Guild Wars 2

I only play PvE. I have a Ranger, Engineer, Warrior, Guardian and Necromancer, all levelled to 80 and fully kitted with 80 exotics. I have experimented with builds on each. Im no expert at this game, but I play alot. And I really don’t like the Engineer from PvE perspective. I know alot of people say the Ranger is underpowered and I can see why they would be in PvP, but in PvE the ranger makes the engineer look like a joke. Although its mostly because the Ranger is really good in PvE, the engineer just doesn’t really cut it. And I really don’t think its because of playstyle, but just that he brings slightly less of everything whether its solo or group PvE.

Of the 5 I play, Necromancer and Guardian are by far the strongest. The Ranger and Warrior are a step below them and I would opt for the Ranger if I am doing solo PvE and the Warrior if I am doing group PvE (particularly because of shouts).

But anyways, I thought Id throw in my thoughts. I know there are alot of myths out there… like the Ranger being weak in PvE. But from my experiments with the Engineer, he is the weakest of the 5 characters I have at present and there is not alot of experimentation I cand do from here, whether it be armor/weapons, runes, traits or slot skills. Engis are still capable of doing everything, just not as well as the other classes and alot worse than a Guardian or Necro.

Did you find the necromancer boring to play? Mine is only low level. Does it become more enjoyable later on, in dungeons?

@Zonzai, We go to ye olde scape goat we call ‘playstyle’ I lvl’d my Necro first and it was the worst mistake I ever did as I hate it at max lvl. Its boring, you are funnelled into a certain build if you want to farm, dungeons are worse you either go wells or full condition/support. I love my engi, its fun its fresh, you can play around with builds although they are severely underpowered atm they are still fun.

Zonzai.2341:

Did you find the necromancer boring to play? Mine is only low level. Does it become more enjoyable later on, in dungeons?

I found Necros weak in early levels. As Blackstar says, you do get forced into wells or condition/support a bit. I run wells though and don’t have an issue. I think its a misconception that Necros don’t do alot of damage, they need to be used a specific way. I find wells do exceptional damage against large mobs and single target damage is average. In almost every region with my build I can stand there and tank damage from mobs/bosses/champions and deal a tonne of damage and walk away on full health. Chain CC is the only thing that can really get you killed and there are ways around that.

But no I dont find it boring. I like alot of things that the Necro can do. She can deal a tonne of damage, tank a tonne of damage, mass heal, knock down, chill, AOE instant revive etc etc etc.

I have an engineer in full exotics (Only one suit though, cleric) and a ranger in rares. My mind boggles trying to understand why my engineer gets downed constantly (having to get rezed by my party) when I’m in full healer armor traited for another 300 in toughness and healing, while I can solo champs on my ranger specced for damage and not get downed once.

The best I can come up with is that Rangers have their pets to mitigate all damage (while the pet is up) and have the single best heals in the game. Engineers on the other hand have no ways to mitigate damage (besides weak bomb heals) while we do our best damage closest to harm.

I also always party with a mesmer so it totally doesn’t feel like my engi’s being carried when she has to revive me a dozens of times : (

Ok, am I missing something or is the engineer the only class that can kite well? If I have a problem with mobs I hit my box of nails and GTFO. I can solo melee champs by cheesing them with box of nails for chain crippling and I get swiftness from speedy kits everytime I do it. Sometimes I rethink the elixir gun being the support gun that’s supposed to reduce damage when its cripple is lame. I can hug the boss with box of nails and he can’t catch anybody to do that damage and I also apply (some disappointingly weak) vulnerability. If I had kit refinement I’d be able to spam box of nails like it was goin out of style. With two fields of box of nails They might as well chop their legs off and get it over with.

So is kiting something that everyone can do? Can elementalists and necromancers just spam frost and they aren’t telling anyone about it? Or in most situations do they just not need to because things are dead before it ever gets to that point?

I don’t even see any engineers using toolkit. Have I found the one viable engineer spec? Box of cripples spec? Speedy kits, kit refinement, maybe a couple of lolhobble sigils? Elixir F to stack insult on the injury? Of course I don’t see many engineers period so what do I know.

All I know is If Anet nerfs my box of nails before buffing everything else I will quit this game.

Edit: That actually sounds fun. I should try that.

I do find myself getting tons of aggro. All the time. It’s either hilarious or frustrating, depending on the results. It is, in fact, why my current mission is to become a walking tank.

Chickenshoes.6250:

I can hug the boss with box of nails and he can’t catch anybody to do that damage

which boss would that be? Ist lupi or any other decent boss?

I find I do the same. I’m often pulling aggro without any idea why. I’m not exactly hosing out damage. When I do I have my nails, my shield and gear shield to stop the big abilities, and I just strafe around in a circle with swiftness firing. Most of the time the mob’s ADD eventually kicks in and they hobble off somewhere else, but during those sometimes lengthy periods, I can “tank” without taking hits.

rogerwilko.6895:

Chickenshoes.6250:

I can hug the boss with box of nails and he can’t catch anybody to do that damage

which boss would that be? Ist lupi or any other decent boss?

No, not big bosses that wouldn’t care about cripple. If the boss has a leap ability or a closer one of my shields or a dodge can take care of it temporarily.

I’ve played a warrior, ranger, and ele to level 80 (all geared with exotics), got bored of my guardian at level 70, then recently got my engineer to 80 and got him fully geared. The engineer is amazing.

In WvW (which is pretty much all I do now), no other class I’ve played has had 1500 RANGED AoE burns, blinds, bleeds, chills, and poison. No other class can have that kind of range AND can run through a zerg without dying. With the build I use, I have access to 3 blocks, 6 seconds of invuln, 6 seconds of stealth to get away with…
When I’m chasing someone down I have access to a 1200 RANGED PULL, a cripple, chill, knock back, stun, daze, immobilize…not enough? Well I also have access to every condition in the game except fear, I can put 25 stacks of vulnerability on people 1500 feet away, and I can put down an AoE heal every 15 seconds, and burst heal with my shield’s blast finisher…

In PvE, dungeons and mobs are a joke. It’s pretty dam difficult to hit people even with 1500 ranged, but mobs are just too easy. If they get close to you just cc the kitten out of them, get back to 1500 ranged, and nuke away.

The only reason why I think people don’t like the engineer class is because it takes time to understand the insane amount of kit-swapping and utilities available, then utilize all of it effectively in an actual fight. Such as a 1v5 situtation (which is easy once you get the hang of it!)

Here’s the build that I use both for PvE and PvP (WvW), it’s beautiful (copy-paste)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiYnvSyF17IyIFdmoJSRlRZfe8WpFEC;ToAA1Cno8y4lwLrXOvkeNKZuA

kekuso.5837:

I’ve played a warrior, ranger, and ele to level 80 (all geared with exotics), got bored of my guardian at level 70, then recently got my engineer to 80 and got him fully geared. The engineer is amazing.

In WvW (which is pretty much all I do now), no other class I’ve played has had 1500 RANGED AoE burns, blinds, bleeds, chills, and poison. No other class can have that kind of range AND can run through a zerg without dying. With the build I use, I have access to 3 blocks, 6 seconds of invuln, 6 seconds of stealth to get away with…
When I’m chasing someone down I have access to a 1200 RANGED PULL, a cripple, chill, knock back, stun, daze, immobilize…not enough? Well I also have access to every condition in the game except fear, I can put 25 stacks of vulnerability on people 1500 feet away, and I can put down an AoE heal every 15 seconds, and burst heal with my shield’s blast finisher…

In PvE, dungeons and mobs are a joke. It’s pretty dam difficult to hit people even with 1500 ranged, but mobs are just too easy. If they get close to you just cc the kitten out of them, get back to 1500 ranged, and nuke away.

The only reason why I think people don’t like the engineer class is because it takes time to understand the insane amount of kit-swapping and utilities available, then utilize all of it effectively in an actual fight. Such as a 1v5 situtation (which is easy once you get the hang of it!)

Here’s the build that I use both for PvE and PvP (WvW), it’s beautiful (copy-paste)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiYnvSyF17IyIFdmoJSRlRZfe8WpFEC;ToAA1Cno8y4lwLrXOvkeNKZuA

ye this man is right

i mean my engineer solo AC yesterday and in PvP my grenades alone took out a whole zerg!

people need to learn the engineer! learn how to play it then its amazing

you will own everything and everyone there is no one who can take me down

as he said if 5 pro people come at you if you are good you will make it thru without any problems

kekuso.5837:

I’ve played a warrior, ranger, and ele to level 80 (all geared with exotics), got bored of my guardian at level 70, then recently got my engineer to 80 and got him fully geared. The engineer is amazing.

In WvW (which is pretty much all I do now), no other class I’ve played has had 1500 RANGED AoE burns, blinds, bleeds, chills, and poison. No other class can have that kind of range AND can run through a zerg without dying. With the build I use, I have access to 3 blocks, 6 seconds of invuln, 6 seconds of stealth to get away with…
When I’m chasing someone down I have access to a 1200 RANGED PULL, a cripple, chill, knock back, stun, daze, immobilize…not enough? Well I also have access to every condition in the game except fear, I can put 25 stacks of vulnerability on people 1500 feet away, and I can put down an AoE heal every 15 seconds, and burst heal with my shield’s blast finisher…

In PvE, dungeons and mobs are a joke. It’s pretty dam difficult to hit people even with 1500 ranged, but mobs are just too easy. If they get close to you just cc the kitten out of them, get back to 1500 ranged, and nuke away.

The only reason why I think people don’t like the engineer class is because it takes time to understand the insane amount of kit-swapping and utilities available, then utilize all of it effectively in an actual fight. Such as a 1v5 situtation (which is easy once you get the hang of it!)

Here’s the build that I use both for PvE and PvP (WvW), it’s beautiful (copy-paste)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiYnvSyF17IyIFdmoJSRlRZfe8WpFEC;ToAA1Cno8y4lwLrXOvkeNKZuA

I’ve never had a whole lot of trouble understanding the number and usage of kits and swapping. I actually dislike them for how easy they make a lot of things, compared to turrets (my favored skill set) – never have fully understood people going “kits are so hard to use, but they’re what make the class awesome.” They’re easy to use, not that difficult to learn, and the two most useful are also the most boring, with the same attack over and over, with different special effects and conditions being applied. Try using Turrets instead. You’ll start understanding. Elixirs? If you like random chance determining the effects of most of your skills, you’ll have fun. Gadgets? …I can’t actually think of any really glaring issues with Gadgets, come to think of it. Don’t use them enough.

Also: In my opinion, no class should be built/evaluated entirely around a specific subset of their skills, in this case Kits, if that subset requires utility slots. Elementalist isn’t built around Conjures, Necromancer around Minions, etcetera – the skills most professions have as their defining feature are always available, because they’re not in any changeable slot. They’re just there, where the Toolbelt is for us. I don’t have to tell you that, of course; you’ve seen it on all of your characters.

Of course, if the Toolbelt were what the Engineer were evaluated on, instead of their Kits, we probably wouldn’t have as many problems with the ‘balance’ of the class. Weapons wouldn’t be gimped, for one, because it’d be recognized that the Kits are not the class’ unique mechanic, and thus not something to nerf the weapons over.

Chickenshoes.6250:

So is kiting something that everyone can do?

Elementalists are the kings of kiting. But engineers are good at it too if you build for it. Elementalists have more ways of kiting more often. Unfortunately, they can do pretty much everything engineers can do only better. They’re probably not as good at spamming aoe in the WvW zerg but don’t worry, there will be another nerf to our AoE spam damage soon.

Zonzai.2341:

Chickenshoes.6250:

So is kiting something that everyone can do?

Elementalists are the kings of kiting. But engineers are good at it too if you build for it. Elementalists have more ways of kiting more often. Unfortunately, they can do pretty much everything engineers can do only better. They’re probably not as good at spamming aoe in the WvW zerg but don’t worry, there will be another nerf to our AoE spam damage soon.

I dunno, they do get an awful lot of ranged attacks. Sure, they don’t get a spammable ground-targeted AoE, but they also aren’t getting their damage reduced by 30% because something they’d been trying to get working finally started working.

kekuso what kind of gear setup do you use? Cond + prec ?

JohnDied.3476:

Engineers on the other hand have no ways to mitigate damage (besides weak bomb heals) while we do our best damage closest to harm.

Um… what? Elixer H tossed gives random protection, regeneration, or swiftness and drunk the same. Elixer S tossed is stability or invis and drunk is 3s of total immunity to damage. You can take Formula 409 and every toss or drink clears a condition.

EVERY weapon and kit has some combo of blind, immobilize, cripple, chill and we can run 3 at a time if we want.

I’ll concede that if your definition of “mitigate damage” is “stand there and not get hurt” then you are correct. Otherwise not so much.

If people really think Rangers are better than Engineers in PvE, more specifically Dungeons… then they’re doing something severely wrong.

kekuso.5837:

I’ve played a warrior, ranger, and ele to level 80 (all geared with exotics), got bored of my guardian at level 70, then recently got my engineer to 80 and got him fully geared. The engineer is amazing.

In WvW (which is pretty much all I do now), no other class I’ve played has had 1500 RANGED AoE burns, blinds, bleeds, chills, and poison. No other class can have that kind of range AND can run through a zerg without dying. With the build I use, I have access to 3 blocks, 6 seconds of invuln, 6 seconds of stealth to get away with…
When I’m chasing someone down I have access to a 1200 RANGED PULL, a cripple, chill, knock back, stun, daze, immobilize…not enough? Well I also have access to every condition in the game except fear, I can put 25 stacks of vulnerability on people 1500 feet away, and I can put down an AoE heal every 15 seconds, and burst heal with my shield’s blast finisher…

In PvE, dungeons and mobs are a joke. It’s pretty dam difficult to hit people even with 1500 ranged, but mobs are just too easy. If they get close to you just cc the kitten out of them, get back to 1500 ranged, and nuke away.

The only reason why I think people don’t like the engineer class is because it takes time to understand the insane amount of kit-swapping and utilities available, then utilize all of it effectively in an actual fight. Such as a 1v5 situtation (which is easy once you get the hang of it!)

Here’s the build that I use both for PvE and PvP (WvW), it’s beautiful (copy-paste)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiYnvSyF17IyIFdmoJSRlRZfe8WpFEC;ToAA1Cno8y4lwLrXOvkeNKZuA

This is some pretty shoddy logic. You only have 1500 range when the thing you are aiming at is not targeting you, and is stationary. But, when those two conditions are met, then you don’t actually need 1500 range, do you? You could be standing directly behind someone at close range and not get hit, assuming they are standing perfectly still and ignoring you. In short, grenades only have a 1500 meter effective range in a very specific situation where it is completely overkill to have 1500 meters of range. Your 1500 range could be 900 and you’d be just as effective.

I’m also not sure how you are reliably kiting mobs at 1500 range. You, yourself, admit that hitting moving targets at that range is difficult. Do you expect us to believe that you somehow have enough immobilization abilities in that build you linked to constantly keep the mob stationary at 1500m? You expect us to take your word that you can CC something at medium range, and have time to run all the way out to a full 1500m and lob a few grenades before the CC breaks and they become mobile again? Really?

25 stacks of vulnerability at 1500 range? 1 v. 5? You are heavily exaggerating the effectiveness of your build, to be sure.

I’m not saying it’s a bad build. But, it’s not the 1500m range 1v.5 death machine you claim it to be.

-Travail.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, the 1500 range / 1v5 situations are completely separate. This is not a “perfect” build, but I’m saying that I’m amazed that the engineer excels at both situations.

1500 range means you can effectively clear the walls of a keep, stop/slow down enemy zergs at choke points/bridges, and rain hell down on enemies when defending keeps. It’s like you’re a mini siege machine….with a magnetic pull LOL. And 1500 range is amazing, especially when it’s AoE, which means you can use it as PbAoE as well.

In a 1v5 situation, you should have no problem escaping as I’ve highlighted in my post before. But, if you really want a challenge, its is POSSIBLE to win. Take note that against skilled players you’ll need to employ tactics such as Nisha’s Medicat (youtube it if you haven’t seen it, it’s very inspiring) in order to stomp people (Toss Elixir S) His build is much more tanky, but mine has much more dps from grenades.

As far as stopping people from running, it’s all about timing your magnet, your supply crate and your freeze grenades. Most people start with magnet pull, but that’s a waste when you can just throw a couple grenades in front of them to make them waste their dodges first. Then use magnet, then supply crate, then throw wrench (cripples), freeze grenades, box o nails, etc etc…the whole time make sure you’re timing your kit swapping to get that swiftness. And in most situations, you won’t be alone, so it shouldn’t be a problem to just yank a straggler and let your friends take care of the rest!

Once again, my build (you MUST copy/paste into the URL bar): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqiYnvSyF17IyIFdmoJSRlRZfe8WpFEC;ToAA1Cno8y4lwLrXOvkeNKZuA
Right now I’m using all toughness/vitality gear except for some berzerker/knight jewelry and berzerker chest (cuz I love the CoF look!). My stats are definitely not optimized, but it does well enough for me not to bother changing them. I’ve heard good things about cond. dmg/toughness/healing builds as well, but I’m already rocking that on my D/D ele which is just as amazing as this engi build!

sostronk.8167:

I only play PvE. I have a Ranger, Engineer, Warrior, Guardian and Necromancer, all levelled to 80 and fully kitted with 80 exotics. I have experimented with builds on each. Im no expert at this game, but I play alot. And I really don’t like the Engineer from PvE perspective. I know alot of people say the Ranger is underpowered and I can see why they would be in PvP, but in PvE the ranger makes the engineer look like a joke. Although its mostly because the Ranger is really good in PvE, the engineer just doesn’t really cut it. And I really don’t think its because of playstyle, but just that he brings slightly less of everything whether its solo or group PvE.

Of the 5 I play, Necromancer and Guardian are by far the strongest. The Ranger and Warrior are a step below them and I would opt for the Ranger if I am doing solo PvE and the Warrior if I am doing group PvE (particularly because of shouts).

But anyways, I thought Id throw in my thoughts. I know there are alot of myths out there… like the Ranger being weak in PvE. But from my experiments with the Engineer, he is the weakest of the 5 characters I have at present and there is not alot of experimentation I cand do from here, whether it be armor/weapons, runes, traits or slot skills. Engis are still capable of doing everything, just not as well as the other classes and alot worse than a Guardian or Necro.

Completely agree. I play Engi, Ranger, Thief. I too have noticed the sheer difference between the three. People don’t realize that the condi damage is not the same amongst the classes. Bleeds that warriors do are NOT equal across all classes. For example, necros and rangers have an initial hit on their condi abilities that is not in the tooltip. I can three shot things with two traps and a torch on my ranger, can’t do that on engi at all. When I apply condi attacks on ranger you can visibly see that there is an initial burst of damage. Same goes for when i played necro, for each mark using the staff there is this burst of damage before the ticks from the conditions of the marks begin.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg for what’s wrong but I feel that if they wanted to be honest about balance they should make all conditions do the same damage across all classes.

There’s also the issue of the instakill. There’s only two classes that can do preparatory abilities and then 1 shot something. If balance be the goal then give every class that ability. It might take a little work but your players would thank you for it and people wouldn’t know that one or two classes were favored by the devs.