Guild Wars 2

Hello All.

I have been a long time GW player (since beta) and have finally been able to really play GW2 since I bought it at release. In GW I played as a Ranger until Factions came out and quickly took to the Ritualist. I was worried as the classes trickled out for GW2 that I would not find one that fit my play style (tend to prefer hybrid chars [Druid in WoW, etc…]), and then I was immediately taken by the lore and style of the Engineer class.

I sit at level 45 and am feeling a bit lost and frustrated. Part of this might still be me getting used ANet being the first company to break the “Holy Trinity” (thank god).

All that said (and my gratitude if you made it this far) I have some questions:

1.) I am finding myself (still focused on PvE) being quickly defeated doing solo stuff unless it is just one-on-one with a mob. Maybe my next questions will reveal what I am doing wrong, but I see Guardians and Eles just faceroll through stuff and I am struggling.

2.) Is the purpose of kits to keep them rotating constantly? For instance, should I be using EG, doing 3, 1, 1, 1, and then immediate going to TK and doing 3, 1, 1, then to FT and doing 5, 2, 1? Is using three kits even a good idea?

3.) Turrets: I’ve skimmed the forums a bit and sorta already have the answer to this question… I think… but man… are they made of glass. Even with some of the low level traits I just can’t seem to keep them up for very long solo. In a group with a “tank” they seem to stick around longer.

4.) Equipped weapon: How often does anyone actually use theirs? As someone who has been mostly focus on kits, it seems like I almost never see these skills or quickly switch away from them. That said, pistol + shield seems to offer the most diversity and some nice defensive options (pushback & stun) compared to the rifle.

5.) Potions: Compared to kits, these really feel like a waste. Maybe I am doing it wrong,? Or maybe I am underestimating/undervaluing them.

6.) Skills & Traits: How often are you swapping them out between fights? Are there some skills or traits that are universal “must haves” regardless of build emphasis?

7.) Stats: Skimming the forums gives some insight into this question, but it seems like stats on our armor and weapons matter little. Please correct me if I am assuming/digesting information wrong, but it is seems best to focus on Condition DMG/Duration, Toughness, and Vitality. Yes? No?

My thanks in advance for anyone patient and willing to hold my hand. I really want to like the class cause it seems like a good fit, but the pieces are not quite falling into place as nicely and neatly as I’d like. Looking toward level 80, I have no idea what build or gear I should be focusing on. =/

-Qwerkk
Asuran Engineer

P.S. – FWIW, here is me goofing around with a build:.

I assume you’re talking PvE here. You actually are doing much better than you think because you are asking the right questions.

Step 1: learn to dodge. I’m sure you know how to dodge but there’s more skill to it than is immediately obvious. Most professions cannot take more than a handful of hits. There’s not really any tanking in this game, but there is damage mitigation. The bad guys often “telegraph” their big moves, either by taking a big swing, or a weird visual distortion effect. Dodge a second or so after they start making this telegraph (take some practice).

Step 2: learn to CC. Part of damage mitigation is preventing the bad guys from doing damage to you. Engineers are pretty darn good at CC: blind, stun, daze, knockback, immobilize, cripple, chill, weakness. Study all your abilities to understand the secondary CC effects they apply beyond just damage.

Step 3: learn to kite. With the exception of the bomb kit and the tool kit, engineers are a ranged profession. There’s a technique called circle strafing where you run in a circle while all the mobs follow you, but they are still in front of you enough to hit them with ranged attacks. Because most mobs are melee, they can’t hit you.

Once you learn the above you’ll already be way better. Engineers also have a bunch of specialized abilities, many of which are of more benefit in WvW and PvP situations. For example the tool-kit #4 (gear shield) blocks all attacks for a few seconds. While that could have use in PvE (e.g. you need to get the heck out of a sticky situation), it’s rare an not necessarily worth taking just for that. The same ideas apply to elixirs. Turrets are for point defense. In some events you can stand in one small area and complete the event. But most of the time you are mobile. So turrets are often more of an sPvP thing where you stay to defend a point. As for kits, each has its strengths and weaknesses in certain situations. For PvE, most people stick to only one or two weapon kits, and the other utilities might be an elixir B or a turret or a cool gadget. The grenade kit and the bomb kit are popular PvE kits because they dish out AoE. Turns out both are also pretty good for single-target mobs, but since you asked about using the weapon versus using kit, you’ll find the weapons more appropriate for single targets.

I know you asked other specific questions (stats, skills, and traits), but often the answer is actually about personal preference, not min-maxing.

I use kits purely for their utility. For example in WvW when facing a thief that drops down a shadow refuge, I will to the edge of the shadow refuge and flamethrower #3 to push him out which can hinder them significantly. If my FT #3 skill is on cooldown then I’ll run into the center of the shadow refuge and use my shield #4 skill twice to push him out.
I wouldn’t say you have to use the kits to continuously swap between them but rather use them when you need them much like Elementalists swapping between attunements when they need certain skills.
To answer your questions more indepth
1) Eles and Guardians are pretty OP, engis struggle with leveling up because they just don’t hit as hard that early on.

2) I answered that above but I’ll say it again, use the kits when you need certain utilities (at least that’s how I use them). It’s like Elementalists using attunement swaps to get what they need but we can switch to a different kit whenever we need to without the 9~15 second cd.

3)Turrets are crap. End of story. Maybe for spvp bunker builds but in pve they’re generally worthless. Only one worth using is healing turret for the heal+overcharge (5kish heal + 2 conditions removed + 5 second water field that allows you to heal more if you have blast finishers ready)

4)I use my equipped weapons when my pistol #2/3 is off cooldown and when I need to use my off-hand shield.

5)HGH engies are extremely OP, in full condi gear you would be pushing around 2k condition damage which hits HARD but it’s generally only good to use 1 or 2 or even 3 elixirs. Elixir H for healing, Elixir B for the 4 boons it gives (might, fury, retaliation, swiftness), Elixir S for the invulnerability/toss Elixir S for the stability/stealth (elixir S used to be really REALLY good but it was nerfed and it’s not as useful anymore), Elixir R for the instant endurance refill and toss elixir R for the revive field (use the toss Elixir R as you’re about to go down to generally get yourself back up). The 2 elixirs I almost never use are Elixir U and Elixir C, U is situational with its 2 combo fields that reflect/negate projectiles and C is good to cleanse ALL conditions on you.

6) I never really switch my traits due to them being exactly how I want them, sometimes I’ll swap out one of them to lower a cooldown of something trivial for a little bit but I’ll go back to what I was using of course that’s only in the build I’m using and doesn’t really apply to all builds.

7) Not sure what you mean by this. Stats as in the defense or the major/minor stats the armor has (such as Rabid armor having precision/toughness/condi damage). Regardless you want to have level 80 exotic gear because that gives the maximum stats all together.

On the build you’re using, I would swap out rifled barrels for hair trigger simple because the range increase isn’t all that useful but a cooldown decrease on those pistol skills is. Also swap out or remove cleansing formula 409 because you’re not using any elixirs at all.

1) check your equipment. Is it on actual level or close to it? Engineer is not that bad for leveling. Try to kite in circles around enemies – movement is your best friends as engieer and he is very good in this.

2) Yes this is a good start. Swap alot and try to find combinations of skills all over the kits. Yes u can play with 3 kits, but u don’t have to. Anyway, you should use one damage kit: Grenades (more powerful from level 60+ through grandmaster trait), bombs (strong damage for leveling). Some ppl use flamethrower as damage kit – for me it’s an utility kit.

3) Healing turret is great if u use it in the right way. But apart from this, turrets still suck. Rifle turret is used to play static discharge because of the short cd of the toolbelt skill.

4) Try to bring in your weapons in your kit rotation. Both – rifle or pistol do have nice #3 skills. If u use p/p, #5 is a good opener and #4 deals great AoE damage. Use sigils for weapon switch later – this is amazing if u like kit swapping (I think u like it, u mentioned it ;-) ). It’s not realy important what weapon u prefer – al of them do have their advantages and disadvantages. Use whatever u like more.

5) You mean Elixirs? They are really strong if traited. There is a famous HGH build for engineers: stacking 25 might in fight + many other boons with elixirs making him very powerful and dangerous. But if no traited elixirs are jsut average skills.

6) I do change my traits sometimes in PvE/WvW but not that often. Many diversity can be created by using different gear. For example u can play grenade based kit swapping build with rifle and power equipment or u can change to pistol/pistol and conditiondamage equipment – there is no need to reset traits because both ways use the same. I also can switch to bombs by changing some traits without reseting them.

7) Flamethrower is mostly around power/crit equipment. Some defensive ways of flamethrower use soldier gear maybe. Grenades are very versatile according to equipment: u can play them power/crit, power/condition damage, only condition damage or also all stats (on trinkets). All varieties are strong. Bombs are similar but u need to be more defensive – maybe some soldier gear or tanky condition gear. Condition duration is strong in engineer, especially on condition engineers.

I did some changed to your build, also added soem condition equipment. Doesn’t matter if u end up playing conditions or power, the traits are fine for both:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VV;4cPVg0l6gTFx0i5gTFw0;0JU;4T9-J917A5;308-5;0SV1;3pLQhpLQh;0Fj7M;2a-Vb-gWlXpYw315B

First, thank you all for your detailed responses. I have a few follow-up questions:

1.) Survivability in PvE
Yeah, I haven’t felt comfortable enough with the class to give PvP of any form a whirl yet. That said, my gear is all level 40 or better. I am trying not to waste money/resources on gear as I level if possible. Unless that is a huge mistake, but that is just habit from other MMOs. I do try to stay mobile (circle strafing, dodging, and kiting) unfortunately, and this is just experience, I tend to end up with more things lumping on or falling off an edge. Especially with the AoE of FT or GK. Or, I find myself playing finger twister as I try to move and swap kits and attack simultaneously. XD

I also went with cooking as a skill recently (an under appreciated skill in most MMOs) and some of the food buffs have been helpful.

2.) Kit Swapping
Interesting and obviously, just from three responses there is a bit of a playstyle thing at play here. I’ll say this, I love EG and TK. So much going on there. I’ve also tried to consider my weapon as my “damage kit” recently and add it into a rotation… of sorts… if you will.

3.) Turrets
I’ll give healing turret another chance. In PvE the Healing Kit was super useful. Mostly for the toolkit skill since the regen on EG and HT don’t stack. Otherwise, it looks best to use turrets for specific PvP purposes until maybe some balance stuff down the line.

4.) Weapons
It looks like my intuition to work the weapon in to a rotation as I mentioned in #2 is pretty close to the mark. Yeah, as much as I like the look of some of the high level rifles (Super Hyperbeam Alpha, Azure Railgun, Spectral Wave Modulator) I think the pistol and shield is a nice mix of offense and defense (#4 has saved my hide plenty of times). I wish we had (even out of combat) some type of weapon swap, but that is likely what kits are for, design wise.

5.) Elixers
Yes, not potions… jebus…

Do the trait triggered elixirs benefit from elixir traits as well? So far, I have found those to be enough of a boon without having to use a slot for one. If I did have to pick one, I was certainly leaning toward R or B.

6.) Builds/Traits
I am glad to hear that at some point you can/will settle into a build. As I mentioned, I lean toward hybrid builds, so my gut is to spread out. That, and none of the GM skills feel like “OMG I MUST HAVE THIS” even for specific skill types. With that in mind it looks like a 20 FA, 20 Alchemy, and 20 Tools is going to be my speed. Not sure where the last 10 points would be most effective.

7.) Stat Effects on Skills
I must have totally misread/misunderstood the effect stats had on our skills. I was left with the impression that they do not have the same or any impact on our skills compared to other classes. Thanks for the clarification.

Thanks again
Qwerkk

I know exactly what you are going through and it looks like you shared my exact playstyle in GW1.

1- The quality of armor you are using matters a lot while leveling. Replace your armor with blue or green quality armor every five levels or so and you’ll be able to take a lot more punishment.

2- I recommend using only one kit at a time. The other utility skills are quite valuable, and it can be overwhelming with two or more kits unless you are super good.

3- Turrets suck right now.

4- Rifle does lots of direct damage and CC (knockbacks and immobilization). Pistol/pistol does the most DPS with its huge amount of conditions but takes a little bit of practice. Pistol/shield is good if you like to play defensively. I use P/P obsessively. If you use +conditon damage and duration armor, enemies pretty much melt against P/P.

5- The potions are really powerful depending on your build. If you take the “Cleaning Formula 409” trait using any potion gets rid of a condition. In addition, each elixir gives a lot of powerful boons (these help with survivability). Elixir S (invulnerability) and Elixir B (massive boost to damage+retaliation+speed) are both extremely awesome.

6- I never swap skills in between fights. With the right build, you will be able to handle all situations.

7- The stats on armor/weapons are extremely important. There are two general builds you can use with your armor. If you use the rifle, I suggest Precision/Power/Critical Damage (include a bit of toughness/vitality so you don’t die instantly though). If you use a pistol, use Condition Damage/Precision/Vitality.

Make sure to try out a couple builds before you buy armor at level 80. Armor is usually build-specific and it is expensive if you decide you want a second set for another build once you start using rare/exotic armor. Hope this helps!

I had a very similar frustrated feeling while leveling my engineer last week. I was running with condition damage, dual pistols, grenade kit & elixirs at level 40. I felt like I was effective as a wet noodle.

After the patch I decided to overhaul my skills and settled on Flamethrower because Juggernaut and Fireforged Trigger only require 20 trait points now which gives a huge bonus in might stacking. I switched over to power focused gear and now i’m breezing through PvE getting to level 50 really quickly.

It’ll be interesting to see how it handles dungeons, hopefully it can do the business!

Hey there, I’m kinda new to the game as well, and had the same issues with my Engineer when I started. I’ve learned a lot and maybe this will help :-)

1.) Kiting and more kiting.

I don’t know what kit you use as your main weapon (flamethrower, grenades …) but I for instance use the flamethrower as a main weapon. In combination with the Charr racial ability Shrapnel mine. The mine slows down mobs, and by doing this all the time I have little trouble kiting mobs in little circles while hozing them down with fire.

2.) Is the purpose of kits to keep them rotating constantly?

Depends on what your setup is, and how your playstyle is, but I don’t really switch that much in kits (in solo PvE).

3.) Turrets.

Don’t let the negative comments get to you. Again, using turrets is cool if you can fit them into your playstyle. Like I said above, I really like kiting mobs, and therefor slowing mobs down is totally awesome for me. When I roam the PvE zones solo I often use the thumper turret (traited with -30% dmg intake), and it is a huge benefit to me.

I use it alot when I pull more than I can chew, and on champions that little turrets often gives me those extra couple of seconds I need to break away.

Again, turrets really require you to fit them into your playstyle.

4.) Equipped weapon

I have the rifle equipped and I use it only for the net ability.

5.) Potions.

Also require you to invest heavily into them. But during leveling, they kinda feel underwhelming. At level 80 for instance, as a flamethrower engineer, they are awesome (for might stacking).

6.) Skills & Traits.

My advice woud be, search and evaluate what your playstyle is, and then build your traits around that playstyle.

I rarely switch traits, and sometime skills when i’m in a dungeon.

7.) Stats

Depends on your setup. You will often read here that in PvE all that matters is damage and all beserker gear is the bestest … I say ‘meh’.

If you are more comfortable with extra vitality and thoughness, then so be it.

digitalruse.9085:

1.) Survivability in PvE

2.) Kit Swapping

3.) Turrets

4.) Weapons

5.) Elixers

6.) Builds/Traits

1. Don’t try and use to many kits at the same time. This is the exact mistake I made while I was leveling. For some reason I felt that having the EG was an absolute must as an engineer.

And because of that I had to constantly switch back and forth to grenades and so … making me loose focus on the fighting often.

I decided to stick to one kit as a weapon and really focus on that. And it is really showing. When there is a pack of 5 or 6 mobs with a veteran or so I just charge in with my flamethrower and melt them to the ground. (I just leveled 80 btw and my gear is still pretty crappy).

But just having one weapon kit to focus on really improved my gameplay.

2. Answered on 1

3. The healing turret is nice, but it is best used like this, drop it, overcharge it, and pick it up a little after. That way you get a 15 second cooldown on it.

4. Yep we have kits, no weapon swapping. The shield is nice, but I think more for pvp. Sure you can work with it in pve, but that is extra burden on your rotation and so.

5. While leveling I woudn’t worry to much about elixers, unless you are going for the flamethrower

6. The engineer is already a heavy hybrid profession imo. So mixing it all up is doable, but you might be better of focussing on a specific build. Like a grenadier, a flamethrower, a support healer with EG and elixers/condition removal …. They are all very different playstyles. Trying to mix these up together is … difficult.

Beetlezombie.1283:

1. Don’t try and use to many kits at the same time. This is the exact mistake I made while I was leveling. For some reason I felt that having the EG was an absolute must as an engineer.

And because of that I had to constantly switch back and forth to grenades and so … making me loose focus on the fighting often.

I decided to stick to one kit as a weapon and really focus on that. And it is really showing. When there is a pack of 5 or 6 mobs with a veteran or so I just charge in with my flamethrower and melt them to the ground. (I just leveled 80 btw and my gear is still pretty crappy).

But just having one weapon kit to focus on really improved my gameplay.

2. Answered on 1

I don’t agree. Kit swapping is a very important part of engineer – don’T try to focus to stay in one kit. That’s bad playstyle for engineer.

I also recently startet with engineer and had some difficulties. With the engi you can’t just run around with 2 signets and one F-skill. You have to use all of your skills (14) in combat while moving and dodging. Imo this can only be achieved if you rebind most of your skills to somewhere near wasd. It is possible to use things like “shift+anything”.
after I changed the bindings I now feel much more comfortable, deal more damage and die less often. :-)

I found the 40s-50s to be rough on my engi. Just slow mainly. Hang in there, it gets better 60+

Forestnator.6298:

I don’t agree. Kit swapping is a very important part of engineer – don’T try to focus to stay in one kit. That’s bad playstyle for engineer.

Ok, lets agree not to start with the “If you don’t play exactly how I think all engineers should play then they are doing it bad”.

Kit swapping is important, if you focus on it and make your build / playstyle gain from it.

However, the engineer imo is very capable to not have to do that. As I am doing. I’m focusing on flamethrower with elixers for might. And I like to kite using the thumper turret or shrapnel mine.

It suits my playstyle just fine. I may not be the bestest DPS like a faceroll warrior, I may not be a walking god like a guardian, but it works just fine …. for me personally.

Could I be using the bomb kit for more stuff that goes boom? Yes I could.
Could I be using the tool kit for some extra melee closeness options? Yes I could.
Could I be using the EG for support stuff? Yes I could.

But I don’t have to. That is the beauty of the trait system and the way the profession works. You don’t have to do jack kitten .

And how dare you presume to know the prefered playstyle for every engineer out here? Seriously??

@OP

Last piece of advice. Try to find out what works for you, and for the love of god don’t ever listen to people that say “If you’re not playing how I play you’re a baddie”.

Yes there are super optimal builds out there for every profession, that can squeeze the most DPS or whatever out of your class. But it may not be the best build for you, or the most fun build for you.

I never said “if you’re not playing how I play you’re a baddie”. HGH is also a not much swapping play style. But even there u have to swap between grenades and pistols to play efficiencly. Efficiencly … yes ofc you can play what ever u want to. But your freedom ends where others freedom starts – means: don’t let other have to compensive your bad playstyle. Again, I did not say if ppl don’t swap kits like hell they are baddies. But also for your example it’s true: u have to swap instinctly to elixir gun to use the utilitys useful. Instinctly – that’s the point. Tool kit – OP said he likes it – is the most situational and withit the most instinctly kit.

That’s why I don’t agree with your statement. Even if you don’t play nodefighter ( that’s what builds are called at the moment which include minimum one offensive and one utility kit) with fast swapping – even then u have to use your swaps instinctly. It’s very good if he practises this that early.

Forestnator.6298:

Efficiencly … yes ofc you can play what ever u want to. But your freedom ends where others freedom starts – means: don’t let other have to compensive your bad playstyle.

Again, I did not say if ppl don’t swap kits like hell they are baddies.

Yeah you really though about what you wrote there …

Also, maybe you should either go play World of warcraft or roll a 100b Warrior. Your attitude fits perfectly.

Are you the kind of player that rejects Rangers from parties without question? Because having a Ranger on the team adds nothing a guardian doesn’t do better? And more efficient …

Meh, I’m out of this discussion. Have fun with your efficient playstyle. And I hope you will survive having to compensate for other peoples playstyle in group play. Poor you … we should all give you a hug.

I’m going to have to disagree with Beetlezombie on the usefulness of Elixer Gun. Just as a support tool it gives you a stun break, a AoE condition cleanser with a minor heal and a retreat option. Secondary things like weakness, cripple, poison and condition cleansing for allies makes it a extremely useful multi-purpose support tool.

I’ll agree with him on not using too many kits, although I’d rather say don’s use JUST kits. 2 kits can still be more than viable to use with no hassle. 3 if you include Med kit.
But keep your third utility slot open for a emergency tool

Dedlaw.9130:

I’m going to have to disagree with Beetlezombie on the usefulness of Elixer Gun. Just as a support tool it gives you a stun break, a AoE condition cleanser with a minor heal and a retreat option. Secondary things like weakness, cripple, poison and condition cleansing for allies makes it a extremely useful multi-purpose support tool.

I’ll agree with him on not using too many kits, although I’d rather say don’s use JUST kits. 2 kits can still be more than viable to use with no hassle. 3 if you include Med kit.
But keep your third utility slot open for a emergency tool

Where did I say EG wasn’t useful?

Since OP started with the fact he was having difficulties leveling and doing SOLO stuff, I was giving him my personal views and experiences while leveling. No where did I say my way was the best or whatever.

And now there’s two of you talking about group utility and making sure you ’don’t slack’ by ‘gimping’ your playstyle in groups … or else.

When I’m in a guild group and we do a new dungeon, I will slot EG. For the extra utility it provides. When we do stuff we have done many times before, I don’t, because the already existing experience overrules the necessity of EG.

And I do believe I actually wrote in a post earlier that it was one of the options of the engineer to build a support role with EG for condition removal etc, so it’s not like I said screw the EG.

My views still stand, as a new engineer, focus on settling into a playstyle YOU alone like best. And work with that. Then by the time you get the hang of it, you can start by swapping slots if the situation requires it.

Unless you’re an uber player and can do all that in your sleep. Then you can come on the forums and call the rest of us mortals baddies.

Beetlezombie.1283:

Dedlaw.9130:

I’m going to have to disagree with Beetlezombie on the usefulness of Elixer Gun. Just as a support tool it gives you a stun break, a AoE condition cleanser with a minor heal and a retreat option. Secondary things like weakness, cripple, poison and condition cleansing for allies makes it a extremely useful multi-purpose support tool.

I’ll agree with him on not using too many kits, although I’d rather say don’s use JUST kits. 2 kits can still be more than viable to use with no hassle. 3 if you include Med kit.
But keep your third utility slot open for a emergency tool

Where did I say EG wasn’t useful?

Since OP started with the fact he was having difficulties leveling and doing SOLO stuff, I was giving him my personal views and experiences while leveling. No where did I say my way was the best or whatever.

And now there’s two of you talking about group utility and making sure you ’don’t slack’ by ‘gimping’ your playstyle in groups … or else.

When I’m in a guild group and we do a new dungeon, I will slot EG. For the extra utility it provides. When we do stuff we have done many times before, I don’t, because the already existing experience overrules the necessity of EG.

And I do believe I actually wrote in a post earlier that it was one of the options of the engineer to build a support role with EG for condition removal etc, so it’s not like I said screw the EG.

My views still stand, as a new engineer, focus on settling into a playstyle YOU alone like best. And work with that. Then by the time you get the hang of it, you can start by swapping slots if the situation requires it.

Unless you’re an uber player and can do all that in your sleep. Then you can come on the forums and call the rest of us mortals baddies.

My apologies, I misread your initial post about EG.

Although I can throw the same sentence back at you – where did I ever mention slacking or gimping or called anyone a baddie? And I never said you claimed your opinion was the best or whatever, nor was I trying to shoot down your viewpoint. I was simply disagreeing with you. And I only mentioned the team utility as a secondary effect for EQ, meaning it’s not the reason you take the kit but it’s still an option you have access to if need be.

No need to take it everything so personally

If you’re using grenades or bombs you can kill basically anything just by running in circles. When I was leveling the straight PvE way, I used grenades a lot and simply ran in circle tossing them behind me. Anything that’s not ranged died without ever touching me. Ranged was kinda boring to fight but all you have to do is dodge and attack. Doesn’t really matter what attack you’re using, it’s the dodging that will keep you alive.

A quick note, too: If you’re seeing people facerolling through the PvE content, it’s almost definitely because they’re level 80 already and have exotic gear and whatnot. I remember playing at release and the PvE zones were full of people doing content that was at their level, nowadays I barely see anyone who doesn’t have a down arrow next to their name (that indicates that they’re a higher level than the zone).

Edit: I also agree that you should go ahead and use multiple kits. There are plenty of builds that barely use kits but if you never get acquainted with having a couple that you switch between then your build options in the future will be highly limited or frustrating to learn.

Beetlezombie.1283:

Forestnator.6298:

Efficiencly … yes ofc you can play what ever u want to. But your freedom ends where others freedom starts – means: don’t let other have to compensive your bad playstyle.

Again, I did not say if ppl don’t swap kits like hell they are baddies.

Yeah you really though about what you wrote there …

Also, maybe you should either go play World of warcraft or roll a 100b Warrior. Your attitude fits perfectly.

Are you the kind of player that rejects Rangers from parties without question? Because having a Ranger on the team adds nothing a guardian doesn’t do better? And more efficient …

Meh, I’m out of this discussion. Have fun with your efficient playstyle. And I hope you will survive having to compensate for other peoples playstyle in group play. Poor you … we should all give you a hug.

Wow, wow, someone really needs to calm down. There is simply no reason to overreact.

First of all, I never played WoW, I got a warrior in GW2 but playing hammer, no GS. I never did class discrimination. I play Ranger by my own.

There is mostly no reason to feal bad if others compensive your weak points – that’s why it is a team game (mostly)

But there is a reason to feel bad if u let party members compensive weak points created through your own lazyness/hate to the humanity/ unproductive anti-attitude

But this is another topic. OP should definitly keep on swapping kits – it seems like he loves it and there is no reason from your side to tell him not to do is. U wanted to make him playing like u and now u critise me for telling him to just go on with swapping.

I am not sure who was the bad/selfish/egocentric guy, I think it was u.

Egads! I leave you guys along for 7 days…

That said, I made it to 80 on the good graces of FT/Jugg for the most part. This has made me not like it as much anymore as I find myself stuck using it more often than something else and just spamming 1 & 2 over and over. I also took up cooking and the food buffs are quite handy.

That said, I have settled on two utility skills I like (EG, GK) ankitten ow trying to focus in my build and last skill a bit, if possible. It is 10/20/0/20/20 with a focus on stacking conditions on crit. This seems to allow for the most versatility in kit switching as they all benefit from setting things on fire, causing bleeding, and vulnerability. It also helps keep the pistol/shield (that stun has saved my little Asuran butt) rotation as I don’t feel I have to go to EG or GK unless I want something specific like CC.

Traits:
Incendiary Powder
Fireforged Trigger
Precise Sights
Self Regulating Defenses (Live saver. Holey moley)
Deadly Mixture
Kit Refinement (EG glue trail is a nice setup for then throwing acid)
Leg Mods (Not hooked on this one, per se)

Skills:
Healing Turret (The burst healing is nice)
Elixir Gun (I love this thing)
Grenade Kit
[Not sure] – Either I am going to rotate things in as I need them, or I’d really appreciate some advice here. Elixir R has popped in here on more than a few occasions as spamming evade has been handy and dropping bombs as I do it is giggle worthy.

I should add that I am not entirely sold on having the last 10 points in Tools. But, getting a bump to crit damage (since I am stacking precision to trigger it for conditions) and faster tool belt (it is our defining feature after all) seemed like a good idea. Being able to keep the regen up from HT and having the stun break from EG be quicker has been nice.

This brings me to gear… what sort of methodologies do you all have for it? Obviously, I am going to need precision, condition damage, & condition duration. To that end either the Grenth Temple armor (which I think looks pretty ugly, but I know I can change with the 80 tokens I have) or the Whispers armor seems like a good choice.

Anywho… thanks for the info from everyone. It has been immensly helpful. It is nice to see a helpful and thriving community despite some of the issues our class may (or may not) face.

-Qwerkk

digitalruse.9085:

Traits:
Incendiary Powder
Fireforged Trigger
Precise Sights
Self Regulating Defenses (Live saver. Holey moley)
Deadly Mixture
Kit Refinement (EG glue trail is a nice setup for then throwing acid)
Leg Mods (Not hooked on this one, per se)

Skills:
Healing Turret (The burst healing is nice)
Elixir Gun (I love this thing)
Grenade Kit
-Qwerkk

Generally, using Grenade Kit without the Grenadier grandmaster trait is going to be sub-par. If you can make it work somehow, then go with it, but it’s not going to be as damaging as if you took that 30 points in explosives.

digitalruse.9085:

This brings me to gear… what sort of methodologies do you all have for it? Obviously, I am going to need precision, condition damage, & condition duration. To that end either the Grenth Temple armor (which I think looks pretty ugly, but I know I can change with the 80 tokens I have) or the Whispers armor seems like a good choice.
-Qwerkk

Don’t look at gear sets, look at gear stats then find a gear set you like. Almost all level 80 gear has a set of three stats: one major and two minor. Almost every possible combination is available for PvE, so there’s a lot of options for you. See this article for more details. Rabid gear (Major condi damage, minor precision and toughness) would be perfect for you if you can stay out of enemy reach, while Settler’s, Shaman’s, or Apothecary’s gear are all different defensive options.

Any suggestions with the spec then? Like, where would I pull away from to make up a 20 point gap and still be effective with the EG? Or… what about replacing GK?

Also, yeah, I did some more reading on gear. Looks like an option would be to get 2 Mad King and 2 Lyssa runes to get 20% duration on conditions. Then a rabid or other defensive options.

Thanks.

Leveling is simple. Go for Flamethrower and either turrets or elixers. Pick one set. I run with Flamethrower, Rocket Turret, Gun Turret and Healing Turret. Ground targeting for turrets. Toss em down in a variety of places so one AOE doesn’t destroy them all. Flamethrower is FFAoE. Hits everything in front of you. Excellent DPS.

Take the zones from 1-80 in order. Being a Map Completionist helped me level easy. You’re going to get downleveled when you hit lowbie zones, but the XP doesn’t stop, so its faster to level that way. Keep your gear at the right level, though. Under leveled gear sucks when it gets scaled down. Browse the Karma vendors frequently. You should have enough if you’re doing the events that pop so buy what you need. Cultural Gear is very nice when it’s at level.

My build is 0/30/30/0/10. It’s working out well for me in PvE. I don’t WvW much (at all) so that isn’t a consideration for me. Doing the zones as they come keeps the challenge fairly constant. Makes needing new gear less of a hassle, too. And the skillpoints are all simple to get done, so I have all the slot skills, and about 60+ points. Just need Anet to add more skills so I have something to spend my points on.