There seems to be a common perspective that one is basically obliged to use the Cat’s special when in becomes available. That seems a bad policy to me.
If the current tank is almost dead, or has died with tiles in good ghosting position, I’d hold the Cat’s special indefinitely. The DOT is nice, but it isn’t worth screwing up the board needlessly over.
There are three real use cases I see:
- A difficult tank is far from dead when the Cat’s special is ready
In this case, swapping in a new tank gives an opportunity to dump more tiles in search of mana. And everyone eats an undispellable DOT while you’re working the board.
- The board has gaps late, but you have splash damage dealers
In this case, the Cat is likely to offer board consolidation to maximize the damage of your the remaining heroes.
- Prying a hero out of a corner to make a tile damage kill easier
If you have tiles of a lethal color lined up in the center of the board, the Cat’s special gives a good chance of moving a hero tucked in the corner into the killing pocket.
Outside of these use cases, the Cat is probably a bullet better left unfired.