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: Strike damage and Support

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on May 11, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A power DPS build for Catalyst.

Skill Bar

Hammer

Utility

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.

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Specializations

• This build can technically provide permanent Quickness by taking Sphere Specialist and adjusting your rotation to ensure you cast the air jade sphere off cooldown. This will not be reliable on real encounters however, so an example setup for more boon duration is below.

Specialization Variants

Replacing Fire with Arcane provides you with extra boon duration and a cooldown reduction of attunements and the jade sphere. This means you could provide Quickness without adjusting your gear, though it will be less reliable and lower damage than just taking some Diviner stats gear.

Air can be replaced by Water for a burstier opening, suited to shorter-phased fights such as fractals.

• You should also run Conjurer in Fire to build up stacks of Elemental Empowerment faster.

Equipment

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Dragon

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Dragon

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Dragon

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Dragon

Hammer
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Dragon stats gear is an inconsequential amount of extra damage, but gives you some free vitality.

Boon duration variant

The following variant offers ~37% boon duration, which is enough to maintain Quickness with minimal changes to your rotation

Head
Assassin

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Diviner

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Diviner

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Diviner

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Hammer
Diviner

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Consumables

Food:

• or ascended versions

Utility:

Usage

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 use

During the loop, you also want to deploy your Jade Sphere in Fire, Air and Water. You do not regain the energy needed to cast them while they are active, so Earth is used to regain that energy. 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).

If you are not using Shattering Ice, you could deploy your Jade Sphere in Earth instead of Water if the Protection would be more valuable than Resolution.

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)
• 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:

• Whirling Stones - as Stonestrike is your most 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. If you are providing Quickness, you should always start in Air to start generating boons as quickly as possible.

Opener in Air

1. Glyph of Storms
2. Crescent Wind
3. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air)
4. Shock Blast
5. Hurricane of Pain - swap to Fire Attunement once the cast begins

Fire

1. Flame Wheel
2. Deploy Jade Sphere (Fire)
3. Relentless Fire
4. Molten End
5. Triple Sear
6. Surging Flames
7. Water Attunement

Water

1. Icy Coil
2. Deploy Jade Sphere (Water)
3. Shattering Ice
4. Cleansing Typhoon
5. Crashing Font
6. Earth Attunement

Earth

1. Rocky Loop
2. Ground Pound
3. Conjure Fiery Greatsword
4. Fiery Rush
5. Firestorm - drop Fiery Greastword immediately after the cast
6. Stonestrike until Air Attunement is available
7. Whirling Stones - swap to Air Attunement once the cast begins

Air

1. Grand Finale
2. Shock Blast
3. Hurricane of Pain
4. Crescent Wind as soon as it becomes available again
5. Deploy Jade Sphere (Air) as soon as you hit maximum energy
6. Fire Attunement when available
7. Return to the start of the Fire Section

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

Video example (different rotation)