We know this is quite hard to believe, but it has already been around a week since Catalyst joined the Apex Games and Respawn Entertainment’s battle royale shooter alongside Broken Moon. Following arguments that Apex Legends’ Catalyst is a “liability” when countering scans, discussions on her ability kit online have reached a point where battle royale players are claiming that they were mislead by Apex Legends’ trailers – when it comes to Catalyst’s Dark Veil ultimate ability, anyway.
Starting as an Apex Legends subreddit post from ‘NizzyDeniro‘ that suggests Catalyst should be able to use her Dark Veil ultimate ability in parallel to the player and not perpendicularly, conversation quickly turned into a discussion on just how good Catalyst is in what is one of the best competitive FPS games available. While there are some fans that quite like Catalyst, and we’re inclined to agree with them, there are also quite a few players who think Apex Legends’ trailers were “misleading” – do they have a point?
Well, in a way, they do have a point. However, we also think they’re reaching a little bit – and here’s why.
From looking at the comments, it appears that quite a few of the major complaints regarding Catalyst’s Dark Veil ultimate ability appear to come from how it acts in the Eclipse cinematic launch trailer when compared to how it acts in-game. As you can see in said trailer below, Catalyst’s wall of ferrofluid appears thicker, can be summoned in parallel to the player, and blocks Seer’s scan – while also appearing to slow enemies much more than it does in actuality.
While there is, of course, an argument to be made when it comes to artistic license – and it’s important to remember that this is a cinematic – it is understandable that some players will feel somewhat cheated when it comes to this legend’s performance in game. We were told that Apex Legends’ Catalyst is Seer’s worst nightmare – but, she’s far from that.
However, when you look at the gameplay footage Respawn Entertainment shared with us through Apex Legends’ Catalyst character trailer ahead of the Eclipse update’s launch, everything is represented as it appears in-game. Of course, the situations in which the developers have orchestrated to showcase Catalyst’s abilities are designed to make them look as effective as possible – but, that’s something that we should expect as players.
So, while we agree that it would have been nice to find out that Gibraltar and Newcastle are Catalyst’s kryptonite in Apex Legends ahead of time, it’s unfair to claim that we were mislead by Respawn Entertainment when it comes to her Dark Veil ultimate ability – unless you’re talking about how it doesn’t block Seer’s Exhibit ultimate ability. That is something we were expecting.
Apex Legends’ lack of legends changes for Season 15 is “frustrating” and this discovery only makes things worse. Apex Legends may be one of the best battle royale games out there right now, but Catalyst is far from one of the best characters in that battle royale. We certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see her get a buff at some point in the future.