New Elementalist Elite Spec: The Catalyst

[mortrialus.3062]

I was always kinda bummed that Weaver never lived up to the whole spellblade thing, a blade in one hand spells in the other kinda thing.  Instead of high damage it was this bruisery modest damage kind of thing. 

 

So the confirmation that Catalyst is full on damage and area control with midrange and close range options means I might actually get what I wanted out of Weaver from Catalyst, funnily enough.

[Touchme.1097]

The best choice I did so far in GW2 was quitting playing my Elementalist. Best choice ever! No Regrets.

Another Melee mage instead of choosing to implement the brave concept of Arcane mage or Longbow...😟

[Zhaid Zhem.6508]

7 minutes ago, len.7809 said:

I wonder how literal is when they say steady presence in melee combat. 

I feel the traits will have something to boost ele's health or the class will be an another staff wielder in wvw

 

That's not true.

YOu can play a melee tempest ... with water/x ... with full minstrel  gear ... isn't it exciting? 😘

 

[Jski.6180]

21 minutes ago, Naneel.2348 said:

Thanks, this sounds a lot better then what was shown 😊

They did only show a hand full of hammer skills and 3 wells out of what could be 5. So there still 20 skills in all for hammer we may have some nice 900 ish ranged big skills still out there but i like to know what the other 2 wells are going to be.

[AzuritaBlues.3206]

I love the wells!!! Really excited about them, they could be fun to use with staff and D/D as well

The animations look so good too! The cardinal theme is awesome.

Didn't want it to be fully melee, but the video only one ranged skill, which is probably the elite, so I don't know how to feel about that.

 

But dangg, Ele does look cool using hammer 🤩

[PeerlessArch.6547]

How hard is it to get a ranged weapon. Longbow just makes sense, but of course, its ANET...

[aspirine.6852]

For me so far the worst elite spec..  Have to agree with the others wanting a range ele for a change.. Been playing melee Ele since the start of the game. 

[dmone.5631]

Interesting throwback to the Elementalist/Warrior Hammer combo from GW1. Should be interesting. 😉

[Tungsten Monarch.6058]

if I wanted to go melee with a hammer, I'd play a warrior, or guardian. Disappointed is an understatement.

[hugo.4705]

/shrug better be good during beta. But wanted a longbow or rifle with attenued bullets here, sad. Useless, not even throwable floaty ball too.

[Merrex.5384]

Totally hate it as a cloth caster mage type !!

Just don't give us anything at all it will be almost the same. 2 handed hammer ( Melee )  is not what first comes to mind when i say cloth caster with lowest health in the game. to many other classes are built for Melee and do it much better. 

[draxynnic.3719]

Gave it one last 25% speed run...

 

Looks like the majority of the weapon skills being shown are fire and earth. Air appears to have a disengage, which COULD indicate that air is a ranged attunement. Or it could be like weaver sword having a disengage on water that is primarily intended for a quick heal before jumping back in.

 

Water attunement skills seem to be missing altogether from the teaser.

[Xenesis.6389]

Meh not what I wanted to see from hammer, more melee.

And wells... well.... necro still uses 1-2 of them, chrono only ever uses 1, and scrapper.. made them broken good, so which will it be for catalyst.

[Gibson.4036]

3 hours ago, ChronoPinoyX.7923 said:

There was ample opportunity to make it a ranged weapon by letting us lacrosse elemental spheres at the enemy, but instead we got Scrappermentalist. 

I'll wait to see how it plays out in Beta, but this could have gone in a very different direction with the weapon

I was so excited about the possibility of the lacrosse elementalist.

oh well

[Batel.9206]

Oh gosh this looks AWESOME! Looks like exactly what I've been wanting from a melee elementalist spec - hard-hitting, tanky, two-handed weapon...yay! Can't wait to try it out! 😀

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

If wards were introduced into GW2, they'd probably be classed as wells purely for the rune synergy.

True, still I think it is one of the things ele lacks in GW2, I used to love playing wards.

[Tempest.8479]

So here's an interesting interaction I have questions about. In the trailer it says that casting augment skills within range of a sphere enhances their effects. But what constitutes within range? Does a Catalyst need to be standing inside the radius, or can they enhance the effects standing outside of the radius so long as they are within a certain distance threshold?

 

Assuming that wells would function like other wells in-game as ground targeted aoe skills with some range to them, still being able to augment them without needing to stand directly inside a radius could create interesting options for a more ranged playstyle. If paired with a staff or scepter, it could end up feeling more like a Scourge than a Scrapper.

[fixit.7189]

i was really hoping for a ranged elite spec...but it's another melee weapon...for the squishiest prof in game. 

boo!

😞

Edited September 16, 2021 by fixit.7189

[fuzzyp.6295]

1 minute ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

True, still I think it is one of the things ele lacks in GW2, I used to love playing wards.

I hope that the new utilities are called Wards although they can still be Wells from a mechanical point of view. I know its not the same, but I'd rather see more variety in well support rather than they just make new runes for one niche utility that no other class can use too.

[Phalanx.6934]

As if we don't have enough options for melee as it is. Severely disappointed with this, last elite spec was sword now we get hammer, guess we're never getting decent ranged options for ele. RIP

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

Such a monumental disappointment.

I'll try to keep an open mind, but it will be hard for Anet to make this Weaver 2.0 clusterkitten replace the ranged elite we wanted.

Edited September 16, 2021 by TheAgedGnome.7520

[Downstate.4697]

It almost feels like wells is the mechanic and augments are the utilities. Looking at it more. The augments just pulse a swirling affect around you and they also shoot at the enemy. If augments are automatically applied on attunement and is the mechanic it would still be useful. Its also worth noting that in the video the ele swapped augments quickly so attunements could have 4s cds like weaver but isnt locked out of all of them?  Either way I am getting a bit more optimistic of its playstyle. Also one of the augments has a pulsing push back so survivability might be cc heavy.

[Infusion.7149]

1 hour ago, Tempest.8479 said:

Actually, after reading this press release, consider me cautiously optimistic. The mechanics they describe sound very different to what we can gather from the trailer, and it sounds like it'll have some support/area control capabilities with a new resource to manage. Plus mid-range skills! For those who haven't seen it:

 

“Catalysts were casters from a bygone era, working to protect Cantha and the throne from enemy threats. They wielded intricate apparatuses called spheres that were used as conduits to channel their immense power. This technology has been revitalized once again—with a couple of improvements! Catalysts imbue ancient magics into their jade tech spheres, calling upon imagery from all over Tyria to concentrate into a powerful burst of elemental energy. The catalyst is primarily a damage dealer that is adept at controlling areas of the battlefield. After building up elemental energy through combat, it can be expended to deploy and maintain the Jade Sphere, creating an area of power that bolsters allies and damages enemies. Wielding a hammer, the catalyst gains access to a mix of midrange and close-range abilities, allowing it to adapt to the situation at hand.”

Yay actual post content , kudos.

Control is nice but unless it can remotely compete with scrapper , chrono, or spellbreaker it probably won't see much use at least in WVW. In PVE it would need to provide some sort of boon support (is that what they mean by bolster allies?) if the damage isn't there. In PVP since the number of target is far lower if the wells are able to bunker down a point it might be taken over fire weaver or aura tempest: it doesn't seem to be highly mobile.

Overall it appears to be melee focused but we will see next week (or in tomorrow's preview). Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and the wells are somewhat supportive and the powered up attacks are slightly ranged and casted from within wells (Using their augment abilities within range of the spheres enhances their effects.")

[Kiyo Reiryu.8703]

looking at all the released elites, im sorta upset that they all are melee.

 

• Base elementalist is ranged (but boring w/ staff. only fire is good here)
• Tempest is basically mid ranged support
• Weaver is melee being  the pinnacle of what a battle mage should be (my fave)

 

i was kinda hoping Catalyst would be a fun high powered ranged class.

I mean. i like the hammer. but we already got an effective melee class for mage with Weaver.

Hopefully they give the Staff new skills for this class like they did with Weaver.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Kiyo Reiryu.8703

[Kiyo Reiryu.8703]

What WOULD have been nice is to meld the Elementalist and old school Ritualist. 
Have the spirits of the elements fight for us. and not like the elementals we can already summon. 

since we ARE in Cantha afterall.
and ELE/RIT was one of the more iconic builds back then. 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Kiyo Reiryu.8703