INTRODUCTION
First of all I know there is a thread on the sPvP forums that is discussing this problem however people are confused by the term “decap” and the thread has become pointless. In order to prevent confusion I’ll give a general definition of what is currently meant with decap engineer.
DEFENITION: An engineer running with infused bombs and automated response combined with rifle and two more cc utility’s. This engineer will be pushing the enemy home point throughout the entire match.
Most Common Trait lines:
10/0/30/30/0
0/0/30/30/10
Adept and Master traits can be different but it always has 30 in alchemy and inventions.
It should be clear that the Nodefighter and Static Discharge builds are not part of the problem.
I hope everyone has a clear image of what is meant with a decap engineer now.
THE PROBLEM
Mechanical Problem: In general engineers require a decent mechanical skill level in order to perform well (that is not a problem). However, this build allows bad players to be incredibly effective because of a combination of mechanical elements that are easy to execute for an incredible high reward. The combined mechanical elements that cause this problem:
- Access to allot of regeneration with minor traits and healing turret
- Access to allot of protection with projection injection and protective shield
- Access to Condition Immunity with automated response
- Access to a second layer of regeneration with backpack regenerator
- Access to manual health regulation with infused bombs.
What this combination of elements does is that neither a power class or a condition class can kill this build reliably in a 1v1. If you want to kill this effectively without your home point being contested to long then your require both a condition build and a power build to bring it down. This brings us to the next aspect of the problem.
Strategical/Tactical Problem: When a team implements a decap engineer in their composition they decide to play for three points. Playing for three points is generally speaking a more risky way to play then when you would otherwise play for two points. A decap engineer removes a big part of the risk that is playing for three points by being practically unkillable by one player. This means that either you will have to send one person to assist your home point defender every ~30seconds (Death 15sec – run back to your point 15sec). Or you’ll have to decap their point consistently in order to prevent them from gaining points while the engineer is on your point holding it neutral. However doing either of these two moves means that if there is a 4v4 team fight going on you’ll leave your team in a disadvantage for about ~20-30 sec’s (run home point – kill engineer – run back) (run enemy home point – decap – run back). In that time the enemy team has one more player to damage/heal/rez/stomp then your team does, as you may understand that is a huge disadvantage.
SOLUTION
All problems with this build come from not being able to kill it reliably with one person. The reason for this is that it has PERMA condition immunity under 25% HP. Because of this I would like to propose one of the following changes to Automated Response:
- Change it to ~Xseconds every ~Xseconds with a clear tooltip that shows the engineer has condition immunity.
- Change it to ~X% condition damage decreased below Xhealth
- Change it to ~X% condition duration decreased below Xhealth
- Remove the trait entirely
DISCLAIMER
My main profession is Engineer, I’ve played decap engineer 20ish games both with premade and in soloq. For someone that has played engineer for over 2000 games this is an incredibly easy build whit a very boring role that makes me feel dumb and abusive. I hope people understand that this is a build based on a broken trait that should be changed as soon as possible. I also hope Arenanent understands that builds like this cannont be allowed to excist in order for fun and competitive play to be viable.