Captain of the Guard (Perk): I will respectfully disagree with the wonderful @Geenmen in regards to Catherine’s tanky capabilities. Catherine’s perk can rapidly increase through the mid and late stages of the game. In the early game (first 5-10 minutes) I always have the goal of increasing the perk by 2.5/60 seconds. It’s easy to do so as . Just be careful you have a teammate with you, or if not, you have a decent amount of health left, are aware of enemy positions on the map, and don’t have too much distance to reach your target. Get that perk up and you will be a TANK with items like , , (which should be staples for Catherine) and .
Merciless Pursuit (A): aside from getting your perk up, it is a great way to turn team fights in your favor. This especially works well with heroes like Celeste, Glaive, Ylva, and Malene. While in 5v5 you’re only stunning 20% of the enemy team, it’s a great way to pick off an enemy who’s out of position, or to make one become out of position. You’re not only pursuing carries. Often, using it on the enemy is best. It’s great for interrupting Adagio’s and Grace’s ultimate, for example. As with any hero, mastering Catherine’s abilities takes practice. Her A is both a great counter and a great initiator in team fights. An enemy Ylva, Glaive, Alpha, Rona, Reza, etc dives in, stun it. Closing in on your opponents, or tired of that pesky Samuel, Skye, or Vox being elusive - coordinate an engage and get 'em!
Stormguard (B): - used well for body blocking. What is body blocking? Placing yourself between your ally and an enemy hero. This is great for reducing the effectiveness of that enemy Kestrel using her A against your ally, stopping Kenetic’s ultimate from reaching it’s intended target, etc. This should be a common practice all the time as a captain. Having your B active while doing this not only protects your ally, but it punishes the enemy carry. My preferred synergy if not body blocking is A to engage the enemy, immediately followed by B to provide some light damage and to keep the enemy reeling as they will likely avoid countering/re-engaging due to the reflected damage.
Stormbuard (B): / - YES, that’s right, Catherine can be an effective laner! I love Catherine as a top CP hero. Her B now becomes a decent wave clear to get your cs score up even faster and to push waves to be in a more advantageous position quicker. It also useful in keeping your opposing laner off of you when engaging. You’re also likely to reflect damage quicker, as with a CP build, your armor/shield won’t be as high, which means enemies attacks will be more effective and breach the threshold of B quicker. It’s now an offensive weapon as well. I still like the synergy of A–>B. However, if you want some CS, need to get a wave and enemy hero off your tower, just use B and take out the minions.
Blast Tremor ( C ): I believe Blast Tremor is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. A silence that can impact an entire enemy team, a great lure to make the enemy use their when they may not want to (opening it up for your Phinn, Ylva, Celeste, Samuel, Ringo, etc…). Many argue that Catherine’s C is easy to block. That is more true in 3v3 than it is in 5v5. Amongst the chaos of larger team fights in 5v5, I find that it is very easy to land Catherine’s C and totally turn a team fight. It can allow your teammates to successfully peel, kite, stutter-step, or run and regroup. PATCH 4.2 NOTE: with the serious increase in CD for reflex block items, a Catherine with a (should be a staple due to her high energy demand) Catherine can likely get off a second ULT before the has recovered. You will land her ultimate if you’re smart.
How to land her C with the most consistency? Don’t start with it! (exception: you’re in the brush, the enemy doesn’t have vision, and your team is with you… and the obvious exception of when an enemy’s /// are on CD) Use it in the middle/later stages of a team fight. Throw down an A, a B, heal your allies - get a bit dirty. Then, turn the team fight with a big “Silence!” Blast Tremor also has longer range than folks think, and it's a great way to finish off a weak and fleeing enemy who’s about to get away. It doesn’t always have to hit multiple targets. If you can secure a kill by using it, don’t save it - use it.
Overall Playstyle Tips:
: Get your perk up early-game. It will naturally increase, and quickly, mid and late-game. Mid and late-game, focus on prioritizing repositioning enemies in team fights, stopping enemies from channeling powerful abilities or disengaging their dive. Body block, body block, body block. Use your B when you know you and your team is about to take damage or to cause pause in your enemies. Be a little sneay with your ult. It can, will, and should land. Take advantage of her 4.1 base move speed. MOVE. You should have presence in the jungle and lane in 3v3 and all lanes in 5v5. While you don’t give the most damage, your A is a great way to stop the enemeny top laner in their tracks when they’re over-extended (helping your bot), and a great way to get the enemy bot lane to back off (helping your top lane). If you’re jungler isn’t harassing, Catherine can do the trick.
: Don’t underestimate your abilities to trade blows with the enemy bot laner. When they see that YOU are the laner, a CATHERINE (ha!), they can often get over confident. Catherine is very easy to last hit with, has a naturally fast attack speed, and can be comfortable fighting under her turret. Let them feel confident, get them close to your turret, ping and communicate with your jungler, and then BAM - A + B + help from friend = win.
Blitz/ARAL/Talents: Her rare talent is awesome. It does NOT last all game. If you stop stacking your perk after 30 seconds (IE you don’t land a stun or a silence after 30 seconds from doing so, it resets). However, with all the action in Blitz, you can easily get your talent’s perk up to 5-10 in a heartbeat. If you’ve got just a + , and your talent is at level 10 (10%/stack), you’re CP is insane, your mortal wound is powerful, and you can really pack a punch. It can be relatievely effective with a WP build, especially utilizing a , but I still prefer a mostly support build with the two CP items mentioned earlier.
Her epic talent is really effective with a standard support build. Land those basic attacks and you will be stunning and silencing often.
I believe her Legendary talent is her weakest. Despite it’s boosted damage, it’s not worth going away from a support build. If you can get behind your enemies, it’s great for pushing them (literally) toward your turret/allies and getting them out of position.
Overall, I’d recommend focusing on leveling up and using your rare/epic talents.
I’ve hoped you’ve enjoyed reading some of my playstyle tips. I tried to keep it brief and relate it to multiple roles, game modes, and scenarios.
With the API being down, I can’t accurately report my statistics with Catherine. A little more about me. I started playing Vainglory actively in the Autumn 2018 season. A “new player”, I know. I’ve been playing MOBAs for as long as any one could have though - I started with Defense of the Ancients, have played other PC games like Demigod, and have experimented with a few other mobile MOBAs. I have reached tier 10/vainglorious every season I have played the game (3 in a row). I was Tier 9 gold in my first season with 3v3 (I din’t play it as much), but have been tier 10 since (2 in a row).
When the API was up, I believe I had logged over 200 games with Catherine with over a 60% win rate. Since then, I believe my win rate has gone up even more. My KDA from my last recollection was over 5 as well. I have received compliments from numerious t10 silver players, and pro players like Chuck and Oldskool for my abilities with Catherine despite her always being considered “not meta”.
Thank you for reading my playstyle tips.
added by @Veritas , update 4.2