Guild Wars 2

I have only done fractals up to 18, but it doesn’t seem to me like anything is really necessary. Every fight can be done successfully by every group composition. I don’t see this changing in the next 10+ lvls. Given that, do whatever you want and see what you feel works for you.

Toss Elixir U.

Edit: to give context, the reason why Guardians and Mesmers are so sought-after in fractals has a lot to do with their projectile walls. Thieves and Engineers are not so good at this, but there’s no such thing as having too many of them.

Communicate with the Guardian in your group and establish a rotation so that you’re reflecting the most damaging attacks. It’ll make post-20 fractals a lot less punishing and feel smoother. Especially Dredge.

bengt.6014:

What do you feel you bring to the group when you run FOTM as an engineer? Do you bring something only we can bring? I’d like to hear how I can become more helpful to the party. What builds are you using? I assume it’s something with grenades, right? I’d really like to hear what some experienced engineers do in Fractals.

Very strong DPS. Very fast AoE vulnerability stacking. Water fields. Poison fields.

Run the typical Rifle + GK/TK + Rifle Turret build w/ full ’zerk and go to town: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VV70;0B-cPFw0m5gSFx0;9;4TJ;0J46A48;518-L;5G3G3G3G35Bj

elithrar.7143:

bengt.6014:

What do you feel you bring to the group when you run FOTM as an engineer? Do you bring something only we can bring? I’d like to hear how I can become more helpful to the party. What builds are you using? I assume it’s something with grenades, right? I’d really like to hear what some experienced engineers do in Fractals.

Very strong DPS. Very fast AoE vulnerability stacking. Water fields. Poison fields.

Run the typical Rifle + GK/TK + Rifle Turret build w/ full ’zerk and go to town: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VV70;0B-cPFw0m5gSFx0;9;4TJ;0J46A48;518-L;5G3G3G3G35Bj

Tool Kit and Rifle Turret?

Phineas Poe.3018:

elithrar.7143:

bengt.6014:

What do you feel you bring to the group when you run FOTM as an engineer? Do you bring something only we can bring? I’d like to hear how I can become more helpful to the party. What builds are you using? I assume it’s something with grenades, right? I’d really like to hear what some experienced engineers do in Fractals.

Very strong DPS. Very fast AoE vulnerability stacking. Water fields. Poison fields.

Run the typical Rifle + GK/TK + Rifle Turret build w/ full ’zerk and go to town: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VV70;0B-cPFw0m5gSFx0;9;4TJ;0J46A48;518-L;5G3G3G3G35Bj

Tool Kit and Rifle Turret?

What are you suggesting as an alternative? TK offers vuln stacks and confusion; however most of your time is spent in GK anyway, in-between putting your Rifle abilities on CD.

elithrar.7143:

Phineas Poe.3018:

elithrar.7143:

bengt.6014:

What do you feel you bring to the group when you run FOTM as an engineer? Do you bring something only we can bring? I’d like to hear how I can become more helpful to the party. What builds are you using? I assume it’s something with grenades, right? I’d really like to hear what some experienced engineers do in Fractals.

Very strong DPS. Very fast AoE vulnerability stacking. Water fields. Poison fields.

Run the typical Rifle + GK/TK + Rifle Turret build w/ full ’zerk and go to town: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VV70;0B-cPFw0m5gSFx0;9;4TJ;0J46A48;518-L;5G3G3G3G35Bj

Tool Kit and Rifle Turret?

What are you suggesting as an alternative? TK offers vuln stacks and confusion; however most of your time is spent in GK anyway, in-between putting your Rifle abilities on CD.

Not trying to suggest an alternative. Just never heard of a build like that being used in fractals. But whatever works for you.

My engineer is my #1 fractal guy (or girl), and the biggest use of engineers in fractals are that they can do everything. I’ve used my engi in fractal level 28.

What I mean by this is that I switch out my weapons, utilities, and specific trait abilities depending on what is needed. In general, my build is this:

30/10/0/30/0, Carrion + Berserker + rampager equipment, P/P with grenade kit, Elixir B, Elixir U, supply crate. Rare veggie pizza + tuning crystal.

The equipment is kind of a hodgepodge at the moment, but basically it is a might stacking grenadier hybrid. The damage output is pretty good, maintaining 20 stacks of might and getting around 2800 power and 1500 malice while doing so, so all of the burns and bleeds and confusion goes well with the direct damage. But the important thing to know is that I rarely ever stick with those specific traits and utilities:

Against the Fire shaman (first stage), I use the net turret to immobilize enemies. Second stage, I switch to shield off-hand, healing turret, Elixir R, Elixir U, Grenade kit and change to the perma-vigor setup to maximize dodges, heal and cleanse others nearby with blast finishers, raise the downed at a distance, rez the dead with the healing turret constantly cleansing and healing me without interrupting the rez, put down projectile stopping and burst damage for lava elementals, as well as block anything that comes my way.

At the cliffside, I switch to elixir gun, bomb kit, healing turret, and elixir R with off-hand shield. The elixir gun, healing turret, as well as the multiple blast finishers heal the group while cleansing them frequently (important for the second seal), and the bomb kit provides AoE blind, damage, and might stacking for the group whenever it is needed.

In uncategorized I switch to the shield again while using tool kit, elixir U, grenade kit, and med kit. Then, I can run up and reflect + block all of their projectiles while outputting a large amount of damage against any one target, all while getting swiftness still.

Most other changes aren’t that big. Stun breakers + cleanse for the swamp, net turret on mossman to lock him in place. Elixir X in underwater fractal to just tank the enemy spawn (grenade kit is awesome down there). Tool kit + Elixir S + Elixir U + Shield for dredge fractal to stay alive on switches, but then alt to full berserker + rifle against the final boss along with net turret instead of Elixir U to lock the boss under fire. Don’t do anything special for frozen, urban battleground, or solid ocean.

Basically, anything other than specific encounters I default back to my basic build. But you get the idea: always has the tools to do what is needed, when it is needed. It’s like we’re guardians, but with better ranged options, more control, and a boatload of condi damage. While I’ve done some low level fractals on my necro and my thief, with those two there always seems to be a point I can sit back and say “they bring nothing valuable to this encounter”. Like the dredge fractal: what is a condi necro supposed to do there? What good is the thief in the underwater fractal? What is the power necro to do in uncategorized? I honestly can’t pick out a moment in those where my other classes bring something worthwhile other than merely existing and doing generic damage.

But that is never the case for the engineer.

Fractals are the dungeons where engies shine, as they excel at fighting trash mobs with constant blind fields and superior AoE. Their usefulness diminishes somewhat in boss fights, imho.

R + grenades + choice is what i run

things we can do well with these utilities:
-pull dulfy in charr fractal
-range harpies, range old tom
-range tentacles at jade maw
-general aoe dps in cliffside, dredge, grawl, underwater, charr (most of the fractals have groups of enemies you can pull by abusing line of sight and just aoe)
-safely rez while maintaining dps (invaluable in good groups, the rare times people go down you just toss r and forget… not so good in bad groups cuz people go down too often, but still better than nothing)
-tons of swiftness in swamp
-chill any boss with great uptime
-kill the 3 turrets in that dredge path without spawning the dredge near them (your party loves you trust me)

bengt.6014:

What else would you pair Elixir U with? Would you run a full elixir build, or would you run with something like GK for damage + another elixir (adaptable to the situation)/TK?

I primarily use my Flamethrower and Elixir Gun build in fractals, but yes: it can be used with any kit, really.

If you want more information on my build, it’s in my signature.

I’ve always just used a condi grenade build. It’s a bread-and-butter choice when it comes to PvE, and it works quite well in fractals. Your AoE damage potential at that range means you can stay out of direct danger while still hammering a cluster of mobs, and you’re not complete glass for times when you do get hit.

You also have party support capabilities through tossed elixirs. I use mine with runes of altruism for further party benefits as well.

At other times I’ll use my flamethrower + elixir gun build, but the grenades come in handy in a variety of situations and the build functions more or less the same underwater (unlike the flamethrower + elixir gun build).

actually nade engineers do clear the underwater fractal the quickest. they have somewhat decent utilities as well as good dps. not as good as other classes, but still pretty good.

Maiden England.3491:

actually nade engineers do clear the underwater fractal the quickest. they have somewhat decent utilities as well as good dps. not as good as other classes, but still pretty good.

I would say if your concern is clear times, you should just use the Grenade Kit everywhere.

I use a standard grenade build 30/5/0/10/25 P/S with elixir u, bomb, grenade and have no problem while giving party vulnerability, blind, bleed, chill, might, aoe heal+cleanse with healing turret, reflect projectile.
Do you need anything else?

There is actually a pretty good thread around here where a guy outlined a max DPS build, just start with that, toss in 3 knights pieces of gear, equip Elixir U and go.