Katana is a tanky melee Phighter that can frontline with his high health pool and damage, but suffers at range with poor mobility and zero ranged attacks. His Calamity Slice can be used up to 5 times and applies a Looming Misfortune mark to any enemy hit with it. Looming Misfortune lets Katana stack a slowing debuff, increasing by 5% per every mark until 5 stacks are hit. Once five stacks are applied they will explode, removing the stacks, dealing 25 damage and granting 25 shield. Spirit Cleanse can be used to instantly detonate any marks, slowing the enemy and making it easier to apply new ones. His only ranged tool, Thread Tow, throws a line to an enemy and drags them toward him, letting him either secure a kill or forcing the opponent to use abilities to reposition. Foul Counter makes Katana a sponge for all damage, with any said damage calculating into a slash infront of him and applying stacks of Looming Misfortune. His Phinisher, Soul Splicer, is a huge AoE attack that averages the health of enemies, applies 5 stacks of looming misfortune, and slows. Katana may be slow, but with enough patience and skill, he becomes a monster on the battlefield.
Abilities
Type
Passive
Looming Misfortune
Calamity Slice adds marks to enemies. At 5 stacks, remove all stacks, deal damage, grant yourself shield, and slow the enemy.
Damage: 20 (full stack detonation) Shield: 25 Mark duration: 6 seconds Slow inflicted: 3% for 5 seconds (per Looming Misfortune stack), 50% for X seconds (full stack detonation)
Has no cooldown, another set of stacks can be applied after one is removed.
Looming Misfortune's stack detonation can still continue on dead players, granting Phinisher points and shield.
If an enemy Phighter with Looming Misfortune stacks dies, the stacks will detonate.
If another Looming Misfortune stack is detonated on the same enemy, the enemy will be slowed for the higher Slow amount.
The shield granted by Looming Misfortune regenerates Katana's innate shield. Any shield beyond the maximum is turned into overshield for 5 seconds.
Type
Primary
Calamity Slice
Slice your katana 5 times. While using Calamity Slice, you stay in the air and are pushed forward.
Katana can only perform 2 full combos in the air before being unable to use Calamity Slice until he touches the ground.
If grounded, Katana can no longer levitate and gains 30% Slow on every slash.
Type
Secondary
Spirit Cleanse
Slash and instantly use any stacks of Looming Misfortune on enemies.
Damage: 15 + 4 * no. of Looming Misfortune stacks Shield: 5 * no. of Looming Misfortune stacks Looming Misfortune application: 1 stack Dash force: 35 Slow inflicted: 10% * no. of Looming Misfortune stacks for X seconds Cooldown: 5 seconds Bound penalty: 100%
Spirit Cleanse performs a short dash on use.
The player may turn their crosshair during the dash.
If used in mid-air will allow Katana to perform another Calamity Slice combo.
If used in mid-air, Katana will be unable to use any moves until he touches the ground.
Type
E Ability
Foul Counter
Temporarily enter a stance that negates all damage and knockback, being dealt 10 damage or higher will cause you to slash, applying a stack of Looming Misfortune per 10 damage countered.
Damage: 7 * every 10 damage taken (max. 40) Looming Misfortune application: 1 stack per 10 damage negated/taken Duration: 1 second Armored: 100% Slow penalty: 50% Bound penalty: 100% Cooldown: 8 seconds
If Katana dies during the windup, Foul Counter will not continue to cast.
This ability cannot be interrupted by Stun or Wireframe debuffs.
Katana negates all force effects immediately on cast.
Foul Counter does not block damage that exceeds 50.
Slice in a large area around you, taking the average health of enemies hit and applying it to all targets. Then deal 35 damage and apply 5 stacks of Looming Misfortune to each enemy hit.
Damage: Sets all enemies health to the average health of enemies hit + 35 Looming Misfortune application: 5 stacks Phinisher points: 125
Health averaging goes through shields.
Enemies can be healed if their health is lower than the set average.
If Katana dies during the windup, its visuals will continue but its effects will be cancelled.
Damage from Soul Splicer does not generate Phinisher points.
Soul Splicer performs a line of sight check before dealing damage.
Strategy
Pros
High damage output.
Tank, with some of the highest hitpoints in the game at 250 total hitpoints.
Be careful of when you use it, save it for when you can secure a kill. Without it, most Phighters will stay too far out of range.
A good example is Slingshot, who dashes away too quickly before you can slow him enough. However, using it after his dash is a good way to secure a kill.
If you're off the point or in an area where you have no teammates or enemies lingering about, you can use Thread Tow to grapple a Boombox using Raining Tacos to deny the opposing team the AoE damage and support.
Thread Tow can also be used to move enemies into their own Phinishers and take self-damage (Rocket'sGrand Cannonade and Sword'sAll-Mighty Axle Arc are two Phinishers that damage the user) or into allied Phinishers with an AoE effect such as Subspace'sNoxious Void. Thread Tow can also be used to move enemies into killbricks.
After moving an enemy into their own Phinisher, you can use Foul Counter to soak up the damage from the attack and throw it back at them or at a group of enemies.
Be careful not to use it too far in the open, you become a target.
Soul Splicer can hit enemies through walls. Use cover to surprise your enemies or to use your Phinisher without taking too much damage during the animation.
Counterplay against Katana
Since Katana has very poor mobility and range, ranged characters usually do well against him, if he does not land either his Thread Tow or apply any stacks of Looming Misfortune. When Katana starts using Foul Counter, it is advised to get away from him and do not damage him, although he won't do damage, you can be struck by the slash and be slowed, allowing him to kill you quickly. Soul Splicer has huge AoE effect, but very small vertical range. The most dangerous part of this is the Slow and stacks of Looming Misfortune, which leaves affected players as sitting ducks to Katana's attacks. Any ability that provides a vertical advantage should be used to avoid the massive damage and debuffs.
Katana has a larger hitbox than most other phighters, thus making headshots with Hyperlaser'sprimary easier to hit.
Katana has a tattoo of the Lost Temple insignia on his back[1], being shown in art, and a different one for his concept.
In the Phighter select screen, dialogue box, and scorebar, Katana's idle animation differs from the one present in-game. Along with Medkit, they are the only Phighters to have this quality.
Katana can now apply stacks of Looming Misfortune on previously affected enemies. Katana can gain shield from detonating Looming Misfortune stacks and any slow previously applied will be overwritten.
Now regenerates Katana's innate shield. Any shield that goes above the maximum will be turned into overshield for 5 seocnds.
Each use of Calamity Slice decreases the dash force, using the formula: 20 - 15 * (number of Calamity Slices used/15). The dash force decrease resets after 2 seconds of not using Calamity Slice.
Katana can no longer use Calamity Slice after a full combo if he is not touching the ground.
Dash force is removed if Katana is affected by knockback while not touchimg the ground.
↑@pixonett on Discord, 22 March 2024 ( Link | Image ) - "Pfun Fpact! Katana was actually revealed months in advance to his actual reveal because I accidentally named the first ever sticker in this server "Katana" !"