Introduction Top
Catherine is one of the most versatile and durable junglers / roamers in the game. She will not secure the most kills, but played well she can be the play maker and carry her team to victory through smart strategic play.
All builds should always be situational, but I find Catherine scales best by augmenting what she already does well from the start - by building her into hyper mobile initiator / tank. She scales best with crystal builds, defensive items and key utility items to enhance engages.
When I play Catherine my end objective is to secure vision for my team and act as the de-facto shot caller, making sure we initiate and survive fights (stun + ultimate + warhorn + fountain of renewal).
To get to the late game you need a successful early game. So let's talk about that.
Early game - farm and disrupt Top
Catherine starts in the Jungle. Start with ironguard contract and 4 potions. Buy scout traps early to secure vision.
Wherever possible get a team mate and go counter jungling right from the start. Catherine is a strong disruptor and winning the jungle is a zero-sum game. You can win by farming a lot, but equally you can get your opponent on the back foot very early by forcing them out of their own jungle, and forcing their laner to interrupt their farming.
Just remember you need more gold than your opponent, so don't fight at the expense of gold. Just harass the opposing junglers enough to give you time to clear parts of their jungle and secure vision for your team.
Your farming picks up exponentially after stormguard banner, so rushing it is worth it whenever you can safely do so. Only return to base in emergencies (low health, no pots, no vision of enemy). Try to survive on jungle buffs and the jungle shop. And make sure you have vision of the enemy while doing so.
Catherins has a power spike when she hits level 2. Try and time a gank in lane as soon as you do. Combined with an Achilles Shot by Ringo or Suppressing Fire by Saw, an early gank can best case secure a kill, and even failing that it will likely force an early recall and loss of gold, putting your laner ahead. It's worth remembering that with Ironguard contract you also make quite a lot of gold in lane just by being near the laner, so ganks don't have to cost you money either.
Mid-game - secure vision, take objectives Top
Vision:
As the roamer and escape artist of your team, vision is your job. The more you see, the more aggressive your jungling can be, and the more effectively you can initiate and pick off opponents for your team to collapse on.
Your vision tools are :
Landmines : put them in places where they provide vision AND where the enemy is NOT going to step on them. Corners, behind jungle minions.
Flares : use these highly OP tools when others fail and you don't know what the enemy is up to.
Walkin through unusual spots to trigger enemy landmines. Denying enemy vision is as important as creating your own.
Objectives:
As Catherine your role is to keep an eye on, and initiate taking objectives (minion mines, gold mine, kraken). With warhorn you can demolish most objectives in a few seconds and maintain full health by using Stormguard with Eve of Harvest. The trick with objectives is timing :
Minion mines:
- Holding both minion mines at the same time resets enemy minions and gives your team a big advantage. If you get an opportunity to make this happen, take it.
- Do NOT take minion mines unless your team is ready to push. That will only feed gold to the opposing team. If your laner is doing well, it may even be worth feeding him further by strategically letting the enemy team
hold onto minion mines for a while. Think before you take one.
Gold mine
- Always maintain vision of the goldmine through strategically placed scout traps
- Regardless of who holds the gold mine, stay within striking distance once it's 2/3 full.
Where possible maintain vision in the tri-brush on the opposite side of the jungle so you see when the enemy is coming
- A good strategy to get gold mine is to initially push the lane as a team, and leave the laner to attack the turret. That will force the enemy to defend the turret. The two of you can then sneak away and take gold mine safely.
- Always try and kite goldmine as close to safety as possible before standing still to attack it.
Communicate to your team that you DON'T NEED HELP with goldmine when you are well built. your team mates are best off distracting the enemy or watching in bushes.
Kraken
- Catherine excels at both taking the Kraken and stealing it from enemies with her ultimate.
- The trick to taking Kraken is the same as for goldmine, except thinking one step further ahead. You must have first pushed the lane, then ideally taken out one or more of your opponents, and maintanied vision of the remaining opponent.
- Do not attempt the kraken if a steal is viable. It may well lose you the game.
- When the enemy is taking the kraken, use your boots and warhorn to get close, time your ultimate carefully to steal it.
Late-game - pick, dive, initiate and peel to win the game Top
When built for crystal and movement speed, and with the extra survivability and initiation utility of warhorn and fountain of renewal, Catherine is a late game monster.
Picks :
With the combination of your Merciless Pursuit, Journey Boots and Warhorn, you are in the best position to secure a pick for your team, giving you a 3v2 fight for a while and enabling you to take more objectives. Do not waste your mobility. Maintain vision and make your pick strategically. Ping your allies and go.
Dives :
- Catherine is one of the most viable turret divers in the late game. Make sure you have a carry with you. Dive in with Merciless pursuit, stun the enemy, immediately fire up stormguard to protect you from turret aggro, pop a potion, engage boots to get out - augment with Warhorn wherever needed. While you are taking the turret aggro your team needs to finish up the enemy. You won't do it on your own in most cases. Warhorn will help them in as it will help you out. Everyone takes a few turret hits and survives. Provided you time it correctly.
- Also don't hesitate to dive into teamfights. With maxed Stormguard + Eve of Harvest + catherine's passive you will be very tanky in the middle of the fight. Add a fountain of renewal and you are nearly unkillable for a while. Where possible keep your Merciless Pursuit off cooldown as you may need the stun to interrupt enemy ultimates. Adagio is a prime example. Do not go in, however, without your team. As Catherine's damage, once in the fight, is laughably small. The only thing you do significant damage to with your autoattacks are turrets and jungle objectives.
Teamfight initiations :
Catherine's ultimate is a fearsome initiation tool. It is difficult to block, and the silence makes it difficult to react to. Ultimate + warhorn is a great way to get the team fight started. Peel off the enemy carry (usually Saw or Ringo) with your stun, and let your carry finish them off while you focus on keeping the rest of the team busy. The cooldown reductions of warhorn and clockwork will really help keep your stun and shield up for when you need to react to an enemy ultimate.
Conclusion Top
Catherine is an awesome versatile champ that provides a lot of utility & support, but can also carry games effectively. You will not get the most kills, but your plays for vision, objectives and in team fights can swing the game radically even when you are behind.
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