Guild Wars 2

Never had that happen to me before, but the combat log (this was earlier today so I don’t remember fully) said a lot about “chain lightning” (static discharge?) and a big ol’ bomb that did about 4000 to me.

I have over 3500 toughness so I’m not used to being bursted down from what I felt was a healthy amount of life and I’m not even fully sure what caused it, but I’m pretty sure during one of them that I was over 15000 HP and then within about a three second span downed.

I suppose I need to be more careful about where I’m standing, but what precisely causes this and what can I be doing about it?

I’m a warrior running a bunker build if it matters.

i might be able to help you, its indeed called the static discharge build, an extreeeeemely high damage burst. however, it uses all of the toolbelt skills he has available, so block his attack and you should kill him with ease

4000 doesn’t sound like that much for BoB—it’s similar to churning earth in damage and how easy it is to avoid. It is possible to use elixir X after setting BoB and if you get brute form, it will do quite a bit more damage due to base stat increases—but I’d say that was just a crit from a zerker build.

Yes, static discharge will come up as “chain lightning” in the log. Any toolbelt skill will cause it, but the highest damage will come from skills that have a two-part toolbelt skill, such as turrets. For example, an engineer can place rifle turret before the fight, then approach you and detonate the turret and immediately use surprise shot, the rifle turret toolbelt skill, to get two static discharges. A non-crit from static discharge should hit for a little over a thousand damage. If he burst you down from 15000 hp, it probably took the BoB + about 4-5 static discharges, or essentially all of his damage cooldowns.

Thanks for the replies. Is there any kind of obvious tell for when this is about to happen? I’m not the most observant person about details as they’re happening but if I know what I’m looking for I can probably do better about it next time.

Corian.4068:

Thanks for the replies. Is there any kind of obvious tell for when this is about to happen? I’m not the most observant person about details as they’re happening but if I know what I’m looking for I can probably do better about it next time.

The lightning is really slow so immediately you see it you know to dodge or block. If he knocks you back, make sure to wait till he attempts to burst you with static.D before you stun break and block. You don’t want to waste a block on nothing.

Corian.4068:

Thanks for the replies. Is there any kind of obvious tell for when this is about to happen? I’m not the most observant person about details as they’re happening but if I know what I’m looking for I can probably do better about it next time.

The big-ol-bomb has a huge windup- a visible barrel with a lit fuse sits there for ~ 3 seconds. You’ll want to stay clear of it.

Dirame.8521:

Corian.4068:

Thanks for the replies. Is there any kind of obvious tell for when this is about to happen? I’m not the most observant person about details as they’re happening but if I know what I’m looking for I can probably do better about it next time.

The lightning is really slow so immediately you see it you know to dodge or block. If he knocks you back, make sure to wait till he attempts to burst you with static.D before you stun break and block. You don’t want to waste a block on nothing.

To add to that, because the lightning is so slow, a lot of static discharge engineers will try to get into melee or closer range before unleashing the burst. It’s classic bait and burst glass cannon gameplay. But yes, if he lands overcharged shot on you, wait until you see sparks coming before popping your defensive cooldowns.

A great burst combo starts with magnet pull. It would look “something” like this

Rifle Turret > BoB > Magnet pull > Blunderbuss > Jump Shot ( that should take around 3 sec and keep you chain CCd )

You would follow it up with.

Net shot > Detonate rifle turret > Surprise Shot > Throw Wrench > Overcharge Shot

At this point you have just been chain CCd for about 5 sec and had well over 30k damage pumped into you. There are 2 issues with this combo (and ones like it)

1. it’s super long and requires precise timing

2. If you see it coming and block the opener (usually magnet pull) you stop the chain and waste the BoB cool down.

So the real breakdown is this, if a good engi gets the drop on you then you lose… My advice is to play really aggressive don’t give them time to set up there burst combo and if they have it set up make sure you are pro at blocking/ dodging

@ Corian

Thats the Basic static Discharge Build , you can add the Grenade kit for BOB although i personaly prefer the Build shown in that Vid.
The Tool Belt abilities got quiet a short cd so the best way is to dodge the main Burst / magnet Pull. A good PVP Condi. bunker build will beat that Static Disch. Build but if you dont see it coming the fight could be alrdy over befor you realise what hit you.