I love how engi plays and its my fav for PvP and i’m always fooling around with the build but heres the problem i’m always facing, i’m not a meta fan and always try to make my own build and gadgets build is what i try to make but to be honest they can’t ever compare to turrets and even when traited they seem lacking
A.E.D. is my fav heal skill (how you have to time it right to get that almost full healing effect) but the cast time for it is too long and it takes forever to recharge and the only trait that makes it feasible is Automated Medical Response
so i was wondering if anyone feels that way and i’m waiting to hear you call me a noob for making a gadget build
The problem with every single Gadget build that fails is that it doesn’t incorporate enough damage. Gadgets have no innate sustain or condi cleanse (unless you count Rocket Boots snare cleanse as “real” Condi cleanse) so your window of engagement for a Gadget build almost always is going to be shorter than that of say, Condi Rabid Engi (Bomb Kit, P/X etc) or builds with superior range, like Grenade Kit Engi (Cele or Rabid).
A short window of engagement means burst damage, and burst damage means Power. And the burstiest of builds that Engineer can conceivably run is 100mines:
WvW version using Celestial Armour – feel free to use whatever armour you want as long as Weapon and Accessories are Berserker
PvP Version
Engineer has the damage of 2012 Thief; with the disadvantages of zero Condi cleanse or sustain or mid-range pressure. On the other hand, you have the damage of 2012 thief. This means 15k burst combos that allow you to zero out almost any other class, in a package with CC and decent mobility. Since AED is off-meta, it easily baits many classes into trading with you once you hit 10% HP and giving you the full cleanse and heal. (And reset).
HibaTheShoopuff and DoctorBeetus on Twitch showcase the build off pretty well – albeit with a WvW focus.
We were trying to teach 100mines to Arken yesterday (starts at 2:18:30; then going into next vod ) and even with someone that is first time on Engineer, missing at least 30-40% of the 100mines burst due to execution errors it’s clear that the build does its job quite well.
The other Gadgets, like Slick Shoes, PBR, Utility Goggles and Rocket Boots just don’t really fit that well into builds right now. I know that back in 2012-2013 Teldo of Team Paradigm ran Rocket Boots, Bomb Kit, Flamethrower for a quad-Burning build and it should still work pretty decently as a close range bruiser – arguably even stronger now given the various QoL buffs to FT and BK – but again, more than 1 gadget on your toolbar is asking to give up a lot of sustain and has opportunity costs for Kits.
Chaith was running his old Magnet -> Slick Shoes -> Grenade Kit combo yesterday and it definitely shows that Slick Shoes has a role in a build but again, its one skill, not 2+ as a Gadget build would imply.
The upcoming buff to Slick Shoes might improve its usability; it might not. I would say it won’t because the problem with SS wasn’kittens cooldown but rather that Super Speed didn’t cleanse snares; and that Slick Shoes practically requires Magnet from TK to synergise with anything; or that Slick Shoes needed to be activated together with Super Speed to achieve a usable play out of it.
As for PBR and UG, they’re pretty bad right now. Not that Blind Immunity and Reveal is bad per se for UG; it just doesn’t lead into anything by itself. PBR is just terrible outside of Static Discharge builds and even in that role, Rifle Turret covers the role better, having superior cooldowns, and incorporates a Blast Finisher and traitable knockback with APT that overlaps the PBR mainbar skill anyway. If Gadgets had good trait support, PBR and UG could find a role but until then, the only “good” ones are Throw Mine and AED and Rocket Boots (as long as not more than 2 Gadgets are run)