Guild Wars 2

I play 95% PvE and am coming from a Ranger main. I’m used to having access to a +run speed signet and massive endurance regen. So kiting and dodging are a piece of cake with Ranger. Not so for my little Engi. So…

What is the best way to increase my survivability whilst leveling? I can deal tons of damage, no sweat. But I’d like to gather up multiple mobs without having to pop heals all the time. How do I avoid/mitigate damage as an Engi??

note: I am running P/P with Elixir Gun, Flamethrower, and Elixir B (lvl 20 atm)

Speedy kits+invigorating speed = permanent swiftness and vigor

Here’s my advice.

Put as much as you can into firearms since you are using pistols. Use infused precision to get swiftness on critical hit. Put at least 10 into alchemy which will get you Invigorating speed. This will get you vigor on swiftness. This means on each critical hit you are getting 2 boons that help your dodging and kiting. Instead of traiting for hair trigger like most do, I went precise shots so that I could cause vulnerability since this is a very critical hit based build.

If I want to survive, I go P/S instead of P/P. The 4th option for shield is a knockback AND a missile defense. The 5th option is a block ( and you can get multiple blocks on it plus a stun) which will help you negate attacks. I also added toughness to assist with the damage I was getting. Then I complimented that with energized armor and reinforced shield. That’s the inventions line. Those convert toughness into power(5% of tough becomes power) and adds 90 toughness while you wear a shield.

If you focus on precision/toughness/power you should be doing some good damage. At 80 I switched out power for condition damage to compliment the pistol conditions. I then complimented that with Blood injection from Alchemy which converted 5% of vitality to condition damage plus superior runes of undead add another 5% toughness to condition damage. So with my 1700 tough and 1300 vitality, I’m getting about 150 extra condition damage putting me at 1200 cd.

For kits, I use grenades for ranged attacks but tool kit is also useful since it adds more blocking ( gear shield ) and confusion ( crowbar )

My traits are 0/30/20/20/0

Good luck.

Thiefz.3695:

If I want to survive, I go P/S instead of P/P. The 4th option for shield is a knockback AND a missile defense. The 5th option is a block ( and you can get multiple blocks on it plus a stun) which will help you negate attacks. I also added toughness to assist with the damage I was getting…

I’ve considered this, but I haven’t done it cuz Pistol #4 just deals so much damage and I figure Glue Shot helps me kite (tho it doesn’t last very long does it?). Wish I could swap weapon sets between P/P & P/S for melee vs. ranged foes

Thiefz.3695:

Good luck.

Thanks.

4 is good, no doubt. Add some burning runes to up the burn duration. You could easily switch the reinforced shield with power shoes for a bit of extra speed. The other option is to put 10 in explosives to have your burns last longer if you like 4 a bit better.

I think people underestimate shield throw. So you use glue shot for an area but it’s 1s long and only longer IF they remain in the area. Shield throw is a 1s daze when you send it out and a 1s daze on the way back. If you line up your shot you get two hits off the daze plus damage.

You could replace precise sights and infused precision with sitting duck and knee shot. This would increase your cripple duration while adding vulnerability on who ever was in the area when the glue shot landed.

Hmm…Didn’t even think of those. Lotsa great trait and skill synergy with Engi. I’m actually not used to this level of variety & useful traits. Despite the complaints on the forums about Engi, I gotta say, it’s refreshing (and a bit daunting) to have so many useful utilities, weapons, and traits. Going P/P doesn’t mean I’m pigeonholed into 1-2 builds. This is gonna take time, thought, and experimentation.

Don’t forget tool kit – it gives u great survivability!

Haven’t gotten Tool Kit yet. Unlocked Elixir Gun cuz it seemed more fun and honestly, don’t know how to use Tool Kit. I hear great things about it but at a first glance nothing really stood out to me. Clarify?

^ On the toolkit we get great survivability with the #4 skill (gear shield) block everything for 3 seconds, 20 second cooldown(16 seconds when traited), plus it gives you the prybar which hits hard and gives confusion and the magnet can be used as a intterupt (pulls a target + knocks em down)

Tool Kit’s block increases survivability.

Speedy Kits (Tools 10) + Invigorating Speed (Alchemy 10) is almost a must for infinite dodges and swiftness.

I find Slick Shoes are crazy good for survivability. You can stun whole mobs with it to buy yourself time or just to stun lock them for free damage. Furthermore, it’s Tool-belt skill [Super Speed] is incredible during combat since it brings you up to about +33% out-of-combat speed regardless of Cripple or Chill conditions.

Elixir Gun/Flamethrower is actually really great too. The instant-cast Blind on FT can save you from big hits—especially while knocked down or stunned—while FT3 can buy you some time. Acid Bomb is amazing for damage and keeping out of reach of enemies. Also EG2 is incredible since it bounces and can slow up to 5 targets (those two seconds of cripple can be crucial and it does pretty solid damage to boot).

Rocket Boots are also pretty good. I like using the Healing Turret so I can chain the Blast Finisher with the brief Water Combo Field that the turret and its Tool-belt skill create for a little extra burst healing for combat sustainability. Healing Turret is also a pretty safe bet since it can combo with itself for burst healing on top of its initial heal whenever you cast it, then self-destruct it when the Water Combo Field pops up.

Rifle is also good survivability due to its snare, jump (again, more movement away from certain targets and into others) and Overcharged Shot (It’s amazing even without stun-break).

The point is, in the end, survivability on an Engineer really comes down to how well you can juggle targets and timing the uses of big defensive skills like Tool Kit 4 or a Utility Stun-break. Cool-down reduction traits, I’ve seen, also really contribute to survival. The more times you can use your evasive main-hand and kit skills per minute will only lead to a more slippery Engineer.

Erm, if you’re level 20, while not really an engineer answer, get some toughness or those Hearty (tough +vit) armor. All of your armor. I find that for whatever class, I buy/use toughness or vit gear from 1-60 and from there, I start making decisions about builds (since I get more traits now). It also helps you face higher level mobs (lvl 18 attacking a lvl 20 mob).

I started stacking some Toughness on my gear. Never had to stack vit or tough so early with other classes, which is why I started this thread in the first place.

Which is more beneficial to Eng at <80? Vit or Tough?

Personally, I prefer Toughness because I don’t have many heal skills, so when I do heal, I want to heal for a higher percent of my Health Pool. Until you start really doing dungeons though, Rifle/gadget engineer is an easy way to go to farm Hearts.

Rifle’s strength (compounded by picking certain CC gadgets) is it’s amount of control. With the Rifle 4 (Overcharged Shot) ability, Throw Mine, and Personal Battering ram, you can always have a knockback available. It’s a bit boring to play engineer this way, but it’s nice to be able to reliably kite and kill a monster several levels above you.

Rotation would basically be: See target. Shoot target with 1 skill as it comes at you. If Launch Personal Battering Ram is off of CD, use it for a cripple. Keep shooting the enemy. As the enemy reaches you, use Blunderbuss, followed by a knockback (Overcharged, PBR, or Throw Mine). Wait for the enemy to start moving towards you before hitting them with a net shot (you’ll get approximately 2 extra shots as they’re getting back up). Rinse and Repeat til target is dead.

Once you get to level 30 and do AC Story, the amount of control abilities you have can keep a boss on its back for a long time. This works less once you start doing content where bosses have defiance.

Tbh the best way to increase survivability on the engineer is through traits and skills. If your having trouble dying gear shield is great. Also try the shield out, its really nice because you can activate and then swap to a kit.