Guild Wars 2

So I’m really loving leveling an engineer as my second lvl 80 , but I really aren’t sure which traits and build I should use . I usually go solo , so unless I want to do WvW or PvP ( which is rare) , I just want to be able to support myself . What is the best build for me ?

For 1v1 best atm (before nerfs) is imo, the meta celestial e-gun variant.

But still run from necros

OP stated he rarely does WvW, so the goal would be gear for PvE – rifle, granades, zerker would be best choice I believe.

oops sorry, that was me looking but not reading! Yes, full zerker is almost expected.

Max offensive would probably sit somewhere between zerk/assassin with a 6/6/0/0/2 bomb kit grenade kit and elixir gun. tones of condis that massively boost damage when using modified ammunition, condi cleanse with h-turret and e-gun 5. Fire field and blast finishers galor for aoe might stacks (really low CD on fire bomb with the short fuse trait).

Actually, full celestial works great for this too, especially if you’re soloing and not doing group play becausse you will use every stat you’ve got.

Ill just copy and paste everything i wrote somewhere else – this build allows you to solo every single open world pve map, it can be used to solo dungeons – at least story modes. The only one unbeaten by me solo by far is Arah. Enjoy:

2. The Character Build
I currently use this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdIQFAUlUUpdr9Zx+KseNiaBF6O2mAAqLK6r8xsA-TxBBABA8AAzfRp8TI1fC5CAA4+DWoEcGdAAA-e

So let’s talk about skills and how to use them, shall we?

2.1 The Healer

Tha game have been designed around dpsing only. Thus the mobs have to deal damage which is small enough to make a team of unexperienced players survive to kill them. The general rule of thumb here is that the less HP the mobs have the higher the dps they deliver. That being said You still have to remember that these kittens have to NOT kill warriors with around 25k hp within couple of seconds. Let’s do the math.

The basic and the earliest source of hp for You will be Healing Turret. In the build i have posted in the basic passive system it heals you for 292 hps (311 hps when overcharged) + another 3k worth of hp each 15 seconds with active usage (it also cleans 2 conditions) thus making total of: 508 hps when in range of healing turret. It is already more than any other class in the game, but wait – there is more.

You can also notice the Elixir Gun kit in Your first utility skill bracket. This babe has some decent abilities up to number 5 (the whole kit replaces Your usual weapon) which provides you with aditional total of 465 hps (and heals ONE condition) the kitten thing stays in place for 10 seconds and has 20 seconds cooldown so we can round the average hps it provides to 232.

Thats 232 + 508 = 740 hit points per second. Of course there is more.

In Your traits You will notice two different Trait Lines which were finished. One of them contains Backpack Regenerator trait – providing You with aditional 189 hps IF you have weapon kit equipped (which you will have equipped at all times) the other notable mention is Elixir Infused Bombs which is a cherry on top of our murder cake. Each bomb kit explosion You cause will hill everyone in range for 363 hp. Bombs have 0.5s cast time and no cooldown (the basic ones) thus effectively doubling the hps the bombs provide making it 726 hps.

To sum it up You will have 726 hps (from bombs) + 189 hps (from BP regenerator) + 740 hps (from other aforementioned sources) = 1655 hit points per second. So You will be a decent healer giving away 1466 hps to allies. (since only one of those sources affects ONLY You.) Oh, did I mention that You can also eat up food for some passive HPS regen? You can – I do not remember exact numbers but it is around 80 so let’s just say You will heal Yourself for around 1730 hit points per second.

You will also have two other skills derived from both Your Healing skill (#6) and whichever utility slot the Elixir Gun occupies – both of them provide You with some regen (which is nice to elongate the effects of Healing Turret) but the real deal is that the first one creates water field (great for planting Big Ol’ Bomb inside to make a healing combo with) and the other is Your stunbreak.

2.2 The Kiter

You see i decieved You a little bit – You won’t be able to tank and spank everything. You will kite them. How can You kite enemies? Why with constant Swiftness of course. Since the build is using Magi gear (only half of it can be ascended) which is cheap as dirt You will quickly have 49% critical chance which combined with two bombs a second and Infused Precision from Firearms tree will provide You with Swiftness every second.

“But it will make me leave the bomb explosion radius thus cuting my heals in half” you say.

Indeed. Thats why this build can be also called Crab build – strafing doesn’t allow you to move at full speed, just like moving backwards. But whats the point of having constant swiftness then? Simple: Invigorating Speed from Alchemy skilltree which will provide You with 6 seconds of Vigor (+100% endurance regeneration) thus allowing You to enjoy constat evading.

It seems complicated right? Don’t worry – the build is very forgiving. Why? Did You notice the yellow elixir in Your utility skills? Elixir S? That’s the “F***-everything-and-run” button. It makes You virtually indestructible for 3 seconds. Great when things do not go Your way. Oh, and it is automated too – thanks to Self Regulating Defenses trait from Alchemy skilltree. So when You accidentally get Yourself in trouble and drop to 25% of Your hp You shrink, break from stun and run like hell. After that You still get to use Elixir S from Your utility skill. Making it “F.E.A.R” button active each 30 s.

2.3 The weak spots

Well. You are prone to three things. Enemies that can somewhat competently heal themselves, condition damage and stun. Stun cuts Your hps in half thus making this build very prone to hambow warriors in pvp. You also have only one stun breaker – which does not help. Your demise will be certain after You meet certain types of pvp classes focused on condition damage – perticularly Necros and Mesmers are nasty. The guardians will be fun since they can’t kill You just as You can’t kill them, other warrior builds too seems to be uneffective. So basicly this is not good sPVP build (or at least i can’t utilize it correctly), but it is marvellous for PVE.

I would call Zerker hardly a self support build. It most certainly does allow You to kill mobs fast, but You cant solo Orrian Champions with it, now can You? With that build of mine here? Sure thing.

For questions regarding said build – hit me up in game.

Urdhgag.2450:

I would call Zerker hardly a self support build. It most certainly does allow You to kill mobs fast, but You cant solo Orrian Champions with it, now can You? With that build of mine here? Sure thing.

For questions regarding said build – hit me up in game.

Thanks , I will use that

Its PvE, play the way you want, I ran Rampagers for a LONG time in PvE.

Ask yourself what you want to do.

Are you simply trying to get map completion, killing things quickly being the goal? Well I’d glass up a bit.

Are you trying to kill big bosses alone, well you may want some tanky stuff if you want an easier time at it.

Everything will change depending on what exactly you’re looking to do. I’m sure Urdhgag’s build will get the job done against big nasties much easier than a full zerk one will, but it’ll also take 3X as long to kill that little set of trash things that you want to kill.

So what is it that you want?

I will say, the biggest strength of an Engi is it’s flexibility and endless utility. Don’t get yourself stuck in certain kits/utilities just because that’s what you were told or that’s what has been working. Rifle is great, it really is, I’d probably say it’s generally what you want to be using. But Pistol/Shield has it’s uses too (extra blind, a block/daze, and a reflect/blast). Personally at this point I have 3 shields, 2 pistols, and 2 rifles all decked out different, and looking at some more options but I just haven’t done it yet.

I mean no offense to Urdhgag as I’m sure that build works great for the tougher stuff where some defense will really help. I just know going through general map completion and more trivial PVE content that I’d personally much rather be going faster and getting quick kills especially as you can use blinds so effectively on it that you can go through unscathed much of the time.

Urdhgag.2450:

Magi gear

have you tried zealot?

i mean youre literally the first person ive seen recommend magi gear for engi in 2.5 years. i remember a few guardian friends liked it back in the day before zerk established itself as the end all be all.

Actually… I stand by full celestial for solo, self support… Take elixir gun and either grenades or bombs, the trait modified ammo, a few stacks of might and you’re out damaging zerker gear whilst having toughness vitality and healing power.

Peutrifectus.4830:

Actually… I stand by full celestial for solo, self support… Take elixir gun and either grenades or bombs, the trait modified ammo, a few stacks of might and you’re out damaging zerker gear whilst having toughness vitality and healing power.

Rampager with might deal more damage in solo situation. Toughness, vitality and healing power – questionable choice for PvE. Celestial very strong, but in PvE you don’t need so much sustain.

Peutrifectus.4830:

Actually… I stand by full celestial for solo, self support… Take elixir gun and either grenades or bombs, the trait modified ammo, a few stacks of might and you’re out damaging zerker gear whilst having toughness vitality and healing power.

… you make the assumption that zerkers can’t be doing the exact same thing and thus still outdamaging celestial by quite a bit.

Condi can be very powerful for a solo engi though, but I’d focus one way or the other, Rabid with a condi build is quite good with a bit of sustain, but not backing off of damage too much.

True but the amount of condi damage is what sets it apart… Zerker gets practically none in comparison. You can search for the zerker vs celestial/hybrid thread. I’m almost sure that in solo play, the hybrid comes out on top. The obvious issues open in group play where multiple condis just get in each others way, which is where I’d rather be power heavy.

Agreed that rampager may be a more accessible option though as celestial takes a while to gget.
I only recommended celestial as the OP specified self support. So the tou/vit/healing that rampager loses, fits that criteria.

Don’t forget you lose critical damage too, precision can be mitigated with sigil of intelligence

rampager is just assassin with bad synergy. i highly recommend using assassin instead of rampager if you want precision main stat gear.

insanemaniac.2456:

rampager is just assassin with bad synergy. i highly recommend using assassin instead of rampager if you want precision main stat gear.

Sorry dude, I don’t quite getcha. That was never the topic of conversation… Dude wants a good self support solo pve build/gear.

My suggestion is celestial/strength 66002 e-gun/bomb/nade.

ya and now people are recommending rampager for doing that. rampager is outclassed by assassin.

Holy crap – people are so polite here…

@ Insanemaniac

The main reason for me to suggest magi gear is that it is insanely cheap on auctionhouse, and as that – readily accesible. The armor part is simple 6 gold, rifle is another 1,5. The trinkets are more expensive, but still it is under 20 gold right after hitting the rank 80.

Now to the math. Yes – from the dps side zealot is better – it provied you with 2418 damage points per second (including the critical hit chance and the critical dmg modification – i did count it per minute of constant bombing) while Magi grants You BARELY 1494 dps per minute. Yes that is a thousand damage points per second less. So You kill stuff 40% slower instead of 30% how you have claimed.

Acquisition of the Zealot gear is tough for a new player too. It is crafted ONLY and account bound. You have to spend at least 56 gold on the zealot’s gossamer insignias alone which is at least two times more than what you will just spend on the whole Magi gear.

However the Zealot Gear only provides you with 1344 hit points per second while similiar specced Magi Gear gives you 1730 hps which is rought 400 hit points per second more. Which makes it a little less than a quarter of Your initial healing.

The critical chance is exactly the same, and so is critical dmg multiplicator – so crit-triggered skills will kick in at the same rate. What actually convinced me to Magi gear is the thin red line of hit points – my build will allow You to easily dispatch champions while killing off dungeon bosses alone will be much harder task. Thats where the additional 400 hps comes in as essential. Since these baddies will either oneshot You, or leave You barely alive You have to regenerate as quickly as it is only possible. I had similiar situation with story mode Subject Alpha which almost killed me on many occasions but thanks to this healing i could get up quickly.

If you need something to roam safely AND effectively use the following:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdIQFA0kUUpPrtbNiaBF6bkxAAuW81JeAA-TBCBABRp8TI1fsQJIAPAgWN/B4+DzoDIgLAAA-e
It grants you 1884 damage per second and applies average of 8 stacks of vulnerability.

All damage numbers were counted while having heavy armored targets in mind.

While at the same time the Celestial gear with my first build racks You up 1719 dps and 1489 hps. So i could agree that Celestial gear with Altruism runes might be the way to go since it is less than 200 hit points per second less than the Magi.

Urdhgag.2450:

Holy crap – people are so polite here…

@ Insanemaniac

The main reason for me to suggest magi gear is that it is insanely cheap on auctionhouse, and as that – readily accesible. The armor part is simple 6 gold, rifle is another 1,5. The trinkets are more expensive, but still it is under 20 gold right after hitting the rank 80.

Now to the math. Yes – from the dps side zealot is better – it provied you with 2418 damage points per second (including the critical hit chance and the critical dmg modification – i did count it per minute of constant bombing) while Magi grants You BARELY 1494 dps per minute. Yes that is a thousand damage points per second less. So You kill stuff 40% slower instead of 30% how you have claimed.

Acquisition of the Zealot gear is tough for a new player too. It is crafted ONLY and account bound. You have to spend at least 56 gold on the zealot’s gossamer insignias alone which is at least two times more than what you will just spend on the whole Magi gear.

However the Zealot Gear only provides you with 1344 hit points per second while similiar specced Magi Gear gives you 1730 hps which is rought 400 hit points per second more. Which makes it a little less than a quarter of Your initial healing.

The critical chance is exactly the same, and so is critical dmg multiplicator – so crit-triggered skills will kick in at the same rate. What actually convinced me to Magi gear is the thin red line of hit points – my build will allow You to easily dispatch champions while killing off dungeon bosses alone will be much harder task. Thats where the additional 400 hps comes in as essential. Since these baddies will either oneshot You, or leave You barely alive You have to regenerate as quickly as it is only possible. I had similiar situation with story mode Subject Alpha which almost killed me on many occasions but thanks to this healing i could get up quickly.

If you need something to roam safely AND effectively use the following:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdIQFA0kUUpPrtbNiaBF6bkxAAuW81JeAA-TBCBABRp8TI1fsQJIAPAgWN/B4+DzoDIgLAAA-e
It grants you 1884 damage per second and applies average of 8 stacks of vulnerability.

All damage numbers were counted while having heavy armored targets in mind.

While at the same time the Celestial gear with my first build racks You up 1719 dps and 1489 hps. So i could agree that Celestial gear with Altruism runes might be the way to go since it is less than 200 hit points per second less than the Magi.

Sorry, but that’s horrible build. You won’t kill anybody with it – especially while roaming. Contains only 2 conditions cleanses every 15/20sec. No stun breaker (so far), doesn’t include MAJOR traits (backpack regenerator, invigirating speed, speedy kits and with bombs – forceful explosives) not to mention it won’t be a single problem to tank that “damage”.

Ah sorry – i forgot that roamer is type of WvWvW build. I meant casual PvE rolling build. Like the one You might want to use to do some random kitten.

dont cheap out on your gear!

Rabid > Celestial.

Unless the fight drags out, then the Celestial starts looking Mighty good…

See what I did there?

Seriously though, I feel like Rabid is A LOT better in MORE situations.
But if you allow a fight to drag out with Celestial Engi / Ele then your gonna have along and difficult fight.

Gonna throw my 2 cents in. Engineer works with alot of different gear but from my personal experience assassin’s armor works best with zerk rifle/accessories for PvE party/max dps even solo because the current meta build runs heavy into “on crit” vun/bleed stacking which assassin’s gear will give you top notch crit chance with still high dmg. Although, this build is all offensive, the glass kill or be killed philosophy. The other gear I love is celestial. In WvW, soloing bosses (long fights) or PvP I run 3 kit’s with celestial gear with zerk rifle.

I will say that if you don’t plan on doing dungeon’s and want to be a DPS glass build then a mix of assassin’s and zerk will give you the highest personal DPS. Hope this helps. Oh and celestial is annoying to get, time gated by 30 days on charged crystals >.>

My favourite all-around build: http://de.gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpPrtbx+KseNSaBF6pOjBIysslPOhAA-T1BBABAcBBEc/BzU+loOCHVCSq6PB8gACAgAczbGYzbmhO0hO0hO0uuNH6NH6NDA-w

I just don’t die and I still deal a good amount of damage (bombs are pretty good damage dealers). I never feel like battles drag on or that swapping gear to get a couple extra stats elsewhere is going to make a big enough impact. Best part too is I don’t fear mobs with this build. I’ve solo’d quite a few bosses and groups of mobs that are known for cheesy tactics like stunning or knockdowns. I’ll often charge in first to a champion fight where I see most others sit back and wait for others. For money making, I’ll switch some stats around to buff the FT for tagging more mobs. For extreme scenarios where safety is more important, I’ll tweak the stats a little to buff grenades. Those are the 3 main kits I’ll cycle between depending on the situation. Gear wise however, celestial has never failed me.

there are many builds that work well. I am currently running a zerker rifle build.
04046 in pvp. I usually get killstreaks of 10+ and die maybe once every other game. Its quite good for zerker amulet+runes of pirate+sigil of fire and air.

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

there are many builds that work well. I am currently running a zerker rifle build.
04046 in pvp. I usually get killstreaks of 10+ and die maybe once every other game. Its quite good for zerker amulet+runes of pirate+sigil of fire and air.

Unique build I guess. Never met someone playing this successfully

Urdhgag.2450:

I would call Zerker hardly a self support build. It most certainly does allow You to kill mobs fast, but You cant solo Orrian Champions with it, now can You? With that build of mine here? Sure thing.

My favorite quote of the thread.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQJAqelUUpPrtbxkLseNCbBNyx0GR2xq8xGEAA-TVxHABDq+TdKBNTPAAPAgiU+RKgFlGB-w

Pros
- Enough crit for burn proc.
- Good AoE condi
- Great self support (Stun break, condi removal, smoke field, CC both hard and soft and block).
- Both Vit and Toughness, going full rabid gives you alot of crit chance which isn’t really needed for engi for condi in my opinion, more vit is better.
Cons
- Fighting ranged may be difficult since no grenades, although you have burn on crit, 2 blocks and projectile reflect.
- With all the CC you have a better chance vs condi necros, although if you do vs one i’d take out elixir gun for slick shoes. If you can CC them and get your dmg out, and stop their heal you will win.

Gl

Lupanic.6502:

Swimsasa Stoon.8936:

there are many builds that work well. I am currently running a zerker rifle build.
04046 in pvp. I usually get killstreaks of 10+ and die maybe once every other game. Its quite good for zerker amulet+runes of pirate+sigil of fire and air.

Unique build I guess. Never met someone playing this successfully

I could pm you the specifics.

Best solo build IMO….
2(III)
2(III)
6(IV)(V)(XI)
4(I)(IX)
0

PVT amour, rune of traveller and Berserker trinkets (or knight trinkets).

Elixir B, Grenade, and Bomb Kit. You can change bomb kit to Throw mine because the Mine Field toolkit is very powerful. I only use the Grenade Barrage and almost never the Grenade kit itself.

Constantly swap between rifle for skill 3 and 5 and bomb kit. And you have infinite swiftness and vigor. The “evasive powder keg” gives the extra punch when you dodge and the forceful explosive keeps your bomb in damage radius after your dodgy. Without it…sometimes you are out of range after a dodge.

You can almost never die at all. I have gone pass all those full DPS berserker nonsense that people come out with and captain obvious of try not to die, dodge only the important ones, etc…etc..blah..blah. At the end of the day, when you are down (full zerk, dps build), your total dps will be less that one that didnt go down.

It’s been a year. Let it go.

Yes, I understand that you feel this way. The only problem with your theory is that on a forum, which is usually a communication device with others, you should aim to actually communicate … with others. Ironically I am humoring you, perhaps hoping you’ll see reason as the original asker has likely quit the game, but alas … as you see fit.

there certainly are rules regarding necroposting, but the thing is the mods wisely only respond to a necropost being reported because the forum is too active to simply lock every thread and theyre already busy enough infracting people for other things like posting matchup threads in the wvw sub

oh and theres no automatic lock cuz anets forum technology is old, quirky, and not great