1. Introduction 1.1 A Little About Myself 1.2 Catherine: Ex-Leader of the Stormguard 2. Catherine's Ability Breakdown 2.1 Merciless Pursuit 2.2 Stormguard 2.3 Blast Tremor 2.4 Point Allocation and What to Overdrive 3. Item Prioritization (A.K.A. How to Build) 3.1 Early Game Items 3.2 Counter Building 3.3 Emphasis on 'Front-Line God' 3.4 Emphasis on 'Merciless Initiator' 3.5 When to Build Which Way: Everything is Situational 4. I'm New/Can You Explain Any Simpler? (~Tiers 1-8) 4.1 ELI5: Building As the Roam (I'm the Captain Now) 4.2 ELI5: How Do I Play As Catherine? 4.3 I Am New and Still Have Questions...(Contact Me/Others!) 5. In Conclusion....(and What's Next To Come)

Hello, it's MauriceDaBeast. You may know me from various streams, previous competitions within the community, and being a moderator of the Vainglory Band Community. I am a proud member of Team Phoenix, and have hit Vainglorious Gold as a Captain Main this season. I have put a significant amount of work into this guide, the first of many more to come. Catherine is the roam I've enjoyed the most throughout my time on the Halcyon Fold. I hope you enjoy this guide as much as I had making it.

Catherine has been feared on the Halcyon Fold since the release of Vainglory. Her Merciless Pursuit provides an incredibly powerful point-click stun while her Stormguard allows for her to soak up the damage her opponents attempt to dish out. Using her abilities in sync with your allies will leave the opposing team silenced and stunned until they're 6' under.

Captain of the Guard Slot: Heroic Perk Catherine gains 1 armor & shield every time she stuns or silences or silences an enemy hero with her abilities.

Merciless Pursuit Slot: A Catherine gains a burst of move speed. Her next basic attack is replaced by a powerful stun attack. Resets basic-attack cooldown on activation.

Catherine's Captain of the Guard heroic perk is what makes her so successful as a late-game tank. Throughout the course of any match, Catherine gains BOTH 1 armor AND shield whenever she stuns an enemy opponent. Even better, any enemy you are able to silence with your Blast Tremor also adds a stack to your passive tank stats! So this means you should use your stun on an opponent whenever possible to ensure maximum stacks for late game, right? Short answer: No.

Long answer: Catherine must use her Blast Tremor and especially her Merciless Pursuit wisely. I have heard of far too many individuals who have died in early game for the sake of gaining an additional stack to their Captain of the Guard (I must admit when I began playing her I did this as well). Even worse than dying due to a carelessly used stun (and thus being out of position and overextended) is having a teammate die due to a lack of peel you provide when your Merciless Pursuit is on cooldown. IF you want to gain stacks while babysitting your laner (in the early game particularly):

• Have sight on the enemy laner and make sure your laner's health is at a reasonable amount (so you will not have to worry about needing your Merciless Pursuit to provide peel for them if the enemy were to gank).
• Wait at the EDGE of your lane bush (as close to the enemy turret you can get without exposing yourself by stepping outside the bush)
• FLARE into the enemy lane bush assuming both the enemy jungler and captain are missing from your team's view.

From there, if there is no one in the opposing lane bush it is usually safe to 'rush' the enemy laner by activating your Merciless Pursuit to get that sweet, sweet stack.

Note that this method should ALSO be used when you are in communication with your laner in an attempt to catch the opponent laner off-guard, securing a kill and a lane advantage for your own laner.

If however, the enemy captain is also in their bush, ask yourself this question:

"Can I live if I rush either the captain/laner to get a stack?"

• "Yeah there's no concern over my laner/my own life": Go for it! Just make sure not to use up TOO much energy by doing this repeatedly.
  
• "No way both the jungler and captain are waiting to gank my laner in the corner of THEIR bush": Good job, you shall live to fight another day, back off a bit in the bush and make sure your laner isn't jumped.
  
• "Maybe....": DEFINITELY GO FOR IT! just kidding. No. Don't risk attempting to stun the laner if you have doubt about whether or not both of you will live. It is better to be -1 from your potential armor/shield throughout the game than overextending and costing your team +1 deaths and potential objectives.
  
  Keep in mind that when you are teamfighting do not stun the enemy captain 9/10 times. 11/10 if that captain is Phinn. Your stun in teamfights should be reserved for stunning the enemy jungler when they attempt to dive your carry or to jump the enemy carry to prevent their damage output and try to kill them.
  
  
  
  

  Stormguard Slot: B Activates a protective bubble that reflects damage back to nearby enemies - especially when it comes in large bursts. Reflects any damage above 7.5% of base maximum health. Reflect damage is spread out to up 3 nearby enemies. Each reflection reduces the shield duration by 0.2s. Also damages enemies around Catherine while Stormguard is on.

  
  Catherine's Stormguard is the bane of existence for many squishy carries who's main goal is to delete you in 2/3 hits. A CP Kestrel glimmershot that would only do 1/5 of your health can reflect back and instantly vaporize them. The key to Catherine's Stormguard is recognizing WHEN to use it. it is best used when you're under attack or anticipate being attacked in the next moment. A common ability chain is {A->B} where you initially stun an enemy carry (such as using the method I provided above), and then activating your Stormguard as it:
  • Does additional enemy carry who is currently in-your-face.
  • Allows you to tank any anticipated damage as their jungler/captain attempt to peel you off of their carry.
  • Discourages the enemy team from focusing you (although being the most convenient target). This can create a conflict of target prioritization for the enemy team (as in, they do not know who to focus).
  • Reflects any high amount of damage you DO take back to ALL THREE of the enemy opponents. This also means you are doing your job at soaking up the damage for your teammates.
  
  Just be wary of how long you stay in the middle of a teamfight. Sure Catherine's bubble can tank exceptionally large bursts of damage, but every deflection your shield emits is a -0.5 reduction to the duration of your Stormguard.
  
  
  
  

  Blast Tremor Slot: C Catherine slams the ground, damaging & silencing enemies in a large cone in front of her.

  
  Catherine's Blast Tremor cripples enemy CP heroes particularly as they are unable to use their abilities/items during the 2.5 second duration. As well, landing a successful Blast Tremor essentially makes the enemy roam particularly useless as you engage on the enemy carries without them from using their abilities OR active items (such as Fountain of Renewal).
  
  The key is learning how to properly use/land your Blsat Tremor so that it hits the most targets and does not get blocked. There are three different methods to go about landing a highly-successful Blast Tremor:
  
  1) (Recommended Method) Stealth: Wait with your teammates in a bush that has been checked for scout traps OR have your laner farm lane while both you and the jungler prepare to pounce. While activating Blast Tremor from a bush, it is impossible for the enemy team to block it without prior sight from your ultimate animation. This allows your Blast Tremor to have the lowest chance of being blocked, but it can be difficult to pull this off while still landing it on multiple targets.
  
  2) (Merciless Initiator Method) The Classic A-> C-> B: Catherine has fantastic initiation with her Merciless Pursuit. Use this to close the gap between you and the enemy, while stunning one of them (once again please don't stun Phinn or their Captain). This allows you to land your Blast Tremor in their face/faces of your enemies. They must reflex this if they hope to live; otherwise the silence on usually at least 2 of them turns the fight in your favor. You can either activate your Stormguard while you are in their face initiating to ensure sustain while you perform the combo, or for after the silence wears off to minimize the amount of damage you have to front-line.
  
  3) (My favorite Method) The Nullwave Wombo Combo: To perform this Combo, you MUST have Nullwave Gauntlet. Upon having both Nullwave Gauntlet and Blast Tremor available, you and your teammates get into a defensive positioning for a teamfight. From there, you initiate CAUTIOUSLY by approaching the (most likely grouped) enemy team, and proceeding to activate your Nullwave Gauntlet onto the enemy CAPTAIN. They either must:
  -Suck it up and Become item-silenced.
  OR
  -Activate their reflex block/crucible to prevent the Nullwave Gauntlet from item-silencing them.
  
  (Keep in mind if they are a Lance Captain, they can activate their Gythian Wall to block the Nullwave Gauntlet. Either do not attempt this method against a Lance, or make sure to initiate a teamfight with your Merciless Pursuit in an attempt to disorientate the Lance and hope he misses you activating your Nullwave Gauntlet).
  
  In either of these scenarios, either the enemy captain has already used their Crucible or now cannot for the next 4 seconds. Now, you can initiate IN THEIR FACES with your Blast Tremor without having to worry about the captain from activating their Crucible. This leads to 2.5 second silence against all of their team.
  
  Disclaimer: While I love building Nullwave Gauntlet to pair with Catherine, it should never be built before other core sustain items for your team such as Fountain of Renewal.
  
  Additional Disclaimer: In either the 2nd or 3rd Methods here, you must be wary the enemy team stunning you during your combo. There is nothing worse than having an item-silenced Phinn AOE stun your face in the midst of your ultimate animation. Be ready to Crucible or to activate your own reflex block in this circumstance if need be; it is far worth securing a enemy team-wide 2.5 second silence.

You should almost always begin with your Merciless Pursuit as it provides a stun, which is far more useful for the first engage (if there is one) before the first jungle set is taken. From there, put a point into your Stormguard as it is available if it is needed for damage deflection early on. Stormguard usually goes a long way towards discouraging enemies from focusing you if you are overextended/front-lining (what's the difference? The difference is a fine line called 'living or dying').

From then on you should continually put points into your Merciless Pursuit as it provides additional stun duration. ALWAYS overdrive Catherine's Merciless Pursuit at Level 8. The overdrive is an additional 0.2 second stun duration (doesn't sound like a TON, but it goes a long way with shutting down high DPS carries).

The next key decision with Point Allocation comes at Level 12: It is usually mid-late game, and Catherine should be almost full build. Now what to overdrive on her? This comes down to your playstyle and your team composition. In the current patch (2.1) it is usually more effective to overdrive your Stormguard for the reduced cooldown on it and the bonus 25% deflection damage it provides. However; if your team composition is far more oriented for diving the enemy (so the Merciless Initiator build/style), then it can be effective to overdrive your Blast Tremor for the reduced cooldown.

As well, while it is reasonable to skill skip (skill skipping is holding your 5th skill point until level 6, allowing you to put an additional point at level 6 into either your A/B and your ultimate), which would result with you having 4 points in Merciless Pursuit, 1 point in Stormguard, and 1 point in Blast Tremor it normally is not necessary to wait to allocate said point as the reduced cooldown on Catherine's Stormguard can be helpful in front-lining during teamfights.

Early Game Items

For the initial buy during the current patch (2.1), an Ironguard Contract and at least one Halcyon Potion are ALWAYS needed in the higher tiers. The Ironguard Contract allows for significant sustain throughout early game for both you and your allies as every jungle minion (or big lane minion) provides health and energy back. Having at least one Halcyon Potion gives you an elevated chance of not giving up the First Blood Bounty of 300 gold, a crucial sum to give one side an early game advantage.

After buying both the ironguard and potion, you have another 300 gold you can spend in a series of permissible ways:

• The "standard" Light Shield paired with a Flare and spare Halcyon Potion. This allows you to rush Fountain of Renewal more quickly, and allows you to tank any skillshots their Crystal Power champion attempts to throw at your team.
  
• A Light Armor paired with a Flare and a spare Halcyon Potion also works. As the majority of damage dealt during the first engage (before jungle camps spawn) is weapon, this allows you to tank far better against basic attack focus and hopefully leads to your team securing first blood/the enemy jungler's first set.
  
• An Oakheart with a Flare. While you do not have the additional Halcyon Potion, the Ironguard Contract (that you should have bought) allows for sustain until your first buy back at a shop. As well, the additional health Oakheart provides is a great bonus to a roam's ability to tank in general as most of the damage dealt early game isn't particularly Crystal Power. This option allows you to rush Fountain of Renewal much like a Light Shield would allow you to do, while allowing you to tank more Weapon Damage dealt from early game basic attacks.

No matter which you want to try, you can't go wrong with any of these initial buys.

Upon getting another chance to buy, you should look into purchasing items that build into Fountain of Renewal. As well I always stress the importance of picking up a pair of Sprint Boots. They allow you to quickly re-position when needed or lock down an overextended opponent for an early game kill. The (perhaps most important) part about picking up a pair of Sprint Boots is how they allow you to rotate between lane and jungle in a timely fashion to counter an enemy invade or assist your laner.

Besides boots, nothing else (except any additional flares/scouts) should be bought until Fountain of Renewal is completed. A correctly activated Fountain of Renewal is arguably the most teamfight-altering item within the Captain kit. If you are able to complete your Fountain by ~4-6 minute mark, you're on the right track.

As Catherine is a very energy-dependent hero, picking up an Hourglass right after completing Fountain of Renewal allows for you to have enough energy recharge to last you throughout early/mid game provided you are not over-spamming your abilities. If an hourglass is not able to sustain your energy levels throughout early/mid game, focus on using your abilities more cautiously until it recharges. If you cannot sustain with an Hourglass, consider either picking up an Energy Battery instead next match, or prioritize upgrading Hourglass into Chronograph for the upgraded energy recharge rate.

Once you have Sprint Boots, Fountain of Renewal and an Hourglass, your next item and build order should be based off of counter-building the enemy team and complimenting your team composition.

Every hero can be countered with a clever build. By predicting the major threats of the opposing team, you can prioritize items to win future engagements. Here are the utility items roams should consider buying and when:

Crucible

Crucible is a fantastic item to block ultimates and crowd control aimed at crippling your teammates. It is also arguably the hardest item within the Captain Kit to activate correctly, so practice your timing! I will go into greater depth on exactly HOW Crucible and other items counter these heroes further down in the guide.

War Treads

With the latter being usually the higher priority. Being able to have the additional mobility of War Treads to catch out an opposing glass cannon carry will do wonders mid game.

Atlas Pauldron

Atlas Pauldron should be prioritized whenever there is a hard carry on the opposing team that does the majority of their damage through basic attacks. Atlas Paulrdon also cripples opponents who rely on getting basic attacks off to activate their abilities (such as Krul with his Spectral Smite or Rona with her Foesplitter).

Contraption

Contrpation is a highly situational item on Captains. If the enemy team have heroes that rely significantly on surprising you with their stealth, then it should be prioritized. Otherwise, Contraption can be useful in winning the Sight War and preventing enemy compositions that prefer surprise bush ganks or guerrilla tactics from deleting you; however normally Contraption should be a lower priority than other utility items in those cases.

Nullwave Gauntlet

Nullwave Gauntlet is another situational pickup. Nullwave Gauntlet is more difficult to use effectively than other items as there is no "indication" that you need to activate it: Fountain of Renewal you activate when you or your teammates are low on health; [[crucible you activate to block crowd control or AOE abilities; however a Nullwave Gauntlet's effectiveness comes down to how you initiate after using it. It is BEST used in normal circumstances against Captains who have the largest amount of activate-able items. It can also be used against hard carries to prevent their ability from reflex blocking and/or using their boots to run away. While using Nullwave Gauntlet correctly is difficult, if timed correctly doing so is extremely rewarding and will leave the enemy Captain/Carry useless to your wrath.

To use Nullwave Gauntlet effectively, be wary of enemy cooldown times on their abilities. The difference between whether or not a Nullwave Gauntlet heavily or moderately counters an enemy champion comes down to the amount of assistance they can provide their team while item silenced. As well, another factor is how easy they can escape while item silenced. A Lyra will have a far easier time using her Arcane Passage to get to safety than a Fortress attempting to flee with his Packmates heroic perk.

Now that you understand the general guidelines of counter-building enemy team compositions, you should consider what items will better compliment your own team composition and play-style.

There are two main styles to playing Catherine: Being an impenetrable frontline for your carries and being a ruthless initiator who cripples their opponents. The 'Front-Line God' Catherine playstyle is where Catherine ends up being the main frontline for her team as her two carries are ranged glass cannons who focus on punishing from the backline. In this playstyle, you:

• Save your Merciless Pursuit for when an enemy carry attempts to reach your backline.
• Prioritize protection against Crowd Control for your teammates (so rushing Crucible over either War Treads or Chronograph).
• Use your Blast Tremor to initiate a counter-engage (Counter-engaging is biding your time while the enemy attempts to jump at you by kiting backwards until one/multiple heroes overextends/mispositions).
• Save your Stormguard to block/deflect damage that would otherwise hit your carries.

The "Front-Line God" Catherine playstle is typically more passive, but works far better with heroes who have significant backline damage potential (heroes who can hurt from far away): Catherine played in this fashion pairs well with almost every ranged hero. FAIR WARNING: In this case you ARE the entire (or majority) of your team's frontline. You need to body block, but this does not mean to soak up so much damage as you are the first to die in a teamfight. Know your limits and when to activate your Stormguard!

Now to discuss the second main playstyle for Catherine: The 'Merciless Initiator'. This playstyle focuses more on using Catherine as an initiator or "hard engage" for your team. It is your crucial job to decide for your team when and where to jump on the enemy team, leading the charge towards their carries. In this playstyle, you:

• Initiate using your Merciless Pursuit to stun one of the opposing carries (more often than not their laner).
• Prioritize mobility to allow you and your teammates to stick onto their backline (so rushing War Treads over Crucible. Chronograph most likely should be prioritized above a finished Crucible as well so that you can use your Merciless Pursuit more frequently within a teamfight).
• Use your Blast Tremor during your initiation combo (similar to the three methods of hard engage I provided in the description of Blast Tremor above).
• Activate your Stormguard either during the engage to mitigate some of the initial damage, after you stun an enemy carry to maximize the damage YOU deal to them, or after your Blast Tremor wears off to minimize the damage you tank.

The "Merciless Initiator" Catherine playstyle is far more aggressive as your goal is to delete your opponents before they can get their damage off. This pairs quite well with heroes who enjoy being up close-and-personal on the backline (heroes that can 'dive' well): Catherine played in this fashion pairs well with almost every melee hero. FAIR WARNING: While being aggressive and initiating for your team is fun, make sure that your carries are on the same page as you. Nothing is worse than having a perfect initiation and have no follow-up. If you are the only one jumping into them you will more-often-than-not end up 6 feet under. Do not initiate without your carries being within proximity to you, and make sure they realize you are about to make a play!

Neither playstyle is 'strict' in the sense that that is the only way you play said match; it just is a good guideline of planning your attack. If you are currently losing playing safer with a more 'front-line tank' oriented (cautious) playstyle usually fairs better to allow your carries to farm. Are both your carries squishy backline heroes yet you guys are 2 levels up on them and are currently 5-0 at 3 minutes? Go invade the enemy jungle with a 'Merciless Initiator' mindset to continue to starve them out! The beauty of MOBAs is how there is never an 'official' best way to play every match. What you can do is learn how to counter-build and adapt playstyle-wise for however the match is going!

ELI5: Building As the Roam (I'm the Captain Now)

I recognize that this guide can be very "Intimidating, overly-descriptive, and downright convoluted" for the casual player who just picked up the game and wants to try out this cool new hero they've never played before named Catherine. So I'll explain things in a short, sweet, and brief manner to get you on your way back to the Halcyon Fold:

Start with buying Sprint Boots and an Oakheart from the UTILITY tab in the SHOP. While still in shop, click on OTHER and buy a Halcyon Potion. Press the button that looks like the boots if you want a quick burst of speed. Press on the consumable Halcyon Potion if your health gets low to gain a boost to your health.

Build towards a Fountain of Renewal each time you go back to base until you have completed it (This is under the DEFENSE tab). Once you have Fountain of Renewal, press it when you are closeby to your allies and they (or you) are low on health.

After that pick up a Hourglass under the UTILITY tab. This will help you use your abilities more and allow you not to run out of energy, the blue bar underneath your health.

Once you have these items your build should depend on how the game goes. Don't worry! I offer full beginner builds if you scroll back to the top and click right twice on the arrow next to the Catherine Banner I lead you through the questions you should ask yourself on what to build next! I also provide two good default Catherine Builds! Now go have fun on the Fold!

Catherine has 3 abilities.

Her first, Merciless Pursuit, stuns an enemy/minion/target.

Her second, Stormguard, protects Catherine by bouncing back damage over a certain amount onto any close-by enemies. This makes her very good at soaking up enemy damage for her teammates.

Her third, Blast Tremor, throws Catherine's shield into the ground in front of her, dealing a big burst of damage to enemies in a cone AND SILENCING THEM. The enemies hit by your ultimate Blast Tremor cannot use their abilities or items for a full 2.5 seconds. Pretty cool, right?

If you are wondering how to put points into what category, scroll up to the top and click right twice on the arrow next to the Catherine Banner (assuming you hadn't previously done so) and check out what skill point I put in each level category.

Use your Merciless Pursuit on the enemy damage dealers, and try to land the cone of your Blast Tremor on as many enemies as possible.

Catherine's heroic perk is Captain of the Guard, where every time you land your Merciless Pursuit or Blast Tremor on an enemy, you ( Catherine) get a bonus point to your armor (how much red damage you can tank) and shield (how much blue damage you can tank). So the more stacks you have = the better.

Be careful not to be overly aggressive though. Stick with your carries and help them deal damage to the enemy team/take objectives. Have Fun!

Still have questions about how to play Catherine and the game in general? Well there are multiple sources for assistance!

If you are still VERY NEW to the game I would recommend both checking out Vainglory's Online Brief Academy and their Academy videos within the game itself!

If this guide still leaves you desiring a greater understanding of the roam position (or just the game in general), try some of the other official vainglory communities such as reddit or vainglory forums. I am a moderator of a modest (and unofficial) Vainglory Band Community, and if you ask a question there or send one through band to me I will do my best to get back to you!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and look through my Catherine Guide! I plan on continually updating this guide to keep it up to date with whatever particular patch it is (I couldn't let my guide on my favorite Captain become outdated!). As well, I already have multiple future chapters planned to add additional depth and advanced tips. If you are in North America and want to add me in-game I never turn down a friend request sent to my alternate account, "SupportLyfe". Whenever I'm on it feel free to hit me up on any questions you have! If I'm free I'll even be down for a game or two.

If you want to follow me on Twitter you can find me here.

(A special thanks to CrimsonVortex for providing those two edited pictures to break up the monotony of the guide)

And finally a special shout-out to all those who have believed in me along my journey to Vainglorious Gold, and to my guild Team Phoenix for their support as well!