How to support with Catherine. by Zdzislaw

How to support with Catherine.

By: Zdzislaw
Last Updated: Apr 30, 2015
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Catherine

Build: Catherine Full Support

Ability Path

Captain of the Guard
Heroic Perk
Merciless Pursuit
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Stormguard
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Blast Tremor
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Item Choices

Early Game

Ironguard Contract
Scout Trap
Halcyon Potion
Halcyon Potion

After 3 Minutes

Ironguard Contract
Sprint Boots
Scout Trap
Scout Trap
Halcyon Potion
Halcyon Potion

First Things

Stormguard Banner
Sprint Boots
Chronograph
Halcyon Potion

Rush This

War Treads
Sprint Boots
Reflex Block
Halcyon Potion

Mid Game

War Treads
Travel Boots
Crucible
Halcyon Potion

Around 15 Minutes

War Treads
Travel Boots
Crucible
Chronograph
Eclipse Prism
Halcyon Potion

Late Game

War Treads
Travel Boots
Crucible
Aftershock
Coat of Plates
Halcyon Potion
Flare Gun

End Game

War Treads
Journey Boots
Crucible
Aftershock
Atlas Pauldron
Fountain of Renewal

Threat Meter

Threat
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Threat Hero Notes
1
 Catherine After this guide, you will be a way better Catherine than your enemy. Never focus on her, it's not your job.
2
 Ardan Ardan will be another support (if not, he will suck!). You should not focus him, and he most probably won't focus you. If he does, he will do nothing to you.
2
 Joule A joke. Joule will not be able to do much against you, and if she happens to make the big mistake of unleashing her ultimate Big Red Button on you, use your Stormguard barrier to deflect the damage to her own allies and devastate the whole enemy team.
3
 SAW As soon as a SAW knows there is a Catherine on the other side, he will regret his hero decision. Counter his Spin Up and Suppressing Fire by stunning him with Merciless Pursuit whenever possible, he will hate you.
4
 Celeste Celeste has good range an will poke you all the match if you let her. Remember how squishy she is and play offensively against her (if you are with teammates). Mind her Core Collapse, it will most probably hit and stun you. Try to use your Stormguard barrier and take all hits of her ultimate Solar Storm to avoid damage on your allies and do a lot of damage on the enemy team.
5
 Glaive A good Glaive will hit you hard. Although you will be able to withstand his damage, it will be a whole different story if he is with his allies. Watch out for Afterburn.
5
 Vox Vox is great at chasing thanks to Sonic Boom, but you are better. Don't let this guy escape and kill him, with help of your allies, whenever possible. Be aware of his chasing skills though, he can still kill you.
6
 Koshka Koshka hits hard, so try to use your Stormguard shield if she is attacking you. If she surprises you without your shield or on cooldown, you will be dead.
6
 Ringo Ringo will poke you often, depleting your health steadily while maintaining the gap between you and him very long. Focus on disrupting him to minimise damage input on your allies. Use your Stormguard as soon as he uses his Helfire Brew on you (if he's fool enough to do it).
7
 Krul Krul is pure madness in 1v1. Avoid unless you are in advantage against him. Use your Stormguard shield when you have 5+ stacks or 3-4 stacks and low health.
7
 Taka The master of chasing, Taka, will be a threat if you let him be so. Always get your Stormguard shield ready to deflect its attacks and chase him with an ally and the help of flares when escaping with Kaku. Careful though, he is good at surprise attacks.
8
 Adagio Adagio burns (Gift of Fire) will ignore your Stormguard shield, be very cautious if fighting him. Get your Merciless Pursuit ready to disrupt it's ultimate Verse of Judgement. Be cautious.
9
 Petal Petal will ruin your day, its great range and Yay, Pets! small and fast ticks will deplete your health very fast. Very dangerous.
10
 Skaarf Skaarf small ticks (Fan the Flames) will ignore your Stormguard shield, avoid when possible and stun (Merciless Pursuit) if you see it inhaling it's ultimate Dragon Breath. It will make you feel as tanky as a minion. Extremely dangerous.

Introduction Top

Catherine is a very powerful tank and support hero in Vainglory. With this build, you will be able to withstand a lot of hits and still be able to secure a kill and escape or chase retreating enemies. You will also help your teammates withstand the enemy rage and survive enough to win the battles.

Let's take a look at the basics.

Catherine is a support hero. This means you shouldn't be alone and you should act depending on your allies and rely on them to kill enemies. All your skills are offensive (they all do damage to enemies), but the best way to use them is to defend yourself and your allies.

"Your only objective should be to defend your allies whatever the cost"

You will be most likely useless without any ally alive, but you will be the key to win if you manage to protect your allies (first and most important priority) and disrupt the enemy team (immediate second priority).
To achieve this you should have in mind the following:
  • Do not jungle on your own; as a support your job is to let your allies take all the gold and experience as fast as possible. To achieve this, follow one ally everywhere and help him clear the jungle or lane, receiving hits and letting your allies to get the last hit every time. Clearing the jungle on your own makes your allies to get lower gold, lower experience, hence lower gears and lower level and skills.
    - "Usually a good support is lower level than any of the enemy team, but also makes his two allies to be far higher level than any of the enemy team"
  • Never attack an enemy hero if you are alone; as a support your output damage will be very low and you should avoid enemies, unless they are at very low health and killing him does not risk your own life.
    - "You are way more valuable alive than achieving one kill"
  • Protect your allies at all costs; your teammates will most probably be buying damage output gears and one or none support or defensive gears, so it's your job to help your teammates sustain in battle by buying defensive and support gears. If your allies aren't complete ignorants, they will retreat from an un-winnable battle, and you should help them do so even risking your own life.
    - "Remember, your allies can push and win without you, but you can't do much without them"
  • Mind the circumstances; pay a visit to your unsupported ally once in a while, be aware of the map and enemies location, always stay beside an ally, do not rush anything if you are not completely sure you are making a good choice, and be patient every time.
    - "Build 20% | Teammates performance 30% | Your way of playing and decisions 50%"
  • Never focus the enemy support; as you should know by now, you should be disrupting anything that threats your team, which usually is the enemy heavy damage.
    - "Never lose sight of your priorities"
  • Lead the way; you will be the most suitable hero to withstand the enemy fire, so if your team needs to face-check a bush, you should do it.
    - "You are a tank, behave like one" (by Tombraider)

Skills Top

Now we are going to review Catherine's skills.


Panzer Faust
Heroic Perk
This skill is actually pretty good. You will get 1 armour permanently every time you stun (with Merciless Pursuit) or silence (with Blast Tremor) an enemy. You should get around 50 armour in the late game if you did good.

Merciless Pursuit
"This skill is Catherine's most powerful skill and also the reason you are probably using Catherine wrong"
Merciless Pursuit is one of the most useful stun in the game. By clicking this skill, you get a movement boost for around 1.5 secs. and your next basic attack within 3 secs. will have a slightly boost in damage and will stun the target (except Kraken) for 0.75/0.9/1.05/1.2/1.75 secs. (depending on skill level). Also, the cooldown of this skill will be 13 secs. on all levels.

Suggestions
  • Max this skill. You will gain 0.55 stun secs., which is really useful in all stages of the match.
  • (Only if maxed) If you are being chased by one enemy, it's better to use this skill to stun the enemy and then run rather than using it to escape by the movement speed boost it gives.

Usage
  • Save this skill, it will be your only choice to secure a kill or to escape most of the times, so try not to waste it. Mind the 13 secs. cooldown.
  • Each successful stun on an enemy hero with this skill will provide you with +1 armour permanently thanks to panzer faust, so try to stun enemies whenever possible only if it does not start a 3v3 or put any of your allies on danger, or if you think you will need it to escape soon. Abuse its use only if you are 110% sure it will not be needed within the next 13 secs. in any way.
  • Thanks to the movement boost, this skill is great for escaping dangerous situations. Remember to never leave your allies to their own luck, though!
  • Never start a fight with this skill (never forget even for a moment its high 13 secs. cooldown). As soon as the fight starts, you will miss having this skill ready to use, because this skill should be used to disrupt an enemy ultimate as first priority (see next paragraph).
  • It should be used as soon as possible in the following situations: Adagio channeling it's ultimate Agent of Wrath (you will see a big circle in the screen, for 2 secs.), Skaarf inhaling it's ultimate Dragon Breath (you will see a big cone in front of Skaarf for about 1.5 secs.) or exhaling it, Ringo preparing it's ultimate Hellfire Brew (taking a long swirl from his gourd), and SAW with full Spin Up and while on ultimate status Mad Cannon (throwing hurting missiles).
  • It should be used as second priority on the following situations: chasing a mid-low health enemy while you are chasing it with one or both allies (almost never do it on your own), on a full Spin Up SAW or a SAW using Suppressing Fire, and on a Koshka/ Ardan/ Joule/ Vox/ Catherine using their ultimates (because on the very low delay, you must have very good reflexes and be very close to them to disrupt their charging).
  • It should never be used on the following situations: to initiate a big-scale (or any, really) fight, on any jungle creature (even Kraken) unless you are on Ace or are 100% sure there will be enemy within 13 secs., chasing an enemy under a turret unless you are 110% sure you and your ally(ies) will be able to escape alive, or on a hero that is not an immediate threat (remember your first priority: disrupt enemies ultimates).

Stormguard
"This skill is one of the reasons you will be feared and hard to kill"
Once activated, you will be surrounded by a bubble-like shield that will burn close enemies by a very small amount every second, and you will deflect high damages (damages over 10% of your Catherine's base health, which is 77 + 7*Level) to surrounding enemies or neutral.

Suggestions
  • Do not max this skill. It only gives you a little more survivability (which you can get way more by using this point in any of the other two skills) and almost double damage (which is not your priority, as you will understand soon) to nearby enemies.

Usage
  • Save this skill to withstand an enemy ultimate that would, otherwise, hit you hard, like: Adagio, Koshka, Celeste, Joule and Ringo.
  • Almost never use it as an offensive skill (to burn surrounding enemies), they will most likely laugh at your low damage output while waiting for your shield to disappear and then kill you in an instant. Use this way only if you are chasing a very low health enemy, if you can match its movement speed, and if you are 110% sure there are no other enemies around.
  • If fighting a Celeste or Joule, save this skill to withstand their ultimates and deflect the damage on the entire enemy team, it will devastate them.

Blast Tremor
"The easiest way to turn a 3v3 into a 3v2... or maybe Ace"
You should choose a direction after activating this skill. After a short delay of about 0.5 secs. your hero will send a shockwave-like attack towards the direction you chose, in a large cone, which will do high damage and silence every enemy hit for 3 secs. Silenced enemies won't be able to use any actionable skill or item.
This is a very useful skill and will be the key to win 3v3 battles.

Suggestions
  • Max this skill. As you will find out soon, you will want this skill available in every battle, and since maxing it reduces its cooldown by almost 30%, it's great! Also, if maxed, you will do decent damage.
    Usage
  • Even if your team is not as powerful as the enemy team, this skill can make your team win battles which otherwise you wouldn't never imagine you can win.
  • Save this skill. As you should know by now, being patient is the key to win in this game. Never waste it to poke a single enemy, and avoid using it against turrets or Kraken. You are a support hero, at least with this skill, remember that.

Usage
  • Almost never use it as an offensive skill. Pretty much like Stormguard, remember to use this skill for its silence utility rather than damage output (which is low), so don't use it to finish out fleeing enemies and save it for the enemy counterattack.
  • Always try to hit the whole enemy team with this skill (that will most likely guarantee a kill). Hitting two of the three enemies is also good, but never waste it on a single enemy, your stun should suffice in this last scenario.
  • But the most important thing about this skill is that this skill is a fight initiator, maybe the most useful one in the whole game. While waiting on the bushes (with both your allies) for the enemy team, you should use this skill when an enemy is going to face-check your bush and one or both enemies are in your skill range. If you manage to do it correctly, your team will calmly finish off the face-checking enemy while the other two won't be able to do much more than see how its ally died, almost instantly making a 3v3 into a easier 3v2.
  • Also, remember that successfully damaging (hence, silencing) an enemy with this skill will grant you +1 armour permanently thanks to your panzer faust, so there is another reason you should try to hit all three enemies with this skill at once (which will give you +3 armour!)

Items Top

Finally, we are going to see Catherine's items explanation and usage.

Ironguard Contract -> Stormguard Banner -> Warhorn.
You should start all matches with Ironguard Contract, as suggested in the Introduction Chapter. It will be the main gold income through almost the whole match, so never forget to start with this.
When you upgrade it to Stormguard Banner, you will be able to do a decent amount of damage to minions and jungle creatures. This will help you clear your jungle if you happen to lose the two of your allies. It also will help you push the lane.
In almost every match you should rush to get the Warhorn. This item is very useful: it gives you gold as if you still have the Ironguard Contract, it gives you more damage against minion and jungle creatures, making it way more easy to kill a health regeneration minion to be ready to go back to battle. It will give you also cooldown reduction, which will help you get your skills ready even faster, and some health regeneration. If it wasn't all, it will give you an active skill which will set every ally movement speed to 2.75 for 1 sec. + 1 sec. for every ally on screen.

Usage
  • The cooldown of this skill is not so much (40 secs.), so use it often but only in certain situations.
  • Try to be with both your allies when using this skill to maximise its duration.
  • Use it to chase a fleeing enemy or to escape from un-winnable battles, you can even help a fleeing ally using this skill and stunning the chasing enemy.

Sprint Boots -> Travel Boots -> Journey Boots.
These are a must for almost all heroes. Since you have a good movement-booster skill, you don't really need to upgrade your Sprint Boots until Mid Game. Also, the final upgrade should wait until near End Game since you have other priorities in items.

Suggestions
  • When escaping, prefer Merciless Pursuit and then Warhorn (even if only for yourself) before using the boots, because any of the boots have a way higher cooldown than Merciless Pursuit or warhorn.
  • Use them more often if upgraded, since Journey Boots have only 70 secs. cooldown.

Oakheart -> Reflex Block -> Crucible.
Since your Stormguard doesn't take in mind the health boost from these items, you should pick Reflex Block first rather than Dragonheart, since it's way more useful for you. Reflex Block will give you +200 Health and upon activation, you will block any debuff (stun, silence, movement reductions, burn, etc) and up to 200 damage for 1.2 secs. You should upgrade to Crucible because it gives you +700 Health and the ability to use Reflex Block on your whole team for 1.5 secs.

Usage
  • Crucible should always be up before a 3v3 or big-scale fight. Take in mind that it only have 45 secs. cooldown.
  • Your priority is to disrupt enemies ultimates, but you can't do it against every kind of enemy hero (see Merciless Pursuit). For those you couldn't disrupt, when you see an enemy is going to unleash a devastating or disrupting ultimate, or when you see an ally is almost dead but still engaging an almost dead enemy, you should help them activating Crucible.
  • Try to be patient, its not the greatest idea to start a fight activating Crucible (unless fighting another Catherine or Vox, which would prevent their massive silence ultimates). Try to use Crucible to prevent ultimates rather than withstand basic attacks!

Hourglass -> Chronograph -> Aftershock.
You should know how useful your skills are, but you also know their high cooldowns. That's why we buy Aftershock using the Hourglass and Chronograph tree; they will grant you a 25% cooldown reduction, which will make your skills available even faster. This item will also grant you some crystal and some energy regeneration.
But what makes this item unique is its passive: whenever you use any ability, your next basic attack will remove 15~20% of the target's health (based on your level) and you will recover 50% of that damage as health. This action won't be triggered again after at least two seconds. So what does this mean? Your Merciless Pursuit can trigger this action on hit, so not only you will be stunning your target for almost 2 secs., you will also hit it very hard!

Suggestion
  • Take in mind that this doesn't mean you should engage a battle with Merciless Pursuit. Be smart and don't forget your priorities!

Light Armor -> Coat of Plates -> Atlas Pauldron.
All these items will grant you a very high armour and average shield. Since your hero will have a fairly good amount of armour, thanks to her panzer faust, this will complete your defence. Most basic attacks will do low damage to you, and most skills will do average damage. Skills that do high damage should be blocked by your Stormguard and Crucible.
But that's not all. This item also grants an active ability, which will reduce the attack speed of surrounding enemies by 65% for 4 seconds!

Information
  • Use it at the beginning of battle to minimise enemy output damage.
  • Use it often since it only has 15 secs. cooldown.

Oakheart -> Lifespring -> Fountain of Renewal.
Although these items will give you +200 health and some armour and shield, the utility of this item will be its passive and active abilities. With Fountain of Renewal you will restore your health somewhat fast, and when you use the active skill of this item, your entire team will regain a small portion of their own remaining health every second for three seconds (less health -> more regen), which will help you a lot in big-scale battles.

Suggestions
  • Be sure to activate it before it's too late, but not very soon either. Be smart!
  • Take in mind his 60 secs. cooldown.



 Halcyon Potion, Scout Trap, Flare Gun.
These items should be used the whole match.
Halcyon Potions will instantly grant you little health and energy and some health and energy regeneration for a few seconds, and you should use them until Late Game (usually after building Aftershock and reaching level 12).
Flare Guns should be used in every match. Instead of face-checking a bush late game, use a flare. Whenever you lose sight of the enemy team in the late game, use a flare. If you think the enemy will attempt to steal your Gold Mine early game, use a flare. If you think the enemy might be trying to release the Kraken, use a flare. But mostly important, if you are fighting Taka, always be ready to use a flare; don't use it to see where it is, wait for him to engage and damage you or an ally, try to take him down without using your Merciless Pursuit, and when he gets lower than 30% health, he should try to escape, in which moment you should use a flare and stun him as soon as possible. He will die easily.
Scout Traps should be used on certain places in your jungle the whole game and in the lane bushes early game to watch the enemy position. Since there are a lot of people which explains its usage better than me (and since I'm also learning myself), I will recommend you watch some of these links:

Final stats Top

These will be Catherine's final stats for the End Game build at level 12:

Base Gears Total
Health Points 772+804 1100 2676
Health Regeneration 4.06+4.2 18 26.26
Energy Points 200+288 0 488
Energy Regeneration 1.33+1.92 5.4 8.65
Weapon Damage 74+73.2 0 147.2
Crystal Power 0 35 35
Attack Speed 1+0.396 0 1.396
Armor 20+60 125 205 *
Shield 25+96 120 241
Cooldown Reduction 0 55% 55% **


Notes

* Thanks to panzer faust, this value should increase, in average, 50 points. This way, you should get a total of 255 points of Armor.

** This amount of Cooldown Reduction translates into:

Final words Top

I hope you like my guide, I'm sorry for my bad english, it's not my native language and I don't use translator (trying to learn it, actually).
Don't feel bad if you don't get many kills. Most people in higher tiers will understand the role of a support hero and will give you thumbs up even if you went 0/5/25.

Thanks to Tombraider, your guide "Catherine: The Support of your Dreams" inspired me to play Catherine support. Also, the phrase I quoted from you in the introduction changed my way to see a hero like this.

Thanks everyone for reading!

IGN: Zdzislaw
Server: South America
Tier: The Hotness, Silver

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