Guild Wars 2

So, we are meant to be the most versatile class… let’s see what we can do with that. Engies are some of the most creative and intelligent players I’ve seen, let’s see what builds we can come up with to support that.

The Rules:

1) Please post or critique a build, I would like this thread to stay on topic.
2) http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_Engineer_bugs They suck, but we need to work around them
3) there is no three.

For the actual builds, we will work on the following assumptions:

1) You have access to any and all gear for stats (and can swap as needed out of combat)
2) You have access to all skills (and can swap as needed out of combat)
3) You get ONE trait layout selection however you can swap between any individual trait (IE: a 30/0/30/0/10 could swap out Rifled Turret Barrels for Elixir Infused Bombs, but couldn’t change to a 0/30/30/0/10 for Juggernaut)

The Goal:

A single trait layout that gives solid DPS, support and tanking options.
Bonus Points for not requiring to leave combat to change roles.

I’ve very interested in seeing what people can come up with!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQFAUl0pyXX3SyF1LJyIFk2nBqQeJSR+ZZfUwWPIA

Wall of Text! Incoming!!

Yeeeh… This is my somewhat-mightstacking-a-bit-supporty-a-bit-SDish-Rifle-Melee-Prybar-Build-Thingy. O, and I have to mention: it´s a PvE-Build and I highly doubt its good for any kind of PvP but didn´t test it in pvp yet o.o
Some of you might ask: Why? WHY!? Why do such a thing!? Why toolkit for melee and no healing bombs!? Why even melee? This game hates melees!

Let me explain:
Mostly I run this build with knights gear + knights jewels, sometimes even a mix of knights and berserker. I found it´s working well with soldier gear (pow/vit/tough), too, but I simply prefer knights for lots of toughness and decent power and krit.

But of course I am not satisfied with such little power, after all I want my powerlevel OVER 9000!!!!
So I took 2 runes of strength, 2 runes of Hoelbrak and 2 runes of altruism. The sigil I´m using is sigil of battle (u know htat one with 3 stacks of might on swap)
Sooo…. the runes give 40% might duration. Your 20 points in elixier add 10% boon duration, so that´s 60% might duration and 60% boon duration.
C´mon, you already know where this is going

And while we are still on topic, I must mention this build goes pretty well with SD due to good might stacking and decent crit-chance. elixier guns toolbelt skill is instant, 32 sec cooldown (With Trait cooldown-thingy and I know, not THAT perfect for SD, but it could be worse ), then we got THE prybar and…. that turret there with its toolbelt projectile-thingy-finisher…. Not everyone´s taste, I know.

Now let´s go on t the next question: Why melee?
I (and most others) already figured that rifle is heavily relying on it´s melee-burst-skills.
I´m lazy so I dont want to bother to press #5 to get into melee range, maybe miss the target because of… reasons… and then press #3 and run away again.
Now I press #5 to get into meleerange, maybe miss the target because of… reasons… and then press #3, then change to elixiercanon to get my field (kit refinement duh), change to toolkit and prybar some faces and stay there (dont forget moving + dodging of course)
If my cd on rifle burst is up again I switch back to it and then to elixiergun, because the field from kit refinement is probably gone by then and I set a new field with #5, then to medkit to get more might and for swiftness(+Vigor for some more dodges) + fury and back to toolkit again.
So, again, why toolkit and no bombkit? toolkit does boooom, that´s why (no srsly, the third chain auto attack makes a boom-sound and a bit higher damage) while I somehow feel like bombkit only does blopblopblop ._.
Also toolkit´s #5 is really nice sometimes and I know that you love #4 and #3, too!
Still no reason to use toolkit? … <.< … >.> … ò.Ó It´s a great kit! There, that´s a reason! >.<

Now what if I have to stay out of melee for … whatever reason…
Do what you can do best.
You can still (somewhat) CC with your rifle, Give your teammates a (not so much)regen and combofield, cleanse their conditions, trigger fields and… do stuff, you know what I mean, that… word…. kitten I can´t remember…. AH! now I know! DPS …
yes I´m a troll <.<

Now let´s see if I got everything…
Might? Check.
Support? small regen, combofield + conditionremove. Check.
Survivability? small regen from combofiel + small kit regen + epic block + lots of evade + reliable condition remove for myse-…. o heck I knew I forgot something -.- Only half a Check.
Control? Check.
Melee? Okay I admit range is still easier but it´s for the lulz ^.^
Damage? … No 1-button-kill but it´s got some (for engineer) decent burst.

Well… I hope you like my wall of text O_o
… I´m gonna eat an apple now

My current build, something I like to call the Anvil build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqSWnqylF17ISoHJmhtYiKUZfewW01DC;TgAKbM2IsxajzGpNDHmMA

I’m gearing for maximized Toughness and Vitality, as I tend to get a ton of aggro no matter my build, and would prefer to be able to stand against any and everything that comes my way.

DPS: Turrets, Mines and Conditions, applied liberally; if an enemy is using ranged attacks, then demand to see their manager send them back, the stronger the attack the better for additional damage. Not the best DPS around, but it’s surprisingly effective.

Tanking: Self-Regulating Defenses, Hidden Flask, Reinforced Shield and high Toughness/Vitality overall make the Anvil hard to kill.

Support: Throw Mine and Mine Field negate boons, while inflicting Bleed/Burning, Vulnerability, and in Throw Mine’s case, knocking them in a direction of the user’s choosing (via proper placement). Smoke Field from Flame Turret allows infliction of Blind and acquisition of Stealth, the two Water fields (three, counting Supply Crate’s Healing Turret) an easy source of quick (if minor – only a couple thousand HP a pop) healing. Magnetic Shield allows ranged attacks to be intercepted, with Magnetic Inversion helping to clear some space, and Throw Shield is a quick double daze. Not a lot of boons involved, though, with the only ones being Stealth and Regeneration, and only one Condition Removal effect – this build relies on being able to soak it. Unless it’s Confusion. I hate Confusion.

Using this build, I can take on a Veteran Karka and the occasional additional Young Karka single-handedly, without going down a single time, and only dropping below 25% HP at long enough intervals that I can expect Self-Regulated Defenses to let me drop some Turrets to get back out of the danger zone. I can also kite fairly well, using the array of knockbacks to clear some space.

I guess I’ll start with the trait layout and then go into the different builds I see working out.

Traits: 30/30/0/0/10

With this layout you get maximum power and precision, as well as condition damage and duration from traits. The bump in toolbelt recharge and crit dmg is nice too. It forces you to either run GC builds, or make up the defense with armor / trinkets.

Possible Builds*
*Note: These builds may not be completely optimal, but in PvE / WvW they seem to work just fine, at least for those I’ve tried.

Condition Grenadier
Major traits in Explosives: Shrapnel, Short Fuse, Grenadier
Major traits in Fire Arms: Precise Sights, Infused Precision, Pistols Pierce
Major trait in Tools: Speedy Kits.
Pistol / Pistol or Pistol / Shield, with any combination of Carrion and Rabid gear & trinkets. Runes / sigils / food to increase bleed / freeze duration.
This build is mostly about stacking bleed and vulnerability with the Grenade Kit. I usually take along Tool Kit, Elixer R, and Med Kit, but the only real necessity is grenades. I can maintain 20 to 25 stacks of bleed by spamming ‘nade #2, and with procs from shrapnel, as well as 25 stacks of vulnerability. Shield / Elixer R / Tool Kit give this build a few escape / dmg mitigation options, and I rarely go down in PvE. With proper runes and sigils, you can get almost a 15 second chill on a 16 second cooldown. This build is also able to tag mobs like no other. With a sigil of luck and some MF gear, drops are quite liberal when farming DE’s.

FT / EG Conditions / Support
Major traits in Explosives: Exploit Weakness, Enhance Performance, Autodefense Bomb Dispenser
Major traits in Fire Arms: Hair Trigger, Fireforged Trigger, Juggernaut
Major trait in Tools: Kit Refinement.
Rifle, with defensive and/or healing gear & trinkets. Runes / sigils / food still undecided. Need some input in this department.
I feel like this build has opportunities to spread cc and debuffs pretty well, while giving support via kit refinement (double super elixer). FT and rifle offer knockbacks, traits will give you cripples, if you threw in ‘Throw Mine’, you should have a knockback available most of the time. I haven’t tried this build so it’s all theorycrafting at this point, but it seems like it could work in a decent group, at least for DE’s, maybe less so in tougher dungeons, without some serious finger skill to use all your available skills.

SD Burst Build
Major traits in Explosives: Empowering Adrenaline, Exploit Weakness, Incendiary Powder
Major traits in Fire Arms: Sitting Duck, Rifle Mod, Go For The Eyes
Major trait in Tools: Static Discharge
Rifle, Berserker gear & trinkets, crit dmg food.
Tool Kit, Grenade Kit, Utility Goggles. I don’t think I need to go into this build much further. It’s played out in my opinion, but has its uses.

Grenade AOE DPS
Major traits in Explosives: Incendiary Powder, Explosive Powder, Grenadier
Major traits in Fire Arms: Sitting Duck, Precise Sights, Napalm Specialist
Major trait in Tools: Any, I usually run Speedy Kits.
Pistol / Pistol, or Pistol / Shield, for double sigils.
Berserker gear & trinkets again. Sigils of Air or Fire and Bloodlust. crit chance, crit dmg, power foods.
This build is all about spamming grenades. Cycle through your attacks, spamming #1 in between. Other utilities can be based on either a desire for surviveability, or more dmg. Elixer B / Elixer U are good situationally. Unfortunately the 30% nerf took the DPS down from this build, but with the condition dmg / duration from traits, you get a little extra DoT that you can factor in. People will tell you this build is dead, but it has it’s place just like the SD build in my opinion.

I haven’t gotten time to come up with a bomb build, but I’m sure it’s there. Also, there are not that many viable builds using elixers or turrets with this loadout, but I feel like turrets are not viable with any build, and I’m not a fan of the P/P Elixer play style.

A slight variation on the traits is 30/25/0/0/15, which gives you the Inertial Converter minor, at the expense of your grandmaster Firearms trait. This can be nice if you’re purely using an explosives build, as with the Med Kit / Elixer R you get a self rez, and heal back at 25% health.