Guild Wars 2

A few months ago I picked up a pile of Ash Legion Spy Kits and have found them to be very useful: dropping agro, grabbing a HP/MP undisturbed, and even looting chests guarded by champs! (I believe it was at the Champion Krait Witch… I edged my way up a mast just slightly above her platform at the top… I equipped the kit… I glided down to behind the chest and used the kit immediately when I landed… opened the chest, then glided away… it was epic)

So, because of these shenanigans I went to the wiki to find more fun things to use. And, I came across this list of environmental weapons sold by NPCs. I don’t think this is a complete list of what’s available, but it certainly isn’t tiny.

I’ve picked up the Fire Elemental Powder for creating some extra fire fields during champ fights. I’ve also picked up the Experimental Rifle and the Experimental Teleportation Gun to help alleviate some JP anxiety and more easily navigate HoT maps.

Do y’all use any purchasable kits? If so, what ones do you find the most useful or fun? If not, have you ever thought about it?

~EW

I have the spy kit, elemental powder, and the rifle on my level 80s. I’m slowly getting the Moa feather (a short stealth while moving), the ogre pet whistle and the gun on the others.

The portal rifle isnt as good as it could be. If the terrain is uneven it makes the second portal up in the air, unreachable most of the time. It’s only good for flat terrain which is very limiting if you’re trying to make a portal to help someone out.

A friend of mine convinced me to try some and I must say they certainly add some fun flavour to everyday things!

• Hylek Blowgun - 1.100 range weapon if needed.
• Fire Elemental Powder - extra ally + might stacking possibilities.
• Ogre Pet Whistle - another ally!
• Ash Legion Spy Kit - Stealth
• Order of Whispers Spy Kit - More Stealth
• Ascalon Tome - Lovely look and just some extra damage.
• Deployable Mortar Kit - Minor added damage
• Experimental Teleportation Gun - Can be jump/cancelled to work as a regular portal.

These are the ones I regularly use

Bonus:

• Jotun Greatsword - Used by my friend to trick people into thinking engineers can use Greatswords.
• Growth Tonic - Ever wanted to be as big as a Norn? now you can!

@Nero

Is there away to make the portal rifle not make a portal up in the air if the two spots are not level?

Just a flesh wound.3589:

@Nero

Is there away to make the portal rifle not make a portal up in the air if the two spots are not level?

I haven’t had this happen with the jump-cancelling way.
I believe it happens during the landing part of using the skill regularly.

As in: You jump → Game registers you’ve landed before you’ve actually landed → you actually land → creates portal at the location where the game registered your landing to be → Portal ends up being a bit too high.

I could be horribly wrong though.

I must say sometimes the portal graphic is way off… but it can still be used normally.

Nero.8047:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

@Nero

Is there away to make the portal rifle not make a portal up in the air if the two spots are not level?

I haven’t had this happen with the jump-cancelling way.
I believe it happens during the landing part of using the skill regularly.

As in: You jump -> Game registers you’ve landed before you’ve actually landed -> you actually land -> creates portal at the location where the game registered your landing to be -> Portal ends up being a bit too high.

I could be horribly wrong though.

I must say sometimes the portal graphic is way off… but it can still be used normally.

I’m not really understanding what you’re describing. You jump first up and down then immediately use the portal gun? Or you use the portal gun and immediately hit jump and when you land the portal is placed on the ground where you land and not up in the air on the same level as where you started from.

I’ve only used the Experimental Rifle, which has been useful. I’m going to check out some of those other items….thanks.

After using the Portal Gun you can jump to cancel the leap.
This does however create the starting portal underneath you leaving you with no way to create the Teleportation Gun “exit” portal unless you use Portal Entre which will function as Portal Exeunt. (I should’ve mentioned the mesmer requirement)
After this you can move to the desired location and connect the 2 “portals”.

This way is basically a fancy way of weaving the Portal Gun together with the Portal skill.

Not too impressive though.

I have many of them in my character’s inventories….and usually forget they are there. Lol.

Nero.8047:

After using the Portal Gun you can jump to cancel the leap.
This does however create the starting portal underneath you leaving you with no way to create the Teleportation Gun “exit” portal unless you use Portal Entre which will function as Portal Exeunt. (I should’ve mentioned the mesmer requirement)
After this you can move to the desired location and connect the 2 “portals”.

This way is basically a fancy way of weaving the Portal Gun together with the Portal skill.

Not too impressive though.

Oh? So you need to be a Mesmer in order for this to work? Then my comment about the portal gun still stands as it creates a second portal up in the air on uneven ground for 8 out of 9 professions. And I’m not sure why a Mesmer would bother doing what your describing.

One I’m considering trying out this weekend is the Hylek Poison Pot. My main doesn’t currently have any traited or runed speed bonus… so if/when I really want a brief burst of speed I could utilize the Hare’s Speed skill from the pot. Then, I’d have a lovely poison attack to start combat with. I think the big deciding factor will be if Hare’s Speed uses up the bundle… if it doesn’t then I think I could make use of this item.

The mine kit might be useful for tough fights you have time to prepare for.

I’m also wondering about the Mortar Seed Turret… namely the blue one… and if it’d have any appreciable effect on a break-bar. The wiki says it slows… but does it inflict the slow condition, and for how long? These things must be tested!

~EW

The main problem with these items is the lack of a spot on the UI to slot them. As Inculpatus said, I mostly forget they are in my inventory, and the middle of a fight isn’t the time to remember one and be opening up my inventory to try to use it. If they had a row of UI slots to put these in that would vastly encourage their use.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

The main problem with these items is the lack of a spot on the UI to slot them. As Inculpatus said, I mostly forget they are in my inventory, and the middle of a fight isn’t the time to remember one and be opening up my inventory to try to use it. If they had a row of UI slots to put these in that would vastly encourage their use.

This. I tend to forget consumables in any game but it’s worst in GW2 because while I am actively moving around firing off skills I’m not going to cover my screen with an inventory window to access an item I need in that split second.

I remember the days when you use to be able to use the mini golem in a box in wvw. Would load up on alot of those things. Now most of those fun consumables I don’t use cause I can’t use them in wvw.

Yep, just like yourself, I use Ash Legion Spy Kits for world completion. I also love the Frost Gun from Gendarran Fields too.

Donari.5237:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

The main problem with these items is the lack of a spot on the UI to slot them. As Inculpatus said, I mostly forget they are in my inventory, and the middle of a fight isn’t the time to remember one and be opening up my inventory to try to use it. If they had a row of UI slots to put these in that would vastly encourage their use.

This. I tend to forget consumables in any game but it’s worst in GW2 because while I am actively moving around firing off skills I’m not going to cover my screen with an inventory window to access an item I need in that split second.

Agreed. I do have the experimental rifle for jumping, though.

I’m all for there being UI item slots added… generally I don’t like a busy HUD, but I can make an exception in this case. Having them more accessible like that would bring use to things like the Healing Seed Pod as an optional additional condi removal. With limited exceptions I agree that the purchasable kits aren’t useful to use/activate in the middle of combat… but they’re still fun!

@penelopehannibal: do you have a special use for the frost gun, or do you just enjoy the visual effects?

~EW

Most of these aren’t very interesting. You can buy an exact replica of Engineer’s Flamethrower kit which is a bit strange(why can’t I buy some Warrior banners?). The flamethrower works very well with Signet of Malice.

Every time I find a consumable I like, I load up with a stack, and it is promptly nerfed.

I like using the Experimental Rifle and the Spy Kits. I especially like the Experimental Rifle because I like trying to break out of maps and it comes in useful for pulling off jumps that wouldn’t normally be possible.

For me they’re easy to use because I have my inventory set to show 5×4 items (or a 20 slot bag) and positioned above my chat box. I use the bottom row of the top bag for things I want quick access to, like my salvage kit, boosters and these items when I’m carrying them. (I never use the compact option.)

So whenever I want to use them I can just open up the inventory, still able to see most of what’s going on, and I know approximately where they’ll be.

Random screenshot to show what this looks like:

They’re awesome, and I love that PvE has them. It’s just a huge pain to open inventory panel to use one. I would love an open item slot in the UI, but for now Danikat’s suggestion will do. TY Danikat.

Yes I do use them, I have a permanent weapon-stock of those lovely gizmos, wasting nearly 30 inventory slots. Several of them are quite useful, but unknown to the majority of players. Every attempt making them more popular mostly results in weird looks, like I am a freak or a madman.

I’ll share a few of my gems, which are not listed above:
Healing Seed Pod - This one I used for more than a year. It grants the user a waterfield with a very short cooldown, long duration and grants regeneration in addition. It is still possible to use during the guild rushes with some animal-transformations, most got fixed by now. If your class has blastfinishers but no real source for waterfields, this one is priceless.

Power Matrix - My most recent, yet most controversal discovery. It is not that cheap and does nearly no damage to anything. The major reason it drew my attention was, its tooltip ^^. I’ve done several tests by now and I haven’t reached the enemy-limit yet. Thinking back of the maize-balm farming or the enormous hordes during the queens gauntlet, this could prove useful some day. In ways of flagging loads of mobs with a single strike.

Medical Kit - One of the few EWs you can drop on the ground and othes can pick up. When traveling the world for mapcompletion or leading people through large areas, this one comes in handy. Especially low level characters lack perma-speed. The swiftness-buff in the kit refreshes fast. The kit itself lasts long. It makes movement a lot easier, even you have the kits and not your friend. You can simply arm one, drop it and let it pick up from the person who needs it. It can also be deployed on the ground and be picked up in combat, while the original heal-skill is on cooldown.

Jezza’s Flamethrower - Persuaded a friend of mine to get a stack of those for farming issues. His major complaint was, when farming in groups, he was not able to tag enough mobs in time, they were mostly dead before he reached em. I told him about my flamethrower (engineer mainclass) and he was interested, but not wanted to switch classes. So we got him those. You don’t do much damage with those, but you sure tag a lot of enemies. The red button is sadly NO blastfinisher ;_;.

Grawl ritual Totem - Another of my recent discoveries. Literally annoyed by those stuipd squads of mini raports in HoT maps, I found this quite useful. It creates a short fear-wave, alowing you to move forward or prevent the lethal blow of your enemy. Something like a life-saver.

At last, the most powerful one I found so far. I’m still not sure if that is a joke by ANet or it was simply forgotten while they created HoT. I was totally shocked when I found it and paralized once I unleashed its true potential. In a few seconds you will see why ^^

Frost Gun - This thing is a game-changer. It is basically free cc-skills for everyone. The skills are:
1. Frost Jet – as flamejet from flamethrower, but applies chilled on each tick
2. Rifle Butt – strong cc-skill
3. Frozen Escape – leap back as with the acid bomb from engineer (elexir gun), but leaves timed ice-explosions behind, which also cause chilled
4. Shard Volley – in some bossfights I keep the weapon equiped, as this skill supplies with bleed stacks for condition damage, long range, ground target, short cooldown. The aiming is a little odd but learnable.
5. Deep Freeze – 100% the same as the one from ice bow, very strong cc.

Note: Few days ago I was on a VB map with the matriach battle. Common situation, nearly noone used cc skills. With the frost gun and 1-2 of my own cc-skills I was literally able to interrupt it alone.

-

I’d love to say something about the teleport gun, but I don’t know what actually counts as exploit/bug-using. I know some ways to get the 2nd portal to another heighth, but this includes some stuff with game mechanics. Sorry.

I use a combo of Endless Nuhoch Tonic with Pot of Hylek Poison and Hylek Blowgun.

I didn’t like how I can’t tag enemies if I transform. These environmental weapons solved that for me. There are no combat animations, but at least I can do damage.

(Experimental Teleportation Gun also helped me with one Vista.)

HnRkLnXqZ.1870:

Jezza’s Flamethrower - Persuaded a friend of mine to get a stack of those for farming issues. His major complaint was, when farming in groups, he was not able to tag enough mobs in time, they were mostly dead before he reached em. I told him about my flamethrower (engineer mainclass) and he was interested, but not wanted to switch classes. So we got him those. You don’t do much damage with those, but you sure tag a lot of enemies. The red button is sadly NO blastfinisher ;_;.

Try this one out. It only last for one minute, but it is an exact equivalent of the Engineeer flamethrower.