Guild Wars 2

hi all, sorry in advance for my english, this is not my mother language. :P
i want to talk about engineer rifle glass cannon and i think it is a little bit broken (or underpowered?), especially against some mesmers, thieves and bunkers in spvp and tpvp.
can you explain to me the utility of the engie glass cannon in tourneys? all my friends think that it is useless .
what do you think about and why? thanks

Would be helpful if you linked the build you’re using. I’m going to take a guess that the one you’re referring to is a rifle spec with 30 in firearms, 30 in tools, and then 10 wherever you like?

I think the problem with this type of build, like many glass cannon builds for other classes, is we lose too much survivability in comparison to how much damage we gain.

yes it is exactly that build, but in comparison to others glass cannons (for example mesmers) i can’t do anything O_o
btw this is my build
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-X70;0B-Z-Fn0i6cQFx0;9;5T-9T;1358;11;015BI;2B0-G3G3G3G35Bw (copy and paste in your browser if it is bad link)

Heres my opinion on your build:

-Dont use elixir for heal since in tools trait you have trait to reset cd on toolbar, so med kit benefit nice with that (saved me many times).

-I use 10 in explosives

-For runes i take all Divinity.

-For other abilities i use ram head (big damage and shortish cd on toolbar (burst) and knockback, which saved me many times from melee or when preventing finishing moves (tho on bad side its easy to miss).

-Than i use combination (depends on situation) tool kit, there you get again nice burst and block + crible + magnet on kit use (but downside to this is you are slower since you first need to activate tool kit and than block but by that time you could already take sever damage).

Other good possibility is utility googles, but its kind of lacking (aagainst war or thieves, tho you do remove stun but since it doesnt give you any kind of dodge/moving bonus you will probably take 50% of that HB war skill.
Alternative is rocket boots but i only choose this if there are many melee ppl.
Alternative is also as in your build elixir s, but i am more gadget fan (+ you dont get damaging toolbelt skill, meaning you dont have enaugh damage to kill before be killed).

I also tried slicky shoes, its kinda good but have too long cd for me and veeeery situational.

For last option you could decide between rifle, net turet or something with condition removing (since biiiiiiiig weaknes in my opinion is against condition mesmers, rangers and necros, havent met many condition thieves tho). Net turret if you want one more net skill (in toolbar), rifle turet is good for more burst from toolbar skill (only 10 sec cd + trait that do dmg each time you activate toolbar skill).
If there are more range dps i sometimes also take elixir U (but havent now for a long time, since i think i benefit from others more).

-I usualy run ram, tool kit and rifle turet. If the target is glass cannon and i hit with all + some rifle skills, he dies in second.

-well thieves and condition rangers (maybe also gooood condtition/shatter mesmers) will always be weakness no mater how survivable you build. I tried thoughtness elixir build and thief still killed me in 2 sec.

-With my build i have no problems with bunker builds, tho i cant kill them sometimes but i can prevent them to camp on circles with my many knockback skills (i strugle only vs good bunker elementalists).

-In conclusion, i already won free tournament with rifle engineer tho he may not be on same level as others, but hes by no means not viable. Combination of knockbacks, imobolize and solid burst dmg is just epic here. I can also solo with him Svanir or Lord with no problem.

thanks guys i will take in consideration your answers

Thanks for bringing a productive and informative post to these boards, guys. I tried a variation of that burst build and wow! I had no idea Engineers could perform any sort of burst without a Grenade Kit.

Avoiding getting too longwinded I tried a version of this and the burst at 900+ range is amazing! You can even rune this build to be a great “finisher” style, since you can literally piano-roll your fingers across your 3 toolkit moves to hit with 3 chain lightenings + the damage from the kit moves themselves. So few engis run burst that quite often… at least the first time, you’ll watch them drop half their life instantly from the sudden hit. It’s like playing rope-a-dope.

Anyway, kudos for posting this, I definately hadn’t quite put a burst build I was happy with together for Engis until this thread.

Can someone post a link to the build? Thanks.

I haven’t settled on specific one, but the key elements are:

30 points in firearms
30 points in tools

Stack +crit damage sigils/runes (Divinity runes, Air, Scholar, etc.)

Pick up the trait in tools that makes your toolkit moves send out Chain Lightening.

Those are the key elements… the toolkit moves are a key to getting your burst, and you should be running at around 40-50% crit overall… you can go less than this to make the build less flimsy.

I would post a specific build but I haven’t settled on mine yet… much like the other complaints on this board, glass cannon specs typically suck overall, they just get a few good quick kills here and there and can be good in group fights, picking off the weaker player.