WARNING!!! Top
This is a fairly casual build. It does not work unless the enemy team has a composition allows for you to play this way (more on that later). In the event that the enemy team composition is unfavorable,
DO NOT use this build.
It will not work.
You will not win.
You will let your team down.
Disclaimer: I have not played this build in update 1.3, therefore I am unsure of how it's been affected by all those hero balance changes. If something needs to be updated, just drop me a line.
Basic Idea Top
I have noticed that when playing
Catherine, you can do a great deal of damage in one hit, and occasionally, your team needs you to do less tanking and more damage.
If that is the case, this build may work for you.
The main concept behind this build is to fill a **
very** limited tank role while turning
Catherine into a formidable one-hit-wonder assassin. You need both teamwork and a bit of help from how the enemy team is set up in order for this build to shine.
Favorable and Unfavorable Enemy Compositions Top
THIS IS A SITUATIONAL BUILD. Do not use this build unless you have clearly told your teammates before the match what you are doing, or are in favorable conditions as described below. In order for this build to work you NEED for the other team to have selected heroes that form the right combination, and if they don't, as I mentioned in the warning, this build will not work and will mess up a perfectly good game. So let's look at when you should, and more importantly, should not use this build.
FAVORABLE COMPOSITIONS:
1) The enemy team lacks a tank: If the enemy team doesn't have a tank, you're more likely to get away with not tanking for your team.
2) The enemy team has two laners, and both are in lane: With only one enemy jungler, chances are you wouldn't even be tanking until late game.
3) YOUR team has another tank: It is crucial in this scenario that you have communicated to your teammates that you will not tank. In such a case, the game will not necessarily fall apart.
UNFAVORABLE COMPOSITIONS:
1) The enemy team HAS a tank: If you haven't directly communicated with your team, they will obviously expect you to tank. Later in the game, they'll probably NEED you to tank, and you won't be doing that.
2) The enemy team has two assassins: When the enemy team has two assassins, all that damage is going to need to be sponged up.
Catherine is a marvelous tank hero, and you really ought to give your team what they expect rather than this unusual build.
Strategy Top
I suggest you buy an
Ironguard Contract to start and here's why: The item costs 250 gold. It sells for 150 gold. You gain 20 gold per 5 hits from neutral monsters (with a cooldown before accruing stacks again after being paid once). Therefore, if you can manage to get paid more than five times before you sell it-- you've made off with extra gold for free. The later you sell it, the more it pays off. You don't need a damage or tank item because your
Stormguard will protect you right from the start of the game.
You should play this build as you would any other
Catherine build, helping your team, farming, punishing enemy laners, etc. The bread and butter of this build is your
Merciless Pursuit. When the other team returns fire, place up your
Stormguard as it both protects you (you're easier to kill than the average
Catherine) and returns the damage to your enemies. Your Ultimate,
Blast Tremor should be used as you see the need.
The basic build leaves one slot for a defensive item, and I typically take a
Fountain of Renewal for the passive, however if the other team can be better countered with a different defensive item, by all means use that instead.
Crunching the Numbers (and the Other Team) Top
The whole idea of this build is built (pun intended) upon Catherine's innate ability to take a hit and the key fact that her Merciless Pursuit procs on-hit effects.
MERCILESS PURSUIT:
Cooldown:
13 seconds
Energy Cost: 40/50/60/70/100
Catherine gains a burst of
move speed. Her next
basic attack is replaced by a powerful stun attack. Resets auto-attack cooldown on activation.
DETAILS:
Bonus Damage: 10/50/90/130/
170 (+1.0 Crystal)
Stun Duration: 0.75/0.9/1.05/1.2/
1.75
COOLDOWN ACCELERATION:
The
75% cooldown acceleration granted by
Aftershock and
Clockwork reduce the cooldown of
Merciless Pursuit to
8 seconds. If you build a
Warhorn instead of a defensive item, the extra
30% cooldown acceleration reduces your
Merciless Pursuit to only
7 seconds. As of update 1.3, Catherine's cooldown on
Merciless Pursuit begins immediately after using it, which means that if you use all of the speed boost, you can use 2 seconds of the cooldown before triggering the ability. With a 1.75 second stun, you essentially can use
Merciless Pursuit once every 4-6 seconds of an enemy attacking you in a one-on-one.
PROCS:
Merciless Pursuit has an amazing one-to-one crystal ratio, meaning that with an
Aftershock and
Alternating Current, you get a bonus
255 damage from the ability's buff to your next auto.
Alternating Current's proc will give you
97.75 bonus damage to that auto as well, if you didn't get the proc on your last attack. If your
Tension Bow is ready to proc, you get an additional
180 damage.
Tension Bow also grants you
45 WP and
15% armor piercing, so at level 12, Catherine with a
Tension Bow has
186 WP. Finally, hitting the
Merciless Pursuit will proc
Aftershock, which is then used on the auto-attack that follows.
DAMAGE:
Thanks to
BlueBadger, anyone can calculate exact or average damage values from their builds. After running the numbers with Catherine here, we get a whopping
714 damage on the average heroes (that's with average health, armor and shield values at level 12, without any defensive items though). That's
54% of the max health of the average hero... all taken in one hit. Then you may remember that
Merciless Pursuit also includes a 1.75 second stun. For reference, I tried running these numbers on my favorite assassin,
Koshka. Unfortunately, the build doesn't work too well for her, as she needs defensive items. Regardless, Koshka can only deal
1,059 damage with the same items, but it takes her a
Pounce,
Spin, and an auto to deal that amount. There's no stun and it takes much more time, while she only nets an additional
345 damage.
Threats Top
I haven't included a hero-by-hero threat analysis because it's much too repetitive. So here's the summed-up version with notes for heroes that are exceptions. Remember that if you lead the charge against the highest threat, chances are that threat will die and swing the battle in your favor dramatically.
Marksmen/Mages:
These heroes include:
Celeste,
Ringo,
Skaarf,
Adagio,
Petal,
SAW, and
Vox.
The largest danger these heroes pose is their ability to kite you after your
Stormguard is down.
Adagio is especially dangerous if he's building crystal, as he can keep his team alive with
Gift of Fire.
Petal can hold an impressive last stand at turrets, so engage her with caution if she's nearby one.
Vox can outmaneuver you with his
Sonic Zoom, so either get him quick while he's stranded from his team or let him go.
Assassins/Burst Heroes:
These heroes include:
Krul,
Glaive,
Koshka, and
Taka.
Each of these heroes threaten your team with burst damage: neutralizing you or a teammate before you can do much of anything. If these enemies aren't fed, you can focus the team's marksman. If they are fed, they're likely the largest damage source, and can probably be dispatched easily, in which case you should do so.
Taka can utterly decimate a teamfight and escape if he needs to, especially a crystal one with a
Broken Myth. Stunning him with as many procs as you can muster is a good move.
Tanks/Other Heroes:
These include:
Ardan,
Krul,
Catherine,
Glaive,
Joule, and sometimes
Vox.
For the most part you can ignore these heroes and focus on their more lethal counterparts. If a tank has a bunch of items with active effects, a well-timed
Blast Tremor can utterly destroy their entire contribution to the team.
Final Words Top
Late game fights are typically won by the better coordinated team. When you lay down your stun, have your team quickly pick off that enemy while they are helpless. As logic would dictate, you should stun the enemy who is the largest threat. With armor piercing, alternating current, and low cooldowns, this Catherine is ready to deal with anyone.
Fun Fact: You can use your Tension Bow and Aftershock procs on enemy turrets to deal MASSIVE amounts of damage to them (I have honestly never seen a single attack do more damage to turrets-- from any hero).
Have fun, help your teammates, and let me know if this build was as "stunning" for you as it has been for me.
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