Catalyst Energy - Quick Advice?

[Chyro.1462]

Heya. I'm trying to get into catalyst a bit, though really struggling to get down some consistency with the energy mechanic. It really trips me up that you can't generate energy while a sphere is up. I don't care too much about maxing dps or such, playing on celestial gear and mainly supporting a friend in open world and while going through open story (he really likes the quickness :D). Can someone give me some advice how to deal with energy generation to make it more .. stable? My main aim is to upkeep quickness 100% if possible, but I always end up in a mess once my energy is down and I feel like I have to get the next sphere out as quick as possible. Should I always wait with placing a sphere until energy is at max then do two spheres back to back, or something like that?

Edit: My traits are 3-3-3, the last two seem mandatory for sphere quickness + duration and the first one for extra energy on attuenement swap.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Chyro.1462

[Ragnarox.9601]

If you want to use only quickness sphere just rotate other element attacks and when you get back to air your sphere should be full of energy and out of cd. Dont use other element sphere in the meantime if not needed.

[soulknight.9620]

Energy is bad atm and needs to be removed.

The best advice i can give you is try using ur spheres on 2/2 basis. What i mean is if you start in air, use air sphere just before leaving to water attunement and immediately throw water sphere in there. Then do ur water skills rotation (or some random skills) and switch to earth, generate energy for 2 jade spheres and throw earth sphere just before leaving to fire, while in fire throw ur fire sphere immediately. Rince and repeat. Although you will still have trouble on trash mobs that die in 1-2 hits since you cant generate enough energy, but on bosses/champions/elites that will help you out. 

@Ragnarox.9601 it doesnt work that way since june patch. Quickness is split among all of the spheres now, not just air. So in order to get perma quick with cele you have to do 3-4 spheres in a single rotation. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by soulknight.9620

[PilzorStyleZ.8301]

Some quick tips that maybe help you without learning too much of a rotation: 

1. If you want to place more than one sphere, make them overlap in duration. So you place one sphere right before you switch out of the attunement and the other one right after you enter. This way, they block your energy generation for the same 5 seconds instead of 10 seconds. 

2. Make sure that you don't drop your sphere while your aoes are ticking. For example, Burning Speed (fire dagger 3) generates energy for every tick so you can use this and other aoes to generate energy quickly. This might require you to wait a bit with dropping your (Fire) sphere though, as this would block the energy regeneration.

3. This is closely related to the other points, but don't always drop your sphere instantly when you hit 10 energy, but instead wait until you have generated 20 or more. If you always drop it at 10 energy, you are energy locked at 0 energy almost permanently. Instead, figure out when you have many aoes going and use them efficiently. 

[the krytan assassin.9235]

Apart from the tips mentioned above i'd suggest to focus on weapons that have the most hits per second. In terms of energy management scepter/dagger and hammer are simply the best (and sword seems also pretty good as soon as SoTo hits). Dagger and staff will struggle quite abit for single target energy management. 

Another option is to play around with fresh air. You simply get way more flexibility in terms of attunement swapping & air often has good energy gain skills. It results in a way less clunky playstyle normally. 

[Chyro.1462]

Thanks for the tips!

Sorry, kinda forgot I posted this here and only checked back now. Very helpful advice 😄

Kinda curious how well sword and warhorn will do when they become available with the expac. I imagine warhorn air 5 would be great for filling up energy quickly.

[Kozumi.5816]

On 8/3/2023 at 5:12 AM, soulknight.9620 said:

Energy is bad atm and needs to be removed.

Energy completely ruins the flow of this spec for me. It's probably only there due to PvP but I have full energy at all times in PvP and it only randomly interrupts the flow of my gameplay in PvE.

[Chyro.1462]

On 8/3/2023 at 11:21 PM, PilzorStyleZ.8301 said:

but instead wait until you have generated 20 or more

Huh. Just to clarify, its possible to have more than 20 energy? I somehow thought the energy gauge maxes out at 20. Since it takes half the bar (I think?) to place a sphere.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Chyro.1462

[zeyeti.8347]

You can stack up to 30 energy , so once full you are able to launch 3 spheres in a row , then wait 5 secs to get your refill... while is it always waiting for ele ? wait for my overload to go live as tempest and wait for my energy to be allowed to refill as cata , at least there is weaver who is not gutted by cooldowns over cooldowns over internal cooldowns.

[Kuma.1503]

How you generate energy depends on the weapon you're using. 

Catalyst is a builder spender spec. The gameplay loop consists of two distinct phases. 

Spending - Try to use 3 spheres and burn through your weapon skills. This lets you build up a lot of quickness. 

Building - Try to quickly build up energy again. Wait until your spheres expire before beginning this phase. You Typically enter your final attument during this phase. 

 

Now some tips on how to build energy. 

Catalyst builds energy for each packet of damage they inflict on an enemy. There is no ICD on this, and dealing damage to multiple targets will generate more energy. The best skills are skills with high attack speed or lingering AoEs. Here are some energy building methods for each weapon. 

 

Hammer - This is the easiest to build energy on. 

Make sure you press your 3 skill in each attunemnt. These are free packets of damage that will generate energy for you. 

To build energy quickly, You can: 

Use Hurricane of Pain. This attacks very quickly and will give you a good chunk of energy. 

Use Whirling Stones. Also does a lot of damage packets, and your rotating orbs will generate additional energy. 

Auto attack in earth or fire attunemnt. These have the highest attack speed. 

 

Scepter - Quickest way to build energy on scepter is to use Hurl Rock barrier. Then Swap to air, auto attack and press your 2 and 3 skill. This should refill your energy bar to full. 

If these are on cooldown, you can just auto attack. Scepter autos have decent attack speed in all attunemnts for energy building. 

 

Dagger - Water autos. The attack speed on these things are insane. 

Burning speed is another good option. It puts a pulsing fire field on the ground. This is especially effective against multiple targets. 

Finally, your air autos attack twice each. They're not as effective as your water autos, but they get the job done in a pinch. 

 

Staff - Suffer. 

Ok, but for real. Staff is the clunkiest for energy building. It has a slow attack speed, and enemies can walk out of your AoEs. You also tend to burn through your best energy generators while bursting. 

The quickest way to build energy on staff is to drop your Lava Font and Channel Meteor shower. These will generate the most damage packets in the smallest amount of time. You may also consider using glyph of storms in fire attunemnt for a low cooldown energy building option. 

 

Trait Options

If you're still struggling, you can try running these traits:

Energizing Elements -  This will give you energy and fury every time you swap attunemnts. You want to swap attunemnts each time you run out of weapon skills to press to make use of this. 

Energizng Elemtnts + Fresh Air - This is a combo you see often in PvP. Fresh air recharges your air attunement every time you crit. You can weave in and out of air attunement to generate a lot of energy with this. Very helpful if you choose to run open world with a staff. 

Every time you swap to air, you will summon a lightning bolt to damage the enemy. These are more free hits that will generate energy for you. 

 

 

Bit of a long read, but I hope this helps. 

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Kuma.1503

[Chyro.1462]

19 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

How you generate energy depends on the weapon you're using. 

Catalyst is a builder spender spec. The gameplay loop consists of two distinct phases. 

Spending - Try to use 3 spheres and burn through your weapon skills. This lets you build up a lot of quickness. 

Building - Try to quickly build up energy again. Wait until your spheres expire before beginning this phase. You Typically enter your final attument during this phase. 

 

Now some tips on how to build energy. 

Catalyst builds energy for each packet of damage they inflict on an enemy. There is no ICD on this, and dealing damage to multiple targets will generate more energy. The best skills are skills with high attack speed or lingering AoEs. Here are some energy building methods for each weapon. 

 

Hammer - This is the easiest to build energy on. 

Make sure you press your 3 skill in each attunemnt. These are free packets of damage that will generate energy for you. 

To build energy quickly, You can: 

Use Hurricane of Pain. This attacks very quickly and will give you a good chunk of energy. 

Use Whirling Stones. Also does a lot of damage packets, and your rotating orbs will generate additional energy. 

Auto attack in earth or fire attunemnt. These have the highest attack speed. 

 

Scepter - Quickest way to build energy on scepter is to use Hurl Rock barrier. Then Swap to air, auto attack and press your 2 and 3 skill. This should refill your energy bar to full. 

If these are on cooldown, you can just auto attack. Scepter autos have decent attack speed in all attunemnts for energy building. 

 

Dagger - Water autos. The attack speed on these things are insane. 

Burning speed is another good option. It puts a pulsing fire field on the ground. This is especially effective against multiple targets. 

Finally, your air autos attack twice each. They're not as effective as your water autos, but they get the job done in a pinch. 

 

Staff - Suffer. 

Ok, but for real. Staff is the clunkiest for energy building. It has a slow attack speed, and enemies can walk out of your AoEs. You also tend to burn through your best energy generators while bursting. 

The quickest way to build energy on staff is to drop your Lava Font and Channel Meteor shower. These will generate the most damage packets in the smallest amount of time. You may also consider using glyph of storms in fire attunemnt for a low cooldown energy building option. 

 

Trait Options

If you're still struggling, you can try running these traits:

Energizing Elements -  This will give you energy and fury every time you swap attunemnts. You want to swap attunemnts each time you run out of weapon skills to press to make use of this. 

Energizng Elemtnts + Fresh Air - This is a combo you see often in PvP. Fresh air recharges your air attunement every time you crit. You can weave in and out of air attunement to generate a lot of energy with this. Very helpful if you choose to run open world with a staff. 

Every time you swap to air, you will summon a lightning bolt to damage the enemy. These are more free hits that will generate energy for you. 

 

 

Bit of a long read, but I hope this helps. 

 

Thanks, that helps a lot 😄

Just curious cause I read Charrdian in your signature .. you wouldn't happen to be a viewer of a long lost vanilla flan? Asking cause I remember someone there saying their guardian is called Charrdian. If not, ignore this ^^

[Kuma.1503]

8 hours ago, Chyro.1462 said:

Thanks, that helps a lot 😄

Just curious cause I read Charrdian in your signature .. you wouldn't happen to be a viewer of a long lost vanilla flan? Asking cause I remember someone there saying their guardian is called Charrdian. If not, ignore this ^^

Glad I could help. 

I forgot to mention, Conjures can also be a useful way to generate energy. Especially on staff. Healing builds gain good mileage out of conjure frost bow. 

 

And nah, I started in Mid PoF. I wasn't around to experience the core glory days as some call it. 

[Joswi.2635]

Yeah, just what others have already said. 

Energy feels so pointless since there is already a cooldown on them. If they aren't going to get rid of energy I wish they would at least change up sphere specialist to increase boon duration of sphere boons and also make it so you can generate energy when a sphere is out. That would help the support builds a lot and not really change up the dps builds I think.