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Catalyst - Quickness Support Power DPS

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Direct damage and Support

Designed for: Raids

Difficulty:
Hard
This build was last updated on June 28, 2024 and is up to date for the August 20, 2024 patch.

Overview

A quickness-providing catalyst build. In addition to offering strong DPS, it provides ~15 Might Might, permanent Fury Fury, ~80% Resolution Resolution, ~80% Protection Protection and ~65% Vigor Vigor. It will also occasionally provide Swiftness Swiftness when it blasts its lightning field.

The rotation is identical to the DPS build, and the frequent application of Quickness Quickness makes it fairly reliable. Like any catalyst build, its will struggle if it is unable to reliably generate energy, which can mean that encounters with phases or disruptive mechanics cause the build to underperform.

While it can technically provide Aegis Aegis from Deploy Jade Sphere (Earth), the rigidity of its rotation makes it difficult in practise.


Skill Bar

Hammer
Utility


Weapon Variants

Players who own Secrets of the Obscure can use Sword/Warhorn instead. This provides slightly better boons, but is also slightly lower damage and requires ~20% boon duration. As energy regeneration is also lower, it can be harder to recover from mistakes if Lightning Orb is not available.

  • A simple (if suboptimal) swap would be to run Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact and Rune of Superior Rune of Fireworks instead of Sigil of Superior Sigil of Concentration and Rune of Superior Rune of the Dragonhunter.
  • You should also run Elemental Celerity as your elite.


Skill Variants

  • Arcane Blast will provide more burst damage than Shattering Ice.
  • Conjure Lightning Hammer will be more damage than Shattering Ice on large hitboxes.
  • Glyph of Elementals is a minor DPS loss if you prefer to avoid conjured weapons, or you think you won't get use out of the second one.
  • Use Elemental Celerity if using Sword/Warhorn.


Template Code

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Specializations


Equipment

Head
Berserker
Shoulders
Berserker
Chest
Berserker
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Berserker
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Berserker
Accessory
Berserker
Accessory
Berserker
Amulet
Berserker
Ring
Berserker
Ring
Berserker
Hammer
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic
  • Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar is a tiny DPS loss.


Consumables

Food:

  • or ascended versions


Utility:


Usage

Quickness Catalyst uses the same rotation as Catalyst - Power DPS.

Rotation fundamentals

Catalyst's rotation can be varied quite a lot, so an outline is provided rather than a strict skill usage. The fundamental goal is to cycle through all four elements, activating the Circular Projectile in each element before releasing them all with Grand Finale and starting the loop again. Jade Sphere is also used in each element for boons.


Jade Sphere use During the loop, you also want to deploy your Jade Sphere once in each element. Each one provides Quickness Quickness and one other boon upon activation, then pulses additional boons for the duration. You do not regain the energy needed to cast them while one is active, so it's best to cast them in "pairs" as you switch attunements. This creates some gaps in the loop where energy can recharge, and as the most powerful autoattacks are found in Fire and Earth, these attunements are the best choice to stay in. The sphere does the same amount base damage in each element, but thanks to the damage buffs you gain while in Fire and Air, these attunements are higher priority. Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire) also generates stacks of Persisting Flames, and Relentless Fire and Shattering Ice will last longer if used while standing in Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire) and Deploy Jade Sphere (Water).


Glyph of Storms use Glyph of Storms should be used either in Fire or Air attunement. Optimal use will depend on phase timings as well as hitbox size - Fire favouring small hitboxes and Air favouring large. Given the damage and cooldown, Fire should be the more efficient option, but the rotation lines up somewhat awkwardly compared to using it in Air, so consider the following:

  • A rule of thumb for elementalist is that your last Glyph of Storms in each phase should be used in Air, so try to keep an idea of how long you have left when deciding where to use it.
  • As the more powerful option, if you can line Air up with your target gaining Exposed Exposed this will be greatly beneficial - particularly useful in fractals.
  • If your rotation is not particularly tight, you may be better off just casting Glyph of Storms at the earliest possible opportunity, whether you are in Fire or Air.


Fiery Greatsword use With the Whirling Stones trick (see the Earth section below), Earth has the fewest cooldowns to use, and so is the best time to Conjure Fiery Greatsword. Summon after using Rocky Loop and Ground Pound (if available) and use Firestorm then drop the weapon and continue your rotation. The next time you reach Earth, pick the second Greatsword up and repeat.


Fire In Fire you want to use:

  • Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire)
  • Surging Flames
  • Flame Wheel
  • Triple Sear
  • Molten End
  • Relentless Fire


Water In Water you want to use:

  • Deploy Jade Sphere (Water)
  • Rain of Blows
  • Icy Coil
  • Crashing Font
  • Cleansing Typhoon - use if available, but don't delay your attunement swap for it
  • Shattering Ice


Air In Air you want to use:

  • Deploy Jade Sphere (Air)
  • Hurricane of Pain
  • Crescent Wind
  • Shock Blast.


Earth In Earth you want to use:

  • Deploy Jade Sphere (Earth)
  • Whirling Stones - as Stonestrike is a powerful autoattack, it is a good idea to delay this until your attunement swap is available, then use Whirling Stones and immediately swap (this will not interrupt the cast)
  • Rocky Loop
  • Ground Pound - use if available, but don't delay your attunement swap for it


Rotation example

While you have opportunities to adjust the element order as needed, in most cases you want your first two attunements to be Fire and Air, followed by Water and lastly Earth. Your choice of starting attunement is largely up to you, but it might be best to base it upon which Glyph of Storms you wish to open with.


Opener in Fire

  1. Glyph of Storms (optional)
  2. Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire)
  3. Flame Wheel
  4. Relentless Fire
  5. Molten End
  6. Triple Sear
  7. Surging Flames
  8. Air Attunement


Air

  1. Crescent Wind
  2. Shock Blast
  3. Hurricane of Pain
  4. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air) once you pass 20 energy (2/3rds of the energy bar) and swap to Water Attunement Water Attunement


Water

  1. Icy Coil
  2. Deploy Jade Sphere (Water)
  3. Shattering Ice
  4. Cleansing Typhoon
  5. Crashing Font - if available
  6. Rain of Blows - swap to Earth Attunement Earth Attunement once the cast begins
  7. Earth Attunement


Earth

  1. Rocky Loop
  2. Ground Pound - if available
  3. Conjure Fiery Greatsword (if available)
  4. Firestorm - drop Fiery Greastword immediately after the cast
  5. Stonestrike until you are at full energy and Relentless Fire is nearly off cooldown
  6. Deploy Jade Sphere (Earth)
  7. Whirling Stones - swap to Fire Attunement Fire Attunement once the cast begins


Fire

  1. Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire)
  2. Relentless Fire
  3. Grand Finale
  4. Molten End
  5. Triple Sear
  6. Flame Wheel
  7. Surging Flames
  8. Air Attunement
  9. Return to the start of the Air Section

Keep looping between the four elements, following the advice in the Rotation fundamentals section and adjusting as necessary.


Video example


Video example (DPS, using earth elemental)


Sword/Warhorn Rotation

The quickness rotation is almost identical to the DPS one, with the exception that you use Water Attunement every loop and add the use of Sand Squall. You can also add Heat Sync into the fire section if you want more Might Might generation.

Opener in Air

  1. Glyph of Storms
  2. Lightning Orb
  3. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air)
  4. Polaric Leap
  5. Quantum Strike
  6. Fire Attunement


Fire

  1. Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire)
  2. Relentless Fire
  3. Flame Uprising
  4. Cauterizing Strike
  5. Wildfire when ready
  6. Elemental Celerity (if available), followed by
    1. Wildfire
    2. Cauterizing Strike
    3. Otherwise, autoattack until Flame Uprising is available
  7. Flame Uprising
  8. Earth Attunement


Earth

  1. Dust Storm
  2. Sand Squall (if available)
  3. Earthen Vortex
  4. Rust Frenzy
  5. Deploy Jade Sphere (Earth)
  6. Water Attunement


Water

  1. Deploy Jade Sphere (Water)
  2. Tidal Surge if available, otherwise autoattack until Air Attunement is ready
  3. Air Attunement


Air

  1. Autoattack and use Polaric Leap and Quantum Strike as they come off cooldown
  2. Lightning Orb when energy is nearly full
  3. Cyclone
  4. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air)
  5. Return to the start of the Fire Section


Video example


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 4 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
5 stars
Velkix gave this build 5 stars • December 2023
Arcane precision doesn't provide much value, but this build is pretty solid. People can pick S/D and tweak some traits to solo open-world bosses. Bountiful Power is a perfect match for Catalyst and the best for daily usage. You can provide 20+ mights, perm quickness, decent protection, vigor, and minor regen. I personally prefer S/D because hammer has a fixed rotation, and you may lose Sphere energy due to some circumstances. Update: Fire/Air is better and easier. Pick cele/divin trinkets except rings. You get 100% cirt chance and 25-35% boon duration. Enough for stikes.
3 stars
Wolfsen gave this build 3 stars • November 2023
A kinda mediocre build due to energy management not fitting well with a support role.
3 stars
OfficerAndyGentleman gave this build 3 stars • August 2023
On paper, a very strong option that provides a range of useful boons and deals great DPS. Unfortunately, the nature of its rotation makes it rather inflexible in its quickness provision and it struggles noticeably on bosses that move a lot.
5 stars
MechaOG gave this build 5 stars • August 2022
This build can easily keep up perma quickness while managing to do a very decent dps. The cleave is amazing as is with Catalyst in general, so in fractals, you can mow down mobs. It works amazingly in most fractals, so I will only be rating it based on the fractals where it can work (Looking at you sunqua peak). It is easy to maintain quickness on it, so even if you mess up your rotations and get little less dps, you can still keep quickness up. One of the biggest thing with catalyst is, understanding combos. You put down many combo fields and have many finishers. Learning what each does, will allow a player to use the most out of this build. Can it go toe to toe with other quickness builds? I'd say, yes for the most part. You will have to spend sometime to learn it, but once you manage to understand it, you will be able to challenge the meta.

Comments

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