Build:Catalyst - Power DPS

Part of the current metagame

Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Direct damage

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on August 31, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Power Catalyst is a complex and fast-paced build that provides strong melee damage as well as some Might, Fury, Resolution and Protection for your group.

Catalyst brings its Jade Sphere that drops stationary damage and boon fields that your utility skills interact with for bonus effectiveness. This two unique mechanic means that Catalyst greatly prefers fights against low-movement bosses.

The hammer build also relies heavily on its unique Circular Projectile mechanic that sits on the 3rd skill in each attunement. Successful play involves maintaining these projectiles both for their damage and the buffs they provide and if they are mismanaged it can be difficult to recover.

The combination of Elemental Empowerment and Rocky Loop more durable than other elementalist specialisations, but be aware that you can gain up to 200 bonus toughness, so make sure your tank has more.

Note: Although Spear has the highest benchmark of the weapon options it is bugged on a number of encounters, and its visual effects are so aggressive that they obscure a huge area, making it a liability wherever there are mechanics.

Skill Bar

Sword/Warhorn

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Sword/Warhorn is the best weapon set for players with Secrets of the Obscure, but not Janthir Wilds.
• Spear does the most DPS on paper, but comes with serious caveats (see Overview).
• Hammer is the best weapon for players that don't own Secrets of the Obscure or Janthir Wilds.

Skill Variants

Utility

• Arcane Blast will provide slightly more burst damage than Shattering Ice - particularly valuable in fractals.
• Conjure Lightning Hammer could replace Arcane Blast as a burst option on large hitboxes.

Elite

• Elemental Celerity is the best option when using Sword/Warhorn.
• Conjure Fiery Greatsword is the best option for Spear and Hammer.
• Glyph of Elementals deals comparable damage to Conjure Fiery Greatsword when using the Earth Elemental, as its active ability applies Immobilize and is sufficient to keep you at 10 stacks of Elemental Empowerment via Vicious Empowerment.

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Specializations

• You should bring Raging Storm if Fury uptime is bad.

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

Sword
Berserker

Warhorn
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Spear
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x16

Infusion
x2

Relic

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar is a tiny DPS loss.

Consumables

Food

• or ascended versions

Utility

Usage

If using Arcane Blast, spam it as much as you can while in Fire Attunement, ideally while under the effects of Relentless Fire.

Sword/Warhorn rotation

Opener in Air

1. Glyph of Storms
2. Lightning Orb
3. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air)
4. Polaric Leap - This is a CC and combos with the field from your Jade Sphere, quickly providing stacks of Elemental Empowerment
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 (if available)
2. Earthen Vortex
3. Rust Frenzy
4. Deploy Jade Sphere (Earth)
5. Water Attunement

Water
Tidal Surge is only available every three loops, so skip Water Attunement and go straight to Air if it is not ready.

1. Deploy Jade Sphere (Water)
2. Tidal Surge
3. Shattering Ice (if using)
4. Air Attunement

Air

1. Autoattack and use Polaric Leap as it comes off cooldown
2. Shattering Ice (if using, only on loops where you don't enter Water)
3. Quantum Strike when energy starts to recharge (should be after two auto chains)
4. Lightning Orb when energy is nearly full
5. Cyclone
6. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air)
7. Return to the start of the Fire Section

Video example

Spear rotation

Click to view

Spear's unique mechanic is its Etchings. The five-skill in each attunement places a large symbol on the ground. This can be immediately reactivated to launch an AoE attack, but a more powerful version can be charged up by using three skills while inside the symbol. As such, the general principle in each attunement will be to quickly activate the Etching, followed by at least three skills, then the enhanced attack from the Etching.

It is worth noting that while you need to remain in the Etching symbol to charge it up, the damage can be aimed up to 1200 units away.

The Fire and Air traitlines provide cooldown reductions for those two attunements, so their Etchings will be available each loop, but the Etchings in Water and Earth will only be used every other loop.

Glyph of Storms use
Use Glyph of Storms off cooldown when in Fire or Air, but weapon skills should take priority. 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 this will be greatly beneficial - particularly useful in fractals.

Autoattacks will not be listed in general.

Opener in Air

1. Etching: Derecho
2. Lightning Storm
3. Twister - activates Relic of Fireworks
4. Fulgor
5. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air) - completes the Etching
6. Derecho and Fire Attunement during the cast

Fire

It is very important that Volcano is used immediately after Seethe as the entire attack will benefit from the damage buff.

1. Etching: Volcano and Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire) during the cast
2. Relentless Fire
3. Blazing Barrage
4. Meteor - On the first loop, you can delay this until after Volcano so that you have higher Persisting Flames stacks.
5. Seethe ⇒ Volcano
6. Conjure Fiery Greatsword - On the second loop, pick up the second greatsword. Otherwise autoattack instead.
   1. Firestorm
   2. Weapon Swap
7. Blazing Barrage and Earth Attunement during the cast

Earth

Where the Etching is not available, just use Earthen Spear and Fissure and swap attunements.

1. Etching: Haboob
2. Earthen Spear
3. Fissure
4. Stone Strike - a single autoattack will complete the Etching - if you're feeling squishy or need CC, you can use Harden instead
5. Haboob and Water Attunement during the cast

Water

Skip the Etching skills if they are not available

1. Etching: Jokulhlaup
2. Deploy Jade Sphere (Water)
3. Ice Beam
4. Undertow
5. Shattering Ice
6. Jokulhlaup
7. Air Attunement

Air

1. Fulgor
2. Twister
3. Etching: Derecho
4. Autoattack until Fulgor is nearly off cooldown - if you were slow with activating the Etching you can use Energize to get an extra skill cast in.
5. Derecho and Deploy Jade Sphere (Air) during the cast
6. Fulgor and Fire Attunement during the cast
7. Return to start of Fire section

Crowd Control

Most of your CC is already used during the rotation and Fire is the only attunement without any, so you can generally just continue with your rotation when defiance bars appear:

• Twister: 300 defiance break - make sure to hit your target with the centre of the AoE
• Volcano: 300 defiance break for the complete version, 150 for the lesser version
• Undertow: 150 defiance break, plus some soft CC from Slow
• Harden: 200 defiance break - replace the autoattack in Earth with this

Hammer rotation

Click to view

The Hammer 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 use

During the loop, you also want to deploy your Jade Sphere once in each element. 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 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 Fiery Rush → 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

Hammer 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

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 once the cast begins
7. Earth Attunement

Earth

1. Rocky Loop
2. Ground Pound
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 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 (using earth elemental)