Guild Wars 2

First of im mainly looking at this at a pvp perspective.

So by all means Elixir builds are in a good spot, but apart from the typical HGH builds that mainly use Elixirs H,B,S a kit and supply drop i want to take a look at the other guys of the elixir world.

Elixir C

by far i think this is the most underused elixir of them all, out side of dueling a necro this elixir has very few uses and as a whole dose not compliment any builds, there are 2 reasons for this

1. Cleaning Formula 409 provides all the condition removal your basic elixir build would need.
2. outside of elixir builds taking Elixir C replaces a much needed utility slot and dose not apply to a high variety of situations like many other utility skills could, the lengthy cooldown also hampers its effectiveness compared to other utilitys.

suggested fix’s
pick one

1. lower the cd to 30 seconds
this still wouldn’t make it viable for to take over the usual elixirs for a hgh build but having the opportunity to use it more often would make it more inciting to take in other builds for condition removal.
2. Elixir C will always apply Protection, vigor and regeneration for 10 seconds and stability for 4 seconds.
like elixir B but the opposite, rather then apply boons that supplement offense you get boons that supplement defense as well as a hefty condition removal when needed.
3. Elixir C will always apply all boons.
to much like rune of lyssa and i don’t like this idea but the option is there.

Toss Elixir C would be potentially in a fine place if we had option 2 over the current Elixir C but i feel its cool down should be reduced to 20 seconds.

Elixir U

Its a decent skill, it breaks stun, has handy walls, makes you faster but o wait that RNG has kicked in again and haste or frenzy has suddenly ruined your day, its a 50/50 with this skill and i always seems to get something i don’t want, and the same goes for that wall.

1. using it as a stun breaker can potentially put you in a worse spot due to suddenly no endurance to dodge away from an impending burst or frenzy gives you enemy the edge he needs to take you down, haste may help with getting the skills off sooner but next to Elixir S it just isn’t universally as viable.

2. Toss Elixir U is heaps of help no help and handy all at the same time, if you get the reflect wall you hard counter ranged, if get the smoke wall you stop ranged attacks can stealth threw it can effectively counter melee, but its no help at all if you get the wall you don’t need at the time, and this is the problem with the RNG of elixirs.

3. the bug that cancels skills needs to be fixed.

Suggested fix

1. Toss Elixir U will apply a debuff unique to the engineer that stops the cooldown on toolbelt skills.
In a lot of builds and especially in hgh builds our toolbelt skills can be a very big part of our builds this would remove the RNG but like other classes give us the choice to decide when its an appropriate time to use it.

Suggested fix for toss Elixir U

1. Toss elixir U now has only 1 wall that immobilizes foes for 1 second and lasts 4 seconds, potentially immobilizing a target for 4 seconds.
This change would deviate us away from other classes and open up a different set of options in combat that would favor a different aspect of Elixir based Builds, it also has the option to work well with other traits opening up more diversity to builds.

2. bring back the 3rd wall Veil.
The chance to get this wall is what made me enjoy using Elixir U back before the nerf to quickness and confusion, bringing it back would be pretty darn good i think.

There isnt much you can do to Elixir U, but i think my suggested changes would be a good step to making this skill a viable option a variety of different builds.

Elixir R
This skill used to be great, it would break stun and give you the endurance to instantly dodge to avoid any further damage but that all changed when people started to use toss elixir R which put this skill into the op state and brought on the nerf hammer.

1. With a small cast time and no stun breaker the potential chances at any clutch plays goes out the window.

2. The toss ability is all this skill is used for and as a whole dosent apply that much to Elixir based builds.

Suggested fix

1. remove the cast time.
This could potentially be powerful with current meta builds but would allow for more clutch plays in a pvp environment
2. also applys 10 seconds of vigor.
Would give Elixir based builds more survive ability and add more focus to a defensive style of elixir build.

Toss Elixir U is a fantastic skill and fits perfectly with the concept of team support engineers.

Elixir X

Sometimes its good sometimes its bad and 90% of the time its never as good as supply drop.

1. RNG makes this elite skill to risky to be used any where near as effective as Supply drop

2. we need to get away from this other class crap

Suggested fixes

1. The engineer grows larger (since we miss that from toss Elixir S) and gains stability, might and fury.
pretty simple change that gives us potentially better Stability upkeep without taking away our weapon and utility skills, which i know alot of engineers would like.

2. One form that is unique to the engineer.
The engineer becomes a large Elixir Spewing beast, lasts 20 seconds
(names of skills are open to change)
Skills
1. swing swing swing (its an auto)
2. Acid spew. Infected area deals damage and applying vulnrability for 5 seconds, 10 sec cd
3. Toxic vomit. Infected area randomly applys poison, confusion, weakness, cripple for 5 seconds. 10 sec cd
4. Healing vomit. Infected area heals ally’s and removes 1 condition per pulse for 5 seconds 20 second cd
5. Detonate. depending on how much time is left in Elixir X form will have different out comes, and prematurely ends elixir X form
5.1. 15+ seconds left, 1000 radius enemys get 5 seconds of burning, knocked back and random conditions. ally’s get a large heal, 2 conditions removed and random boons
5.2 5+ seconds 400 radius, enemys get 2 seconds of burning and random conditions, ally’s get a small heal and random boon
5.3 0+ seconds, 200 radius, random assortment of boons and conditions.

Anyway tell me what you think maybe add a different suggestion and i think it would be fun to try theory craft some builds based on some of my suggestions, also we would most likely never see changes like these because elixir builds are fine and other things are much more important but i was just thinking about it and had nothing better to do so i hope yas like it.

Reserved to talk about some traits

For Elixir C, in my opinion, one way they could make it more appealing is to remove the cast time from it. That way, it would be good as a soft Stun-Breaker, dealing with Fear and the control Condis, as well as making sure you don’t melt from condi burst in the time it takes for you to drink the elixir. It would still be a worse Contemplation of Purity, but it would make it a contender for a slot in non elixir-builds, and help Engies somewhat with their condi issues. You also still wouldn’t be able to guarantee what boons you get, but it would be nice to deal with a Necro dumping condis on you, be it through their burst, your burst, or corrupting your boons.

In my opinion, R has taken quite a few really severe nerfs, making it really worthless as it currently is. ANet needs to either revert the CD change on the toss, since it’s not a guaranteed rez, or make R instant cast. I don’t know what much more could be done to R to improve it without making it almost a must have again, although I always prefer S.

With U, I wish they had gotten rid of Frenzy instead of Quickening Zephyr, because the receiving extra damage, on the builds that would most benefit from Quickness, kills the elixir more than not being able to heal does, because a lot of times, U would be used when first engaging a target, when you shouldn’t need to heal. Haste isn’t as bad as Frenzy, because the Engie has traits that benefit from not having full endurance, and Engies have ways to easily get endurance back once Haste ends.

Elixir X is getting closer to being decent, considering it can be traited down to an 84s CD. One of the best ways to buff it would be to buff Rampage and Tornado, because those skills are seen as lacking by their respective professions. I do like your first suggestion for changing Elixir X, but they would have to increase the CD to compensate. I would rather get away from transforms in general, because losing weapon skills and utilities is extremely detrimental for Engies. The one issue with your first proposed change to X is that it could make decap Engies much stronger than they already are, because giving them any length of Stability that’s easily accessible and letting them keep their skills could make them nigh impossible to get off a point. Also, your first proposed change to X makes it extremely similar to Rampage as One, except without the Swiftness.

These are my thoughts on both the underused elixirs, and on your proposed changes to some of them. Feel free to tell me that my ideas are stupid and that I should uninstall, or whatever sort of response you have to them.