Is Katarina AP or AD in League of Legends?

LoL Esports

August 21, 2024

Jordan Marney

The Sinister Blade is one of the oldest champions introduced to League of Legends in 2009. She’s considered as one of the best snowball carries in the game, due to her insane in-and-out burst potential.

But the question is, is Katarina AP or AD champion?

Stay tuned to this article to find out.

Is Katarina AP or AD in LoL?

Is Katarina AP or AD - League of Legends

Credit: Riot Games

Katarina is mainly played as an AP Assassin. Even the best Katarina counters are not getting off easy against her burst damage potential.

Although you can argue for every champion in LoL, a “fed” Katarina is considered as one of the scariest champions in the game, being part of the best scaling champs in LoL. As an Assassin, you jump into the fight and burst down an enemy champion, often a squishy target.

Katarina’s kit is perfect for being the backline assassin that her team needs. Her abilities allows her to hop in, take down a target, and hop out without much trouble.

Here are Katarina’s abilities in League of Legends:

Voracity (Passive): Whenever an enemy dies that Katarina has damaged in the last three seconds, her ability cooldown is reduced by fifteen seconds.

Bouncing Blade (Q): Katarina throws a dagger, dealing Magic Damage to the selected target and two nearby enemies; the dagger then lands behind the primary target.

Preparation (W): Katarina tosses a dagger into the air and gains 50% movement speed that decays over 1.25 seconds.

Shunpo (E): Katarina dashes to a target enemy, ally, or dagger. If it is an enemy, Katarina deals Magic Damage – otherwise, she strikes the nearest enemy in range.

Death Lotus (R): Katarina becomes a furry of Blades as she rapidly attacks the nearest three enemies with her knives, dealing Magic Damage and Physical Damage and applying Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds.

Should you build AP or AD items

Considering that her abilities scale mostly with AP, Katarina players often build her as an AP Assassin, with core items being Lich Bane and Shadowflame.

On the other hand, her Ultimate also benefits from AD items, so more experienced Kata players sometimes go for the on-hit build, with BOTRK, Nashor’s Tooth and Kraken Slayer as the core items.

To answer the main question, there is no only one correct way to build Katarina. She benefits from both AP and AD items, so you should experiment with different builds, according to your matchup and playstyle.

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