Guild Wars 2

Just about every class I’ve played thus far has a build that works well with PTV gear. the main purpose/goal of using PTV is to be very tanky, yet hit decently. im looking for a PTV gear build to run in a zerg in wvw. I run zerker rifle/grenade mostly on my engi which i use for roaming/havocing and even dungeons. I’ve never seen an engi running PTV. is there a reason no one uses it? or is there actually a use for it?

I used the tankcat/medicat build with engineer way back before the confusion nerf with PTV. Typical bunker traits, using TK and elixir B and S. I could survive indefinitely against any one character, quite a while against two, and I have had many groups from 5 to 30 chase me for a couple minutes until I got into a tower/keep. I had even taken a few camps, though it was necessary to kill some guards a couple times. In a zerg myself I hardly ever died on the front line. I even used myself as bait to pull out stragglers.

But I stopped running that build because, though I could tag a bunch of people, I got very few bags. And, well, I gots ta have ma bags. I haven’t PTV’d in any other profession, but I do not think it hits “decently” with an engineer. We’re talking auto-attacking for around 300, and the special attacks not much more. That’s my opinion on the matter.

That being said, I still have my PTV gear if someone else comes along and has a better experience. After all it is fun. Sometimes when roaming I would just stand there for ten seconds and let the other roamer take me down to half health before I did anything, just to troll.

Full power bomb kit build, those bombs will go off for 1k aoe damage and 1.5-2k on crit. You need to get close to your enemy and as we all know, we have terrible stability uptime. So I would play more like an ele on the backline and throw nades with explosions heal to suppert the melee train. PVT will help to survive the retaliation.

Personally when i run PTV gear i don’t expect to kill many ppl. It is more for trolling, or for a front line cc machine/damage soak. I have a full set including weapons, and usually can tank 3-4 ppl without any trouble. i do roam solo with it because it has great mobility and very few ppl can kill me 1v1. In a 1v1 the build is not bad, but add a couple more ppl and your pretty much just trying to survive.

The tankcat build used cleansing formula for condition removal, but since i run melandru runes and Leek soup i go with the passive protection procs instead.

Here the build if your interested:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0p6ZH5y3F17IxoHde0bOkiCbYRKyv+B-j0xAorASLAoPgZvioxWGLiGrukIq2lQEVLDwyaA-w

Edit: I would never run PVT gear if your using grenades. sure you’ll tag a bunch of ppl, but as your op suggests your looking for solo/small group play. In that circumstance you won’t be doing enough damage to warrant you throwing grenades.

Preacher

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcQQFAUl0pCYnpSyF17IyoHk2E2ZgeYX+1I+pAbB-jEyA4LAKCQ2rIasthioxqew0lLqW9C4NY0qlBQfBA-w

I run PVT with ruby jewels on my elementalist, necromancer, and engineer in wvw. Since the gear is defensive, I pick more offensive traits.

This is not a get in the middle of everything and tank build. It is a balance of damage and survivability. I usually roam in smaller groups where bringing a bit more damage can make the difference in a fight, but at the same time, it is necessary to survive long enough to apply it.

I find for soloing things, condition damage and full tank builds are far better.

Flamethrower can work with PVT as well, here is a build I’ve been cooking up recently
I just need to commit some gold to hoelbrak runes, I suppose it would work with melandru as well. But you can stack and maintain 10-15 stacks of might by yourself. Offer good CC and support, and shouldn’t be hitting like a wet noodle either. Condtions will fall off fast with 56% reduction or H-turret overcharge/superelixer. Also if you do get stunned it will proc protection and with stabilized armor thats -50% damage on top of 3k armor (while in flamer)
Just don’t auto attack with the flamethrower, you won’t be doing any damage (even in zerker gear)

Maiden England.3491:

the main purpose/goal of using PTV is to be very tanky, yet hit decently.

I would not call ‘decent’ the damage output of a player wearing PVT.

rogerwilko.6895:

Maiden England.3491:

the main purpose/goal of using PTV is to be very tanky, yet hit decently.

I would not call ‘decent’ the damage output of a player wearing PVT.

well when i said that i was comparing it to similar gears in a zerg. berserker doesnt make that big of a difference when you are fighting another zerg. thanks for all the responses guys, im trying out a build with full ptv and p/s. my goal is to soak the damage as well as apply conditions on enemies. its been working so far, but lacks those big numbers.

PVT is very bad for PvE, especially on a class like Engineer so dependent on critical hits.

As an Engineer in PvE, your job is to do damage. If you can’t do that, who cares what your survivability is like?

Kain Francois.4328:

PVT is very bad for PvE, especially on a class like Engineer so dependent on critical hits.

As an Engineer in PvE, your job is to do damage. If you can’t do that, who cares what your survivability is like?

i did say i wanted a build for wvw zerging. i already run full zerker for dungeons on my engi

Kain Francois.4328:

PVT is very bad for PvE, especially on a class like Engineer so dependent on critical hits.

As an Engineer in PvE, your job is to do damage. If you can’t do that, who cares what your survivability is like?

The people you tank for.

I have a full set of PTV which I use in PvE on my FT build because mobs become all about some Tolmos when I put it on. Thanks to this, I can keep entire groups alive with ease as long as I make sure never to aim the NPCs at other players. I usually toss it on to help groups that are failing miserably in dungeons or with Champ mobs- their luck runs a little better when survivability is taken out of the equation.

It’s about as close to tanking as I’ve gotten in this game.

PVT without considering traits will leave you with almost no critical hits, no condition damage, no additional crit damage on the offhand chance you do crit, and enough power do almost nothing.

If you want to do tanky and kill things, consider either Rabid or Knight’s, or add some cavalier’s to your berserk set up and trait into firearms to make up for the drop in crit chance.

These are all hybrid tank builds that have the potential to deliver “decent” to “good” damage with some mitigation, depending how the build is set up. I alternate between the Rabid and the hybrid zerk, simply because I get bored, and frankly, that rune of melandru+food+trait thing completely shuts down my rabid build and is intensely frustrating. Not to mention there is no analog in crit damage builds, so I popped on a couple pieces of Cavalier’s and just run that at the moment.

@Eviator

“I gots ta have ma bags. "

+1