Guild Wars 2

Basically i havent played for like a year or so, im going to play some wvw and basically im geared for HGH right now.
Is this build still viable? Maybe any link for the latest version of it, i guess patches changed alot..

still very viable, power or conditions?

HGH condition is too weak at the moment because they moved IP to master. So you cannot have burning + might stacks from explosives trait line at the same time.

HGH power still exists but you are a free kill for every thief ( low defense + they steal your migth buffs and 2 shot you)

(sPvP point of view)

in SoloQ or teamQ I haven’t seen a HGH engi for a long time.

ukuni.8745:

still very viable, power or conditions?

Conditions.

I still use it, follow link in sig for build/gear. the ip change to master only hurt my defense slightly, but on the other hand I have 2 more trash conditions (exploit weakness and vulnerability on throw wrench) to hide my burning and confusion.
the changes to toss b and toss s greatly improved survival as well.

I still win 1v3s whenever I solo roam so I’d say it’s still viable :p

Lupanic.6502:

HGH condition is too weak at the moment because they moved IP to master. So you cannot have burning + might stacks from explosives trait line at the same time.

HGH power still exists but you are a free kill for every thief ( low defense + they steal your migth buffs and 2 shot you)

(sPvP point of view)

in SoloQ or teamQ I haven’t seen a HGH engi for a long time.

when you run HGH conditions you get over 3k condition damage with the right build, i might not be able to take IP but fire bomb and blow torch will do enough especially when my burning hits over 1k a tick just add in some bleeds and poisen and thats all the damage you need, as for HGH power you should literally be a thief’s nightmare at least i feel like i am when ever i fight a thief with power HGH, then again it really does come down to your build.

also i dont do teamQ or soloQ very often but when i do i use HGH zerker nader.

ukuni.8745:

Lupanic.6502:

HGH condition is too weak at the moment because they moved IP to master. So you cannot have burning + might stacks from explosives trait line at the same time.

HGH power still exists but you are a free kill for every thief ( low defense + they steal your migth buffs and 2 shot you)

(sPvP point of view)

in SoloQ or teamQ I haven’t seen a HGH engi for a long time.

when you run HGH conditions you get over 3k condition damage with the right build, i might not be able to take IP but fire bomb and blow torch will do enough especially when my burning hits over 1k a tick just add in some bleeds and poisen and thats all the damage you need, as for HGH power you should literally be a thief’s nightmare at least i feel like i am when ever i fight a thief with power HGH, then again it really does come down to your build.

also i dont do teamQ or soloQ very often but when i do i use HGH zerker nader.

I played HGH build like Ostricheggs did. I play sPvP only. In sPvP Engineers are in team fights most of the time target #1. Your damage is even after all the nerfs fine. But your defense is bad. With HGH builds you have no extra dodge and no block. You have stablity and stealth for 5 sec. + blind. That’s is.
Sword/dagger thiefs with the trait that steals 2 boons and wins 8 of 10 fights against you. Other classes and because of the current meta have good condition removal. So you do not kill your opponent in 10sec. All this makes HGH less good as before in sPvP.

It is not bad, but not very good at the moment. If I look at the streams of the top player. Not one engi is running HGH at the moment. Ostricheggs, Teldo, Five Gauge all running different builds.

Lupanic.6502:

ukuni.8745:

Lupanic.6502:

HGH condition is too weak at the moment because they moved IP to master. So you cannot have burning + might stacks from explosives trait line at the same time.

HGH power still exists but you are a free kill for every thief ( low defense + they steal your migth buffs and 2 shot you)

(sPvP point of view)

in SoloQ or teamQ I haven’t seen a HGH engi for a long time.

when you run HGH conditions you get over 3k condition damage with the right build, i might not be able to take IP but fire bomb and blow torch will do enough especially when my burning hits over 1k a tick just add in some bleeds and poisen and thats all the damage you need, as for HGH power you should literally be a thief’s nightmare at least i feel like i am when ever i fight a thief with power HGH, then again it really does come down to your build.

also i dont do teamQ or soloQ very often but when i do i use HGH zerker nader.

I played HGH build like Ostricheggs did. I play sPvP only. In sPvP Engineers are in team fights most of the time target #1. Your damage is even after all the nerfs fine. But your defense is bad. With HGH builds you have no extra dodge and no block. You have stablity and stealth for 5 sec. + blind. That’s is.
Sword/dagger thiefs with the trait that steals 2 boons and wins 8 of 10 fights against you. Other classes and because of the current meta have good condition removal. So you do not kill your opponent in 10sec. All this makes HGH less good as before in sPvP.

It is not bad, but not very good at the moment. If I look at the streams of the top player. Not one engi is running HGH at the moment. Ostricheggs, Teldo, Five Gauge all running different builds.

thats all fine and all but op did say wvw.

Absolutely viable but perhaps differently than you expect.

Effectively it is like getting 3 stacks of might almost permanently (and 1 stack for other allies too). You only need one elixir. The 25 pt minor trait synergizes well with this GM trait. So if you are going 20 in alchemy anyway for BR, it often is the best option even if you don’t take more than one elixir.

not that viable. you have essentially zero defense. thieves will absolutely demolish you. also they’ll steal your might stacks. it’s good if you can sit in one place and keep chucking grenades undisturbed but the likelihood of that happening is slim. however if you love hgh then it’s better if you run hgh power. there are better condi builds out there.

edit: what i just said is for tpvp. for wvwvw i suppose it’s more useful because you can just sit on a wall and chuck grenades. but if you get caught out in the open against anyone competent well thenn good luck.

Perfectly viable depending on your setup for WvW. Currently I run a 20/20/0/30/0 generic build with a set of dire armour + rabid trinkets so I have a reasonable amount of defense (typically I go with elixir H, B, S and toolkit/bomb kit/EG) while still able to deal a high amount of condition damage. Mostly use that setup for solo/small group roaming where conditions tend to count for more.

Not sure where all this thief paranoia is coming from. As Ukuni said, it really comes down to the build. Thieves usually don’t want any part of any engy build that runs bombs, whether it’s power or condi based, and they certainly aren’t going to shortbow you to death.

As far as the boon stripping goes, if you do run into an S/D thief and he manages to steal your might, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a backstab. Depending on your build, losing that might may straight up end the fight or just make things a little more fair. Thieves are squishy enough that any sort of AOE to keep them off you even half the time usually means you win straight up.

maybe the thief paranoia comes from people getting burst on by them and assuming it was the lack of toughness and not the players own active ability to counter a thief

it’s not about the lack of toughness when it comes to thieves. if you’re running hgh condi, you’re running rabid amulet so you have plenty of toughness. it’s about 3 of the most popular thief builds (s/p sleight of hand, d/p sleight of hand, and s/d) having boonsteal. meanwhile your only defense is elixir s. it just doesn’t have enough survivability for tpvp in general, not just thieves. you don’t have any vigor because you have to take fast acting elixirs and you can’t take sigil of energy because you need battle to stack might. you don’t have permanent swiftness unless you give up sharpshooter and your pistol cooldowns. idk. in my opinion, the days of hgh are over for tpvp at least. for pve or wvwvw go wild. it works fine.

It maybe works in wvw. But is this the best choice? If you run alone and someone with a good 1on1 build hits you. You will lose.

HGH is nice if you suprise people but you could also go for a SD build

Very good as team-support IMO. Gives out lots of buffs, Elixirs are one of the best support options anyhow.

And damage isn’t too bad because tons of might. In dungeons only of limited use ofc because the warriors and guardians will already get everyone to 25 might.

Lupanic.6502:

It maybe works in wvw. But is this the best choice? If you run alone and someone with a good 1on1 build hits you. You will lose.

HGH is nice if you suprise people but you could also go for a SD build

I don’t lose.
the only thing that kills me 1v1 are some necros, if they build specificaly to kill me (corrupt boon, spite and plague). even then it’s still 50/50 if I go elixir C. I can and sometimes do drop hgh for ar and win those easily too.

as for boon stealing thieves, they are not a problem to me in wvw anymore. cloak and dagger is easy to avoid and I can stealth when they hit me, basilisk has the same cooldown as my stability. larcenous strike is not nearly as good as it used to be. the #2 sword skill that immobilizes me is just autostealth with cloaking device.
normally they have to go on the defensive too much to be a threat.

s/p is more of a threat right now to me tbh because pistol whip doesn’t require them hitting you from stealth and punishes your mistakes more heavily. still haven’t died to one tho i came close.

ofc I don’t use the spvp hgh build that was popular, and I don’t use rabid or dire. the pressure I put on a target on the first few hits is just too much for most of them to do anything about it.