Guild Wars 2

I just got my Ransacker title on my phantasm mesmer and I want a change to make it more fun. But in sPvP, I simply have to be good 1v1. It’s ok to help out the team now and then, but my ego simply won’t let me be happy if I’m not good at dueling. Especially against thieves. Somehow I appreciate a good battle with any other class, but for me to like a build, it simply has to be able to take on any kind of thief one on one.

I wanted to try an engineer and everyone talks about the “HGH” build, so I watched the videos etc and rolled one and it’s not bad. Certainly a lot of team support and if there’s a big fight going on you can definitely contribute a lot.

But in 1v1s, the grenades are a bit too inaccurate and against a pistol thief who moves around a lot never staying in the same place and continuously it becomes tough to hit them. Now if experienced engis on this forum can assure me that it’s only a question of skill and that I’ll become good eventually (I have a lot of patience) then I’ll stick with this build. But I’m open to other options too.

Also, I feel the HGH build lacks good mobility – just the one elixir B to give me 10 seconds of swiftness on a 40 second CD…a bit tough to rack up the points in hotjoin.

So…I want to ask you experienced guys – what’s the engineer build that’s great in 1v1s and has decent swiftness uptime? When I say 1v1s, I mean specially against thieves. I’ve become too used to eating thieves for lunch on my mesmer for me to go back to being afraid of their sneaky bursts.

Any help would be appreciated. And if you tell me that an HGH build is the best, then I’ll stick with it and become good.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Well if you want to especially kill thieves, HGH might not be the right choice. S/D thieves WILL steal that 20+ stack of might + fury + whatever and down you with only a couple more 33333’s.

When fighting thieves, I like having Net Turret or Tool Kit. Both can shut down thieves pretty well and give you some breathing room when necessary.

Also, if you’re looking for swiftness and decent mobility, you’d probably like the Speedy Kits + Invigorating Speed traits. Essentially it can mean perma-swiftness and perma-vigor depending on how often you rotate your kits.

I’m not sure I can give a specific build as I am between builds myself.

I’d suggest Sir Koroshi’s build to start. Adjust from there. It can handle thieves very well. You can swap bomb for grenades. Perma-swiftness via Speed Kits trait.

Net Turret and Throw Mine seem keep a Thief perpetually on the back foot.

You might also try the Supply Crate elite. Since it has a long CD, you must be good with your timing, but stunning a thief for 2 sec and/or immobilizing him can be very useful.

IMO there really is no best 1v1 build when it comes to engi (One of the reasons I like the class). It’s all depends on what works for you and what you enjoy playing with.

That being said. For roaming solo play I like to roll with p/s, bombs and elixir gun.. I use rifle barrels trait for elixir gun 1200 range for an actual long range option. Stunbreaker may vary.

P.S. using smoke bomb to stealth on thieves is priceless

BrimstoneAshe.5043:

I’d suggest Sir Koroshi’s build to start. Adjust from there. It can handle thieves very well. You can swap bomb for grenades. Perma-swiftness via Speed Kits trait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMdcB6Ssd38

Thanks, let me play around with this one

One thing to keep in mind is that it will likely be tough to find a build that will work in all 1v1 scenarios, which is something you will just have to accept.

It also depends on what you want the build to do. For instance, you could design the build for capping points from the a bunker opponent, or create a bunker build to handle mobile individuals who might come by the node for a quick cap.

I’d question whether designing a build with 1v1 in mind is really the best way to go from a tPvP perspective, but if it’s just hotjoin stuff then you’re probably fine.

My favourites tend to be either dual pistol condi builds or a power focused rifle build with grenades. Both make use of HGH.

1. http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/engineer/?2.1|a.1m.h1b.a.1h.h5|0.0.0.0.0.0|1h.b1h.1h.b1h.1h.71h.1h.71h.1o.71g.1h.b1g|21n.0.2u.d14.2w.d12.21n.0.1o.63.2w.d12|0.u46c.a6.u2ab.0|30.d|2b.2g.2j.2x.30|e

2. http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/engineer#14|0|2729|2454|253|4052|4065|30|2273|1789|1885|10|1866|0|0|0|0|0|0|30|1470|1033|1785|0|0|0|0|0|0|1|28034|0|21055|21055|49967|49967|49973|25790|48789|0|0|0|0|

I actually dislike both the websites I have those bookmarked on… should port them over to a different one.

In general, I usually find necros and rangers to be the most trouble, followed by thieves and mesmers.

Honestly, for 1v1, like say, protecting a node vs. one player only? A good turret build with nothing on CD. I’m not kidding, it’s better than most people think, but you do have to do a lot of tricks to get the most out of your condition removal.

HGH is not your choice because it is the best 1 vs 3 build :-/
Maybe use kitten equipment on HGH for best 1 vs 1 build?!

I’ve lately been running a hybrid P/P SD build with Rampager armor for Condition Damage and using pizza for Condtion Duration.

My Crit Chance is 45%, Crit Damage is 50% Condi Damage around 1300 and Condi Duration at 60%.

Enemies have been melting.

I think for the most part, turret builds are our best builds 1v1 using at least net turret for area control and rifle turret for damage. The only problems with them is if your opponent has minions.

I think this thread is interesting in that I know the OP isn’t the only one who designs their build with thieves in the back of their mind. I know I do it. I know others do it. Never hear about people crafting their builds for other specific professions.

Let’s face it, thieves are classes you know you will definitely run into while roaming in wvw. Sneaky huge burst, and sneaky getaway. I’ve been studying the engineer builds lately as well and all I can add to this thread is to first learn what the engineer can do. Unlike mesmers where the best at 1v1 build has been crowned, engineers can be tweaked to your playstyle.
I know where you’re coming from OP, I myself main a mesmer and enjoy being able to stand up to (or even dominate) our opponents. I personally find phantasm builds a little boring, but they are strong and as a mesmer you have access to utilities that you don’t even need to spec into (feedback, null field, timewarp etc.). People love you for this.
For the engineer it’s a little different. You first have to get out of the mesmer mindset. Engineers, in my server, are not as well regarded. Being a jack-of-trades they can handle so much but not very well, and this is why people don’t really understand what they do at all.
Like I said, I’m learning the ins and outs of the class too and each kit brings something new to the table. Sure the grenade kit may not be ideal for 1v1, but it can be used to slow down that thief, or blind him when he jumps on you. What about the bomb kit, another tool full of conditions and cc galore? Personally I fell in love with the toolkit! The pull… the block…the prybar, definitely deserves a place in my bar.

TLDR? Not saying an offensive L2P as people use it in the forums, but see first what the engineer can do before jumping into a build from someone’s personal playstyle. As someone said, Koroshi’s builds would be a good place to start learning.

Teldo won the 1on1 tournament. Didn’t he?

Hold both mouse buttons to throw an ‘aimable’ at your feet. Is win vs melee.

Also, if you want to 1v1 melee, bombs ftw.

I’ve recently fallen in love with this build, use it for everything.

Extremely survivable, does good damage assuming you can keep many things on cooldown at all times.

Only downside I’ve found is that fights against classes with peeimp cleanse ability can take forever…

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiY3zSfF17ISIFFmhJSRlZZfeIXpFEC-ToAAzCpIaS1krJTTymsNN+YCC

Obnoxious number of self-combos is the best part, the better you get at juggling, the better you can be..

Punkins.2087:

I’ve recently fallen in love with this build, use it for everything.

Extremely survivable, does good damage assuming you can keep many things on cooldown at all times.

Only downside I’ve found is that fights against classes with peeimp cleanse ability can take forever…

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiY3zSfF17ISIFFmhJSRlZZfeIXpFEC-ToAAzCpIaS1krJTTymsNN+YCC

Obnoxious number of self-combos is the best part, the better you get at juggling, the better you can be..

Solid build only your sigils share cooldowns:-)