Riot, Serious Discussion Concerning the Upcoming Katarina Rework

First off, I have been playing Katarina almost ever since I started playing the game and she has always been my go-to champion. I am writing this post not to complain or rage like others have, but to offer a formal discussion about the Katarina changes that will arriving on the PBE soon. First of all I would like to applaud you for actually trying your best to balance Katarina, because let's be honest, it is by far not the easiest thing to do. In my opinion, I don't think the proposed changes are the correct direction to be taking Katarina. It is very hard to tell on paper how well if will pan out, and I know that you've stated that it is testing pretty well internally. I think a more proper approach would be to see how the Death-fire Grasp removal effects her gameplay. That item has been the staple of her build path and because the upcoming changes are aimed at lowering her burst, I feel like without DFG she might be just fine the way she is. Anyway, now onto the individual ability changes.

(Q) Bouncing Blades: On paper the change being proposed comes off as a nerf to me. I did do some math and with 500 AP, between the initial hit and the proc of the mark her new q will do slightly more damage. Although, I don't think that is worth the trade off for the little poke she did have. This change will really hurt her laning phase since it currently is considered one of the worst in the game and this will make it even worse. I feel like if this change makes it through it will be very difficult for Katarina to just come out even in the laning phase if not being very far behind, therefore hurting her mid-late game potential. Maybe if you made the base damage and ratio equal on both the initial hit and the mark pop like leblanc or akali, that would be more understandable.

(W) Sinister Steel: In my opinion I feel like this ability has received a slight buff.. sort of. Removing the base damage from the ability and giving scaling total ad starting at 60% and reaching 120% at rank 5 is an interesting change. When some attack damage is built then this ability is definitely buffed. Despite that I am worried that it will give her very little decision making skills and little "strategic diversity" 0_0 .. This change will force attack damage into her build path and give her very few options when it comes to what items she builds. Gunblade is currently the only existing hybrid item that is even sort of worth buying. Forcing ad scaling onto Katarina and maintaining her magic damage skill set makes it very difficult for her to find optimal items worth building. This change also forces Katarina to always max her W first and she has no strategic decision making based matchups per say, especially since her q poke was nerfed.

(E) Shunpo: This is where things get really crazy. The cooldown has been increased to 15 seconds at all ranks, which sounds like a nerf, but now her Shunpo CD is lowered by 80% if she Shunpos to a target that she hasn't blinked to in the last 9 seconds, making it a 3 second CD, which is still a long time if you are in the middle of a team fight. On top of that the skill no longer does damage. That in itself is a huge nerf since her Shunpo hardly does damage anyway after her first rework back in 2012. The skill will now grant her better damage reduction from ranks 3-5, but being tanky is not what Katarina needs, she is an assassin after all. The skill now also resets Katarina's auto attack timer which I find sort of odd. This could provide synergy with a lich bane possibly, but the mana from the item would go to waste, would it be worth the gold? We will have to see. This change also re-emphasizes the focus on building attack damage now.

(R): Death Lotus: No intial changes were discussed except for maybe some slight ratio shifts on the skill. I do feel that the "what seem to be" nerfs to her QWE will make her that much more reliable on her ult to accomplish much of anything, which is a very dangerous situation considering the easily countered nature of her ultimate.

Overall I am curious to see how these changes will pan out if you chose to move forward with them as they are. I myself, as an avid Katarina player will be spending much of my time on the PBE re-learning my favorite champion and seeing where these changes will take her. I would love a response from a Rioter if any of you get the chance. I am very curious as to what you think will be her new core item build. I know this was a long post, but I truly do care about Katarina as a champ and what happens to her. Thank for everyone who took the time to read the entire post and to those who offer their opinions and thoughts. Thank You!