I Tried the NEW DPS QUICK CATALYST in Guild Wars 2 - Thoughts

[@vivvegw2]

Thanks for trying out my build! I've put the thesis in the description just to make it bit more easier for people to understand how the build works since it's not on the SC site. Cheers

[@Eragon-wv5td]

I appreciate those "essays" whenever I see them in the comments/video description of a benchmark video. Those are usually valuable further insights that often are not even mentioned on the SC site, so please do continue writing those going forward, I think quite a few people do appreciate them a lot! Thanks for benching and coming up with those builds, much appreciated! Cheers :)

[@Ezoroth-fb7gd]

From what i understood, here are some of the reasons why there are so much variants : -Unlike other weapons, hammer Air 3 grants a 15% bonus crit chance, which means your don't need to use Air traitlines and assassin gear to critcap, so hammer version use Arcane (which grants more boons AND scales with number of boons on yourself). Since hammer doesn't have really hard hitting skills on 1 attunement, it uses Fire Greatsword (in Fire Attunement -Spear use Air traitline (to crit cap) with Bolt to the Heart since Fresh Air gameplay doesn't seems to fit with Etching system (even if i think numbers aren't that far). Volcano hits hard so we use Elemental Celerity to reset its cooldown -Variants using x/warhorn (sword and scepter only, dagger isn't great and pistol if for condi) use Air traitline (crit cap again) and they both work well with Fresh Air AND Bolt to the Heart (but i think Fresh Air is still ahead because perma 250 Ferocity is great while Bolt to the Heart only works against ennemies bellow 50% HP). Elemental Celerity is used on Fire Attunement because of warhorn 5

[@AWSturdy]

For the hammer it is somewhat true. Every power quickness catalyst build will run air since it gives the most buffs. The main reasons hammer plays Arcane over Fire is because we dont have an fire-field in our weapons so we dont have that high an uptime on persisting flames. Arcane also means we can use our spheres more often and they are one of our higher damaging skills since we get to spam them so much. The arcane rotation falls apart if you don't have this reduced cooldown and in the end arcane is just higher dps (also better boons) (Defo not bias, but hammer is best c: )

[@bladesofguyver]

I'm 4 minutes in and you're not in downstate rotation yet. I'm impressed. Also very confused already. *Pushes Ele further down the un-played character list*

[@demenion3521]

i did look into the exact bench video you linked as well when i wanted to check the new quick cata, but you are absolutely right that the apm on this build is crazy. unlike fresh air tempest, you don't spend half your time overloading, but you just constantly swap attunements. as you might remember, i usually provide additional insight into like every build you showcase, but quick cata doesn't have much going for it except for exceptional boon output, giving like 8 boons with very high uptime. on the other hand, if you enjoy pressing every button available to you, this build can definitely pump atm.

[@DreamingDolphing]

This build saved my Catalyst. I've even started to enjoy playing this class. Yes, it's still playing the piano, but you see results immediately.

[@Back0]

It's not that the ele community doesnt agree on how this class should be played. It's that you can play it however you like. Every weapon choice has a pretty similar dps from what I've tested (around 35k without too much work). I personally like hammer and pistol+warhorn but many people like the fresh air variant and the benchmark is 40k with spear. Whatever your choice is you can supply the team with the needed boons tho.

[@masterdragon2345]

I really like the new qdpscata, also using scepter/wh. I think it has a couple of strong points and a couple of weak points Strong: - It can upkeep 25 stacks of might for the group. - it also has very high uptime on resolution and a fairly high amount of aegis. - like most builds it does upkeep fury - it helps with other boons like prot and vigor - Most boons range is 360, but it can be cast from far away, even while CCed - stacks quickness to 30 seconds fairly quickly. - good cleave damage Weaknesses: - no real way to give stability without screwing the build or damage dealt. - high apm - Needs a target to hit to regain energy(instanced content does fully charge it to 30/30 when fights start, so no issues with starting with 0 energy, mistlock in fractals also refreshes it) Also, depending on weapons used range can be different. Spear is 1200 range.

[@Paint2D_]

The non fresh air version is actually super easy and relaxing to play IMO with 100% uptime of all boons other then Alac/Stab/Resistance.

[@ParagonOblivion]

Hmm... I suppose I'll have to pull my Ele back off of Eternal Ice Duty again and give it a shot. I'm not super competent with any ele but this seems interesting enough to warrant a test drive. 6:18 Honestly, since Janthir dropped and maybe a little bit near the end of SoTO, I've noticed a lot of guides on Hardstuck are janky like that. We all make mistakes sometimes and life gets in the way often, but I'm surprised there are still entire blank templates and incorrect skill annotations on some pages. I liked to cross ref them with Metabattle, Snowcrows and GuildJen (really wish that site didn't chug HARD on my phone/tablet...) ... I got lost in the sauce for a sec, thanks for the video, Muk! ❤

[@lilacdragon17329]

I love Cata now, i used to barely play it. I main Ele btw, Tempest in particular. The new Cata made me go back to hammer, and i really enjoy bonking people. Maybe i should finally make an Aurene hammer.

[@IcewolfBrett]

The aurene hammer is so pretty and its variants are nice too. I only hate the war horn in the gen 3 set and only because i don't think they did it justice.

[@666caveman]

Thought it needs mentioning; spear on ele has a lot of cc. In fact, I believe it has the most on ele overall. The flipside, though, is this cc is attached to a lot of your best damage sources. So at no point during a fight will you be able to cc a defiance bar at will. Rather you will damage the bar as you do your rotation. Given that, I'd still recommend spear over the other options, as its damage rotation is very face rolly on keyboard, and I'm a filthy piano weaver lover.

[@raarsi-dar]

Ele mains: "It's my catalyst build!" Me: "Hmm...still looks like weaver to me" Also feel like there needs to be an edited short of Muk reading that master's thesis of a catalyst guide set to an echo with some math meme backdrop.

[@The92Ghost]

I have to disagree with the choice of Scepter & Warhorn and the FA trait. I do a lot more damage with Sword & Warhorn with Fire trait. It is way more efficient and works wonders with the reset skill ultimate. When playing with Scepter I find it more challenging, personally. Unless they increase that ferocity up to 10 secs so we can use the other elements more naturally instead of constantly going back into Air would improve the Scepter build so much more enjoyable. And I agree so strongly with statement for CC. "I might be in air (or earth or water)" but only "I might be" most of the time I am not personally.

[@xLeopanther]

Hm.. on one hand it makes it confusing for learning the build that there's so many variants. On the other, I think it's healthy if there are multiple ways to play the build and still get similar results? Means everyone can just try out which variant they find most fun or easiest to play and not feel like they have to play a specific way to get results. Personally I really like having the arcane traitline in, the arcane revival is so powerful with getting people back up and having that on a boon dps is like a free cherry on top. Having the free concentration from arcane is also really neat, adds to the already great boon coverage of the build. As far as damage is concerned, there's multiple weapons that work and each weapon plays quite differently. Some offer more support while others are mainly damage. I think it's great that there's some variety and you can tune it yourself for what's right for you.

[@KokkeOP]

"so yeah. I just started Unloading" - Thief

[@constantinojancarlo]

As for someone who recently became an Elementalist main (eversince they gutted Guardian spear), this is better if you have limited build / equipment template since you can use the same equipment as power tempest and power alac tempest. Switching to a role that your party needs is a breeze.

[@Jmvars]

There's also a variation I made myself (although I doubt I was the only one): You do sw/dagger, but in doing so you need to use Relic of the Claw. You use sword 2 in air after one auto chain, it is a cc that will refresh Relic of the Claw. Because the air F5 is a lightning field, it means Fire sword 2 (since it's a leap finisher) becomes a dazing strike (ASSUMING you use Air F5 directly before swapping to fire), which makes it a cc, which refreshes Relic of the Claw. Earth 4 is also a cc which will also extend Relic of the Claw, you don't have a cc in water but you do not stay in water, instead swap to air as fast as possible, making sure to use Air 2 after one auto attack chain. If you do it too early you may lose the Claw upkeep towards the end of air attunement and doing it too late means you lose it in the middle of air attunement.

[@baronoke5432]

You lost me

[@Deadlift74]

Is there any world where this does more damage than x/warhorn with fireworks though?

[@Jmvars]

@@Deadlift74 I didn't properly bench it but I reached 33k with only alacrity from console because dagger off-hand gives a bunch of might via its blast finishers in earth. It can maintain ~20 might at all times and stays at 25 stacks a lot. The purpose was never to do more damage than warhorn off-hand but to offer a different playstyle/rotation than the usual warhorn, and to also show the nice amount of boons you are able to get while playing solo. That being said, I personally do ~400-600 less damage with warhorn but that can be attributed to being out of practice with the warhorn rotation since I haven't played the warhorn rotation for a long time, on paper warhorn should do more.

[@Snowshill]

really hope a ui overhaul will come some time soon, would be nice if the ball bar was in the same spot as the druid celestial bar, and that bar needs to be much thicker there are so many buffs now that are just a small square on your ui with a tinny oh so small number you cant see, or the new stuff is a glowy orb on you you cant see because of all the over the top effects T.T

[@bridgetboyle687]

thank you for giving me something else to think about. Comment for the math of the tubes.

[@kylemeschke6584]

ayyyy we ballin with this one

[@Joeyjoejoe1708]

I found the same video. I can't handle fresh air, so I used the traits from Snowcrows. And with scepter/warhorn I achieve around 1k less dps than with spear, but dps itself is more consistent for me and the rotation more fluent. And having boon extension just feels great.

[@Deadlift74]

Yeah the build is way more chill without fresh air for very similar results.

[@chikatuntla]

for hammer cata u use fire greatsword on earth at the end of your cycle after 5-th skill, because u have 10 sec while your spheres will gone and u need wait until your cooldowns resets, so u use elite skill or earth autoattack

[@Warcrafter4]

I love this change and the builds it opens up. So I hope the recharge restriction or orb energy as a whole gets removed to make Catalyst more consistent and fun to play as its the only Elementalist elite spec to have additional restrictions to the elite spec's mechanic. As Both Tempest and Weaver get to use their elite spec mechanics(Overloads/Dual skills) without any restrictions beyond the normal cooldowns.

[@CyberDoedel]

Thank you for making this video, fellow human. I, too, like Gen 3 bacon (I'm sorry Mrs. Luk).

[@ColdMystery]

0:03 I called it in chat, that Noxxi would go crazy on that haha (6:34 comment in the chat lower right hand side)

[@notrlvnt]

This is what I struggle with when looking at builds. Not sure which one to choose. Normally I will just create a Frankenstein build from all of them.

[@ogrejd]

@2:15 - So, it's one of the simpler Ele rotations? :P

[@lashonawaldmeister1111]

No, that's the great part, this one usability change made the build work with almost every weapon to a decent degree! sc/wh fresh air, sc/wh btth, spear, sw/wh, hammer fire traitline, hammer arcane, p/wh condi are all solid xD (sc/wh FA is best though imo)

[@theHamien]

Not sure what my dps numbers are cause too lazy to check, but i enjoy the spear quick cata. While the VFX on spear still op, i like that using my ball charges my etching. But more importantly, the catalyst change to let me get energy while ball is out made cata go from one of my most HATED specs, to one of my favorite.

[@GeminiKLY]

Hey Muk, are you going to do more boon dps build updates with spear?

[@MuklukYoutube]

Any I come across that seem video worthy, yes.

[@GaddTV24]

Muk is the man!

[@Sang-Drax]

From what I've gathered, the Spear setup shown on Snowcrows is by far the most damage but only works well at DPS golem and golem-like fights. Whichever is your preference between Hammer or x/Warhorn is probably the way to go for most content.

[@whyisthisathingnow...]

Yeah, that and the bosses volcano is not bugged on 🥲

[@Leafycoke]

I guess it’s good that there’s no best weapon or trait combination, it’s pretty varied and adaptable.

[@MrLowFrame]

BALLS!!!!

[@Beriorn]

Someone told Anet "no balls" and they took it personally.

[@barryh1512]

You should try out the new deadeye quickness with spear or axe at some point lol

[@CuriousMoth]

I've been using a condi version with pistole. I dunno' if it's any good but it's fun and pukes boons everywhere so that's plenty for me.

[@kaldeathar3462]

"a pain in my Asuran heinie" so not a big pain then

[@bobiboulon]

No matter the updates, catalyst will always be Muk's nemesis. x)

[@Ermji]

Hey, I just started playing this game this week and I really enjoy playing healers in mmorpg's so I decided to roll for Alacrity Healer Scourge Necromancer. Would the build using Harrier gear be also usable in Solo content or would I require two sets of gear for stuff like main storyline quests?

[@The.Grimoire]

You COULD use the Harrier gear set to do Open World content and Story, but you'll have almost no damage. Each character has two equipment/gear templates, so keep one Harrier for when you want to focus on healing, and get another set for Open World/Story; either Celestial for an all-around approach or a more Damage-focused set (Berserker for power, Viper for condi, in general.

[@Ermji]

@The.Grimoire Then I'll probably get some Berserk Exotic gear for questing and gonna farm for Ascended Harrier gear

[@The.Grimoire]

@@Ermji great choice! Good luck and don't forget the Wizard Vault gives a few ascended pieces as well.

[@Ermji]

@@The.Grimoire Gonna check that out thx!

[@Ermji]

@@The.Grimoire I pretty much have full ascended now but I was wondering. I saw on Snowcrows that they use couple of pieces of Magi gear instead of Giver/Harrier. Is there a reason for that?

[@Rengrim]

Nice, gonna try hammer because I like the skills, but scepter looks good also. oh btw ...is pistol used AT ALL by ANY Elementalist?

[@666caveman]

Condition builds use pistol

[@Sang-Drax]

Every condi build uses pistol.

[@SheenaMalfoy]

Condi builds all SHOULD use pistol, but the visibility of the bullet mechanics is non-existent and the whole schtick is kinda dumb so sticking with Scepter for slightly less dps and retaining your sanity is often the preferred option.

[@ColdMystery]

Inofficial "Balls 😳" counter: 11x

[@Brosemon]

BttH Sword/WH is best imo. Even if its not as much dps as FA or Spear

[@jimbobjoe]

Ele is for sweaty peeps. (ele main since launch) I like it, but I can understand why no one would want to for any reason what so ever... lol

[@arkanaloth2617]

I like ele a lot, but yeah APM is insanity mode...

[@matsug5704]

So... the other day I tried to play Cata in fractals and god dammit almost broke my wrist trying to use all those skills, my Guardian brain cant register that theres also an F4 and F5 skill buttons xD

[@glowdonk]

balls

[@lobuilalaseda]

balls

[@aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa7811]

balls

[@matsug5704]

balls

[@kessy628]

balls

[@activegrass9435]

i use scepter/dagger. yes im a menace to society

[@FinalShieldnobi]

TEEEEMOOOO

[@jcabben]

Noxxi singlehandedly making me watch the first minute of this video on a loop with the power of ten (10) vine boom SFXs

[@NZVargs]

Seems better than before, but are there any actual benefits to this build? None were mentioned in the video. Tough to play, squishy, terrible CC, and no notable utility or anything interesting/unique going on. Why play it?

[@vivvegw2]

This is just a variant. You have multiple options to choose from. This specific build has insane burst and it's somewhat ranged. New qcata provides almost all boons with no boon duration. It can provide boons from far distance. You also provide fields on the ground permanantly. Also there is a way to get free utility slot just by changing gear to get more precision and drop signet of fire and take frostbow. Instead of Celerity Elite you can play air elemental/water elemental.

[@psplaysnl4635]

You got 2 options: sword/warhorn or hammer. Combine with fire, arcane and catalyst. Breakbar is an problem. So you can take the elite skill whirlwind, still a reset is for higher damage.

[@Wisznuification]

Oh no! There is no ONE meta build! Game is broken!

[@biomagic8959]

this is such bull. giving every class every single boon was a huge mistake. there is no class flavour anymore. should have just left ele as the top dps. if you want boons play something else