Plegian Katarina

Weapon: Fell Flambeau 

Assist: Positional Assist 

Special: Glimmer / Miracle 

Passive A: Close Foil / Close Counter 

Passive B: Vantage 

Passive C: Res Smoke / Joint Drive Atk

Sacred Seal: Atk/Def Solo / Heavy Blade / Brazen Atk/Spd

• High Attack and Fell Flambeau can make Katarina an excellent Enemy Phase sweeper. With Res Smoke’s -7 Resistance debuff active on enemies, Katarina effectively deals +19 damage, as Fell Flambeau doubles the visible Resistance debuff and tacks an additional -5 onto it; this makes her capable of scoring OHKOs on most enemies as long as they have the -7 Resistance debuff. If Sabotage Res is being used by a teammate to inflict the -7 Resistance debuff, Joint Drive Atk can be used instead; it grants Katarina +4 Attack if an ally is within 2 spaces, further increasing her OHKO potential.
• The combination of Close Foil and Vantage is crucial for any OHKO-centric, Enemy Phase build. Close Foil allows Katarina to counterattack against all enemies except Dragons, in addition to granting her extra damage and bulk via +5 Atk/Def when an enemy initiates combat. Close Counter sacrifices the +5 Atk/Def for being able to counterattack against Dragons, which is still good considering Sothis and Duma are Aether Raids Defense Mythic heroes. With Vantage, if Katarina’s HP is ≤ 75%, she can counterattack before the enemy that initiated combat can attack, allowing her to rely on activating Vantage and OHKOing enemies before they damage her.
• Atk/Def Solo grants Katarina +6 Atk/Def during combat if she is not adjacent to an ally, making it an excellent way to boost her damage and ensure she does not get OHKO’d before reaching Vantage range. Brazen Atk/Spd takes it a step further via +7 Atk/Spd if Katarina’s HP is ≤ 80%, which synergizes well with Vantage; however, due to the HP condition, this Sacred Seal can have no effect depending on the situation, making it less reliable.
• Since this set heavily focuses on maximizing Katarina’s OHKO potential, Glimmer is a great Special, having only 1 cooldown thanks to Fell Flambeau and granting Katarina +50% damage when activated. Alternatively, Katarina can swap Glimmer for Miracle and a stat-increasing Sacred Seal for Heavy Blade; after 2 attacks, she will have Miracle up assuming Heavy Blade activates and no Guard effect is active during either attack. If she fails to OHKO an enemy, she can fall back on a Miracle activation, allowing her to survive a lethal attack if her HP at the start of combat was > 1.

Weapon: Fell Flambeau 

Assist: Positional Assist 

Special: Glimmer / Luna 

Passive A: Atk/Spd Solo 4 / Fury (3 or 4) 

Passive B: Desperation

Passive C: Res Smoke / Spd Smoke 

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Heavy Blade 

• 37/43 offenses are monstrous, making Katarina to be an excellent Player Phase unit, especially with the help of refreshers to attack more than once per turn. Fell Flambeau is a great offensive weapon, with its -1 Special cooldown allowing for frequent Special activations and its additional effect being easy to achieve since Player Phase units usually are not adjacent to an ally when initiating combat. Inflicting -5 to all stats during combat is already a strong effect on its own, but with -7 visible debuffs from C slots like Res Smoke or Spd Smoke and teammates’ B slots like Sabotage Res or Sabotage Spd, Katarina can gain an additional 14 damage or Speed from the sum of the visible debuff and Fell Flambeau since it doubles visible debuffs during combat. This dramatically bolsters her already impressive offensive performance, making her no less than a powerhouse.
• Katarina’s native Atk/Spd Solo 4 and the Atk/Spd Solo Sacred Seal are excellent A and S slot options respectively that synergize well with Fell Flambeau, as all 3 require Katarina to not be adjacent to an ally. Desperation allows Katarina to perform her follow-up attack before the enemy can counterattack if her HP is ≤ 75%, making it a great choice for circumventing her poor overall bulk. Atk/Spd Solo 4 can be swapped for Fury if Katarina has trouble reaching this HP condition without being OHKO’d; Fury’s recoil damage allows her to drop to ≤ 75% even if she never gets hit by an enemy.
• The combination of Fell Flambeau’s -1 Special cooldown, an effectively 1-cooldown Special such as Glimmer, and Desperation allows Katarina to activate said Special on her follow-up attack if no Guard effect is active. Alternatively, she can swap Glimmer for Luna (which has +1 Special cooldown in comparison) and the Atk/Spd Solo Sacred Seal for Heavy Blade, which achieves the same feat.

Weapon: Fell Flambeau 

Assist: Positional Assist 

Special: Noontime / Sol 

Passive A: Close Foil / Close Counter 

Passive B: Mystic Boost 

Passive C: Atk Smoke / Pulse Smoke 

Sacred Seal: Iote’s Shield

• While 54 physical bulk and 66 magical bulk may be ill-suited for a superunit seeking to receive several hits in one Enemy Phase, Fell Flambeau helps significantly with turning the tables. If Atk Smoke’s -7 Attack debuff is applied to an enemy, Fell Flambeau will double it and add an additional -5 Attack, effectively inflicting -19 Attack on the enemy. This can turn the tide for a unit even as seemingly frail as Katarina. In addition, if a teammate provides Sabotage Atk or Temari support, she can opt for Pulse Smoke as well, shutting down common Infantry Pulse defense teams that rely on Specials being at 0 cooldown by inflicting +1 Special cooldown to the target and enemies within 2 spaces of the target after combat.
• Sustainability is key for any superunit build; thanks to Fell Flambeau’s -1 Special cooldown, Katarina can immediately activate Noontime--an effectively 1-cooldown Special--once she receives an attack (assuming no Guard effect is active), allowing her to heal based on the amount of damage she deals. If she has a partner that can grant her additional Special charge such as New Year Velouria, she can opt for Sol instead, granting +20% healing compared to Noontime in exchange for +1 Cooldown.
• Counterattacking against enemies is crucial to ensure the setup required to make Katarina bulky doesn’t go to waste, making Close Foil and Close Counter great options. The former furthers Katarina’s damage output and bulk via +5 Atk/Def when an enemy initiates, while the latter allows her to counterattack against Dragons, which can be helpful against Sothis and Duma, Aether Raids Defense Mythics.
• Unfortunately, Katarina’s Flier status significantly hurts her for this set, as she cannot utilize Null Follow-Up to prevent effects that guarantee the enemy’s follow-up attacks or prevent hers; she also has to use Iote’s Shield to avoid being torn to pieces by Archers, as they deal 1.5x damage against Fliers. Mystic Boost becomes Katarina’s best B slot, healing her for 6 HP after every combat (increased sustainability) and nullifying effects that target the lower of her Defense and Resistance.