Guild Wars 2

Engineer
The goal for engineers in this update is to improve trait synergy, weapon usefulness, and kit purity of purpose. Both power and condition builds will be affected in this round of changes, with a focus on PvE group viability. Notable to this, the trait Pinpoint Distribution now grants a unique condition-damage bonus to allies around the engineer. The Flamethrower utility kit is now focused on burning and keeping that condition on your enemies.

• Blunderbuss: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and will now deal the higher (10%) damage values in all areas of the game. Increased bleeding stacks from 1 – 4 to 2 – 5, based on range. Increased bleeding duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
• Fragmentation Shot: Bleeding duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Blowtorch: The number of burning applications that this skill applies has been increased from 1/2/3 to 2/3/4.
• Elixir U: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.
• Toss Elixir U: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 50 seconds to 40 seconds.
• Super Elixir: Fixed a bug where this skill would display the wrong healing values underwater.
• Shredder Gyro Self-Destruct: Increased damage to match other gyros.
• Shredder Gyro: Increased damage by roughly 50%.
• Glue Bomb: Immobilize duration of this skill has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
• Big Ol’ Bomb: This skill is now affected by Short Fuse. The visual size of this bomb has been increased by 33%.
• Short Fuse: Updated the Fuse Time to correctly display the fuse time reduction of 0.5 seconds. This trait now affects Big Ol’ Bomb.
• Glass Cannon: The threshold for damage increase has been reduced from 90% to 75%.
• Shaped Charge: The damage of this skill has been increased from 7% to 10%.
• Static Discharge: The damage dealt by this trait has been increased by 20%.
• Shrapnel: The chance for this trait to activate has been increased from 15% to 33%. Reduced cripple duration from 2 seconds to 1 second. Reduced bleed duration from 12 seconds to 6 seconds. Fixed issues with this trait that caused it to activate at lower-than-expected rates for some skills. Updated the description to specify that this trait only activates on hit.
• Explosion: Skills that count as explosions for the traits Steel-Packed Powder, Explosive Powder, and Shrapnel are now marked with a skill fact. Scrapper gyro detonations are now considered explosions. Skills that do not hit the enemy, such as Smoke Bomb and Magnetic Bomb, are no longer considered explosions for combat clarity reasons.
• Pinpoint Distribution: This trait no longer grants condition damage based on precision. This trait will now instead grant up to 150 condition damage to nearby allies.
• Flame Jet: The duration of burning inflicted on the final hit of this skill has been increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Flame Blast: Reduced the base damage of this skill by 66%. This skill now inflicts burning for 3 seconds.
• Detonate Flame Blast: Reduced the base damage of this skill by 57%. This skill now inflicts 2 stacks of burning for 3 seconds.

I already made this thread.

bearshaman.3421:

I already made this thread.

Apologies. Could you possibly rename the thread and quote the Patch Notes like I did? Or request a merge?

I find it way more valuable to track Engi updates if they are dated to the respective update. Makes it easier for the devs and players to follow what we are thinking (Heck…we are Engineers, we have to figure out a way to make us work most efficiently)

I think there will be some different build . I don’t know if meta but i see an scrapper, alchemy explosive with hammer and nades with some gyro blast , bulk/purge and sneak and sage scrapper with flamethrower , with a sigil of intelligence and balthazar runes … only for saying 2 things i am trying . I think sage amulet will be more used now becouse some changes benefits from condi damage and power togegher . another possibility will be carrion but i have to try it . Even rifle has been buffed on condi so i think this will be the way anet designed for us

Engineer
The goal for engineers in this update is to improve trait synergy, weapon usefulness, and kit purity of purpose. Both power and condition builds will be affected in this round of changes, with a focus on PvE group viability. Notable to this, the trait Pinpoint Distribution now grants a unique condition-damage bonus to allies around the engineer. The Flamethrower utility kit is now focused on burning and keeping that condition on your enemies.

I think a Hybrid approach to making Engi viable is a good decision it can allow 3 strong options for players: Power, Condi, or both. According to some DPS benchmarks, Power and Condi are pretty close in terms of DPS—so welcoming buffs to each side would effectively get our DPS options more noticed and welcomed by other classes in PvE.

• Blunderbuss: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and will now deal the higher (10%) damage values in all areas of the game. Increased bleeding stacks from 1 – 4 to 2 – 5, based on range. Increased bleeding duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.

This is a really powerful Rifle skill and the increased damage (what seems to be in both it’s power-base and condition-base) encourages more Rifle gameplay…While this shouldn’t have been the only Rifle skill to be touched, it is a step in the right direction.

• Fragmentation Shot: Bleeding duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.

More condi = meta Condi (Viper’s) PvE build even better. No complaints.

• Blowtorch: The number of burning applications that this skill applies has been increased from 1/2/3 to 2/3/4.

This effectively adds 3000 condition damage when running the meta Condi (Viper’s) PvE build. I like seeing things burn. Pocket Flamethrower.

• Elixir U: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.
• Toss Elixir U: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 50 seconds to 40 seconds.

Still a long time to really justify its usage. With HGH (Alchemy trait line), this comes down to 32s. Probably with a build that prioritzes boon duration, this can be really useful…however…it hasn’t really changed anything as it doesn’t help your party in PvE.

• Super Elixir: Fixed a bug where this skill would display the wrong healing values underwater.

Rarely underwater these days, but got to appreciate the attention.

• Shredder Gyro Self-Destruct: Increased damage to match other gyros.

Is it confirmed that “Self-Destruct” is even properly triggered when they are destroyed? After the nerf to the trait “Impact Savant” by removing Daze from “Self-Destuct” it’s hard to find reason to purposely destruct anymore.

• Shredder Gyro: Increased damage by roughly 50%.

Welcomed change. I think the AoE should have been increased too (to encourage it’s pick in PvP at least).

• Glue Bomb: Immobilize duration of this skill has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.

Welcomed, but like few suggestions before this…the duration of the puddle (5s) does not match the lasting condition effect (Cripple, 4s with +70% condition duration) and the number of pulses (4) does not re-trigger the glue or match the puddle’s duration.

• Big Ol’ Bomb: This skill is now affected by Short Fuse. The visual size of this bomb has been increased by 33%.
• Short Fuse: Updated the Fuse Time to correctly display the fuse time reduction of 0.5 seconds. This trait now affects Big Ol’ Bomb.

Allows the seamless incorporation of this skill in a DPS rotation.

• Glass Cannon: The threshold for damage increase has been reduced from 90% to 75%.

Welcomed. Doesn’t effect condition damage still (right?), but welcomed as an increase to the Power side.

• Shaped Charge: The damage of this skill has been increased from 7% to 10%.
• Static Discharge: The damage dealt by this trait has been increased by 20%.

DPS increase.

• Shrapnel: The chance for this trait to activate has been increased from 15% to 33%. Reduced cripple duration from 2 seconds to 1 second. Reduced bleed duration from 12 seconds to 6 seconds. Fixed issues with this trait that caused it to activate at lower-than-expected rates for some skills. Updated the description to specify that this trait only activates on hit.

Sort of a nerf since the duration has been decreased…but at the same time, it can trigger more often. Don’t think this actually went anywhere other than losing 1s of cripple.

• Explosion: Skills that count as explosions for the traits Steel-Packed Powder, Explosive Powder, and Shrapnel are now marked with a skill fact. Scrapper gyro detonations are now considered explosions. Skills that do not hit the enemy, such as Smoke Bomb and Magnetic Bomb, are no longer considered explosions for combat clarity reasons.

Gyro addition makes running Scrapper a bit more welcomed, especially with the change to Shredder. Could potentially replace using a kit in our somewhat complex DPS rotation?

• Pinpoint Distribution: This trait no longer grants condition damage based on precision. This trait will now instead grant up to 150 condition damage to nearby allies.

Worth noting that Pinpoint Distribution incorrectly says “Increased Precision” in the tooltip for the buff it provides. A very valuable addition to have as it encourages Engi involvement in PvE areas that Engi’s have hard time fitting into. This is a step in the right direction to get us Engi mains welcome.

• Flame Jet: The duration of burning inflicted on the final hit of this skill has been increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.

Finally. The ideal Flamethrower skill actually burns longer than the time it takes to channel like one would expect!

• Flame Blast: Reduced the base damage of this skill by 66%. This skill now inflicts burning for 3 seconds.
• Detonate Flame Blast: Reduced the base damage of this skill by 57%. This skill now inflicts 2 stacks of burning for 3 seconds.

Like the burning addition…dislike the base damage nerf. Counter productive to the “Hybrid” approach to balancing Engi.

Right going of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/5vebuq/current_major_problems_engineer_currently_has/

We got the aura.

The other 95% of issues are still there.

For what its worth condi engi will probably be the best theoretical dps now.

PierPiero.9142:

I think there will be some different build . I don’t know if meta but i see an scrapper, alchemy explosive with hammer and nades with some gyro blast , bulk/purge and sneak and sage scrapper with flamethrower , with a sigil of intelligence and balthazar runes … only for saying 2 things i am trying . I think sage amulet will be more used now becouse some changes benefits from condi damage and power togegher . another possibility will be carrion but i have to try it . Even rifle has been buffed on condi so i think this will be the way anet designed for us

I can see some value in running Scrapper now too, however, would be hard to tell if it changes the meta just on the Gyro changes alone. Hammer is a strong Power-build oriented weapon, but can it compete with Rifle since Rifle also provides Condi damage on top of Power?

It might shift the PvP/WvW meta build a bit, not sure about PvE (Raids, Fractals).

Pride.1734:

Right going of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/5vebuq/current_major_problems_engineer_currently_has/

We got the aura.

The other 95% of issues are still there.

For what its worth condi engi will probably be the best theoretical dps now.

Yeah. It’s a step in the right direction. I like how they are addressing both Power and Condi (by buffing both sides) instead of just forcing all Engi’s down one path (though Condi wins here for the most part).

Still, long way to go…and I still fear if we follow the update trend… such Buffs lead to unreasonably heavy nerfs elsewhere to keep us down. On the bright side, they are reading input and are getting an idea where Engis want to be (which is: Accepted, Welcomed, Encouraged by others).

Rather than “a step in the right direction” i think this is the last cookie we will get before the next expansion. Don’t expect medkit to work anytime soon.

Pride.1734:

Rather than “a step in the right direction” i think this is the last cookie we will get before the next expansion. Don’t expect medkit to work anytime soon.

Maybe the last major PvE change (since that was the primary focus).

Sadly, none of this really affects us PvP (especially given some of the buffs/“nerfs” to our hardest counters/match-ups there).

Yes, Power build got a bit of a bonus with the esplosives and SD dmg boost.
SD is still bad on many toolbelt skills though.

Our condi build is still (structurally) the same but got a nice dps buff and the aura.
Maybe condi groups in raids and fotm will want to take engies now.

The change to blunderburst and FT might make the celestial rifle (wvw) build viable again… maybe??

Buff to blowtorch is nice, but sadly blowtorch is still on the OH pistol and shield is still really bad on CD. So P/S is still not a good choice on any game mode.

The CD reduction on EU makes the perma-quickness build easier to go with.
Perma quickness with FT+25Might+burns might be a thing for PVE now.

On the other side…
– Riffle still lacks evades on #4 or #5 and still self CC.
– Gadgets and gadgeteer are still bad,
– elixirs still have bad CDs.
– Med kit is still a joke…
– There is still no purpose to keep turrets around.

Well, condi got buff, that’s for sure.

Buffing blunderbuss is a step in the right direction but rifle needs muvh more to be good, maybe evade on 5, remove self cc on 4, make 2 little more useful and maybe buff AA.

Shield is still too underwhelming and forgotten.

SD may be little better but it’s still not on the same level as the classic kit power build.

Overall better than expected but disappointed about no changes to the stagnant and low used skill variety.

LUST.7241:

• Shrapnel: The chance for this trait to activate has been increased from 15% to 33%. Reduced cripple duration from 2 seconds to 1 second. Reduced bleed duration from 12 seconds to 6 seconds. Fixed issues with this trait that caused it to activate at lower-than-expected rates for some skills. Updated the description to specify that this trait only activates on hit.

Sort of a nerf since the duration has been decreased…but at the same time, it can trigger more often. Don’t think this actually went anywhere other than losing 1s of cripple.

Its burstier for Grenades, but ultimately should be equivalent DPS. The big key is that its much more relevant for non-Grenade explosions.

• Flame Jet: The duration of burning inflicted on the final hit of this skill has been increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.

Finally. The ideal Flamethrower skill actually burns longer than the time it takes to channel like one would expect!

• Flame Blast: Reduced the base damage of this skill by 66%. This skill now inflicts burning for 3 seconds.
• Detonate Flame Blast: Reduced the base damage of this skill by 57%. This skill now inflicts 2 stacks of burning for 3 seconds.

Like the burning addition…dislike the base damage nerf. Counter productive to the “Hybrid” approach to balancing Engi.

I think, similar to Shrapnel, that they were moving the damage from power into condi to make the hybrid more palatable. And with the AA change, that’s a straight DPS increase, so the damage needed to be reduced from Flame Blast. That also means that the damage attacks 2 different kinds of defenses. Its less burst but also requires a cleanse to remove lingering damage. Whether or not the burning damage makes up for the lost power will depend entirely on your condition damage. There’ll be some breakpoints somewhere, but I bet Hybrid will end up being more total damage in the end compared to pre-patch Power.

Overall I really like the patch from an Engineer’s viewpoint. I can’t expect every patch to hit every single target, but there’s definitely a general theme for each profession’s changes and I think its pushing for an option right next to the meta

Pride.1734:

Rather than “a step in the right direction” i think this is the last cookie we will get before the next expansion. Don’t expect medkit to work anytime soon.

Are you expecting the next Expansion to drop within 3-6 months?

happy with the static discharge buff!
don’t care for condi buff tho, even if it needed one.

SD buff is okay, but it still doesn’t work on any toolbelt skill that isn’t a single-target ability.

Rifle 5 needs needs needs a godkitten kittening EVADE. It’s such a high-risk skill right now because it’s a long animation and is interrupted by cc the whole time.
Evade backward instead of self-cc on Rifle 4 would also go a long way to making it playable. It’s even worse than Jump Shot. If you Overcharged Shot a Warrior with Last Stand, for example, you are just dead. They are not stunned. They get instant stability. They follow up with CC, burst and kill you while you’re knocked back.

So, I’m not an engineer main. I barely play mine, if I’m honest. However, while looking at the traits and working on building a hybrid power/condition flamethrower build, I noticed that Juggernaut and Incendiary Powder are mutually exclusive traits. This seems like an odd thing to just leave lying around with this flamethrower semi-rework. Whaddya think? Would moving one of these traits to another slot make sense/help?

GDK the White Hawk.2604:

So, I’m not an engineer main. I barely play mine, if I’m honest. However, while looking at the traits and working on building a hybrid power/condition flamethrower build, I noticed that Juggernaut and Incendiary Powder are mutually exclusive traits. This seems like an odd thing to just leave lying around with this flamethrower semi-rework. Whaddya think? Would moving one of these traits to another slot make sense/help?

Sounds like you have a meaningful choice to make

GDK the White Hawk.2604:

So, I’m not an engineer main. I barely play mine, if I’m honest. However, while looking at the traits and working on building a hybrid power/condition flamethrower build, I noticed that Juggernaut and Incendiary Powder are mutually exclusive traits. This seems like an odd thing to just leave lying around with this flamethrower semi-rework. Whaddya think? Would moving one of these traits to another slot make sense/help?

I think that makes tons of sense as is … Do you know how broken FT would be if it had access to both those traits simultaneously, especially with all the burning added to the weapon skills? It would be ridiculous.

GDK the White Hawk.2604:

So, I’m not an engineer main. I barely play mine, if I’m honest. However, while looking at the traits and working on building a hybrid power/condition flamethrower build, I noticed that Juggernaut and Incendiary Powder are mutually exclusive traits. This seems like an odd thing to just leave lying around with this flamethrower semi-rework. Whaddya think? Would moving one of these traits to another slot make sense/help?

Simple. Juggernaut is a defensive trait. Incendiary Power is offensive. Their roles are quite clear.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Sounds like you have a meaningful choice to make

Well, yes. I suppose it is an meaningful choice. It just seems like an odd one to be asked to make since plenty of other professions can easily acquire both their condition duration trait and the associated weapon trait. Warriors can get Blademaster/Furious/Heat the Soul and King of Fires. Necromancer naturally gets Barbed Precision and Lingering Curse. I suppose one can easily get Chemical Rounds and Incendiary Powder, which helps a p/p setup, but the same can’t be said for Juggernaut.

Maybe it doesn’t matter, since a PS warrior renders the might largely irrelevant. I just felt like this is something working bringing up in light of the changes.

I don’t think that’s a relevant way to think about it … some classes don’t even get to make meaningful choices like that. Engineers are very fortunate that they have such a good number of useful traits. That’s a desired problem to have.

Obtena.7952:

I don’t think that’s a relevant way to think about it … some classes don’t even get to make meaningful choices like that. Engineers are very fortunate that they have such a good number of useful traits. That’s a desired problem to have.

Ya know, that’s a fair point. Like I said, I don’t play my engineer much, so I’m not used to actually having them. This is good. I will consider this.

I don’t think people should be complaining about Juggernaut. Again, it’s a defensive trait intended for making you unstoppable. It gives you might for a bit of extra oomph during solo play, but the true beauty of it shines in PvP for cheesing unskilled players and in Open World for farming. Honestly, for a farming/tagging weapon, I couldn’t have asked for a better trait, since nothing gets between me and tagging foes.

skilled marksman as baseline with 10% damage buff like old rifle mod instead of the attack speed increase would have been a decent start if they really wanted to improve usefulness of rifles.

If anything my biggest complaint about this patch is that it just pushed Scrapper further away from DPS usability compared to Tools.

Kain Francois.4328:

If anything my biggest complaint about this patch is that it just pushed Scrapper further away from DPS usability compared to Tools.

The Shredder Gyro buff is nice but I’d say it, for how fast it whirls, needs to strike and combo faster as well as have a larger radius.

As for potential Scrapper Trait line changes:

• Perfectly Weighted: Damage should be increased from 10% to 20%
• Mass Momentum: Could be a Party Buff
• Impact Savant: Needs to be reworked…Engi doesn’t have that many lasting stuns…especially since Gyro’s Daze was removed for whatever reason…

LUST.7241:

• Impact Savant: Needs to be reworked…Engi doesn’t have that many lasting stuns…especially since Gyro’s Daze was removed for whatever reason…

Purity of purpose

Explosion: Skills that count as explosions for the traits Steel-Packed Powder, Explosive Powder, and Shrapnel are now marked with a skill fact. Scrapper gyro detonations are now considered explosions. Skills that do not hit the enemy, such as Smoke Bomb and Magnetic Bomb, are no longer considered explosions for combat clarity reasons.
…
I see this and think with myself: Yes! Now this trait will be viable not only to Grenades… But when i log on the game, the house comes down…

lLobo.7960:

LUST.7241:

• Impact Savant: Needs to be reworked…Engi doesn’t have that many lasting stuns…especially since Gyro’s Daze was removed for whatever reason…

Purity of purpose

Your implication means nothing