The Most Powerful Catalyst Build in Open World: Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons

The Hammer Catalyst is without a doubt one of the most fun professions in the entire game however some players steer clear of it because of how complex it can be. I'm hoping to help you out by making this easier!
Build: gw2skills.net/editor/?PGQAIlpy...
0:00 Intro
0:27 Spec Mechanic
1:45 Weapon Choice
2:21 Skill Choices
3:55 Traitlines
5:15 Gear Selection
6:10 Rotation and Playstyle
7:41 Build Tips
8:36 Build Limitations
9:26 Important Note About Solo Builds
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#guildwars2 #gw2catalyst #gw2elementalist #caffeinateddadgaming #caffeinateddad #mmorpg #endofdragons #mmo2023 #gw2weaver #gw2tempest

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Interested in Solo Builds? Check This Video Out Here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJOndZmPgtxonpo

[@woof3065]

why hide your hud? it's so much info in there, especially if you demonstrate rotations / mitigations

[@sohu86x]

You're right. I clicked off this video so fast. It's stupid and pointless without hud.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Typically I do it because I am trying to declutter for text screen pop ups and icons.

[@carloslacerda8888]

I second this. There's a lot of info in the ui that a player needs to know if they're going to take your build to heart. Like, I can say that my hp never falls below 90% in pve content and I can face tank everything thrown at me and ignore a bunch of mechanics, but if I show a clip of my cac running around killing stuff but hiding my UI, I can't confirm my words. Please, don't take me wrong, I'm not saying that anything of the kind was being done here, but the information provided by the UI really is significant

[@Lord_Maldred]

Dammit Caf!! Stop making things look so freaking fun!! LOL. I watch you play and your enthusiasm makes me want to try these build. Hell, I am already swinging a hammer on the scrapper this vid makes me now want to swing one on my ELE. Currently spec'd out as a Weaver. I already have a Cele set so no reason I can't dabble in some Cata mayhen!! Keep up the great work man. Really enjoying your community.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Hey if your in the hammer club you gotta play the Catalyst! I know your scrappers fun but tryst me you won't be regretting the cata!

[@Zornarka]

I've been rolling around with this and I quite like it. For a long while now, rifle Deadeye is the only spec that has clicked for me, but catalyst with this setup might be another one I can enjoy at least as much as I keep on getting sidetracked doing overworld content! So thank you for expanding my horizons!

[@Thorrnn]

I like this build. I swap between hammer and scepter/dagger, a lot, as I like the versatility of the scepter/dagger combo. But, those spinnies are a lot more powerful and fun that I give them credit for, sometimes. Also, I tend to prefer Arcane Brilliance, for my heal, because it not only increases heals by 20% per enemy hit, it is also a blast finisher, so, using it in a water field does mass aoe healing, and it also provides and easy blast for the air-bot static field. (I saw your other video on aura generation, where you noted the relative difficulty in generating shocking aura's). I'm curious about your thoughts on evasive arcana. I can't seem to find any of the stats for any other elements than fire, which, for my current build would do 7600 burning damage over 10.5 sec which seems pretty decent. But I can't currently see any of the other effect stats as there appears to be a bug, (i've reported it).

[@willdeit6057]

Thanks for the great Info, Much appreciated and looking forward to playing it.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Happy to help!

[@SuperMonkei]

I'm a returning player, just got expansions and was overwhelmed by the stuff, thanks for explaining something :D

[@jamesweaver2061]

I've been preparing an Earth, Water, Catalyst build for the june 27th patch. Extra Auras could be fun.

[@illyesdogguy9063]

Hi ! thank you for the guide, im very new to elementalist and wanted to know if you ever use grand finale? or is just better to keep all the projectlies for the buffs?

[@ZKuran]

If you did Merch, a Catalyst Hammer Mug feels about right, more so if it changes with temp.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

I do merch! But don't want copyright issues lol

[@oliverpolicarpio5657]

new to GW 2. If I choose Rune of Balthazar, should I put it to all armor pieces? 5x? or you can mix rune of balthazar and divinity?

[@alexandrost6137]

Could you please make an updated guide for pvp? :)

[@victormontivero1998]

I'm playing scepter/focus at the moment, i can't get used to the distance of the hammer, also different elementans have diferent range. With Scepter/Focus what is your best build for PVP?

[@CaffeinatedDad]

You could probably go back to the FA scepter Catalyst, it's strong still, not as powerful but quite good

[@fullmetalathlete]

I'm curious if this is still a viable build...I've been looking into open world Hammer Catalyst builds and there seems to be no consistency...every single site has a completely different build, and as someone who doesn't know how to play Ele or Catalyst yet, i have no idea which way to go... would love to see an update with Soto stats and Relics...

[@lukasbrandi4870]

Hey Caffeinated, Just a question, can you run berseker gear instead of celestial?

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Sure! If you still with more power oriented choices it can workA

[@luganinho159]

Hello, thanks for the video, this build seens to be really fun to play. I feel like switching between elements is pretty difficult using the default game settings, do you know if i can use the mouse scroll instead?

[@jerod4036]

I just tried it out, the game does not let you bind your attunements to the scroll of your mouse wheel. You can bind it to any mouse buttons if you have them or to pressing (not scrolling) the mouse wheel. I personally have my attunements bound as Q, E, R, and T with G for jade sphere when I am on catalyst.

[@Vindicated1228]

Shift 123Q works nicely for me. Jade sphere+skill 5 on mouse buttons 4+5 so I do them consecutively easily. Great fun when you get the hang of it

[@mikehodges841]

I have my elements bound to QERT, easy access to swap quickly without having to press 2 buttons at once. Also can do while moving fairly easily

[@luganinho159]

@@mikehodges841 And the skills like healing or buffs, where do you use them?

[@mikehodges841]

@@luganinho159 I have those bound to Shift + 1-5. Probably could be bound better, but I don't have the time to rebuild the muscle memory at this point lol

[@CoreyC4]

am i losing a ton of dps goin from beserk to cele? i know its not about dps really in open world but.. is it like noticeable between dps loss and survivability?

[@CaffeinatedDad]

In some cases yes, for example the damage will go up by like 30% but you will equally be taking much more damage. And as an ele, even one as durable as a Catalyst will feel the pressure

[@huna7a]

Im saving your build, I already made an iteration of it but for Knight gear, and since im running knight gear on my Weaver open world build, Ideally I wanna use that gear for my catalyst as well. I dont like celestial gear for open world because its well rounded, but weaker in every department. Its only good on some mixed damage builds where you want all the damage stats. Im with 94% crit with all boons with the Knight gear, which is perfect. My conditions do enough damage even without going celestial gear, yes with celestial they will do more, but I dont aim that, I aim for Toughness, and Knight gear is my best in slot option in achieving what I want. I will probably do a celestial build too, but this will be later on, for condition damaging I currently use viper gear with the old setup, sword dagger & scepter focus. I dont like how limiting greathammer is in terms of conditions applying and it doesnt suit my condi playstyle.

[@EnzoVinZ]

The funny (and sad) thing about the Catalyst is that it is the weaker version of the Hammer Firebrand. Nevertheless, you make playing the Cata look easy. I still can't play Elementalist although I think I'm decent with Weaver.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

It's funny I can't wrap my head around the thief and especially initiative management lol

[@sockpuppermcgee7920]

@@CaffeinatedDad I love condition daredevil thief, with 2 daggers, its rotation is really simple and doesn't utilize stealth, something I believe that simply was not made for PvE. you get as many allies around you as you can, only need 4, apply the poison venom, immobilize venom, and torment venom, then you use dagger/dagger skill 3, Steal from the target to get the initiative back, dodge with your special daredevil dodge to increase condi damage, and do 1 full auto attack chain. repeat. Use your daredevil healing skill if you're low on endurance, and use your auto attack chains fully if you can't use your third dagger/dagger ability while waiting for initiative. use steal off cooldown, and swap weapons for an initiative boost whenever you can. I can't remember the build, but weapon swapping was cheap to pull off. you put your main dagger in your main hand, and your off hand dagger in your off hand but on your second weapon set. it functions the same mechanically as a weapon swap, but nothing changes, you still have the 2 same weapons you had in your hand a moment ago, the game just treats it as a swap due to how you equipped it.

[@peternamer3259]

What is the best race for elementalist?

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Races down necessarily matter here as their is no inherent racial buff. But personally I like either human or slyvari

[@simz3192]

Ive been waiting for this

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Happy to oblige!

[@daethmer7834]

Men this looks cool, I can't decide if to play this, revenant or warrior ugh warrior looks bland next to it xd

[@CaffeinatedDad]

The elementalist offers alot of great gameplay albeit a bit complex at times!

[@iPOCK3TS]

Sounds complex “grabs a beer” logs into reaper😊

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Looool

[@1996technique]

Cata is soooo tanky - perma protection is 33% strike deduction, geomancers training in earth is 10% strike deduction within 360 range, rocky loop is 15% incoming damage, the earth signet is now 10% strike damage decision, hardened auras gives 10% deduction (with 5 auras, which is easy). So that's 78% which you can upkeep pretty much indefinitely. There's plenty of condi cleanse especially if you put the sigil of cleansing, which triggers on attunement swap. Then go make things better I can run trailblazers gear with undead runes which gives 3300+ toughness and about 19k health without jade core. Then on top of that you maintain 10 stacks of elemental empowerment quite easily with signets, so you get 20% to ALL stats. I have 1800+ condi damage already without the buffs. Absolutely mental

[@1996technique]

Oh and on demand a frost aura 10% deduction which you can activate heal signet for or a combo in water

[@ThrowingCrunchy]

[@CaffeinatedDad]

Gooses!

[@keats27]

Heard some...I wont call it a complaint because the guy didn't seem to be whining, but...let's call it marvel by some poor guy getting deleted by a Cat last night--basically warning people that the guy was putting out a LOT of damage really fast.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

If done correctly the hammer Catalyst has incredible burst!

[@kamaszatutaa]

I feel like Chopin on this class and im still dealing less dmg than ma harbringer and scourge just spaming whatever xD

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That may be true lool I am also not running the "most optimal" damage setup to br sure

[@kamaszatutaa]

@@CaffeinatedDad This class have big potential but its hard to learn also very exciting.

[@bencochrane6112]

I know being in downstate is the meme, but switching to ele a few weeks ago I spend spend less time dead than with any of my other classes. Think I actually went down once, and thats because I was auto piloting whilst printing off a worksheet for my daughter. Or it could have been the shock that my 5 year old was demanding I give her homework. Either way, it wasnt the ele's fault.

[@CaffeinatedDad]

That second to last line made me laugh! Yes the elementalist right now is doing exceedingly well!

[@Duukar]

@CAFFEINATEDDAD This build is insane. So what counters this? I've heard Virtuoso has some good tools to counter this. Is this true? Anything else? This seems very tough to face!

[@CaffeinatedDad]

If we are talking pvp, then really excessive cc wins out. Because I would swap to Staunch Auras giving me stability each aura I generated if you ca. Blow thorough those with a bunch of cc I'm a sitting duck