical buff and honestly it makes her more of a snowballing monster than before.

DOUBLE TAPPED EOct 12, 20192 votes

There is nothing more frustrating to face than a person who knows how to avoid Katarina's damage, no matter what champion they play.

Avoiding her damage was impossible before.

ŚhunpoOct 12, 20191 votes

I personally don't think it's possible to avoid her damage unless the person playing against you plays Kat as well, enough to the point where they know her inside and out. She can very much adapt her approach to situations to kill her opponents no matter what they do, it's just all on the Kat player to identify their opponent's reaction(s).

preternaturalOct 14, 20192 votes

the rework accomplished exactly what it was supposed to

Sinister AnubisOct 14, 20191 votes

{quoted}

the rework accomplished exactly what it was supposed to

I agree

ŚhunpoOct 14, 20191 votes

It did, but it's a lot more overpowered and unhealthy.

preternaturalOct 14, 20191 votes

{quoted}

It did, but it's a lot more overpowered and unhealthy.

it's working as intended lol. they stated in her dev videos that they wanted her to be yasuo-esque once fully mastered. and they said more spins. and more shunpos. and more obvious skill required. her problem right now is that she must become all that you play in order to unlock her full potential, but that was intended anyway lol.

ŚhunpoOct 14, 20191 votes

Yasuo-esque is definitely not the way to go about balancing high skill cap champs, that's all I'm going to say.