Katarina

Katarina

• Lethal long-range single-target attacks
• Great accuracy—skilled at scoring critical hits
• Can weaken and debilitate foes

Katarina is the illegitimate daughter of Hugh Montbarron—the former Grand Master of the Legion—and a Lescanzi witch. Her mother’s people are nomads and wanderers, distrusted by many people in Ehb, but they are skilled in both warfare and magic, and Katarina has been trained in their ways.

Playing as Katarina

Katarina takes a thoroughly practical approach to conflict resolution: stay out of sword’s reach and settle your problems with firearms. With her rifle in hand, she can fell distant foes, and even the most resilient enemy can be brought down by her ensorcelled bullets and debilitating curses. When forced into close combat, Katarina uses sorcery and a pair of short-range sidearms to repel attackers.

Keeping enemies at a distance is key when playing as Katarina—her close-combat firearms can’t compare to the raw damage of her mighty rifle. Katarina’s at her best when being supported by a companion who can take the fight to her foes, allowing this vixen to unload with her rifle from afar and score crippling critical hits. Expect to do a fair share of rolling and evading with Katarina until you gain the company of a comrade.

Developer Commentary

Katarina was designed to be at her best versus a single big target and at her weakest fighting crowds. There are many boss battles that are a little easier for Katarina to handle, but the other heroes can quickly carve through some ordinary encounters that take extra planning and care for Katarina.

When selecting sidearms for Katarina, consider adding weapons with chaos properties. Her sidearms are the weakest of the basic attacks in the game, but they can hit lots of targets over a wide arc and over quite a distance—and she can fire them very quickly. When you have that many chances to inflict a special damage effect, you’re going to see a lot of extra punishment thrown down.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Katarina’s Abilities

Many of Katarina’s multi-foe offensive abilities are actually quite defensive in nature, causing her to stun, slow, or knock foes to the ground—this, along with the handy familiar she can summon at level 12, helps Katarina keep enemies at bay while she lets loose with her rifle. On the other hand, Katarina’s single-target abilities tend to be of the long-range and critical-hit variety. Because Katarina suffers from a lack of close-range prowess, it’s wise to focus on upgrading her healing and defensive abilities and talents at first. To truly rule with this gorgeous gunslinger, try stacking various talents and abilities that provide bonuses to scoring critical hits—this is Katarina’s specialty.

Heartseeking Shot

Fires a powerful rifle shot that inflicts heavy damage and is more likely to score a critical hit. Targets that survive are knocked down. When empowered, Heartseeking Shot fires a spread of deadly projectiles instead of one single shot.

Proficiencies

Rapid Fire : If an enemy is killed by Heartseeking Shot, Katarina recovers six Focus per rank of Rapid Fire.

Magic Bullet : Heartseeking shots have a 5 percent chance per rank of Magic Bullet to ricochet into additional targets.

Heartseeking Shot is an excellent single-foe combat ability that Katarina should use to open most battles. Each powerful blast has a 25 percent chance to score a critical hit, and this bonus stacks atop Katarina’s current critical hit chance to provide a high likelihood of inflicting double damage. The empowered version of this ability fires five bullets instead of one for even more carnage. Place ranks into Rapid Fire to recover up to 30 Focus each time an enemy is slain by Heartseeking Shot, or upgrade the Magic Bullet proficiency to gain up to a 25 percent chance of striking two enemies with each shot.

Developer Commentary

Magic Bullet is an endless source of amusement and it’s definitely worth the points. Consider though, that at 55 Focus cost, you can never fire Heartseeking Shot twice in succession—even at full Focus. Putting points into Rapid Fire can allow you to overcome that restriction.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Caress of Suffering

Katarina places a painful curse on a target, stunning her victim and inflicting lingering injury for 13 seconds. Empowered Caress of Suffering inflicts more damage and bounces from enemy to enemy, cursing multiple targets.

Proficiencies

Schadenfreude : Katarina recovers Hit Points and Focus each time she kills an enemy cursed by Caress of Suffering.

Excruciate : Caress of Suffering reduces an affected enemy’s armor and attack power.

Caress of Suffering is a debilitating single-foe combat ability used to stun and wound Katarina’s foes. Each rank taken in Schadenfreude causes Katarina to recover 2 percent of her maximum Hit Points (HP) and Focus, up to a maximum of 10 percent recovery when cursed enemies are slain by Katarina. The Excruciate proficiency is also quite valuable, further adding to the curse by reducing the victim’s armor and attack by 5 percent per rank, up to a total of a 25 percent reduction to both attack and armor.

Developer Commentary

I love that the German language has a single word for “taking pleasure in the pain of others.” Just as we were wrapping up the game, I got a bug that one of the English words in the Ability screen got overwritten by the German version. I bet the German language also has a single word for “this is not a bug but actually the intended design.”

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Charm of Eternal Life

2 Power Spheres per empowered use

Katarina invokes an ancient healing ritual that slowly regenerates 50 percent of her health over 30 seconds. Charm of Eternal Life benefits every member of the party when empowered.

Proficiencies

Soul Thief : Charm of Eternal Life grants Katarina additional healing when she wounds enemies.

Zone of Sanctity : While Charm of Eternal Life is active, Katarina’s armor is increased by 15 percent per rank.

Like all other characters, Katarina unlocks her healing ability, Charm of Eternal Life, first—use this to receive a steady trickle of HP. Like all defensive abilities, Charm of Eternal Life requires one Power Sphere to activate. Each rank in the Soul Thief proficiency grants Katarina 2 percent of the damage she deals back as healing, up to 10 percent when all five ranks are purchased—this is a fantastic source of extra healing. Zone of Sanctity is also excellent, boosting Katarina’s armor by up to 75 percent when full ranks are taken. Devote a few ranks to each of these worthy proficiencies for a significant boost to both armor and healing while Charm of Eternal Life is active.

Developer Commentary

Zone of Sanctity works very well if you use the Empowered version, as having everyone’s armor scale up dramatically reduces the damage your group sustains. That said, if you are planning a Hardcore difficulty game with Katarina, Soul Thief is all but essential. Vampiric effects combined with her high damage output will offset her fragility (just remember not to use too many Power Spheres making empowered attacks—save some for Charm of Eternal Life).

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Chosen Prey

Curses an enemy to suffer more critical hits for 13 seconds. If a cursed enemy dies, a spiritual blast will injure nearby enemies. Empowered Chosen Prey curses Katarina’s intended target, as well as all nearby enemies.

Proficiencies

Creeping Dread : Victims affected by Chosen Prey suffer reduced speed and attack power.

Life Thief : Katarina recovers Hit Points and Focus each time an enemy dies under the effects of Chosen Prey.

Chosen Prey is an affordable second-tier combat ability that curses its victim into suffering more critical hits for a significant time. This ability pairs well with Heartseeking Shot to ensure many more critical hits are scored against resilient foes. Each rank in Creeping Dread causes Chosen Prey to reduce enemy movement speed and attack power by 12 percent, up to a maximum of a 60 percent speed and damage reduction—combine this with Caress of Suffering to drastically hamper the afflicted. Or keep Katarina in good health by taking ranks in Life Thief—each rank causes Katarina to gain 2 percent of her maximum HP and Focus back when a foe cursed by Chosen Prey falls in combat, up to a maximum of 10 percent HP and Focus recovery per cursed kill.

Developer Commentary

Chosen Prey is my favorite of Katarina’s abilities as it’s a two-step attack. By itself, it’s a simple curse, but if you target a weak enemy in a crowd, you can make a single shot cascade into a swarm-melting blast. If you get into the habit of using this ability, it’ll go a long way to helping Katarina overcome her innate weakness of having fewer highly damaging multi-target attacks than the other heroes.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Warding Ritual

Katarina calls forth a surge of energy that knocks back all nearby attackers. When empowered, Warding Ritual causes all affected enemies to remain rooted in place for a short period of time.

Proficiencies

Painful Rebuke : Painful Rebuke upgrades Warding Ritual to cause damage to nearby foes, in addition to its normal effects.

Chilling Gale : Enemies hit by Warding Ritual are slowed by 12 percent per rank for 13 seconds.

Warding Ritual is an incredibly useful second-tier combat ability, and one of the few that can affect multiple foes. Use this affordable ability to keep melee enemies at bay so Katarina can safely blast them with her mighty rifle. Painful Rebuke causes Warding Ritual to cause 10 minor hits (1.95 damage at level 1 to 138.5 damage at level 30, modified by Will) to all affected targets, with an additional multiplier applied based on the number of ranks taken—at rank 1, a 1.1 multiplier is applied to the damage, up to a 1.5 multiplier at rank 5. Chilling Gale is more straightforward, slowing enemies to less than half their normal movement speed when full ranks are taken. Remember: slow enemies make easy targets!

Developer Commentary

This ability began as Katarina’s first-tier ability, and it was a quick-to-cast pushback attack. The lingering field of enemy repulsion came later, and it necessitated moving it to the second tier and upping the cost. If you see a good hallway or chokepoint, lay down a Warding Ritual, roll back, switch to your rifle, and enjoy the carnage.

While the Chilling Gale is the more obvious proficiency, consider taking a point or two in Painful Rebuke, as it combos well with the Soul Thief effect of Charm of Eternal Life.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Call of the Hunt

Call of the Hunt blesses Katarina with stronger attacks for 30 seconds. When it’s empowered, the entire party benefits from Call of the Hunt.

Proficiencies

Perfect Shot : Increases Katarina’s Agility while Call of the Hunt is active.

Crow’s Feast : Katarina heals a small amount of Hit Points when she causes damage during Call of the Hunt.

This excellent second-tier defensive ability gives Katarina a 20 percent bonus to her Attack DPS for a full 30 seconds—considering the frequency of Katarina’s critical hits, this can equate to huge amounts of bonus damage. Each rank taken in Perfect Shot increases Katarina’s Agility by 5 percent while Call of the Hunt is active—this means Katarina will score even more of those devastating criticals. To truly turn this into a defensive ability, purchase ranks in Crow’s Feast to cause Katarina to recover 2 percent of her maximum HP each time she causes damage while Call of the Hunt is active—that’s a potential 10 percent HP recovery each time Katarina opens fire!

Flintlock Fury

Katarina fires a continuous hail of bullets as long as the attack is held or until she runs out of Focus. When empowered, Katarina’s Flintlock Fury causes additional damage until the attack is stopped or Katarina runs out of Power.

Proficiencies

Suppressive Fire : Increases the knockback of Flintlock Fury and slows enemies caught by the shots.

Rampage : Increases the damage of Flintlock Fury attacks.

Flintlock Fury is Katarina’s top-tier multi-foe combat ability. Unleash Flintlock Fury to mow down foes with a relentless storm of hot lead. Note that the empowered version of this ability consumes only Power while the attack is held, and not Focus. Both of this ability’s proficiencies have merit—putting a few ranks into each is a sound plan if you can’t decide which you prefer.

Black Hound Familiar

Katarina summons a ghostly hound to fight by her side. Empowered Black Hound Familiar causes Katarina’s hound to emit a terrifying howl, reducing the attack and defense of nearby foes.

Proficiencies

Woman’s Best Friend : Increases the attack power and Hit Points of the Black Hound.

Shadow Link : Damage inflicted by the Black Hound heals a small amount of Katarina’s Hit Points.

This unique ability summons a trusty familiar to fight by Katarina’s side, helping to take some of the heat off her back. Though Katarina must wait longer than Anjali to access her special familiar, the Black Hound arguably boasts better proficiency upgrades. Shadow Link is a great way to help keep Katarina in good health, while Woman’s Best Friend helps keep the Black Hound in the fight while adding might to its bite through a 10 percent bonus to its attack power and HP per rank. Purchase a few ranks in both proficiencies to maximize the Black Hound’s benefits.

Thorned Rose

For 30 seconds, each time Katarina is wounded she has a 33 percent chance to inflict injury back at her attacker. All party members gain the benefits of Thorned Rose when it’s empowered. This ability may seem contrary to Katarina’s hit-and-run style, but considering her weakness is being swarmed by weak enemies, Thorned Rose (especially when combined with Spiritual Backlash and gear with Warding and Retribution stats) allows you to stay focused on big targets—letting your passive damage reflection nullify swarms for you.

Proficiencies

Aspect of Thorns : Increases the amount of damage reflected by Thorned Rose.

Entangling Wrath : Enemies injured by Thorned Rose suffer slowed movement.

Thorned Rose is Katarina’s third-tier defensive ability, and it helps her make short work of close-range adversaries. This ability’s damage can be increased by a full 30 percent by taking just one rank in Aspect of Thorns—each additional rank adds another 5 percent bonus, up to a total of 50 percent extra damage. To enhance this ability’s defensive properties, devote ranks to Entangling Wrath, which reduces the movement speed of enemies harmed by Thorned Rose by 12 percent per rank, up to a 60 percent speed reduction.

Katarina’s Talents

As you might expect, many of Katarina’s talents are suited to boosting her chances of scoring critical hits, or of granting Katarina special benefits when critical shots are landed. Other talents help shore up Katarina’s defenses through welcome benefits like improved healing or enemy pushback. Nearly all of Katarina’s talents are meant to combine with other talents and abilities to greatly enhance her overall combat effectiveness—consider the skills you’ve selected thus far and upgrade Katarina’s talents to maximum benefit.

Developer Commentary

In watching people play the game, I’ve noticed that most players choose six talents and aim to put five points into those talents by level 30. That certainly works, but consider you could also be grabbing three ranks in every Talent by level 30. Katarina especially has a lot of synergy between talents and abilities—spreading your talent points around isn’t a bad idea.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Steady Aim

Katarina’s total Agility score is increased by 4 percent per rank.

One of the best talents to max out from the start, Steady Aim provides up to a 20 percent boost to Katarina’s Agility—the primary factor in determining the likelihood that Katarina will score critical hits when she fires. Critical hits are Katarina’s bread and butter, so crank up Steady Aim with full ranks as soon as you please.

Markswoman

Katarina’s rifle shots gain a 4 percent chance per rank of ricocheting to a second target.

Each rank in Markswoman gives Katarina’s mighty rifle shots a 4 percent chance of striking two targets instead of just one. When this chance succeeds, it’s the same as if two separate bullets had been fired at once. Considering the superior power of Katarina’s rifle, this is a very worthy talent to invest in.

Developer Commentary

The ideal design for the RPG system is that you see the selection of talents and have to carefully choose what you want. While I sort of regret that Markswoman is almost so stupidly good that it’s a no-brainer decision, the amount of laughter it created in the office is proof positive that fun always matters more than rigorous balance.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Call Your Shots

Each time Katarina kills a target cursed by Caress of Suffering or Chosen Prey she recovers two points of Focus per rank.

If you enjoy cursing Katarina’s adversaries (and you should), then Call Your Shots is a must-have talent. Curse enemies often with Katarina’s debilitating combat abilities, then slay these crippled foes to gain up to 10 points of additional Focus with each kill. More Focus means more foes can be cursed and crippled, creating a vicious cycle of anguish.

Rites of Restoration

Every time Katarina receives any healing, the amount of health recovered is increased by 4 percent per rank.

With so many valuable talents to choose from, Rites of Restoration is one you might opt to skip. It’s a good way to keep Katarina healthy, which may or may not be of interest to you, depending on how often you find Katarina at risk during battle.

Critical Precision

Katarina’s critical hits inflict 4 percent more damage per rank of Critical Precision.

This excellent talent offers a potential 20 percent damage increase to Katarina’s critical hits. Considering the amount of damage that’s already generated by Katarina’s critical shots, this bonus can pile on plenty of extra pain. Don’t wait too long to upgrade Critical Precision, especially once Katarina’s criticals start producing high damage values.

First Strike

Katarina gains a 3 percent per rank bonus chance to score a critical hit on an uninjured target

First Strike stacks neatly with Katarina’s many other talents and abilities that increase her odds of inflicting critical damage. Max out First Strike to significantly increase Katarina’s potential damage each time she sets her sights on a fresh foe.

Swift Defense

Katarina’s Block value is increased by 10 percent per rank of her Agility.

Katarina can be an offensive force, but she suffers from a lack of defense, particularly when battling foes up close. Mend this drawback by purchasing ranks in Swift Defense, which allows Katarina to block significantly longer in battle. The longer Katarina can safely block, the easier it is to recover her Power and keep her vital defensive abilities running.

Spiritual Backlash

Each time Katarina is hit, there is a 4 percent per rank chance her assailant will be pushed away from her.

This defensive talent helps Katarina deal with close-range adversaries by occasionally pushing them away from her. This forces Katarina’s assailants to move back into range to continue their attack, giving Katarina a chance to safely finish them off or flee. Note that Spiritual Backlash also pushes ranged assailants away from Katarina, which can shove them out of firing distance. It’s a good talent to upgrade if Katarina is constantly being overwhelmed.

Thrill of the Hunt

Katarina regains 5 percent per rank of her Power each time she inflicts a critical hit.

Here’s another fantastic talent that pairs nicely with Katarina’s knack for scoring critical damage. Max out Thrill of the Hunt to recover a full 25 percent of Katarina’s Power each time she lands a critical shot. More Power means Katarina can employ her vital defensive and empowered offensive abilities more often, helping to ensure her survival and facilitating the demise of her foes.

Surprise Attack

Katarina inflicts damage on any enemy caught in the path of her dodge.

Katarina must often dodge to keep aggressive enemies at bay and set up lethal rifle shots. Why not add a bit of damage to those evasive rolls with Surprise Attack? The amount of damage inflicted scales with Katarina’s Ability DPS, and it increases by 10 percent per rank, up to a maximum 50 percent damage bonus when all five ranks are filled.

Developer Commentary

This talent doesn’t cause a lot of damage and may seem like it doesn’t measure up to other talents available to Katarina. While Surprise Attack doesn’t hit hard, it has absolutely no cost, and since you can’t be hurt while dodging, it has virtually no risk either. Trying to kill a mini boss with just dodging is a bad idea, but you might be surprised by the amount of damage this will do over the course of a hit-and-run battle.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Party Planning

Katarina will first meet Anjali in Stormsong Cavern, followed by Lucas when her journey leads her into the swamps. Reinhart will join Katarina in Stonebridge under certain conditions, much later in the adventure.

When playing as a character other than Katarina, consider the beneficial Deeds that Katarina can provide you when set as your active companion. Keep Katarina by your side and make choices during dialogue sequences that impress her. This will gain you Influence with Katarina—and the more Influence you gain with Katarina, the more beneficial Deeds you will acquire.

Developer Commentary

When George Ziets described each hero in brief, he used “pragmatic” to describe Katarina’s personality. If someone offers you a reward and Katarina is present, don’t be charitable and turn down the reward—Katarina will respect you more for not being a selfless chump.

– Matt MacLean, Senior Designer

Tier 1 Deed: Bewitching Ally
(3 Influence Gains)

You have gained the trust of the capricious Katarina.

Player Gains: +2 Agility

Tier 2 Deed: Katarina’s Friendship (11 Influence Gains)

Katarina enjoys your company, and she considers you a friend.

Player Gains: +3 Agility

Tier 3 Deed: Blood Bound
(17 Influence Gains)

Katarina has grown to respect your pragmatic sensibility. She would follow you to certain death—and then let you go on ahead while she watches your back.

Player Gains: +5 Agility

Sample Builds

Consider the following sample builds of Katarina—these are level-by-level examples of the abilities, proficiencies, and talents that one might invest in to make Katarina a real blast in battle.

Katarina—Defensive Build

Katarina’s lack of multi-target attack might means she can easily become overwhelmed by masses of enemy minions. Combat this weakness by upgrading abilities and talents that help raise Katarina’s defenses and restore her Hit Points, or that slow and weaken swarms of foes.

Stats to Max: Armor, Stamina, Block

Useful Chaos Effect(s): Vampire, Stagger, Warding

Katarina—Sharpshooter Build

Katarina’s close-range vulnerabilities become less of an issue once she’s being supported by a fellow legionnaire. This lets you focus on improving her chances of scoring devastating critical hits; these are Katarina’s greatest strength. Once suitably upgraded, she becomes quite the lethal markswoman.

Stats to Max: Attack, Agility

Useful Chaos Effect(s): Doom