Katarina and Athena!

Katarina is ok but still probably not better than Celica as a red mage. Athena seems like just another red swordsman but with higher speed, godawful artwork and a cringeworthy accent. On a serious note they are both definitely decent and playable though. Athena's speed most likely won't even save her against a standard no SI Linde. It's mostly because her hp is a bit low, which is a plus for activating skills like desperation but it's also a significant disadvantage because she just dies too quickly. Glass cannon mages also die quickly but they can abuse their range at least.

Think best Hero from this Banner would be Roderick overall.
His stats are amazing and actually run the same stats like Athena.
But both are 2 differnt Typs like he is getting only dmg on enemy turn thx to lance and she must hit and kill can you actually say or she just die because she is to fragile same like Lucina both saved only reason thx to their spd.

She desperatly need to be the fastest Hero i would say. Wo Dao incrase huge her dmg but still if she can not make Follow up attacks and with that special activate it feels like she will kill nobody. Desperation and a +spd nature seems for me a must have.
Her new ability Sturdy Blow feels to useless and must be changed vs a ability that give us more spd think she should actually get Swift Sparrow.

Katarina is a good red mage same stats like Tharja just the only differnt more res tank and for that less def. The reason she get lower ranked because of her Weapon would it be Blade she would be same rank like Tharja.
Still think they should rather Buff Owl(instead 2 stats 3 or change it with 2range near allies) and nerf Blade(-3atk atleast seriously this weapon does not deserve 13base atk if not doing a hard nerf of 50% buff only goes into dmg).
Because it is actually this case now with Tome it is rather Blade, Reinhardt Dire Thunder(sometimes his sister Olwen ), Celica Ragnarok.or the rare cases Raven. Even Julia start to change her imba ability Naga because their are to less Dragons in Raven xD but that is rather a Dragon issue i think,

Stat wise other than Athena having high speed none of them really stood out, and Hana already has the role of glass cannon sword user. Therefore not really interested in any of them.

But inheritance skill is another thing the ones I found the most interest in for inheritance is Luke and Katarina. Swift Sparrow 2, Fire Boost 3, Atk Ploy 3, Panic Ploy 3, all have great potential.

This works out for me since my guess is Athena and Rodrick with Wo Dao and FireSweep Lance are the ones likely to stay 5*. So I don't feel any urgency to pull any of them. Because I'll probably see the other two as 4* eventually.

I think all 4 are mediocre at best, with athena being the most interesting one.
They do serve a purpose as SI fodder though, specially katarina´s swift sparrow.

I actually got Athena about half an hour after the banner dropped and I've been pleasantly surprised. I honestly thought only Luke or Katarina would be the only ones worth getting but after using her she is ridiculously good with Wo Dao+ and Moonbow, especially with Sturdy Blow factored into that. Even at -Atk I have had very little problems, mainly because I got +Def variant myself which makes her quite tanky in melee combat

I feel all these 4 new units are real treats to f2p players, since all come with great budget sets. I'm mainly excited for the new skills they bring to the inheritance scene. Soon to be easily available Swift Sparrow and Sturdy Blow, and Rally Def/Res is the perfect addition to Eirika/Ephraim to be able to buff all 4 skills.

For your actual question about Katarina and Athena. I feel Katarina is a better Tharja, although she needs Blades to be better. Otherwise she can only be used as a resistance tank. Celica still outshines her though.
Athena is the best "glass cannon" sword user, for not being that glass cannony. She sports speed nearly that of Lon'qu, but with a better attack stat, comes with better default skills and weapon than Hana and actually has a very decent defence stat (especially on initiation with Sturdy Blow) this makes her a better option over Lyn, Hana, Ogma, Lon'qu, Karel and Lloyd, who previously fought over the title of best glass cannon -- they're all still outshined by Lucina though.

best red mage, Katarina?? she is sitting where she deserves. There is so many red sword already. Ryoma still sitting on the top tiers with distance counter. In the arena, you need red sword with distance to get these overpowered green mages. I'd personally go for Hana with Wo Dao who is sitting at 44 speed and 53 attack.

None of them are elite heros. Like I said yesterday, most likely they are inherit heores.