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Katarina vs Locke

Mid Lane Matchup

Katarina vs Locke MID matchup tips: who wins, how to trade, wave control and common mistakes.

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Who Wins

Pre-6, Locke's kill threat is limited to landing multiple Q stacks before engaging, which requires him to telegraph his intent — you can dodge Q by moving unpredictably and punish his E cooldown with a Shunpo-dagger trade since he has no reliable escape after blinking in.
Post-6, Locke's R creates a dangerous execution zone that can mark you for death at high missing health, so you must respect the totem placement and avoid fighting inside it unless you can burst him before his threshold activates, because his passive bonus damage scales heavily with your missing health.

Your best trading pattern is to throw a dagger, Shunpo to it or to Locke, auto-attack to trigger the bounce, then immediately exit with a second Shunpo to a nearby dagger or minion before he can land Q stacks and commit E-W.
If he has pre-stacked Q marks on you, do not engage — his E-W-auto combo with three stacks will outdamage your burst at most health totals, so force him to refresh stacks by staying mobile and only all-in when he has zero or one stack.

Push the wave aggressively with dagger bounces to deny Locke the slow-push setup he wants, because a pushed wave forces him to either farm under tower where his Q poke is less effective or follow you and expose himself to jungle pressure.
When the wave is crashed, roam immediately since Locke has no reliable way to follow your Shunpo-based mobility and you can snowball sidelanes or secure objectives before he can respond.

Do not fight Locke when his R totem is active on the ground near you, even if you have a health advantage, because the 99% slow combined with his passive's missing-health scaling means a single E-W follow-up inside the totem zone can execute you faster than your reset chain can finish him.
Destroy or avoid the totem's area of effect and reset the fight on your terms outside its range.

Created on 08/22/2026

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