What item is more preferable as Katarina: Hextech Gunblade or Will of the Ancients?

I have been thinking about this for quite some time now. When I have my Ionian Boots of Lucidity and I got "Hextech Revolver" as well as "Rylai's Crystal Scepter" and Rabadon's Deathcap what path should I take with the "Hextech Revolver" and why? Is it situational or is one choice better than the other?

Here is my thought process:

The "Hextech Gunblade" provides me with almost the same amount of AP with a little AD which is nice, but not that great in my AP build. The gunblade also has a short cooldown ability that adds more burst for that little extra kick when you need it.

The "Will of the Ancients" gives me 10 AP more and also adds an Aura so I boost my teammates AP by 30 and give them 20% spell vamp. In addition to that this item costs 1125 gold less to build.

I can see that the Hextech Gunblade is better by itself, but is it worth the extra money you have to invest to get it?

Solution 1:

You should definitly get a Hextech Gunblade over Will of the Ancients(WotA). It gives you more damage (your abilities scale of Attack Damage as well) and it has an active CC spell, and Katarin lacks CC. I would definitly always build Hextech Gunblade as first item on her, and I saw many pro players (like Scarra, who is known for his Katarina) do the same, simply cause you need every single stat of the item.

You used to get WotA on Katarina in double AP team compositions, but since they nerfed it pretty hard, its not that common anymore, and I wouldn't buy WotA.

Solution 2:

Katarina has to snowball in order to do well in a game, for this reason rushing Will of the Ancients is a bad idea because it delays your damage too much, making it harder to snowball. This is also the reason you'll see every good Katarina player get the Gunblade over Rylais and finish it fairly late if at all.