GW2. Best Open World Build. Pistol / Scepter Catalyst. Elementalist PvE.
Last Update: April 2024
The Celestial Catalyst is an elementalist build for open world PvE that has consistent ranged damage with great boon application and survivability, making it one of the easier builds for beginners to the elementalist class. Pistol skills are all generally projectiles which means that most attunements have the same skills, and therefore it is more forgiving to get lost in the rotation. However, this also means the pistol may not feel as interactive as other weapons even though they deal extremely potent condition damage.
Pistol skills grant you ammo and expend ammo when using the 2 and 3 skills. When using a pistol skills with an ammo charge, you empower that skill to have an added effect. Because you generally use the 2 and 3 skill once per attunement swap, you can think of the rotation as prioritizing the order of which skill you want to empower by using that skill second in the rotation since the other skill will obtain the ammo for it.
Conveniently, most of the 2 skills on pistol do more damage when empowered, except for in water attunement, so to maximize your damage you would prefer to use 3 > 2, but in Water use 2 > 3. However, in some cases you will want to use the opposite order for more sustain such as 3 > 2 in Water giving you extra healing, 2 > 3 in Earth giving you Barrier, and 2 > 3 in Fire giving you an aura. Otherwise, the order in which you swap attunements is not too important except for going Earth after Fire and Air after Water to maximize your combo field/finisher potential. As a catalyst, performing these combos can give you auras which will also increase all of your stats. You can also use the Jade Sphere to create more fields, but mainly the F5 will be used to upkeep Protection, Might, and Quickness.
Example Pistol Rotation:
- Signet of Fire > Signet of Earth
- Water 2 > 3 > Swap Air
- Air 3 > 2 > 4 > 5 > Swap Fire
- Fire F5 + 3 > 2 > 5 > 4 > Swap Earth
- Earth F5 + 3 > 2 > 5 > 4 (if possible use Elemental Celerity then 3 > 2 > 5 > 4 again)
At any point in your rotation, prioritize using the Signet utilities for more damage or for healing as they are more powerful than any specific skill you could use. Fire and Earth Signet do great damage over time, the Heal signet passive will persist while on cooldown due to the Written in Stone trait, and the Signet of Air will break stuns on a low cooldown so use it liberally.
To survive you want to time your Air 3 and 5 for their evades, use the Water 4 and 5, or use your catalyst energy to create a Water Jade Sphere which you can swap into Earth to blast with the 4/5 in the Water Field.
Equipment
Item | Stat | Rune / Sigil |
---|---|---|
Helm Celestial | ||
Shoulders Celestial | ||
Coat Celestial | ||
Gloves Celestial | ||
Leggings Celestial | ||
Boots Celestial |
Primary Weapon Set
Pistol Celestial | ||
Dagger Celestial |
Optional Weapon Set
Scepter Celestial | ||
Focus Celestial |
Item | Stat |
---|---|
Amulet Celestial | |
Ring Celestial | |
Ring Celestial | |
Accessory Celestial | |
Accessory Celestial | |
Backpiece Celestial |
Relic
Consumables
Infusions
Optional x18 |
Alternatives
- Jade Bot Core: for extra vitality
- Rune: if cannot get Trapper
Skills
Pistol / Dagger | Heal / Utility / Elite |
Multi Bullet Attack | |
Traits
Alternatives
- Fire: for more condition cleanse
- Catalyst: if need Stability
Build Template
Chat Code: (copy/paste into in-game chat)
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