A couple questions regarding Katarina, her role, and assassins

Fauxfire·Feb 18, 2015·2 votes·753 views

I've always thought of assassins as champs that are defined by their ability to 100-0 squishes/semi-squishes, extremely fast or mobile, very squishy themselves, very mobile, no major CC, weakest just after an assassination, and no 100% reliable escape. I love playing Talon, Zed, Fizz, and (the older) Kha'Zix for all of these reasons, but I am confused by the presence of Katarina. She has a passive that resets 3/4 abilities on kill/assist with no costs, meaning that she is only slightly weaker (no ultimate for a second or two) when she lands a kill - a mage with a high-mobility assassin kit. I remember Riot explicitly stating these traits as assassins not too long ago before the Fizz/Akali changes in a Q&A, but why is Katarina an exception? And why does this work/not work? Any clarity from experienced players?

7 Comments

StoningtonFeb 18, 20151 votes

She's on riot's hitlist unfortunately. It sucks because she's one of the last quasihyper carries.

FauxfireFeb 18, 20151 votes

What do you mean by "quasihyper-carry"

StoningtonFeb 18, 20151 votes

She's like a hypercarry but not fully. There really aren't any hypercarries in LoL, the closest we get would be old Tristana RIP, Kayle, and Kat. Of the three, Kat's the only one who can't knock down towers fast.

FauxfireFeb 18, 20151 votes

But you show sympathy for Katarina. Is there any reason her kit (best as assassin), should break one or two assassin trait rules?

StoningtonFeb 18, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Nate the Fox,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=WLXBgs8F,comment-id=0000000000000000,timestamp=2015-02-18T05:13:38.631+0000)

But you show sympathy for Katarina. Is there any reason her kit (best as assassin), should break one or two assassin trait rules?

I'm not sure I follow, you think she's too safe? What does she do that breaks the rules of assassins? She can shunpo out after getting a kill?

AMYS GRAVEFeb 18, 20151 votes

http://lolbuilder.net/katarina

Her winrate over time only falls off. If anything she has a "weak" late game. I mean it's never sub-50% but...

SnowleafFeb 18, 20151 votes

The one thing id say is this. The 4 assassins you named may not be a strong as Kat to continue the fight immediately following a kill but I believe they have something that makes up for it. Each of them.. Zed, Fizz, Talon and Kha have a way to jump into a fight and get back out right away if things go bad. Zed can jump back to a shadow, Talon and Kha can invis ult and run for it and Fizz has his pole. Kat has to use her jump to go in and if things go bad and and for any reason she doesnt get a reset she has no other way to get out. When fights go bad more then any other assassin she is a sitting duck and dies.