Ziggs vs Katarina Counter Pick

Resource design separates these two before anything else happens. Ziggs pays mana for Bouncing Bomb, Satchel Charge and Hexplosive Minefield. Katarina pays nothing at all, and Voracity refunds her remaining cooldowns whenever a champion she recently damaged dies. Over 202 games on patch 16.13.1 that asymmetry helps hold Ziggs at 45.5%, computed as Hard.

Long poke should punish a 125-range assassin, and before level six it does. Afterwards the shape changes. Shunpo blinks to any target, Preparation leaves a dagger hanging for the follow-up, and Death Lotus channels magic damage into the three nearest champions. Ziggs brings 606 health, 21 armour and 30 magic resistance at level one and 2,408 health at eighteen; Katarina brings 672 and 2,508 with 32 armour, so she is the sturdier body as well as the one choosing the engagement. Her damage is magic despite the assassin label, which makes armour purchases pointless and leaves 30 base magic resistance as the only defensive number that reads.

Counterplay is positional rather than statistical. Daggers on the ground are the tell, and Ziggs can deny a pickup by dropping Hexplosive Minefield underneath, since repeated detonations on one target grow stronger. Satchel Charge displaces her mid-rotation. The execution gap is wide, 8 for Katarina against 4, and her ceiling rises quickly once she takes a lead.