Sometimes I receive requests that I can't figure out at the time. For example, Katarina was an early request for a build but one that I couldn't quite put together - until Secrets of Magic released. I've had other characters on the list since realizing I could build her, but I've finally gotten around to it! This is a character that needs certain specific spells but her list can otherwise be filled with whatever you. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in an attempt to fit the character. These choices might not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Let's get into the build for Katarina the Sinister Blade from League of Legends!
KATARINA, THE SINISTER BLADE
CHARACTER Katarina Du Couteau
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Born the eldest daughter of General Du Couteau, she was put through harsh and grueling training to become an assassin in service of Noxus
o She grew up hungry for her father's approval and continually tried to prove herself, even testing poisons on herself to build her resistance
o However, in her eagerness, she disobeyed an order and her own adoptive brother was sent after her - an encounter she survived, but not without earning her distinctive scar
o When her father disappeared, Kat sought to ingratiate herself to Swain, killing off his political rivals and aiding his ascension only for her father to reappear and warn against trusting him
o Nevertheless, she killed King Jarvan III of Demacia
o Kat wields a pair of blades that she has extraordinary control over due to a hemomantic ritual infusing them with her blood
o Her passive Voracity reduces her cooldowns on a kill and causes her to twirl, slicing around her whenever she picks up a dagger
o With her Bouncing Blade, she hurls a dagger that bounces between foes, dealing magic damage
o She can also throw a dagger into the air with Preparation, increasing her movement speed until it lands
o Shunpo causes Kat to blink to a target or one of her knives, slashing at everybody around her
o Death Lotus serves as her ultimate and causes her to launch a volley of knives in an area around her, damaging those close to her
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Versatile Human – Fleet
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition – Magus’s Analysis
Background: Hired Killer
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Stealth (trained), Underworld Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Terrain Stalker – Rubble
Class & Subclass: Starlit Span Magus
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Society (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Spellbook: Cantrips – gouging claw, phase bolt, ray of frost, telekinetic projectile, warp step; 1st – shocking grasp
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 12, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 12)
A human of the Noxus Empire, Kat was trained from a young age as an assassin, which this build attempts to match with the hired killer background. With the war-like nation of Noxus, using the Terrain Stalker feat it grants for rubble terrain made the most sense. Since devising a means of building this character, she has been a magus but her hybrid study has changed. Initially envisioned as a laughing shadow magus, her abilities mostly seem to involve her throwing her knives, which led to the decision to use the starlit span. Weapon-wise, she is going to probably make the best use out of throwing knives and she should be fine to wield her customary dual daggers. Empowering and throwing on of these daggers with spells such as phase bolt or telekinetic projectile function as her Bouncing Blade. Spells that enhance her speed, such as warp step, help her at least partially create the effect of her Preparation ability but more of that will come later. Some aspects of this build actually rely upon her spell DC, so she will be trying to use a higher Intelligence even if those boosts might be better suited elsewhere.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Rogue Dedication
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall, Quick Jump
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (trained), Occultism (trained)
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Stealth (expert)
o Spellbook: 2nd – acid arrow
o Gear: +1 throwing knife, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Sneak Attacker
o Skill Feat: Lengthy Diversion
o Gear: +1 thrower’s bandolier, necklace of knives, hat of disguise, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 14)
o Ancestry Feat: Clever Improviser
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert), Crafting (trained)
o Gear: +1 striking thrower’s bandolier, bracelet of dashing, bracers of missile deflection, necklace of knives, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
Kat’s abilities are rather easy to simulate, leading to largely to choices in the build mostly to
help it function or meet flavor. Further delving into her profession as an assassin, Kat picks up the Rogue Dedication, which also grants her some additional skills but will also provide her with Sneak Attacker, allowing her to take advantage of flat-footed foes. Internally, Preparation feels like throwing a blade up to distract an enemy, leading to the inclusion of Lengthy Diversion for the build. Cat Fall and Quick Jump felt fitting for an assassin and Incredible Initiative helps her get a jump on foes and take advantage of her surprise attack. Clever Improviser is always a solid choice for characters who have to infiltrate and execute targets in varying locales.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Basic Trickery – Quick Draw
o Skill Feat: Shadow Mark
o Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking thrower’s bandolier, sleeves of storage, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, hat of disguise
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Stealth (master)
o Spellbook: 4th – weapon storm
o Gear: endless grimoire, +1 leather, quick runner’s shirt, +1 striking thrower’s bandolier, bracelet of dashing, bracers of missile deflection
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Spell Swipe
o Skill Feat: Swift Sneak
o Gear: boots of bounding, endless grimoire, clandestine cloak, +1 leather, +1 striking thrower’s bandolier, sleeves of storage
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Incredible Improvisation
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Spellbook: 5th – blink charge
o Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, cloak of elvenkind, endless grimoire, quick runner’s shirt, +1 striking thrower’s bandolier
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence (Str 16, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 10, Cha 14)
o Class Feat: Meteoric Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: greater shadow armor rune, +1 resilient leather, lover’s gloves, boots of bounding, endless grimoire, +1 striking thrower’s bandolier
Another important aspect of the rogue archetype is that it will allow Kat to pick up Quick Draw so that she can draw and Strike as a single action – this is particularly handy for those that want to play into her dual weapon wielding aspect. To mirror the spin from Voracity that she performs when picking up a knife, she uses Spell Swipe, which allows her to slice out at multiple targets while still using a Spellstrike. Meteoric Spellstrike more closely resembles Bouncing Blade in the sense that it allows her to hurt multiple creatures when she throws her blade. On the skill side of things, she focuses slightly more on Stealth in this block to delve more into her ability as an assassin, taking feats such as Shadow Mark so she can single out her target and Swift Sneak for general functionality. As dexterous and slippery as she is, she also grabs Kip Up and Feather Step. This block also features the two most important spells of her build – blink charge to represent her Shunpo (replacing the dimensional assault she would’ve had as a laughing shadow magus) and weapon storm to represent Death Lotus, specifically with its emanation.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking thrower’s bandolier, thunderblast slippers, greater shadow armor rune, +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, gloves of storing
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Rapid Recharge
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking thrower’s bandolier, greater endless grimoire, greater shadow armor rune, greater rime crystal, lover’s gloves
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Stubborn Persistence
o Skill Increase: Society (expert)
o Gear: +2 greater striking thrower’s bandolier, +2 resilient leather, master magus ring, greater endless grimoire, thunderblast slippers, thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Strong Arm
o Skill Feat: Rolling Landing
o Gear: hellfire boots, +2 greater striking thrower’s bandolier, greater quick runner’s shirt, +2 resilient leather, cape of the mountebank, greater endless grimoire
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence (Str 18, Dex 21, Con 14, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 14)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Stealth (legendary), Survival (trained)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, ring of wizardry (type III), hellfire boots, +2 greater striking thrower’s bandolier, master magus ring, moderate boots of free running
The second aspect of Voracity is reducing her cooldowns, and this build seeks to emulate that with the inclusion of Rapid Recharge, allowing her to recharge her Spellstrike once per day as a free action. The actual usefulness of this feat is debatable and is mainly taken because it matches her passive nicely. Dipping back into her rogue archetype, Katarina can pick up Strong Arm to increase the range of her thrown weapons, increasing the range at which she can target creatures with her ranged Spellstrikes. With this build, Kat may find herself moving in and out of combat, leading to the inclusion of Toughness to give her a little more survivability.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Evasiveness
o Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak
o Gear: greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, major endless grimoire, hellfire boots, +2 greater striking thrower’s bandolier, greater cloak of elvenkind
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Bounce Back
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking thrower’s bandolier, greater shock weapon rune, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, ring of wizardry (type III), hellfire boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Bullseye
o Skill Feat: Slippery Prey
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking thrower’s bandolier, headbands of translocation, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient leather, major endless grimoire
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Thorough Search
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, anklets of alacrity, greater cloak of the bat, +3 greater striking thrower’s bandolier, greater shock weapon rune, greater thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 18, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o Class Feat: Supreme Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Steady Balance
o Gear: +3 major striking thrower’s bandolier, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, greater boots of free running, headbands of translocation, greater talisman cord
In these final levels, Kat grabs Evasiveness since she is a nimble warrior and magus unfortunately doesn’t entirely reflect that. She also grabs Bullseye from her rogue feats, which is a fun feat. Flavor-wise, it feels akin to her Preparation while mechanically it allows her to set up for a Spellstrike, being only a single action that also buffs her hit chances. Finally, Supreme Spellstrike keeps her permanently quickened, which plays slightly into Voracity as she can always use this action to recharge her Spellstrike. She invests in Society for her Magus’s Analysis since, as an assassin, her most likely targets are other humanoids. She also rounds out her Acrobatics and Stealth as a slippery slayer who gets in, kills her target, and gets out.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Rogue Dedication is the obvious choice for a free archetype game, but another caster archetype can help Katarina gain some additional spells that she can Spellstrike with. The rogue dip allows her to grab Skill Mastery so that she can keep up on skill proficiencies to access higher tier spellcasting feats. Alternatively, for players that want to focus more on the martial capabilities of Katarina rather than her magical power, she can make use of Dual-Weapon Warrior and its array of feats, including Dual Thrower.
BUILD CONCLUSION
As a citizen of Noxus born and raised to be an assassin, Katarina Du Couteau is represented as a human magus with the starlit span hybrid study and the hired killer background. Her dedication to being the best in her profession led to her testing poisons on herself to build up a resistance, represented by the Fast Recovery feat. Her favored weapons are a pair of blades that she can manipulate due to hemomantic rituals. Typically, these builds try to avoid relying on magical equipment to accomplish them, but a thrower’s bandolier is probably the best way to represent the array of knives she wields. For the cooldown effects of Voracity, Katarina uses Rapid Recharge and later Supreme Spellstrike to recharge her Spellstrike with greater ease. The spin effect of Voracity that triggers when she picks up her daggers comes from Spell Swipe, allowing her to Spellstrike and swing at multiple targets. Starlit Span helps cover Bouncing Blade though its multi-hit effect isn’t really achieved until she picks up Meteoric Spellstrike. Mechanics-wise, she uses speed-boosting spells such as warp step or fleet step for the effects of Preparation while options such as Lengthy Diversion and Bullseye plays a bit into the flavor of it. Katarina is reliant upon blink charge to create the effects of her Shunpo. Similarly, she relies on weapon storm to dish out her Death Lotus. This build creates an assassin capable of dishing out damage at range with her Spellstrikes but can also get with a Shunpo/blink charge, unleash a Death Lotus/weapon storm in the midst of her enemies, and then has tools to get back out.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. On the topic of filling requests, next week's build comes from this blog itself!
Have a fantastic Friday!
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