Build:Catalyst - LR Catalyst Roamer

This is a test build. You may comment and rate it.

Focused on: Control, Mobility and Direct damage

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on April 09, 2022.

Overview

A Catalyst power build for WvW roaming with high CC and Burst Damage.

Skill Bar

Dagger/Dagger

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• Stormsoul can be effective against targets with low amounts of stun breaks/stability at the cost of less consistent fury uptime and crit damage.

Variants

• Hardened Auras more sustain but once again sacrifices fury uptime and damage consistency.

Variants

• Instead of arcane. Much better against condition builds, more damage overall, loses out on some vigor and protection.

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Dagger
Marauder

Dagger
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Dagger
Marauder

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Equipment Changes

Stats

• Similar to lightning rod weaver, full berserker gear can be viable with enough practice.

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar - Higher burst potential, lower consistency, and loses out on the boon duration.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Catalyst gives access to the jade sphere, a ground targeted aoe that serves as a combo field and pulses boons based on the element activated in.
  • The jade sphere costs 10 catalyst energy to use. 1 energy is generated with each hit on an enemy (and 2 by swapping attunements if you are running Energized Elements), but energy cannot be generated while a jade sphere is active. You can have a maximum of 30 energy at once.
    • Multiple jade spheres can be active at once if enough energy is built up beforehand by activating a jade sphere, swapping attunements, and activating another jade sphere.

• The jade sphere can be cast during other casts or even while cc'ed allowing for instant combos or to grant Protection or Resolution to defend against bursts.

General

• Your augment skills gain additional effects if used inside the jade sphere of their respective element, or in the case of Elemental Celerity when used in any element's jade sphere.

• Due to the minor trait Elemental Epitome you gain an aura based on your current attunement every time you activate a combo on a 10 second cooldown. This is generally best used on shocking or magnetic aura depending on the situation.
  • Y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ ̶a̶u̶r̶a̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶i̶t̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶v̶a̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶ Frozen Burst, Earthen Rush, or Earthquake i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶b̶o̶ ̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶s̶w̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶t̶t̶u̶n̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶d̶u̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶t̶.̶ This has been fixed, you now only get the aura from the attunement you are in when the finisher goes off.

• Use out of combat weapon swapping to build up bloodlust on one dagger, and then switch to your cleansing set once your stacks are maxed out.

• As with any glassy ele spec, be careful when choosing which attunement to swap to, swapping to an attunement with most of it's skills on cooldown will often mean death, especially when running the berserker variant.

• Try to get good value out of your jade sphere, it can be hard to build up energy against skilled opponents, and wasting it can have a large impact on both your sustain and damage.

Damage

• This build, just like lightning rod weaver, focuses on chaining together large amounts of cc to deal damage with Lightning Rod and following up with hard hitting burst skills in Fire Attunement.

• Aura's give a stacking damage buff through the trait Empowering Auras.

• Shocking Aura is both your strongest offensive and defensive tool, allowing you to force stun breaks, counter incoming melee range bursts, or setup cc chains to finish off an opponent.
  • Setup cc chains by forcing your opponent to use their stun break with Shocking Aura, and then chasing with Transmute Lightning.

• Elemental Celerity can grant insane value when used well, allowing you to extend cc chains in Air Attunement by doubling up on shocking aura and updraft, or grant more burst damage when used in Fire Attunement.

• Due to the delay on the cc effect, Updraft should primarily be used as a follow up to another cc or to respond to an incoming melee burst that animation locks (think Phase Traversal or Flanking Strike (thief dual)).

• Shattering Ice is another useful tool for both offense and defense, giving you extra hits on your attacks for a short time while also inflicting chill, making it harder for your opponent to escape/respond to your incoming burst.
  • Using Shattering Ice in your water sphere gives it 3 extra seconds on it's duration, potentially allowing more procs and therefore more damage/chill.

• Churning Earth will rarely be useful against a skilled opponent, but it can be used to follow up on Earthquake or Updraft if your opponent is low on CDs, or to blast your earth sphere for weakness and a magnetic aura. (Note: The aura for comboing with Churning Earth is given at the beginning of the cast rather than at the end).

• The fire jade sphere can be used to increase finishing power through the might it grants, or to give access to a fire field with no cast time if you have the extra energy and don't have time to cast Ring of Fire (elementalist).

Example Combo

Water Attunement

1. Water Jade Sphere & Shattering Ice simultaneously
2. Frost Aura or Frozen Burst inside your jade sphere for the aura.
3. Air Attunement
4. Shocking Aura
5. Transmute Lightning
6. Updraft & Air Jade Sphere simultaneously
7. From here you can spam lightning whip with quickness, activate Elemental Celerity to spam more cc, switch to Fire Attunement and use Burning Speed & Fire Grab, or even switch to Earth Attunement to continue the cc chain with Earthen Rush & Earthquake.

Sustain

• Most of your condition clear will come from Soothing Water and your cleansing sigil.
  • Don't underestimate the value of using Soothing Water in your water sphere, the decreased cooldown can have a massive impact on your sustain. You should aim to always have a water sphere up before casting.
    • It can be a good idea to preemptively cast Soothing Water if you see an incoming burst.

• Your other condition clears are dodging in water to remove 1 condition with Evasive Arcana if running arcane, or Burning Fire to remove 3 and Smothering Auras (which removes 1 when gaining an aura and 2 when transmuting) if running fire, as well as Cleansing Wave to remove 3.
  • The water sphere grants Resolution which can help survive a condition burst if you can't clear everything.

• You have access to plenty of Protection through Elemental Attunement, Elemental Lockdown, and the earth sphere.

• 3 of the 4 auras you have access to can help defensively. Frost Aura reduces incoming damage by 10% and inflicts chill, Shocking Aura stuns melee range attackers, and Magnetic Aura can reflect projectiles.

• The water field on the water sphere gives you access to healing with your finishers; Frozen Burst, Earthen Rush, Earthquake Churning Earth, and dodging in earth if running arcane.

• The jade sphere can be cast while you are cc'ed, allowing you to cast Invigorating Air in your sphere to stunbreak and grant the reduced cooldown.
  • Note that Invigorating Air also increases your endurance regen by a whopping 100% for 5 seconds and gives superspeed.

• Much of your defense comes from counter pressuring and forcing your opponent to play defensively.