Katarina might get buffs in the near future, as Riot August opines, looking at her low win rate in League of Legends.
Katarina is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable faces in League of Legends. This Penta-killing Beyblade has been the cause of every squishy champ’s nightmare. A fed Katarina takes over the entire game all by herself – we have seen that picture countless times. Although Katarina’s explosive prowess is a pretty common phenomenon in the lower ranks, her deadliness seems to reduce on the upper side of the ladder greatly.
But nowadays, Katarina seems to be kind of slow in wiping out her enemies. This is also reflected in her sub-50% win rate as of patch 13.20. In one of Riot August‘s recent Twitch streams, he discussed champions with low presence in Pro Plays. Naturally, Katarina was brought up. We rarely see her picked up on the big stages by Professional Players. But that’s mostly because Katarina’s design inherently doesn’t fit into the Pro Play style. That’s a discussion for another day, though.
My focus in this article will be to explain why Katarina might need a buff to restore her win rate back to 50%.
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But Doesn’t Katarina One-Shot Everyone? Why Buff Her?
According to Riot August, Katarina deserves to get buffed. Currently, she sits at 48.86% win rate across all ranks. The Rioter thinks Katarina mains’ contribution to her win rate has more weight than the performance by non-mains. I agree with it because Katarina is a relatively high-skill-floor champion, even among the Assassin class. That’s one of the reasons that attracts the one-trick ponies.
So she sits at below 50% win rate, which signals that even the highly skilled Kat mains are struggling to win with her. In hindsight, it might be hard to believe because the mental image associated with Katarina is a dominating one. We, the players, mostly remember the moments when she stomps us, leaving us utterly helpless.
What goes unnoticed is how weak her laning is. If Katarina cannot get leads from roaming, she practically loses all her value in the game. Moreover, her shunpo always lands behind the target. So, smart players will offset a big portion of Katarina’s one-shot ability.
Contagion Effect From Other Lanes
Recently, Riot has been adjusting the jungle and trying to extend the survivability of the marksmen class, a prime target for assassins. I think that because of such adjustments, some assassins may have lost their instant-deleting power. Even though they will always win against a squishy target, their efficiency has taken a hit, mainly because of the buffs to marksmen items and their effects.
Katarina also seems not to execute the marksmen as fast as before. The fact that her passive requires her to get a takedown first to unleash her power fully doesn’t help either. Moreover, with supports being so strong in the meta, the squishy champs get quite a bit of sustain. All of this is clearly reflected in her 48.86%, despite having one of the most dedicated and skilled OTPs.
In conclusion, that’s why I think Riot August was on the spot in advocating for Kat’s buffs. However, Riot already has a lot on its hands right now with the upcoming patch and pre-season changes. When they might address this issue remains to be seen.
