Guild Wars 2

Took a vacay and ele got nerfed, so I’m gonna make an alt, and I’m looking for effectiveness in solo/small group roaming in WvW/BG

I narrowed it down to Engineer vs Mesmer, but couldn’t find enough information/direct comparison to really satisfy me. Thoughts? I thrive on high skill cap/high reward challenges, which is what brings me here. I also heard that Thief is in the same category. Even if played extremely well, does an engineer/mesmer kitted specifically towards solo/small roaming match up vs your typical kitten meta warrior?

bare in mind solo and small roaming are very different things and the needs for both are very different.

for solo both engie and mesmer are among the best out there, easily taking any other class 1v1 and performing well above average in 1vX. Engie has an easier time escaping bigger groups that chase you hard but a (pu) mesmer can troll a smaller group easier.
as an engie I have no problems at all facing mesmers, they are among my easiest guaranteed kills together with rangers.

in a small group things change. up to 3 guys, an engie and a mesmer have about the same value. in a 5 man group a having a mesmer becomes almost mandatory tho (due to group centric stuff like mass invis, veil, portal, null field, signet of inspiration, etc), while the engineer gets easily replaced. the best thing an engie can bring is the waterfield from healing turret, has alot of synergy with a hammer/warhorn warrior and tho engies have alot of other good stuff for the groups, there’s generally a better option.

ofc it all depends on both your group composition, what you intend to do and what builds you run on the engie and mesmer.

Engineer has the most flexibility with the least amount of needing 20 gear sets. Depending on what guilds are out or who our team is, I tend to change my spec and my gear a little bit. That is what makes the engineer probably the best solo/small group character. You can change so much easily to fit whatever the situation is for the night.

As for skill cap, engineer is the hardest at least for me because of the sheer number of skills we have with kits. Then you start altering what utilities or kits you take to fit the situation and you have to adjust all sorts of play style mechanics (while managing 20+ skills).

Mesmer is a great class, but it doesn’t have as many options and I think you will like the ability to reinvent yourself quite easily several times a month.

I rolled and kitted a mesmer for my small man, but it was so boring to play. Yes it has some nice things and invisibility etc, but still ultimately dull imho.

Engineer though….just so much fun and utility, it really is the extension king in fights.

Mesmer and engi can both be high skill/high reward, but unfortunately some of the best mesmer builds have been dumbed down significantly recently. Shatter mesmer is tricky, but the more common/often more effective PU and phantasm varieties are pretty basic.

Obviously warriors are incredibly strong, but you can be as useful to your group as an engineer.

For 1vX, condi engineer is one of the easiest classes to do that with.

If your looking to form a roaming 5 man then at least 1 Mesmer is needed to help dodge or stealth bomb zergs as you move about. However, if you have another Mesmer already an engineer is extremely helpful in 5vX. Engineers, both condi and power/SD, have some of the best sustained pressure and are great for being target callers if there isn’t a warrior in the group. I would recommend power/SD for 5X because that gives you strong sustained pressure, you can burst when required, and with Rife/Tool Kit you can easily control called targeted till they are downed.

It’s important to note that having good sustained pressure allows you to force dodges without having to waste burst potential. Forcing a dodge gives the easiest opportunity to burst the target right when they land if your group can learn the timing of their burst skills so that they hit at the end of the dodge. Counter-dodging>Stun.

I mostly roamed with my engi since release, then mesmer, then ele and now warrior.

Engineer is by far the profession with the highest fun and skill-factor but sadly in the current state not that good for roaming for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that the most common roaming-builds out there are, if played correct, unkillable for you. Eles, warriors and thiefs can disengage at will and youre not going to catch them.
This also counts for mesmers. Mesmers are a real plaque right now because of the PU-Stealthabuse bandwagon but they also are unable to catch fleeing enemeys and omg are they boring to play.

Im testing right now a tanky, power based mobility build for wvw-solo – smallscale.
Its quite fun but in no ways that powerful like my Hammer/GS warrior.
My problem on engineer is that the strongest builds to fight with are 3kit but with 3 kits you miss rocketboots and/or elixir s.

So it depends on your definiton of Solo/small group roaming because mesmer and engis are very strong duel classes but weak at roaming. At least for my playstyle.

I run a SD build on my engi and it’s a blast. I’m a little glassy atm but you can build a bit at mire while your learning. My mobility is probably my favorite part of the build.

In a team fight people switch targets often, overall it’s a good tactic you do to want to get tied down to someone and waste time on them while they are immune or too far away. You can manipulate this tactic to stay alive as an engi simply with effective positioning. Use rocket boots… You will thank me lol

There is nothing more fun then stealthing behind a mesmer and then ccing them to death.

Engineer has more viable roaming builds than any class that I am aware.

srsly what is this what you guys call a viable roaming build?
Because 99% of the engineers i meet are just lootbags like SD builds that i destroy with 3 hits on my 3.4k armor tank.

And really ? youre talking about ccing a mesmer to death?
Against what type of scrubs are you playing? If engineer would be that awesome there would be alot more of them roaming around with success. The fact is in the last 3 months ive met 1 (one) engineer that i couldnt beat on my warrior but thats it i couldnt beat him so i walked away and he had no chance to catch me. It was a 3kit perplexity build that i also used on my engi but even if this build is considered oped it sucks at roaming.

Dont get me wrong, i played for more then 1 jear with engineer in smallscale/roaming and also a couple of months on my mesmer and jes both are if played the strongest professions in duels but roaming/smallscale isnt duelling someone at the windwill.

My advice to you OP is stick to your ele or reroll warrior/thief. Mobility is the key.

Kontrolle.3514:

My advice to you OP is stick to your ele or reroll warrior/thief. Mobility is the key.

you can’t reduce roaming to mobility alone. that would be running, not roaming.

and yea, I’ve found alot of warriors saying the same as you, how they beat every engie. and then they die and don’t say it anymore.

follow link on my sig, click any vid and tell me engies don’t work for roaming.

I have all classes leveled to 80 and my favourite to roam is engie, I’ve done it with most of them but nothing is more fun and rewarding for me than engie.

Maskaganda.2043:

Kontrolle.3514:

My advice to you OP is stick to your ele or reroll warrior/thief. Mobility is the key.

you can’t reduce roaming to mobility alone. that would be running, not roaming.

and yea, I’ve found alot of warriors saying the same as you, how they beat every engie. and then they die and don’t say it anymore.

follow link on my sig, click any vid and tell me engies don’t work for roaming.

I have all classes leveled to 80 and my favourite to roam is engie, I’ve done it with most of them but nothing is more fun and rewarding for me than engie.

But he is a warrior, and we all know their true calling is to be the fastest runner they can be.

I have both and I use my engi a lot more simply because I find it more fun. It also helps that he’s a little exploding asuran ball of death. I find I have more survivability across the board with the engi while with my mesmer my survivability is tied more to the other player’s skill because some people are just god awful at finding the real me. You also can’t beat speedy kits for roaming.

Maskaganda.2043:

Kontrolle.3514:

My advice to you OP is stick to your ele or reroll warrior/thief. Mobility is the key.

you can’t reduce roaming to mobility alone. that would be running, not roaming.

and yea, I’ve found alot of warriors saying the same as you, how they beat every engie. and then they die and don’t say it anymore.

follow link on my sig, click any vid and tell me engies don’t work for roaming.

I have all classes leveled to 80 and my favourite to roam is engie, I’ve done it with most of them but nothing is more fun and rewarding for me than engie.

1. its called kiting and not running and its the key to win fights like 2vs4+

2. lol awesome vids, full buffed + stacks + guard buffs vs unbuffed, bads and upscaled, supply dropp in every fight and on top of that its just a collection of wins. Your video makes me really sad and is a proof of statement.

Stillshade.7634:

Maskaganda.2043:

Kontrolle.3514:

My advice to you OP is stick to your ele or reroll warrior/thief. Mobility is the key.

you can’t reduce roaming to mobility alone. that would be running, not roaming.

and yea, I’ve found alot of warriors saying the same as you, how they beat every engie. and then they die and don’t say it anymore.

follow link on my sig, click any vid and tell me engies don’t work for roaming.

I have all classes leveled to 80 and my favourite to roam is engie, I’ve done it with most of them but nothing is more fun and rewarding for me than engie.

But he is a warrior, and we all know their true calling is to be the fastest runner they can be.

no im an engineer but unlike you i dont zerg i get zerged, every single fight so escaping is the key to success and engineers cant escape the zerg and the lack of stability makes them just to unreliable.

Jes engineer is stronger in 1v1 thats what you have to tell yourself all the time if you got zerged…..

lol awesome vids, full buffed + stacks + guard buffs vs unbuffed, bads and upscaled, supply dropp in every fight and on top of that its just a collection of wins. Your video makes me really sad and is a proof of statement.

If someone is stupid enough to fight without preparation – and 3w is pure war – then it is only his fault. Full stacks? Guard buffs? Food? – this is PREPARATION for roaming, if u can prepare – why not? People underleveled often engage first because they think they’re awesome and have backup(even 1 person of 80 lvl). Roaming of Mask, shows, that they’re wrong. If they could be smart enough, they would escape. 3w is survival – if u can’t pick up a fight – run, if u can’t run – die. For me this is simple – if thief can catch me off guard – it’s my fault, I should run or die, if I am prepared, why not pick up a fight and try to win. They were not prepared – only their fault.

P.S. If something is unclear – eng isn’t my native lang

Kontrolle.3514:

Maskaganda.2043:

Kontrolle.3514:

My advice to you OP is stick to your ele or reroll warrior/thief. Mobility is the key.

you can’t reduce roaming to mobility alone. that would be running, not roaming.

and yea, I’ve found alot of warriors saying the same as you, how they beat every engie. and then they die and don’t say it anymore.

follow link on my sig, click any vid and tell me engies don’t work for roaming.

I have all classes leveled to 80 and my favourite to roam is engie, I’ve done it with most of them but nothing is more fun and rewarding for me than engie.

1. its called kiting and not running and its the key to win fights like 2vs4+

2. lol awesome vids, full buffed + stacks + guard buffs vs unbuffed, bads and upscaled, supply dropp in every fight and on top of that its just a collection of wins. Your video makes me really sad and is a proof of statement.

oh please do tell me how to win 2vs4+ !

kiting is just a part of it. like I said there’s alot more to roaming than just kiting. sure, warriors can kite, but so can engies, they won’t win a speed race vs a warrior but they also have other tools which warriors don’t, like stealth, cripple puddles and a water field.

you can pick and choose at my vids if it makes you feel ok, I think there’s more 1v3+ fights than there’s the kind you described.

I solo roam as an engie and I do very, very well. I’m sorry if you needed to play an easier class to be able to roam but some of us make it work with an engie. I wish more players were like you and underestimated an engie, gets tireing having to chase everyone for a fight.