Become the player your enemies have been warned about.
Catalyst has some of the uniquest abilities in Apex Legends. She can reinforce doors, fill doorways and summon huge scan blocking walls. However, she can be very hard to master to her full potential.
Conjure up a storm in your next Apex match with our comprehensive Apex Legends Catalyst guide.
Apex Legends Catalyst guide: What makes Catalyst a good legend?
Catalyst excels in sweaty games. That's why she has become a favourite of pro players in the ALGS. Additionally, she was the first legend to block scans. At the height of a Bloodhound, Seer and Crypto scan fest - that was pretty exciting!
What people like about her is that unlike her close 'rivals' Caustic and Wattson she has some use outside of buildings and strong cover. This gives her a little bit of extra flexibility that is suited to how ranked games play out.
Catalyst is in the Controller class of legends which allows her to access ring consoles, revealing the next zone.
Strengths:
- Her Dark Veil blocks scans and can provide you with fast and efficient cover.
- Taking control of doors is a really powerful tool that can turn fights around.
- She is a defensive legend that has aggressive capabilities, making her flexible but still solid in end games.
Weaknesses:
- Catalyst can still feel caught out in open spaces.
- Piercing Spikes feel underwhelming compared to alternatives.
- Her reinforced doors and barriers are still one shot to most ordinance.
Catalyst Tactical:
- Throw out a patch of ferrofluid which turns in to spikes when enemies are near.
- Catalyst remains immune to enemy spikes.
- Has 2 charges. Can create a maximum of 2 patches.
- Spikes will start moving when enemy player gets within 10m from the center. It will be considered activated at that stage.
- When an enemy walks over it, it slows them and deals 15 damage every second.
- In the middle of the patch is a glowing orb with 300 HP that appears when enemies get close.
The Piercing Spikes help you secure a building and prevent enemies from pushing inside. They have a lot of health and can only be destroyed at close range. These traps deal some damage and provide a stun, but not to the same effect as say a Caustic or Wattson equivalent.
Tips for Piercing Spikes:
Tip #1:
These traps 'activate' when someone gets close. In that aspect, they can actually be a great way to spot enemies. Not sure if someone is nearby? See if the trap is 'active' and know if someone is in the area or not. This can even work if you throw traps to where you suspect someone is hiding as well.
Tip #2:
For someone to destroy the trap they have to unload an entire magazine into the orb, at close range. This can provide you a great opportunity to counter-push an enemy trying to get into your position. While they are reloading their weapon, swing out and catch them off guard!
Tip #3:
The traps can go underneath objects and most importantly, doors. You can place them in a way that means the orb is one side, but the trap will still damage people on the other. This is a really great way to add some extra deterrent to a push. It pairs especially well with Catalysts Passive to lock down a position.
Catalyst Passive:
- Can reinforce existing doors, or build a barrier in doorways where doors used to be.
- Can reinforce up to 2 doorways.
- Reinforced doors takes 4 melee hits to destroy; ferro-barriers takes 2 melee hits to destroy
- Doors can still be operated by Catalyst and her teammates.
- Abilities still damage doors/ferro-barriers as normal.
The Barricade passive is one of the most unique abilities in Apex Legends. Doors are a pretty underrated aspect of buildings. You can heal on them, straddle them to quick peek and without them some spots become really dangerous. Catalyst can reinforce or rebuild doors. This ability is especially powerful in those sweaty endgames where you're surrounded by teams.
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Tips for Barricade:
Tip #1:
If you're fighting a team around a building with doors, take control of them! You can essentially lock teams inside, or outside of their building. This can be especially powerful if you lock a player who swings out away from their teammates.
Tip #2:
It's important to consider which doors you reinforce. One of the key powers behind a reinforced door is the delaying of someone getting inside. All the while they're being poked at and sniped at by other teams around. Reinforcing the doors that people are most likely to push from, or where you most want to delay people is key.
Tip #3:
Another big consideration when really trying to hold down a spot is how to best use all of Catalysts abilities. There are very few positions that have only two doors. Most that do are so small you wouldn't want to sit inside them for fear of grenade spam. It is best to reinforce or rebuild some doors, and protect others with piercing spikes.
Catalyst Ultimate:
- Create a permeable wall of 55m in length and 8m in height in line of Catalyst's indicator.
- The veil will keep travelling until one of the following: It reaches a wall that is greater than a climbable height or its height reaches 2x a climbable height.
- The Dark Veil lasts 30 seconds.
- Enemies that try to cross through the wall will be slowed by 15% and blinded for 7 seconds.
- Does not block bullets, ordnance, or abilities.
- Most scanning abilities will not apply scans to players on the other side of the wall.
- Catalyst is immune to the blind effect and slow of the Dark Veil, regardless of who created it.
The Dark Veil is a very flexible ability. It is a strong defensive tool, but can also be used to enable tough rotations and even some aggressive pushes.
Tips for Dark Veil:
Tip #1:
A great use for the Dark Veil can be horizontally to box you into a corner, or cover a choke point. This can allow you time to heal. Time to reload or revive teammates. It could even just simply buy you some time to think about your next move and rotation into zone. Because scans cannot penetrate it, and passing through it is very punishing for enemies, it is a strong deterrent.
Tip #2:
Another great use for the Dark Veil is as an aggressive tool. This works in most fights, but it is especially effective when fighting in buildings. If you can throw a wall down the centre of a building and split teammates apart that lets you potentially get an easy kill. Of course, teammates could dive through a wall but the penalties they recieve for that will still give you an upper hand in a fight.
Tip #3:
The wall can also once again pair well with the Piercing Spikes. Players can choose to peek through the wall and simply tank the penalties this incurs. If you throw a wall down in a fight, throwing some of your Piercing Spikes will add extra punishment to crossing through the wall. Of course, the enemy won't know they are there and they won't be able to see the orb to destroy it. They'll even let you know if the enemy is nearby your wall.
Apex Legends Catalyst guide: What legends work well with Catalyst?
Catalyst, being in the Controller Class, is primarily designed as a defensive legend. However, she does have some good flexibility in her kit so could also be used aggressively.
Aggressive Playstyles:
Pairing Catalyst with Fuse allows you to still get some scans on people behind a wall. Plus, the biggest weakness of Fuse is when he has to move around the map. A Catalyst Dark Veil gives Fuse that extra cover he needs sometimes to make difficult rotations.
Seer can help locate and isolate enemies for you to split off with a Wall, and Bangalore is simply a strong aggressive legend.
Passive Playstyles:
On the flip side, to play Catalyst passively you really want to get to a strong position in the zone. Both Valkyrie and Wraith have Ultimates that help you make difficult rotations. Additionally, Wraith has a kit that lets her move around the map and play off angles in fights. Caustic combined with Catalyst can be super toxic. Lock someone inside a building and throw a Caustic Ult inside.
Catalyst is a very strong legend. Lean into her kit and what she can bring in your next game - you won't be disappointed.
Thanks for reading our Apex Legends Catalyst guide.
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