Katarina has a poor laning phase but doesn't really fall off late, when played around her in solo queue at all ELOs she can carry games for teams very easily. She can roam bot lane and very easily pick up kills and during the later stages of the game in team fights, if your team focus's out the enemies with CC and keeps them CC'd or away from Katarina she can deal huge amounts of damage very quickly. It seems like in an environment like the LCS teams would have the synergy necessary to keep champions that can shutdown Katarina in fights off of her, so why is it that she is considered a poor pick and see's very little play? Why don't teams try building a CC heavy composition around her similar to what was done with Kog Maw a lot recently?
League-of-legends – Why is Katarina, a snowball that when played around can carry games considered completely unviable in the LCS
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As a jungle I can see some mistake in your speech ... and Iwill point it out so you can see where you can improve in my opinion :
I usually start red and then gank top immediately
you can't just do that all the time you have to adapt your route to your team, the other team and the other jungler
Solutions :
- Identify the lane that you think /will be pushed fast/is strong early/could snowball/ and try to finish your route near this lane (lvl 3) and gank this lane.
- Think of what route the opposite jungler will take and /couter jungle/Counter gank/ him (Lee sin is very effective for that)
- ...
I build assassin Lee Sin and build full AD, with the occasional tanky item.
- Adapt your build to the enemy team and the needs of your team
even if you prefer building AD you can just no brain build.
usually have a positive k/d ratio
It doesn't matter not your job ;-)
I can't gank them because they can get under their turret very quickly.
If they are under their tower they should be dominated
You could try going in their back ward jump Q > R > Q so you get them out of their tower and you follow them out of turret range with the resonating strike (just an idea)
If you can get them out of their tower tank 3 tower shot and leave your laner take the kill it would be a very good play
I feel I can't do anything late game in team fights either
Your role as a Lee Sin in team fight could be :
- Engage and kick 1 carry out of their team and then instant kill him
- Kick someone anoying away from your carries (the most important)
- Slow the peoples that chase your carries
- Shield your carries
- CC the other carries to help yours kill them
At a point I just backdoor, but the opposing team usually sees me and ganks me, leaving me dead to watch my team lose.
Stop dooing that... stay with your team.
I can never get my items unless I take all of my teams laning kills.
Stop thinking like that and imagine what your carries could do with this gold if you had give them the kill(s)
To conclude, as a jungle your role is not to carry your team ... It's to carry your carries so they can carry the team ;-) Most of the champion are a lot more gold efficient than lee sin... So I think you should try to play FOR your team or change your position to Lee Sin Mid.
There's nothing you can do far from facing them without your minions or taunting them, since they have more priority facing minions when champs don't autoattack each other.
Minions prioritize targets in the following order:
- An enemy champion designated by a call for help from an allied champion. (Enemy champion attacking an Allied champion)
- An enemy minion designated by a call for help from an allied champion. (Enemy minion attacking an Allied champion)
- An enemy minion designated by a call for help from an allied minion. (Enemy minion attacking an Allied minion)
- An enemy turret designated by a call for help from an allied minion. (Enemy turret attacking an Allied minion)
- An enemy champion designated by a call for help from an allied minion. (Enemy champion attacking an Allied minion)
- The closest enemy minion.
- The closest enemy champion.
Best Answer
The main strength and problem with Katarina is her ultimate ability. Her Q, W and E abilities have very low AP scaling. For Q it is 40% scaling for initial cast and 20% scaling damage bonus when the mark is consumed. For W and E it 25% with 60% AD scaling on her W. Her ultimate also has a 25% AP scaling for every dagger. She throws out a dagger ever 0.25 seconds for 2.5 seconds.
2.5 / 0.25 = 10This means that if someone stands in her ult for the full duration she will inflict 250% of her AP as damage on to the enemy.
If Katarina gets CC'd instantly, no damage. If the enemy builds a team composition to counter her then you are left with a champion that has a bad early game and horrible scaling. Pros will be able to do this effectively meaning that choosing Katarina results in the champ being useless for the entire game.
You brought up Kog'Maw which is a valid point. The difference between Kog'Maw and Katarina is that Kog is ranged and deals mixed damage. Both of these greatly increase his survivability and damage during crucial late game teamfights. Kog being ranged makes it a lot easier for his team to protect him. On the other hand, Katarina has to dive into an entire team to get her damage out. When Kat dives, the enemy team can easily CC her and instantly burst her down. Also Kog deals mixed damage, both Physical and Magic Damage making him great at dealing with tanks. His percentage health damage also helps with that. Katarina does mainly Mainly Magic Damage making her easier to itemize against her and stop her in teamfights.
To wrap this up, Katarina is too one dimensional and her low AP scaling and need for resets punishes her ability to be played in the LCS. she is also outshined by hypercarries like Kog'Maw who do much more damage and are able to survive for longer.