Katarina ARAM Build and Guide

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch; ARAM balance numbers come from the League of Legends Wiki’s champion data.

Katarina in ARAM receives 10 ability haste and 120% tenacity, with no damage changes at all. Her passive Voracity dramatically reduces her remaining ability cooldowns when an enemy champion dies that she damaged recently, and the single lane on the Howling Abyss forces the constant teamfights where those cooldown reductions chain.

Katarina’s items were picked for what they do in this patch, dagger by dagger. We don’t use win-rate data.

How is Katarina changed in ARAM?

100% damage dealt and 100% damage taken means Riot hasn’t touched her damage in either direction. The extra 10 ability haste helps a little. Voracity still does the heavy lifting on takedowns. For what it’s worth, the 120% tenacity is nice to have on a champ who hates getting locked down.

Why does Katarina’s kit work in one lane?

Five enemies sharing one lane means constant fighting, and honestly that’s the exact environment she wants since Voracity turns every kill into another full rotation of abilities. What does each ability do here?

• Voracity (passive): when an enemy champion dies that she damaged recently, her remaining ability cooldowns are dramatically reduced. Picking up a Dagger slashes nearby enemies for magic damage. Multiple kills in one teamfight let her cycle through her full combo again and again.
• Bouncing Blade (Q): throws a Dagger that bounces to nearby enemies before landing on the ground. Clumped ARAM lanes give the bounce more targets to find.
• Preparation (W): burst of Move Speed and a Dagger tossed directly above her. The Dagger lands where she was standing, so she can Shunpo away and come back to pick it up for the Voracity slash.
• Shunpo (E): blinks to the target, striking it if it’s an enemy, or striking the nearest enemy otherwise.
• Death Lotus (R): channels massive magic damage to the 3 nearest enemy champions. A full channel in a packed lane can decide the fight.

She’s melee. 125 attack range. Every ability except Bouncing Blade puts her inside the enemy team, and that’s where she either gets resets or gets killed.

What should a Katarina ARAM build include?

AP burst and a way to survive after the dive. She uses no mana, so every mana item in the shop is dead gold.

Hextech Gunblade (80 Ability Power, 40 Attack Damage, 10% Omnivamp) is the first item to look at. The active slows a target by 25% for 1.5 seconds, setting up the full combo on anyone caught out of position. Zhonya’s Hourglass (105 Ability Power, 50 Armor) solves her survival problem: Shunpo into five people, channel Death Lotus, then hit Stasis for 2.5 seconds while the team follows up. When to press Hourglass matters: too early wastes the channel, too late and she’s already dead.

Rabadon’s Deathcap (130 Ability Power, plus 30% increased total AP) is the scaling pick once she already has two or three other AP items. Stormsurge (90 Ability Power, 15 Magic Penetration, 6% Move Speed) adds flat magic pen for burst, and the movement speed actually matters, she needs to walk over those daggers between resets.

How do you play Katarina on the Howling Abyss?

• Don’t engage first. Let the front line start the fight. Then Shunpo to a low-health target and go for the reset.
• Pick up every Dagger. Voracity’s damage on Dagger pickup is a huge part of her output. Q a target, blink to the Dagger’s landing spot, and the passive slash hits everyone nearby.
• Ult from the center, not the edge. Death Lotus hits the 3 nearest champions, not the 3 lowest-health ones. Channeling from the side risks hitting a tank instead of the carry whose death would dramatically reduce cooldowns.
• Track the enemy’s CC cooldowns. Wait until they’ve blown their main CC before you go in.

How do shopping and Mark change the plan?

Two ARAM rules matter here. Katarina shops only at the fountain, at spawn and each respawn. Know your next buy. With no base trips, the health relics along the lane are her only refill.

Mark’s snowball, once it lands, opens a dash to whoever it hit, which gives Katarina one more way into a fight before she spends any daggers. For Katarina, it’s a second gap closer on top of Shunpo. Thing is, she already has a reliable blink, so Mark works best as the opener: snowball a squishy target, dash in with Mark, then save Shunpo for the dagger pickup or the escape if the reset doesn’t come. Her spells lock at the loading screen. If Mark isn’t earning its keep, you’re stuck with it all game.

Is Katarina good in ARAM?

Look, she either takes over teamfights or gets CC-chained and explodes, depends entirely on what the enemy team drafted. Against teams with few interrupts, she chains reset after reset until the fight’s over. Against a composition loaded with stuns and silences, she jumps in and dies before a single Dagger lands.

Same thing happens on the Rift, by the way. Our Katarina counters guide covers the matchup details. For skins, see the Katarina champion page, and full item stats are in our database.

If you roll Katarina in ARAM against three melee champions with no hard CC, enjoy. A team loaded with stuns and silences on the other side? Maybe hit reroll.

FAQ

Does Katarina have ARAM nerfs?

No damage nerfs. She deals 100% damage and takes 100% damage. She receives 10 ability haste and 120% tenacity as buffs, according to the League of Legends Wiki’s ARAM data.

Why is Katarina’s ability haste so high in ARAM?

The 10 ability haste modifier shaves a bit off her base cooldowns. During fights Voracity already dramatically reduces cooldowns on takedowns anyway, so the extra haste just means she walks into each fight with abilities up.

What items does Katarina build on the Howling Abyss?

AP items without mana: Hextech Gunblade, Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rabadon’s Deathcap and Stormsurge. If it has mana, skip it.

Can Death Lotus be interrupted?

Death Lotus is a channel, as described in the ability text.

Is this build based on win rates?

No. Katarina’s patch 26.21 ability and item text is what this page leans on.