Potential Combos for Catalyst

[Downstate.4697]

Lets talk synergy and how to maximize the potential of catalyst.

 

1. Hurricane of Pain+water augment+quickness is gonna be very strong in pvp. With Fresh Air HoP will be on an 8s cooldown. Thats like ranger axe 5 on an 8s cooldown from range. From a roaming perspective you could use HoP at targets behind you.  You can also use hammer earth 5 to immobalize for 3s then swap to air. 

TL&DR

FA is looking really juicy for hammer.

 

Second synergy is with arcane and earth attunement dodge roll. This will guarantee a magnetic aura as well as do aoe weakness. Pair this up with d/d and you have a lot of potential weakness and reflect that core d/d wont have. Not to mention the blast potential of the water field for more healing.  

 

TL&DR

Catalyst can cover some of the weakness core d/d has when dealing with ranged pressure and trading blows with things like spellbreaker/thief

 

 

 

[Vennyhedgie.5369]

Not exactly a combo but rather a lack of one. Hammer is the only weapon that has no access to a fire field, which means persisiting flames is "useless". I noticed that a lot of damage seems to have moved to the water attuenement on this one, which makes me wonder if they want us to try the water line for damage this time around. It has some decent modifiers, plus on the grandmaster you can grab aura-share (which greatly enhances Catalyst through different traits) and share them with other potential Catalysts in your party. Kinda excited to try that setup.

[Downstate.4697]

18 minutes ago, Vennyhedgie.5369 said:

Not exactly a combo but rather a lack of one. Hammer is the only weapon that has no access to a fire field, which means persisiting flames is "useless". I noticed that a lot of damage seems to have moved to the water attuenement on this one, which makes me wonder if they want us to try the water line for damage this time around. It has some decent modifiers, plus on the grandmaster you can grab aura-share (which greatly enhances Catalyst through different traits) and share them with other potential Catalysts in your party. Kinda excited to try that 

Hammer in water seems pretty situational. Hammer wont be amazing staying in melee if we are talking pvp. For pve i would agree with you.

[Vennyhedgie.5369]

2 minutes ago, FrownyClown.8402 said:

Hammer in water seems pretty situational. Hammer wont be amazing staying in melee if we are talking pvp. For pve i would agree with you.

This is definitely for PvE, yes. Kinda reminiscent of the old core water lightning ele build.

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

42 minutes ago, Vennyhedgie.5369 said:

Not exactly a combo but rather a lack of one. Hammer is the only weapon that has no access to a fire field, which means persisiting flames is "useless". 

 

f5 in fire attunement is a fire field, so persisting flames is far from useless. it's only MORE useful with the other weapons...

[Vennyhedgie.5369]

10 minutes ago, Forgotten Legend.9281 said:

 

f5 in fire attunement is a fire field, so persisting flames is far from useless. it's only MORE useful with the other weapons...

It has to be specifically a fire WEAPON skill field, which is why fire overload is also not affected by it.

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

according to the trait tip, the first part applies to weapon created fire fields... the second part mentions no such restrictions. according to the wording of the trait, fire overload won't gain 20% duration, but should still increase your strike damage... unless the firenado is considered to be a separate skill going off in the fire field. if the overload is counted as 2 skills (fire field + firenado) by Anet, then we're just screwed. 

 

/bug it. then they'll have to eventually make a decision as to how it actually operates, and maybe change the wording of the trait, and double check the code to make sure it's acting as intended.

 

granted., i may have missed official dev quotes on the the interaction of fire overload and persisting flames. i DO suffer from BDD (Bacon Defeciency Disorder) after-all. 

 

i personally don't use the trait because it's designed for group stacking, and therefore get full stacks of might from your party / raid. i just don't enjoy that stuff. so i think i'ma gonna log in and check it real quick and /bug it.

 

Major Grandmaster

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/5/5f/Persisting_Flames.png/25px-Persisting_Flames.png Persisting Flames

Fire fields created by weapon skills last longer. Whenever your fire fields hit a foe, gain increased strike damage for a duration.

[BlackBeard.2873]

Auras is where it is all at. Look at the GM minor. Every single COMBO (not blast only, but also leaps and projectile finishers) give you an aura.

Let's list fields and finishers by weapon-set:

D/D: Fields on Fire 3,4; Finishers on Water 3, Earth 2,4,5; Auras on Water 4, Air 3

D/F: Fields on Fire 3,4(longer CD than Dagger), Finishers on: Water 3,5, Earth 2,4; Auras on Fire 5, Air 3

S/D: Fields are Fire 4; Finishers are Fire 2,3, Earth 1(20%),2(x5),4,5

S/F: Fields are Fire 4; Finishers are Fire 2,3, Water 5, Earth 1 (20%), 2, 4

Staff: Fields are Fire 2,4, Water 3,5, Air 5, Finishers are: Water 2, Earth 1, Earth 2; Aura on Earth 3

Utilities: Arcane Blast (projectile), Arcane Wave (blast), some conjures, most notably a blast on Lighting Hammer auto #3 and field on skill 5; FGS 3

Traits: Evasive Arcana

 

Now combine this insane aura uptime (specifically shocking aura) with aurashare (water) and either fire (for an aura on swapping to fire+cleanse out the wazoo), earth (protection + stone heart), arcana (evasive arcana + elemental attunement), or maybe even air (for lighting rod). The most promising seems:
Catalyst + water + earth - the most likely, this is just tempest 2.0, likely with d/f (for cleanse and invuln) or staff (relying on water for cleanse but also getting the heals). Maybe d/d

Catalyst + Earth + Fire - selfish bruiser with lots of cleanse and prot, probably more condi-specced as a side-noder

Catalyst + Air + Arcana - more dps oriented side-noder utilizing lightning rod

To me, the funniest thing is that I think CONJURE lighting hammer synergizes better with the spec than the actual weapon hammer due to that blast on auto-attack. While your well is down that is basically guaranteeing every aura as long as you complete 1 auto-chain while sitting the well.

Edited September 18, 2021 by BlackBeard.2873
Add s/f.

[Downstate.4697]

The sphere system is gonna need a rework if its gonna be viable in pvp/wvw.  Imo the field you deployed it at should persist until you redeploy it in a new attunement or lose the energy to upkeep it. I would also redo the energy system and change traits to better maintain the uptime. Ill leave that for feedbacks during the beta though.

[SlitheSlivier.1908]

7 hours ago, FrownyClown.8402 said:

The sphere system is gonna need a rework if its gonna be viable in pvp/wvw.  Imo the field you deployed it at should persist until you redeploy it in a new attunement or lose the energy to upkeep it. I would also redo the energy system and change traits to better maintain the uptime. Ill leave that for feedbacks during the beta though.

Agreed.  Competetive modes, your enemies will sidestep or dodge roll out of your fields pretty easily. 

Also id expect more combos with hammer than there are. 

Conjure Thunderhammer will have more combo potential per second in its 5 skills+jade sphere than Hammer does in 20 (due to the finisher on auto chain and finisher in the shorter CD leap).

Edited September 18, 2021 by SlitheSlivier.1908

[Vennyhedgie.5369]

10 hours ago, BlackBeard.2873 said:

 

To me, the funniest thing is that I think CONJURE lighting hammer synergizes better with the spec than the actual weapon hammer due to that blast on auto-attack. While your well is down that is basically guaranteeing every aura as long as you complete 1 auto-chain while sitting the well.

 

I didn't even consider that. That's brilliant.

 

11 hours ago, Forgotten Legend.9281 said:

according to the trait tip, the first part applies to weapon created fire fields... the second part mentions no such restrictions. according to the wording of the trait, fire overload won't gain 20% duration, but should still increase your strike damage... unless the firenado is considered to be a separate skill going off in the fire field. if the overload is counted as 2 skills (fire field + firenado) by Anet, then we're just screwed. 

 

Major Grandmaster

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/5/5f/Persisting_Flames.png/25px-Persisting_Flames.png Persisting Flames

Fire fields created by weapon skills last longer. Whenever your fire fields hit a foe, gain increased strike damage for a duration.

You might be right. It's still strange that hammer doesn't have a fire field in it though but hey. I still kinda like the idea of water being the main damage source for once. Fire and Air have their builds for power, and earth for condi, but I don't think we've ever had water be the main source other than with conjures which...is still the conjure itself really, not the water skills.

[Zauber.4069]

10 hours ago, BlackBeard.2873 said:

Catalyst + water + earth - the most likely, this is just tempest 2.0, likely with d/f (for cleanse and invuln) or staff (relying on water for cleanse but also getting the heals). Maybe d/d

Catalyst + Earth + Fire - selfish bruiser with lots of cleanse and prot, probably more condi-specced as a side-noder

Catalyst + Air + Arcana - more dps oriented side-noder utilizing lightning rod

I will agree with you that Cata + water + earth will be a thing but for different reason than tempest. Cata will provide stability and do dmg in wvw scenario while tempest + water + fire is a king when it comes to condi cleans and heal (don't forget about synergy between shouts and runes of the trooper).

Also I don't think cata will be a good side-noder. It doesn't have weaver sustain. I think Catalyst will fill a dps role playing in the mid. It has good stats boots but it will require someone to support him.

To add to the conversation for pve cata will fill two rules. 1. Pure dps  and 2. Quickness + other boon support.

 

This is at least how I feel.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Zauber.4069

[Tempest.8479]

I can't wait to go into WvW as a staff Catalyst, cast shattering ice and relentless fire, place the sphere directly on myself, and then drop an unblockable meteor shower that creates an additional aoe strike per meteor on an enemy zerg. Should be extremely satisfying lol

Edited September 18, 2021 by Tempest.8479

[Guybrush.4762]

On 9/18/2021 at 2:00 PM, SlitheSlivier.1908 said:

Conjure Thunderhammer will have more combo potential per second in its 5 skills+jade sphere than Hammer does in 20 (due to the finisher on auto chain and finisher in the shorter CD leap).

 

Yeah that was my though exactly. Not only that but the catalyst favor staying around a designated spot (aka your F5 jade sphere field) which conjured weapon also favor. For an hypothetical quickness catalyst build it is worthy to note that skill 2 of Thunderhammer can apply 3 second of quickness on you with a 8 seconds cooldown (down to 5 seconds with alacrity and 20% cd reduction from the fire trait "Conjurer"). Now, the fact that it only apply quickness to you is a bit of a bummer but considering it is a leap finisher you will use it to proc Elemental epitome anyway and a bit of quickness is a nice byproduct I guess.

 

For trait line here is my observations and opinions (TLDR: Imho Fire=good, Air=good for power, Water=good for support and power hammer, Arcane=decent, Earth=niche for condition):

 

Fire trait line seems to have good synergies with catalyst:

-For minor traits, Sunspot looks great. Gaining a fire aura every time you attune to fire works great with many of the Catalyst traits.

-For major traits Conjurer seems awesome if we use Thunderhammer (see above), the additional aura is cherry on the cake.

-Smothering auras looks like it could cleanse a fair amount of conditions and both PvP and support builds will love that !

Water trait line looks good for a support catalyst or DPS hammer build (what about support with decent DPS ?):

-Piercing shard increase your damage by a fair amount... and so far the "increased damage while attuned to water" portion of this trait remained vastly unused because water attunement has poor damage overall. But looking at the numbers, water hammer packs a punch so this trait might be really useful.

-Flow like water heals you when you block. Earth Hammer 4 and Fortify Eath (Catalyst utility skill) are both blocks. This trait also reinforce the idea of a water DPS.

-Powerful Aura makes you share your aura with 5 allies. Needless to say, this goes well with the amount of auras the catalyst can generate. And now, the nifty traits in Air and Earth that gives boon when you grant aura are extra neat.

Air trait line also looks promising for Power oriented and Quickness catalyst:

-For minor traits Aeromancer training is above average. My point is, if I am a quickness catalyst I will want to remain in air for as long as possible while my jade sphere field is active. This trait grants additional ferocity while attuned to air... not a crazy synergy but still worth mentioning.

-For major trait Zephyr's boon gives 5 second Fury and Swiftness when you grant auras. With Elemental epitome that means perma Fury and Swiftness, nice !

-Fresh air... oh Fresh air ! Energized element with Fresh air looks like it would grant a steady supply of energy which is great if you want to place your Jade sphere field often. Fresh air would also be great to do a fast combo for Elemental epitome in an undesirable attunement (and/or using hammer skill 3) then quickly switch back to air.
 

Earth trait line looks meh outside of condition builds:

-The only thing of note here is Elemental shielding which grant 3 seconds of Protection when you grant an aura. Catalyst generate a lot of aura, probably enough to apply permanent Protection and that is awesome. But, you already pulse protection with your Jade sphere field so I don't know if I like it too much.

 

Arcane trait line is decent:

-For minor trait Elemental enchantment gives you concentration. Concentration is desirable to make the boon of your jade sphere field last until the next cast of your jade sphere.

-For major trait Evasive arcana gives a blast finisher at the end of your dodge while attuned to Earth on a 10 second cooldown. More combo is great because of Elemental epitome.

-Elemental surge reduce the recharge time of arcane utility skills and that is great because some of them have combo finishers to use for Elemental epitome. While in earth attunement your arcane skill will immobilize and if you also took Vicious empowerment from Catalyst immobilizing a foe grants 2 stacks of might for 10 seconds and 2 stack of Elemental empowerment.

 

For weapons, I will not repeat what other have said but I noticed something that I have not seen anywhere:

-Staff is generally a power weapon but the Earth jade sphere is a poison field and that open up poison condition on projectile finisher. Most notably, Earth Staff 1 (aka autoattack) and Staff 5 are both projectile finisher. I don't think it will be used outside of some very niche builds though. The poison applied is just too weak.

 

The post is fairly long and if you made it through... well first thank you for you time I guess, and I hope you had a good time. 🙂

Edited September 19, 2021 by Guybrush.4762

[lLobo.7960]

D/D cele build abusing all the dagger finisher and auras... Should be good fun.

using arcane line and arcane brilliance for big combo on water for healing...

 

Staff could go very nice with it too for power dps...
Fire/Air/Cat fresh air... use LH in air to combo quickness, swap to fire for meteor shower with the elite and water auguments... double hit quickness meteors that reduce its own CD on hit... than back to air for more quickness and combos with LH auto...

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

On 9/18/2021 at 9:25 AM, Vennyhedgie.5369 said:

You might be right. It's still strange that hammer doesn't have a fire field in it though but hey. I still kinda like the idea of water being the main damage source for once. Fire and Air have their builds for power, and earth for condi, but I don't think we've ever had water be the main source other than with conjures which...is still the conjure itself really, not the water skills.

 

it IS weird for sure, everything has fire fields with it....  until now.

 

i went back in game in screenshotted the overload without the buff icon and staff fire 3 with the icon in a bug report. i'm not sure if i ever /bugged it before or not, but thank you for the motivation! i really hate when the trait says one things and acts another way... hopefully we get better clarification on it really soon.

 

and yeah, it's about time we get a good water damage weapon....