Guild Wars 2

I think all the nerfs we got killed it.

Earth sigil nerf: 2s icd.
Pistol nerf 1: Reduced bleed duration.
Pistol nerf 2: No more aoe bleed.
Grenade nerf: Range reduced to 900.
Poison grenade nerf.
Flame turret nerf.
Pistol nerf 3: removed coated bullets.

As well as the things stated before, other classes got buffs to their condition removal capabilities as well. As a result condition engineer (roaming) is at best a +1 setup unless you are countering your opponent’s build (they have to condition clears) or they are bad.

Power / Condition Hybrid builds are lingering out there somewhere but you are perhaps better off running some (modified) version of the PvP Scrapper build instead. Unless you have friends to carr-support your sub-standard build choice.

Pistol/pistol hybrid scrapper with all gyros work great 1v1.

The problem is certain specific classes that are very popular hard-counter condis cough kitten you reapers! hurk.

The guy asked specifically for NON-scrapper builds.
As others have implied, the short answer is not really. This is mainly because of the improved condo clears many professions now have. That said, if you choose your fights (i.e. run away when none of your condis are sticking) it can be done effectively. Blowtorch is really strong, and glue shot will help you land it reliably. Take flamethrower for its toolbelt and for the napalm fire field that will give pistol autos a chance to burn. Full the rest of the bar with some elixirs and you should be good to go. Otherwise you might want gadgets to pick up rocket boots and slick shoes to facilitate the afford-mentioned getaways. For traits, take firearms definitely, and then some combination of tools, elixirs, and inventions. Heal turret will always be your best choice.

Vanilla condi engies are pretty meh imo.
Pistols are pretty weak, shield has long cooldowns, good condi builds aren’t all that mobile , rely too much on too few dammage sources and get countered by the many reapers roaming around.

If you’re running a Condi build, run as far and fast as possible away from reapers. If you have to fight them, use cc, since their stun breaks are few and far between, and are on long cooldowns.

I play rabid type p/p condi scrapper in wvw with great results. Less of a reaper problem than issues with decent mesmer. Reaps just play them at range ftw.

In my experience, and take this with a grain of salt because I’m certainly not a top tier Engi, condition Engineer doesn’t have enough duration to be a threat with most of it’s conditions.

Unless you’re really stacking up the burn duration effects like using Balthazar runes and Smoldering sigils, etc., the other condi’s just don’t last very long and you have poor sustained pressure unless you’re taking multiple kits in which case you’re going to be vulnerable to conditions yourself.

Engi has a lot of variety in condition application and with the right set up, can land a pretty nice condi burst as well. But again, the durations are quite short and it’s incredibly difficult to keep up sustained pressure after you’ve blown your burst. It’s a lot like a condition Thief where if you can survive that initial nuke, you just laugh at them and they either run away or die.

I’d say your best bet is working on a burn build if you want to go condition. Engi has some pretty high burn uptime so you can maintain pressure and set up a really solid burst as well by timing your Incendiary Powder’s with your weapon/toolbelt skills.

SpellOfIniquity has made some good points. Burning is where you are going to get your damage. Realistically you won’t be able to stack enough bleeds on an opponent for them to matter much and the reality is that few of your conditions will last long enough to matter.

I can see Condi P/P Scrapper performing better on the merit that you could stealth with the Gyro to set up for your next burst. I don’t see this performing much better in the long run either. I would not encourage you to purchase the expansion in the expectation that Scrapper will add any value to the WvW condition Engineer’s case to exist. The OP requested about non-HoT condition engineer builds so let’s bring the discussion back there.

All of that being said. Rangers, Reapers, Daredevils, Mesmers (Condi/anything that returns your condis) and Meditation Guardians (probably won’t encounter many) all have enough condition clears/returns to make your WvW experience absolutely miserable with a Condition Engineer. Once your initial burst is over you have nothing else to pressure opponents with except maybe FT 4 + Pistol AA.

While I am sure that you may manage to get a few kills here and there with it; against better players this will struggle to even be competitive. Based on the current meta you will meet all of the above classes in WvW and struggle (not a competitive, youtube montage worthy, fun type of struggle either) against them. Not worth any investment in my opinion.