Catherine's highly defensive stats and kit make her an excellent tank and allow her to sustain drawn out battles. Building upon this, items that build stacks are perfect for her, since she can take a lot of hits while increasing her damage. I've seen a lot of cases where Catherine is built with multiple defenses, but these builds tend to fall short on the offense due to inventory space. While defensive items tend to be great in this game, the enemy team will quickly adapt to ignore a tanky Catherine if she is not an offensive threat and will go after her more fragile teammates. That being said, I tried to build a Catherine that would fulfill the tank and assist role, while hitting hard enough to be treated as a threat of her own.
Sprint Boots, and almost purely because of the faster farming. Warhorn is almost like a second pair of Boots with a faster cooldown, but its active applies to your entire team. Additionally, it provides great bonuses, such as cooldown acceleration, health regeneration, and energy sustain. Warhorn is partly the reason I avoid upgrading Boots until all other items are finished. Use Warhorn to chase down and stun fleeing enemies, run to objectives, or escape.
Fountain of Renewal. The Fountain is an understated item with its defensive stats, heal, and low cost. If the enemy's damage is mostly burst (ex:
Taka,
Koshka,
Glaive) build
Kinetic Shield first. Otherwise, build
Lifespring into Fountain of Renewal.
Blazing Salvo can be built before the Fountain of Renewal is complete in some situations. After Blazing Salvo, build
Piercing Spear. At this point, I normally have 1 inventory slot open. In case the enemy is wrecking, use this slot to build a defense before Bonesaw (see last paragraph for selecting this defense). Otherwise, instead of going directly for Bonesaw, get Heavy Steal to complement the attack speed and armor pierce. Then, finish Bonesaw and build
Sorrowblade. With
Sorrowblade and
Bonesaw, enemies will be forced to focus Catherine down before she causes too much damage with her stacks, allowing Catherine to properly tank and attack at the same time.
Aftershock after Sorrowblade because it boosts the damage of her
Merciless Pursuit ability and provides cooldown acceleration. If the enemy has built shield, good alternatives to Aftershock in this build are a second defense,
Tornado Trigger,
Breaking Point or a Serpent's Mask.
Aftershock. In this case, look to counter the most difficult enemy hero on the opposing team.
Krul,
Glaive, Weapon
Joule, get
Atlas Pauldron. Taka,
Koshka, either get
Crucible or another
Fountain of Renewal.
SAW,
Ringo, Weapon
Adagio (not kidding), and heavy weapon/auto hitters, get
Metal Jacket. Aegis works well against
Koshka and
Skaarf, but is not as good as a second
Fountain of Renewal in my opinion (Catherine already has a shield ability
Stormguard). Merciless Pursuit) is a burst of speed followed by a stun (which I believe is treated as a basic attack). Use it to stun enemies that are running away. I often initiate with it and then save it until the enemy realizes its too late and tries to run. Alternatively, use it to make a quick getaway. If you see an enemy casting an ult (Koshka, Adagio, Skaarf are some examples), stun them to interrupt. This is often your team's best form of CC (crowd control), so use it to protect squishy teammates from bursts and diminish the enemy's burst potential. Stunning SAW and other enemies causes them to lose stacks which can often be helpful. Stormguard) is a shield that reflects any enemy damage over 10% of her base health (items like Crucible don't count). Late game damage that hits hard works even better with Stormguard since more of that damage is reflected. Pop it when multiple enemies attack, or when an ultimate is going to hit. It interrupts a chain of burst attacks pretty well, but you should still run if overwhelmed while its up, because her B is not going to last forever. Once the build is complete, you should be able to almost alternate between B and A. Stun, pop the shield once the stun is over, and stun again when the shield is down. This allows Catherine to survive long battles. Blast Tremor) is an AOE silence and nuke. Use it to initiate or silence enemies that are chasing your allies. Also, you can use to finish off enemies that are too far away to stun but within your ultimate range. Catherine is so good at taking advantage of overextending enemies and can turn a lot of fights around.
Verse of Judgement, Skaarf's
Dragon Breath, or SAW's
Mad Cannon. For instance, when Skaarf is inhaling for Dragon Breath, stun a fleeing enemy and watch their health drop. Silencing a group of enemies before an ally's ultimate can have a similar effect because they are unable activate Boots or Warhorn while silenced. Merciless Pursuit)to run up and stun. Before the stun is over, move ahead of the enemy's escape route while attacking every step, as if you were kiting (stutter-stepping). If you have an ally, they should be able to finish the enemy. If the enemy is at low health and is still in range, quickly snipe using Catherine's ultimate,
Blast Tremor. Stormguard) active.
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