Guild Wars 2

I have a level 11 Engineer right now and am using a pistol/shield along with the FT kit. For some reason I am having big issues of killing packs of mobs that are lvl 10-11. I almost always die and end up having to retreat.

I see other players around my level that can blow right through stuff. Am I doing something wrong? Or does the Engineer get strong at a certain level?

Thanks for any advice and help!

Well, Flamethrower isn’t the highest damage kit Engineer’s have. It’s decent though. Pistol/Shield doesn’t offer the most damage either. To me it sounds like you might be killing stuff to slow. If you have it try Bomb/Grenade kit and either Pistol/Pistol or Rifle

At level 11 you’re probably seeing higher levels downleveled for your zone meaning they could be 80. If you’re actively using your pistol/shield it’t not really going to be as helpful as using pistol pistol. Leveling is generally about doing damage quickly and having good damage avoidance and kiting. Keep your armor and weapons up to date for your level. It also gets tremendously easier when you are higher level and have access to all your kits and abilities.

So I shouldn’t be using a pistol/shield? Do i keep the attributes of my shield when i switch to flamethrower?

Whats the pistol/shield combo useful for if not leveling? Thank you!!

In dungeons Pistol/Shield might be useful to switch to from a kit for some added defense, I’m not real familiar with this weapon set as I didn’t really use it.

I believe you do keep the attributes but won’t get the benefit from the trait that gives 90 toughness. To test this I’d look at your stats with Pistol/Shield, then look at them with the Flamethrower equipped.

It will get better as you get higher level because engineer’s highest damage comes from kits (Bomb Kit and Grenade Kit have the highest, Tool Kit might be good too). Try Pistol/Pistol. In the very early levels I could destroy stuff with all the conditions it applied pretty quickly

There’s nothing wrong with using pistol/shield with flamethrower—but be aware that the flamethrower only has 2 dps skills (1 and 2) and pistol/shield also has only 2 (2 and 3). Pistol autoattack is pretty weak. That’s not very many high-damage skills available to you, but it leaves you with a lot of defensive skills, control, and utility. I prefer that style myself, but don’t expect to be able to rip through mobs using a defensive build.

You might want to try explosives and rifles for dps. Or, if you’re up for a challenge, blast fire fields for might stacks (for example, flamethrower 4 —> shield 4 doubletap = 3 stacks of might). Rotate through several kits or turrets to take advantage of multiple blast finishers.

Also, if you’re fighting packs of mobs at a time, that can be more difficult. It’s doable if you can kite/disabled them properly and dodge when you need to, but you’ll probably find it’s easier fighting just a few at a time.

This can be tricky in some of the more challenging spots in a zone (i.e. some of the jumping puzzles or exploration achievement areas), and you might need help to do those properly.

Once you get access to more utilities and traits things will probably start to get a bit better. But you can also try and keep your gear up to date as well. Even if you just buy the relatively white stuff from some of the armor and weapon vendors, than can help you out for the lower levels.

You can also try using food buffs, but the effects will be rather minimal for the stuff at your level.

I found that I eventually ended up being over-leveled for every area I went to, which can also make it easier. So if you’re having problems somewhere, just try exploring the rest of the area if you haven’t, do some events that pop up, play some WvW, explore the starter areas for the other races, do personal story steps, &c.

The engi has pretty poor damage output. Which is why grenades are so popular, there one of the few ways engis can get there damage up to that of other classes.

Engi, how ever seems to have alot more control options in the way of multiple immobilizes, knockbacks and the like. I used this to my advantage while leveling using the rifle, and throw mine. While it allowed me to beat vets on my own early on, (somthing other classes dont always do at low levels) it did mean I was unable to quickly kill the normal enemys.

Do you swap your pistol and flamethrower a lot, or do you just use the flamethrower all the time?

I do feel weak too, damage wise. But engineer has a lot of defense:

Stun enemies with your shield then put down Napalm on them. (Or use the Glue shot on pistol offhand instead of the shield’s stun). If you rotate the camera when you’re ground targeting, it’s easier to get the Napalm how you want it (so it covers all the monsters).

Reserve the shield Knockback to defend yourself if you’re almost dying. But you could also use it on the fire napalm to get some Might.

Maybe get Elixir B for some retaliation.

Try to put enemies together into a tight ball so #1 and #2 pistol skills hit everyone.

I know you feel squishy, but try to shoot almost in melee range, the skills will hit better IMO.

The enemies are completely disabled (can’t use skills) when you stun them with the shield, so you have that for defense, then you can switch to FT and blind with 5 once the stun runs out. And you still have Static Shot (pistol 3) for another blind, and FT 3 and shield 1 to push back ;-) And it’s AoE blinds too… rotate them and that itself is plenty of defense.

If you pick a backpack when you make your character, it will get damaged before your armor does.

Look on trading post for green weapons and armor, you can sort them by level, rarity, etc, so it’s easy to buy every few levels.

I’ve leveled two engineers and Lv 11-20 feels the worst, specially 15-20, since you only get your third utility slot at 20. I don’t understand why we can’t have it at 15.

Awesome thanks for the replies, I have been trying a few things and having some success with it.

Another question though, is the flamethrower mainly a good multi mob weapon? And the pistols good for dealing single target damage?

Tharjax.9068:

Awesome thanks for the replies, I have been trying a few things and having some success with it.

Another question though, is the flamethrower mainly a good multi mob weapon? And the pistols good for dealing single target damage?

Well, its not quite like that, although the flamethrower does maximize its potential when dealing with crowds of mobs instead of individual targets. Just keep in mind that it has limited range compared to the pistols. As such, you might want to start with the pistols and switch to the flamethrower when the mobs close in, and swap between the two as needed.

The pistol can be effective in crowd situations as well since its attacks all have some sort of AoE potential. It is generally not a high damage weapon overall, although it can be very effective with higher condition damage (especially with the offhand pistol). The coated bullets trait can really boost this potential, although you can’t get that until higher levels.

I’d say the rifle is probably a bit more effective for doing single target damage (especially with the static discharge trait), but it depends as to whether or not you’re focused on direct damage or condition damage.

One thing I forgot to add is with your weapon set you have 2 AoE blinds, make good use of those. AI takes like 2-3 seconds (depending on the foe, some attack fast) inbetween each attack so chaining your blinds can give you alot of time to kill them

With my engi I used full condition damage to level up and it really was nice. Use dual pistols and focus on applying poison and burning to as many foes as possible, also Static Charge and Incendiary bullets (I think that’s the name?) is a good combo to spread 3 condis quickly among foes.

what i enjoyed doing during leveling was a blind rotation. Pistol 3 + bomb 3 + grenade 3. You dont take much damage at all when you rotate those with shield CCs and all the snares.

the key to combat at those levels is Kiting pretty much all levels to be honest tho . bomb kit is great against melee mobs since they simply keep running into them bombs.

I’m level 70 and still feel weak …