Guild Wars 2

I was in WvW earlier and encountered and engineer who was able to apply 15 stacks of confusion almost instantly.

After battling him for a while… I noticed that every now and then one of his attacks would apply 5 stacks of confusion.

What is he doing to apply so much confusion so quickly?

I’m going to take a shot in the dark and assume that every once in a while he would hit with a grenade attack (3 projectiles) that applied 15 stacks of confusion (5×3).

…but where is the confusion coming from??

Runes of perplexity perhaps?

Even still… there is supposed to be a 15sec cooldown…

Are grenades bypassing the cooldown on the rune by all being part of one attack???

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Rune’s of Perplexity help, but….

An Engineer can apply confusion with a pistol, a bomb and a pry bar (and a few other means) – and these have nothing to do with the Runes. He’s always had this ability.

The Runes also add a chance to apply Confusion on hit, and a Confusion on Interrupt (something which an Engineer can also do by multiple means). Grenades actually don’t proc Confusion without the Runes.

I run perplexity runes and I can get 15 stacks of confusion pretty consistently when I use this combo:

static shot (2-5 stacks) → throw shield (7- 10 stacks on interrupt) → pry bar (5 stacks).

Before the CDs were implemented I could throw 25 stacks of confusion on someone in about 4-6 seconds by extending the above combo.

Pry bar alone dishes out 5 stacks of confusion. That’s where you could have been seeing the 5 stacks from time to time. Also static shot can also dish out that much confusion at one time as the shot can bounce, causing multiple stacks in a group.

The 15 sec CD I believe applies ONLY to skills that do not already place confusion. For example, I can double interrupt with magnetic shield and throw shield, but only cause 5 stacks of confusion on the first skill.

Thanks for the replies guys!

This sheds a lot of light on the situation.

I think I’m going to do a little practicing on my engineer, because this seems pretty OP.

Can you give me a traits/skillbar/runes/sigils/equip setup?

static shot give only 2 stacks of confusion and bounce isnt applied on the same target
how u get 5 stacks of confusion?
with trow shield i dont know how it stack confusion, can u explain it?

Hm. Well I was testing it while I was typing my reply. Are you sure bounce doesn’t affect the initial target? Because I tested several times and saw 5 stacks off of static shot a couple of those times.

o.O only my pistol give 2 stacks of confusion ???
and confusion are applied on target, bounce dont hit the same target but nearby foe
well u can give 5 staks if u r luck with the perplexity rune (20% chance to give confusion)
but with the shield u can max put on a foe 7 stacks of confusion
(3,5 stacks x interruption) and if u r luck again 10 stacks
well every time u r to much lucky to stacks max confusion XD

Magnet pull, pry-bar, confusion bomb. Potentially 15 right there with 3 skills.

Dredd Spirit Caller.4082:

static shot give only 2 stacks of confusion and bounce isnt applied on the same target
how u get 5 stacks of confusion?
with trow shield i dont know how it stack confusion, can u explain it?

You are wrong. Pistol 3 bounces 4 times. Between 2 enemies it bounces 2 times on each one for total 4 conf stack on each of them.
Throw shield (as any CC) can give u 5 stack of confusion on enemy interrupt. But it hardly procs on good players (through evades, stop skill spamming, etc).

see also http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Confusion
specifically the section about skills that cause confusion
this should sum up your confusion about sources of confusion

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Thanks for the replies guys!

This sheds a lot of light on the situation.

I think I’m going to do a little practicing on my engineer, because this seems pretty OP.

Can you give me a traits/skillbar/runes/sigils/equip setup?

It is very cheesy and maybe still a little OP, but please remember it essentially has nothing to do with engineers. It’s just runes of perplexity. They’ve been nerfed slightly recently but they’re still pretty strong.

Any profession can abuse runes of perplexity to good effect.

NevirSayDie.6235:

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Thanks for the replies guys!

This sheds a lot of light on the situation.

I think I’m going to do a little practicing on my engineer, because this seems pretty OP.

Can you give me a traits/skillbar/runes/sigils/equip setup?

It is very cheesy and maybe still a little OP, but please remember it essentially has nothing to do with engineers. It’s just runes of perplexity. They’ve been nerfed slightly recently but they’re still pretty strong.

Any profession can abuse runes of perplexity to good effect.

Wait…. I’ve already gotten a few replies that say you don’t even need the runes to apply 15 stacks with little/no time.

Conflicting stories

What type of output do players usually see with the runes anyway?

How many stacks does it apply when it triggers?

Toolkit’s Prybar – 5 stacks @ 5seconds, 15s CD
Bombkit’s Concussion Bomb- 5 stacks @ 5seconds, 18s CD
Pistol’s #3 – 2 stacks @ 2seconds per hit (bounce 4 times, requires 2+ enemies to bounce), 15s CD

Perplexity runes – 5 stacks @10 seconds on interrupt, 8s CD

Sobat.8650:

Toolkit’s Prybar – 5 stacks @ 5seconds, 15s CD
Bombkit’s Concussion Bomb- 5 stacks @ 5seconds, 18s CD
Pistol’s #3 – 2 stacks @ 2seconds per hit (bounce 4 times, requires 2+ enemies to bounce), 15s CD

Perplexity runes – 5 stacks @10 seconds on interrupt, 8s CD

Plus: if he played grenades probably 30 points in explosives (= + 30% duration) and Runes with +30% confusion duration + food with +40%. Ends up at 100% confusion duration.

Anyway, don’t focus to much on confusion. Engineer can easily stack confusion while dealing alot of other damage.

Forestnator.6298:

and Runes with +30% confusion duration

AFAIK still not works. I mean confusion duration from perplexity runes.

Mak.2657:

Forestnator.6298:

and Runes with +30% confusion duration

AFAIK still not works. I mean confusion duration from perplexity runes.

Skill description never shows specific boon/condition duration. Are you sure?

Forestnator.6298:

Mak.2657:

Forestnator.6298:

and Runes with +30% confusion duration

AFAIK still not works. I mean confusion duration from perplexity runes.

Skill description never shows specific boon/condition duration. Are you sure?

Hasn’t worked since the runes were released, and still didn’t after last update.

TheBlackLeech.9360:

Wait…. I’ve already gotten a few replies that say you don’t even need the runes to apply 15 stacks with little/no time.

Conflicting stories

What type of output do players usually see with the runes anyway?

How many stacks does it apply when it triggers?

It’s impossible for an engineer to apply 15 stacks without the runes, although if he hit you with prybar, concussion bomb, and a bouncing static shot, he could possibly get 14 stacks on you quickly. That’s every confusion skill an engineer has, and the cooldowns range from 15 to 18 seconds.

Condition engineers without perplexity runes are also very strong because they can keep multiple conditions on you throughout a fight. But if you’re seeing large stacks of confusion that keep getting re-applied, you’re fighting perplexity runes.

Good counters vs. perplexity engineers are stability (because it will keep you from being interrupted), disabling autoattack, -condi duration food/runes, condition cleansing, etc.

NevirSayDie.6235:

It’s impossible for an engineer to apply 15 stacks without the runes,

This wrong. An asuran engineer has the capability to do 19 stacks.