Guild Wars 2

I’m new to world vs world so take everything I’m about to say with a pinch of salt.

Ever since I’ve begun playing my Engineer in world versus world I’ve been using grenade kits as I feel like it’s the safest thing I can do to assist my team efficiently other then putting down my heal turret or res elixir.

I just have a couple question and how I can improve myself.

1: When I’m attacking/defending against a zerg, How do I attack? I can’t perch myself on the wall else I get pulled down by something or instantly killed by AOE/ranged attacks, and I can’t attack because of the mass guardian spam WvW seems to have which means there is a HUGE retaliation spam which basically kills me in a few hits

2: How do I repair the gates when they are being attacked?

Thanks for your time

1 – You can back up against the far side on the wall and with the right angle and range, arc your grenades over. Also for keeps that you can, you can jump up on the back ‘edge’ and that helps you arc your grenades over into the fray. Keep an eye on your health for retaliation, change your aoe when you see lots of damage coming back your way

Also I would always have a toolkit on utility switch, as soon as you get pulled, get your gear shield up and with dodges, you’ll usually make it back inside (or the invuln miniaturizing skill I can’t remember right now)

2 – Don’t repair gates being heavily attacked. Depending on what’s going on, it may be best to use that supply (and keep supply) on a door facing catapult or more ACs.

Hello, Engis are one of the most underrated class for wvw. Waterfields and natural chokepoints and area denial makes it a great class to play in siege defense and openfield fights.

Fw

And yes you are right about the insane group retaliation. It is promoting zerg play even more.

I think that an engi WvW should always use a power build with bomb kit. This allow you to to do heavy area damage in combination with ability 5 and 3 of the rifle. In order to do that you need a good toughness and ability to survive since you need to play melee like a warrior or a guardian.

Here is my build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcMQFAUl0p6ZnvSdF17IxoHde0bWkiKr/PKkbbB-jEDBYgAYMIUBBJ7sIas1UFRjVXDT5CQ7SqW9CxaG2cGxieQrCBobLA-w

Engineers can be great, though it might not be optimal for WvW keep in mind that engineers are one of the best healers out there, considering turrets and elixer gun, a lot of regeneration can be poured out, and granades though their damage isn’t stunning, the vurnabilities and conditions with traits can really make a diffrence.

That said, i don’t think granades are great in an open zerg vs zerg fight though, they are better for defending or sieging considering their 1500 range with traits, funny as it may sound, when i charge with the engineer threw a zerg to the back of it, in general i’d use a flametrower.

Engineers may also harass the enemy’s backline (rifle elixir builds are awesome) which helps your zerg / group to take down their meatball which then lacks support.
’Nades are fun (so is the flamethrower, but it lacks damage and utility in large scale combat), but they are not always the best choice.

Please don’t try to fit every class into being an AoE tank in large scale combat. You can be far more efficient as an engineer by not going for the stacked melee train.

I just started a thread on my WvW Engineer Balance suggestions in the Profession Balance forum, might interest you guys and I’d love to see your feedback there!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/WvW-Simple-Changes-for-Engineer-Balance

The retaliation is a big problem for grenades and flamethrower. There’s no way around it without balance changes from ANet; the best you can do is pew-pew from the wall or a safe distance then stop as soon as you see your health dropping from retaliation – and unfortunately against any decent guild group, that means never attacking.

In my opinion there are several viable WvW builds:

1. Cleric Bomb Engineer: 10/0/30/30/0 – good damage (2.2K power) with good survivability (20K HP / 3K armor / defensive traits) but brings an amazing amount of support (1300 healing power -> 400HP/s AoE bombs) so it’s a setup that’s (rarely) run by good guilds. Usually running pistol/shield or pistol/pistol with a mix of Rocket Boots, Elixir Gun, Toolkit, or Throw Mine.
2. Offensive Bomb Engineer: Many possible traits. This is a balanced critical damage build with decent survivability that can play melee or mid-range. Usually running rifle with a mix of Flamethrower, Elixir Gun, Rocket Boots, Toolkit, Elixir B.
3. Backline Engineer: More glassy build that targets the backline. Usually running Static Discharge or HGH with rifle with a mix of elixirs, grenades, toolkit, or skills with low toolbelt CD for static discharge. This is a very hard build, especially in organised groups because you don’t have the stealth or mobility of a thief, but it’s crazy damage.

My balance suggestions focus mostly on the first two because I feel the latter is closer to existing PvP builds (even if the meta is more condition-heav there). I’m also suggesting a simple change to toolkit that would make it a viable autoattack kit to replace bomb kit in offensive builds. Again please check it out and let me know what you think!

IMO grenades are more of an offensive siege weapon not defensive. Much better to get on siege when defending or spam the door with AoE attacks.

Bombs have been a better overall open field fight style at least for me.

Straegen.2938:

IMO grenades are more of an offensive sieve weapon not defensive. Much better to get on siege when defending or spam the door with AoE attacks.

Bombs have been a better overall open field fight style at least for me.

Indeed, not to mention that being able to apply chill, immob and cripple with good damage before landing a massive nuke from the nade AA and toolbelt is simply a pain in the kitten to fight.

Then again, retal is the enemy of all AOE, except traps.

Personally I play an engineer with flamethrower/toolkit, elixer S and grenades.
Since I command most of the time, I’ve got everything I can towards being able to survive.

Flamethrower with aoe blind can be useful against melee blobs in that first hit I find and the aoe damage spread is pretty nice. I find myself often switching back and forth between nades and flamethrower to get those ice/blind/poison grenades on the floor.

However generally I am of the opinion that the best build is what works for you. Player skill and knowledge in their build is a majority factor in survival.

Moopy.7908:

. . .
However generally I am of the opinion that the best build is what works for you. Player skill and knowledge in their build is a majority factor in survival.

Totally agree ^^

From my experience, the engineer is a hard class to master, but once mastered can be incredibly useful in many situations because of the shear amount of abilities they can access. Although they seem to be generally under-rated when compared to certain professions’ certain builds.

Answer 1: Positioning is vital to using the engineer in attacking and defense because of their medium armor rating and medium base health pool. Arcing the grenades over walls makes the engineer one of the best professions for defending walled fortifications, once mastered. It takes practice to learn how best to use them. When commanding offensive forces, I use Flamethrower OR Grenade Kit depending on my group’s composition and needs. Several previous posters have great suggestions, too.

Answer 2: Look for the f-interact icon to light up when repairing a gate/wall. Usually the icon lights up when near the middle of the object. Some walls have to be fixed from the stairs. It takes about 20-30 supply to seal a breached wall/gate.

Guys, I’m going to have my engineer at 80 very soon and I’m eager to use it in WvW. Where do you guys think engis can be the most effective, frontline, backline, or roaming, and why?

XacTactX.6709:

Guys, I’m going to have my engineer at 80 very soon and I’m eager to use it in WvW. Where do you guys think engis can be the most effective, frontline, backline, or roaming, and why?

In my experience, Engis CAN have a place anywhere in the zerg. Flamethrower tanks and support bombers make excellent frontliners once you know how to avoid the initial burst of CC and damage when zergs collide.

Grenade engineers are one of the best heroes for keeping ranged pressure up on an enemy, as you can be throwing blinds, chills and poisons ahead of your hammer train and force less practiced people to break away from the dense center of the enemy zerg, making it easier for your own front line to shatter and scatter them.

Roaming engineers are super hard to catch and kill (rocket boots, Elixer S, water fields and turret blasts/boots) and are an excellent addition to a roaming group.

also. Tinydunk. (start finisher on downed player, Elixer S, and laugh

Engineers seem like they fit any role.