Catalyst - Staff Backline

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

Focused on: Strike damage, Utility and Crowd control

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required:

This build was last updated on February 14, 2023 and is up to date for the February 14, 2023 game patch.

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Overview

A backline zerg WvW DPS build for Elementalist providing damage, CC and field support. Requires a precise usage of skills and positioning to survive.

Skill Bar

Staff

Staff

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• if Fury isn't needed
• only if you can't reach 10 stacks of

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Dragon

Ring
Dragon

Ring
Marauder

Staff
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Consumables

• • personal option

Usage

General

• As soon as you get 25 stacks of and get out of combat, swap back to the Staff without a stacking sigil
• You are much stronger with full stacks of and
  • Make sure to use on yourself to help maintain stacks
• Staff Catalyst uses an attunement rotation for maximum burst damage
  • You are not locked into this rotation, while it is optimal for DPS, change the order based on your needs:
    • - healing and cleanse
    • - CC, Immobilize clear, single target damage
    • - CC, projectile reflect

Attunement rotation Repeat from step 1

Priorities

High

Moderate

• Sustained damage
• CC

Low

• Support

Surviving

• This build has low passive defense
• This build has moderate mobility skill access
  • An About Face keybind can be useful for
  • Avoid using for mobility unless nessecary to survive
• This builds has moderate active defenses
  • Save for removing Immobilize, Chill or Weakness

Active defense priority - for Immobilize - for projectiles Dodge

Detailed Explanations

Meteor Shower

• Place where the enemy group is moving to, not where they are when you begin the cast
• Activate after casting
• Use to reset the cooldown of and after your first cast
• There are two ways to move during the cast of :
  • Cast immediately after casting and the will be queued to cast at the target location after the rollback ends
  • Use after you start casting it

Sustained damage

• When using ground AoEs like , place them so that one edge is on the enemy group and the other edge is in the direction they are moving to
• Your 2 skills (/)/) have very long delays or cast times
  • Predict the enemies movement, as with
  • If you rotate quickly enough from ⇒ ⇒ you can have all three skills land at the same place and time for burst damage. Sync them up as much as possible
• Use in if you expect the fight to last at least 25 seconds
  • Otherwise has more damage but with a much longer cooldown

Skill priority // Autoattacks

CC

• Your three ground CCs are , and , in order of strength
  • should normally be saved to give yourself and allies instead of being used as a CC
• Drop your target when casting to make it easier to aim, don't cast it into projectile reflect
• You shouldn't interrupt your rotation to try and CC, instead just use whichever CC you have available for the attunements you're in
• Use your CC when:
  • Your group calls a spike:
    • Winds -
    • Wells - +
    • Shades -
    • Traps - +
  • On top of enemy downs (while alive players are on top of them)
  • Enemy groups moving defensively while your group is pushing

Support

• Focus on using when your group is pushing or disengaging from the enemy
• Cast on clashes, targeting the ground AoE so that one edge is on your group and the other edge is where they are moving to
• If a player in your party is going to die because of Immobilize, save them with
• Cast where your team is regrouping
• Use on your group before pushes to give
• Use your Jade Sphere in , on your group, for Quickness