Guild Wars 2

A lot of flamethrower build posts have been popping up lately, causing me to wonder about the ULTIMATE FLAMETHROWER BUILD. Many seems to focus on the condition part of it, with a smaller group seeing it as a power weapon. I find myself in the middle seeing both as equally important.

Anyway… I know that the Engineer forum has a lot of REALLY skilled players, and I were interested in their general thoughts of, and how they would build around, the flamethrower.

I have no intentions of restricting this post to only the elite even if it would sound that way.
So, now I leave it up to you:
Build me a Flamethrower Build!

I’m tight-lipped about my flametank build (I don’t want anyone to use it against me in wvwvw), but I will say that it focuses on the juggernaut trait and has more healing power than condition damage.

I’ve had some fun in tpvp with this:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VVRR;2sPVi0i6FQFx0;9;4JJ-T-49-57;236A;1SJ0;0J0-AgVCqRnC7ZK

(Cut and paste link)

The damage output is still nowhere near the grenade build but the knock back and blinds are good, seems to work fine in hotjoin but you’ll struggle in tpvp against a half decent player.

@MattyP – So, some sort of might-stacking then. And I will guess that you use some other kit?

@fishybill – Do you focus on sheer attack damage or condition damage? It would probably be obvious if only I had a better knowledge of the stats :P

Personally I think if the build works in a second heal either through Inventions or Tools would be beneficial. You kinda gotta pick which direction you want to go though, power or condition. I think power builds work better though. I’d suggest sigil of battle if you go power or sigil of geomancy if you go conditions. If your having trouble living get life steal food/sigil

Why would you say that power builds are better? Please elaborate

My build focuses on crit power and conditions, stacking might gives you condition and power damage.

you get roughly around 57% chance to crit, 2800-3000 power and 1100-1400 conditions depending on how many stack of might you have up.

As I said sadly its nowhere near the damage grenades can do which is a shame.

Gideoknight.4736:

Why would you say that power builds are better? Please elaborate

Because the numbers support such assumptions.

Stacking Critical Damage with Berserker gear, your #2 skill Flame Blast will hit like a truck. It’s like a Grenade Kit’s Grenade Barrage every 4.5 seconds.

Using the Flamethrower as a Condition Damage kit is viable in PvP, but that’s only because it works well in conjunction with P/P Condition specs by stacking Might with Juggernaut and then quickly swapping for Poison Dart Volley, Static Shot, and Blowtorch.

The Flamethrower itself is not effective at Condition Damage; it just synergizes well with P/P builds. Coated Bullets really isn’t all that great in sPvP either, so you might as well slot Juggernaut instead if you’re going the full 30 in Firearms.

As for “building you” a Flamethrower setup, please just use the search function. There’s plenty of topics already posted on good builds in PvE, PvP, and WvW regarding the FT as both a mainstay and a support kit.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VVRR;2Z;0h0q5sTFx0;9;5T-T9;147A;116A1;0TJ0;0J0-rRYCqoF27ZY

This is one of my fav builds.

HGH I like Elixer C… I know I’m one of the few, I will double up and switch in cleaning formula if I’m dealing with a ton of conditions. Often though having the 30s full wipe and 30s partial combo gets the job done.

This build pops up to 25 might pretty quick… I like having SD on instead of putting 10 in explosives… means I’m more likely to keep rolling my thrown Elixirs. lol

The boon duration and the combo of Elixar B + thrown B + hidden flask… will keep the crit rate up over 80 at all times. (90% when someone drops under 50)

When your in range with the thrower it will just be a constant stream of crits… and it will throw up a ton of bleeds and burns and vuln.

Missing a stun break of course… eh but its fun. I run almost the same build to farm with.. I run 4 alturism + 2 water runes instead for the might on heal and boon duration.

Husanak.3769:

HGH I like Elixer C… I know I’m one of the few, I will double up and switch in cleaning formula if I’m dealing with a ton of conditions.

I’m right there with you. It’s not just condition removal, it also buffs you if you get a lot of conditions on you.

As I mentioned above I feel power is the way to do this optimally around it, but most of the time if I’m wanting to use Flamethrower I build it around other builds, not builds around Flamethrower. Chances are I’ll go 20/5/15/30/00 for my P/P 100% Condition Duration Build and swap out my Wrench kit (Prybar) for Flamethrower when I meet up with the friendly zerg.

Goloith.6349:

As I mentioned above I feel power is the way to do this optimally around it, but most of the time if I’m wanting to use Flamethrower I build it around other builds, not builds around Flamethrower. Chances are I’ll go 20/5/15/30/00 for my P/P 100% Condition Duration Build and swap out my Wrench kit (Prybar) for Flamethrower when I meet up with the friendly zerg.

No offense but with 5 points in Firearms I don’t really much see the point in using the Flamethrower at all. It needs Juggernaut and Deadly Mixture.

Phineas Poe.3018:

Goloith.6349:

As I mentioned above I feel power is the way to do this optimally around it, but most of the time if I’m wanting to use Flamethrower build it around other builds, not builds around Flamethrower. Chances are I’ll go 20/5/15/30/00 for my P/P 100% Condition Duration Build and swap out my Wrench kit (Prybar) for Flamethrower when I meet up with the friendly zerg.

No offense but with 5 points in Firearms I don’t really much see the point in using the Flamethrower at all. It needs Juggernaut and Deadly Mixture.

You’re right, but the build I use is meant for soloing or small gang roaming. FT is really just to help with the friendly zerg if we cross paths. Like I said Flamethrower is nice, but I find it hard to devote myself to it. Rather be in wrench kit. Keep in mind that second heal I get from Inventions helps a ton from killing yourself on confusion and retaliation.

ft4lifeyo

Goloith.6349:

You’re right, but the build I use is meant for soloing or small gang roaming. FT is really just to help with the friendly zerg if we cross paths. Like I said Flamethrower is nice, but I find it hard to devote myself to it. Rather be in wrench kit. Keep in mind that second heal I get from Inventions helps a ton from killing yourself on confusion and retaliation.

I respect that, but the OP is looking for a build that is centered around the Flamethrower—not one that just uses it as a gimmicky badge vacuum in WvW.

I think you really should give it another chance. With Soldier + Emerald gear, with Juggernaut, you’re going to soak up more damage with the Flamethrower than you would with any other setup. It’s true that the Gear Shield is a full 100% mitigation of damage for three seconds, but wielding over 3K armor without any points in Inventions—and even more so if you do—is really where the Flamethrower shines.

I used to run a 0/30/20/20/0 setup with the Flamethrower in WvW and to be honest, I was almost unkillable so long as I didn’t run into a zerg by myself. I don’t use it anymore because Pry Bar is just so good, and I love having Power Wrench with Coated Bullets—leaving me with no points in Inventions. I’ve since opted for 0/30/0/20/20 instead, but I will frequently swap out Coated Bullets for Juggernaut and use it effectively.

There’s plenty of legitimately good builds using the Flamethrower as your mainstay option.

Check out my Vampire Juggernaut build https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Behold-the-Vampire-Juggernaut/first#post1785794

Phineas Poe.3018:

Goloith.6349:

You’re right, but the build I use is meant for soloing or small gang roaming. FT is really just to help with the friendly zerg if we cross paths. Like I said Flamethrower is nice, but I find it hard to devote myself to it. Rather be in wrench kit. Keep in mind that second heal I get from Inventions helps a ton from killing yourself on confusion and retaliation.

I respect that, but the OP is looking for a build that is centered around the Flamethrower—not one that just uses it as a gimmicky badge vacuum in WvW.

I think you really should give it another chance. With Soldier + Emerald gear, with Juggernaut, you’re going to soak up more damage with the Flamethrower than you would with any other setup. It’s true that the Gear Shield is a full 100% mitigation of damage for three seconds, but wielding over 3K armor without any points in Inventions—and even more so if you do—is really where the Flamethrower shines.

I used to run a 0/30/20/20/0 setup with the Flamethrower in WvW and to be honest, I was almost unkillable so long as I didn’t run into a zerg by myself. I don’t use it anymore because Pry Bar is just so good, and I love having Power Wrench with Coated Bullets—leaving me with no points in Inventions. I’ve since opted for 0/30/0/20/20 instead, but I will frequently swap out Coated Bullets for Juggernaut and use it effectively.

There’s plenty of legitimately good builds using the Flamethrower as your mainstay option.

Might have to try that, thank you!

I am not really looking for a you to tell me a build, but rather asking how you would build around the flamethrower if you had to. Now that I look back I realize I were pretty unclear…

Gideoknight.4736:

I am not really looking for a you to tell me a build, but rather asking how you would build around the flamethrower if you had to. Now that I look back I realize I were pretty unclear…

I’m not sure I really understand what you want.

How about 10/30/0/20/10, gear for 71% crit, sigil for steal hp con crit, remove condition on crit and chill on crit.

You would be stealing HP and have permanent bleeding, vulnerability, chill and burning

@Phineas Poe – Imagine that you must use the Flamethrower as your main weapon. And I want to know how you would build around it. Simple as that

God kitten I suck at posting…
I really should edit the kitten out of this post to make it understandable.

Gideoknight.4736:

@Phineas Poe – Imagine that you must use the Flamethrower as your main weapon. And I want to know how you would build around it. Simple as that

Click the link in my signature.

PvE FT Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqalspSVn1SdF17IBoHAuu3V0jH34J/pAbB;ToAg1CqoyxkjIHbOuck5MwYWA

The build above is amazing for PvE where you can put out a lot of damage and control mobs on the front line with pushback, Smoke Vent, and the Flame Turret’s 5 second Smoke Screen field every 30 seconds. It utilizes a might heavy build that you gain from Juggernaut and HGH and capitalizes on the condition effects from Vulnerability, Bleed, and Burn effects the fast hitting FT provides.

For WvW I switch out the Flame Turret for Elixir C for condition removal and it works pretty good. However, in SPvP I found that this build lacked the defensive stats and utilities to sustain itself in coordinated long duration skirmishes, and you might as well be a sitting duck for ranged classes to kite you around. I’m thinking about re-considering the build with more defensive stats and tossing out HGH or Deadly Mixtures for permanent Regeneration, but in the meantime I’m having a blast with my healing build which seems to be very strong in structured PvP.

Healing Elixir Gun and Bomb Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqCYX3ynF17IRoHF++qV0D9XZL/pgcB;ToAgzCmo6y0loLbXuukdN2Y2A

I am honestly glad so many engineers have such a low opinion and/or misconception about the Flamethrower. I see other engineers whip it out every now and then, shoot a few spurts, and then go back to rifle. Lol.

Its my primary PVP weapon, and yet they keep buffing it because Engineers seem to think it is only a PVE weapon. The only massive hole in the FT’s perfection for me is Retaliation, which is why I build the Vampire build, as I regularly take 18-22k damage from retaliation alone at times purely from flame jet.

The misconception comes from the low individual damage and the low overall damage at the end of 2 seconds. Most engineers see that overall 1200 to 1800 damage over 2 seconds and think, “This is lame”. What they don’t take into account, quite often, is the number of targets being hit without the need for targeting, the damage being done by bleed and burn, and the stacks of vulnerability. With bleed and burn, the real end damage of 2 seconds of Flame Jet with, lets say 50% crits in a 10 hit cycle and 2-3 misses is at low end 2200 and at high end 3000 damage. But the real purpose of Flame jet is procs. Flame Jet is a pure proc machine, and it should be exploited as such – keeping in mind that Retaliation is a chicken coming home to roost like the big bad wolf.

After that is Flame Blast. This ability hits like a mac truck with Deadly Mixture trait and combined with Acid Bomb. There’s nothing more entertaining than Napalm, Acid Bomb, Flame Blast for 3 stacks of might and bout 4-5k damage on anyone unlucky enough to be inside your cone.

Not to sound insulting, but I hope the FT remains a sorely underestimated kit.

I experimented with replacing my bomb kit with mines, to remove retaliation. It wasn’t as fun, though it often worked.

Jay.4837:

I experimented with replacing my bomb kit with mines, to remove retaliation. It wasn’t as fun, though it often worked.

I’m not sure how that build qualifies as having good survivability. The only condition removers you have are from the medkit, which I don’t know how you use in SPvP combat mid fight, and from Super Elixer. The only thing “tanky” about that spec is your life leaching sigils, and even then you have 2 proc on chance Sigils which share the same cooldown and override eachother, thus making one of them almost completely irrelevant.

I never disputed the FT’s damage, I disputed it’s survivability.

TBH, the “necessity” of stun breakers is chalk full of hyperbole.

There are many builds that are successful without numerous stun breakers, or any at all.

Using medkit mid combat is easy ….

For me, I press Q (swap to medkit). Pretty simple.

nakoda.4213:

TBH, the “necessity” of stun breakers is chalk full of hyperbole.

There are many builds that are successful without numerous stun breakers, or any at all.

Using medkit mid combat is easy ….

For me, I press Q (swap to medkit). Pretty simple.

It’s not the swapping I’m talking about, that’s easy. I’m talking about having to swap and then press 1, 2, and 3 while also making sure you pickup the bottles. How much time does that take? Clicking Elixer H or Turret takes 1 click, and then you’re back in business. I don’t know why you would want to lay stuff on the ground and pick it up in order to heal mid combat. The only time I would use med kit is to setup a position before a fight.

frankly, i dont often need to.

2520 armor, 25k hp, i more often than not make people explode with ft 2, rocket, rocket overcharge, incendiary ammo, and rifle 1 mixed in with 4 nets on rotation before they even get me to 50% to proc my 6pc forge rune.

but, typically, if i need to heal bad enough to use medkit 1-3, i will already have just dropped a supply crate and am running around anyway gathering bandages.

the time it takes to drop a bottle every 18 seconds is negligible.

Dimes.7281:

PvE FT Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqalspSVn1SdF17IBoHAuu3V0jH34J/pAbB;ToAg1CqoyxkjIHbOuck5MwYWA

The build above is amazing for PvE where you can put out a lot of damage and control mobs on the front line with pushback, Smoke Vent, and the Flame Turret’s 5 second Smoke Screen field every 30 seconds. It utilizes a might heavy build that you gain from Juggernaut and HGH and capitalizes on the condition effects from Vulnerability, Bleed, and Burn effects the fast hitting FT provides.

For WvW I switch out the Flame Turret for Elixir C for condition removal and it works pretty good. However, in SPvP I found that this build lacked the defensive stats and utilities to sustain itself in coordinated long duration skirmishes, and you might as well be a sitting duck for ranged classes to kite you around. I’m thinking about re-considering the build with more defensive stats and tossing out HGH or Deadly Mixtures for permanent Regeneration, but in the meantime I’m having a blast with my healing build which seems to be very strong in structured PvP.

Healing Elixir Gun and Bomb Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqCYX3ynF17IRoHF++qV0D9XZL/pgcB;ToAgzCmo6y0loLbXuukdN2Y2A

Bad link

Dimes.7281:

I don’t know why you would want to lay stuff on the ground and pick it up in order to heal mid combat. The only time I would use med kit is to setup a position before a fight.

Because Drop Bandages allow you to get ~3000 health back every 12 seconds on top of the ~5000 raw heal you get from Bandage Self. Drop Antidote is additionally the fastest condition removal skill we have. It may feel cumbersome dropping 1-3 but you are much more survivable than you are with Elixir H. It’s always felt like that to me, anyway.

Elixir H is fine for HGH builds, but Med Kit totally outperforms it in every other situation—and even then; the Healing Turret is a bit more complicated because it has a far larger healing potential than the Med Kit does so long as people Blast finish your Water fields. But that happens more frequently and is easier to coordinate in PvE and not PvP.

And finally: on-heal runes like Altruism and Dwayna work best with the Med Kit because it procs when swapped to and not on Bandage Self or Drop Bandage. This allows you to get the most out of such runes without actually having the disadvantage of using your heal skill when you don’t need it most.

You know, I posted a build (which had flaws, since I could actually mix runes) on here, aimed at +100% burn duration. With the Flamethrower primary that meant you’d get 2s of burning, which not only meant 2 ticks of damage, but also the additional + 10% extra damage on targets that are on fire from the primary attack.

I saw a bunch of replies saying basically, build isn’t useful, go for might stacking.
I tried that, with HGH, and all elixers, I had 18 stacks of might at the same time.

It didn’t feel any more powerful than a +100% burn duration build. You can also get decent condition damage with that build, I had around 1350 condition damage. I’m fairly certain you could get more since I didn’t have the right accessories equipped to maximize it.

Basically I feel that burning gets underestimated. It is a short duration, high damage condition, so it usually lasts the full duration on almost any enemy. Some objections are that on boss fights, people with higher condition damage would basically ‘mute’ your burning if they apply their own – but in those cases a) burning is still a low duration thing, so yours will tick at some point, and b) If that many people are involved, your personal DPS doesn’t necessarily require all that optimization.

I’m somewhat reluctant to post on here, since I don’t do regular number crunching to test all the builds I try. That’s just my two cents, take it or leave it.

nakoda.4213:

frankly, i dont often need to.
2520 armor, 25k hp, i more often than not make people explode with ft 2, rocket, rocket overcharge, incendiary ammo, and rifle 1 mixed in with 4 nets on rotation before they even get me to 50% to proc my 6pc forge rune.

but, typically, if i need to heal bad enough to use medkit 1-3, i will already have just dropped a supply crate and am running around anyway gathering bandages.

the time it takes to drop a bottle every 18 seconds is negligible.

That sounds reasonable for 1v1, but unmanageable for any situation where you have more than one person on you, which is likely to happen when you’re in close range with the FT. Especially when a well-played opponent is making a good effort to keep you controlled with roots, snares, knockbacks and knockdowns. I would hate to have to rely on picking up my heals.

Phineas Poe.3018:

Elixir H is fine for HGH builds, but Med Kit totally outperforms it in every other situation—and even then; the Healing Turret is a bit more complicated because it has a far larger healing potential than the Med Kit does so long as people Blast finish your Water fields. But that happens more frequently and is easier to coordinate in PvE and not PvP.

And finally: on-heal runes like Altruism and Dwayna work best with the Med Kit because it procs when swapped to and not on Bandage Self or Drop Bandage. This allows you to get the most out of such runes without actually having the disadvantage of using your heal skill when you don’t need it most.

Actually it’s quite easy to proc the healing field on the Healing Turret. Healing Turret shoots out it’s regeneration water field .5 seconds after you put it down, so all you have to do is make a habit of exploding your turret .5 seconds after you put it down so you get 2 instant heals, the initial heal, the AOE heal, and 10 seconds of regeneration. Not only that but you’ve started the CD timer on your heal over so it will be ready again in 20 seconds. You can also decide you want conditions removed instead of extra healing and if you overload the Healing Turret instead of exploding it then you get a smaller amount of burst healing but it also AOE removes all conditions. And the good thing is this method didn’t rely on me putting down and picking up a bottle that removes 1 condition every 18 seconds or having to click 4 buttons and move around to heal myself.

RuBarBz.4972:

Dimes.7281:

PvE FT Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqalspSVn1SdF17IBoHAuu3V0jH34J/pAbB;ToAg1CqoyxkjIHbOuck5MwYWA

The build above is amazing for PvE where you can put out a lot of damage and control mobs on the front line with pushback, Smoke Vent, and the Flame Turret’s 5 second Smoke Screen field every 30 seconds. It utilizes a might heavy build that you gain from Juggernaut and HGH and capitalizes on the condition effects from Vulnerability, Bleed, and Burn effects the fast hitting FT provides.

For WvW I switch out the Flame Turret for Elixir C for condition removal and it works pretty good. However, in SPvP I found that this build lacked the defensive stats and utilities to sustain itself in coordinated long duration skirmishes, and you might as well be a sitting duck for ranged classes to kite you around. I’m thinking about re-considering the build with more defensive stats and tossing out HGH or Deadly Mixtures for permanent Regeneration, but in the meantime I’m having a blast with my healing build which seems to be very strong in structured PvP.

Healing Elixir Gun and Bomb Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqCYX3ynF17IRoHF++qV0D9XZL/pgcB;ToAgzCmo6y0loLbXuukdN2Y2A

Bad link

Copy and paste it into your address bar. Guild Wars forum doesn’t recognize it unless it starts with www.

Dimes.7281:

Copy and paste it into your address bar. Guild Wars forum doesn’t recognize it unless it starts with www.

Actually, that’s not why. Links without www work fine. It’s the ; in the link that’s messing it up. I remember reading somewhere on here that it’s a known issue of the forum software.

This is the one I’m using. It’s mainly for grinding in Orr but it feels sturdy yet pretty potent and I’m having lots of fun with it.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/engineer/?2.1|a.1n.h4.a.1g.h1b|0.0.0.0.0.0|1c.7d.1c.7d.1n.79.1n.79.1n.77.1g.77|1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1c.67|a5.u58b.0.u2ab.0|40.7|2b.2g.2i.2w.30|e

Dimes.7281:

Jay.4837:

I experimented with replacing my bomb kit with mines, to remove retaliation. It wasn’t as fun, though it often worked.

I’m not sure how that build qualifies as having good survivability. The only condition removers you have are from the medkit, which I don’t know how you use in SPvP combat mid fight, and from Super Elixer. The only thing “tanky” about that spec is your life leaching sigils, and even then you have 2 proc on chance Sigils which share the same cooldown and override eachother, thus making one of them almost completely irrelevant.

I never disputed the FT’s damage, I disputed it’s survivability.

My video makes the case best http://youtu.be/gQLhD2DCUJ8

You can see the survivability of the build, despite the shortage of condition removal.

I like this one, is a little bit softer than a tanking build, but damage is off the scale.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0pyanrSgF1LJRoC4H0j6D47KSxlb8nCsF;ToAg1CqosyYlwKrVOrkWNyYeB

With out any boons you are sitting at:
20k hp
2300 Armor
2200 Attack
1000 Condition damage.
76% Crit

On Crit you have chance of proccing:
33% Burning through Incendiary powder
30% Bleading through Sharp Shooter
50% Vulnerability through Precise Sights
30% Might Through Signet
50% Swiftness through Infused Presicion

When these start stacking and at 76% crit, they will. They put down some serious hurt.

Apolo.5942:

I like this one, is a little bit softer than a tanking build, but damage is off the scale.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0pyanrSgF1LJRoC4H0j6D47KSxlb8nCsF;ToAg1CqosyYlwKrVOrkWNyYeB

With out any boons you are sitting at:
20k hp
2300 Armor
2200 Attack
1000 Condition damage.
70% Crit

On Crit you have chance of proccing:
33% Burning through Incendiary powder
30% Bleading through Sharp Shooter
30% Chilling through Signet
50% Vulnerability through Precise Sights
30% Might Through Signet
50% Swiftness through Infused Presicion

best check the wiki for how proccing sigils work.
If both sigils have a cooldown, no matter what type they are, the one cooldown can not proc till the cooldown of the other is done.

So in your case: when the might procs, the next 10 seconds the chill can not proc.
After 10 seconds the chill or the might can proc, but whichever it is, sets the shared cooldown in motion again. Either 2 seconds if lucky or the 10 seconds.
Bad news is: main weapon often takes priority.
So maybe swap weapons

Kimbald.2697:

If both sigils have a cooldown, no matter what type they are, the one cooldown can not proc till the cooldown of the other is done.

So in your case: when the might procs, the next 10 seconds the chill can not proc.
After 10 seconds the chill or the might can proc, but whichever it is, sets the shared cooldown in motion again. Either 2 seconds if lucky or the 10 seconds.
Bad news is: main weapon often takes priority.
So maybe swap weapons

No big deal, I would do away with Chilling and either adding 5% crit or Damage. You still get swiftness from Crits so Chilling is overkill.

Corrected build link and previous post

Dimes.7281:

Actually it’s quite easy to proc the healing field on the Healing Turret. Healing Turret shoots out it’s regeneration water field .5 seconds after you put it down, so all you have to do is make a habit of exploding your turret .5 seconds after you put it down so you get 2 instant heals, the initial heal, the AOE heal, and 10 seconds of regeneration.

I have no trouble detonating the Healing Turret or timing Blast finishers with it. I said it was complicated to value how good its healing potential is because its effectiveness depends on how many other people are using Blast finishers too.

The Healing Turret gives 4920 Self-Heal + 1040 Regeneration. Detonating the turret with the Water field active gives an additional 1320. That means, by yourself, you can give yourself a total of 7280 health back every 20 seconds unbuffed.

With the Med Kit, you have Bandage Self which also heals for 4920. Drop Bandages additionally give 1,000 health back per pick-up. That’s 7920 health total every 20 seconds unbuffed—or 10920 every 24.

You might ask about Healing Power, but the gap only widens when included. Both the Healing Turret and Bandage Self are modified x1.0 (100%) of your Healing Power value. The Area Heal from detonating your turret is modified only by x0.2 (20%) of your Healing Power value—Drop Bandage is modified by x0.5, or 50%.

So if you have 1000 Healing Power, your Bandage Self and Healing Turret will heal you for an additional 1000 health. You get an additional 500 for every Drop Bandage, but you’re only going to get another 200 with your Area Heal.

Where the Healing Turret shines is its Cleansing Burst. Totally agree. Love it for Condition heavy content. I don’t think it’s necessary for sPvP though. Elixir C gets the job done just fine for me. And for raw healing, the Med Kit is worth pressing 1-3. You just get more health back.

You may say that the 700 difference is negligible, but every time I use Elixir H or the Healing Turret, I just don’t feel like I’m getting as much health back. Drop Bandages on a 12 second cooldown is huge.

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=VW70;2Z-Vv0hEFQkw0;9;5T-T9;157A;116A1;0L;5Cok1A7W35BFm

I use 0/30/0/30/10 build.

I focus on crits and crit dmg. Conditions on FT are really lackluster as you will mostly get only a little burning and some bleeding from crit. I stack might and use the Human racial to keep up retal and fury, half the time I can maintain perma swiftness.

I use rifle for control, but mostly my MH weps are stat sticks. You can trade out the reduce cooldown to rifle/pistol trait for swiftness on crit to keep it going in battle and then trade to the gain vigor on swiftness trait in alchem for extra dodge.

dirtyshame.1863:

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=VW70;2Z-Vv0hEFQkw0;9;5T-T9;157A;116A1;0L;5Cok1A7W35BFm

I use 0/30/0/30/10 build.

I focus on crits and crit dmg. Conditions on FT are really lackluster as you will mostly get only a little burning and some bleeding from crit. I stack might and use the Human racial to keep up retal and fury, half the time I can maintain perma swiftness.

Keep in mind you are missing out on a huge chunk of damage not traiting for Incendiary Powder in Explosives. Flame Jet gets a 10% damage boost to targets that are burning.

Phineas Poe.3018:

Dimes.7281:

Actually it’s quite easy to proc the healing field on the Healing Turret. Healing Turret shoots out it’s regeneration water field .5 seconds after you put it down, so all you have to do is make a habit of exploding your turret .5 seconds after you put it down so you get 2 instant heals, the initial heal, the AOE heal, and 10 seconds of regeneration.

I have no trouble detonating the Healing Turret or timing Blast finishers with it. I said it was complicated to value how good its healing potential is because its effectiveness depends on how many other people are using Blast finishers too.

The Healing Turret gives 4920 Self-Heal + 1040 Regeneration. Detonating the turret with the Water field active gives an additional 1320. That means, by yourself, you can give yourself a total of 7280 health back every 20 seconds unbuffed.

With the Med Kit, you have Bandage Self which also heals for 4920. Drop Bandages additionally give 1,000 health back per pick-up. That’s 7920 health total every 20 seconds unbuffed—or 10920 every 24.

You might ask about Healing Power, but the gap only widens when included. Both the Healing Turret and Bandage Self are modified x1.0 (100%) of your Healing Power value. The Area Heal from detonating your turret is modified only by x0.2 (20%) of your Healing Power value—Drop Bandage is modified by x0.5, or 50%.

So if you have 1000 Healing Power, your Bandage Self and Healing Turret will heal you for an additional 1000 health. You get an additional 500 for every Drop Bandage, but you’re only going to get another 200 with your Area Heal.

Where the Healing Turret shines is its Cleansing Burst. Totally agree. Love it for Condition heavy content. I don’t think it’s necessary for sPvP though. Elixir C gets the job done just fine for me. And for raw healing, the Med Kit is worth pressing 1-3. You just get more health back.

You may say that the 700 difference is negligible, but every time I use Elixir H or the Healing Turret, I just don’t feel like I’m getting as much health back. Drop Bandages on a 12 second cooldown is huge.

The 700 hp healing difference is certainly not negligible, and it is worth considering depending on your build. However what I am pointing out is that although you gain 700 more hp healing difference by using medpacks, you sacrifice time for the greater heal return. For example, Bandage Self takes 1 second to activate, Swap to Medpack another .5 seconds, and dropping each separate medpack takes a total of 1.5 seconds, and that comes to a total heal time of ~3 seconds spread out over 4 abilities. Healing Turret on the other hand takes .5 seconds to drop and another .5 seconds to cast it’s Water Field regen upon which it can be detonated instantly for a total Heal Time of 1 second. So Healing Turret actually heals you 3 times faster than the Medkit for ~700 less healing.

Also, it’s important to note that the Medpack only heals instantly when you are running forward, and if you are strafing, moving backward, or are immobilized you will not be able to take the Bandages you drop. This means the best way to use the Medkit is when you’re running away in a straight line. The Healing Turret is 3x faster, can be used in any situation, and AOE Heals + Regenerates or Cleanses my allies in battle. Thus why I use the Healing Turret over the Medkit.

Dimes.7281:

The 700 hp healing difference is certainly not negligible, and it is worth considering depending on your build. However what I am pointing out is that although you gain 700 more hp healing difference by using medpacks, you sacrifice time for the greater heal return. For example, Bandage Self takes 1 second to activate, Swap to Medpack another .5 seconds, and dropping each separate medpack takes a total of 1.5 seconds, and that comes to a total heal time of ~3 seconds spread out over 4 abilities. Healing Turret on the other hand takes .5 seconds to drop and another .5 seconds to cast it’s Water Field regen upon which it can be detonated instantly for a total Heal Time of 1 second. So Healing Turret actually heals you 3 times faster than the Medkit for ~700 less healing.

Also, it’s important to note that the Medpack only heals instantly when you are running forward, and if you are strafing, moving backward, or are immobilized you will not be able to take the Bandages you drop. This means the best way to use the Medkit is when you’re running away in a straight line. The Healing Turret is 3x faster, can be used in any situation, and AOE Heals + Regenerates or Cleanses my allies in battle. Thus why I use the Healing Turret over the Medkit.

If that’s how you want to look at it, I guess.

I did forget to mention Regenerating Mist, which heals for 780 through Regeneration and can similarly be Blast finished once every 60 seconds. I often do Regenerating Mist + Acid Bomb in PvE, personally. Even still, the Healing Turret with all its skills with Blast finishers heals for 23940 health every minute.

The Med Kit with all its skills heals for 29760 every minute. That’s a 5820 health return difference. I’ll gladly take a couple extra sections to drop everything for that. Not to mention the fact that I can additionally drop health packs around nodes/towers/boss rooms before I or my allies even take any damage.

Nothing against the Healing Turret, of course. I use it all the time. To tell you the truth, half the time I use the Med Kit—beyond its healing ability—is for its Swiftness buff. Unless I’m using the Tool Kit, I have no points in Tools. And I don’t think Elixir B on its own really cuts the mustard.

Phineas Poe.3018:

Dimes.7281:

The 700 hp healing difference is certainly not negligible, and it is worth considering depending on your build. However what I am pointing out is that although you gain 700 more hp healing difference by using medpacks, you sacrifice time for the greater heal return. For example, Bandage Self takes 1 second to activate, Swap to Medpack another .5 seconds, and dropping each separate medpack takes a total of 1.5 seconds, and that comes to a total heal time of ~3 seconds spread out over 4 abilities. Healing Turret on the other hand takes .5 seconds to drop and another .5 seconds to cast it’s Water Field regen upon which it can be detonated instantly for a total Heal Time of 1 second. So Healing Turret actually heals you 3 times faster than the Medkit for ~700 less healing.

Also, it’s important to note that the Medpack only heals instantly when you are running forward, and if you are strafing, moving backward, or are immobilized you will not be able to take the Bandages you drop. This means the best way to use the Medkit is when you’re running away in a straight line. The Healing Turret is 3x faster, can be used in any situation, and AOE Heals + Regenerates or Cleanses my allies in battle. Thus why I use the Healing Turret over the Medkit.

If that’s how you want to look at it, I guess.

I did forget to mention Regenerating Mist, which heals for 780 through Regeneration and can similarly be Blast finished once every 60 seconds. I often do Regenerating Mist + Acid Bomb in PvE, personally. Even still, the Healing Turret with all its skills with Blast finishers heals for 23940 health every minute.

The Med Kit with all its skills heals for 29760 every minute. That’s a 5820 health return difference. I’ll gladly take a couple extra sections to drop everything for that. Not to mention the fact that I can additionally drop health packs around nodes/towers/boss rooms before I or my allies even take any damage.

Nothing against the Healing Turret, of course. I use it all the time. To tell you the truth, half the time I use the Med Kit—beyond its healing ability—is for its Swiftness buff. Unless I’m using the Tool Kit, I have no points in Tools. And I don’t think Elixir B on its own really cuts the mustard.

It all comes down to how you’re traited and what you’re doing. In SPvP or TPvP I would never use Medkit, in PvE it certainly becomes more feasible because Mobs are easier to kite than other players. Also, if I’m HGH specced I use Elixir H and Elixir B, and between consume Elixir H, Consume Elixir B, and toss Elixir B, I pretty much have Swiftness on demand anyway and if I have Speedy Kits, it really isn’t even a factor at all. However, if you’re DPS traited for PVE an important thing to consider is that you may get more healing out of the Medpack but you also spend more time healing resulting in less DPS or whatever else you’re doing in the encounter.

Also, anyone can put down Bandages and Elixirs before a boss fight or around a tower to prep before battle, all you have to do is temporarily switch to Medkit and then switch back to the Healing Turret, it’s only when you’re engaged in combat when you can’t switch. In the end though it all just comes down to playing the way that feels most comfortable to you.

I actually find medkit strictly only usable in 1v1 dueling and that is it. It does heal marginally more, but that healing is completely negated by the extra time required to use it. In the extra second or so you have to disengage to cast and pick up the healing packs your opponent can easily cause just as much or more damage than they will actually heal you for.