1. Introduction Top
So you want to be a captain now?
This will be my first time making up a guide so full disclaimer, I am in no means a top skill tier player. Much of my skill and thought process comes from being a support/tank main in other MOBAs like League of Legends (Leona main) and dabbling in DOTA2 and other MOBAs. What I lack in tangible skill level, I make up for in an understanding of the hero and general tricks I've developed using
Catherine since the game's release. So just bear with me, as this guide is build around my pseudo-aggro playstyle while still trying to protect whomever decides to play the hero on the team.
2. Oh Captain, my Captain Top
Catherine has one of the best captain movesets in the game. With your short cooldown stun on A
Merciless Pursuit, innate tanking on B
Stormguard, and the scary initiation on your ult,
Blast Tremor, Catherine serves as a hard hitting frontliner and can definitely take charge when the need be. This in the form of chasing down kills or feeding kills to your jungler or laner.
I do tend to use this build on Ardan as well and I'll touch quickly on that at the end.
But let's continue on with Catherine for the time being
3. Skill to pay the bills Top
For skills, I hope it's self explanatory. But for those that don't immediately see it, I shall explain.
For skill order, always grab B
Stormguard first. This allows you to tank the jungle camps effectively and speed up the process with the reflect damage. Depending on your jungler, you may have to tank them completely, so negating some of the damage is best.
Note: If you plan to be aggressive, you
can take A
Merciless Pursuit first but make sure you and your jungler are set on invading. A misguided stun attempt can lead to disaster if you don't know how to bounce back from it.
From there, take your A second and max B first (while taking your
Blast Tremor at the respective levels)
Maxing A or Ult
I'm still on the fence about this one. Whether to max out your stun or your ult. If you think the 0.2 sec/40damge increase is worth the investment, by all means, go for it. I used to play around with this idea, and have pretty much settled on maxing your ult, as the added damage and cooldown ends up being more useful (And with echo it's somewhat negligible anyway)
4. Tools of the trade (Items) Top
Early Game
You're starting items are pretty much what help set up a fast and healthy clear. I played with the idea of getting
Oakheart first instead of ironguard, but the healing just tends to work out better.
Hourglass is there to make sure you get your shields up faster and your stun up more often. 2 potions are usually all you need (maybe even 1) and a mine might do you better. But don't be alarmed if you have 25 gold leftover. That's intentional and by that I mean, I'd rather save that leftover 25 gold for fast completion of aftershock.
Core
Your core item in this build will be
Aftershock.
Make sure to buy
Reflex Block on your first back if you can't buy aftershock outright. Having the best synergy with Catherine's kit overall, I find it is an absolute must. The cooldown reduction and healing is best served with your stun, as it usually allows for a free proc after stunning. I can't tell you the number of times the heal has helped me get out of sticky situations when it does connect, or the number of times I've saved my dumb*** with the early reflex block
After that, your next items should include
Crucible,
Fountain of Renewal,
War Treads, and
Echo. The order is totally up to you and what your needs tend to be. I tend to build parts of each that are most beneficial to me; that being
Reflex Block,
Lifespring, or
Travel Boots. If you need more help protecting your team, do get fountain or crucible first as your team not dying is just as important as killing the enemies
EchoEchoecho
I had some really salty issues about this item being added to the game. I really did. Instantly, refreshing the cooldown of your last used skill? What's not op about that? But I've learned to embrace it. With
Echo, you can permastun someone long enough for your team to converge, tank for a very long time, or silence the hell out of the enemies while making them almost useless. The only issue here is Echo is kinda pricey, so buy it sparingly (that means only rush it if your team is really ahead and you want something to assert dominance.
The Rest
After that 5 core build, the rest is really up to you and how the game is going. I usually never end up getting to the sixth item, either from ending the game or just completely giving up. But it's entirely up to you. Get more defensive items if your team is behind,
Stormcrown or
Contraption if you want more jungle control,
Nullwave Gauntlet if you really can't handle the enemy and their silly actives. Hell, get an
Alternating Current if you really want to drive it home that you shouldn't be messed with. It's really up to how you play.
5. A Captain is only as good as their First Mates Top
In terms of team composition, Catherine actually fits very well into any comp. Having a very versatile kit makes her an asset to any team that lacks pretty much anything (damage, tanking, ganking potential, et cetera)
But, if you really wanted to know, she works best with teams that can follow up with damage or more CC. Marksmen like
Ringo,
Skye, amd
Kestrel work really well with her since they can pump out some major damage on a stunned enemy. Try to jungle with high damage junglers like
Krul,
Koshka,
Glaive and
Taka because again, junglers that can dish out damage fast are amazing with Catherine.
Your goal when synergizing with other heroes is to find heroes that can benefit from you locking someone down and keeping them within damaging range *cough*
hypercarries*cough*
6. Disrespecting your Authoritah (Threats) Top
Just quickly, your main threats are those with dashes or those with sustained damage and are tanky. I didn't put all of them there but I did put some of the ones who give me the most trouble. If you can't keep up with the heroes that can kite you easily, best to focus on the next easiest target and not just run straight into a battle you won't make it out of.
7. General play and other tidbits Top
Because of Catherine's passive being completely dependent on stunning enemies with A, try your best to gank or farm stuns to help get that up. 40 stuns is possible by 20 mins if you play aggressively enough (40 being free T2 defensive items) but don't try your hardest to get there. Like I said earlier, it's not worth a stun if you die right away.
The bush and fog of war are your friends. Try to gank from the bushes or around corners to help guarantee the stun and possible kill. After the first clear of the jungle, keep an eye at the lane, and try to get a gank there as early as possible. Once you get Catherine rolling, there's not stopping the Stormguard.
Communicating with your team is key. Don't just run in assuming that you are all going to go balls to the wall and go for those kills. No amount of damage reflect can save you if you're by yourself with no stun for escaping. And don't expect your bubble to take all the damage.
When it comes to jungling and you are tanking the camp, don't preemptively use B before you attack. You waste valuable seconds on damage that hasn't even occurred yet. Try to attack and get aggro, THEN cast stormguard to maximize bubble time.
Don't be afraid to use your ult. There's nothing worse than seeing enemies get away or your team getting wiped when your ult isn't on cooldown. Beginning, middle or end; your ult can help the tide of a fight in your favour so don't be stingy.
8. Ardan (Papa!) Top
Arden works in the same way in that he's got low cooldown skills and can protect and initiate quite effectively. your skill order is almost opposite of Catherine; Max your B
Blood for Blood first, and max
Vanguard second. There's no need to max your ult because while the damage is nice, it's best used as a zoning tool or to trap an unsuspecting enemy hero for a kill (and if you follow the item build above, Echo solves the issue of if you needed another one.
Ardan is a catered to the more aggressive players as his kit is more about bumrushing heroes than it is about being a protector or at least in my experience.
9. Sink or swim, you take charge Top
I hope gives you some ideas on how to play Catherine in the effective and pivotal role of captain. I've had mostly positive success with this build with teams that are coordinated, and this build has fallen apart to complete nothing with teams that don't know left from right. Give it a shot and let me know if there was anything that was may have screwed up
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