Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently dinged lvl 80 on my engi. Have been playing the game on and off for a few years. The problem is I hit like a wet noodle and die to almost anything. Can you please post some viable starter builds (skills, traits, gear) for running around and mowing down mobs. Also I have HoT expansion, however I have not yet fully unlocked the scrapper tree.

This is a basic scrappernaut build running celestial gear:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASlUUh2tY5VwWLQ+FL3FF9qH75uYB1D5A4CGhBAA-TBCEABcvwggKBtbfAMV/pPdAGcBA0S5HAPAASBk5uK-e

Easier than some other engineer builds because it only runs two kits and has a strong bias towards staying in one kit (flamethrower) for extended periods of time. This way you don’t have to start learning 30+ skills in one go and can gradually integrate more and more abilities into your repetoire as you become more comfortable with the class.

It’s also setup to run with celestial gear which means it will work with whatever as you gear up your character and start to define your playstyle for yourself.

I’ll leave you to look over the build yourself and form your own conclusions about what it’s good and bad at but if there’s anything you’d like me to explain I’ll be happy to do so.

My question to you is what your playstyle is. You say that you hit like a wet noodle so that entices me to wonder what stat set you’re running. My guess is that it has less to do with your build per se and probably more to do with your stat choices and the synergy.

I guess what I mean is “What exactly are you currently trying to do?” because I doubt you’re in full berzerker hitting like a wet noodle unless you’re running pistols.

Despite of what build you are running, you should slot the grenade kit if damage is a concern, it’s an all-around kit, that has flexibility in many pve builds, consider having that if you haven’t already, and if you do, consider use it more often

Start with zerker gear. You could make marauders if you want to not worry about dodging things as much, but you won’t hit as hard. Eventually make a set of vipers so you can choose between power rifle/hammer builds and condition p/p builds. Get ascended trinkets before weapons or armor.

Is this engi your first char? If so, I strongly advise that you play another char to 80 first, something with less complexity (engi is very complex and overburdens most players at first) and more survivability. Dying to literally anything first of all is not funny and second not beneficial as it makes you actually fear encounters.

I tried to play a Necro and it was completely dumbing because Necro does indeed hit like a wet noddle however, I did an overhaul of all my traits, analysed them for synergies and most important, unified my gear. Before, it was all and everything in there, now it’s just Zerker and Assassin (I do know I could/should go Condi, but that’s not the point :P). It’s still weaker than my Warrior, but compared to earlier, mobs go down faster. Of course that makes you a lot more likely to go down. So again, everybody has to learn their dodges.

As another thought, you should not play the Scrapper Specialization until you have 80% unlocked. In some cases you can live without the GM trait for some time, but living without all the traits and effectively playing only on 2 specs (but at least with a hammer) is frustrating (tried that on my Warrior, then tossed Berserker Spec in the trash bin only to pick it back up and love it once it was fully unlocked). You should stay core engi until you unlocked most of the Scrapper Spec (imho).

So what you can do:

Play another, durable and rather easy char to learn the game proper. (No offense, but it took me more than 1 year to know what I am actually doing and since then I see the game, its traits and mechanics, with different eyes.)

Or

Buy a full set of lvl 80 matched (one prefix – zerker, marauder etc) rare gear off the TP. Should be 1-3g and can change everything. Or maybe two, one for Power, one for Condi, to see which fits you more. Once you have your playstyle, you can still go for exotic or ascended or whatever.

In any way, you need to learn dodges and your classes skills that mitigate damage (blocks, evades). It doesn’t sound like much, but very often makes all the difference.

Just my two cents.

A similar build to the one above, but that doesnt require endless weeks crafting ascended is what i use (posted below) for open world and lesser dungeons.

It will require you hop on a HP train but shouldnt take more than a half hour or so if you find a good commander (i managed to twice on different characters very easily and quickly).

Swap gyros depending on if you want more defense or more dps. I really like the bulwark gyro personally. And if you’re fighting something tough or your simply looking for more defense, swap Applied Force to Adaptive Armor. Dont let anyone tell you that if your not full DPS build in open world that it’s wrong. Being a bit tanky in Open World is a lot of fun.

Play style is simple, use all of your hammer skills then swap to Flamethrower. Your hammer combos 5+3+2 are great openers and bar breakers. the Flamethrower is great for tagging, general dps burn down and stability. Bunker Down on a close range build is a lot better then a lot of players give it credit for. You drop a LOT of mines and heal kits using the flame thrower.

If you find you die a lot in meta events, this build is a good balance.

It’s easy to play, much more lazy then meta builds and doesnt need ascended armor to feel powerful.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASncoC1ahtoCepCsehl7iKcCDoMDsBjwAge1j9cH-TBiFAB1v/ANK/S4CAk8DA4CdAPb+zE1fAQJIA-e

When I first rolled engi in PvE, I also tried out many other people’s builds. Nothing really achieved what I was looking for.

Ever since I tinkered with my own ideas. And that evolved into a build that I constructed for my PvE experience. With it I have no problems in general PvE, I am doing tier 3 fractals daily with ease, I deliver decent damage and the most fun part – survivability is AMAZING. It’s so hard to kill this scrapper once you get used to skill rotations AND learn your combo fields. A lot of group healing potential through combo fields, good CC (also through combo fields), boons for you and your party (also from combo fields ).

Basically you want to use combo fields to your advantage here. Here’s my guy:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdEQFASnUUBtbhVXBGpCEqilJjS8ZKgAg+vz7+Oc7SmwC-TBCFABIpEbJlH4rOzVKBTTHA77PUoKDA8AAAA-e