RIP Kata

I'm seeing Lux picked into Kata every game and winning lane. Against me, against others. A week ago this would have been perceived as backwards.

Why is Lux winning? Because Lux is ranged and Kata's Q is trash now. Farming is near impossible. Why was Kata's already garbage-level waveclear nerfed even further? I'm stuck under turret for nearly my entire laning phase and can't afford to roam anymore. Q barely tickles minions early game and if you want to use it to shunpo, good luck getting the enemy laner to stand next to the big red circle. And even if you try to play tricky and E to a minion instead of your blade, you get no damage because then you have to run to your blade before you get Lux EQR'd.

Everything Kata does is telegraphed. If you want to Q E, the enemy knows exactly where your E is going. If you want to E W, you could play the Jeopardy theme song while you politely ask your opponent to wait for your blade to land. And now that E is a dash instead of a teleport, Lux, Zyra, Morgana snares, as well as Veigar's, will catch you if you play the trigger-react game. The champs Kata used to counter now just have to hold on to their Q's and wait for you to toss a blade.

Getting out-positioned is a piece of cake. Kata, while she may have been noob-stomping broken before, is now broken in the opposite direction. Only way you can win lane, or even just survive enough to get to a point where you can afford to roam bot, is if your jungler essentially camps mid for the first 10-15 minutes. The only time new Kata is even relevant is in teamfights. (And we all know how cc kills her. It's the same as it was before.) Her ult has a bit more bite to it but her Q amounts to a mosquito sting, and her W has the longest cast time as well as a ridiculous cooldown. Refreshed E is not an automatic. Either you are going to get predicted to death or you are going to be reciting a poem before your W activates.

With the removal of ward hopping, Kata's W is her escape now. But you better pray your engage goes fast enough before your blade disappears. No ward hopping and telegraphed E's make it a race against time. If you ult, your W will have disappeared by the time you've made the kill. Good luck fighting in the river or jungle. (Is new Katarina the reason blast cones exist?)

New Kata makes for occasional flashy plays but there's not much to be scared of anymore. Akali is a better option. Kata's E is just a lower cooldown version of Akali's R, and at least Akali's Q still does bonus damage on autos. Plus shroud gives her some unpredictability which Katarina no longer has.

When I first saw the rework, I was excited. I thought the new mechanics would make things a little more skillful but also flashier, and finally people would get off the Kat hate train. But now I'm starting to hate playing Kat.