Guild Wars 2

Does shield need fixing?

I main an engi since launch and have experience with all kind of possible builds on this class. However, i just can’t seem to understand how useless this offhand is compared to the other weapons available. I think it needs to get fixed, maybe buffed or others should be toned down to come to a nice balance. Sad to see that players have to resort to meta builds and just use one weapon to play at a high level and be competitive.

It really needs, the most popular buff for this shield would be an indirect change, swapping pistol 4 and pistol 3 places, so the most important skill from our pistols doesnt get lost by using shield, it could see play as an alternative when cc is more needed and it can be sacrified some dps, otherwise, the shield itself will need some big dam buffs :P

Fix, no.
Tweak, yes.

As mentioned, swap pistol #3 and #4, then reduce shield CD by 15-20%.
This would make the shield, and the shield trait, quite usable when defense or hard CC is needed.

Shield requires more than a CD reduction and a trait to improve it’s performance. I am not however on the bandwagon with swapping pistol 3 with pistol 4. There are significant disadvantages to doing that and also further weakens the performance of the Shield.

Shield can no longer stop thief basilisk venom and unfortunately for it, the list of unblockables goes on per encounter. Shield needs to have an effect that makes it meaningful in combat by protecting the Engineer or offering advantageous situations for the Engineer. Until it is capable of not getting you killed during casting and being 1 time use per engagement, CD reductions (while ultimately necessary for the skills in their current format) will not be enough.

LilBiM.3581:

Shield requires more than a CD reduction and a trait to improve it’s performance. I am not however on the bandwagon with swapping pistol 3 with pistol 4. There are significant disadvantages to doing that and also further weakens the performance of the Shield.

Shield can no longer stop thief basilisk venom and unfortunately for it, the list of unblockables goes on per encounter. Shield needs to have an effect that makes it meaningful in combat by protecting the Engineer or offering advantageous situations for the Engineer. Until it is capable of not getting you killed during casting and being 1 time use per engagement, CD reductions (while ultimately necessary for the skills in their current format) will not be enough.

I totally agree with you. Swapping P3 and P4 is not the only option there is and that’s a buff to the P mainhand not to the Shield mainly. I’d rather see one of S4’s utility removed and put it on a low CD. S5 is most of the time unusable as the block is way too short for its CD and daze is overrated.

If I remember correctly, S5(along with Oil Slicks) are one of the veeeerrrryyy few skills that hit through evades, like Blurred Frenzy, Pistol Whip, and Relentless Assault to name a few. So while it is a really long CD in terms of HoT skills and generally overall, it is extremely valuable for those abilities. I also agree that it sucks that unblockable skills end it, but that’s a necessary danger. If anything, it simply needs a small base cooldown reduction. 5-10 seconds per skill would put it in the ballpark of useable. Along with a change to S4 not rooting you I’d take it if MH pistol had more damage.

With that said, P4 and P3 swap would be great and make shield viable to slot in alone, but then who would use OH Pistol? And wouldn’t MH pistol be a little loaded with that much condi damage on one MH? If that did happened shouldn’t P5 change(cough it always has needed it)?

I’m really under the impression that not only Shield need a slight rework/touching up, its also the combo of Shield and MH Pistol that makes it really dismal compared to other options, like ILobo’s suggestion. Multiple things need fixing imo.

Lord Aargadon.4135:

If I remember correctly, S5(along with Oil Slicks) are one of the veeeerrrryyy few skills that hit through evades, like Blurred Frenzy, Pistol Whip, and Relentless Assault to name a few. So while it is a really long CD in terms of HoT skills and generally overall, it is extremely valuable for those abilities. I also agree that it sucks that unblockable skills end it, but that’s a necessary danger. If anything, it simply needs a small base cooldown reduction. 5-10 seconds per skill would put it in the ballpark of useable. Along with a change to S4 not rooting you I’d take it if MH pistol had more damage.

I dont think any Shield skill roots you in place anymore, for a while.
And yes, the skills itself on shield are very nice, I’d say is one of the best shields out there.
– S4 is a missile reflect, blast finisher and AoE knockback;
– S5 is a block, stun, projectile finisher and DOUBLE daze;

They have long CD’s because engi can use kits to get even more reflects and blocks, and that is taken into account, on top of being done with the old (pre-HoT) game design in mind.
With the changes in HoT, I think just a small CD reduction would be already enough to make them very viable without making it superior to hammer defense.

Lord Aargadon.4135:

With that said, P4 and P3 swap would be great and make shield viable to slot in alone, but then who would use OH Pistol? And wouldn’t MH pistol be a little loaded with that much condi damage on one MH? If that did happened shouldn’t P5 change(cough it always has needed it)?

OH Pistol would still be used for full condi dps or AoE soft CC (blind and immo/cripple) for kiting.

Yeah, the swap to p4/p3 and a cd reduction would make shield viable again, for pvp it would obviously see play as a high survivability build thanks to shield + tool kit 4 + elexir s + elexir s trait.

In pve it would see play as a variant build of our current condi engi build in case of more cc needs and viability to dps sacrifice (of course, if the p3/p4 swap happens, otherwise, it would still be bad in pve dps wise.)

Not sure how it would react in wvw, but im pretty sure it would be a good thing too

lLobo.7960:

I dont think any Shield skill roots you in place anymore, for a while.

They have long CD’s because engi can use kits to get even more reflects and blocks, and that is taken into account, on top of being done with the old (pre-HoT) game design in mind.
With the changes in HoT, I think just a small CD reduction would be already enough to make them very viable without making it superior to hammer defense.

OH Pistol would still be used for full condi dps or AoE soft CC (blind and immo/cripple) for kiting.

Personally, I think should be superior to hammer defensive abilities, but with a base CD reduction combined with traiting, it would probably achieve that, even with it being balanced for kits on the bar. Whether it should or shouldn’t because its not an HoT wep, that’s on the developers. As for the root, didn’t know, I took a 2 year and a half hiatus from the game, so I musta missed the upgrade.

As far as the OH pistol, I personally would chose shield over it with the changes in mind, especially for PvP, and yes people would still use it for min/max condi damage and niche situations, but imo just don’t feel like it would be very good in many other areas comparatively, but I don’t want that to be a focus of the topic. Simply put I don’t feel like OH pistol with static shot and glue shot would be a very good weapon, probably the bottom of the totem pole for OH pistol skillsets.

Pssst, Its shield 4 and 5. I want to know what this mystery shield skill 3 is though.

yes, shield needs fixing. at this point its an outdated noob trap.

A cd reduction is in order but the skills themselves are still pretty good.

They are? A short duration ego reflect that prevents you from acting with a push, a short duration block with a line stun.

Tbh with the current alternatives I wouldn’t even use a shield with 50% cdr.

I’d be fine with even less cooldown reduction as an excuse to get rid of pistol 4’s awful hitbox.

Pride.1734:

I’d be fine with even less cooldown reduction as an excuse to get rid of pistol 4’s awful hitbox.

Too true, regarding Blowtorch….

What’s wrong with the hitbox?