How To Play Catalyst In Apex Legends (Complete Guide)

Catalyst is the latest champion to be added to Apex Legends. She's a Defensive Legend who uses "ferrofluid" in all of her abilities. Apex Legends fans have been having a good time playing as Catalyst so far. Moreover, she is Apex Legends' first binary trans character.

Catalyst's powers and playstyle allow her to lead her unit to safety while simultaneously asserting her supremacy in battle. The best part about Catalyst is you can experiment with her abilities and get creative with your gameplay.

So if you plan to play Catalyst, then you've come to the right place. In this guide, we will tell you how to play Catalyst in Apex Legends and how you can use her abilities effectively. We will also give you a few Catalyst tips and tricks so you can take your gameplay to the next level.

Catalyst's Background

Tressa Crystal Smith was born in 2705 in Boreas. This is also the planet where fellow champion Seer was born. Tressa was always quite rebellious and preferred to stay in the company of crystals rather than people.

Tressa Smith struggled with social anxiety and puberty challenges but finally found solace with three other outcasts, a trio of females who rebelled against Boreas' rigid social norms and chose to live their lives however they wanted.

These friends also helped Tressa transition, which made her more confident. Tressa and her friend shared a deep concern for the dying state of her planet. One of the girls, Margo, devised a plan for the two of them to infiltrate the facility used to extract Cleo's natural resources.

However, Margo revealed that she planned to explode the entire facility by using claymores. Tressa was surprised to see Margo planting a bomb in Hammond's facility, and she attempted to stop her before a roving security Spectre came upon them and attacked them.

The guard captured Margo, but she managed to detonate the bomb to sacrifice her life and kill that facility's employees. Teressa escaped on time and eventually applied for the Cleo Recovery Council.

Here she assists in terraforming the newly established Hope colony on Cleo's surface. She mastered ferrofluid here, utilizing it to build buildings and defend her employees from debris. This didn't last too long because soon Seer announced that he'd build the next Apex arena on Cleo.

Teressa, who goes by the name Catalyst now, entered the Apex Games after quitting the Cleo Recovery Council, aiming to use the prize money to support herself and her new family.

Catalyst's Abilities

Even though Catalyst is a Defensive Legend, her abilities allow for quite a diverse gameplay. She can assist her teammates in all sorts of situations. She has the following abilities:

Barricade (Passive)

Catalyst's passive ability is called Barricade. With this ability, she may strengthen and reconstruct doors using her ferrofluid. You can activate this ability by using your alternate action button.

Catalyst can strengthen up to two doors at once, and these doors take at least four melee attacks to get knockdown. You can break the ferro-barrier by pressing the "interaction" key, but Catalyst will need to rebuild the ferro-barrier if necessary.

This ability is amazing for trapping enemies inside a building while your teammates push them from above or a different door. 

Piercing Spikes (Tactical)

Piercing Spikes is Catalyst's tactical ability. Catalyst tosses out a patch of ferrofluid that turns into spikes when enemies approach. Catalyst is unaffected by enemy spikes. The ability has two charges that may be shot in quick succession and a cooldown of 25 seconds.

Standing on the spikes does 15 damage and slows you, making you vulnerable to gunfire or throwables. So it is a great tool against a team of enemies who are running towards you at a rapid speed.

Dark Veil (Ultimate)

Dark Veil allows Catalyst to raise a porous wall of ferrofluid. Enemies passing through it will be slowed and temporarily blinded for a short period (seven seconds). This wall lasts 30 seconds before putting Catalyst's ultimate into a recharging state again. 

This wall is 55 meters long and stops any hostile scans used on the other side of the Veil. This does not apply to Seer's Ultimate, which arches over the top of the wall and renders it ineffective. 

Dark Veil is extremely useful in a number of situations. For instance, if your team needs to escape a  heavily surrounded area to recharge their shields or heal themselves, this wall provides the best cover.

Another use case scenario can be camping just on the edge of the wall. As soon as an enemy crosses by, you and your teammates can surprise attack them and easily take them out.

Tips For Playing Catalyst

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to play Catalyst in Apex Legends, the following tips will be quite useful. If you want to play Catalyst in Apex Legends, then these tips will take your gameplay to the next level.

Effective Pairs

Catalyst is a master of controlling the battlefield. Her abilities allow her to turn the tables in an instant. So the best approach is to pair her with fellow defensive Legends and play with a strategic mindset. 

When combined with Legends like Wattson or Caustic, your team can control huge areas of the map. Moreover, you can easily set up traps and encounter your enemies with minimal loss and risk.

As we mentioned at the beginning, Catalyst allows for very diverse gameplay. You can use her abilities in many ways. For instance, pairing her with a fast-paced Legend such as Octane or Valkyrie can be fruitful. They can easily sneak up on slowed enemies and take them out.

Catalyst has just been out for a few weeks, so there's still a lot to be discovered. As time passes, players will develop a unique meta for Catalyst.

Use Doors To Your Advantage

As you might've noticed, staying within closed buildings will give you a slight edge if you want to play Catalyst in Apex Legends. Her abilities work best inside buildings with destructible doors. 

Taking skirmishes near a door, or at the very least knowing where doors are situated, is critical. With Catalyst's fortified buildings requiring four melee hits to dismantle, you have plenty of time to heal or relocate.

Make sure you pick up the habit of using Catalyst's passive early on; otherwise, you won't be able to reach her full potential.

Combine Your Abilities

You can combine Catalyst's abilities to confuse the entire enemy team. In fact, her abilities work best when combined with each other.

For instance, you can throw down her tactical, either parallel or perpendicular, to the door while strengthening it. Since her tactical delays and harms an opponent, they will need to find another route inside your building. 

Moreover, since enemies can discover her tactical ability easily, it is best to use it alongside her ultimate ability. In this way, you can set a trap for enemies. When enemies are looking for a kill, they'll rush through your Dark Veil, and if there's a trap waiting for them, you can easily get kills.

Immunity

You should be confident while pushing forward after using your abilities. Catalyst is completely immune to her own abilities. So if you want to push through your Dark Veil, then you are free to do so. 

Some people get a little hesitant while playing Catalyst in Apex Legends. Even if you encounter an opponent Catalyst, you'll be completely immune to her abilities. This honestly gives you a lot of competitive advantage over your enemies, even if they have a Catalyst on their team.

Conclusion

We hope this guide will teach you how to play Catalyst in Apex Legends. Since the Legend is quite new, it is better to get a hold of her abilities and gameplay earlier. Doing so will benefit you as you'll also learn how to counter her easily.