Review: Catabolyst (U32.0.13)

The Catabolyst is an MR11 Infested Beam Secondary, introduced in U29.5 Deimos Arcana. Its standard attack is a fairly strong single-target beam attack. Uniquely, the Catabolyst throws a grenade upon reloading that is massively strengthened if the magazine was totally emptied. With base Corrosive damage, it is a surprisingly strong and novel weapon.

Acquisition

The Catabolyst's Blueprint can be researched and purchased in a Dojo Bio Lab.

Stats

The Catabolyst's Primary Fire is a fairly standard beam attack with strong stats. 11% Crit Chance is not amazing, but very much worth using with a great Crit Multiplier of 2.9x. 43% Status Chance is immense, especially alongside a Fire Rate of 12, and combines extremely well with the base Corrosive damage.

Speaking of, Corrosive damage is one of the best possible base damage types in the current meta. Corrosive is very strong against armour, dealing super-effective damage to Ferrite-armour and its proc reducing all armour. Additionally, as a combined element, it does not interfere with elements added with mods.

As a beam weapon, the Catabolyst only consumes ammo at half the stated Fire Rate - for 6-per-second. This results in a decent Reload Ratio of 3.04.

Ammo Max of 155 is not huge, and can be depleted fairly quickly especially with increased Fire Rate. An Ammo Pickup rate of 20 is not great, not even a full magazine and easily depleted.

Curiously, Primary Fire has Damage Fall-Off at quite close range, starting at 9m and peaking at 19m, which is also its maximum range. Thankfully, it is quite lenient with a damage reduction of only 20%, still dealing 80% damage at maximum range.

Primary Fire is meant to have 0.9m innate Punch-Through - this is clearly evident from both its old stat screen, as well as its entry on the Warframe Wiki. However, Punch-Through does not currently appear or work on Primary Fire, even when added by mods. I'm assuming this is unintended considering it used to work just fine.

Interestingly, the Wiki suggests that Primary Fire also has a 1m radius AoE when it hits an object, like the Glaxion Vandal. I can't say I've really noticed it, 1m is extremely small for an AoE and will only reliably connect when enemies are forcibly bunched up.

As mentioned previously, reloading will also trigger a special attack in which you throw the explosive "bladder" at the enemy like a grenade. Reloading with ammo left in the magazine will provide a relatively unexceptional attack in a reasonable 5m explosive radius. Reloading from empty however deals an enormous amount of damage in a larger 7m explosive radius, also benefitting from drastically increased Crit and Status Chances.

Multishot does not affect either version of the Reload Attack.

The throw happens roughly half way through the Reload Time. Being interrupted in the middle of the reload (e.g. rolling or being knocked down) will reset the reload as normal, however any subsequent attempted reloads will be partial Reload Attacks until the reload is completed. This prevents you from being able to repeatedly use the strong empty Reload Attack without actually consuming ammo.

While the empty Reload Attack can inflict self-stagger/knockdown in its full range as normal, the partial Reload Attack seems to have a much smaller self-stagger/knockdown range - smaller than its reduced explosive radius.

One major difference with the Catabolyst is that it does not automatically reload upon emptying its magazine. It must be manually reloaded every time. This gives you much greater control with the Reload Attack, but can also be very annoying if you are using it mainly for Primary Fire.

Augments

None.

Builds

Elemental 0-Forma:

The Catabolyst has a single native V polarity. Due to the low base Crit Chance and the low strength of the basic mods, Crit is not worth building for if you do not have the Primed Crit mods (primarily Primed Target Cracker). Instead, this pictured build just goes for maximum elements with good Status Chance.

Primed Crit 0-Forma:

If you have both 60/60 elemental mods for your desired combo, you could feasibly go straight for a Primed Crit build, though you will need to forgo either Barrel Diffusion or Lethal Torrent. Swapping Primed Pistol Gambit for Creeping Bullseye is an option too, offering marginally higher Crit Chance at a lower drain and Credits/Endo cost, at the cost of some Fire Rate.

For two-element setups, the obvious go-to is Viral. It is useful against the vast majority of enemies, and combines especially well with Corrosive to cripple most armoured targets with their procs. Radiation can be used if you want better anti-armour direct damage that is not reliant on procs. Toxin is useful against the Corpus for ignoring their Shields entirely, and the innate Corrosive procs help significantly against their armoured units. Magnetic can be used to cripple anything with strong Shields that cannot be bypassed using Toxin.

For three-element builds, adding Heat alongside Viral or Magnetic is a strong combination. Heat is a good proc for its additional armour reduction, and unique damage stacking that makes it extremely powerful over time. Toxin is a strong addition for any anti-Corpus setup (i.e. Radiation or Magnetic).

An unconventional setup you could try is a Gas and/or Electric build. The innate Corrosive is already great against armoured enemies, while Gas and Electric are damage procs that give the Catabolyst much-needed AoE. With such high Status Chance, it can stack those procs effortlessly for maximum area damage, though their poor multipliers hold them back against a lot of targets. If you really want good area damage, I think you are better off just using a weapon that has good area damage built-in (e.g. beam chaining).

Recommended Setups: Viral (+ Heat) vs everything, Magnetic (+ Toxin/Heat) vs strong Shields, Radiation (+ Toxin/Cold) vs Status-resistant Alloy-armour

Primed Crit 2-Forma:

Two added V polarities allows you to upgrade the Primed Crit build with Lethal Torrent, for a major boost in Burst DPS. There is also a little space for different elemental mods, depending on what you have available.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Reload Attack 3-Forma:

If you really want to, you can build specifically for the Reload Attack. Naturally, you want to maximise for the empty Reload Attack since it is far stronger. Notably ignore any Multishot mods because Reload Attacks do not benefit from it.

Synth Charge is a uniquely strong option for Reload Attack builds, as it will apply its big damage bonus to empty Reload Attacks.

Any +Fire Rate mods are useful to deplete the magazine more quickly, though this can also be problematic for your ammo economy.

Unfortunately, (Primed) Fulmination does not affect the Reload Attack explosive radius.

There are of course other mod options which I will discuss just below.

General Purpose 3-Forma:

For a straight damage increase, a (Primed) Expel is extremely strong especially for amplifying damage-over-time procs. Augur Pact and Magnum Force can be used for smaller, faction-agnostic damage bonuses, though quickly become redundant once you have access to Secondary Arcanes and Galvanised Shot.

Hydraulic Crosshairs and Sharpened Bullets are conditional Crit mods if those tickle your fancy, however as you cannot aim during the Reload Attacks, they are useless for that.

Adding Seeker for Punch-Through may not be the best idea. Putting aside the current bugged status of Punch-Through on the Catabolyst, Primary Fire is meant to already have 0.9m innate Punch-Through. This will pass through thinner objects and enemies, but will be stopped by larger units. However, adding Punch-Through will cause the Reload Attack to also pass through enemies rather than detonating, which is where all its damage is dealt.

For the Exilus slot, the two main options I would recommend are (Primed) Pistol Ammo Mutation and Ruinous Extension. The Catabolyst's ammo economy is not great, eating through its relatively low Ammo Max quite quickly. Ammo Mutation significantly improves this, allowing it to recover ammo from Primary ammo drops as well. If you are already running something like Pistol Scavenger, Trick Mag could be useful. On the other hand, Ruinous Extension increases Primary Fire's range from 19m to 27m.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Galvanised Build and Arcane

So long as you're not doing a pure Reload Attack build, Galv Diffusion is a no-brainer.

Galv Shot is a strong option for Primary Fire, as with at least three elemental mods it can comfortably inflict three unique Status procs for a large damage increase over Hornet Strike. However, the +Damage bonus does not apply to the Reload Attack's explosion.

Galv Crosshairs could be worth using for Primary Fire. Being a beam weapon, it is fairly precise so lands headshots quite easily. However, the Catabolyst also excels at stacking damage-over-time procs. Kills from such procs do not always count as headshot kills, even if the inflicting hit was a headshot. As such, Galv Crosshairs can be somewhat inconsistent to stack up. As you cannot aim during the Reload Attack, Galv Crosshairs is useless for a Reload Attack-focused build.

For Arcane choice, all of the +Damage Arcanes will beat Casc Accuracy/Overcharge in overall damage increase. Cascadia Flare is a great option for any build using Heat, as Primary Fire can effortlessly stack it up to max. Sec Merciless particularly suits a Reload Attack-focused build, as it stacks from any kill and increases Reload Speed. Deadhead offers higher peak damage with its headshot damage multiplier increase, but as with Galv Crosshairs, getting actual headshot kills can be rather inconsistent since damage-over-time procs will not necessarily trigger it.

I'd favour Casc Flare or Sec Merciless personally.

My Builds

Relatively unexceptional Viral + Heat build. I've left out Lethal Torrent because between it and my Riven, ammo consumption rate is insane.

Combat Use and Summary

The Catabolyst's Primary Fire is a well-rounded single-target beam attack. Its Corrosive base Damage is notable for making it one of the best anti-armour Secondaries in the game. It can run a viciously powerful Viral + Corrosive + Heat build, whose procs drastically increase damage dealt to any armoured enemies it hits. The massive Heat procs it stacks up will chew through anything left standing after the initial burst.

With high base Damage and surprisingly decent Crit, the Catabolyst is also reasonably effective against unarmoured targets, even if they are Status-resistant/immune. It packs Burst DPS well beyond what you'd expect from such a Status-capable weapon.

Where Primary Fire is weakest is against groups of enemies. Even when its Punch-Through is working properly, it is still not the most efficient against groups. Its Reload Ratio is not amazing, although constant reloading is arguably a positive her since it means more empty Reload Attacks.

The empty Reload Attack provides a massive burst of damage in a decent area that is most notable against large groups of enemies. Its direct damage output is actually comparable to some meta AoE weapons, even without Multishot in play. It can effortlessly clear out trash mobs as well as heavy enemies with stacked up Status procs. The partial Reload Attack is far weaker, dealing minimal damage and generally not being much use.

Perhaps the largest annoyance with the Reload Attack (besides only being effective from an empty magazine) is its ability to self-stagger/knockdown. Doing so will reset the reload timer but revert the Reload Attack to its much weaker partial form. Thankfully the partial Reload Attack seems to have a far smaller self-stagger/knockdown radius, so it is unlikely to happen again with that unless you are at point-blank range.

As mentioned previously, Ammo economy is a significant concern. 155 Ammo Max is quite low being only 5 reloads worth, and an Ammo Pickup of just 20-per-pickup is often not enough to keep up. At least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc is practically mandatory to remain supplied as a main weapon during longer missions. Using the Catabolyst for specific roles and relying on Primary and Melee weapons for most enemies is a very viable option, but is regardless a knock against the Catabolyst.

Range is also an issue. Primary Fire has a range of just 19m, while Reload Attacks throw a relatively slow projectile with significant drop. Neither firing mode is useful beyond close range, which must be mitigated by good player movement. Thankfully, Warframe has one of the fastest movement systems in the genre, so the range issue can be mitigated with skilful play.

Overall, the Catabolyst is a weird and yet surprisingly powerful weapon. Very strong per-shot stats with base Corrosive damage make its beam attack a very good single-target and anti-armour weapon, and its empty Reload Attack is a unique feature that can offer impressive bursts of damage. It takes some getting used to due to its forced manual reloads, but in the right hands can take on the vast majority of Warframe's content with ease.

If you like weird, underappreciated but undeniably strong weapons, the Catabolyst is a great weapon to pursue.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 4/5 - When its Punch-Through is working properly, Primary Fire is decent against groups. It effortlessly kills single targets, and the innate Punch-Through allows it to hit a few enemies in a line. Empty Reload Attacks offer a strong AoE attack that effortlessly wipes out groups of enemies, however it of course can only be used upon emptying the magazine.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - The Catabolyst has surprisingly solid Crit alongside its fantastic Status capabilities. It packs surprisingly good Burst DPS, among the better Secondaries in the game.

Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 5/5 - Innate Corrosive damage and an immense Status Chance set the Catabolyst up extremely well against armoured enemies. A Viral + Heat build will stack up Viral + Corrosive effortlessly, causing super-heavy armoured enemies to receive up to ~20x damage. Massive stacks of Heat procs are greatly amplified by this and will burn through even the toughest of enemies if they don't just die from the boosted direct damage.

Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: NA/5 - The Catabolyst does not inflict the Impact procs necessary to make use of Hemorrhage.

Vs Variants

None.

Competitors

There are several other strong hybrid-capable Beam Secondaries that the Catabolyst has to contend with.

The obvious main contenders are the Kuva Nukor and Tenet Cycron. The Catabolyst outclasses both in direct damage even with max 60% Lich/Sister bonus, and its base Corrosive damage is arguably the best of the lot. Even Status output is roughly comparable. However, the KNukor and TCycron are far, far more effective against groups. They both chain to multiple targets and have much better Reload Ratio. The Catabolyst's Reload Attack helps a little in this regard, but it is not a spammable or convenient attack.

A Gaze Kitgun also poses a similar comparison. While even a max Crit build is nowhere near the Catabolyst for direct damage, like with the KNukor and TCycron the Gaze chains to multiple targets and has a better Reload Ratio.

The MR10 Spectra Vandal is another example of a strong Beam Secondary, although this time it doesn't chain. Instead, the SpectraV's claim to fame is its exceptional Slash proc capability, which is distinct from the Catabolyst's focus on elemental procs. Once more the Catabolyst has significantly higher Burst DPS, while the SpectraV has far superior Reload Ratio.

Overall, the Catabolyst carves out a unique niche among Beam Secondaries, with surprisingly strong single-target damage, and fantastic base Corrosive damage. Few other Secondaries can contest its anti-armour capabilities.

Rivens

The Catabolyst currently has an above-average 4/5 (1.15) Riven Disposition. This is rather unsurprising, as while it is a potent single-target weapon, it is much less efficient against groups. While the Reload Attack is strong against groups, it is only strong when fully empty, which is a rather inconvenient condition. Time and again with the exception of specific applications, the vast majority of Warframe players lean towards weapons with strong anti-crowd capabilities.

+Crit Chance/Damage are the ideal damage boosting stats. +Damage becomes outclassed by Galv Shot and Arcanes, while Multishot is made less valuable by Galv Diffusion, and does not work at all on Reload Attacks. +Elemental damage can be useful for extra damage, to shift around biases, or simply to save a mod slot. +Faction Damage is a strong damage multiplier particularly for endurance runs, as it applies multiple times to damage-over-time procs like Heat. +Fire Rate can be useful to deplete the magazine faster and set up for empty Reload Attack builds, but it also cranks up ammo consumption to a ridiculous degree. +Mag Capacity can be nice quality-of-life for Primary Fire, but of course is actively detrimental to maximising empty Reload Attacks. +Ammo Max can make the ammo situation slightly more comfortable. +Reload Speed is nice quality-of-life, particularly for getting Reload Attacks out faster.

I don't think -Impact/Puncture/Slash are possible rolls as Primary Fire is purely Corrosive, but if they are then they are perfect negatives. They do not affect Primary Fire at all, and the Impact component of Reload Attacks is negligible. -Faction Damage to the weaker factions (somewhat Corpus, mainly Infested) is manageable with good positives, and of course has no impact against other factions. -Fire Rate can be useful to improve the ammo economy of Primary Fire, but makes empty Reload Attacks slower and less frequent. If going for a pure Reload Attack build, -Mag Capacity is ideal as it gets you to empty faster without also consuming more ammo. -Ammo Max can be mitigated by using Ammo Case/Trick Mag/etc. -Projectile Speed has no impact on Primary Fire, but is detrimental to Reload Attacks. +Recoil has minimal effect. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.