Guild Wars 2

Okay so I’ll be upfront. I’m a bit of a nub.

Engi has been my first, and so far favourite character. I’ve only been playing about two months, and am currently looking at mastering PvE (Dungeons, fractals, etc), BEFORE I go and tackle WvW and PvP and whatever sPvP is. I’d love some opinions on what I’m doing, and some feedback on what I can do better! Will give justification for what I chose and why. D;

So I’m a human engineer! … no real reason for the race pick. Didn’t know it made a difference, apparently there’s some race specific Elite skills though? Anyways. I normally run Hounds of Balthazar, since having something to distract my opponents / take my damage for me is convenient.

I’m rarely if ever solo-play, so I end up running a build for DPS (in my head I do, anyways.) I have a full exotic set (Not at my home PC, so don’t know the name of it. It’s Prec major and power/Condi minor.) I have Superior Rune of the Pack (Moar power/precision.), and my accessories match my gear, as far as stat orientation goes. Except I think my back pack is Power/Precision/Crit (More importantly, it looks like Tybalt. <3)

I use a Rifle, and my utilities are; MedKit for healing, Elixer Gun, BombKit, Elixer S, Hounds.

My traits are 30 in explosives, 30 in Firearms, 10 in Tools.

The traits in explosives are as follows;

Shrapnel (Explosions have a chance to cause bleeding) – I use my bomb kit religiously, so I figured adding some condition damage to it would be pretty spiffy.

Incendiary Powder (Critical Hits inflict burning) – With a high crit rate, figured this’d proc pretty often, so more damage. \o/

Explosive Powder (increases damage from explosions) – Kinda self explainatory D;

The only non-chooseable trait in this tree worth note is that explosions cause vulnerability, and with the speed in which the bomb auto-attack goes, it’s pretty stellar.

The traits in Firearms are as follows;

Sitting Duck (Apply Cripple and Vulnerability to enemies you immobilize) – I figured this would synergize well with Bomb Kit #4 which is the glue bomb? I think, which gives immobilize, as well as rifle #2.

Precise Sights (Have a chance to cause Vulnerability on critical hits) – I have a pretty high crit rate, so more vulnerability is always better!

Go For The Eyes (Critial hits with rifles have a chance to cause blindness) – Anytime my bombing shenanigans gets me into trouble, i.e. low hp, I switch to rifle and hit 4 to get out of there quickittenep my distance and figure throwing blindness from a distance can help me regen my HP.

The non-chooseable traits in this tree are pretty spiffy.

Sharpshooter (Crit hits have a chance to cause bleeding), helps proc target the maimed (Extra damage to bleeding enemies), and then target the weak is extra crit rate on anyone under half HP.

The traits in Tools are as follows;

Speedy Kits (Gain swiftness whenever you equip a kit) – Since I run dungeons and fraqs, most of the time is spent running and if I can’t keep up, I’m either dead or a burden.

Bomb Kit, I use pretty much everything. I auto attack the crap out of my enemies, 2 inflicts burning, 3 inflicts … confusion? I wanna say. 4 is immobilize which procs with Sitting Duck, and five is something. BLIND. It’s blindness right? Everyone likes blindness.

Rifle I use 2, for immobilize, proc’ing with Sitting Duck again, while they’re immo’d I’ll sometimes use 5 ontop of them, four if I want to knock ’em over / make a speedy get away.

Elixer Gun has an AoE Regen, AND a break stun on it, which is handy. I use 5 when I’m getting ready for bombing, a steady regen as well as a condition removal. I’ll also use 4 if I need to get away but don’t need to knock my opponent down.

Elixer S is my panic button, in dungeons I’ll throw it to stealth our group for a bit of a sprint, or I’ll smack it if I’m about to eat it / am stunned AGAIN by gravelings.

So I’d love to get some feedback, where I can improve. I’m truly just looking to be party oriented support / DD, in fraqs and explorable dungeon. Feedback, be nice, it’s my first character and first attempt at a skill build. <3

Mostly I’d say just get used to fields and their effects as an engineer you have access to almost every field available for most (pve) situations fire will be your preferred field with each blast finisher in this field giving your party 3 stacks of might for 20 seconds you can get quite a bit of extra damage, but don’t underestimate the usefulness you can bring with smoke bomb and group stealth or other such combos. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

Kay, so I haven’t even broached this kind of scenario before. I knew of combo’s but, well. Yeah.

So if I plant a fire bomb, and then press my corresponding ‘F’ key for my bomb kit, I’ll cause an AoE 3 stacks of might for 20 seconds?

I was on the same boat as you. I made my engi during release and pucked it back up after maybe a year hiatus. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to figure out the engi class to mastery.

From what I saw in your post, I was exactly where you were at when I started. Running a very squishy setup sounds enticing due to the zerker meta, but running a bit tanker build teaches you to be a better player overall. I run both condi and power builds, ranging from dire gear to rabid to even zerkers every once in a while.

Rather than trying to give you my own builds, I’ll give u a link to a post that taught me a ton about the class.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1qdvqu/wolfineer_build_guides_for_engineers_updated/

This man, wolfineer, is a beast among engis. His builds range from squishy flamethrowing kitten to an unkillable dirty condi bomber. Check out every build, how he uses each kit in his videos, and get psyched!

Also, my personal favorite build is the dire pve build. Learn your combos and you will see the full potential of the engi!

blast finishers inside fire fields give 3 stacks of might to you and anyone in range. if you’re running med kit, elixir gun, elixir s, and bomb kit, then your blast finishers are elixir gun 4 and bomb kit tool belt.

similarly if you blast a smoke bomb, you and anyone in range gain stealth. it’s good for skipping content.

Korilla.9614

Running a very squishy setup sounds enticing due to the zerker meta, but running a bit tanker build teaches you to be a better player overall.

Sorry, but this is incorrect. I too would suggest a tankier build for someone just learning the class, but too much defense fosters poor habits. Nothing teaches you to play correctly—once comfortable with the class—better than the threat of death at the first mistake.

Good luck with your engi!