Engineers are in a very good position with respect to build and skill diversity available to them. Almost every skill has some use, albeit often situational. All except the elite skills, of which two will never be realistically used.
Engineers have access to 3 elites: Supply crate, Mortar and Elixir X.
Supply crate:
Of the three elites, Supply crate is the one that is most often used. It offers a lot of bang for its 180sec cooldown. I believe this skill should be made a bit less omnipotent. It is currently a 1200 range stun (2 sec), that drops a permanent regeneration field, healing equal to 7 blast finishers in a water field, a flame turret for burning, and a net turret for immobilize. I would like to propose two small changes that will make it a bit less powerful, but still very much worth taking and using:
- Remove the range from supply crate, and turn it into a 600 radius stun at the player’s position. All other turrets are dropped within melee range, but can be traited to be dropped at a distance. This trait could then also affect Supply Crate.
- Net turret will be nerfed a bit in the upcoming feature patch, which I believe is a step in the right direction, as it is a very strong condition.
Mortar:
Mortar offers a 1400 (1500 when traited) range stationary weapon that you or your allies can use to rain down explosions on your enemies.
All in all I think this is a very fun skill, that can add a lot of versatility to the class. It furthermore fits in with the engineer profession perfectly. I would like to see it changed to give it a bit more potential, by increasing its range and damage, while giving it longer skill cooldowns and less uptime.
- The mortar currently has a maximum range (when traited) of 1500. Grenades can be thrown for the same distance, while they do not require you to stay put in one place, where you are unable to dodge or even defend yourself while on the mortar. Mortars could be made more enticing by giving them a truly long range. For this I would like to see them compared with the mortar that can be built as a siege defense of keeps and towers in world vs world. These have a range of 9400. Although 9400 is a bit extreme, I believe a range of around 3000 (perhaps 2500, and 3000 when traited?) would be fair. This would make the skill unique and add much more opportunity for strategic play.
- I also think the mortar’s damage deserves to be buffed. It is currently only good for tickling someone at a distance. Mortar fire should be feared, and enemies should try to move out of the red circles it creates before they are hit. Being able to hit for 2-3k (10-15%) of someone’s hp will force them to engage you. This increased damage should come with an increased cooldown on all shots.
- These two buffs will make the mortar an interesting and versatile weapon, but they should also have an effect on its uptime. Currently, it has an uptime of close to 100%. (duration of 120 seconds, skill cooldown also 120 sec). For a strong, but immobile environmental weapon, I believe an uptime of around 75% is more fair (e.g. 90 second duration).
Elixir X:
This skill transforms you into either a tornado or a brute (underwater: plague or whirlpool). Once again this is a very interesting skill, but to be truly useful I believe it needs to be more predictable. Being unable to predict what you will transform into makes it hardly useful in fights.
For this skill I would like to propose a split. I believe the effects it offers could be split between two skills. One skill that will transform you into a tornado, and one skill that transforms you into a brute. By making the effect predictable, the skill would become a very interesting transformation to have on your skill bar.