Guild Wars 2

Hi there

I’ve enjoyed my engi thus far, flirting with lots of different slot/weapon/kit combinations, favouring turrets at first then going to exilir gun and flamethrower, but with no serious build ideas beyond mucking about with it.

Now I’m going through Fireheart Rise and simply getting my butt royally kicked, all the time, unless in combo with another player. Seriously, I feel weak as a kitten when a single mob will take me until 50% health to kill and a group of linked mobs means death or run away. I’ve no idea if I kill too slowly or take damage too easily.

I’ve been reading these forums for help, but honesly I’m a little stumped because the jargon is getting in the way.

So, any kindhearted players willing to take pity on a lame duck and explain terms which are still beyond my grasp?

just an example from another post:
“So if you are HgH you could switch to the Elixirs you don’t use, Toss for the stack of might then switch back. FT you can switch to and activate IA then switch back because IA last like 45 secs.” …. Mindboggling to the unititiated!

What is a Static discharge build? A ‘CC’ build? A ‘TankCat’ build? Healbombing? HGH?

Any translations gratefully received

Hopefully I can help you out here. Then I’ll explain my build afterwards.

From your example:
– HGH is a 30 point talent in Alchemy that grants might upon elixir use. Link . The person is talking to someone who does not normally use elixirs, and it sounds like he’s saying that before the fight, you could equip elixirs, use the toolbelt skill “toss elixir _”, gain the might from it, then switch your utility slot back to whatever you normally use. Using the toolbelt skill does not activate the CD on the utility slot, so it’s able to be switched out.
– FT is the Flamethrower. It’s toolbelt skill is Incendiary Ammo (IA). Link . Similar to the HGH situation, he is saying you can equip Flamethrower, use the toolbelt skill Incendiary Ammo, then switch back to another utility because Incendiary Ammo’s effect lasts 45 seconds, or until used up.

A Static Discharge Build is a build that uses this trait. It can be obtained with as little as 10 points in the Tools tree. The normal way people use this build is to choose utilities with toolbelt skills that recharge quickly. When these toolbelt skills are used, Static Discharge is activated, and does not have a cooldown, allowing for up to four casts of Static Discharge in a short period of time, in addition to whatever the toolbelt skills do.

CC stands for Crowd Control. CC is any ability that restricts an enemy. For instance, Net Shot immobilizes a player so that they cannot move for two seconds. This is a CC ability. So is Magnet , although this pulls the target toward you. CC can be pull, knockback, stun, slow, blind, etc – anything that disrupts the enemy. A CC build would incorporate a lot of these skills into his weapon set and utility slots.

I will let you read all about TANKCAT in this thread .

Healbombing involves the trait Elixir-Infused Bombs , and usually traits to support it like short fuse and forceful explosives . The player uses the bomb kit to damage enemies whilst healing allies.

HGH has been explained above.

I typically run what could be considered a CC/damage build. In groups: I love rifle, and like to use healing turret, Flamethrower, Tool Kit, and Elixir R. And of course Supply Crate as my elite. I feel like with this setup I am ready for mostly everything. It lacks condition removal (Elixir R has it but on a long cooldown) so if I know I’ll be needing it, I’ll equip elixir C.

Static discharge build is build that relies on the trait static discharge. (Adept trait in tools) which adds a ton of dmg to toolbelt skills.
CC build relies heavily on CC’s like knockbacks and such. (Like rifle, big ol bomb, mine etc..)
Tankcat is a build introduced by mischoof that relies on confusion and retaliation and a lot of blocking/invulnerability.
Healbombing is a referance to the grandmaster trait that bombs heal allies.
Hgh is a reference to a grandmaster trait called hgh which gives might upon elixer usage. Hopes this clears up some stuff.

Amos explained it way better than me^

Hmm never noticed it really, but that might be because I’m playing engi since release.

EDIT: I was confused about what was IA either. Some people just come up with short terms for everything.

I blew through Fireheart Rise with approximately the same build you described as if it were on fire. (Pun intended.) If it didn’t have a silver or gold ring around its icon, I seldom even had to dodge, let alone kite. Against trash mobs and melee ambushes, I mostly used the bomb kit (rounding up a swarm of trash mobs and bomb kitting them to death is half of why I still have fun with my engineer, it even mostly works in dungeons); against Veterans, I mostly used the flamer; against anything highly mobile or that was stacking conditions on me, I used the e-gun. The Med Kit is mostly there so that my F1 and F2 heals don’t step on each other if I use them back to back; if I’m trying to keep an escorted mob alive or running with a zerg, I replace it with Healing Turret so that I have two AoE regen skills that I can use on the move.

The only explanation I can think of for why you had a harder time is that I may be in better gear than you (all yellow quality, all carrion prefixed) or I may have a different trait layout than you (see link above). I think I died twice getting to 100% zone completion; once to a bad pull against that Veteran Ice Imp (too many adds) and once to an absolutely ridiculous (possibly bugged?) ambush wave in a dynamic event (multiple veterans and adds vs. just li’l ol’ me). I think it took me three evenings; I could have done it in two if I hadn’t stumbled into yet another dynamic event every 15 feet in the southeast corner of the zone.

Hope this helps!

Thanks everyone and especially Amos for detailed descriptions of things. I feel much more informed. I guess the shorthand for traits is just a thing you improve on by knowing the actual names of them, rather than just their function, which is what I tend to focus on. I’m gonna have a mess around with this bomb kit idea and re-trait up a bit.

Perhaprs Fireheart Rise is being problematic at this stage because I’m not doing it mentored, rather coming to the top end of the zone a couple of levels below – but I know that’s no real excuse because my baby guardian regularly decimates linked mobs three levels higher than herself.

Gear I know is an issue. I have a shocking tendency to leave my gear on 10 levels outta date whilst I play catchup the respective craft to kit myself out again!

Anyhoo, once again, thankyou all. I feel much better equipped to trawl all the threads and learn all the build combintations. Those Flame Legion kittens are going DOWN!

Fireheart Rise has at least one area where enemies outlevel you by a fair amount. I have no idea why they set it up that way, but areas that for example downlevel you to 66 but the enemies are level 69. Thats one thing that can make you feel really weak.

There also tend to be a lot of enemies in some areas, and getting swarmed can make you feel outmatched pretty quick as well.

I noticed a big difference going into some sections of Fireheart Rise at the prescribed level and then going back at L80 to complete the map. The areas that caused me trouble first time round were way easier when downleveled from 80.

Firstly, check you’ve got level appropriate gear, especially armour – that extra toughness is less damage you have to sustain. Don’t be afraid to buy what you need from the TP – you can get decent stuff for surprisingly little there.

The mobs that caused me the most trouble first item round generated a lot of burning and in some cases were immune to burning themselves. When facing these try rifle (more CC) and Elixir C (don’t forget its toolbelt skill).