Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

I was wondering how do you guys do with dynamic events in cursed shore as engi? I tryed to test it out in Heart of mists and i liked what i saw. Granade kit got some nice aoes, but my only concern is will i be able to “tagg” mobs before other ppl kill them, will i be able to get loot?
I got 80 warrior and i find it hard to get any loot with like 50 others players doing range aoes and i need to run next to mob to hit it.
Im looking to start alt and lvl it with crafting, i would really appreciate your advice.

I run Plinx a half dozen times a night when I get home from work. I run dual pistols with coated bullets for my mob tagging. If I’m going it solo, just following the pack around, I have a real hard time getting kill credits. The key is getting into a group. With just two extra people, your tag credits start getting reasonable. With a five man group, and learning the mob spawn points, you’ll end each run with over 30 drops in your bags.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find I’m able to get more mob tags with pistols and coated bullets and ability 3 than with grenades. I swap to grenades when the veterans spawn, on the Broodmother, the gladiator champion, and the champ abomination at the end.

Pistol with coated bullets is the most obvious. You can also use flamethrower or grenades effectively if you memorize mob spawn locations but it requires preknowledge of where they spawn or else they often die before your attacks hit.

I didn’t have much luck with pistols... Would be great if they did more damage, but they don’t. Gotta hit mobs like 4 times to get it tagged, and mobs usually die before that.

Grenades are ok, but generally (for me) one throw was never enough to get a tag; and grenades spend such a painfully long time floating through the air that the mobs are dead before the second throw lands.

Flame thrower is pretty good. One full channel of the auto attack is enough to get a tag, and the explosion from #2 is enough to get a tag, so fire that into large groups and auto attack the rest; you’ll tag most, especially once you start learning where things spawn, which won’t take long.

Don’t remember what gear I use, but it’s not typical of flame thrower builds; I’ll edit this when I get home.

Edit-
Crafted yellows. "Explorer’s Noble" items, which is Power, Precision, and Magic Find, with 5/6 superior runes of the pirate (50 more magic find) and an Opal Orb (more power, precision, and magic find. For rings and such go for "Opal Mithril ___ of the Explorer" for even more power, precision, and magic find.

See attachment for traits and utilities.

I prefer using the flamethrower AND being in a group when doing the Plinx loop. Also, turn off autotargeting when you use it, so it’s easier to just sweep across a group.

Grenades or pistols are generally the best way.

If you are good at aiming grenades they do more burst then any other weapon engi has access to and as such are the best at reaching the required damage threshold for loot.

I use Bomb Kit, easily solo 3 risen at once without using my elite

grouping helps a lot. flamethrower is a good one and piercing bullets – i get tagged from pistol #3. and for the bosses just support (unless your extremely confident that your conditions will get on the board) – heal and buff allies gives virtually the same karma/money as high d/d (but rezzing doesnt),
started messing about with traits again alchemy #1 and tools #4 & 6 all at the same time gives great surviveability. . . perm swift,vig, and light field.

Venthus.6137:

I prefer using the flamethrower AND being in a group when doing the Plinx loop. Also, turn off autotargeting when you use it, so it’s easier to just sweep across a group.

^ this, manually aiming ft gets rid of so many of the problems people associate with it as a kit.

I use pistols or a flamethrower. Also, do not overlook turrets, as they’re great for essentially being in two places at once. Today I set up a rocket turret outside of Shelter’s Gate, ran the botany escort, and when I came back I had two rares waiting for me (results not typical :P).

But grenades are just too slow.

Last night i asked around my server and i got mixed answers. Some ppl like flamethrower others granades. I did some testing in Hom and i found out that with using granades is best to stay at spot where mobs respawn and just spam them.

I want to thank you all for answering my question.

If you happen to read this again, what would u suggest for lvling build?

seeing as i did 100% of world map solo from start to finish… It’s very good at killing stuff.

Salabajzer.8509:

Last night i asked around my server and i got mixed answers. Some ppl like flamethrower others granades. I did some testing in Hom and i found out that with using granades is best to stay at spot where mobs respawn and just spam them.

I want to thank you all for answering my question.

If you happen to read this again, what would u suggest for lvling build?

flamethrower is crap, stick to pistols + bomb + nade + carrion gear

piercing trait + explosive shot with pistol is probably the best, its quick to hit and with a bit of practice in positioning it will be far bigger AOE than any other skill.

I prefer Flamethrower myself honestly. Sometimes the mobs spawn in a circle, and even with the Coated bullets trait you can’t shoot your bullets in a circle. All you have to do is sweep in a circle with flamethrower and it is usually enough to tag them all.

I play Flamethrower\Elixir with a focus on maximizing “Might” so that you can hit for more.

I think part of the problem with coming up with an answer is that ‘farming’ is quite vague. I run different skills, gear and traits depending on where, what I planned on doing and if I expected to be grouped. My loadout for Plinx at a busy time, for example, is very different from when I was sitting at the tunnel.

Running the standard Karma Farm route (Plix series + drake + contender + tar) I have no problem with P/P (with Piercing) or Flamethrower. Both can be spec’d with a 0/30/0/30/0 build (with 10 where ever you want) and be very effective while offering good survivability. All you need to do is swap around traits depending on weapon.

The biggest key at any of these massive events with 20+ people is get into a group!

The truth is no class can compete when you have multiple groups all working for credit on kills. Trust me, I have an Engineer/Guardian/Necro/Elementalist/Mesmer all at 80! Even then sometimes you can reach this magic point where there’s so many people that enough traps, marks and AOE get pre-placed that things die instantly. There’s unfortunately simply nothing you can do in this scenario. What you can do is maximize your efforts by knowing the encounters and what would be best for them:

P/P excels in scenarios where there are a large number of targets and you can get at least a shot or two off. This is because one shot down the middle of the pack will cause multiple explosions (which when combined with your group) will give you credit. However in scenario where things die shortly after spawning (for example Penitent path where things run up and die the second immunity wears off) it’s pretty terrible. However the main advantage is the pistol pierce + explosion hits unlimited targets.

Flamethrower excels at situations where things are dying super fast because you can simply non target AOE and tag 3 mobs. I also find it’s best in those large groups because while you may not get the kills (which you wouldn’t get in any spec) you’ll do sufficient AOE damage to always get a gold metal on most events (which I find is okay mostly cause I was there farming Karma anyways). Where Flamethrower lacks in power is it’s limited to 3 targets at max which means in any event where there’s a bunch of dudes you’re likely going to miss credit on most of them. If you tab around each flame (if there’s time) however it will switch the targeting up and spread damage around more. Also don’t forget #2 being great for snagging credit if you’re distanced properly.

Pistols with coated bullets is all i needed.
Turrets help a bunch to. I’d place a rifle turret and a rocket turret on top of one of the tents at Jofasts waypoint and then just farm karma through Shelters Gate and Village Sayix.
I’m sure releived that i’m done with Orr.

I find flamethrower engineer to be the best thing I have (Warrior and Mesmer 80s as well) for farming. In a group of 5 I can fill my bags completely in a single Plinx run.

Haltus Kain.4578:

I didn’t have much luck with pistols… Would be great if they did more damage, but they don’t. Gotta hit mobs like 4 times to get it tagged, and mobs usually die before that.

Grenades are ok, but generally (for me) one throw was never enough to get a tag; and grenades spend such a painfully long time floating through the air that the mobs are dead before the second throw lands.

Flame thrower is pretty good. One full channel of the auto attack is enough to get a tag, and the explosion from #2 is enough to get a tag, so fire that into large groups and auto attack the rest; you’ll tag most, especially once you start learning where things spawn, which won’t take long.

Don’t remember what gear I use, but it’s not typical of flame thrower builds; I’ll edit this when I get home.

Edit-
Crafted yellows. “Explorer’s Noble” items, which is Power, Precision, and Magic Find, with 5/6 superior runes of the pirate (50 more magic find) and an Opal Orb (more power, precision, and magic find. For rings and such go for “Opal Mithril _ of the Explorer” for even more power, precision, and magic find.

See attachment for traits and utilities.

I personally use nothing but. The only time i have issues is if i get too far away or if the mobs are immune before landing in the place they begin attacking or if they are chickens. LOL chickens i miss

going to test to see if they removed the miss problems with FT tonight tho.