Guild Wars 2

Should I use a bomb kit or a flamethrower for holding side nodes? I’m still playing around with my current build (ill release it on January 3rd along with my other builds for my fellow engineers) and I’m just seeing what others think.

Here’s my current thoughts about either;

Bomb kit: It proves a stellar knockback which does semi-decent damage along with a plethora of conditions. Also gives a small amount of health when traited for (200hp give or take per bomb).

Flamenommer: Has constant burns, aoe blind, and a medium cool down directional knockback.

Thoughts, suggestions, etc? If you don’t play engineer, what do you think would be more effective against you if you came up against me?

Thanks!
~Vöz

I’d go with Bomb kit because of Big Ol’ Bomb, and other good control options such as the blind field (which you can use to stealth through using your shield 4 ability)
Flamenommer’s blind is bad, all it has going for it is the damage and the single knockback.

bomb kit for sure.
not only because of big ol bomb but because you can make bombs heal you with a trait up ivnetions that allow bombs to heal.

The heals even when traited with bombs is pathetic. It’s honestly not even noticable since you aren’t in bombs for more than 4 or 5 bombs (well me personally). So it only heals like 1k in 4 seconds which is nothing.

Bomb kit is typically a more preferred bunker build kit over Flamethrower kit, if for no other reason than Big Ol’ Bomb.

Bomb kit and elixir gun are where it’s at.

For node control, bomb kit and flame thrower kit should both be used imo. Elixir gun is pretty worthless imo.

But Engi bunkers are pretty lacking compared to other bunkers. Against a team that is smart they will just leave you sitting at your side point and out number you at the other points.

I completely disagree Seether, I excel at holding my point in frees/paid tourneys. Many people haven’t played against a decent engineer, so the general consensus is that they are bad. They just take practice and patience to get viable with. But right now I’m running a triple kit bunker which works wonders in tournaments on side points and graveyard on the second map. I run tool kit and elixir gun for the great healing and blocks, so I’m just deciding on my third kit to use right now. Thanks for the insight! I appreciate it guys

Seether.7285:

For node control, bomb kit and flame thrower kit should both be used imo. Elixir gun is pretty worthless imo.

But Engi bunkers are pretty lacking compared to other bunkers. Against a team that is smart they will just leave you sitting at your side point and out number you at the other points.

That…. sounds like how to counter any bunker?

aydenunited.5729:

Seether.7285:

For node control, bomb kit and flame thrower kit should both be used imo. Elixir gun is pretty worthless imo.

But Engi bunkers are pretty lacking compared to other bunkers. Against a team that is smart they will just leave you sitting at your side point and out number you at the other points.

That…. sounds like how to counter any bunker?

except mesmer ….portal.

I usually just throw a bunch of bombs and supply crate as soon as I see a portal on a node I’m capping and watch that poor Mesmer explode haha :P

Walorx.5129:

I completely disagree Seether, I excel at holding my point in frees/paid tourneys. Many people haven’t played against a decent engineer, so the general consensus is that they are bad. They just take practice and patience to get viable with. But right now I’m running a triple kit bunker which works wonders in tournaments on side points and graveyard on the second map. I run tool kit and elixir gun for the great healing and blocks, so I’m just deciding on my third kit to use right now. Thanks for the insight! I appreciate it guys

I think you missed the point of my post. Yes you are great at holding a point and do ok in teamfights but you will be worse than other bunkers in teamfights because you have less condi removal and worse access to stability compared to other bunkers. Many of your defensive abilities only provide benefits to yourself while other bunkers provide team oriented benefits.

Lets examine a couple hypothetical situations. You face a team at the beginning of a match, you grab your point uncontested and the enemy team lets you sit there while their comp of a bunker + mesmer proceeds to fight your team in a 5v4 at the mid point. Good teams have great vision of the map and when an engi leaves the point you will often be leaving the point too late to help win the 5v4 and leave yourself exposed to an easy neutralize.

For hypothetical #2, let us assume your team has managed to secure your home point and mid and the enemy team only has their home point. If they send 4 people to your home point they will have the advantage of having a more team fight oriented bunker (99% of the time a guardian) as well having the opportunity to bring their 5th with little risk of your guardian making a play to neutralize their point. They can also have their mesmer run to mid, drop the first part of the portal and then go to the team fight at your home point and portal their team back to mid for a 5v1 attack on a bunker guardian.

I’m a huge fan of the engineer class and I’m glad to see people experimenting with builds but there are many builds which may look viable but is extremely exploitable at higher levels of play.

aydenunited.5729:

That…. sounds like how to counter any bunker?

Which is why teams only run 1 true bunker instead of 1 for each point.

Seether.7285:

Walorx.5129:

I completely disagree Seether, I excel at holding my point in frees/paid tourneys. Many people haven’t played against a decent engineer, so the general consensus is that they are bad. They just take practice and patience to get viable with. But right now I’m running a triple kit bunker which works wonders in tournaments on side points and graveyard on the second map. I run tool kit and elixir gun for the great healing and blocks, so I’m just deciding on my third kit to use right now. Thanks for the insight! I appreciate it guys

I think you missed the point of my post. Yes you are great at holding a point and do ok in teamfights but you will be worse than other bunkers in teamfights because you have less condi removal and worse access to stability compared to other bunkers. Many of your defensive abilities only provide benefits to yourself while other bunkers provide team oriented benefits.

Lets examine a couple hypothetical situations. You face a team at the beginning of a match, you grab your point uncontested and the enemy team lets you sit there while their comp of a bunker + mesmer proceeds to fight your team in a 5v4 at the mid point. Good teams have great vision of the map and when an engi leaves the point you will often be leaving the point too late to help win the 5v4 and leave yourself exposed to an easy neutralize.

For hypothetical #2, let us assume your team has managed to secure your home point and mid and the enemy team only has their home point. If they send 4 people to your home point they will have the advantage of having a more team fight oriented bunker (99% of the time a guardian) as well having the opportunity to bring their 5th with little risk of your guardian making a play to neutralize their point. They can also have their mesmer run to mid, drop the first part of the portal and then go to the team fight at your home point and portal their team back to mid for a 5v1 attack on a bunker guardian.

I’m a huge fan of the engineer class and I’m glad to see people experimenting with builds but there are many builds which may look viable but is extremely exploitable at higher levels of play.

The one thing that continues to get overlooked, to dispute your very valid points, is that Engineer is also the best CC profession in the game. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve taken a point or held a point and never had to even kill the other player, I just had to keep them locked down.

Stability against us is truly our only detriment in PvP, and I still feel like if it wasn’t for Guardians AoE stability on a 24 second (traited I believe) CD, and the fact that all good teams run a guardianor two, we could easily be one of the top required professions, but the fact is at higher levels, teams know how to deal with CC, and can flat out ignore it with AoE stability.

Also don’t forget that Engies also make one of is not the most mobile bunker now since the recent weapon-swap out of combat change, so they can switch points to defend easier than other professions in that they can easily trait for perma-swiftness.

Take both, and elixir gun! 4-kit bunkers are super fun. Sure, you won’t have a stunbreaker but…bunker eles can have 3, so we’re really not trying to compete with them there.

I can see what you’re saying, but I still disagree with one thing you said Seether. You claim that engineers bring nothing to a team fight and all/most of our abilities are geared towards our own self survival. I believe you are forgetting all of the delicious combo fields that we can get with kits. For example, when I am in a team fight at graveyard, I know that my elixir gun aoe heal also can give aoe retaliation from the big bomb. Engineers excel at keeping people in place and ccing dangerous enemies so that your team can get their dps out before they can hit you. I like to think of myself as a silent angel of death sometimes because of all my knockbacks and immobilizes that my team can utilize so well to take down dps in an instant haha

@Nevir – But where will my amazing tool kit go?

Walorx.5129:

I can see what you’re saying, but I still disagree with one thing you said Seether. You claim that engineers bring nothing to a team fight and all/most of our abilities are geared towards our own self survival. I believe you are forgetting all of the delicious combo fields that we can get with kits. For example, when I am in a team fight at graveyard, I know that my elixir gun aoe heal also can give aoe retaliation from the big bomb. Engineers excel at keeping people in place and ccing dangerous enemies so that your team can get their dps out before they can hit you. I like to think of myself as a silent angel of death sometimes because of all my knockbacks and immobilizes that my team can utilize so well to take down dps in an instant haha

I’m also going to recant my statement somewhat and say… the biggest problem/strength of our class is, a single move can make or break us, and with kits, it’s even moreso. If you can spec in a way to make the knockback of a FT kit sync with Rifle, both on reduced CDs possibly, I can see a viable bunker build there… again, assuming there is not abundant stability. Since that is so abundant in high level tPvP play, usually bunker Engies go for survivability over CC, which is why you see more Bomb kit viability over FT, but this is by no means a rule.

Walorx.5129:

I can see what you’re saying, but I still disagree with one thing you said Seether. You claim that engineers bring nothing to a team fight and all/most of our abilities are geared towards our own self survival. I believe you are forgetting all of the delicious combo fields that we can get with kits. For example, when I am in a team fight at graveyard, I know that my elixir gun aoe heal also can give aoe retaliation from the big bomb. Engineers excel at keeping people in place and ccing dangerous enemies so that your team can get their dps out before they can hit you. I like to think of myself as a silent angel of death sometimes because of all my knockbacks and immobilizes that my team can utilize so well to take down dps in an instant haha

I really didn’t say they brought nothing to a team fight, but I stated they brought less than other bunkers and they are lacking specifically with condi removal which is very noticeable in fights with 3-4 people on each side taking part. Engi’s have great CC, however, most good players save stability abilities for key moments (i.e downstate phase) which drastically reduces the value of Engi CC. The vast majority of the Engi cc comes in the form of KBs which can just as easily knock someone out of an allies burst as set them up for burst. The immobilize on the rifle is very strong given its short cd but it is fairly easy to evade.

The combo fields can be nice but a blast finisher on your light field only gives like 4s of ae retaliation which doesn’t have that large of an impact. The bunker engi is most effective in relatively close range to both their opponents and allies but in larger engagements this just makes you and your team an easier target for ae damage.

What about healing turret for a pretty much instantaneous all condi removal? Also the elixir gun heal removes a condition as well? But I can definatly see what you’re saying and agree with the stability/cc issue for us

Healing turret is good to keep as a bunker, especially since you’ll have the trait in toughness to get it back off of CD when your life reaches 25%, just make sure you detonate it the second it clears the conditions off of you. I think the main issue is that the condition removal usually isn’t instant, it’s on a slight lag based on the turrets timer.

One of the main benefits of the heal turret is the very quick cast time, it’s hard to CC that heal from an enemies perspective.

Elixer gun is good to bring along so long as it’s not viewed as our “heal gun”, because the heals are really supplemental and not to be relied upon for noticeably turning a moment in a match on it’s head, they are more to constantly heal in little bits, which means to use it effectively we have to do quite a bit of kit juggling… switching to Elixer gun whenever we have our AoE heal off CD, placing it, then going back on the attack and trying to stay inside it’s area.

On a seperate note as a bunker, there is also a lesser used tactic of taking Medkit, and keeping a pile of bandages and condition removal potions central on the point… you should be able to place a pile there and keep at least 6 bandages and 2 condition poitions before the enemy arrives at the start of the match. This means you can simply walk over this spot early in the fight for a decent extra heal and condition removal that won’t be counted on any of your CDs because you already placed the items down prior. This works much better if you take the 15 point trait to make your toolbelt skills refresh at 25%, so you get a similar benefit to the healing turret refresh from the toughness trait line.

Walorx.5129:

Should I use a bomb kit or a flamethrower for holding side nodes? I’m still playing around with my current build (ill release it on January 3rd along with my other builds for my fellow engineers) and I’m just seeing what others think

You fail right from the start – first thing you need to do to successfully defend anything – reroll guardian!

Man I forgot Engineers even existed in this game, r3spexxx for playing it though

RaynStargaze.6510:

Walorx.5129:

Should I use a bomb kit or a flamethrower for holding side nodes? I’m still playing around with my current build (ill release it on January 3rd along with my other builds for my fellow engineers) and I’m just seeing what others think

You fail right from the start – first thing you need to do to successfully defend anything – reroll guardian!

Guardians are too easy to play imo. And besides, it’s more fun to play an ele-like engineer then a guard. I could slam my head against the keyboard while eating a 3 course meal and still hold a 1vs3 on a guardian haha

Here’s my bunker build I run very successfully:

Copy&paste:
http://www.intothemists.com/calc/?build=VVRw;2sPku0c-VQFx0;9;4999JJ2;03;00;050-53-UF1;3jwmAjwmA9cf

Tips:
About to die? Toss Elixir r and a big bomb right before you go down will usually lead to a rally.

If your getting focused hard try dropping them a around 30%, they’ll reset at 25% and you’ll rally with another toss elixir r and big bomb in the pocket.

Confusion is your key to damage in this build. Glass cannons fold like wet paper if they decide to power through it. Otherwise they’re completely shutdown.

Make sure to apply poison before enemies heal. Unleash that poison volley when they’re getting towards 50%. The shield toss is also excellent for interrupting heals when that poisons on CD.

To capture/contest points: Obviously you are going to want to knock your opponent off the point with either your shield bubble or that big ol’ bomb. Watch for stability. Once you manage to get them off the point, drop that supply crate right on top of them— point contested. The shield stun and glue bomb can also help in this regard, but are a little more situational.

Kit refinement+elixir gun=$$$$. Immobilized by a 100b warrior. Pop that elixir gun for a free super elixir to remove that immobilized and blast away with that #4.

In 1v1 situations it’s great to realize the strength of the elixir gun auto-attack. With the weakness and longer bleeds it’s definitely a better single target pick.

Your team support abilities are pretty awesome, although not easily apparent. In a coordinated team don’t forget that the elixir gun poison spray removes allies conditions. With kit refinement you also have two super elixirs, each being aoe condition removal and heals.

LOS is your friend. Too much heat on you start humping dem rocks at henge. Forces opponents into bomb range and forces opponents into using hard cc to take you out. Light ‘em up. If you know you can’t hold that point straight out anymore then start weaving between those rocks. Even against 3+ opponents you’ll be able to hold out unless they can land some solid cc on you. Remember: whenever you’re holding out in a 2v1 situation you are giving your team an advantage elsewhere. Even if you cant hold the point you can force them to deal with you. Harass, Harass, Harass.

If you want to trade offense for pure survivability then consider runes of the forge and possibly consider swapping elixir r for toolkit.

Get good at this build and you’ll see why it has been the most heavily nerfed build in guild wars 2 history.

Recursivision.2367:

Here’s my bunker build I run very successfully:

Copy&paste:
http://www.intothemists.com/calc/?build=VVRw;2sPku0c-VQFx0;9;4999JJ2;03;00;050-53-UF1;3jwmAjwmA9cf

Tips:
About to die? Toss Elixir r and a big bomb right before you go down will usually lead to a rally.

If your getting focused hard try dropping them a around 30%, they’ll reset at 25% and you’ll rally with another toss elixir r and big bomb in the pocket.

Confusion is your key to damage in this build. Glass cannons fold like wet paper if they decide to power through it. Otherwise they’re completely shutdown.

Make sure to apply poison before enemies heal. Unleash that poison volley when they’re getting towards 50%. The shield toss is also excellent for interrupting heals when that poisons on CD.

To capture/contest points: Obviously you are going to want to knock your opponent off the point with either your shield bubble or that big ol’ bomb. Watch for stability. Once you manage to get them off the point, drop that supply crate right on top of them— point contested. The shield stun and glue bomb can also help in this regard, but are a little more situational.

Kit refinement+elixir gun=$$$$. Immobilized by a 100b warrior. Pop that elixir gun for a free super elixir to remove that immobilized and blast away with that #4.

In 1v1 situations it’s great to realize the strength of the elixir gun auto-attack. With the weakness and longer bleeds it’s definitely a better single target pick.

Your team support abilities are pretty awesome, although not easily apparent. In a coordinated team don’t forget that the elixir gun poison spray removes allies conditions. With kit refinement you also have two super elixirs, each being aoe condition removal and heals.

LOS is your friend. Too much heat on you start humping dem rocks at henge. Forces opponents into bomb range and forces opponents into using hard cc to take you out. Light ‘em up. If you know you can’t hold that point straight out anymore then start weaving between those rocks. Even against 3+ opponents you’ll be able to hold out unless they can land some solid cc on you. Remember: whenever you’re holding out in a 2v1 situation you are giving your team an advantage elsewhere. Even if you cant hold the point you can force them to deal with you. Harass, Harass, Harass.

If you want to trade offense for pure survivability then consider runes of the forge and possibly consider swapping elixir r for toolkit.

Get good at this build and you’ll see why it has been the most heavily nerfed build in guild wars 2 history.

That’s a great build, thanks for sharing it. I used to run something similar, taking the 10 points in Explosives and instead putting that into Vitality for Elixer S at 25%… I just found that it was often very useful to get a free 3 seconds to regroup, since you can swap to kits and use those moves while shrunk, and I ran Toolkit in the place of Bomb Kit since I used a rifle for the knockbacks and that kit gave me a shield block.

Walorx.5129:

Should I use a bomb kit or a flamethrower for holding side nodes?

I just started PvP yesterday, I use bomb kit.
Really mean if you set yourself up right, 20K hp+ takes alot bring u down.
Seems defense caps 1,064 no matter how high your toughness, use the trait that converts 5% toughness to power. Get heal ally bombs really dosnt heal much, but when u are dropping a normal bomb every sec it’s helpful to counter condition dmgs.
1vs1 9/10 meleers you going to whip pretty fast.

Get your power high as you can, think my power at moment is 2,4xx
Get runes that stack power & toughness, the 6th stat is 1 stack of might when you use a heal skill.
Get the trait that gives 3 stacks of might when you use a heal skill to total round 2,6xx power (4 stacks just from self when u use a heal skill).
Now I’m just starting out on this, but I seen big ol bomb deal out 3,8xx dmg yesterday on a crit lol.

On alc trait goto just 10 get elixir auto potions both 75% and 25% very very helpful in tight situation plus makes u so small ppl lose track of u gives u time to heal get trait that makes heal skill recharge at 25% hp aswell

I had idea this morning, I think would be very advantageous to a bomb build.
That would be to use an asura cus you run this build u will get hunted after ppl learn ur kicking out 1500-2K dmg per normal bomb lol
Plus you are small, in a big crowd on a node ppl tend to lose track of asuras. (even I do lol).

Make sure you use crate elite, others don’t work to well with bombs.
Drop crate sum 1s head (or multiple heads) stun them then just bomb em to death b4 they come un-stunned.

Now I’m just noob at bomb builds, think today I will try some other setups.
Maybe drop power increase precision/crit chance and crit dmg see if its more effective.

Here is my current starter build if anyone like to try it:
Traits (top to bottom):
30 pts III, VII, X
0pts
30 pts I, V, XI
10 Pts IV
0 Pts
Runes: Rune of the fighter x6
Weapon rifle
Sigil of force
Soldier’s Amulet
Soldier’s Jewel
Skills:
Elixir H
Rocket Boots (use em to get out of a tight situation)
Throw Mine
Bomb Kit
Supply Crate
Tried few other skills, but to me these seem better fitting for my play style & build least in my eyes.

Happy Bombing!