General Strategy and Mindset Top
The most important thing to keep in mind while playing as Catherine is that you are, above all, a supporting hero. This means that you should play selflessly: be willing to take damage so that your teammate doesn't have to, lay down
scout traps to minimize surprises, adapt your build to your teammates' strengths and weaknesses, check the brush for dangers with a
flare or by walking in, and so on. If you are being focused on by enemy heroes in a team fight--this is a good thing and gives your team the advantage.
This doesn't mean that you should only play defensively. When possible you want to bully the opposing team a little, whether in lane or jungle. For example, if the enemy Carry is playing aggressively, you can use your
Merciless Pursuit ability (A) to initiate an effective gank with a stun. Even if you are alone you can still harass both Carries and Junglers.
With just a
Stormguard Banner, Catherine can still do a bit of damage even in the early game. If you cannot outrun an enemy as you are disengaging, it might be better to turn around and fight instead. Though Catherine shouldn't be afraid to tank (sometimes turrets for a few hits or in securing your teammate's escape), you should also remember that she isn't invincible.
The threat levels indicated above are not about how dangerous a hero is to you personally but rather their threat level to your teammates. If you find yourself dying often, this does not mean you should be focused on an enemy's threat to you personally, it means that you should use their misplaced focus to your team's advantage. Any hero is a viable threat to your team in the hands of a skilled player, so don't underestimate them.
Abilities Top
All three of Catherine's abilities are vital to her success as a Captain. The above build is merely a recommendation; you may find that you would rather overdrive
Merciless Pursuit instead of
Blast Tremor. Find which is more useful for you in a given game and be flexible between those two choices.
Merciless Pursuit is an ability you should be using quite often over the course of the entire game. Each stun landed grants her a stack to her Heroic Perk:
Captain of the Guard. Each stack grants 1 armor and shield, significantly boosting her defense by late game. Though you should use this ability often, you should also keep in mind the exact moment when you want to use it in team fights. If you use your stun right off the bat then you might not be able to interrupt
Adagio's
Verse of Judgement if he activates soon after.
Stormguard is a very useful defensive ability, especially against huge burst attacks. For heroes like
Joule (when using her
Big Red Button) or
Saw (when using his
Roadie Run), your shield can reflect huge amounts of damage. Some other large attacks worth attempting to reflect include:
Krul's
Spectral Smite,
Celeste's
Solar Storm,
Ringo's
Hellfire Brew, and
Kestrel's
One Shot One Kill.
Blast Tremor can be blocked by the enemy team fairly easily, so don't rely on this. However, when the silence does land, it can be an effective engagement starter or finisher. If you have a fleeing enemy with low health (and use your judgment here), you can also use Blast Tremor as a way to kill them, provided they are not too far away. This is made more effective if you have
Aftershock or a
Crystal Infusion. And lastly, Blast Tremor can also be an effective way to ensure your teammate's escape if they are being pursued.
The items that are included in your build should be a reaction to your teammates' needs as well as your enemy's strengths. Both
Metal Jacket and
Aegis are marked as Unhelpful Items because they are 'selfish' items--they only benefit one person. As a Captain, none of your items should be for your own personal usage. One last note on items: you should not view the builds shown above to be strict and limiting. They are only rough recommendations. Develop a build that is best for yourself, test out different items, and make sure your purchases are for the benefit of your team.
Defense
Fountain of Renewal is generally the first tier 3 item that a Captain purchases. I would say that, barring one or two exceptions (a WP Saw might call for a very early
Atlas Pauldron if your Carry finds themselves in trouble), this should be your first focus. If you see that the enemy team's Captain has built a Fountain before you, it is usually wise to avoid team fights until you have built one as well. This should very rarely be used on yourself (that is, you are the only one on your team with low health/you are the only one being healed). If you are trying to avoid being aced, it might be life-saving to use it then. Otherwise, you should generally keep it in reserve for your teammates.
Crucible can be, at best, essential in team fights or, at worst, just momentarily helpful. Either way, this will likely be one of your mid game tier 3 purchases. A Crucible is a must buy if you are facing one of the following heroes:
Ardan (with his
Gauntlet),
Phinn (with his
Forced Accord),
CP Ringo (with his
Hellfire Brew),
Samuel (with his
Oblivion),
Ozo (with his
Bangarang),
Glaive (with his
Afterburn),
Gwen (with her
Aces High,
Krul (with his
From Hell's Heart), or
Reim (with his
Valkyrie). It is also possible to block the effects of Atlas Pauldron, for example, as well. Lastly, your Crucible can be used to just momentarily boost a teammate's health as their opponent attempts to finish them off, if the fight has mostly dispersed or ended.
Atlas Pauldron is effective against most WP based heroes. Catherine is able to get close to range enemies with her
Merciless Pursuit or simply by virtue of being a melee hero and use Atlas Pauldron. Oftentimes WP heroes and their Captains will anticipate this (or learn from your behaviors) and use Crucible to block the effects of your Atlas Pauldron. If you find this happening, try to delay your use of the Atlas Pauldron and find a more unexpected moment. Since the cooldown on Atlas Pauldron is only 15 seconds, you should use it quite liberally throughout the game, in ganks or when your teammate is trying to flee.
Utility
Stormcrown might seem like a selfish item, but it boosts your damage against the Gold Miner, Crystal Miners, Kraken, and turrets so that you can help your teammates start and finish these objectives. The additional energy recharge and cooldown speed ensure that you have your abilities ready faster and more frequently. This is an important item for your mid to late game build.
War Treads can be an important item or a simply helpful one. If you find that your team often has trouble keeping up with the enemy team while pursuing or when escaping, the short speed boost from War Treads can mean all the difference. This should be a discretionary purchase; if your team is not having trouble in keeping up, then this should either be one of your last items or switched for
Journey Boots or
Halcyon Chargers. Given the frequent availability of her
Merciless Pursuit, Catherine can also keep up with her team and the enemy quite well with just
Travel Boots.
Contraption is a great purchase for a Captain, allowing you to almost always have a source of vision. Many Captains build a Flare Gun in preparation for Contraption early in the game since there is a noticeable health boost. However, you should be aware that Flare Gun only has 2 charges with a cooldown of 20 seconds. If you find yourself often needing more than two flares in quick succession, then it may be better to stick with the consumable
flares until you are closer to being able to afford Contraption. This is a discretionary purchase as well; if you find that you need more than 3 charges, then it may be worthwhile to forgo Contraption for a stack of 5 flares. Keep in mind that Contraption does give a health bonus and cooldown speed bonus, which can make it passively useful still.
Shiversteel is often a purchase of melee Carries and Junglers who are natural pursuers such as
Krul or
Blackfeather. If the enemy team is often fleeing from yours, it can be very worthwhile to use Shiversteel to slow them down and ensure your teammates secure the kill. The +500 to your maximum health is nice but not essential to team fights. This should be a very situational purchase, and you should keep an eye on if your teammate has built one already.
Nullwave Gauntlet can be quite effective in both team fights and ganks. If you are using this in team fights, you can target the other team's Captain so that they are unable to use any items, especially their
Fountain of Renewal for 4 seconds (which can determine the outcome of the fight). This item also boosts your health and cooldown speed, making it passively worthwhile as well.
Consumables
Ironguard Contract is a solid starting item that can still be useful around mid game. Unlike other Captains such as
Adagio or
Phinn, Catherine cannot fortify or heal her teammates. Thus, Ironguard Contract is a good way to ensure that both you and your Jungler can survive an enemy invade early on. Additionally, if you are accompanying your Carry in lane, this can heal them up to full health quite quickly. As you get further into the game, the usefulness of this item wears off and should be traded in for stronger purchases.
Halcyon Potions should generally only be purchased at the very beginning of games. Catherine is already quite durable and
Lifespring (on your way to building a
Fountain of Renewal) will continuously heal you over the course of the game anyway. Very early on in the game, however, potions can be used to just escape the enemy or restore just enough energy for you to use your stun.
Scout Traps are important and you should be buying these regardless of if you plan on building a Contraption (since that is a later purchase and you need vision as early as possible). Vision in your own jungle is imperative and vision in the enemy jungle is very useful. Your Jungler will appreciate having vision on the spawn of jungle camps as well as in the brush. A more detailed look on scout trap placement can be found
here. This can also be useful when getting rid of enemy vision too, as most Captains also place scout traps in similar locations.
Flares will likely be one of your early purchases, especially if you are building Contraption later on in the game. If you decide to forgo Contraption entirely, then you will be frequently purchasing flares. This depends on your play style and can be situational as well. Try to always have a few flares handy. Remember that if you don't have flares, you should be the one face checking the brush, not your teammates.
Crystal Infusions should not be purchased frequently, as your gold can almost always be better invested. If you have built all of your items and have a surplus of gold, then it is worthwhile to purchase an infusion (depending on your play style, you may prefer buying a
Weapon Infusion instead). This is an optional discretionary and situational purchase--sometimes it may be worth buying one if your team is making a huge push (after having just released Kraken for example).
Weapon and Ability
Bonesaw is only a helpful purchase during teamfights. You should only buy this if your WP teammate is facing multiple
Metal Jackets or
Atlas Pauldrons. If your team is composed of two WP damage dealers, Bonesaw becomes even more worthwhile. Often times if a WP teammate is having trouble dealing damage against armor, they will buy this themselves as well.
Aftershock is possibly the only acceptable 'selfish' item that you should purchase. Though you are not meant to be dealing huge amounts of damage on opponents, Catherine can still be quite deadly with just a
Stormcrown and Aftershock. Most team fights leave the Captain (of your team or the others) standing last, and with an offensive item like this, you can occasionally secure at least one kill in bad situations.
Gameplay Top
Often enough, the Captain is the leader of the team, the one who chooses and initiates team fights. To do this effectively, you should use the pings available to you for communication. Spamming multiple pings at once can be annoying, so you should use them just once unless you are continuously ignored.
This section is also only a recommendation and guide on one way to play Catherine. Find what you're most comfortable with and what you have the most success with. I like playing Catherine like she's the biggest kid on the playground, bullying and taunting the other team. This might not be for you, but there might be a few tactics that you find worthwhile.
Early Game: Start- ~5 Minute Mark
As a general tip in VainGlory, it's best to get as fast a start as you can. If you're a beginner you should practice ensuring that your starting purchases only take up the 10 second starting grace period. If you're anticipating headbutting with the enemy team in jungle, upgrade your A ability
first. Unless otherwise indicated by your teammates, you should head down towards the central treant camp where the jungle shop will later spawn. If you don't have any vision items on your person, you should stand in your own jungle brush (acting as a live scout trap) as your Jungler takes the nearest minion camp.
When contesting the central treant, it can be advantageous to wait for the other team to start it, so that they have to tank the treant's hits. If you do have flares, I would advise waiting until after your Jungler has cleared the nearest minion camp before flaring. If the opposing team is nowhere in sight, you should flare or face check (walk into) their adjacent brush. At this point you should be somewhat confident of their location on the map (for example, in lane or having moved on to their front treant camp). If your Carry is with you during this time, it may be advantageous to initiate a team fight, especially if you see that the enemy Carry is in lane (creating a 3v2 in your favor).
After clearing your jungle for the first time, most Junglers will want to continue farming. You should accompany them for the riskiest parts of the jungle (the camps closest to the center of the map) before considering recalling back to your home base. A trip home before the 4 minute mark can be either helpful--early superior vision--or harmful--since you are still quite slow and separated from the rest of your team. It is likely that your Carry will want to recall home before the four minute mark to make some more purchases, so keep an eye on the lane if you see that they are away.
You have three main jobs in Early Game:
1. Accompany your Jungler and Carry depending which is at most risk. If your Carry is getting jumped a lot, it is worthwhile to sit in the brush for a bit, passively gaining gold, ready to stun and protect them. If you and your Jungler/Carry are having trouble against the opposing team in one area, it is worthwhile for all three of you to focus on the other. For example, if the enemy is successfully invading your jungle every single time, you and your Jungler can apply pressure on the turret. If the enemy Captain/Jungler is harassing your Carry a lot, you should encourage your Jungler to invade while you accompany them or head back to the lane to protect your turret.
2. Place and replace
scout traps where they will be most useful for you and your team. Superior vision can determine the outcome in early, mid, and late game. If there's a specific area that your enemies seem drawn to again and again, it is worth placing a scout trap nearby.
3. Build a
Fountain of Renewal. As mentioned previously, this should be your first big purchase. Some Captains ignore all other items in favor of this (forgoing vision). Though I prefer to buy scout traps and a
Stormguard Banner early on instead of racing towards a Fountain, you should find what works best for you.
Your secondary job in Early Game is to:
Harass and disrupt the enemy team's attempts to farm. If you are accompanying your Carry in lane and they are not in danger, you should use your
Merciless Pursuit on the enemy Carry right before they are about to last hit a lane minion (ideally one of the large ones to deny them more gold). At best, this causes them to fall behind in gold and sometimes even to temporarily flee. At worst, this builds up your Heroic Perk
Captain of the Guard. If you are accompanying your Jungler in the jungle, you should make attempts to invade the enemy's jungle (unless they have a very strong early game Jungler and you have a late game Jungler on your team). Your
Stormguard shield is capable of stealing last hits on minions, denying the other team that gold. When contesting the minions in the enemy jungle, it is more important that you try to get the last hit than hoping that your teammate gets it.
Mid Game: 5- ~14 Minute Mark
By Mid Game you should have an idea of who the biggest threat on the other team is. If the enemy WP Blackfeather is doing the most damage to your teammates, then you should have your team focus on him in team fights. If you are not able to identify the biggest threat, then you should anticipate the opposing team's Ultimates, as they should be reaching level 6 soon after Early Game. For example, if there is a
Phinn on the opposing team, you should be ready for his Ultimate,
Forced Accord.
You have four main jobs in Mid Game:
1. Protect your teammates. You should very rarely be alone--an exception might be when your Carry recalls home to shop, then you might be alone to defend lane while they are away. Good teams will try and gank your Carry consistently. If your Carry is getting a little reckless, you should ping a warning and head to lane to protect them. In a gank, if one person in your team has to die, it is better that it is you.
2. Maintain vision on the map, on your side of the jungle and your enemy's. You should also try to deny your enemy vision by popping their scout traps. This can be done either by walking over common scout trap locations or by flaring on a contested location to identify them. This is especially important near the Gold Mine (which will eventually become Kraken's spawn point).
3. Objectives such as turrets (especially the first one) and the Gold Miner should be pursued in Mid Game. If you have a
Stormguard Banner or
Stormcrown you can deal quite a bit of damage to objectives even on your own. Try to ensure that you are the one tanking the damage from the Gold Miner or the turret, as you are almost certainly more durable than your teammates. Be sure to ping an arrow or some other equivalent on the objective so that your teammates know your intentions. The flip side of this is to make sure the other team is not getting these objectives.
4. Counter-build. Identify the main threats of the opposing team. Check their builds and your teammates' builds. Your build should be reactionary to that. For example, if the enemy WP Vox is giving your teammates trouble, then it would be worth it to use your
Atlas Pauldron on him. If your teammates are not able to keep up with enemies, consider buying a
Shiversteel or
War Treads. And so on.
Your secondary job during Mid Game is to have:
Map awareness. You should always know where your teammates are and your distance from them. If they are being ganked, you should generally head towards them to support and protect them. Your scout traps on the enemy team's side should give you hints as to where they might be, but if you don't know, you should use flares to bridge the gap in vision.
Late Game: 15 Minute Mark+
Keep an eye on the timer so that you know when the Gold Miner will turn into Kraken, especially if you are attempting to kill the Gold Miner near the 15 minute mark. By late game you should have a sizable number of stacks for your Heroic Perk
Captain of the Guard. This is when your role as a fight initiator is most relevant.
You have three main jobs in Late Game:
1. Protect your teammates. This one is important throughout the game but as you get later in the game, respawn timers are longer and longer. In Late Game, you and your team should stick together whenever possible. Avoid 2v3 fights if your other teammate is not nearby.
2. Pick your battles wisely. If you know that your enemies are split (if one is in lane and the two others are in jungle), you can turn this situation to your advantage. If a team fight is about to start, be sure that you are leading the charge and that you know the locations of all three enemies. If you see that multiple enemies are infused while your teammates are not, you should try to avoid engaging. Other finer points will come with experience, from what worked in certain situations and what didn't.
3. Control objectives. This includes getting rid of enemy vision on Kraken while maintaining your own. You should use your
Contraption (or flares, whichever form of vision you have) to keep an eye on Kraken. When you push enemy turrets be sure you know where your enemies are. If one of your teammates has AoE damage that will hit nearby enemies as you're taking turrets, consider attacking the enemy first so that the turret targets you instead of your teammate.
Your secondary job during Late Game is to:
Keep an eye on the lane. This is when opposing teams will start to really push turrets and are occasionally able to overpower turrets without minions. If you suspect that the enemy is going to push your turret, indicate to your team using a ping that you are heading up to defend so that they will follow.
Tips and Conclusion Top
Some tips that I have for Catherine players didn't fit in earlier parts, so this section covers some miscellaneous tips and suggestions.
1. Stealthed enemies such as
Flicker,
Taka, and
Kestrel often use their stealth to check brush or sneak up on you and your team. While hiding in brush, if you notice that you and your teammates health bars and usernames are no longer dimmed, then it means that the enemy has vision on you. If you are facing one of the heroes mentioned above, that means they are in the brush with you. You can counteract this by flaring above your position to find the stealthed enemy.
2.
Scout traps do a small but not negligible amount of damage to heroes who are caught in its radius when it goes off. For Catherine, this can be used offensively, especially in Early Game. As an enemy walks over your scout trap, use
Merciless Pursuit to stun them so that they are damaged by you and the trap.
3. If you are alone and fleeing the enemy, you should try and use nearby brush to your advantage. Pursuing enemies often lose vision on you for a brief second or two as you duck into brush. No vision means that they cannot continue their attack. This does not always work, but it is worth trying anyway if you are avoiding an ace.
4. Catherine can be deceptively tanky which means that sometimes you are able to bait an enemy hero into pulling a reckless move. For example, sometimes when I am low health I will stand near my team's turret. This occasionally baits an enemy into taking turret hits because they think I will be an easy and fast kill. Especially with Catherine's added armor and shield and her
Stormguard, it usually takes more than one hit to down her even with low health. As enemies are targeted by the turret, I use my stun to trap them in a vulnerable location, forcing them to take more turret hits than expected. This isn't something for beginners, as it comes with great risk to yourself, but it can be effective against more aggressive enemies.
5. Crystal Miners are often stronger than you expect. If your team is low health, it can be dangerous to pursue a fleeing enemy team further into their jungle. On the flip side, your Crystal Miner is just as strong, so luring opponents to fight in your side of the jungle can give you an advantage.
6. Many Catherine and Captain players forget that turrets are objectives too--that is,
Stormcrown allows you to do substantial damage to non-heroes. Don't be afraid to poke and push turret a little if you have this item.
7. If you are paired with a
Taka or
Rona or another hero who tends to jump forward into a fight, try and accompany them if they dive for an enemy Carry. If possible, get the enemy turret to focus on you instead of them.
8. Heroes like
Skye and
Petal have abilities that allow them to 'jump' away while fleeing. Skye especially can pull of creative moves that take her through walls of the jungle. If you flare towards the opposite side of the wall, you can occasionally grant your team vision, allowing for one of your ranged teammates to possibly secure the kill.
9. Many WP heroes like
Rona,
Vox, and
Krul often build Breaking Point to increase their damage monumentally over time. If you are not prepared for a full on team fight, try and stay out of their reach so that they cannot build Breaking Point stacks. And specifically in team fights, you should stay out of Rona's reach when she uses her
Red Mist ability, as she almost always has a Serpent's Mask as well (allowing her to heal). If you cannot outrun her, you should use your stun to interrupt.
10. Familiarize yourself with all the heroes, even if you do not like playing them. This way you have an idea of what strategies and builds they might use as well as identifying their weaknesses.
11. Check teammate and enemy builds throughout the game! This is important in so many of the jobs that you have as a Captain, such as picking your battles and counter-building.
12. Flexibility and adaptability are key to being a Captain. Even if you are able to maintain vision across the map, there is still a likely possibility that you or your teammate will be put in a bad situation. It's more important to be flexible and to make the best of it. Angrily pinging and questioning your teammates will be counter productive in these moments.
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide, and I hope that you found it useful, even if it's only one or two tips. If you have any suggestions, this is my first guide and I am open to constructive criticism.
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