Guild Wars 2

Been wanting to play a condition class but havent found the right one yet. Tried and hated necro. Tried and found shortbow ranger to be boring as hell. Tried rifle warrior and also sword to be about as boring as ranger. Mezmer was just weird. Never tried thief but dont really want to be melee. So the only thing left I guess is Engineer. I messed around with one for a few days in PvP and decided that I enjoyed the class, at least more than the others I played.

So if I go with Pistol/shield and elixir gun with 30 points into Firearms will my damage be on par with other classes that rely on conditions? Well I guess it doesnt really matter because this is probably the last class I will try before I decide this game isnt for me since I have tried all the others and didnt like them. Whats a good build for soloing using the setup I mentioned. I know I need max Firearms but where do the other 40 points go?

I keep reading about engineers being squishy so I figured a shield would be better than having one more condition.

P/S and P/P both can work equally well. Don’t forget you can do condi spec’s with kits like bomb / grenade as well.

Bomb / P/S is nice since you can use the confusion bomb then pistol 3 and channel block while your enemies kills themselves.

My favorite condition damage build is P+P, Flamethrower, and Elixirs. Firearm 30, Alchemy 30. It is definitely fun build, but not that strong. Hope A-net fix Engineer’s ultra crucial bugs soon.

Well if you use p/s wouldn’t it be enough to have Incendary powder from the Explosive tree to have the burn to make up for the lost of p4 on p/p ?

Dabrixmgp.4758:

So if I go with Pistol/shield and elixir gun with 30 points into Firearms will my damage be on par with other classes that rely on conditions?

Sadly Dabri the answer is possibly, but not right now. Our pistol one is one of the most bugged skills in the game.
•Blowtorch can only hit 3 targets at most.
•Explosive Shot explodes at the end of its range instead of when hitting a target and will use all three procs of Incendiary Ammo in a single attack without applying all 3 Burning condition.
•Pistol’s Blowtorch, Fumigate, Poison Dart Volley will often miss destructible objects.

There are also reports that the Coated bullets trait (the one that lets you shoot everything in a line) will not apply bleeds to anything other than the initial target.
All these things combined make use very weak in dealing condition damage consistently. Blowtorch is strong but u got to dip in and out of range to hit with it at max power. And the CD on it is pretty long for sustained damage.

Dabrixmgp.4758:

Whats a good build for soloing using the setup I mentioned. I know I need max Firearms but where do the other 40 points go?

You will want at least 10 points in explosives the 33% chance to burn on crit is amazing with the high precision you will have from going firearms.

I also like running 20points in Invention it allows me to swap to the Shield trait for an extra 90 toughness. Or swap to a chance to gain protection while running P/P.

And Alchemy elixirs are always good. 75% HP to drink a B with reduced cool downs.
I really enjoy engineer I find them to be the most fun class in the game.

Sadly we are currently plagued by bugs and skills that do not scale. Once these issues are corrected expect some AMAZING fun and flexibility

Outside of going the 30 in your conditions line, it is best to build survivability with a conditions build in my experience. So I’d look into the toughness or healing route with your other trees. Save 10 points for burn on crit in the power tree. I also recommend P/S over P/P, as burn is easily applied with the trait on crit. Since you mentioned you do not like melee, I wouldn’t go with bombkit as an option; but grenade can stack some things pretty well if you can deal with the wonky targeting. It’s better for WvW.

Elixir gun can actually stack bleed better than a pistol on autoattack I think (of course, get used to spamming a button repeatedly until they fix autoattack on kits) and with better range with the right talents for single target and I believe has poison on one of it’s moves. It’s definately a good choice for a heal oriented condition build. Or you can just focus on your main weapon and run utilities or elixirs and play defensively.

As you can see, there are a few routes to go and try. Engineer has a lot of options. Hell, you could probably build glass cannon with crowd controls and try to keep them locked down while you melt them away. Well, at least for pug games, that could be fun. I actually do something similar with a power rifle/knockdown build that can be amusing when all your CC is up.

I’m only level 50, but I’ve tried running a lot of different specs. I stuck with grenades for a long time because the dps just seemed unbeatable, but of all the weapon combos and kits, I wanted to go back to pistol/shield. I love the play style of firing off shots to build bleeds while blocking attacks with my shield. I can reflect attacks from behind while I finish off the guy in front of me—so much fun. However, as others have mentioned, the DPS is lackluster.

Last night I got sick of aiming grenades while running around and bought a cheap pistol and shield off the trading post. I traited into Inventions for Reinforced Shield and put the other points in Firearms. It’s working reasonably well, but is bolster by the utility and DPS of Hidden Pistols and Rocket Boots. It’s a very defensive-heavy build, but I found it to be pretty fun.

Dabrixmgp.4758:

I keep reading about engineers being squishy so I figured a shield would be better than having one more condition.

Just tossing this out there, but any class is squishy, if you build it that way. Any class can be a glass cannon, tanky, or support class, it is all up to how you do it.