Guild Wars 2

Having recently hit level 80 on my Engi alt, I decided to play around with my build a bit. I’d been running a P/P + Elixers build and loving it, but I wanted to try out the grenade kit on mobs in Orr. I’d avoided it due to the awkwardness of having to spam 1 + left click but turned on fast casting and gave it a shot.

I gotta say, I’m not seeing why this is so popular. The damage seems comparable to my Coated Bullets build, if not lower, while also being harder to pull off and I end up with less control and survivability. I’m sure I must be missing something…

If we are talking about typical situations in a mid to short range open field against a single target then you will never use the Grenade auto-attack. It’s all about Shrapnel Grenade cooldowns for both direct-dmg and condi-dmg builds. The Poison and Chill grenades are also extremely useful in a lot of situations. Freeze Grenaes have a huge direct-dmg ratio, and the Poison Grenades are fantastic AoE condi-dmg. Not to mention the side effects of the conditions are useful.

There are times though where you literally just want the AoE damage though. Even if in the case of a Pistols and Pots build sprinkling in just Shrapnel Grenade will increase your damage output (at the cost of an Elixir). It also enables you to use on-swap kits, in which case Geomancy in particular for a condi-dmg build can increase damage output substantially.

Basically the point of the Grenade Kit is not the #1 skill. It’s in the cooldowns. Mind you though, if you want to farm Orr it’s even better to add the Bomb Kit as well and just burn a bunch of them down in an AoE while they are all blinded.

This is our highest DPS with the longest range when traited 30 into explosives. Basically you can go full berserker in WvW and stand 1,500 range from your targets and throw your grenades and get easy kills. Be sure not to let any enemies get close to you or let AoE attacks rain on you though. Very useful for area denials and choke points too.

On the other hand, you can also go for a mix of Offensive/Defensive armors and trinkets so you can be like a mini-Tank/Truck. Burst skills won’t kill you yet you can still hit like a truck. I’m happy with my current build now which allows me to choose between 100~1,500 range.