Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, I recently came back to the game after quitting (about when fire and ice came out). I had a quick question about armor configs since I’ve returned. I’ve looked at meta builds but I have a question specifically to how engies are using celestial in PvE

I’m currently working on ascended trinkets and I was wondering how most people use Celestial gear. For ele’s (based on forum posts I’ve read) most people will use celestial trinkets + accessories (in their specific celestial builds) but agree that full celestial is bad. Is it the same way for engies? Is it better to use the celestial just to get a good set of baseline stats then go zerker/rabid gear depending on your build?

TLDR: Is full celestial worth it, or simply grab trinkets+accessories.

Bonus round! : are engies doing well in fractals or is it better to take an elementalists?

Thanks guys!

celestial is a pvp gear. If you use it in pve, you already start with a bad build. Engis are good to have in fractals, just as having an elementalist is. Try to have both.

DrArmature.4619:

Bonus round! : are engies doing well in fractals or is it better to take an elementalists?

engi is fine for fractals. i do 50s well in both decently organized groups and pug groups. usually a fractal will go better when theres a guardian in the party, but i have had pug groups completely throw that.

any class played well does well in fractals. there is a role for everyone. engi’s role is mostly dps, vuln, and might, but also stealth, projectile defense (toss u), soft cc, unblockable cc, or boon strips in a pinch when you dont have someone willing to do it better.

for might stacking is it mainly bringing bomb kit so you can big bomb and det turret?

DrArmature.4619:

for might stacking is it mainly bringing bomb kit so you can big bomb and det turret?

thats one variant, i try to blast rocket boots or throw mine on the field too (i usually have rocket boots on my bar). someone did some calculation somewhere that says ft 4 + using 2 on cd is better for might stacking and dps when you need the vuln from nades spam more than you need to spam 1 in bombs, which is usually true against champs/legendaries, so ft is worth using if you never push 1!

i forgot to mention engi also excels at hard control and thats a really useful role in a couple fractals. rifle 4, ft 3, magnet, and well placed BoBs/shield 4/APT knockbacks etc just make life easier. but tbh, the role is often nullified by line of sight abuse. and often pugs will make it impossible to predictably control something like mai trin, bearbows love to spam 4 for no kittening reason. but you can clear a lot of defiance for icebow 5 or something too in highly organized parties.

I think Sinister stats would be best for PvE if you’re after the ultimate balance between condi and power, right? I run celestial for all modes though.

I’m more a PvP player than PvE, where survivability matters much more, but Celestial works fine in PvE. Especially some of the new open world stuff where being able to juggle lots of mobs at once is quite handy.
Just don’t expect the epic dps of a “meta” full ’zerker build.

Brew Pinch.5731:

I think Sinister stats would be best for PvE if you’re after the ultimate balance between condi and power, right? I run celestial for all modes though.

I’m more a PvP player than PvE, where survivability matters much more, but Celestial works fine in PvE. Especially some of the new open world stuff where being able to juggle lots of mobs at once is quite handy.
Just don’t expect the epic dps of a “meta” full ’zerker build.

Oooorrr…crazy idea! Run the meta full zerker(partially asssassin actually) and enjoy top deeps!

Celestial is pure kitten for pve. Sinister might be better depending on how many guards/eles you have in party. Unless you that guy who promised to show a vid of him facetanking grawl shaman at 49 with celestial engi. Sadly the video never came to be. Reasons unknown.

Edit: only bads use celestial on ele in pve.

Brew Pinch.5731:

I think Sinister stats would be best for PvE if you’re after the ultimate balance between condi and power, right? I run celestial for all modes though.

For teamplay (e.g. Fractals/Dungeons.) Assassin Weapons/Armor with Berserker Trinkets would still be optimal in most team-situations due to many classes applying bleeds involuntary (Warrior, Mesmer, Necromancers can’t go around it due to minor traits and then there’s Frostbow to consider.) Having a combination of those would make your main damaging condition less effective due to the cap on Conditions. Engineers also have a rather poor Critical Chance, so they benefit a lot from the extra precision Assassin offers for ‘proc on crit’ (vulnerability mainly) but only if those crits actually hit for considerable damage, hence Ferocity is a must. Then there’s the build-up damage Conditions have, though that’s more an issue in dungeons, where things die within seconds, than Fractals. Lastly there’re a few bosses Conditions are completely negible on, but they’re far and in between (Mai Trin at 1+ stacks, HotW p1 boss and Golem in all CoE paths.)

Obviously all these points apply to PvE-teamplay only with an aim to be the best you can be. For Solos I’m quite confident Sinister (likely with Giver’s Weapons) will win easily, if your build focuses on Conditions Damage, considering Rabid was already rather good and trading Toughness for Power is an easy choice in PvE.

I’ve yet to encounter something in PvE where I can’t survive with zero defensive stats, I’m not a very good player, so it’s safe to assume you don’t ‘need’ them anywhere, hence I’d recommend against Celestial (if you wish to be optimal) since all that toughness, vitality and healing power could be damage. ^^