Flamethrower Build
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Yeah, that is using the old trait system.
I haven’t tested a version I have been theory crafting, but you are welcome to give it a go if you like.
Goal is to maximize Power, Toughness and Critical Chance.
Uses all Knight gear with Fighter and Mesmer runes.
Traits are to increase damage output:
Firearms (30 points for more crit chance)
I – Fireforge Trigger for more flamethrower ability usage.
V – Precise Sights for increased vulnerability stacking. Good with the high crit chance and improved damage
VIII – Juggernaught for more toughness (and thus more power) and might stacks for more power.
Inventions (20 points for more toughness/power)
V – Energized Armor for making all that toughness give you more power.
VII – Power Shoes to keep you on the move. Bob and weave.
Alchemy (20 points for more vitality and boon duration, nice touch)
VI – Protection Injection is best of the bunch, but also really useful to keep you taking as much of a beating when you are trapped.
VII – Deadly Mixture for power damage. MOAR!
Minors of note:
Sharpshooter – Bleeds on crits
Target the Maimed – Increased damage on bleeders
Target the Weak – More crit on anything under 50% health
Hidden Flask – Elixer B when you hit 75% health. More power and crit chance for free.
Weapons:
I usually go with Pistol/Shield. Pick your poison, I like shield for the blast finisher, pushback and interupt. Stuck with the pistol at this point, but pistol 3 is useful for the stun.
Sigils of Perception and Accuracy for improved crit chance.
You should be using Flamethrower pretty much 100% of the time to keep might stacks up.
Utility skills:
Elixer H – Gives the most bang for the buck, but healing turret wouldn’t be bad if you are running in a group for the blast healing. No real healing power, but effect would be minimal.
Thumper Turret – Probably won’t be putting this out that often unless you need to push back or blast finisher, toolbelt skill gives stability which is a hard to find skill on engineers that want to be in your face.
Elixir Gun – Pick your poison on this one:
tool belt regeneration whenever it is off cool down
condition removal and heal, plus light field to combo with pistol for more condition removal
fumigate for vulnerability
And, flamethrower. Obviously. Just don’t forget about the toolbelt skill as it causes burning which is good for more damage.
Elite: Supply Crate is the only good engineer one, but there are some good racial elites out there as well. I like Defense Golem on asurans personally.
General playstyle would be to stay in the flamethrower to keep might stacks up, swap to elixir gun for fumigate vulnerability, then right back to flamethrower to stack on the damage. Liberal use of the flamethrower 2 skill. Use smokescreen and push wisely. Don’t forget that firewall is a might blast finisher. You have 5 blast finishers (shield 4, elite, elixir gun 4, thumper turret overcharge and toolbelt)
Hopefully that works for you. Should have a good bit of damage and survivability.
http://intothemists.com/guides/325-engi_flamethrower_build
Here’s a better look at everything I have equipped and set right this second. I love the build but just wanted to know some tips. I’m interested to know if the stat combo I’ve chosen is the best for this build as the original creator didn’t really specify a stat combo just that power and condition damage are ideally equal. Also, I’m highly unfamiliar with Ascended infusions and all that jazz and would like to get some pointers on my setup as well. I just put cond damage in offensive and toughness in defensive currently as dumping it all into cond damage would probably not be ideal nor cost effective as omni infusions require more T6 mats to make. Thanks for all the ideas so far.
Honestly, I wouldn’t even bother with condition damage on the flamethrower build. You only get the burning condition on the last hit on flame jet and it barely last long enough for you to get in a couple hits of the next channel even with extending condition durations.
You’d be better off getting more criticals and doing damage that way. Either my way with a 80%+ crit chance, or less but more crit damage like Langiest posted.
Just because you can apply Burning with the Flamethrower doesn’t mean you should be speccing for condition damage. Here’s a good read for ya.
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/72009-a-comprehensive-look-at-the-flamethrower-and-elixir-gun/
So I’m assuming Rabid stats are not what I want to go with. I’ve been hearing that from several places. Before I invest all my time and gold into getting a different set what’s the ideal way to go here? I’ve seen Berserker, Knight, and everything in between.
How do u beat a black powder abusing thief?
You ignore them because he is playing a PVE engineer. Or did you miss the part where he mentioned ascended gear?
Can someone explain exactly why condition damage doesn’t matter in this case? I’m assuming it has to do with the function of how the ticks work. I was under the impression that it was mandatory for this build as it increased the damage output as well as duration.
You ignore them because he is playing a PVE engineer. Or did you miss the part where he mentioned ascended gear?
Did u miss the part where u can wear ascended in WVW?
Because Flame Jet. 10 hits in 2 seconds. Faster than anything else in the game.
You ignore them because he is playing a PVE engineer. Or did you miss the part where he mentioned ascended gear?
Did u miss the part where u can wear ascended in WVW?
Yes I did!
Actually didn’t even think about it since no one class/build is so powerful in WvW you need to worry about it.
Personally, I rarely come across them unless I’m free roaming and even then rarely.
Because Flame Jet. 10 hits in 2 seconds. Faster than anything else in the game.
I’m confused. Is that a bad or a good thing?
It’s simply because the portion of your damage coming from direct damage (as opposed to conditions) is higher.
It’s simply because the portion of your damage coming from direct damage (as opposed to conditions) is higher.
I love the build I was just wondering if the traits or the stat combo was a little off really. I honestly have no problem burning most things to the ground in PvE and have won several fights in wvw 1 on 1 with ranger, thief and warriors. I think I want to keep it but really just need minor pointers as I wasn’t too sure on the actual stats and the way condition works. Maybe I’m just looking into too much. I think I’m falling into my old habit of min/max from my WoW days.
In WvW their is too much condition removal going on along with buffs that lower condition duration. Victories feels more consistent with a burst build whereas it felt like i was playing russian roulette with every encounter when running a condition build.
So I’m assuming Rabid stats are not what I want to go with. I’ve been hearing that from several places. Before I invest all my time and gold into getting a different set what’s the ideal way to go here? I’ve seen Berserker, Knight, and everything in between.
You can trait into Inventions and wear Knights/Soldier gear to start but you should view these decisions as training wheels to ease the learning curve of the game. Not everybody has to hit like an Axe Warrior in PvE, but you should be mindful of your damage output nonetheless.
I wear full Berserker on my Engineer and survive even the toughest PvE content just fine.
Can someone explain exactly why condition damage doesn’t matter in this case? I’m assuming it has to do with the function of how the ticks work. I was under the impression that it was mandatory for this build as it increased the damage output as well as duration.
Because the gain gearing for Power and Critical Damage is significantly higher than what you gain gearing for Condition Damage.
Burning does 328 base damage at level 80, and only scales beyond that by 25% of your Condition Damage stat. A full set of Rabid gear (with Ascended) will net you about 1100 Condition Damage. That means you’re only adding 275 damage per second to your Burn.
Compare that to Berserker, which gives you 1100 Power.
Damage is calculated by taking Weapon Strength (969 for the FT) and multiplying it by the Power Coefficient of a skill. If you have around 2000 Power with a full Berserker set, and use Flame Jet as a base of comparison (1.5), that means your Flame Jet will dish out roughly 1118 damage with no crits on a target with 2600 armor using the formula.
(Weapon Strength x Power x Skill Coeff.)/(Target’s Armor)
But if you take away that 1100 Power, and are left with 900, your Flame Jet will dish out 503 damage instead with no crits. That is a loss of over 600 damage wearing Rabid, and that is not even taking into consideration the difference in damage from critical hits—which would put an even bigger edge over Rabid due to Berserker’s Critical Damage increase.
More importantly, you have to be mindful of how Burning as a condition works. It’s not like Bleeding where the highest damage bleeds get priority. Burning stacks by duration, meaning any time you use a skill that burns, that Burning condition is entering a queue. It’s not a reliable method for DPS, especially when you consider that you’re not the only person applying burning (i.e., Guardians burn targets with every fifth attack).
A third reason is the fact that many dungeons and fractals in the game involve destroying inanimate objects. Inanimate objects are immune to conditions.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
Here’s what I’ve come up with recently:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcQQFAUlspyaX3SdF87ICIF11dJ6xjRZT2HFs1DC-jgCBYLAkIAZPFRjtIcasVOBRxATfKp6XRWFDwbQZVGA9JA-e
This is a hybrid HGH/juggernaut build, I’ve only taken is to some high level dungeons/fractals. But it performs beautifully. Sadly I’ve come to the realization that Engineers can’t do good damage without might. So this build builds a ton of it, with a good team you’ll be overstacked on might. But thats ok cause you’ll be dishing out a lot of hurt.
For general advice on the flamer, don’t auto-attack with it, I know that sounds somewhat counter-intuitive. But that auto is just terrible DPS, sit in the kit to build might, but once the action starts you’ve got to rotate damaging skills (i.e. rifle jumpshot+blunderbus). Also immobilizing ontop of a Napalm, then acid bombing ontop of them after you’ve unloaded a burst is a good combo, builds more might and does good damage.
So I’m assuming Rabid stats are not what I want to go with. I’ve been hearing that from several places. Before I invest all my time and gold into getting a different set what’s the ideal way to go here? I’ve seen Berserker, Knight, and everything in between.
You can trait into Inventions and wear Knights/Soldier gear to start but you should view these decisions as training wheels to ease the learning curve of the game. Not everybody has to hit like an Axe Warrior in PvE, but you should be mindful of your damage output nonetheless.
I wear full Berserker on my Engineer and survive even the toughest PvE content just fine.
Can someone explain exactly why condition damage doesn’t matter in this case? I’m assuming it has to do with the function of how the ticks work. I was under the impression that it was mandatory for this build as it increased the damage output as well as duration.
Because the gain gearing for Power and Critical Damage is significantly higher than what you gain gearing for Condition Damage.
Burning does 328 base damage at level 80, and only scales beyond that by 25% of your Condition Damage stat. A full set of Rabid gear (with Ascended) will net you about 1100 Condition Damage. That means you’re only adding 275 damage per second to your Burn.
Compare that to Berserker, which gives you 1100 Power.
Damage is calculated by taking Weapon Strength (969 for the FT) and multiplying it by the Power Coefficient of a skill. If you have around 2000 Power with a full Berserker set, and use Flame Jet as a base of comparison (1.5), that means your Flame Jet will dish out roughly 1118 damage with no crits on a target with 2600 armor using the formula.
(Weapon Strength x Power x Skill Coeff.)/(Target’s Armor)
But if you take away that 1100 Power, and are left with 900, your Flame Jet will dish out 503 damage instead with no crits. That is a loss of over 600 damage wearing Rabid, and that is not even taking into consideration the difference in damage from critical hits—which would put an even bigger edge over Rabid due to Berserker’s Critical Damage increase.
More importantly, you have to be mindful of how Burning as a condition works. It’s not like Bleeding where the highest damage bleeds get priority. Burning stacks by duration, meaning any time you use a skill that burns, that Burning condition is entering a queue. It’s not a reliable method for DPS, especially when you consider that you’re not the only person applying burning (i.e., Guardians burn targets with every fifth attack).
A third reason is the fact that many dungeons and fractals in the game involve destroying inanimate objects. Inanimate objects are immune to conditions.
That was quite the in depth analysis. What would your build look like with this setup I’m curious to know.
That was quite the in depth analysis. What would your build look like with this setup I’m curious to know.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
That was quite the in depth analysis. What would your build look like with this setup I’m curious to know.
I just noticed the build was in your signature. Sorry about that. I really want to try this build now. Two things though that’s going to suck.
1) Rebuying all my gear to be Berserker’s
2) Getting all my ascended gear to berserkers as I already have 3 pieces which now must be replaced. Huzzah for grinding laurels in the near future.
I have to ask, why the Rune of Altruism Phineas? What does the healing power do for the engi? Im assuming it affects elixir heal?
1. Try running CoF to get your Berserker gear. If you can go with guildies that won’t discriminate you over your gear, that would be optimal.
2. What did you pick? Rabid? You’ll still have use for it in WvW, so it won’t be a total waste.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
So rabid would be better in WvW? How does the build do in WvW anyway?
I wanna try the build in Phineas sig but I went full apothecary and I’m a ring away from a complete set. Guess I’ll keep going down the draco dustslinger route…
Linked Phineas’ guide a ways up the thread.
So rabid would be better in WvW? How does the build do in WvW anyway?
For Rabid in WvW I wouldn’t necessarily go with FT. More likely a P/P HGH build with either Grenades or TK.
Is Poe’s build valid in WvW?
Now that there’s a stunbreak on Healing Mist you could give it a try. I haven’t played FT in WvW in a long time.
I am not looking forward to the amount of gold I’m going to spend redoing my entire armor, sigil, trinkets, etc. Hoo boy.
Is there any builds that do utilize Rabid gear? It’s going to be a massive pain to switch everything to a different stat and time consuming. Is it really worth it to invest the time and money to do a 180 like that?
Is Poe’s build valid in WvW?
Not really.
I mean, you could take it to WvW and probably kill people with it, but 25 Tools is not really an optimal distribution. Stuff like Protective Shield and Cloaking Device are also pretty much mandatory when using the FT in WvW, whether roaming or zerging.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
@PhineasPoe.3018 Do you think there’s a build that can use Rabid that is similar to mine? I’d love to try your build but the logistics of transferring to Berserker from Rabid is probably going to be more gold than I can spare. Also, I’ve noticed that Rabid crests offer smaller amount of stats than most stat combos like Berserker. Is this correct? Why do they have it use less? I use Crest of the Rabid which primary stat gives 20 condition while the equivalent exotic Berserker ruby gives 25 power. This is caused by their not being an exotic rabid crest.
You really don’t want to be using crests. Instead of Rabid crests use Chrysocola or Coral Orbs for a condition build.
The only builds I’m aware of that utilize Rabid gear do not use Flamethrower. The most popular right now are probably P/P HGH with either Grenades or Toolkit.
You really don’t want to be using crests. Instead of Rabid crests use Chrysocola or Coral Orbs for a condition build.
The only builds I’m aware of that utilize Rabid gear do not use Flamethrower. The most popular right now are probably P/P HGH with either Grenades or Toolkit.
Can someone link me to a build like this? I don’t mind switching to P/P or P/S if I could still use the Rabid stuff I have.
Something like this.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Celebrating-my-30-000th-kill-solo-wvw-video
If you want to use the Grenade variant just swap TK for Grenades, drop the points in Inventions, and max out Explosives to get Grenadier.
This is pretty much what I run. It’s a little on the tankier side, but it’s the gear I was able to get without going to great lengths (dungeon running). Crafted weapons and jewels, and the armor and trinkets were all from Orr temples.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-V;4Z;0h0l6cQFx0;9;499JT-4;05;005-19A;1ON1;3UydbTmCrPxFiVA;5i-m0r1wY1_759eWPk4RW6TsW6T;9;9;9;9;9;4V6s5d
Would you guys say there is an outstanding build right now for Engis? Like is there one that stands out above the rest?
@PhineasPoe.3018 Do you think there’s a build that can use Rabid that is similar to mine? I’d love to try your build but the logistics of transferring to Berserker from Rabid is probably going to be more gold than I can spare.
With all due respect, this is a move you should make sooner than later, because Rabid is not a very good insignia in PvE for reasons I’ve already mentioned.
Remember that you can run dungeons to get your Berserker gear. CoF, CoE, and Arah all offer Berserker insignia armor and weapons. You will have to spend zero money compiling this.
You can get your Ascended rings through Fractals, your Ascended accessories through Guild Missions, and your Ascended amulet from laurels.
ANet has structured most of the end-game content to where you can get what you need without spending much in the way of gold.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
@PhineasPoe.3018 Do you think there’s a build that can use Rabid that is similar to mine? I’d love to try your build but the logistics of transferring to Berserker from Rabid is probably going to be more gold than I can spare.
With all due respect, this is a move you should make sooner than later, because Rabid is not a very good insignia in PvE for reasons I’ve already mentioned.
Remember that you can run dungeons to get your Berserker gear. CoF, CoE, and Arah all offer Berserker insignia armor and weapons. You will have to spend zero money compiling this.
You can get your Ascended rings through Fractals, your Ascended accessories through Guild Missions, and your Ascended amulet from laurels.
ANet has structured most of the end-game content to where you can get what you need without spending much in the way of gold.
You’ve been a huge help but can I ask another question: Can you tell me the alternative to all 6 trinket slots exotic that would be good to use until I get the ascended versions and what gems you would use in the slots for them?
You could just get Cavalier stuff (Power/Toughness/Critical Damage) from the Temple of Balthazar karma vendor. 42,000 a piece.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
You could just get Cavalier stuff (Power/Toughness/Critical Damage) from the Temple of Balthazar karma vendor. 42,000 a piece.
Is there not a Berserker stat set for exotic trinkets? I don’t mind buying those if possible. What gem would go in them? Exquisite Ruby? Also, what is the reason for the precision choice on your ascended infusion. Sorry to ask so many questions. Just want to do my research before I jump head long into a time sink of gear grind. : )
There are exotic Berserker rings. I just don’t recommend buying them because you’re just going to replace them in a month. Only invest gold in something you see having long-term use, especially since there are some big expenses for other things, like the new Aetherized weapons.
You can get 10 Fractal Relics for a ring in a few days once you’re at Personal Level 20-30, especially if you have multiple characters.
Unless you’re just strapped for karma, then I guess you can burn the gold.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
There are exotic Berserker rings. I just don’t recommend buying them because you’re just going to replace them in a month. Only invest gold in something you see having long-term use, especially since there are some big expenses for other things, like the new Aetherized weapons.
You can get 10 Fractal Relics for a ring in a few days once you’re at Personal Level 20-30, especially if you have multiple characters.
Unless you’re just strapped for karma, then I guess you can burn the gold.
I thought you only had to be personal level 10 to get Pristine Relics? Would Exquisite Ruby be best for the slots if I got an exotic version?
There are exotic Berserker rings. I just don’t recommend buying them because you’re just going to replace them in a month. Only invest gold in something you see having long-term use, especially since there are some big expenses for other things, like the new Aetherized weapons.
You can get 10 Fractal Relics for a ring in a few days once you’re at Personal Level 20-30, especially if you have multiple characters.
Unless you’re just strapped for karma, then I guess you can burn the gold.
Nevermind I see what you meant. I am curious to know why you went with the choices for infusions on the ascended gear. Is the extra gold bonus worth not getting an offensive or defensive slot for your amulet?
I thought you only had to be personal level 10 to get Pristine Relics? Would Exquisite Ruby be best for the slots if I got an exotic version?
You only have to be Personal Level 10 to get Pristine Relics, but if you do Fractals 18 and Fractal 28 in the same day, that’s two daily chests—one for each tier. There’s not really much reason to go beyond that at that point, unless you really care that much about Fractal weapon skins, or if you’re just seeking a larger challenge.
I am curious to know why you went with the choices for infusions on the ascended gear. Is the extra gold bonus worth not getting an offensive or defensive slot for your amulet?
Honestly, Simple Versatile Infusions are just fine. I just picked the Precise ones just as a goal you should work toward. That was kind of just a moment in my ITM build where I was just slotting things in as whatever. Obviously when you get into higher tier Fractals you will want to wear Infused Ascended stuff for extra Agony Resistance.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
I thought you only had to be personal level 10 to get Pristine Relics? Would Exquisite Ruby be best for the slots if I got an exotic version?
You only have to be Personal Level 10 to get Pristine Relics, but if you do Fractals 18 and Fractal 28 in the same day, that’s two daily chests—one for each tier. There’s not really much reason to go beyond that at that point, unless you really care that much about Fractal weapon skins, or if you’re just seeking a larger challenge.
I am curious to know why you went with the choices for infusions on the ascended gear. Is the extra gold bonus worth not getting an offensive or defensive slot for your amulet?
Honestly, Simple Versatile Infusions are just fine. I just picked the Precise ones just as a goal you should work toward. That was kind of just a moment in my ITM build where I was just slotting things in as whatever. Obviously when you get into higher tier Fractals you will want to wear Infused Ascended stuff for extra Agony Resistance.
So the precise ones would be what I want to ideally put into the slots?
Yes, because they’re Agony Resistance plus Precision.
20 Precision moves your Critical Hit Chance only about 1% though, so I wouldn’t worry about it if you’re working on a legendary or something.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
Yes, because they’re Agony Resistance plus Precision.
20 Precision moves your Critical Hit Chance only about 1% though, so I wouldn’t worry about it if you’re working on a legendary or something.
Would it be better to infuse for power since it’s the primary stat? Or is precision ideal here?
Speaking of the legendary question, since I’m switching from rifle to pistol I don’t think I will. The rifle looked awesome but the pistol is about the stupidest thing ever.
I may just buy the rare equivalent to all of this and use that until I can obtain the tokens and such to get all my exotic and ascended stuff. That would be very much cheaper and would give me a chance to learn the build without going all in.
I bought rare versions of all my gear for berserker’s last night. I am loving the build so far. Even with rare power gear replacing my exotic condition damage gear I am already seeing a higher dps rate with my skills than when I was wearing exotic con damage. That’s amazing. The build is just a pure power house with great utility. Not to mention you can run forever with swiftness procing on every kit swap. Thanks a ton Phineas.
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