Guild Wars 2

Hey guys this is my first time in the forum section and not sure if this topic is exactly in the right place but hoping to get some great advice.
At the moment I am trying to decide which is the better profession for my content. At the moment I like everything pretty much but don’t need advice on SPvP because I can just make a level 1 and go to SPvP. I am scared of people not wanting to dungeon with me if I am either of these professions. Can I get some advice and personal knowledge on dps and survivability in dungeons or WvW. I want to feel like I am doing damage but helping others. Sorry for the long post. And my playstyle is being mobile while doing damage and not being caught. Thanks

Necro, definitely. It’s easier to play and more fun, as well as having more survivability and DPS.

Necro will definitely feel more powerful to you in WvW and dungeons, at least starting out. Engineer has a much steeper learning curve and really needs a good player, build, and gear to succeed.

Both have good support, although I think the engineer is a little better. The necro has more easily-used crowd control; the engineer also has a lot of crowd control, but it’s harder to use; both can remove conditions from allies pretty well; the engineer can have a lot more healing.

Engineer is much more mobile and slippery, which sounds like something you’re looking for. Necromancer is more naturally tanky due to death shroud and a higher base health pool.

Well considering that necro brings no group might and very little vulnerability (unless in a power build which still forces them to be in a weaponset or deathshroud both of which are suboptimal in terms of their damage output compared to other options) I would say engineer for dungeons any day of the week. For WvW I would say it really depends on what you want to primarily do, engi only really struggles in organized GvG due to retal and having unique aoe that can actually hit 15 players at a time as opposed to 5. I have to agree with the above poster that if you want mobility engi is the clear choice. To be honest many people really only think Guard, war, mes are worthwhile taking so if your concern is facing a bit of class bias then necro or engi is a poor choice, but I can tell you that there are many players that literally don’t have a clue how to play this game or what classes are capable of. Probably because the boring zerg fest where your individual contribution matters very little since you can just auto attack and get “teh phat lootz”. So ultimately play whichever class you want, so long as you learn to play it well you will be fine and succeed just don’t pick necro for dungeons :p

PvP (including WvW) = necro
PvE = engineer because of group buffs/support

But you’d be better of with an guardian anyway

It basically comes down to: Do you like grenades or not? And to a lesser degree: To you like kits? The main strength of an Engineer is the Grenade Kit and the ability to quickly switch between the regular weapon skills and two to four kits.

Even after the nerf several months ago the Grenade Engineer is still one of the top damage dealers; however for optimal damage you need to be able to stack a lot of bleeds on a target so you conflict with any other condition damage dealer in your party.
Still, your spec can either increase your raw damage (Berserker), your condition damage (Dire) or a combination of both (Rabid or Rampage or Carrion).

At the same time the Engineer can bring a lot of utility/support, like the most stacks of Vulnerability of any profession (side-effect of grenades), stun-break, condition remove, healing and blast finisher with Elixir Gun, water fields with Healing Turret, fire fields with Bomb Kit, blast finisher and boon removal with Throw Mine, anti-projectile wall with Elixir U, or block and pull with Tool Kit (both come in very handy in WvW).

Regarding survivability, grenades have a range of 1500, outranging almost every other weapon/profession; together with 10 Tools and 10 Alchemy you’ll have permanent Swiftness and Vigor, making you very hard to catch in WvW and allows you to dodge twice as much as usual.
With 25-30 Alchemy the Engineer gets some good survival tools and doesn’t lose too much damage because longer boon duration → more Might and Alchemy 25.

I have bolth, I play bolth with power and conditions. IMO Necro is the clear winner when it comes to conditions and Engineer is the winner when it comes to power/crit builds.

There play style is very different and I wouldn’t really say the Necro is easyer (maybe a little)

Sorry this probably doesn’t help much but I guess the take away is if you want to be master of conditions play Necro, if you want to be bursty and mobile play Engineer.

Oh and p.s. I don’t use nades and I do just fine. I run a SD build.

As a warning, people are more likely to not want you in their group if you are an Engineer.

VIVorcha.7853:

As a warning, people are more likely to not want you in their group if you are an Engineer.

Maybe I’ve been really lucky, but I’ve yet to experience this. I’ve actually multiple times recently found myself in a group with another engie, which should be statistically unlikely.

@OP: I don’t really have a necro to compare, but I love my engie. I feel useful regardless of which of my preferred builds I use, and depending on what my build and gear are I could be doing any number of things. Rabid gear with condi nades deals pretty strong damage for the offensively inclined, and engineers have a ton of group healing potential with bombkit and elixir gun for the defensively inclined.

You will have to forgive VIV he’s a self hateing Engineer. Engi is fine for picking up groups, and tbh if your puging most of the time you need to find a beter guild.

Necros are one of the key classes in the current wvw meta of Hammer Warrs, Guard, Staff Eles. Engineers sadly don’t really have a place in such a group.

For dungeons, conditions in general are garbo. However the Engi is one of the highest damage contributers with a power build, offering high damage and being the only class that can stack and maintain 20+ stack of vuln (provided you use Grenade kit).

tattoohead.3217:

You will have to forgive VIV he’s a self hateing Engineer. Engi is fine for picking up groups, and tbh if your puging most of the time you need to find a beter guild.

We have nothing unique to add to groups. It’s not “self-hating” to acknowledge the immense number of flaws with our class’s design.

VIVorcha.7853:

tattoohead.3217:

You will have to forgive VIV he’s a self hateing Engineer. Engi is fine for picking up groups, and tbh if your puging most of the time you need to find a beter guild.

We have nothing unique to add to groups. It’s not “self-hating” to acknowledge the immense number of flaws with our class’s design.

I’d agree to that in zerg fights in wvw. However in dungeons we’re the only class that can stack and maintain 20+ stacks of vuln.

I personally hate engineers in dungeons cuz I have been running too much into these guys :

- Flamethrowerlol engie : bad dps cuz they don’t switch + their flame cone covers the whole boss animation making it way more difficult to predict the attack of a boss and dodge.

- Bumpaholic engie : they bump everything at the wrong time making the melee dudes dps less or worse ( we already failed a boss cuz the engie bumped it at the worst time possible)

Not that great dps + potential to ruin your party = facepalm when engie joins

- Support engie is not bad but it’s pretty rare and a guardian is usually better most of the time.

Mumu.6203:

I personally hate engineers in dungeons cuz I have been running too much into these guys :

- Flamethrowerlol engie : bad dps cuz they don’t switch + their flame cone covers the whole boss animation making it way more difficult to predict the attack of a boss and dodge.

- Bumpaholic engie : they bump everything at the wrong time making the melee dudes dps less or worse ( we already failed a boss cuz the engie bumped it at the worst time possible)

Not that great dps + potential to ruin your party = facepalm when engie joins

- Support engie is not bad but it’s pretty rare and a guardian is usually better most of the time.

So you are blaming the class for the players being bad.
Sounds logical to me /sarcasm

a ft engi is comparable to guardian dps lol. and a ft engi stays in ft most of the time to keep up might stacks.

learn the class before you start bashing away.

as for which class is better, play them both and see which one you like more. that will be the better class.

Engi does more for the group and has better solo damage. Necro has better damage when fully buffed. Necro has no useful utility except for blinds which can be obtained from other classes easily enough. Engi can pretty much cap 25 vuln in aoe on its own. Necro can only maintain 12 vuln on a single target. Engi can stack might pretty nicely, necro can only give themselves selfish might. This is comparing optimized zerker dungeon builds for both classes as condi damage doesnt really have a place in pve.

spoj.9672:

Engi does more for the group and has better solo damage. Necro has better damage when fully buffed. Necro has no useful utility except for blinds which can be obtained from other classes easily enough. Engi can pretty much cap 25 vuln in aoe on its own. Necro can only maintain 12 vuln on a single target. Engi can stack might pretty nicely, necro can only give themselves selfish might. This is comparing optimized zerker dungeon builds for both classes as condi damage doesnt really have a place in pve.

Nobody needs to stack 25 vulnerability themselves. There are many classes who apply this so being able to stack it yourself isn’t important. Warriors apply it with auto attack on a great sword, Rangers apply it with rapid fire….they will use those skills anyway and that’s just two off the top of my head. Vulnerability stacking is not a good reason to take anyone as most classes can do it to an extent so having 4 other people who don’t stack it is VERY rare.

Conan.8046:

spoj.9672:

Engi does more for the group and has better solo damage. Necro has better damage when fully buffed. Necro has no useful utility except for blinds which can be obtained from other classes easily enough. Engi can pretty much cap 25 vuln in aoe on its own. Necro can only maintain 12 vuln on a single target. Engi can stack might pretty nicely, necro can only give themselves selfish might. This is comparing optimized zerker dungeon builds for both classes as condi damage doesnt really have a place in pve.

Nobody needs to stack 25 vulnerability themselves. There are many classes who apply this so being able to stack it yourself isn’t important. Warriors apply it with auto attack on a great sword, Rangers apply it with rapid fire….they will use those skills anyway and that’s just two off the top of my head. Vulnerability stacking is not a good reason to take anyone as most classes can do it to an extent so having 4 other people who don’t stack it is VERY rare.

You actually do need Engis for those vuln stacks. Although other classes may put up a few stacks, they can not stack as high nor maintain 20+ stacks even as a group. Also if a Ranger is using a longbow in a dungeon, tell him to stop being bad and switch to a better weapon set.

I never said you need a class to solo stack 25 vuln. But if your auto attacking with warrior gs and taking ranger with anything other than a mainhand sword you are doing it wrong. I was simply mentioning the advantages and disadvantages both classes have in an optimized group setting. The advantage of a solo stacking vuln engi is you can take full dps conjure eles that dont need the vuln stacking trait. So they can get more dps out of their traits than if they were forced to take vuln stacking. Warriors in optimized groups only stack vuln with OMM, axe #2 and mace #4 so having a class that does it passively is better in some instances. Especially as you most likely only want one warrior with discipline, strength and FGJ. So theres no room for OMM. Im not saying engi is a must pick for dungeons, infact both necro and engi are pretty much never wanted in organized groups. But they can be ok when built properly, the engi is more useful in that situation than the necro though.

I really can’t see how you can manage to build 25 stacks of vuln on an engie, though, on champs. Most I can get is a 17, and that drops off once grenade barrage is on CD. Do you take the on-crit 50% vuln option as well to nearly double vuln done by a single nade barrage + nade AA?

I can understand spike application of vuln on bosses, though – analyze + nade barrage is around… 10+8+max 8, but optimally >4 from the on crit trait if it’s 30/10+x/x/x for around… 4-5 secs (because of defiant) + constant 9 from normal grenades. Buuuut that’s just at the start, and it tapers off, though. Am I missing something?

Advent Leader.1083:

I really can’t see how you can manage to build 25 stacks of vuln on an engie, though, on champs. Most I can get is a 17, and that drops off once grenade barrage is on CD. Do you take the on-crit 50% vuln option as well to nearly double vuln done by a single nade barrage + nade AA?

I can understand spike application of vuln on bosses, though – analyze + nade barrage is around… 10+8+max 8, but optimally >4 from the on crit trait if it’s 30/10+x/x/x for around… 4-5 secs (because of defiant) + constant 9 from normal grenades. Buuuut that’s just at the start, and it tapers off, though. Am I missing something?

Condi duration food like rare veggie pizza or the much cheaper alternative koi cakes. Also increased crit chance from things like fury, spotter, banner of discipline and if you are not still capped on crit chance under those circumstances switch from bloodlust to perception and bam 100% crit chance. This is assuming you want to maximize vuln stacking without adding additional + condi duration runes or items and still focusing on keeping your dps at acceptable levels.

Advent Leader.1083:

I really can’t see how you can manage to build 25 stacks of vuln on an engie, though, on champs.

Explosives 30 => +30%
Giver Pistol and Shield => +20%
Traveler, Mad King or Lyssa => +20%

Vulnerability lasts 5*1.7 = 8.5 seconds, on ideal conditions 3*8.5 = 25.5 stacks of Vulnerability on normal mobs; hopefully for bosses someone else also applies a few stacks.