Who counters Katarina in League of Legends?

By rules over Riot's ability text, the picks that fit best against Katarina are Maokai, Leona and Rell, and each one is listed on this page with its reason. This is Analysis, not a win rate.

How do you play against Katarina in League of Legends?

Riot's own tip: Katarina's abilities deal magic damage, so even if she's building Attack Damage items, get magic resistance to counter her. The counter picks on this page add the champions whose abilities answer Katarina, each with its reason.

Who is Katarina good against in League of Legends?

Read the other way round, the same rules over Riot's ability text find Katarina strong into Quinn, Locke and Karthus. The reason for each is on this page. This is Analysis, not a win rate.

Which lanes does Katarina play?

Data Dragon has no lane data. As a Assassin and Mage champion, Katarina typically plays Jungle and Mid. This is a class-based filter, not a play rate.

How hard is Katarina to play?

Riot rates the difficulty of Katarina as High (8 out of 10).

Katarina Counter LoL: Best Picks & Why

Tactical identity

Katarina, Assassin / Mage

Katarina, the Sinister Blade, is an Assassin and Mage champion in League of Legends. Everything below comes from Riot's Data Dragon for patch 16.21.1: ability text, base stats and Riot's tips. Counters and matchups by class are worked out from that text, and each one shows its reason.

Riot's ratings, out of 10

Attack: 4
Defense: 3
Magic: 9
Difficulty: 8

Typical lanes (class-based)Jungle, Mid

ResourceNone

Playing as Katarina

Riot's own tips

Picking up Daggers will significantly reduce Shunpo's cooldown.
Try waiting until the other team is distracted with fighting your team, and use Shunpo to teleport into the fray and unleash a devastating Death Lotus.
Using Shunpo on an allied Champion, Dagger, or minion can be a great escape tactic.

Playing against Katarina

Riot's own tips

Katarina's abilities deal magic damage, so even if she's building Attack Damage items, get magic resistance to counter her.
Try to save a disable for when Katarina uses her Death Lotus.

What the kit does

Analysis read from Riot's ability text. Each line shows the words it rests on.

Hard crowd control
Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above"
Knock-up, knock-back or pull
Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above"
Dash, leap or blink
Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the"
Area damage
Voracity: "slash through all nearby enemies"

Katarina's abilities

Riot's own text and preview clip for each ability, from Riot's Data Dragon, patch 16.21.1. Pick an ability and its clip plays here, muted.

PPassive

Voracity

Whenever an enemy champion dies that Katarina has damaged recently, her remaining ability cooldowns are dramatically reduced. If Katarina picks up a Dagger, she uses it to slash through all nearby enemies, dealing magic damage.

Effects in the text

Magic damage
Area damage
Clears waves

QQ

Bouncing Blade

Cooldown: 11/10/9/8/7 s
Range: 625

Katarina throws a Dagger at the target that then bounces to nearby enemies before ricocheting onto the ground.

Effects in the text

Area damage
Clears waves

WW

Preparation

Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 s

Katarina gains a burst of Move Speed, tossing a Dagger into the air directly above herself.

Effects in the text

Hard crowd control
Knock-up, knock-back or pull
Can start a fight

EE

Shunpo

Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 s
Range: 725

Katarina blinks to the target, striking it if its an enemy, or striking the nearest enemy otherwise.

Effects in the text

Dash, leap or blink
Can start a fight

RR

Death Lotus

Cooldown: 75/60/45 s
Range: 550

Katarina becomes a flurry of blades, dealing massive magic damage while she channels to the 3 nearest enemy champions.

Effects in the text

Magic damage

Build direction, Analysis

Items and runes that fit Katarina

Riot publishes no builds and this page invents none. Below: completed items ranked by how many of the stats Katarina's kit uses they give (ability power (AP) first), the runes whose official text matches the kit, and picks for each enemy type. A fit, not a strength ranking. No win rates.

Closest stat fit

Editorial estimate

Completed items ranked by how many of the stats Katarina's kit uses they give. A fit, not a verdict: Riot publishes no builds and no win rates.

Cryptbloom3,000
- +75 Ability PowerKatarina scales with it
- +30% Magic Penetrationits damage is magic
- +20 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Actualizer2,800
- +90 Ability PowerKatarina scales with it
- +10 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Archangel's Staff2,900
- +70 Ability PowerKatarina scales with it
- +25 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Blackfire Torch2,800
- +80 Ability PowerKatarina scales with it
- +20 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Bloodletter's Curse2,900
- +65 Ability PowerKatarina scales with it
- +15 Ability Hastecasts abilities often
Cosmic Drive3,000
- +70 Ability PowerKatarina scales with it
- +25 Ability Hastecasts abilities often

Boots

Armored Advance1,200

Chainlaced Crushers1,250

Crimson Lucidity900

Immortal Path1,100

Spellslinger's Shoes1,100

Swiftmarch1,000

Rune fits

Editorial estimate

Runes whose official text matches the most things Katarina's kit does. Each line shows the words it rests on.

AftershockResolve, Keystone · Matches: 1
- It can immobilize, slow or impair enemies: Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above"
Arcane CometSorcery, Keystone · Matches: 1
- It deals damage with abilities: Voracity: "dealing magic damage"
Deathfire TouchSorcery, Keystone · Matches: 1
- It deals damage with abilities: Voracity: "dealing magic damage"
Sudden ImpactDomination · Matches: 2
- It deals damage with abilities: Voracity: "dealing magic damage"
- It has a dash, leap or blink: Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the"
Approach VelocityInspiration · Matches: 1
- It can immobilize, slow or impair enemies: Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above"
Cheap ShotDomination · Matches: 1
- It can immobilize, slow or impair enemies: Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above"

Against each enemy type

Editorial estimate

Situational picks, counted from what the champions of each class do in Riot's Data Dragon. Swap a slot when the enemy team has several of that class.

Tanks
Anti-heal 25 of 46 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Cleanse or tenacity 20 of 46 have two or more hard CC abilities
Chainlaced Crushers Endless Hunger
To cut through them Tanks stack armor and magic resist; these items give magic penetration.
Cryptbloom Shadowflame Stormsurge Void Staff
Fighters
Anti-heal 40 of 60 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Armor 38 of 60 deal physical damage only
Chain Vest Dead Man's Plate
Assassins
Anti-heal 24 of 45 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Armor 23 of 45 deal physical damage only
Chain Vest Dead Man's Plate
Mages
Magic resist 52 of 74 deal magic damage only
Abyssal Mask Banshee's Veil
Anti-heal 30 of 74 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon
Marksmen
Armor 14 of 33 deal physical damage only
Chain Vest Dead Man's Plate
Supports
Magic resist 36 of 43 deal magic damage only
Abyssal Mask Banshee's Veil
Anti-heal 19 of 43 heal or sustain
Executioner's Calling Morellonomicon

Counted from the official ability text, League of Legends patch 16.21.1. These are counts of champions, not win rates.

Rune trees

Lit runes: their official text matches something Katarina's kit does (Analysis). Select a rune to read why.

Precision1 lit

Domination3 lit

Sorcery7 lit

Resolve2 lit

Inspiration4 lit

Matchups by class

Katarina against each class of champion, counted from the official ability text. Choose a class or a lane to narrow it down.

Against all 172 champions: 35 ahead, 25 even, 112 behind. Each class is read against that, so check the best and toughest tags too.

Class

Lane

Patch

16.21.1Older patches: not available yet

Against Tanks

Weak

4 ahead · 4 even · 38 behind of 46

Ahead of

Struggles against

Your damage is magic only, so they can stack magic resist against you.
Their silence shuts down your dash-based kit.

What to do: A risky pick into tanks. Wait for the enemy draft before you lock it, or pick it with a team that covers the gap.

Against Fighters

Weak

11 ahead · 11 even · 38 behind of 60

Ahead of

Struggles against

They can avoid damage for a moment, which blunts your burst.
They can lock you down: you have few ways out.

What to do: A risky pick into fighters. Wait for the enemy draft before you lock it, or pick it with a team that covers the gap.

Against Assassins

Even

14 ahead · 10 even · 21 behind of 45

Ahead of

Struggles against

Your hard crowd control stops their dashes.
They can avoid damage for a moment, which blunts your burst.

What to do: Neither side has a clear edge over assassins. Execution and the team around you decide it.

Against Mages

Weak

15 ahead · 13 even · 46 behind of 74

Ahead of

Struggles against

Their silence shuts down your dash-based kit.
They out-range you and you have no healing to recover.

What to do: A risky pick into mages. Wait for the enemy draft before you lock it, or pick it with a team that covers the gap.

Against Marksmen

Even

Best class

13 ahead · 3 even · 17 behind of 33

Ahead of

Struggles against

You have early pressure while they need time to scale.
They out-range you and you have no healing to recover.

What to do: Neither side has a clear edge over marksmen. Execution and the team around you decide it.

Against Supports

Weak

Toughest class

2 ahead · 6 even · 35 behind of 43

Ahead of

Struggles against

Their silence shuts down your dash-based kit.
They out-range you and you have no healing to recover.

What to do: A risky pick into supports. Wait for the enemy draft before you lock it, or pick it with a team that covers the gap.

Source: Nexus Lab rules over the official ability text, League of Legends patch 16.21.1. Each champion of the class is compared with Katarina one by one; the counts come from those rules, not from match results, so they are not win rates. Strong, even and weak compare the number of champions ahead and behind. Lanes are the lanes each class usually plays (Riot ships no lane data per champion), not play rates.

Building against Katarina

Analysis: answers to what Katarina's own kit does.

Katarina deals magic damage only, so magic resist pays off. Voracity: "dealing magic damage"

Abyssal MaskIt gives magic resist (listed in its stats).

Banshee's VeilIt gives magic resist (listed in its stats).

Bloodletter's CurseIt gives magic resist (stated in its text).

Picks that can punish Katarina

Analysis: rules over Riot's ability text.

Maokai

Counters you

Maokai has hard CC (Bramble Smash: "Maokai knocks back nearby") that can stop Katarina's dashes (Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the").

2 more reasons

Maokai has hard CC (Bramble Smash: "Maokai knocks back nearby") to catch Katarina, a squishy champion with few escapes (Assassin role).

Maokai can avoid damage for a moment (Twisted Advance: "becoming untargetable and dashing"), and Katarina relies on burst (Assassin role).

Leona

Counters you

Leona has hard CC (Shield of Daybreak: "damage and stunning the target") that can stop Katarina's dashes (Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the").

2 more reasons

Leona has hard CC (Shield of Daybreak: "damage and stunning the target") to catch Katarina, a squishy champion with few escapes (Assassin role).

Katarina deals only magic damage (Voracity: "dealing magic damage"), so Leona can stack magic resist (Eclipse: "shield to gain Damage Reduction, Armor, and Magic Resist") against it.

Rell

Counters you

Rell has hard CC (Shattering Strike: "shields and stunning them") that can stop Katarina's dashes (Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the").

2 more reasons

Rell has hard CC (Shattering Strike: "shields and stunning them") to catch Katarina, a squishy champion with few escapes (Assassin role).

Katarina deals only magic damage (Voracity: "dealing magic damage"), so Rell can stack magic resist (Ferromancy: Crash Down: "she gains Armor, Magic Resist") against it.

Taric

Counters you

Taric has hard CC (Dazzle: "damage and stuns enemies") that can stop Katarina's dashes (Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the").

2 more reasons

Taric has hard CC (Dazzle: "damage and stuns enemies") to catch Katarina, a squishy champion with few escapes (Assassin role).

Katarina deals only magic damage (Voracity: "dealing magic damage"), so Taric can stack magic resist (Bastion: "Passively increase the Armor of Taric") against it.

Watch out: Katarina clears waves more easily (Voracity: "slash through all nearby enemies") and can push the lane against Taric.

Alistar

Counters you

Alistar has hard CC (Triumphant Roar: "roar by stunning or displacing") that can stop Katarina's dashes (Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the").

2 more reasons

Alistar has hard CC (Triumphant Roar: "roar by stunning or displacing") to catch Katarina, a squishy champion with few escapes (Assassin role).

Katarina deals only magic damage (Voracity: "dealing magic damage"), so Alistar can stack magic resist (Tank role) against it.

Amumu

Counters you

Amumu has hard CC (Bandage Toss: "stunning and damaging") that can stop Katarina's dashes (Shunpo: "Katarina blinks to the").

2 more reasons

Amumu has hard CC (Bandage Toss: "stunning and damaging") to catch Katarina, a squishy champion with few escapes (Assassin role).

Katarina deals only magic damage (Voracity: "dealing magic damage"), so Amumu can stack magic resist (Tank role) against it.

Who Katarina is good against

The same rules, read the other way.

Quinn

You pressure

Katarina has hard CC (Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above") that can stop Quinn's dashes (Vault: "Quinn dashes to an").

Locke

You pressure

Katarina has hard CC (Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above") that can stop Locke's dashes (Ashen Pursuit: "location before dashing to attack").

Karthus

You pressure

Katarina has hard CC (Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above") to catch Karthus, a squishy champion with few escapes (Mage role).

Kassadin

You pressure

Katarina has hard CC (Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above") that can stop Kassadin's dashes (Riftwalk: "Kassadin teleports to a").

Sivir

You pressure

Katarina has hard CC (Preparation: "tossing a Dagger into the air directly above") to catch Sivir, a squishy champion with few escapes (Marksman role).

Counter picks are Analysis: rules over Riot's ability text, each with the words it rests on. They are not win rates, and no League of Legends matchup list has been reviewed by hand yet.

Official story

Katarina's official story on Riot UniverseA link to the official source (in English). We do not copy its text.

Champion video guide

Video by 3 Minute League of Legends · Watch on YouTube The player loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only after you press play.

Measured numbers

Numbers published or counted by a named source. Each row names the source and the patch.

Attack4

Defense3

Magic9

Difficulty8

Riot data Riot's ratings out of 10, Riot's Data Dragon, patch 16.21.1

Base stats
Stat	Level 1	Per level	Level 18
Health	672	+108	2508
Armor	32	+4.7	111.9
Magic resist	32	+2.05	66.85
Attack damage	58	-	58
Attack speed	0.658	+2.74%	0.964
Attack range	125	-	125
Move speed	335	-	335
Health regen per 5 seconds	7.5	+0.7	19.4

Riot data Riot's Data Dragon, patch 16.21.1. Level 18 is calculated from Riot's growth formula on the same numbers.

Editorial estimates

Our reading of the data. These are not measured rates and they change when the rules or the data change.

Counter picks: 6 Editorial estimateNexus Lab rules over Riot's ability text, patch 16.21.1
Good against: 5 Editorial estimateNexus Lab rules over Riot's ability text, patch 16.21.1
Typical lanes: Jungle, Mid Editorial estimateLanes of the class; Riot ships no lane data per champion
Best class (relative): Marksmen Editorial estimateWins minus losses over the class, compared with the other classes; counts of champions, patch 16.21.1
Toughest class (relative): Supports Editorial estimateWins minus losses over the class, compared with the other classes; counts of champions, patch 16.21.1

What no source gives us

Win rate, pick rate and ban rate. Riot publishes none we may print (the Riot API cards are switched off) and no third-party statistics site is read, so none is shown.
Popular builds. Riot publishes no builds: the items and runes in Build & Runes are a fit to the kit, not a popularity ranking.

Sources

Riot Games Data Dragon
Names, ratings, base stats, ability text, cooldowns, costs, range, items, runes and art.
Patch 16.21.1, file generated 2026-10-26
Open
Riot ability preview clips
Played from Riot's own server when you press play; never copied here.
Each clip checked with a request before it is offered
League of Legends Wiki
Release dates and skin prices in RP (CC BY-SA).
Committed data, see the skins page
Open
Nexus Lab rules
Counters, matchups by class, item and rune fit: rules over Riot's ability text, each with the words it rests on.
Patch 16.21.1
Riot Universe
The official story of Katarina (a link, nothing copied).
Open

Katarina League of Legends champion guide

Katarina, Assassin / Mage

Playing as Katarina

Playing against Katarina

What the kit does

Voracity

Bouncing Blade

Preparation

Shunpo

Death Lotus

Items and runes that fit Katarina

More items with the same stat 29

Boots

Tanks

Fighters

Assassins

Mages

Marksmen

Supports

Rune trees

Precision1 lit

Domination3 lit

Sorcery7 lit

Resolve2 lit

Inspiration4 lit

Building against Katarina

Picks that can punish Katarina

Who Katarina is good against

Official story

Get new stories and champion updates

Champion video guide

Katarina skins

Quick answers

Who counters Katarina in League of Legends?

How do you play against Katarina in League of Legends?

Who is Katarina good against in League of Legends?

Which lanes does Katarina play?

How hard is Katarina to play?

Related champions

Next steps

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