When the Patch 12.1 PTR went up, the Catalyst systems were each telling a different story:
The Catalyst Charges, Venomblight Manaflux, mentioned that you would need five of them to Catalyze a piece of armor, and indicated that they would be available right away.
The Catalyst itself, however, only required one Venomblight Manaflux to Catalyze armor.
The Midnight Season 2: Catalyst Unbound achievement reward of Crystallized Venomblight Manaflux was rewarding 3 Venomblight Manaflux.
Because of this, it was clear that this was a system in progress and Blizzard may have been trying something new.
As of today's Patch 12.1 PTR build, the tooltips have been updated and now all seem to align with the tooltip for the Catalyst Charges being:
Charge the Catalyst with five Venomblight Manaflux to imbue armor with incredible power. The resulting armor will inherit the secondary stats of the original equipment. Slowly accumulates every two weeks.Earned from the following activities:- Mythic Keystone Dungeons- The Temple of Ula'tek- Bountiful Delves
Also earnable from the following activities after unlocking the Season 2 Catalyst Unbound Feat of Strength:
- Mythic Keystone Dungeons
- Midnight Season 2 Raid Bosses
- Bountiful Delves
- Rated PvP Arenas and Battlegrounds
This now matches with the Catalyst requiring one charge per upgrade, and the tooltip for the Crystallized Venomblight Manaflux has been updated as well indicate this only gives one Charge. The Midnight Season 2: Catalyst Unbound is returning and extra catalyst charges will be dropping once you get your first 4-set again on each character.
Long story short, it seems that the Catalyst acquisition is basically identical to Season 1, except that the Tier Pieces now inherit your secondary stats and cantrips.
