Guild Wars 2

Can Engineers use rifles as a support build? I am currently using duel pistols but it doesn’t seem to do enough damage.

What traits are you speccing?

Ofc you can use a rifle as support but you shouldn’t limit yourself to rifle or pistols, use your kits

IMO Dual pistols does more damage than rifle. Rifles perform more like shotguns, to do a large amount of damage the enemy(s) need to be in your face. When in a support role I use pistol & shield, because I’m not DPSing, and shield blocks and provides knockbacks so I can run if I need to.

Haven’t gotten to traits yet only level 8, but I am doing a turret support build.

Pistol/shield IMO, very OP combo – I wish thief could go pistol/shield.

I have a support / dodgytank build, which relies heavily on 30 in Inventions — super Toughness stat, and durable self-repairing turrets that explode violently when they’re clobbered. With the rifle and the Power trait which leaves mines behind when you dodge, I can roll in and out of battle, using my blunderbuss shotgun blast and the overcharged knockback and the net shot to keep an enemy off balance and controlled. It’s working pretty well so far, especially in big group events.

Skills are:

Solo: Elixr H, Elixr B, Rifle Turret (quick recharging), Rocket Turret (for tougher situations and AOE), Supply Crate (a good ‘This area is MINE now’ button)

Teamed / Dynamic Events: Heal Turret, Flamethrower (AOE and burn and combo field and control), Rifle Turret, Rocket Turret, Supply Crate.

You’ll also want Elixr Gun for pure support and conditions, and maybe Med Pack.

Hello.
Can u pls be more precise on what do u intend as “support”?

If u mean suport for other players,rifle is more useful than pistol because it offer 2 great control skills:net shot and overcharged shot.
U can use elixir gun,it make condition dmg,and his 5th skill is an AoE heal.
Also the special ability is an AoE heal.Usefull as support.

For the rest u must,slot skills,u can use all the elixirs,they remove conditions,give random buff,create a random spell,grant hide for 4 sec, or grant CC immunity for 5 sec.It depends from what u want as support.
Elixirs secondary skills,offer great support for your mates.

Also turrets are support.Net turret and rocket turret,(it stuns with his secondary skills).But i suggest u to don’t use turrets,cause they can cause more aggro problems,and in war they hit casual target,especially in zerg situations.Also,due to their cooldown,they are not flexible for WvW fast dinamics,where u have to move often.At this,add that usually turrets even with passive resistence,and auto heal,can be destroyed by a single enemy AoE.
Turrets are useful in sPvP,where they are the best at help in control or capture points.

Also,most of the class have passive traits that allow to cancel conditions,this is why u feel your pistol do low dmg.
Actualy i use a build for rifle with power and critics.

Anyway,if you want the dmg for war,Engineer does not offer a lot , apart the condition build.

Sorry for my english,regards.

I think you meant to say “Engineers and shotguns”

this game doesn’t have rifles, that would require a massive increase to range

it has rifles lol

Edit: Someone else made this build but this is what I am following:

http://en.gw2codex.com/build/16931-turret-support

I found a rifle with land mine made me near untouchable during 1v1 fights in the early levels. It gives you 2 knockbacks (which lays them out, unlike the shield’s that just pushes them back) and a net. from there you can mix what ever else you like.

Rifle is namely a melee weapon.

With a heavy power / crit spec at 80 with vulnerability stacking you can get the autoattack to crit ~2k+ on squishy targets which is pretty good, but you’ll lack a ranged finisher. Grenade kit is nice and in some situations you can use it at ranged, but it is not a weapon the is reliable on the move if your fighting smart opponents. The aim / travel time kills it.

If you want a support spec with rifle I recommend doing a tool’s build with rifle, elixir R, and elixirgun. With the kit refinement trait you get a light combo field when you swap to elixir gun on top of elixir gun’s #5. This spec gives you a lot of group condition removal, the ability to give swiftness to allies, a nice amount of tick healing, retaliation on demand with jumpshot + elixir R, and with either a lot of power and crit or healing some other nice optional support tools.

It’s what I run most of the time. In keep / tower sieges I can basically make a zone of condition immunity with a nice amount of + healing going on in the radius. About ~450 a second. With spikes of 2-3k from healing turret and water field combos.

I carry a second gear set setup for power precision crit and swap when I want to do dps.

My base spec is 0, 20, 20, 0, 30 I get the rifle range + rifle damage traits. I swap in the vulnerability on crit or immobilize gives cripple trait when in support spec. The movement speed / enhanced supplies from supply drop for inventions, and then static discharge, kit refinement, and adrenal surge from tools.

You can tweak the traits around for fun builds as well. Such as deploy-able turrets and armor plating so you can support teammates for further back with your healing turret, or place things like rocket turrets behind enemies for a quick knock down, or to detonate for triggering a combo field like from elixir R / elixir gun.

For kiting rifle with net turret / land mine and slick shoes is all you need to never be caught by a melee. Add in supply drop, a passive speed boots trait, and swiftness from medkit on equip + #5 ability and it just gets silly.