Katarina strategy

Basic Gameplan

Katarina excels at using small pokes to annoy and frustrate an opponent into pressing buttons. She capitalizes on this using her above-average movement to bait whiffs and punish them, and to generate counterhits with excellent CH tools. She gets rewarded for these with above-average combo damage. Most of her tools put her in frame-ambiguous situations (-3 to +3) where neither player has too many of their options restricted, especially related to movement. This requires her to read opponent tendencies well to capitalize on them.

Katarina's gameplan can be abstractly described as follows (best viewed on desktop) -

                                                        ┌──────────────────┐
                                                        │                  │
                                                    ┌──►|  Use movement to ├──────────────┐
                                                    │   │   create whiffs  │              │
                                                    │   │                  │              │
┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────┐     |   └──────────────────┘   ┌──────────▼───────────┐
│                 │     │                     │ Yes │                          │                      │
│  Poke opponent  ├────►│  Opponent mashing?  ├─────┤                          │     Get massive      │
│                 │     │                     │     │                          │    combo damage!     │
└───────▲─────────┘     └────────┬────────────┘     |   ┌──────────────────┐   │                      │
        │                        │                  │   │                  │   └───────────▲──────────┘
        │                        │                  │   │     Fish for     │               │
        └────────────────────────┘                  └──►|    counterhits   ├───────────────┘
                  No                                    │                  │
                                                        └──────────────────┘

It is recommended to stay at tip d+3 range with her. This way, all her pokes are still a threat, and a single backdash can cause careless opponent retaliation to whiff, allowing Katarina to optimally access her poke and whiff-punishment game.

Pokes

Katarina wants to use her poking tools to chip away at opponent health and pressure opponents into retaliating. Her key poking tools are:

1

basic i10 high jab which is +1 on block. Use it to keep up pressure and watch for opponent responses

1,1

basic jab string which has extensions to discourage opponents from taking their turn, even though it is minus on block (see Mental Frame Advantage). Use it to keep up poke pressure

1,1,2

high-extension to 1,1 which gives a whopping +7 on block, but can be ducked and launched. On block, d/f+4 is a common frame trap, but good opponents will simply backdash or sidestep if you try these flowcharts. The best option is to dash in and continue pressure

1,1,1

mid-extension to 1,1. Use it to discourage opponents from ducking 1,1,2

df+1

basic i13 mid-poke to prevent opponents from using big moves, and catching them ducking or using high-crushes. It is -2 on block, so a magic 4 will trade with retaliatory df+1s and CH-launch anything slower

df+1,1

high extension to d/f+1 to discourage opponents from pressing or stepping after d/f+1 on block. It is technically duckable, but is fairly quick so most players won't be able to if used sparingly

3,3,3

mid-string that can be hit-confirmed after the first two or three hits for safety; hits for half a combo's worth of damage and leaves opponents in crouch; it tracks surprisingly well

d+3

i16 standing low poke which is neutral on hit and -12 on block. Use it to chip away at opponents who are stand-guarding too much

d+4

basic i12 low which has amazing range for a move of its type, high-crushes and is minus on hit. Use it to chip away at your opponent. Also useful to enter FC for mixups (although you enter at minus frames, so be careful). Try playing around with the range you use it at to bait whiffs with a backdash.

1,4

high-low string which gives +1 on hit. Serves as a good round ender. The second hit can be low-parried even on hit, so don't get predictable.

Counterhits

Katarina wants to use her CH tools to catch an opponent disrespecting her frames. Use them after a plus on block move like a jab after keeping up pressure and forcing an opponent to stay still for a while. She can also fish for CHs using them if she has a read on her opponent's timing. Her main counterhit tools are:

4

standard i11 magic 4 which is -12 on block but has extensions so is typically not punished unless overused. Requires a tricky pickup with f,F+2 or f,F+4 for a full combo.

4,4

extension to magic 4 which allows for an easier pickup into a full combo. Can be sidestepped right, but this is tricky to do

df+4

standard i15 mid CH launcher. It is a knee, so it is unparriable by generic reversals.

d+2

long-range, somewhat slow (i20) CH launcher which is unsafe at -10, but can be used to transition into HAR with plus frames on block, which will evade the punish. Use it if you have a read on an opponent approaching you, or to switch up your timing on fishing for CHs.

b+4

long-range (i17) CH launcher which is very unsafe at -15, but has follow-ups (b+4,1+2 and b+4,3+4) which will catch opponents if they attempt to punish. It also has some pushback at tip range, which makes punish attempts whiff. Use it if you have a read on an opponent approaching you. b+4,1+2 gives +1 on block but is a duckable high, while b+4,3+4 risks a -12 WS punish (which isn't too bad, depending on the match-up). Use the latter at first if you want to discourage opponents from punishing b+4, then CH-fish with raw b+4.

b+3

i12 mid poke with a unique animation on CH, leading to a free mixup attempt; having an i12 mid poke is rare among the cast, and having it also give a mixup on CH is the cherry on top. Use it offensively to interrupt duck jabs or generic d+4s when it is your turn.

Whiff Punishers

Katarina wants to use her above-average sidesteps and backdashes to cause opponent retaliation (from her poke pressure) to whiff and capitalize on these with some great long-range whiff punishers. Her main whiff punishment tools are:

1,1

use for small whiffs when in range, typically after jab or d/f+1 whiffs from a sidestep

2,2

use for medium whiffs, typically after a backdash. Be careful because this is -12 on block if you misjudge the timing, and a high-high, so the opponent might duck after whiffing.

3,3,3,3,3

an i14 mid string which can be hit-confirmed. Use it for whiffs out of sidesteps or backdashes. It is safe (-9) if you can hit-confirm and stop after 2 hits. If you stop after 3 hits (which is easier to do), you still only eat an i10 punish. This can lead to another ambiguous situation if you transition to HAR to evade the punish. This string can also be used as a poke, and it tends to clip steppers.

uf+4,4

generic hopkick. Kat's hopkick has above-average range, so make use of it.

uf+3

a big somersault which leads to great damage but is -15 on block. Use it only for the biggest whiffs.

f,F+2,4

this has great range due to the f,F input, so use it for long-range whiff-punishes. Beware of opponents ducking and launching the second hit if this gets blocked.

b+4,1+2 > ub+4

alternative i17 mid whiff punisher for when hopkick might not reach. The second hit can be ducked and launched, so be careful

Dealing with stepping

Katarina's key poking tools all have a common weakness - they can be easily stepped to the right (or are lows). An opponent who knows how and where to step Katarina's tools can be difficult to deal with, and greatly limit her moveset. Kat has limited and low-reward tools to deal with stepping. Use these when you think an opponent might step. However, using fundamental, movement-based techniques like dash-realignment and timing delays to catch stepping is a must. Kat's best tools to deal with stepping opponents are:

b+1,2

a safe i14 mid-mid string which tracks SSR. It has good range. Kat moves forward with this move, so it can be a good gap-closer, but at -8, you completely give up your turn on block. It is +5 on hit which allows for good mix-up options.

df+2

a safe i17 mid poke which tracks SSR. It is slow for a poke but has better range, as well as the threat of extensions. Use it at range 1 or beyond.

d+3

previously mentioned as a poke, also tracks both sides

d+4

previously mentioned as a poke, also tracks both sides

f,F+4

a slow homing move with decent range. It is -13 but has pushback which makes it mostly unpunishable except at the wall. Use it to discourage stepping at range 1.5, but beware of whiffing since it recovers very slowly.

Breaking Turtles

Katarina's poking arsenal lacks an effective tool to encourage opponents to duck. d+3 and d+4 (12 and 7 dmg respectively) do not do much damage, nor do they give Kat plus frames to continue her pressure. Her bigger lows (df+3+4, db+3, db+4) are slow and very risky, and therefore inadvisable. Her best tools for this situation are her full-crouch (FC) mixup and Harrier mixup, the former of which can also be entered from Harrier. If an opponent is turtling or they've been sufficiently conditioned to respect your frames, you can enforce these mixups to get more damage.

FC Mixups

Katarina has a medium-risk, medium-reward FC mixup. Kat needs to stay at range 1-1.5 for it to be a threat, so ensure the opponent is sufficiently respecting you so that you can crouch in their face. Katarina's tools to use for her full-crouch mixup are:

ws4

i11 mid from crouch. Use it to test opponent responses from FC. If it catches them, you get +8 to continue pressure (and can try more rewarding mids from FC). If it gets blocked, you are only left at -3, allowing you to move freely. This makes it a very useful tool

ws3,3,3,3,3

similar to the standing version, use this to catch ducking opponents. Gives more damage than ws4, but needs to be hit-confirmed for safety

FC df+4

a chunky i17 low which is -16 on block, and tracks very well. It is unseeable but risky, and the best option to use to encourage opponents to duck. This can be abused on characters who don't get a full launch if they block it (e.g. Steve, Marduk)

ws2

standard i15 launcher from FC. It is -13 on block, so use it only when you have a read on the opponent ducking

Some setups to enforce the FC mixup are -

• d+4 into FC mix
• df+3,3,D into FC mix
• df+3+4 into FC mix
• HAR.D into FC mix

Harrier Mixups

Katarina has decent options for mixing up opponents from HAR if they respect it. HAR mixups are somewhat dependent on how much the opponent knows the Katarina match-up, since the tools can be easily neutralized if they know how to. The risk/reward goes increasingly against Katarina the more your opponent knows the matchup.

Katarina can enter Harrier from a number of strings, and this affects the usefulness of her options from it. These are explained in more detail in the Harrier section. This section will just detail Katarina's tools to mix-up from Harrier, which are:

HAR.D

a basic HAR cancel into FC (or even another HAR cancel) can be great to test opponent responses to HAR. If they jab or df+1, use HAR.1 next time. If they duck jab, use HAR.uf+3 or HAR.df+3 next time (or repeat the string without entering Harrier and low parry). If they SSR, use HAR.df+2,3 or enter full crouch and use FC.df+4 or ws4

HAR.1

use if you expect the opponent to retaliate; gives a 50 dmg mini-combo on CH, but can be ducked and launched, or stepped right

HAR.4

use if you expect the opponent to duck; gives a wall-bounce

HAR.uf+3

use if you expect the opponent to use a duck jab or low; it low crushes and launches on CH

HAR.df+3

use as a low mix-up option from HAR; also low crushes and has a similar animation to HAR u/f+3

Panic Moves

Katarina doesn't have too many defensive options such as reversals or good backswing blows. Some moves which can serve as decent panic moves in a pinch are:

4

standard magic 4 which you can mash if your opponent is pressuring you. If their pressure happens to have holes in it, you might score a CH

b+3

i12 mid get-off-me move which gives a unique animation on CH creating space between Kat and her opponent. This also doubles as decent keep-out tool

b+3+4

Kat's backswing blow which high-crushes and has decent tracking to both sides. Use when an opponent is pressuring with highs. Despite being punishable at -14, it creates enough space on block that most characters cannot reliably punish it.

b+2

Kat's second backswing blow which launches. It doesn't create a lot of space before becoming active, so use it with care

f+3+4

standard mid power crush; punishable (-13) but can help you get out of pressure

Keep-out

Katarina is not designed to play keep-out and doesn't as such have great tools for this playstyle. Apart from fundamental jabs and df+1s, most tools you could use for keep-out need to be timed well, otherwise they could be baited and whiff-punished. Kat's best tools for playing keep-out are:

b+3

a mid-range mid poke with decent recovery, that pushes opponents back on CH

b+4

a mid-range CH launcher that can catch opponents rushing in, and has follow-ups that can cause hesitation if the opponent is looking to whiff punish it.

d+1

a mid-range mid poke with poor recovery that knocks down on CH

df+3+4

a long-range evasive low which is normally on the seeable side (i25) but can work for keep-out when the opponent is focused on getting in

Wall Game

Having your opponent at the wall skews the risk-reward of many mixups and moves in your favour. Mixups become more rewarding since the opponent cannot backdash to escape further pressure. Moves which wall splat or wall bounce allow for a wall combo, that greatly increases their reward.

Katarina's best wall-splatting tools are:

3,4

fast i14 mid-high that wall splats. Since the second hit can be ducked, mitigate its risk by harassing the opponent with standing 3 by itself. You can also mix in 3,3,3 hit confirm to catch them ducking.

CH b+1,F > HAR.1

only wallsplats on CH, but the HAR.1 can be confirmed on CH. Fish for it after harassing your opponent with pokes, or with b+1 Harrier cancels. b+1 is also good for checking an opponent trying to step out of the wall.

b+1,1

fast, NH wall-splatting mid-mid string that is punishable (-12) on block. Use it if you have a read on your opponent ducking or stepping.

df+2,2_4

slower NH wall-splatting string. The mid extension is punishable (-10) on block, while the high gives plus frames. Tracks people trying to step, and has good range, so you can poke them with it from afar. Test with just df+2 and watch for their response. If they're ducking, use df+2,2 otherwise fish with df+2,4. Remember that df+2 by itself is fairly minus.

f,F+4

slow, and becomes punishable at the wall (-13) by all characters

An opponent could simply stand block and work their way out of the wall. Here, you will need to use lows. Katarina only gains one buff to her lows at the wall, and that is db+3 can now be followed up with ub+4. You should still use this sparingly (as it is somewhat reactable at 24f) and use d+3 and FC df+4 instead. Use ws3,4 as the mid mixup from FC to score a wall splat. Alternatively, you could mixup between SS db+3 and SS b+3+4 instead. The SS disguises the animation somewhat making it more difficult to react to.

Katarina has only one wall bounce tool in HAR.4. You can fish for wall bounces by mixing HAR 4 with HAR 1 to discourage ducking.

Okizeme

Post ub+4

After ub+4, the opponent is FDFA. This situation occurs after many of Katarina's moves on counterhit. See the Minicombos section for a full list.

Katarina options

HAR.df+3

hits grounded; beats stand blocking; can be floated with iws4 (ws4 > d+2,F,DB > ws4 > d+2,F > HAR df+2,3 S! > dash > d+2,F > HAR 4)

HAR.uf+3

hits grounded or crouching for an ub+4 follow-up (which loops the situation again); safe on block; can be floated with iws4

HAR.1

lands as CH on iws4, giving a f,F+3 > ub+4 follow-up (which loops the situation again); can be ducked and launched, but impossible to whiff punish from grounded since FDFA moves are too slow

HAR.4

must be done immediately; safe on block; can be punished for a float with FDFT.3 (Katarina moves to the other side of the defender)

dash d+3+4

on reaction to ground roll, deep dash into d+3+4

Defender options

Techroll

can be done in any direction

backroll

not included in mixup analysis since it has the same payoff as techrolling

DB

iws4

done by holding DB to recover crouching and then doing ws4 as fast as possible

OTG

staying grounded and punishing a whiffed option with FDFT.3 (Katarina moves to the other side after whiffing HAR.4)

Sideroll Right (OTG.d+1)

causes all other options whiff except dash d+3+4, which hits for 22 dmg

Mixup:Kat-ub4-oki.gbt (download) ^{What is this?}

Katarina post-ub+4 oki mixup in the mirror on infinite stage.

	Techroll	DB	iws4	OTG	OTG.1
HAR.df+3	20	-15	-53	16	0
HAR.uf+3	0	38	-53	34	0
HAR.1	0	-72	52	0	0
HAR.4	0	27	32	-47	0
dash d+3+4	0	0	0	22	22

Nash equilibrium with payoff 2.7

HAR.df+3

0.14

HAR.1

0.03

HAR.4

0.26

dash d+3+4

0.58

Techroll

0.6

DB

0.1

iws4

0.18

OTG

0.12

Payoff for dominated options

HAR.uf+3

-1.96

OTG.1

-12.67

Post HAR 4 ender

Katarina gets this situation after ending her combos with HAR 4. The opponent is FUFT.

Katarina options

HAR.df+3

hits grounded and techroll to either side; -12 on block if defender ducks

HAR.uf+3

hits grounded or if defender ducks, and gives ub+4 follow-up; safe on block

HAR cancel

HAR dash into cancel to bait a wake-up attack or spring kick, and launch with uf+4,4

Defender options

techroll

if the opponent techrolls or quickstands into standing guard

DB

if the opponent techrolls or quickstands into crouching guard; since Katarina has below average ws i11 punishment (15 dmg), an above-average value of 25 dmg has been assumed for analysis

wakeup attack

if the opponent uses FUFT.3 or FUFT.4; defender should ideally never do this

spring kick

if the opponent uses FUFT.3+4

grounded

if the opponent stays grounded

kip-up

always gets beaten by Katarina's options, so not included in the analysis

Mixup:Kat-har4-oki.gbt (download) ^{What is this?}

Katarina post-HAR.4 ender oki in the mirror on an infinite stage

	Techroll	DB	FUFT.3_4	FUFT.3+4	OTG
HAR.df+3	20	-15	42	-20	16
HAR.uf+3	0	38	76	-16	34
HAR.D	0	0	72	72	0

Nash equilibrium with payoff 7.46

HAR.df+3

0.37

HAR.uf+3

0.34

HAR.D

0.28

Techroll

0.66

DB

0.24

FUFT.3+4

0.1

Payoff for dominated options

FUFT.3_4

-62.19

OTG

-17.65

Post-1+3 throw

Techroll

b+4, ub+4

stays on the ground

d+3+4

Post 2+4 throw

forward roll

ub+4, d+3

Post-flipover oki

Occurs after Katarina ends a wall combo with ub+4 which causes a flipover. The defender can choose to techroll, in which case there's a mixup, or not, leaving the opponent in FDFA and giving Katarina a guaranteed OTG.d+3+4 (22 dmg) (other options are b+4 (13 dmg) and d+3 (8 dmg)). HAR options are not included since they tend to whiff completely on opponent tech roll apart from HAR.1, which is beaten by both stand and crouch guard. Other useful moves which whiff in this situation if done immediately after ub+4 are f+3, b+1,2, df+2 and d+4.

Katarina options

db+4

catches techroll into stand guard, but will be beaten by crouch guard; possible to react to, or fuzzy guard, since it is slower. Can lead to an ub+4 follow-up if the wall angle is favourable. Risky.

df+3

catches techroll into crouch guard; can lead to mental frame advantage even on block due to the extension (df+3,3)

b+4

catches techroll into crouch guard; can lead to mental frame advantage on block due to extensions (b+4,1+2 and b+4,3+4)

dash d+3

catches techroll into stand guard, but will be beaten by crouch guard; the dash is necessary for re-alignment, otherwise, the d+3 will whiff

dash 3,3,3 hit-confirm

catches techroll into crouch guard, but will be beaten by stand guard; the dash is necessary for re-alignment, otherwise, the first hit will whiff, but the string re-aligns from the second hit onwards.

dash f+3

catches techroll into crouch guard, but will be beaten by stand guard; still favourable since the moves gives plus frames, and can CH-launch any desperate retaliation.

Defender options

Techroll into stand guard

the defender techrolls in any direction and holds B

Techroll into crouch guard

the defender techrolls in any direction and hold DB

Setups

Flowcharts

• d+4 into hopkick will crush jabs
• d+3 into b+2 will crush jabs for a launch. b+2 is a decent anti-jab string tool in general
• 1,1,2 into df+4 is a good CH-fishing flowchart at low levels. The follow-up df+4 can be stepped right by every character.

Unblockable Setup

Setting up Katarina's unblockable (db+3+4) involves cutting short a combo in order to catch the opponent techrolling or holding back. The unblockable will connect if the opponent techs, and will whiff if they stay grounded. The opponent can get up in time for a launch punish on the whiffed unblockable. The combo must have very short carry (usually only one filler hit, and 2,2 or df+2,4 for tailspin) and end in df+1 after the screw to set up the unblockable. If more filler hits are done, or HAR.df+2,3 is used for tailspin, the opponent can evade the unblockable by holding B. The opponent can still evade the unblockable by holding B and performing a single backdash on wakeup.

regular launcher (e.g. uf+4,4)

[+46] df+1 df+2,4 S! df+1 [+60] db+3+4