Guild Wars 2 Brings The Nerf Hammer Down On The Catalyst End Of Dragons Elite Spec

Since Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons launched late last month, the Catalyst has been consistently outperforming other DPS classes in PvE. ArenaNet, however, felt like the Elementalist’s new elite specialization was just a tad bit overpowered and decided to slam the nerf hammer down on its head.

“Catalyst has landed strong in group content and currently has damage-dealing potential that is higher than intended when compared against other professions. We've realized that we made a mistake with the specific durations of quickness in the catalyst's kit, as our other professions require a damage tradeoff in trait selection to bring a strong boon support role while the catalyst currently does not, leading to the catalyst dealing about a third more damage than other quickness support options. With this patch, we're tuning the catalyst to parity with other professions in damage and setting up Sphere Specialist as a strong trait choice to enable boon support builds in PvE.”

As of yesterday’s patch, the Catalyst has received significant adjustments to its arsenal of skills and abilities, including damage reduction, increased cooldowns, and decreased effectiveness. The Sphere Specialist trait, however, saw a whopping 80% increase to Jade Sphere boons.

Other elite specs that were adjusted include the Specter, Virtuoso, Willbender, and Untamed, which were slightly buffed, and the Mechanist and Vindicator which saw a good mix of nerfs and buffs.

Head over to the Guild Wars 2 official site for a more detailed rundown of the changes.