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So, what's going on with Katarina?

Śhunpo··2 votes·1,262 views

Many Kat mains are either saying they want old Kat back and/or this current Kat is weak/overnerfed. The subreddit is in absolute shambles, with only old Kat gameplay receiving a positive number of upvotes due to the obligatory nostalgia goggles and memes stretching as far as the eye can see down the subreddit feed.

So, what's going on? Kat went from having a rather chill and hipster playerbase to this toxic echo chamber based community that only whines and complains until they get what they want, and if they aren't that they've already given up Kat due to all the ruptured blood cells in their forehead that they received through playing this current iteration of Kat and watching her get chain nerfed into the ground (although she's still a really good low elo pick). I suppose that's what happens when a playerbase grows immensely due to a rework and then the veterans are forced out due to the new champion being completely different, and being replaced by pretentious crying children.

So, what's going on with Katarina, as her win rate and play rate continually decline due to players quitting her as Riot continues to neglect her and give her some QoL changes that at least make her feel somewhat like old Kat, which the majority knows and loves. A revert is unlikely to happen, however quite a few Kat mains are just praying for that day since Rengar and Leblanc mains got what they wanted after a long hard-fought year.

So, what's going on? As most other champions take over her as better teamfighters and pentakillers, when that is the identity she seeks to fulfill.

I guess what I'm attempting to get at is, why has Katarina been ignored for all this time following her numerous nerfs when data points to her being sub-optimal and unpopular with the players. Sure, you can say she has a 52% win rate in Diamond+, but I digress, that does not mean that she's fun and exciting to pick up. Her current kit feels bland and clunky to most of her playerbase, and that alone warrants some attention so that Kat players can continue to enjoy the game much like every other champion (fix Mordekaiser 's bugs btw ffs).

So, at the end of this biased rant I'm curious, what do you all think of Katarina? Is she broken, weak? Fun, unfun to play as? Is her kit interesting to you? All these sort of questions are continually cycling through my head and I really do want some outsiders' opinions on Katarina as she in right now.

8 Comments

Poro Lord4 votes

I hate new Kat.

I'm old and slow, and champs that flash around, REALLY make me look stupid if they are good.

I have been meaning to learn her a bit, so at least I'm not so surprised by every damn thing she does.

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

Śhunpo1 votes

Yeah, her mobility is quite daunting for players who can't keep up with her, I definitely agree there.

DabDog3 votes

New katarina is definitely better then the old one hands down. the new one has a bigger skill expression and the only valid reason i can understand kids wanting the old one back is nostalgia and that it was 10x easier to correctly play. The new katarina is more about set up and execution. The new katarina also lets her play in higher elo without being countered so easily. she also is currently much more mobile (except ward hoping) then she previously was. u used to only get a single E.

Śhunpo2 votes

Mmhmm I definitely agree that she's more mobile, and in terms of "better" she most certainly possesses more damage now. However, the skill expression part of it is more or less invalidated when you consider how frustrating her kit is to use, and it's not even difficulty, it's artificial difficulty to do with delays being on ALL of her abilities now.

Moreover, "kids" want old Kat back simply because she was better in terms of fitting Kat's identity/niche. This current Kat is all about one-shotting with daggers and solo killing moreso than multi-killing and teamfighting, in fact I'd go as far as to say that she's kinda bad in terms of teamfighting.

As for skill expression, on a mechanical level definitely, but in terms of game knowledge I'd have to disagree since both iterations of Kat seem to be at around about the same level imo since they're similar (obviously). I also disagree with you saying that she was "10x easier to correctly to play", because if this were true we would have seen more Kats in high elo back in the day, which simply was not happening.

Yep, new Kat is about set up and execution, can't really disagree there.

However, what I do disagree with is your statement about Katarina not being countered easily in high elo, as that's simply not true, she's really hit or miss in high elo and she definitely has bad matchups and you cannot pick her into every team comp. and with every team comp. (which isn't bad I suppose).

Mmm, a sound opinion. The reasons you've listed definitely make sense. Although I am curious about another thing, do you think this Katarina is strong or weak currently? Both in terms of low elo and high elo.

DabDog1 votes

Easier to play also means she had easier counterplay since she was a bit more one deminesional. Her feast/famine was to a MUCH higher degree and her skills may be "the same" but she plays harder then previous because now u have to watch for daggers which are a majority of damage. This katarina is stronger then previous from the sheer reset damage with daggers and increased mobility which makes katarina even more lethal. In low elo shes obviously much easier to execute and in higher elo shes great if you main her. In all honesty i tell people katarina inst worth picking up unless you plan to main her solely for the fact she is SUB PAR unless played PROPERLY.

(by the way I'm a heavily experienced katarina main. I'm D3 on my main and this is my smurf. According to Mobalytics on my main account i have played 284 matches and won 70% of them with an average of 2.90KDA since this season started. My smurf, this account, has a 80% winrate over 70 games with a 3.29KDA and it is Gold 1/Plat 5. This is just one of many i have but i probably have roughly over 3mil mastery if i added all the accounts ive played on.)

Śhunpo1 votes

Katarina is not great to main in high elo right now. Previously she was, but right now? No.

Yeah, if you play her properly she's good but that doesn't really change the fact that she's looking to be on the weaker side atm, at least in high elo against players that actually understand how she works.

Hmm, I think this Kat is a lot more feast or famine tbh, since she relies entirely on Gunblade and early-mid game skirmishes in order to be useful to her full potential, though I could be wrong here; this is just my take on it.

Infinite Saught2 votes

You're very right in the fact that she's still extremely feast famine, and highly reliant on GBlade.

Infinite Saught3 votes

You're buying into the myth that old Katarina was extremely easy to play. You're not wrong from a mechanical standpoint, but you're wrong from an execution standpoint; if she was that easy to play and that easy to do well with, why wasn't everyone getting high diamond with her? They both have execution, except new Katarina's set-up and execution is merely "did they walk into daggers" rather than "did they burn all their cc".

Actually, she's countered much more easily now because her telegraph just requires her to enemies to walk away from it; anyone that knows the trick counters her rather than people reacting to her engage. And even so, late game, you can do the same thing (reacting to her engage) and she'll die just as quickly as old Katarina.

Mobility wise, new Katarina is way more cluncky because of the cast time on Shunpo, and Dagger drop speeds. On the flip side, new Katarina has better chasing power merely because of Preparation and Daggers. Otherwise, new Katarina is slower in team fights, but more reliable in chasing compared to old Katarina.

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