One part of Catalyst Black that you might not have got to grips yet with is the banners. They’re not streaming flags or adverts – they’re a way of building your hero in a specific way to earn a special set of bonuses.
They’re not mentioned in the tutorial part of the game, and you can easily miss them if you’re not sure where you’re supposed to look. Which is why we decided it was a good idea to write this guide to make sure you know exactly what banners are and how you can use them to dominate the battlefield.
What are banners?
Banners are actually related to the gear you’re equipping. In the bottom left-hand corner of the gear’s image, you’ll see a little icon. This is the gear’s banner. There are nine of them, and they offer a variety of different buffs.
How do banners work?
Banners give you a buff, which increases incrementally the more gear from the same banner you equip. There are four equipment slots that use the banners – Heavy, Ability, Trinket and Primary. Your Mask, Power and Relic are separate. You can use banners to augment your playstyle and make yourself more powerful.
What banners are there?
Like we said, there are nine of them, and they offer different boosts. Here they are in no particular order, with the boosts they offer and how much they increase as you add more items with the same banner.
Assassin
Assassin increases the damage you deal while within 6.0m of an enemy.
1. +8% damage
2. +24% damage
3. +32% damage
4. +40% damage
Protector
Protector increases your maximum health.
1. +10% health
2. +30% health
3. +40% health
4. +50% health
Sniper
Sniper lets you deal increased damage while there are no enemies within 9.0m.
1. +6% damage
2. +18% damage
3. +24% damage
4. +30% damage
Primal Hunter
Primal Hunter increases the damage you deal to primal enemies.
1. +25% damage
2. +75% damage
3. +100% damage
4. +125% damage
Ranger
Ranger increases your movespeed while in brush and for 1.4s afterwards.
1. +5% movespeed
2. +15% movespeed
3. +25% movespeed
4. +30% movespeed
Support
Support reduces the cooldown of your abilities.
1. +10 ability haste
2. +30 ability haste
3. +40 ability haste
4. +50 ability haste
Primalist
Primalist reduces your primal, primal attack and primal power cooldowns.
1. +8 Primal haste, +5 attack and power haste
2. +24 Primal haste, +15 attack and power charge haste
3. +32 Primal haste, +20 attack and power haste
4. +40 Primal haste, +25 attack and power haste
Seeker
Seeker increases the amount you get when picking up heavy ammo and primal energy.
1. +20%
2. +60%
3. +80%
4. +100%
Vanguard
Vanguard gives you health upon dealing damage to an enemy.
1. +14 health per hit
2. +42 health per hit
3. +56 health per hit
4. +70 health per hit
How to use banners
The best way to use banners is to get a full set and make the most out of the extra boosts. That’s not always possible, so try and find banners that best reflect the way you want to play the game. You can mix your banners until you have a full set, so try and make sure you’re getting the most useful boosts while you do.
