Guild Wars 2

So I’m a rusty engineer trying to jump back into the Engineer for PvE. I tend to gear glassy, so I want to get an offensive use out of my engineer.

What is the current meta for being efficient in dungeons and fotm? Any tips for a returning engineer?

Also, will the deployable turrets toss be fixed? (It’s a really awesome bug that makes turrets actually usable in boss fights…)

Still Grenades. Popularity-wise, HGH seems to be a big hit. I personally am still running SD/Grenades.

What is the basis of the HGH build? Is it conditions? I’m more of a Berserker fan.

I think you can go berserker aswel. Also you don’t need to go hgh for grenades, sure it’s populair build, but there are other options. Personally I prefer to stick to my rifle SD build. If you still want to use grenades I would suggest that you go over to guru, someone has writen a pretty good guide for using the grenades. Heres the link: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/82395-guide-to-grenades-in-pve/

Thing about grenades is that they hit harder than rifle, matches its range (1200-1500 depending on traits), and is circular AOE rather than pierce. This means that it is the hardest hitting long range attack we have.

digiowl.9620:

Thing about grenades is that they hit harder than rifle, matches its range (1200-1500 depending on traits), and is circular AOE rather than pierce. This means that it is the hardest hitting long range attack we have.

It’s the hardest hitting range attack in the hole game – that’s why I will never understand why ele is meta of aoe dmg. Engi totally outdamages any other range class.

So I just spec 30-30-0-0-10 and use grenades? That is it???

Ain’t that a little weak? (And tedious to use?)

It is not weak but it is tedious. Also there are alot of Grenade Specs but they all have 30 points into Explosives.

As a zerker, couldn’t I accomplish more damage by using bombs, or possibly wrench? What about stacking might with Flamethrower and trapping to rifle?

NickDollahZ.5348:

It is not weak but it is tedious. Also there are alot of Grenade Specs but they all have 30 points into Explosives.

I agree. Ive been taking on vets 3-6lvls higher than me and winning… by the skin of my teeth sure but I still won. On some bosses maintaining a “pylon turn” around it while throwing nades is annoying. I kinda wish there was an option alongside throw/shoot/whatever at the mouse cursor, which would throw/shoot/whatever at the target automatically.

Kain Francois.4328:

As a zerker, couldn’t I accomplish more damage by using bombs, or possibly wrench? What about stacking might with Flamethrower and trapping to rifle?

While the Bomb kit auto attack hits harder than Nades, it requires you to be in melee range to use and as a zerker thats one of the last places you want to be. The other nade skills hit harder than bomb skills though and are better at spreading conditions and stacking vuln for more damage.

While might stacking with a Flamethrower is pretty good, you’ll still do alot more damage with grenades. Don’t be fooled by the big number at the end of the Flamethrowers attack, that attack is spread out over 2.25 seconds. In that time you would have launched three grenade attacks which would have done more damage overall. Also you’re able to might stack using Grenades too. Overall grenades are better damage wise.

The tool kit also suffers from the Flamethrower’s shortcommings. Its attack chain while giving pretty high numbers, takes 2.25 sec to complete.

Overall the grenade kit is the best kit for pure damage (and conditions). However the other kits have their own niches and you can also switch between kits and cycle through their strongest attacks.

cookie-cutter HGH build aren’t going to cut it in PvE, condition damage is next to useless in most cases.

Personally, I run builds that center around power, precision, crit, but not exclusively ’zerker gear. I tend to default to using bombs, tool kit and sometimes FT when it comes to kits. ’Nades are nice but hit nowhere near as hard as they used to.

‘zerker bombs in PvE is absolutely great if you have the skill to stay alive, which in PvE is a hell of a lot easier due to predictability of mobs. Keep vigor up and use your blocks, you’ll be fine.

PWNcakesAndROFLs.8263:

’Nades are nice but hit nowhere near as hard as they used to.

This.

The Grenade Kit still outdamages the Flamethrower/Rifle/Bomb Kit/Tool Kit but not so much that they aren’t viable alternatives. The FT/EG build is still alive and well and provides a great balance of DPS and support. I’ve lately made a point to mess around more with the Rifle and Bomb Kit. I’ve even incorporated gadgets into my bar and (gasp!) went 30 points in Tools.

Not only was my damage output arguably just as good as it was with the Grenade Kit, but I was having a lot more fun at the same time, using a ton of Blast finishers that put my group’s Might stacks through the roof—not just my own (like the HGH build).

If you find the Grenade Kit tedious, don’t use it. And like what PWNcakes posted above, it’s not even as good as it used to be. Without the double Grenade Barrage and the nerf to “Grenade” (the #1 skill), it’s not even really worth using unless you plan on gearing for Condition Damage.

But the Elixir Gun is just as good at applying Poison (while removing conditions on allies at the same time). The Flamethrower is just as good at applying Burning. And the Pistol/Bomb Kit has access to damaging conditions that the Grenade Kit doesn’t even have.

The Grenade Kit is currently good at two things: Bleed stacking and Vulnerability stacking. We are not the only class that can do this. And if you have an Axe/Mace Warrior and a Scepter Ele in your group, you might as well not even concern yourself with it.

Don’t go grenades guys. Especially for PvE, I don’t care how mind blowing the damage is, it is not worth the carpal tunnel.

Is there much viability to building tanky? I’ve been leveling with a lot of success on a bomb kit build, with raw Power as well as defensive specs. Will that be made obsolete by the time I get up to dungeons/ fractals?

Phineas Poe.3018:

PWNcakesAndROFLs.8263:

’Nades are nice but hit nowhere near as hard as they used to.

The Grenade Kit is currently good at two things: Bleed stacking and Vulnerability stacking. We are not the only class that can do this. And if you have an Axe/Mace Warrior and a Scepter Ele in your group, you might as well not even concern yourself with it.

Even in its nerfed state, Nades are still your highest damage output both direct and condition damage wise (I think the math was done and bomb kit just barely edges it out but its alot harder to use and pretty clunky). One of the reasons why is that it scales incredibly well. For example your Rifle #1 is a pretty hard hitting skill with a .65 dmg coefficient. Grenades 1 meanwhile have around a .33 dmg coefficient. However that is per Grenade, and when traited and you get all three grenades to hit (not that hard) then you are getting the full amount out of your power. Few skills have that kind of scaling for a relatively fast attack. This is not including the other grenade skills that scale up even better.

The thing with flamethrower and tool kits is that they only have one heavy damage dealing skill outside their auto attack. When that is used up, you need to change kits to use their heavy damage skills or just auto attack. And with the autoattacks, while you might see some big numbers at the end, they both take a full 2.25 s to cycle through. In that time you would have thrown 3 grenade attacks that would outpace that damage easily. Elixer gun damage is pretty bad and is not used for its damage.

This is for full power builds though, in terms of conditions nades blows the other kits away no contest.

Seems like ANet made trouble for themselves when they made the grenades work as a multiple projectile attack.

I agree digiowl. The fact that you throw 3 grenades makes it invaluable Kit even if it did the same or less damage as the others. The Vulnerability stacking on Grenades is quite strong due to the interaction between Steel-packed powder and 3 grenades flying every ~.8 seconds. Also Sharpnel trait interaction with Grenade Kit spam. 15 target aoe limit instead of normal 5. I can go on and on.