Guild Wars 2

So I’m really getting into playing my engineer. I normally play a guardian. I really enjoy playing in WvW with dual pistols. Its got bleed, poison, burn, and confuse on top of all that. But I always see people making rifle style builds. Is there a reason beyond the increased range? It doesn’t seem like its all that much more damage or anything. With the right selection of utilities you can get the same mobility/control you may want. Again I’m just curious. My engineer just got to lvl 35 last night but I’m already having no problems murdering people in WvW. Any input would help. Thanks in advance since I won’t be able to check this until I get home from work!

Wow a positive post in the engineer section.

I love my engineer but the recent updates killed my grenades.

Now I’m sulking and asking God why.

Rifle inherently does substantially more damage. 15% with each skill just by virtue of being a rifle vs pistols.
Then on top of that, skill coefficients, are higher on rifle.

This is especially a problem as pistols 1’s conditions were nerfed in beta, to the point of being very weak as well. Making p1 extremely weak both cond and direct. Until you get coated bullets, at which point, the direct can be made… ok.

rifles’ overcharged shot is invaluable in pvp to interrupt stomps(any cast) as well.

its hard to really justify pistol.
Static shot and glue shots however, are both fantastic.

Well, the rifle gives you even more cc and movility , with pistols you only have #5 to immobilize with a 30 sec CD, rifle #2 CD is 10 sec, you have #4 to throw the mob and #5 to go in/out of battle.
In close range you deal more damage with rifle #3 and #5 than the pistol does, and #1 skill does more damage too.

The reason Rifle is loved is because it offers such incredible control compared to Pistols, and has less recharge than Shield. Overcharged Shot is incredible (and I wish Rocket Boots had an enemy knockback component too, as that’s the only difference between the two, but what a difference it is.) Jump Shot hits like a truck. Net shot is on a nasty short recharge, and the main attack pierces, which is pretty effective if you’re mobile and good at spotting opportunities.

It’s just a realllllly good weapon.

Pistols are condition-tastic, but the early nerf to 1’s bleed caused a lot of sadness, and I think some people are still “meh” on pistols because they still feel that sting.

Pistol 4 and 5 are similar in purpose to 3 and 2 on rifle, but Rifle’s immobilize is more effective due to frequency. Their cones are fairly even in terms of being awesome though. It’s just that Pistols don’t encourage you to be near the enemy for the full cone blast.

I recently switched to p/s to get dual sigils for kits and i must say i really miss my net shot and overcharge shot and even jump shot (even tho i HATE how my charr yells during it and that i float like the princess from mario 2) and while the shield is really fun and offers a lot of survivability I’ve been wanting to try another pistol mostly for the glue shot. Cripple + flamethrower + sigil of blood + fury = fun

I personally keep a couple of rifles in my inventory, but I switched to dual pistols with the Superior Sigil of Earth and Superior Sigil of Corruption (I’m a Precision/Condition Damage build, full TA armour with grenade spec) and I personally just enjoy sitting back and laying down my skills on my pistols and then lobbing out some more grenades. I’ve (personally) found it makes some things easier when rolling with my party, and I’ve actually started to have more fun, despite the nerfing. But to each their own, of course.

I changed my Build from Rifle to full condition pistol build. And imo it’s awesome. I run around with 2,1k+ ConditionDmg “bursting” down ppl with confusion and burning, posion and yes – only 3-6 stacks bleeding :-/ . But if u realy enjoy pistols try out ConditionDmg. It’s still strong!

I use rifle in pve because legendary rifle > legendary pistol

Forestnator.6298:

I changed my Build from Rifle to full condition pistol build. And imo it’s awesome. I run around with 2,1k+ ConditionDmg “bursting” down ppl with confusion and burning, posion and yes – only 3-6 stacks bleeding :-/ . But if u realy enjoy pistols try out ConditionDmg. It’s still strong!

That’s actually really good to hear! It’s kind of what I was aiming for…pun intended.