The Catalyst is receiving some changes in Season 2 of WoW Midnight. Since it was first introduced, the Catalyst has been used to transform a non-tier set item into the respective Tier-Set item for that gear slot, either for the tier set bonuses or the stats from certain pieces like boots or belts.
However, in Midnight Season 2 this is changing. While the Catalyst will still be used to create Tier pieces with their Tier-Set bonuses, it will no longer have the stats of the Tier Set item; instead, it will retain all secondary stats, tertiary stats, gem sockets and cantrip effects from the item being used in the Catalyst.
This will allow players to target specific items from content such as Raiding or Mythic+ and then convert them into a tier piece with the perfect stats. The downside being that you will no longer be able to get off set items, like boots or belts with the tier set stats anymore; using the catalyst for these items will purely be for collecting the Transmog appearances.
The Catalyst Stat Changes in Midnight Season 2
Being able to convert items into tier set items has been a great way for players to gain their 4-Set Bonuses at a quicker pace than seen before. But it did come at a cost of some potentially badly stated items. If your tier set helm didn’t have great stats you were stuck with those bad stats for the Season.
With WoW Midnight Season 2 this changes, now allowing players to chase an item drop with their best stats and convert that into a tier piece, gaining the tier set bonus and keeping the stats, gem sockets and any cantrip effects from the item being transformed.
As an example, the images below shows the Monk Tier Set Hands from Midnight Season 1 and what the Catalyst would give before Patch 12.1 and then after the Patch 12.1 changes to the Catalyst.
Before WoW Patch 12.1 Changes to the Catalyst:
After WoW Patch 12.1 Changes to the Catalyst:
Cantrip Effects stay after using the The Catalyst
Along with being able to keep the stats of items and gem sockets, we can now also keep the special effects of items as well, this is likely to pair extremely well with some of the Venomcursed items in The Venomous Abyss Raid.
Although these changes will reduce the need to understand what stats the Tier Set items have when you’re using the Catalyst, you can still loot Tier Set Tokens from The Venomous Abyss and create a Tier Set item from them.
This could mean for some Classes and Specs you will want to use a Tier Set Token instead of the Catalyst, specifically if the default Tier Set item has better stats for your character than any items that drop to use in the Catalyst.
To see the stats of the default Tier Set Items, take a look at our WoW Midnight: Season 2 Tier Set Stats Guide.
We hope this guide has helped you learn about the changes coming to the Catalyst in WoW Patch 12.1. If you are looking for more Midnight content, including Class Guide suggestions for which items you want to use in the Catalyst for your Spec, make sure to check out our WoW Midnight Guides.
