Hi, lately a “pro” told me that engis have no place in the current WvW-meta so i decided to play a lot of wvw and figure out if he was right… here is an explanation on how i play WvW to give you a chance to experience the power of an engineer. (this guide is just based on my experiences and i do not claim to be the best or stuff like this. you are welcome to give advices)
so first off the build i would suggest you to use (i used ascended stuff in the calculator but exotic works aswell): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqicHxy3F1LJyoCdGoC5lIF5nl95xbxWQIA-jECBYhCh0CAk3gkIIpoFRjtsuIasqbY6YER1SBAzyK-w it is a pure condi build because you can throw 1 grenade and apply 4-6 conditions on up to 15 people which means a lot of pressure on the enemy without killing yourself via retaliation. i would suggest you to start with either freeze of poison grenade. furthermore you should use your range and stay out of melee situations. a good way to do so is by running parallel to the own zerg at a range of 1000. this way you have a better overview and can place your grenades in the most devestating way.
depending on where you fight you should work with slight adjustments of your build to maximise your efficiency.
1.) Defending from walls: If you’re defending structures that belong to your server and you have the possibility to fight down from walls you should change your build like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqicHxSgF8LJyoCdGoC5lIFPml95xbxWQIA-jECBYhCh0CAk3gkIIpoFRjtsuIasqbY6YER1SBAzyK-w you can either use mortar (that a further ally can attack from the walls) or elixir x (in case you get pulled down to cast stability and return to the inside of the keep or if you can survive it rampaging with tornado to blind/knock back the zerg) as your elite. as a last tip i would advice you to stand on the wall like this http://i.imgur.com/W6TdzVc.jpg as it makes it harder for the enemies to hit you (but of course this does not always work).
2.) open world fights: if you run around with your zerg and you see an open world fight coming where somebody might focus on you and hunt you down you should change your build like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqicHxSfF8LJyoCdGoC5lIF5nl95xbxWQIA-jECBYhCh0CAk3gkIIpoFRjtsuIasqbY6YER1SBAzyK-w the elixir s is a stun breaker, gives you invulnerability and the ability to stealh your group, run past the zerg and do sneaky attacks from behind. as elite you should go with either supply crate or elixir x. but i think elixir x might be more useful (in this situation) because the turrets of supply crate get wrecked almost instantly in zerg fights. furthermore you might want to turn off autotrageting so that you can use the dash of elixir x to escape fight situations or hunt down single enemies. as already mentioned you should stay out of the main damage and flank the enemy zerg.
3.) 1vX situations: if you are solo roaming or just get into a situation where you fight alone you can either change your build like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqic3zy3F1LJxoCdGUh8KSR+t8nHvltyF-jECBYhCh0CAk3gkIIpoFRjtsuIasqbY6YER1SBAzyK-w or you can go for koroshi’s build if you plan to roam all the time. Since this guide is meant to help you find your way in wvw and koroshi is a way better roamer than i am i will leave the 1vX guide to him and give you links to: -> his build guide http://www.bloodytech.net/forum/koroshis-engineer-guide-confusion-all-the-way -> his twitch channel that you can see how to use this build efficiently http://www.twitch.tv/sir_koroshi/profile/pastBroadcasts
4.) underwater combat: this is the skill setup http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0pqbHxSfF8LJyoCdGoC5lIF5nl95xbxWQIA-jECBYhCh0CAk3gkIIpoFRjtsuIasqbY6YER1SBAzyK-w you can use the water to do some fancy stuff: first thing is that you get an additional heal, a full condition cleanse and fury. second advantage is that you can get your stealth skill and a lot of escape possibilities. 3rd thing you might want to do is cast your elixir x shortly befor you hit a zerg (on land or underwater) and activate your plague-form to put pressure on the enemies. the last thing that i can mention is that grenades are pretty strong underwater so you have a nice damage output aswell
some final notes: engineer is one of the most difficult classes and you should not give up only because you might not master it on the first day ;-) furthermore are there quite a lot skills of the engineer that take some time till you manage to use them to their full potential (like elexir x, grenades,…) and you should not think they are weak only because you use them wrong. for example elixir x can knock a whole zerg off a cliff and kill them (even though this happens quite rarely you should get the idea)
i hope i could help you and i am looking forward to hearing your feedback. sincerly, your worst engineering nightmare http://i.imgur.com/fwXxhIz.jpg
