Cathy/Playstyle Tips

In-Game Tips

 * A flexible weapon choice is needed based on the random Mastery given to Cathy.
 * Cathy's Arteriotomy inflicts Bleeding status and deals constant damage.

General
It is highly recommended to use the mastery that starts at D+. Starting at F mastery is a huge disadvantage. This makes Cathy a difficult character to play. Since in order to play Cathy proficiently, you need to be at least somewhat comfortable playing any mastery. Because Cathy's early-game is not the strongest, you should know at least 2 routes for each mastery. On the other hand, it's harder for enemies to build counter items against Cathy players, since the enemy won't know which mastery Cathy will start with.

Her skill, Arteriotomy, is quite powerful for contesting areas, and can help secure a starting area even with lower level 1 stats. The constant 8 skill damage is noticeable, and it can build up to a significant amount of damage over time if the enemy decides to continue fighting. The effect duration resets every time the enemy takes attack damage. As a result, most players will run away after getting with Arteriotomy. Arteriotomy should be saved for stronger opponents. If you use the skill on a weaker player, you won't be able to farm mastery from them because they will immediately run away. On the other hand, because Bleeding only has an 8 second duration (excluding extra time from resets), it's easy to counter this skill by leaving the fight and waiting for 8 seconds. An opponent may run away after getting hit with Arteriotomy, then come back to fight after the effect has worn off. Arteriotomy does not guarantee winning an early-game area contest.

Speedy Recovery saves a significant amount of time when performing First Aid to heal an injury. Even if there are only 3 areas left, it may be possible for Cathy to heal an injury in only 2 seconds; any other character would be unable to heal an end-game injury. The increased HP recovery rate can also be useful in a desperate situation, but Resting for HP is still an inefficient use of time. Cathy still needs to make food throughout the game, and should not rely on Speedy Recovery for recovering HP.

While she has useful set of skills, her stats are average. You need to make up for this by crafting armor and farming mastery efficiently. However, her very high level 18 HP allows her to take more hits and survive high-burst damage that could kill a character with a lower HP cap.