Guild Wars 2

In the spirit of the new year I thought it would be fun to look back on pvp over the years. See all the good and the bad nerfs that have happened. Title says most of it. What have been your favourite and least favourite builds in the game. These can be from anytime pre HoT, post HoT, beta HoT, hell even beta GW2 but please clarify when.

For me my favourite would be sword/dagger thief from a year ago, pre specs. I may have never been good at it and it may not have been the hardest or most viable build to play but it was fun. The mobility is insane on it and its 1v1 potential was amazing. Not to mention it was a lot of fun to watch on twitch. Seeing scizor sneak caps away while toker jump in to contest in fights where one false move won the fight. Ooh the nostalgia.

On the other hand, around the same time, there were turret engineers. The worst build. Just throw down a bunch of turrets and bunker down, cause they don’t take damage, you won’t take damage but they’ll deal all the damage you could imagine. It required no skill, or ability or anything. Just throw em down and wait.

What were all of yours?

I remember with great nostalgia cele elementalist with double daggers, I just loved that build…
Also mantra lockdown had its own shiny moment when mantra charged in background. In fact, I’ve always had a thing for lockdown mesmers in general.

On the other hand, PU condi mesmer was annoying and disgusting to see. Easy, camp stealth and let your clones do the passive damage, lol at the sight
Burn guardian was something I hated with a passion stomping on you 12 stacks of burning that did more damage than any kind of raw power burst could ever hope to achieve, and then the QQ followed, horrible mess it was.
Pew Ranger made me cringe each time I saw one…
and, years back, dhuumfire necro when it was a thing… I nearly cried.

I remember a time when Bull’s Rush GS Wars were considered op

Rogue.8235:

I remember a time when Bull’s Rush GS Wars were considered op

Hehehehe yeah I remember that. Back before people learned the dodge mechanic of the game, myself included xD

I remember a time when Ranger was considered OP. Oh wait… I don’t.

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

The glorious days of d/d glass canon thieves. :(

1 meant high chance of death. 2 meant certain death.

I remember being able to use Icebow in sPvP.
FeelsBadMan

Hooglese.4860:

Rogue.8235:

I remember a time when Bull’s Rush GS Wars were considered op

Hehehehe yeah I remember that. Back before people learned the dodge mechanic of the game, myself included xD

This right here is a myth that needs to die. People complained about Frenzy(people tend to forget about this one when it was 100%)+ Bull’s Rush + GS because there was a time, long a ago, that this game didn’t have stunbreakers implemented of any kind. If you ate a frenzied bull’s rush, which was actually very tricky to dodge, you had to eat the full 100b+whirlwind at which point you just flat out died or were left with low Hp only to die seconds later to an eviscerate or the axe AAs, unless of course, you had something instant like Mist Form or Endure Pain, but that was it.

I used to do this youtube bit where I’d post guide videos for builds with top players/streamers, so I’ve pretty much tried every prevalent sPvP build the NA side of this game has seen. Here’s my picks:

Worst:

• d/d backstab thief (early on, 0 counter play -you’d just run around instagibbing ppl out of stealth).
• s/d evade spam thief (really spammy and annoying to play against, playing it felt very bland compared to other classes -there just wasn’t as much decision making going on)
• d/d cantrip ele (pretty much plagued the NA meta for the first year or two).
• HGH engi (roll your face across the keyboard and get rewarded with 25 stacks of might).
• Signet Warrior (passive sustain was broken, you could just kite around for a few seconds if you got low and be close to full hp again)
• Bunker chonomancer (current meta. Yeah let’s give mesmers the boonsharing of a bunker guard, the invulnerability uptime of an s/d thief, the CC of a terrormancer, and 66% cooldown reduction for them and their party. What could go wrong?)
• Turret Engineer (did anyone like this?)
• Spirit ranger
• MM necro
• BM ranger (not because pet micro, but because evade spam = no fun for anyone).

Best:

• D/D khalifa necro (A really fun power necro build that wasn’t built around just spamming shroud 1 or wells)
• GS shatter mesmer (it’s a classic)
• Trap ranger (with torch)
• Skull crack warrior (mace/shield + GS)
• 3 kit engi
• old school bunker guard
• d/d ele (who am I kidding. it was a fun playstyle, broken, but mechanically fun).
• s/d fresh air ele
• d/p thief (flawed, but probably the closest Thief has come to a mechanically balanced build & moderately fun to play).
• Terror/condi necro (another classic)
• Zerker staff ele (manmode)
• Condi mesmer (this is my guilty pleasure. It’s not a fun build to play against, but I could never get enough of it. I just loved seeing that constant stream of clones kamikaze their way into my enemies -and watching the other team trying to figure out where the hell I am lol)

Zodian.6597:

I used to do this youtube bit where I’d post guide videos for builds with top players/streamers, so I’ve pretty much tried every prevalent sPvP build the NA side of this game has seen. Here’s my picks:

Worst:

• d/d backstab thief (early on, 0 counter play -you’d just run around instagibbing ppl out of stealth).
• s/d evade spam thief (really spammy and annoying to play against, playing it felt very bland compared to other classes -there just wasn’t as much decision making going on)
• d/d cantrip ele (pretty much plagued the NA meta for the first year or two).
• HGH engi (roll your face across the keyboard and get rewarded with 25 stacks of might).
• Signet Warrior (passive sustain was broken, you could just kite around for a few seconds if you got low and be close to full hp again)
• Bunker chonomancer (current meta. Yeah let’s give mesmers the boonsharing of a bunker guard, the invulnerability uptime of an s/d thief, the CC of a terrormancer, and 66% cooldown reduction for them and their party. What could go wrong?)
• Turret Engineer (did anyone like this?)
• Spirit ranger
• MM necro
• BM ranger (not because pet micro, but because evade spam = no fun for anyone).

Best:

• D/D khalifa necro (A really fun power necro build that wasn’t built around just spamming shroud 1 or wells)
• GS shatter mesmer (it’s a classic)
• Trap ranger (with torch)
• Skull crack warrior (mace/shield + GS)
• 3 kit engi
• old school bunker guard
• d/d ele (who am I kidding. it was a fun playstyle, broken, but mechanically fun).
• s/d fresh air ele
• d/p thief (flawed, but probably the closest Thief has come to a mechanically balanced build & moderately fun to play).
• Terror/condi necro (another classic)
• Zerker staff ele (manmode)
• Condi mesmer (this is my guilty pleasure. It’s not a fun build to play against, but I could never get enough of it. I just loved seeing that constant stream of clones kamikaze their way into my enemies -and watching the other team trying to figure out where the hell I am lol)

I remember watching your vids when mplayed 2 years ago, they were really good. When did you stop doing them if I may ask? There’s nothing really out there that covers builds like you used to.

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

Bahahahahahahahaha

Valkyriez.6578:

I remember watching your vids when mplayed 2 years ago, they were really good. When did you stop doing them if I may ask? There’s nothing really out there that covers builds like you used to.

It was probably years ago now that I think of it. I made an effort to purge videos from the channel once they became outdated, so I can’t really even find them to look up the dates anymore. Thanks for the comment though, it was fun while it lasted!

GUN EM DOWN.4078:

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

Bahahahahahahahaha

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

I see someone is getting owned by engineers/scrappers. It’s alright… I understand you are kittened, but saying engineers are -easy- to play, and play themselves is just plain ignorant talk. Learn to play and get some skill, instead of coming with such nonsense around the forums.

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

You have a child like understanding of engineer, but a perfect understanding of celestial amulet and durability runes.

Another build to tack onto the worst builds:
Old phantasm mesmer. Summon some phants and a duelist and do nothing. They would do the work no problem. And with that extra health on your phantasms, you couldn’t kill them before they got you. (yea and those days when all clones and phantasms not having los so the mes can cast them whenever)

Another good build:
100 nade engi. Now that was stupid fun.

Warrior GS/LB was great fun. Still my favorite build to this date.

As for worst build, I think D/D elementalist plagued PvP for way too long.

SaintSnow.6593:

Another build to tack onto the worst builds:
Old phantasm mesmer. Summon some phants and a duelist and do nothing. They would do the work no problem. And with that extra health on your phantasms, you couldn’t kill them before they got you. (yea and those days when all clones and phantasms not having los so the mes can cast them whenever)

Another good build:
100 nade engi. Now that was stupid fun.

Omg I forgot about both of these. Agreed though, I hated phants and 100nades was a lot of fun.

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

You have a child like understanding of engineer, but a perfect understanding of celestial amulet and durability runes.

Technically he’s not wrong. I’ll explain why!

First iteration of Engineer was SOLEY based around 1 single trait, wanna know what that was? Incendiary Powder! A completely unavoidable trait that did massive damage to you without any thought-process what-so-ever.

Next iteration was Celestial Rifle which also utilized said unavoidable trait with a weapon(rifle) that utilized another unavoidable bit of CC(unless you had a lucky dodge, block or whatever). Not to mention the instant nature of slick shoes and spamming grenades at your feet!

And finally, we’ve come to Scrapper! A line that has some of the strongest defensive passives I’ve ever seen. Protection on heal, permanent 300 toughness with -20% condi-dmg and insane regen based upon your speed. This all coupled with some more insane passive defenses from Protection Injection and Self-regulating defenses!

So no, the man is absolutely correct in his evaluation of Engineer. I even went as to kindly list why based on Facts. You’re welcome.

Edit: I didn’t even list all of the BS, just some off-the-top of my head. Lets not forget the insane boon uptime and variety!

Zerker gunflame berserker with headbutt and greatsword. GREAT

To soon?

S/D fresh air Ele, the best build ever

lucadiro.4519:

S/D fresh air Ele, the best build ever

That build got nerfed to hell when the game come out XD..never recovered

The worst?
Perma retal mesmers back in the day, turret engie, hambow warrior…
Spirit Ranger (kitten all those passives)
Every revenant build
I’ma just add every ranger build to this too, because kitten rangers.

The best?
2/3 kit engie, Shatter Mesmer (in general), D/D thief, and Zerker GS/Ham warrior (A lot of fun, also pretty risky)

i miss the entire meta before the condi rise… i like any power build based where one mistake and kabooom, but those build were so rewared in the hands of skilled players.
But well whatever… pvers wanted condi buff so lets have this kitten meta.

Most hated: any pu mesmer condi cancer build that exist and ever existed.

The time I’ve been around to see (I play all classes, mainly Thief. but I do multi-role, just so you know I don’t love/hate randomly)-

Worst Builds:
Thumper Bunker Engi. Rocket main was annoying too, but putting Thumper and Net with Supply crate, flamethrower and…uuugh
Current bunker Mesmer. rip plz
Sword/Dagger thief, hated playing as and against
Dhuumfire Necro pre-nerf. argue if you want, this thing was painful. got me my Champion Phantom title from that trait

Best Builds:
S/f fa ele pre sigil of battle nerf. used to have no icd, so you’d burst very hard
Pistolwhip thief. not much to say, but ye. was funny
Nades engi was and is fun
100b Warrior was fun
Mirror Blade one shot pre mirror blade nerf (mesmer)

:D My general opinions.

let’s make this easy.

Best = Anything that does not require thought, complete with passives and spammy Aoe /w high sustain and thief burst damage.

Worst: Thief / warrior.

Arken.3725:

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

You have a child like understanding of engineer, but a perfect understanding of celestial amulet and durability runes.

Technically he’s not wrong. I’ll explain why!

First iteration of Engineer was SOLEY based around 1 single trait, wanna know what that was? Incendiary Powder! A completely unavoidable trait that did massive damage to you without any thought-process what-so-ever.

Next iteration was Celestial Rifle which also utilized said unavoidable trait with a weapon(rifle) that utilized another unavoidable bit of CC(unless you had a lucky dodge, block or whatever). Not to mention the instant nature of slick shoes and spamming grenades at your feet!

And finally, we’ve come to Scrapper! A line that has some of the strongest defensive passives I’ve ever seen. Protection on heal, permanent 300 toughness with -20% condi-dmg and insane regen based upon your speed. This all coupled with some more insane passive defenses from Protection Injection and Self-regulating defenses!

So no, the man is absolutely correct in his evaluation of Engineer. I even went as to kindly list why based on Facts. You’re welcome.

Edit: I didn’t even list all of the BS, just some off-the-top of my head. Lets not forget the insane boon uptime and variety!

Nice anecdotal evidence.
Nice line up of offending traits that are all out measured and don’t hold a candle to similar traits in their era.

Incendiary was a poor mans dhuumfire.
Turrets were an even poorer man spirits or minions.
Boon up time and protection does even begin to toy with ele.
Insane regen..you mean like passive, non interruptable revenant? or more like guardian regen+elite?..or do you mean more like warrior regen? Or are we talking ele regen for 40+ seconds? Or necro shroud regen?Which regen are we talking about that engineers is far more insane?
All the efficiency you speak of all come from combo fields and elixirs. In other words move away from that set play style and you’re gonna fail.

Hell, there is a hybrid warrior video in their forums which illustrates even the most far field build can be made a sustain machine once you place celestial and durability runes on it. In earlier emanations of the game it was lyssa runes, before that it was something else blah blah blah.

The point is engineers are far from unbeatable. In their hey day of decap the ever present hambow made short work of them. A vanilla necro made short work of them.
In the turret area another brainless spec MM rendered them chaotic and uncontrollable. Hell, even one wall of reflection cause all the turrets to destroy themselves.

A good player with sound hotkey set up will excel with engineer, but they would also excel with any other profession. An average player will only do well with one specific set up and rune selection that totally smooths over their inexperienced play style. However, this has been shown on pretty much every profession forum to be the case. Slap on celestial amulet,..if your feeling edging then maybe take marauder for the toughness, but definitely don’t leave home without durability runes and you’ll be O.K.

It is not specific to engineer at all. That’s why I still get my stomps on them, I see other people get their stomps and see them face down in WvW..because they are far from invincible. Play one for 4-6 days and you’ll know exactly what ruins their day. The same as playing a capable monk in gw1 taught you how to effectively shut one down if you faced one. In no version of the game has a player who understands engineer had problems with eliminating one. Your photo only shows arguably the most brainless build (Dragonhunter with traps) calling someone else a brainless player.

However if you feel they are easy win, then your opinion is noted. I’d advise you play one more full time and then face them again and see just how predictable they are. Play against one especially as a corruption reaper they become almost laughable at how easily they can be spanked and sent on their way.

To clear things up, Turret Engi was bad for one reason, it was too easy to play and destroyed noobs. Saddest nerf ever. Turret Engi was simple to counter. If you were condi, then attack the Engi directly since he had abysmal condi clear. If you were Power, destroy the turrets first since they died easily and would leave the Engi helpless. But what happened instead? People complained to the point that Anet slapped them with a nerf so hard, that turrets haven’t been seen in PvP since. That was such a sad patch day. Instead of bothering to even lift a finger and attempt to balance them, they destroyed them and forgot about it. >. <

As for fun builds, the old Static Discharge Engi. You know, the one that actually did great damage. Also miss the old Kit Refinement trait.

Horrible builds... always hated PU Mesmer with a passion. Still hate condi Mesmers.

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

Arken.3725:

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

You have a child like understanding of engineer, but a perfect understanding of celestial amulet and durability runes.

Technically he’s not wrong. I’ll explain why!

First iteration of Engineer was SOLEY based around 1 single trait, wanna know what that was? Incendiary Powder! A completely unavoidable trait that did massive damage to you without any thought-process what-so-ever.

Next iteration was Celestial Rifle which also utilized said unavoidable trait with a weapon(rifle) that utilized another unavoidable bit of CC(unless you had a lucky dodge, block or whatever). Not to mention the instant nature of slick shoes and spamming grenades at your feet!

And finally, we’ve come to Scrapper! A line that has some of the strongest defensive passives I’ve ever seen. Protection on heal, permanent 300 toughness with -20% condi-dmg and insane regen based upon your speed. This all coupled with some more insane passive defenses from Protection Injection and Self-regulating defenses!

So no, the man is absolutely correct in his evaluation of Engineer. I even went as to kindly list why based on Facts. You’re welcome.

Edit: I didn’t even list all of the BS, just some off-the-top of my head. Lets not forget the insane boon uptime and variety!

Nice anecdotal evidence.
Nice line up of offending traits that are all out measured and don’t hold a candle to similar traits in their era.

Incendiary was a poor mans dhuumfire.
Turrets were an even poorer man spirits or minions.
Boon up time and protection does even begin to toy with ele.
Insane regen..you mean like passive, non interruptable revenant? or more like guardian regen+elite?..or do you mean more like warrior regen? Or are we talking ele regen for 40+ seconds? Or necro shroud regen?Which regen are we talking about that engineers is far more insane?
All the efficiency you speak of all come from combo fields and elixirs. In other words move away from that set play style and you’re gonna fail.

Hell, there is a hybrid warrior video in their forums which illustrates even the most far field build can be made a sustain machine once you place celestial and durability runes on it. In earlier emanations of the game it was lyssa runes, before that it was something else blah blah blah.

The point is engineers are far from unbeatable. In their hey day of decap the ever present hambow made short work of them. A vanilla necro made short work of them.
In the turret area another brainless spec MM rendered them chaotic and uncontrollable. Hell, even one wall of reflection cause all the turrets to destroy themselves.

A good player with sound hotkey set up will excel with engineer, but they would also excel with any other profession. An average player will only do well with one specific set up and rune selection that totally smooths over their inexperienced play style. However, this has been shown on pretty much every profession forum to be the case. Slap on celestial amulet,..if your feeling edging then maybe take marauder for the toughness, but definitely don’t leave home without durability runes and you’ll be O.K.

It is not specific to engineer at all. That’s why I still get my stomps on them, I see other people get their stomps and see them face down in WvW..because they are far from invincible. Play one for 4-6 days and you’ll know exactly what ruins their day. The same as playing a capable monk in gw1 taught you how to effectively shut one down if you faced one. In no version of the game has a player who understands engineer had problems with eliminating one. Your photo only shows arguably the most brainless build (Dragonhunter with traps) calling someone else a brainless player.

However if you feel they are easy win, then your opinion is noted. I’d advise you play one more full time and then face them again and see just how predictable they are. Play against one especially as a corruption reaper they become almost laughable at how easily they can be spanked and sent on their way.

How is my evidence anecdotal? I’ve, quite literally, listed every single trait/skill that’s either incredibly passive/instant with little-to-no counter play.

-Want to talk about regen? What about backpack Regenerator? A passive regen that CANNOT be dispelled that stacks with other forms of regen.
-Dhuumfire at least required you to be in a temporary state
-Turrets were never listed but had amazing decap potential, thanks for further reinforcing my point
-Nothing begins to toy with Ele but the mere fact that it comes close is a joke in of itself. Name another profession that can touch either?
-You’ve yet to name any meaningful skills, just another player stating a “fact” without backing anything up.

I never stated they were unbeatable but rather stating facts based on the traits/skills I’ve listed. You haven’t listed anything aside from Dhuumfire to further your argument(Very weak I might add). Please, name something even close to the effectiveness of their traits aside from Ele, please.

You’ve literally done nothing to reinforce your argument throughout this whole discussion. Next time you want to have an argument, bring facts, not opinions.

Edit: I usually don’t attack players personally but you’re so blind that even Stevie wonder questions his own inability to see while listening to your argument.

Brain dead builds insist that the build itself can be played at a high-level and be incredibly effective….not sure where i’m seeing DH’s anymore.

I’ve enjoyed facing and playing as any build that has decent defensive options but required timing them in order for them to be effective. This included:

• Most any War build after the Hambow shaves. Even in its meta form it wasn’t anywhere near as crazy as any of the metas that came before or after. People give double Endure Pain a lot of hate but seem to forget that using the toolbar EP too late made it almost useless and the Defy Pain trait is crazy predictable.

• Pre-spec patch Mediguard. Used to have great risk vs. reward. Sure, it seemed to have a lot of defenses but once you learned them they were easy to work around. It was also much less powerful outside of duels while still being viable.

• Lockdown Mes (not during the bugged mantras). Reminds me of the old GW1 Mes. Doing damage requires interrupts and man does it feel good to land them. Losing to one means admitting that chances you you goy outplayed unless you had a class with long cast times.

• Static Discharge Engi. Man I LOVED this build. You used a ton of different Engi skills and landing a big combo felt great. Overcharged Shot feels less cheap due to your much lower sustain, but using your defenses right still lead to decent sustain.

Sadly, Engi is now a class that requires all those passive traits to have any sort of decent sustain. I tried to make Scrapper build without Adaptive Armor and found myself having a difficult time.

It seems like ANet have moved away from the design philosophy of the above builds in favor of easy to play and flashy builds and I would put most of today’s meta skills in the “bad” category.

BurrTheKing.8571:

I’ve enjoyed facing and playing as any build that has decent defensive options but required timing them in order for them to be effective. This included:

• Most any War build after the Hambow shaves. Even in its meta form it wasn’t anywhere near as crazy as any of the metas that came before or after. People give double Endure Pain a lot of hate but seem to forget that using the toolbar EP too late made it almost useless and the Defy Pain trait is crazy predictable.

• Pre-spec patch Mediguard. Used to have great risk vs. reward. Sure, it seemed to have a lot of defenses but once you learned them they were easy to work around. It was also much less powerful outside of duels while still being viable.

• Lockdown Mes (not during the bugged mantras). Reminds me of the old GW1 Mes. Doing damage requires interrupts and man does it feel good to land them. Losing to one means admitting that chances you you goy outplayed unless you had a class with long cast times.

• Static Discharge Engi. Man I LOVED this build. You used a ton of different Engi skills and landing a big combo felt great. Overcharged Shot feels less cheap due to your much lower sustain, but using your defenses right still lead to decent sustain.

Sadly, Engi is now a class that requires all those passive traits to have any sort of decent sustain. I tried to make Scrapper build without Adaptive Armor and found myself having a difficult time.

It seems like ANet have moved away from the design philosophy of the above builds in favor of easy to play and flashy builds and I would put most of today’s meta skills in the “bad” category.

you can play without adaptive armour. the stab on hammer traits is dope. that being said, I run AA with marauders and only drop it when going to cele.

Arken.3725:

How is my evidence anecdotal? I’ve, quite literally, listed every single trait/skill that’s either incredibly passive/instant with little-to-no counter play.

-Want to talk about regen? What about backpack Regenerator? A passive regen that CANNOT be dispelled that stacks with other forms of regen.
-Dhuumfire at least required you to be in a temporary state
-Turrets were never listed but had amazing decap potential, thanks for further reinforcing my point
-Nothing begins to toy with Ele but the mere fact that it comes close is a joke in of itself. Name another profession that can touch either?
-You’ve yet to name any meaningful skills, just another player stating a "fact" without backing anything up.

I never stated they were unbeatable but rather stating facts based on the traits/skills I’ve listed. You haven’t listed anything aside from Dhuumfire to further your argument(Very weak I might add). Please, name something even close to the effectiveness of their traits aside from Ele, please.

You’ve literally done nothing to reinforce your argument throughout this whole discussion. *Next time you want to have an argument, bring facts, not opinions.*

Edit: I usually don’t attack players personally but you’re so blind that even Stevie wonder questions his own inability to see while listening to your argument.

Brain dead builds insist that the build itself can be played at a high-level and be incredibly effective....not sure where i’m seeing DH’s anymore.

Sorry to butt in, but it does seem like you discriminate against Engineers just a bit there.

* Backpack Regenerator is not limited to Engi. Other passive healing (some even stronger) included Warrior Healing Signet and Adrenal Health, Elementalist Soothing Mist, Guardian Virtue of Resolve. All of these are countered with Poison btw.

* Dhuumfire when first introduced was literally exactly like Incendiary Ammo, but was much more devastating due to the Necromancer’s already superior condi builds.

* Turrets only worked well against noobs, and again was not an Engi-specific issue, unless you are forgetting pre-nerfs MM Necro, Spirit Ranger, and phantasm Mesmer. All of which were low skill builds relying on AI, all of which were more effective than Turret Engi.

* Both Warrior and Guardian were often on par with Ele, all of which being meta classes in literally every game mode during extended periods of time.

* Lastly, I don’t believe I ever seen the Engi community defend their own passive mechanics. Many posts have been made suggesting alternatives involving active mechanics, only to be ignored by Anet. At this point, Engies are more in a position where these passive mechanics have become mandatory due to the Engineer being balanced around their existance, often to the disapproval of the Engineer community.

So as you can see, sure there have been bad Engineer builds, but that is something common to ALL GW2 classes. Therefore, there is no reason to discriminate against Engineers so harshly.

I don’t know if it was the best, but it was the build I adapted faster: Warrior shoutbow.
It was very easy to adapt, had great team support, 100% of time swiftness, and could win most of the 1×1 battles.

Shaogin.2679:

Arken.3725:

How is my evidence anecdotal? I’ve, quite literally, listed every single trait/skill that’s either incredibly passive/instant with little-to-no counter play.

-Want to talk about regen? What about backpack Regenerator? A passive regen that CANNOT be dispelled that stacks with other forms of regen.
-Dhuumfire at least required you to be in a temporary state
-Turrets were never listed but had amazing decap potential, thanks for further reinforcing my point
-Nothing begins to toy with Ele but the mere fact that it comes close is a joke in of itself. Name another profession that can touch either?
-You’ve yet to name any meaningful skills, just another player stating a “fact” without backing anything up.

I never stated they were unbeatable but rather stating facts based on the traits/skills I’ve listed. You haven’t listed anything aside from Dhuumfire to further your argument(Very weak I might add). Please, name something even close to the effectiveness of their traits aside from Ele, please.

You’ve literally done nothing to reinforce your argument throughout this whole discussion. Next time you want to have an argument, bring facts, not opinions.

Edit: I usually don’t attack players personally but you’re so blind that even Stevie wonder questions his own inability to see while listening to your argument.

Brain dead builds insist that the build itself can be played at a high-level and be incredibly effective….not sure where i’m seeing DH’s anymore.

Sorry to butt in, but it does seem like you discriminate against Engineers just a bit there.

• Backpack Regenerator is not limited to Engi. Other passive healing (some even stronger) included Warrior Healing Signet and Adrenal Health, Elementalist Soothing Mist, Guardian Virtue of Resolve. All of these are countered with Poison btw.

• Dhuumfire when first introduced was literally exactly like Incendiary Ammo, but was much more devastating due to the Necromancer’s already superior condi builds.

• Turrets only worked well against noobs, and again was not an Engi-specific issue, unless you are forgetting pre-nerfs MM Necro, Spirit Ranger, and phantasm Mesmer. All of which were low skill builds relying on AI, all of which were more effective than Turret Engi.

• Both Warrior and Guardian were often on par with Ele, all of which being meta classes in literally every game mode during extended periods of time.

• Lastly, I don’t believe I ever seen the Engi community defend their own passive mechanics. Many posts have been made suggesting alternatives involving active mechanics, only to be ignored by Anet. At this point, Engies are more in a position where these passive mechanics have become mandatory due to the Engineer being balanced around their existance, often to the disapproval of the Engineer community.

So as you can see, sure there have been bad Engineer builds, but that is something common to ALL GW2 classes. Therefore, there is no reason to discriminate against Engineers so harshly.

You’re more than welcome to butt in, it’s a discussion and i’m happy you decided to join. I’m just pointing out every iteration has been linked to incredibly powerful passives/instant skills. I’ve even listed them as proof. I’ll comment on your list below.

-You’re right, it’s not limited to just one profession but you forget that this one will always be utilized when a bundle is equipped, most others go away with their respective skill activation.

-It was but now it’s not so that discussion is pretty much buried. Not to mention, Engineer has just as much, if not more condition variety than Necromancer.

-Turrets worked well against everyone, it’s why it was such a joke to play. I’m not forgetting Phantasmal mesmers, spirits and the like. I never even listed turrets into my original argument, you guys did.

-Guardian was NEVER on par with ele in terms of anything, completely delusional. Warrior(Shoutbow specific) was close.

-I also never stated they defended them, just pointing out they exist and in strong numbers.

Highlie.7641:

let’s make this easy.

Best = Anything that does not require thought, complete with passives and spammy Aoe /w high sustain and thief burst damage.

Worst: Thief / warrior.

Would Glint revenant still count under best? Your boon fields consume energy so you’ll have nothing left for superspeed or jade wind when you switch over to Shiro. Glint is all about party passive boons then consuming one to reveal stealth rezzers or inflicting burn and slow or dodge baiting (the passive protection one with the cool dragon effect).

I think classes need to be broken up and have their different advantages redistributed when the next batch of elites come out. There will still be Glint but it’d be idol light (elementalist would be idol and be a dedicated more in depth version of Glint form with passive boon pulsing) while warrior gets a ninja class that’s similar to daredevil but with offhand dagger (extra dodge, some stealth, no initiative mechanic however) while thief gets monk, where no weapons equipped in that slot is like equipping two ascended zealot weapons and weapon skills are punches and initiative costing energy waves that heal (similar to druid staff 1 but more potent as it costs initiative and staff 2 that heals allies around that enemy).

Chronomancer has way too much in one package while elementalist has a big skill range so noobs can be useful on it while good players can absolutely dominate on it. Revenant on the other hand is too complex for noobs to handle while in the hands of an expert is outright overpowered. A bad warrior should even beat a bad revenant while a good revenant would destroy a good warrior for example since the bad player would press random buttons and have no energy left for when he’ll really need it. Since revenant has access to lots of advantage through diverse legends such as dwarf, Mallyx, Shiro, Glint, and Ventari such versatility needs to be balanced out. Fast energy depletion is a way and does feel fast at times and sometimes I’ll panic trying to get out of superspeed after a stomp or rez since I know I’ll need that energy.

Sometimes it’s confusing knowing what’s an appropriate legend for the situation but that’s part of the learning curve. I think revenant was meant to be rewarding for those who master the class (similar to high skillcap thief) but in a meta where everything is overpowered with lots of BS passive procs from traitlines and heavy AoE on small nodes revenant is actually in line with scrapper, tempest, and chrono.

Best,
1 Mantra Mesmer (The bugged one)
2 Old PU Scepter Pistol mesmer
3 GS / ST Shatter mesmer, post specs.

Worst,
1 Shoutbow
2 Turret Engineer
3 Pre spec S/D acrobatic thief

My pick for the best builds ever:

Recent:
- Shatter mesmer, with or without chronomancer, post June 2015
- Interrupt d/p thief post-HoT. Near useless now, but a lot of fun and very active
Older:
- Condi ranger with Mad King runes pre June 2015
- Axe/bow celestial warrior in summer 2014
- S/D thief
- Static Discharge engineer (RIP )

Rogue.8235:

I remember a time when Bull’s Rush GS Wars were considered op

I play it and i still own with it

Worst:

• Dhuumfire on release. Within days you had 20 full hotjoin servers down to 5, people flat out quit because Necromancers were the new overlords. Powerful CC, condi-bursting and tanking. It’d make a viper rev go “kitten son, that kitten OP.”

• Turret Engineers, such a pain in the kitten to fight against. It wasn’t overpowered or even that good, just annoying as hell.

• Chronobunkers. Mesmers should never be allowed to bunker, they have such strong utility and when you combine good defense you got a monster. Lost fight far? That’s okay, leave a portal! 3 second stun that groups everyone! Tons of stuns, lowered cooldowns thanks to alacity. Release bunker guardians were strong but they did not have the same super strong utility.

Best:

• Longbow buff to rangers. It was a much needed change to a very stale invincible meta where people found the best way to handle a thief as glass is to use invincible skills. It was a boring battle of cooldowns than strategy. Then came a change that shocked everyone, you can no longer be glassy anymore! Unlike thieves, rangers dealt damage at a safe distance, I remember 3-4 rangers just wrecking people for the first week because glassy engi’s, glassy eles, glassy warriors and glassy guardians just couldn’t keep up. Then people got smart and rangers were below tier again.

I liked times when Corrupt Boon corrupted all boons.

The glory that was once DA/CS/SA Assassin’s Signet on a thief was both the best and worst thing in GW2 imho. 30k+ backstabs were hilariously overpowered.

sinject.4607:

worst:
any meta engineer spec from release to now.

having to watch one or play against one is nothing but boring and always has been. passive defenses for years, obscene amount of low-counterplay CC (slickshoes is still one of the cheapest skills in the game), the worst steal skill in the game, etc.

I’ve never had any respect for engineer players because of how easy it is, especially now with scrapper in the mix; it has a laughable risk factor since the profession practically plays itself in most instances. whether if it was the turret build which literally played itself (and something everyone was happy to see go) or now scrapper which a wood log on a keyboard could play competently, engineer has always represented “the easy way” to success.

The best: power thief, warrior, mesmer, ranger (pre-spec update), necro, ele

pretty much anything power damage oriented with higher risks has always been fun to play and watch. that being said, DPS guardian does not fall into this category because it’s not high risk in the slightest and never has been. Burn guard was 100x more fun to play against than power guard/DH because it was high risk. Druid can’t make this list either because it’s power variant is still sleazy as can be with drastic oversustain and overrewarding AI.

I have to disagree with you, kind sir.
It is known here and there and everywhere that damage over time effects require much less direct contribution (thus less skill) in fighting a certain enemy.
Considering that burn can be pretty much reapplied fairly quickly, it does not make a big deal to play burnguard (played it, and I know what I am saying).
Now power mediguard is best described by metabattle “true risk/reward”
It has mobility, great damage but is squishy as dang but the true skill in mediguard is how we sustain ourselves and rotate to defeat our opponents.
This build has to be more active to survive because mediguard is not carried by sustaining passives but by meditation skills that take a direct approach to use and a well perceiving player.

While as any condi build all you have to do is tease someone a bit to force him to use his condi cleanse and then go crazy with all you got or ambush your foes, drop everything you got and CC the living crap out of them before they manage to cleanse.
If you manage at that, then you just can /laugh and run around watching as everyone dies.

P.S.
Yet I agree about engineer, it’s a lie what people say about it being hard to play.
More capabilities and skills means more counterplay + passives 24/7
If you want to say it is not true then I’d like to mention that just to prove this right I made my own engineer (later scrapper) and played a fair ammount of matches to taste every kind of enemy from newbies to pros and as I said somewhere else before:

Engineer is not a big deal to play.

in terms of enjoyable to play against:

terrible:
revenant
chronomancer
diamond skin ele
turret engi
druid
mantra mes
rifle engi
fresh air ele
shadow arts thief

fun:
hambow
axe/x warrior
meditation guard
2 6 0 0 6 d/p thief
2 6 0 0 6 s/p thief
shatter mesmer