Guild Wars 2

Hey there guys! This is going to be a ‘wordy’ guide/build layout for those who might be new to Engineer or experienced but would like to take a look at what others have concocted in the community. A lot of what I write might be common sense to veterans so you can skip, but for new people it can help your game know how improve a lot!

I call the build HGHertz (or HGHz), as HGH is a trait which is the center piece of the build.

Disclaimer Here: This is my first ever attempt at a build post here on the boards. I am not the most well known, or the most experienced of Engineers out there, but I have played the game 3 years, a lot of which has been in PvP, and so I have a general grasp of how things happen in the Game mode across a lot of classes, multi classing and such. Still I feel it is useful to hear another perspective, so enjoy the read!

CONTENTS

1. The Build Itself
2. General/Playstyle/Combos
3. Tips/Observations
4. FAQ if there is any. (Will answer to the best of my ability).

1. THE BUILD ITSELF

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-_70;2cP-h0m5gTkw0;9;4ikl;0037157156;4Rw0;3CoF2CoF20C

Explosives: 1/1/2
Inventions: 2/3/2
Alchemy: 2/3/1 (This is still shifting. I have been trying both 1 and 3 in the major trait slot.)

Equipment
Amulet: Celestial
Rune: Hoelbrak (Mecha Legs, HGH, and Prot injection!)
Weapon: Rifle with Intelligence Sigil (Bunker Down) and Energy Sigil (Kit swapping)

Explosives

The Minors
Evasive Powder Keg is it’s own entity entirely. It is neither bad nor good, just there really.
Steel-Packed Powder is a nice small buff due to us using a lot of explosive with the grenade kit. This means we will always be putting vulnerability to some capacity on the enemy, boosting our and our teams damage slightly against them.
Explosive Powder This can seem like nothing but a small damage increase to nade kits, but honestly the knock back can save your life. If they aren’t stability ridden at the moment, even if you’re being hounded while you try to survive at 20% hp, your healing turret if overcharged will not only heal you but PUSH THEM BACK. Giving you ample time to escape/recover/re-position or all 3!

Grenadier
As you can see we have gone into the mother of all nades. Now, first up we have Grenadier. Now this is fairly self explanatory. The fact that this is the only trait which relates to the grenade kit in this slot coupled with the fact that the other two traits are essentially… Lacking, means Grenadier wins the spot hands down.

Aim-Assisted Rocket
The second trait Aim-Assisted Rocket we bring because it is actually fairly potent in terms of power damage. This build is able to maintain and stack might around the 18-22 stack threshold, meaning power damage is just as viable as any Condi pressure when at optimum. It is in my experience better than a 5% increase in damage because with how often this rocket can proc within a fight, combined with the fact that this build generally needs a bit of time to ramp up damage, the damage the rocket trait has done will easily be in the thousands by the end of the fight. It can also be a crucial end to a fight if you get a crit with might stacks on you by swapping weapons as you see the rocket fly toward the enemy with Intelligence sigil up. It is just the best option for us in this slot… don’t look at me like that!

Shrapnel
Now the reason we pick this is 3-pronged. Firstly this build will not be using Mortar Kit. Yes yes, I know. It is our ‘cool new elite’ but honestly? it is generally not as useful in my experience as first presented. A blind field is nice, and so is Ortibal strike on power specs, but this isn’t a purely power spec, and the safe stomp can be achieved in other ways by this build. In total, the combination of Grenade Kit with E-Gun makes the elite somewhat redundant I find, but your mileage may vary. Thermobaric Detonation isn’t a BAD trait, but with the nerfing of vigor and the lack of Tools on this build will mean you need to conserve dodges. Shrapnel just becomes the naturally best choice here. Plus, 15% isn’t that low when you factor that you throw (or should be throwing cough bugged cough) 3 grenades per attack. And yes this can also proc on each individual grenade at once in a single toss!

Inventions
Cleansing Synergy is just good, no reason not to be with all the cancerous conditions flying around atm! Plus… yes it does work on allies in a 300 radius also, working well with Healing turret.
Heal Resonator is good at what it does. Regen, especially 1400 heals worth is never a bad choice for you or allies.
Energy Amplifier means all your regen gives you further healing power and sustain making this this a not so-vicious cycle, and this in general works great with the rest of the traits in this line.

Automated Medical Response
Wow, many engineers wouldn’t of thought we’d find ourselves here in the past huh? Anyway, this trait here can be a real lifesaver. It is fairly self-explanatory with how having your heal come off cool down just in time can save your life, especially on Engineer, who can go from 10% to 50%-70% hp depending on how hard you blast the Healing Turret water field (Normal Healing turret application but in the water field aftermath right after or during overcharging blast, use E-Gun #4 Acid Bomb and weapon swap to cancel it mid air allowing you to jump shot inside it too, leading to heal with an extra blast AND leap! That is around a net 4k heal ADDED to the normal! Kaboom!) Over Shield makes no sense because we don’t use shield, and smoke bomb is just not enough to mitigate the damage you receive while stunned, plus doubling up over Prot Injection can be overkill ,especially bearing in mind that we have 2589 armor on Celestial Amulet. WARNING – A big issue I have noticed with this trait on Healing Turret, is that although if procced it will reset you putting down the turret, the 2nd part of the skill, Cleansing Burst has it’s OWN separate cool down. Which I am not sure if it is intended or oversight, but it happens. So be mindful, of the possibility when the trait procs.

Mecha Legs
This is a very nice trait for us to take, which Combo’s well with the condition duration reduction of the Hoelbrak runes we will be sporting! Not only that, but with the loss of streamlined kits and the Tools line, your mobility is severely hampered, and this provides a much needed bandaid over it by giving you 25% mobility. Though it may not seem huge, this can be the difference between keeping and losing a point, which if you have played PvP even a bit, I don’t have to remind you can be HUGE in the long run of the game. Mobility boosts are capped at 25% within combat, meaning this will replicate a permanent swiftness while in a fight, allowing you to kite! Kiting will be a big part of survival for this build.

Bunker Down
This trait is a godsend honestly. It is literally everything it sounds like on paper. You will proc this often enough, due to Intelligence Sigil, and generally more than expected due to your decent fury up-time. So what does this bad boy do for us? Well the 614 heal on each med kit which lasts for 12 seconds so pick up at your whim can not only improve your sustain vastly, but also your allies, with a team fight a lot of the time spawning about 4-5 of these things at any given time in my experience all around the point. This honestly adds up to be insane, and add to that, that you gain Regen, every pick up, boosting your healing power by 250, which will make any med pack heal you for 664 and effect all your healing blasts and such! This trait alone and how it synergizes with the inventions minors is awesome. The mine isn’t a bad touch, and I suppose gives you a nice extra vulnerability+smear of damage on the enemy which can eat through any aegis and such. Basically there is no reason not to take this trait, and in the words of Charrnuld himself, “BUNKER DOWN! NOW!!”

Alchemy
Hidden FlaskNothing to complain about here. Free might, fury, swiftness, retaliation. In fact, this is basically a free extra Elixir B like the one on our skill bar that we get after hitting 75% HP. With how strong damage is atm in the game, you will often hit below that point (but don’t panic!). This being an elixir, means it counts for HGH, so you get even more might! The Retaliation on this and your skill bar’s Elixir B is often missed and can lead to a lot of hurt in the long run for your enemy, combined with the fact that you have a Light field on your Elixir Gun #5 Super Elixir, that is a lot of hitting themselves!
Transmute is a lovely passive condi-conversion that has quite some RNG tied to it, but better there than not!
Alchemical Tincturesis awesome. Simply awesome for us. Elixir B both in our skill bar, AND the minor trait both remove one condition each! So does the tool belt skill which effects allies too! Plus it gives us more boon duration, which also means more might up-time! Hurray for the Strong Stacks! Conditions can be a huge weakness to Engineer, and this trait helps cover it.

Protection Injection
A simple but effective trait. This gives up 33% damage reduction through protection when stunned, of which as an Engineer, trust me will happen to you time to time. Having only one stun-break and a cast time on your stability, this will help cushion any mistakes you make getting caught in CC. Plus with the current “Meta” for Mesmers being a CC-locking burst, this will help your chances of survival GREATLY.

Backpack Regenerator OR Inversion Enzyme
Now this is a weird one. Though I am currently using backpack regenerator for the extra passive sustain while on a kit of which we have 2. I am also testing Inversion.Both have their ups. BPR is an obvious help to keeping yourself topped in terms of HP and Inversion Enzyme, combined with all the Elixirs mentioned above which remove Conditions along with E-Gun’s 5 can mean crucial conditions can give you really strong buffs (Prot, Aegis etc.) You can really pick either here, but currently I am testing and using BPR.

HGH
Ah yes, the build’s namesake. The baddest of the bad. The one true king. The Iron Throne of traits for us in this setup. All that needs to be said here is, Elixirs give you 2 stacks of might for 30 seconds each. Which skills are those of yours? Elixir B, Toss Elixir B, Acid Bomb, Super Elixir, Healing Mist, Toss Elixir X, Elixir X and the passive Elixir B trait. Yep they all give you 2 stacks of might for 30 seconds. As you can see, this will all add up fast, and then you have your Hoelbrak runes giving you even more on the side. Not only that, but this reduces cool downs on elixirs AND increases how long they last! Just look at all the skills on your BAR effected by this. Say no more. HGH is a Big man ting.

2. GENERAL/PLAYSTYLE/ COMBOS

So first thing’s first. What is the general play style here? Essentially you’re meant to ramp up damage on yourself, while supporting your team in fights, and surviving long enough to ensure others also survive. This is achieved by building your own strong stacks (might) for a boost in damage, seeing as we have a low base power and condition damage stat. Combine this with your use of blast finishers in water fields, Aoe condi clear+boon application and you’re well on your way to getting all the invites to parties by all the cool conquest kids!

Your friends need to secure a stomp? Toss an Elixir B at their face and let the stability help them git to wurk!

Your pals want to pick up health concealed in what look like bags of narcotics? Bunker down the utter smitten out of that area!

Want to become the hulk, cc and or finish a stomp yourself? Drink a questionable Elixir and have the chance to grow into a beast!

Heck, you can even pull other people out of their own Elite Forms, like Lich or Rampage which can devastate a group (prone to queuing in ‘British’ fashion – a orderly line before the Lich) in seconds, by simply tossing Elixir X at them! No stability can stop this skill, and as long as you land it (don’t do it while blind or against a block etc…) it will stop them stomping/Liching/ being respectable for 3 seconds! Oh and if you toss it in your vicinity a bonus is 2 might stacks! Yay HGH!

Playstyle

- Remember your positioning is KEY to surviving! This build has given up the safety of the Gear Shield block in Tool Kit to gain the utility of Elixir B now with new Alchemy line. This means getting caught in an immobilize under a team’s focus if you don’t react quick enough can be the END of you. There is no shield to block for you, no Elixir S to invul you, all you have is your positioning, awareness and sustain to survive! But if you learn to play around all that, and keep their team unable to focus you, you will succeed!

- You are there to support your team and keep keen awareness of the fight going on! In 1v1’s you will be much better at running to points to defend them, then trying to take out a member of their team and decap their points! This is because you already have the tools to survive from the get go on a point and keep it your colour, while you must build your damage, giving them too much time to send another to their point to take you out, AND too many points for them on the scoreboard with how long it takes. This is a bruiser. You can hold your own, but be careful in 2v1’s, because your lack of get of jail free cards if you don’t watch the enemies closely can result in a quick and untimely death.

- Remember how powerful your grenades really are (even after the piercing+grenade barrage bug is fixed, and never under-estimate using them to NUKE a downed enemy so the cleave makes it impossible for them to be rez’d by an ally. The Poison grenade which is unblockable is ESPECIALLY good for this. And if all else fails toss an Elixir X at the rezzers to Moa them and lock them out for 3 seconds. That is enough time for a stomp.

- Lastly, don’t make might stacking your end game. What do I mean by this? See, a lot of the time, builds based around stacking might will have some players focus on that aspect FAR too much. If you don’t keep that as second priority (because it WILL happen with all the forms of it you have), you may find you lose a fight due to lack of attention+priority on using your skills for the FIGHT itself over just using them inappropriately to get those seductive strong stacks.

Combo’s

Here are a general list of usable combo’s, one of the cornerstones of the Engineer Class:

- Regenerating Mist (F1 for Healing Turret)+Acid Bomb Or Jump Shot is a Finisher heal. I recommend Acid bomb because it is a 2kish heal blast and has a much lower cool down. Be careful however, the heal on Elixir Gun 5 is a great way to remove a condition, stack might/retal and have a nice pulse of regeneration, however be wary of using this combo while standing in it’s field, otherwise you will proc Area retaliation and not healing, which can be an easy thing to miss.

- Toss Elixir B and Overcharged shot. The stability this skill gives you is so good in so many situations, but with a 20 second cool down don’t be afraid to use it for this combo, especially when you feel the enemy has no stun breakers. This means you can start stacking a bunch of damage through your nades+blunderbuss or Jumpshot while they lie on the floor kissing the dirt and wondering why they picked a fight with you!

- Healing Turret+Cleansing Burst+ Acid Bomb/Jumpshot is just more healing for your money, and is a great idea to damage and heal at once if the enemy is stupid enough to try to shake your hand in a close radius. Especially because the turret detonation knocks them back leaving them susceptible to the damage.

- Intelligence Sigil+ High damage skills like Blunderbuss/Jumpshot/Grenade Barrage. This guarantees a crit on kit swap as long as the sigil is off cool down, which is a nasty combo to remember if your enemy needs a good bit of kicking.

- Healing turret, Cleansing burst then pressing F. Overcharging is a great way to get more of a heal, but there are times where you need the condition cleanse of the 2nd stage of the healing skill over the heal, or not very much of a heal at all. During these times, it is better to conserve cool down time and just pick up the turret using F without pressing F1 to blow it up. With enough practice this can become just as smooth and seemless as overcharging it.

3. TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS

Healing Turret and Automated Medical Response
As I have highlighted above, this trait seems to not work properly or, at least fully with this skill. Because this healing skill has 2 cool downs, there are 2 cool downs to be taken account of when using them in tandem with this trait. Normally, you would have to wait AT LEAST 15 seconds if not overcharging the healing turret to use it again. This would give the 2nd skill, Cleansing burst (the one you blast as a water field) enough time to cool down and that is why it is always ready to use. However, with this trait, it is only the cool down for the initial placing of the turret which is reduced, and thus you will miss out on cleansing burst if you don’t keep account of this. A way to work around it and make sure you have a water field to blast is to use F1 (Regerating Mist) to proc a very short duration water field following by immediately placing the turret down and overcharging it yo blast this water field at your feet. This is probably easier to do with the Acid Bomb combo described in the section above though, and is generally not going to happen mid play. I am not sure if this Trait/Skill disparity is intended or a mistake, but it is there.

Stomping on the side of an enemy
A lot of people won’t really take note of where they are queuing their stomping animation on relative to the downed person’s body. Something to take into account however, is that many don’t bother using their auto-attack while downed, and thus continue to face which ever way they are downed. These same people will also use the 2 skill to disrupt you if you don’t have stability and in doing so their characters body model turns toward you before using said skill. This both causes a slight delay AND gives you time/indication to evade. So always watch the downed opponent if possible and make sure to stomp from behind them. You can also flip this in reverse and make sure you auto attack at least once or twice so you face the person attempting to stomp you for a quicker activation of skill 2 while downed, which may be difference between you rallying or their player rallying. You can also use blinding grenades on skill 3 of Nade kit on people as an ally is stomping by predicting their skill 2 or your own if they’re lazy enough not to get rid of the blind by attacking.

Note however, that it is sometimes better to leave people to bleed out, if they are off point, without an ally and not a Ranger or Guardian as this keeps them out of any fights for a period.

If they are a warrior this is especially good, because many of the less savvy ones will proc vengeance, at which point you can just run off about your business while they try to cap the point in futility, realising while in Vengeance form you CANNOT CAP a point.

4. FAQ!

RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE!

Hope you guys can get passed the super wordy presentation!

I would also suggest elixir U as an alternative to elixir B. While I believe elixir B will be the most useful in general, elixir U can be very useful for bursting people down or for countering an enemy burst since it provides you another stun breaker. The toss also provides you with some useful albeit situational utility.

Autofuse bomb dispense would also be worth considering, though it’s hard to argue with the usefulness of AMR.

Then of course you could always take supply crate since it works with everything.

But it’s a solid build overall, at least in the current environment. Been seeing these things quite often in PvP.

Autofuse is an interesting one. AMR saves my life a lot, though I can imagine if you were stunned then as soon as the stun fell off you could blast the smoke field with acid bomb making a quick escape into stealth. However I just feel AMR is such a good clutch skill which can save your life and has mine many times. I will consider Autofuse a viable alternative however in the future section!

Supply Crate is good, though tbh with how much damage is flying around turrets will die fast, and the blast finishers we have in abundance.

As for the stun, I just feel especially for this build Elixir X offers far more, and the med packs thanks to Bunker Down are in abundance anyway.

Elixir U is not a bad suggestion either!

I am thinking I will add a ‘Alternatives’ section to the last post, and feature ideas from any of the posters which seem to benefit the build!

Good catch and thanks for your feedback!

I tried AMR + AER. In theory it might be the best use of AMR.

The tricky part is that if you activate AED too early, you waste it. If you activate it too late, you die before finishing the cast (it happens when you have 15k hp to begin with and so AMR kicks in at 3.5k). With Marauder it didn’t improve much: people can burst you for 10k or even more, but not always, so there’s the risk of either not use it and die or use it and waste it if the burst doesn’t come.

I tried it with Berserker Amulet, Marauder and Rabid, and the problem of these amulets is that you are a bit too squishy (Rabid leaves you with a very small margin, Marauder leaves you open to big bursts and Berserker has both problems).

I think Celestial might be much better for this and might end up giving us a 10s cd AED which is 1.2k hps.

Yup, been playing this build a bit and it’s pretty solid. Wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t bring HGH back to the meta.

Yup i’ve been playing this build for a few days now only difference is that i do take the mortar kit for it’s fields + blast. On point i find it really useful + Elexir gun 5 + mortar 5 + bunker down + regen + extra heal power when you have regen makes you heal up a lot, so far it’s the only build i really enjoy in pvp.
My problem with elixir X is that it’s random…….Rampager is great, but tornado is meh. unless you are in a team fight on point there is little to no point using if. F5 is alright i guess, for a short CC helps a lot, but mortar out-damages and provides more fields to mess with opposing teams heads.
If they wouldn’t have nerfed mortar i’d be more happy but oh well. #anet.

Thanks for posting this. This feels like the most solid build since the trait changes. I’d bet on something similar to this being the new meta.
For pvp i run this this elixer S utility for added hgh might and functionality along with self regulating defence since that only leaves one kit in build.

I use fire over intelligence sigil. Bunker down has a 2s internal cd so the crits are wasted on it. Also i consider backpack regenerator to be pretty useless,1.45k hp every ten seconds assuming you’re in kits the entire time, that’s a equivalent of a a single enemy auto attack.

Thank you for posting this! Wanted to finally try out engi in pvp after 2 years of war and ranger and needed some extra help. solid guide.

I did switch to AED and with AMR provided some excellent life savers. In a mid fight I would be able to heal twice over dependent on length of the fight and luck casting it.
Also, the elites some really lackluster besides rampage. Meh meh.

Hey I am glad it helped at all, just FYI I will deffo be updating this with my results on Firearms+ Suggestions from others in this thread as alternatives after testing!

I will also be adding more general tips, so stay tuned!

Thanks for all the positive feedback, I genuinely hope this helped!