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Effective Use of Catalyzers

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Lun, 11/12/2012 - 21:26
Imagen de Etharaes
Etharaes

I’ve been playing this game for quite a while now and have been a lurker on the forums. I’m a full 5-star character, who plays as a gun-sword hipster thing.

The catalyzers are one of my favourite weapon, myself owning a neutraliser. It has alot of potential, but has a bit of a steep learning curve. I will try to inform you about the different points of them and how to use them effectively.

The Normal Attack
A small, unassuming green or blue energy ball, that travels immensely slowly. The damage is kind of underwhelming.

The Charge Attack
The charge attack is quite powerful, and the main (well really only) selling point. It involves firing an extremely slow-moving bullet that sticks to the enemy and orbits them, which can be detonated by an equally slow normal shot triggering quite a large explosion. The charge appears first on the left of the enemy, and then moves around it counter clockwise.

Before we go further, I would like to say one thing:
AUTO-TARGET IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. It messes you up, rendering you unable to predict shots and pull off alot of the tricks I will outline. In summary, AUTO AIM STOPS YOU FROM USING CATALYZERS TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.

Method 1: There’s too many of them! Erratically spam the charge attack!
This technique involves unleashing charges like crazy for a while, then simply firing loads of random normal shots. The theory is that you have fired so many charges that it doesn’t matter where the bullets land, because it will always trigger an explosion. This is most effective when taking on huge hordes of enemies, like in FSC.

Method 2: Don’t follow the leader! He’ll blow you up!
This method shows off how perfect the catalyser is for kiting. It first involves firing off normal shots, drawing aggro. Then multiple charges are placed on the target and detonated. If done correctly, the target is instantly killed and most of the creatures behind it. This method is best when there are multiple menders, allowing the targets to be killed before they can be healed back to full health.

Method 3: Mixing it up
When taking on just single enemy or a turret the best thing to do is to fire a charge followed by 1 or 2 normal shots. It is easy to pull off and interrupts almost every enemy type, except for lumbers. If timed correctly this startegy can be used on turrets, always interrupt them and never allowing them to fire even a single bullet.

Interesting point 1
If two enemies are clumped together, it is possible for the charge attack to hit both enemies. This will cause both enemies to be tagged. It is an uncommon thing however, and isn't easy to exploit. This can be done with normal bullets too, but this doesn't matter much.

Interesting point 2
An interesting thing to note is the controllable knockback from the charge. The monster is pushed in the opposite direction of the charge. This can be utilised to keep your distance if detonated when in front of them, or towards you when the charge is behind them, allowing you to whack it with a sword. It can even be used on rare occasions to save a teammate.

Interesting (and annoying) point 3
The damage from the charges originate from the charges. This means that if a charge passes through a physical object and detonated, the charge will disappear, but not do any damage. This also occurs for gremlin's backshields and trojan's frontshields.

Interesting point 4
The charges do no damage, so they don't break the freeze status. This allows you to easily land many charges, even on enemies who normally dodge or shield.

Interesting (and very irritating) point 5
The charges themeselves count as a status. This means that lichens lose their charges when they merge with each other.

Things that you should use catalysers on:
All slimes, gremlin scorchers, greavers (you just have to be quick), lumbers, chromalisks (it works), all turrets, retrodes, scuttlebots, zombies
Things that you shouldn't use catalyzers on:
Wolvers, devilites, kats, wolver, all gremlins (except scorchers), trojans, slag guard type enemies

The catalyzers are a difficult weapon to use and isn’t advisable for new players. It however wildly alters your playstyle, which can be quite fun.

TL; DR
Catalyzers: Steep learning curve, but it pays of really well.

PS: First post on the forums. EVER

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 05:22
#1
Hariender
like it

nice tip
1ft time i choose cat~ its because from pulsar when i'm in RJP my team keep on use pulsar on wrong time and spam,annoying at 1st,then a"pro player" came with polaris it make me hate pulsar like even more he also use it wrong =/,i choose cat~and suprise its potential upgrade it to toxic for good RJP run even more suprise i harder to use and i like it a lot <3 ah pardon me LOVE IT!

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 10:26
#2
Imagen de Bella-Donna
Bella-Donna
BIOHAZARD!

I love the biohazard. but here is a tip you might not even know.

If you get two enemies close together you can place one charge on each with a single charge shot if you place the bullet right (can't do with AutoTarget on.)

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 10:38
#3
Imagen de Mentlegen
Mentlegen
@bella donna

It's very hard though. You have to carefully aim at the ATH, and in battle it's pretty impossible because enemies don't just stand so close to each other

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 11:31
#4
Hariender
#2

I know that when i 1st time use toxic after freshly craft it love it even more

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 18:29
#5
Imagen de Brother-Zeke
Brother-Zeke
Vortex Combo

Surprisingly, at RJP, a vortex combo (Electron vortex is what I use) and a catalyzer (My Biohazard <3) combo aren't bad. You place the vortex, put one charge on any enemy, and most enemies in the vortex get hit by the charge, and the vortex eliminates the knockback from the charge, causing all the enemies to be hit by the vortex explosion as well. I have only tested this in RJP though, so not sure how good it is anywhere else.

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 19:30
#6
Imagen de Tenkii
Tenkii
Other information

I've owned a Biohazard (and eventually, Neutralizer) since they came out.

Facts you should know while using them:
- Charges last for 20 seconds before they disappear.
- Charges always appear on the left of a monster (so in a group, if you're doing a single charge + instant explosion, you always want to aim at the right-most enemy, not relative to the direction you're facing). So if you're using a vortex and you're above (north) of it, you want to aim at the top/top-right enemy (because they move) then try to detonate it as it moves towards the Northeast/Eastern side of the cluster.
- If you're using charges, CTR will boost your "fire rate" the most, but ASI is also significant, because it lets you start your next shot earlier.
- You can't land a charge if a monster is invincible (or if you hit an enemy's shield), but you can still detonate any pre-existing charges.

Other tips:
- If you have the aggro of a single monster, you can load it up with charges (much easier to aim when they're moving towards you), then push it into a crowd and detonate. I've done this with one of the older versions of the Royal Jelly - jammed as many charges possible on a single jelly while the Royal Jelly was invincible, shield pushed it into the boss and detonated it. If you have a hail driver to freeze with, this is even easier.
- If not far away and being chased, shoot charges as counterattacks to your enemy's melee attacks. Especially useful with the jelly enemies, but works on Kats as well, if you know how/where they will move.

Lockdown
- CHARGE IS BROKEN. I just did a recent test with VH damage biohazard: 4.5 bars of damage with normal shot, 1-1.5 damage with charge on the owning target. This isn't even a case of invincibility frames - it's broken.
- Use regular shots to block off your enemies' movements. The easiest to block are auto-target swordsmen - they tend to move directly towards you, so you can drop some timed shots to keep them from using anything more than their first slash. Versus more experienced people, you can use it as a slow wall to interrupt a striker movement while you switch to another weapon to fight off their other approaches. Again, baiting the actual attack is important, so it's actually useful as a mobile close-range weapon. I will often tell people I "punch" with Biohazard.
- Blocking movements, 2 shots at a time: A common move done by valiance owners is to shoot in a "V" pattern extending out from your character. This is also useful with the catalyzer lines because it can either mentally or physically block your opponent from approaching in those directions. The closer they are, the wider you want your spread to be.

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 20:31
#7
Imagen de Etharaes
Etharaes
Good tips, will add.

I forgot about how you can get the charge attack to tag 2 enemies. I can achieve it quite regularly, but only on the slow enemies. I didn't think about lockdown, simply because I don't go there.

Thanks for all the positive feedback, I thought nobody was going to like it.

Mar, 11/13/2012 - 21:06
#8
Imagen de Etharaes
Etharaes
Added:

Interesting point 1 and 3, where the charges appear and which way they move, and a mini-rant about auto-aim/auto target (just noticed that I called it both in those 2 sentences).
Edit: sorry about the double post.

Mié, 11/14/2012 - 09:47
#9
Imagen de Exerpa
Exerpa
PROTIP: You can use the

PROTIP: You can use the Biohazard effectively against gremlins when you combo it with Callahan!

Callahan will reliably knock the gremlin down opening a window of opportunity to unload a Bio clip into them.
Pretty much everyone wants the Antigua charges changed - if the bird came out first, it would resemble this technique somewhat

Jue, 11/15/2012 - 06:42
#10
Imagen de Geosmin
Geosmin
I love my Catalyser, it's a

I love my Catalyser, it's a wonderful anti-Gremlin tool IMO. I find triggering their dodges to be very useful for keeping them from dog-piling me, so I just spam the normal attack and it does plenty enough DPS. Against tanky monsters (like the Lumbers that I often see with Gremlins) and against big gobs of Slimes, (or Scuttles, which also occur with Lumbers and Gremlins...) the charges offer great DPS from a safe distance.

I did not know about the damage being blockable by the charge being inside a nearby blocking object, thanks for pointing that out!

I agree re: combining with Magnus/Spinecone knockdown and I suggest also trying a Cat with any freezing weapon. Attaching cat bombs does not undo freeze, so you can stack two or three with relative ease. I'd be doing it myself if I weren't so much more fond of Fire... I find that my Dark Thorn Blade's third hit (often easier than hitting with a full combo, and their shield bubbles make first-swinging them to death too slow) or Blazebrand's charge attack reliably knocks Menders down, and one or two Virucat shots is enough to stop their healing shenanigans.

I also find my Virucat especially valuable for its normal attacks. IMO the Blaster line and all of the Roarmulus guns are VERY useful for the ability to attack with very little movement disruption and be able to use a shield very quickly afterward if desired. I seldom go anywhere in the clockworks without at least one of those 3 types equipped, because that's what I fall back on when I don't have enough room to handle monsters in easily manageable bites. (YMMV: I imagine the Jelly guns are valued for similar defensive mobility, but I find myself derping into a forced reload by losing track of how many shots I fired and, to me at least, it feels like Antigua gives me less DPS in proportion to how much it slows me down even when I do avoid reloading. At the other extreme, Alchemers also feel like they slow me down too much, so I get a "Goldilocks" effect while some others seem to prefer one extreme or the other for most safely mixing it up. For that matter, I get the Goldilocks effect with swords in terms of both defensive and offensive properties, so maybe combo size preference in either the gun or sword class gives a good idea of where preference in the other class will likely be...)

Jue, 11/15/2012 - 12:14
#11
Imagen de Lukehandkooler
Lukehandkooler
Just pulled the ole'

Just pulled the ole' Biohazzard out today, forgot how nice this weapon is for solo play!

~Luke

Jue, 11/15/2012 - 20:21
#12
Imagen de Etharaes
Etharaes
Added

Interesting points 4 and 5 were added.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I wont add anything about UVs simply because I don't use them on ANY of my weapons, and I don't want to get into an argument about which UV is best.

PS: Other people may use catalyzers on gremlins, but I just get to frustated when I can hardly ever trigger a charge attack.

Jue, 11/15/2012 - 21:22
#13
Imagen de Hmmnm
Hmmnm
Charge Attack beware: When

Charge Attack beware: When firing off a charge attack, you will be forced to stand still for a short time. If you are truly in a bind, stick to normal attack.

Charge large enemies: If you spend all your time charging up something small and your teammate kills it, that's wasted charges. Large enemies are also easier to hit.

Interruption - exploding a single charge is good enough to interrupt most enemys attacks, so you dont have to worry about flying midattack enemies. Exception: Lumbers.

Alternating charge and normal is a pretty good strategy, and it gives reliable knockback to the right (

Vie, 11/16/2012 - 10:49
#14
Imagen de Etharaes
Etharaes
@Hmmmm

I find it better to fire off a charge when in a squeeze because the charge time is so qucik and that knockback can really save you. I also did mention about interruption and mixing things up in strategy 3. I will add that lumbers cannot be interrupted though.

Vie, 11/16/2012 - 12:30
#15
Imagen de Lukehandkooler
Lukehandkooler
Yeah firing the charge seems

Yeah firing the charge seems to kite you back far enough to avoid most regular attacks as you will be about 1/2 to 3/4 a square from where the eminent attack will appear.

~Luke

Vie, 11/16/2012 - 13:13
#16
Imagen de Krakob
Krakob
Too lazy to read all of this but here's an idea.

Pewpewpew! A party of four Catalyzers of choice would make lots of fun, I bet. Personally, I'm getting one (eventually) to accompany my dear friend Zeddy who owns a Biohazard with CTR medium.

Making sure that the team is informed of how the Catalyzer works is important as teammates might kill charged enemies which is a shame if it had the potential to deal more damage. I've been there, I've learned, I've loved. Playing with Sir Zeddy has taught me a lot about hipster gear. Y'all should learn a thing or two, too.

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