Afternoon everyone! Picked up the game a couple of days ago as I have always wanted to get into a fighting game competitively or semi-competitively. Gf loves Tekken and it was fate when it was on sale. Anyways, started messing around with all the characters. Enjoyed Asuka but read Katarina was more aggressive and noob friendly and I have been having fun with her. Finally went online last night and even won a couple! I've looked at guides and her top 15 moves, but I have some questions about some situations I found myself in ranked:

1) Am I missing some of her good "openers"? What I mean is when me and my opponent are both about mid range juking and moving about. Are there any good attacks to do at this stage that I am missing? I am mainly using df1, b12, 11, 444, or trying to get a knockup with u3 or u44? Or should I be more focused at this stage on blocking and moving about to cause my opponent to whiff and use one of my knockups?

2) One of the things I learned is Katarina wants to be at mid-close range to use her moves, and doesn't necessarily want to be right in someones face. How do I deal with someone aggressively in your face using fast moves? At this point I kind of felt at the mercy at my opponent, blocking but never really having a chance to block punish or get my own moves off. Should I be side stepping? Does Katarina have any moves here to cause separation? What should I be doing here both in general and for this character? Kind of an addition to this but I played against Eliza last night and found her attacks were faster then I believe Katarina's fastest move which is 11? Again, what do I do here when it seems all of my opponents moves are faster then mine?

3) Kind of on the flip side, but when I am the aggressor at about mid-close range and my opponent is only blocking, is there anything I can do in this situation to get around it? Sweep? Go in and bait an attack? Go in and try for a throw? What are some things I can do in general, or for Katarina specifically to get into an opponent that is constantly blocking?

4) Is there ever a time to use her 333? I feel when I land a knockup or just in general her 444 tend to have longer range and connect. Is there ever an instance where I want to use her 3 kick instead of her 4 kick?

5) Right now I am using an X-box controller and using the DPAD. Do any pro's use controllers, or does everyone use arcade pads? Should I get an arcade pad asap, or will it not matter? How hard is it to go from a controller to the arcade joystick?

Thanks for any help. Also as I said I have only been playing for a couple of days. So if I am fundamentally thinking about one of those situations the wrong way, please correct me! I am here to learn and get better and not just mash buttons. Now I just need to get her combos down pat instead of a knockup into 4444.