Guild Wars 2

Hi, I’m learning engi in fractals. I believe condi engi has better overall dps over power engi. So I think condi is the way to go. But when the encounter is immune to condi, I’d better off with power, right?Can someone tell me where I should use power instead of condi?

also accepting any tips and tricks for new engi – any video?. I’m still practicing the complex dps rotation and improving my muscle memory for engi.

If I remember correctly the group condi build has theoretically higher dps, but because it requires the enemies to camp in your napalm 24/7 the power build has more reliable dps in practice.
At the end of the day it all comes down to personal preference since unless you pull of completely perfect rotations your damage will be most likely not differ that much between builds.
Also like you said, when an enemy has condi immunity don’t use condi, even though due to its hybrid nature it is not completely terrible.

I am not a engi main though, so if someone has a better/different answer, trust them

Power engi also requires the enemy to sit in napalm/acid bomb, since you blast acid bomb into the napalm. Few places power is > condi: molten facility for destroying the core, destroying doors in thaumanova, any mobs you plan on bursting down, legendary dredge suit/ice elemental in dredge fractal. Power also relies more on group buffs, condi gets ~90% of its damage from just might and stats. If your party is bad, as long as you get might you’ll be performing close to optimal with solid rotations. The threshold for condi > power is ~14secs, if you’re pugging condi will pretty much always have better damage on bosses.

Condi also has much better soft cc, on bosses like archdiviner a well played engi functions like a guard tanking but with none of the threat of death from a missed aegis.

condi is better dps when basic roles arent covered, because its easy to get high dps for being “pretty good but not perfect”. power relies on other classes’ dps buffs to have really high dps. however, power is more versatile and better at filling role gaps.

I’ve played both at fotm 50 pretty extensively, here is my opinion:

Power Engi
Pros: Greater utility flexibility. This is the #1 thing I miss when I’m using the condi build. You are more durable because you can use Tool Kit and not miss much damage, you can swap in Elixir R if your pug needs revives, etc. Your damage is not as dependent on your utilities. Better damage against structures.

Cons: Lower damage overall, big dropoffs when you have to stop DPS for any reason (kiting, dodging, interacting with encounter specific items, etc). Dependent on multiple boons and other professions for max DPS. Weak against high toughness.

Condi Engi
Pros: Highest DPS in the game. No dropoff against high toughness. Damage remains high while you kite, dodge, run around, revive, etc. Also lots of blinds and utility from the skills you have to bring.

Cons: No utility flexibility. If you change out a utility your DPS will suffer fairly significantly. Dependent on consumables rather than boons which can get expensive over time. Weaker against structures, though Sinister still has lots of power so it’s not that bad.

Both builds perform best when enemies are stationary, this is true of pretty much every max DPS meta build. To me this doesn’t need to be considered when comparing Power Engi to Condi Engi.

Also there isn’t really such a thing as “an encounter immune to conditions” unless you’re talking specifically structures, of which there are 1 or 2? (Ice Elemental and Charr fractal doors?) Maybe Mai Trin? In that case you’re not doing damage of any kind and it’s a different kind of fight anyways.

I played condi engi in a 50 trio and functioned as the control/projectile defenses for it, we didn’t get volcanic but that is the only fractal that would have stretched my versatility to its limit.

Power engi loses lots of damage when you swap out utilities, flame blast is a 1.75-2.5 coeff every 6secs, acid bomb is a 5.1 every 15. That’s like giving up blunderbuss and jump shot.

Condi damage also drops off when you aren’t using offensive skills, you can pop all your burns then run around and watch them tick, but you miss out on dozens of bleeds if you aren’t using other skills. You just won’t notice the damage drop until a while later when your old condis run out but you didn’t add the same amount of new ones.

SlyDevil.3952:

I played condi engi in a 50 trio and functioned as the control/projectile defenses for it, we didn’t get volcanic but that is the only fractal that would have stretched my versatility to its limit.

Power engi loses lots of damage when you swap out utilities, flame blast is a 1.75-2.5 coeff every 6secs, acid bomb is a 5.1 every 15. That’s like giving up blunderbuss and jump shot.

Condi damage also drops off when you aren’t using offensive skills, you can pop all your burns then run around and watch them tick, but you miss out on dozens of bleeds if you aren’t using other skills. You just won’t notice the damage drop until a while later when your old condis run out but you didn’t add the same amount of new ones.

A few things…

Flame Blast is nice, but FT can pretty safely be replaced for power builds with minimal loss to overall DPS.

I didn’t mean to imply condi damage can last forever when you’re not attacking, but it’s a fact that when you’re not actively attacking your condi damage will go much much further than power damage. If each build is at 15k and immediately stops attacking, the power build will immediately be practically 0 (maybe 1k for existing condis?) but the condi build will remain 15k for a second or two, then it will ramp down to maybe 10k for a few seconds, 8k, 5k, 2k, 0. This is a huge advantage that the condi build has in my opinion, you can stop to revive, kite, etc for a few seconds and not really lose much damage.

So, how good do you guys perform the rotation? for the condi rotation, I think I can only remember or pull off 16 skills from the rotation. The rest only spams the prioritized skills.

gin.7158:

So, how good do you guys perform the rotation? for the condi rotation, I think I can only remember or pull off 16 skills from the rotation. The rest only spams the prioritized skills.

power is a a bit more flexible but since flamethorwer’s wall can’t be reliably laid down i often switch out FT for an eventual needed utility. Let’s be honest too IP in long fight is a DPS loss but acceptable if you add utility, is not always about the damage you know!

Anyway Power rotation is harder than condi rotation since it requires some cooldown to maximise effect (vulnerabilty stacks) and ft+eg combos even after years are still an amazing exercise for the fingers
Condi rotation basically is bomb #2#3, nades #2#4#5 pistol #4#2#3, FT#2#4 relative toolbelts always on CD whichever happens first. Bomb and nade #2 is very fast so always check for them, then pistol than FT. Nade#1 in downtimes. Super easy.

gin.7158:

So, how good do you guys perform the rotation? for the condi rotation, I think I can only remember or pull off 16 skills from the rotation. The rest only spams the prioritized skills.

tbh spamming your high damage skills is the rotation, so as long as you can get a feel for the 5 or 10 bread and butter dps skills’ cds you dont really need to memorize a rotation. knowing a general ranking for skill dps is required. as in if youre condi, your biggest hit is napalm and your next biggest is blowtorch and so on. or if youre power then acid bomb, nade barrage, jump shot, etc. those are the skills you must have a feel for and be able to use on cd to consider yourself pretty good (lists incomplete lol).

I am not convinced with condi engi. I am still feeling mobs melt too fast to allow condi build to be competitive. Sure, on some bosses things are different, but globaly I still prefer power build (which also have more utlity by the way).

It depend on which mobs. The threshold between Power and Condi is 14 sec. So all fight lower than 14 sec will be at the advantage of the Power build. That mean all the trash but also all those high damage vetaran like in Ascalon. The place where condi shine is against bosses.

Adamantium.3682:

Also there isn’t really such a thing as “an encounter immune to conditions” unless you’re talking specifically structures, of which there are 1 or 2? (Ice Elemental and Charr fractal doors?) Maybe Mai Trin? In that case you’re not doing damage of any kind and it’s a different kind of fight anyways.

In fractal you are right. But in dungeon some bosses like Alphard are immune or pratically immune to condi. I know OP talked about fractal only, but usually people that do fractal also do some dungeon.

Thx for the info.. coz my OCD tells me to follow the dps rotation as strict as possible… but I also think it’s not possible since you need to react on the given situation. So just remember the skill priority and use them when they are ready is enough

gin.7158:

also accepting any tips and tricks for new engi – any video?. I’m still practicing the complex dps rotation and improving my muscle memory for engi.

Don’t feel locked down into traits and skills, change when needed. You can even change while running to the next fight.

Stuff like: switching bombs & mortar for blinds
Equiping short fuse before blasting
Streamline kits with TK for running, streamline with medkit for reflect ( and flameblast with FT )
The infamous throw elixir U for reflects, throw elixir s for non-blast cap stealth
The beautiful overcharged shot + Eg toolbelt skill.
I would also take note of the range of your skills, you don’t need to be close to overcharge shot and can even jump before the projectile comes out for both overharged and air blast.

Also with the scrapper coming we are gona have even more soild options to use. It’s gona be fantasic!! I can’t wait to run around fractals with it!!. Anyway getting alittle of topic

Edit: power user myself, like it much better as it fits my personal playstyle more.

Sarah

I went sinister engi myself for 2 reasons :

1) They mentioned higher level fractals would start scaling toughness and not just health/damage. This could be a huge swing in the favor of condi, and fractals is my favorite content.

2) My 7 other characters all use berserker/assassin gear (and likely Revenant will be berserker as well but time will tell).

Honestly I would probably prefer power engi in terms of playstyle but I like having a least 1 geared condi character, may as well make it engi.

:D