Guild Wars 2

After new change to gadgeteer trait i tried to use traited A.E.D. for wvw and spvp. I don’t know if it is better than HT, medic gyro or elixir H ( for sure it is better than medkit for me ) but i have to say that with 24 secs cd it seems to me a viable alternative . it is an high risk high reward skill and i really like how it works .
I tested this simple build in wvw and spvp and i find it viable
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqanUIClch9dB2XBsehF2iC8DPxAYsNGjaTsjminA-TJRAwAAeAAlLDEb/BOnAAA
Probably i was luck and i found bad players but i was able to take down classes that before i had a lot of problem in 1 vs 1 for condi burst, for example necromancer .
The combination of crate toolbox skill and AED for me can be a viable solution, probably not the next meta but much better than before. The cd of AED is 24 secs but it starts when you activate the skill so if the final burst arrive when are passed 4 second for example , it drops down the cd to 20 secs .. i find it viable.
The only thing i found is that with aed you have to play without self regulating defense becouse sometime it procs and i am not able to heal me.
Coupled with rocket boot is great .. the daze with the rocket boot toolbet can do really great damage . I think it will help in build diversity becouse with that, with one skill it is easier to resist to condi burst without taking purge gyro or elixir C .

Traited AED is actually very good. It lasts for 8 seconds and by the time you are healed the skill is going to be on 16 second CD. Not to mention the shocking aura that comes with it.

I’ve also been using this with a condition build I’m testing. One thing that seems bugged (or intended but not clear) is AED’s interaction with AMR.

Been using it in WvW all night and even though I activate AED well above 25% health threshold of AMR when I go below the 25% it does not activate AMR trait and come off CD. Basically taking AMR with AED is like not having a trait at all. Several hours worth of fights and not once did it reset the CD or work as it should.

Arimas.3492:

I’ve also been using this with a condition build I’m testing. One thing that seems bugged (or intended but not clear) is AED’s interaction with AMR.

Been using it in WvW all night and even though I activate AED well above 25% health threshold of AMR when I go below the 25% it does not activate AMR trait and come off CD. Basically taking AMR with AED is like not having a trait at all. Several hours worth of fights and not once did it reset the CD or work as it should.

that sucks and is extremely unfortunate and (conspiracy theory) is probably the result of the same interaction occurring in the past back when amr was on a 10 sec icd and the devs breaking it intentionally.

hope they fix.

its gone unnoticed as far as im aware, prolly cuz aed is either a death wish or broken op and never just good/great.

I don’t use invention so i have not problem with AMR . What i want to try is to use AED alone with tools, without alchemy and invention , to see for example if a build wih explosivd e and firearm is now viable in spvp. I miss the old nades, toolkit pistol pistol build but i don’t know if aed alone is enough to say alive

While it is much better now, IMO it’s still not reliable compared to, say, Healing Turret.

AED is something you want to use only when you think you can drop to 0hp, so you need to put yourself in a vulnerable position.

If you miss for any reason:

• hard cc (0.75s cast time is often interrupted)
• ally heals you (difficult to avoid other allies’ aoe heals or cleanses)
• enemy notices your heal and stops damaging you

you are probably going to die.

Best case scenario, I still found myself wanting more out of it. I’d be in the middle of the fight, pop AED, die, get the full heal (~12-13k), but then have nothing left for the next 20-24s. Unlike HT, there’s no regen in the toolbelt skill, no team support from blasting water fields, and no option to reduce the cooldown to 16s and trade off a bit of heal.

I’ll play around with it some more, but so far it’s not replacing Healing Turret for me.

coro.3176:

While it is much better now, IMO it’s still not reliable compared to, say, Healing Turret.

AED is something you want to use only when you think you can drop to 0hp, so you need to put yourself in a vulnerable position.

If you miss for any reason:

• hard cc (0.75s cast time is often interrupted)
• ally heals you (difficult to avoid other allies’ aoe heals or cleanses)
• enemy notices your heal and stops damaging you

you are probably going to die.

Best case scenario, I still found myself wanting more out of it. I’d be in the middle of the fight, pop AED, die, get the full heal (~12-13k), but then have nothing left for the next 20-24s. Unlike HT, there’s no regen in the toolbelt skill, no team support from blasting water fields, and no option to reduce the cooldown to 16s and trade off a bit of heal.

I’ll play around with it some more, but so far it’s not replacing Healing Turret for me.

Traited AED lasts for 8 seconds, even if your opponents stop hitting you, you can still damage yourself by overheating if you are a holosmith. And after you are healed, it’s going to be on CD below 20 seconds.

overheating isnt really a good thing, you arent supposed to want to do it… aed putting you in the position of even considering it is bad gameplay

Just for comparison, on my current build with basically 0 healing power..

Healing Turret (20s cooldown):

• 2500 heal, 400 regen (shared)
• 2500 overcharge (shared), 650 regen (shared)
• 1300 detonate blast (shared)
• + 800 regen Regenerating Mist (shared)
• 1300 blast on regen mist (shared)

So if I added that up right, it’s 9450 heal per 20s, almost 7k of it shared.

AED (24s cooldown):

• 12300 heal.

If you scale AED’s heal-per-second to 20s rather than 24, you get 10250 heal per 20s.

IMO, even traited it’s not NEARLY worth the risk of death or the lack of team support for an extra 800 heal per 20s.

coro.3176:

Just for comparison, on my current build with basically 0 healing power..

Healing Turret (20s cooldown):

• 2500 heal, 400 regen (shared)
• 2500 overcharge (shared), 650 regen (shared)
• 1300 detonate blast (shared)
• + 800 regen Regenerating Mist (shared)
• 1300 blast on regen mist (shared)

So if I added that up right, it’s 9450 heal per 20s, almost 7k of it shared.

AED (24s cooldown):

• 12300 heal.

If you scale AED’s heal-per-second to 20s rather than 24, you get 10250 heal per 20s.

IMO, even traited it’s not NEARLY worth the risk of death or the lack of team support for an extra 800 heal per 20s.

U have to consider the condi clean aspect of AED. I am not saying it is better, i am saying that it opens to different builds. I played condi engi with wanderer / rabid a lot in last seasons and going against a condi necro or a condi mesmer was a pain. Now with A.ED. on 24 secs it is not easy but it is much easier than before.
I think meta will remain scrapper with ht as usual for now but i think that A.E.D. now is a viable alternative if you don’t want or you can not take another strong condi remove ( purge gyro or elixir C ) for condi builds .
For me, now , with rabid or wanderer core engi AED is better than HT , not for all engineer builds ….. but for core engi builds it is better and it is something finally new .

I only play WvW as a Roamer. And here the AED is a high risk – high fun tool. Numbers do not interest me. It’s a game, the only thing that counts is my fun.

insanemaniac.2456:

overheating isnt really a good thing, you arent supposed to want to do it… aed putting you in the position of even considering it is bad gameplay

There’s a grandmaster trait that makes an overheat build a thing. AED looks very juicy for Holo. We’ll see how fast the heat builds up in the battle etc, but AED will definitely have its role.

Samug.6512:

insanemaniac.2456:

overheating isnt really a good thing, you arent supposed to want to do it… aed putting you in the position of even considering it is bad gameplay

There’s a grandmaster trait that makes an overheat build a thing. AED looks very juicy for Holo. We’ll see how fast the heat builds up in the battle etc, but AED will definitely have its role.

But that trait also makes the initial overheat blast damage your enemies instead of you, removing the potential synergy with AED.

Shaogin.2679:

Samug.6512:

insanemaniac.2456:

overheating isnt really a good thing, you arent supposed to want to do it… aed putting you in the position of even considering it is bad gameplay

There’s a grandmaster trait that makes an overheat build a thing. AED looks very juicy for Holo. We’ll see how fast the heat builds up in the battle etc, but AED will definitely have its role.

But that trait also makes the initial overheat blast damage your enemies instead of you, removing the potential synergy with AED.

It removes the direct 4k damage, but you still get the debuff that deals another 4k dmg over 2,5 seconds.

if you combine it with the 25% hp heal reset trait and you got good timing this is engineer’s best heal

but that requires tremendous timing and luck alot of times
sometimes i swear i triggered it and then end up downed cuz i dint notice i got dazed lol

also the toolbelt skill wich i thought was just a stun , hits like a truck

Rezzet.3614:

if you combine it with the 25% hp heal reset trait and you got good timing this is engineer’s best heal

but that requires tremendous timing and luck alot of times
sometimes i swear i triggered it and then end up downed cuz i dint notice i got dazed lol

also the toolbelt skill wich i thought was just a stun , hits like a truck

Keep in mind that earlier comments say the recharge trait isn’t working with AED.

Samug.6512:

Shaogin.2679:

Samug.6512:

insanemaniac.2456:

overheating isnt really a good thing, you arent supposed to want to do it… aed putting you in the position of even considering it is bad gameplay

There’s a grandmaster trait that makes an overheat build a thing. AED looks very juicy for Holo. We’ll see how fast the heat builds up in the battle etc, but AED will definitely have its role.

But that trait also makes the initial overheat blast damage your enemies instead of you, removing the potential synergy with AED.

It removes the direct 4k damage, but you still get the debuff that deals another 4k dmg over 2,5 seconds.

Didn’t realize the DoT after the overheat was that high. I guess it could work with some precise timing then. Will have to wait to see how practical it is lining up an overheat and AED with the moment you are about to die and need the heal.

I wonder if the dot will even proc amr. amr is pretty specific, you have to take direct damage while under the threshold. you can be downed by taking 30% of your hp while you are at 29% without activating it.

I wonder if maybe that is what’s happening here, but I doubt it. all of these people not raking a single point of direct damage while under 25% for hours… nah.