I'm horrible at killing people (PvP)
If I’m running with a zerg or with a small group then the standard 30,10,0,20,10 condi-nades build with either perplexity (Rabid armour) or scavenger (Dire armour) runes tends to be what I run. Utility wise I’ll run ‘nades, EG (extra heal + condition removal and a stun break) and either bomb (if I’m zerging) or rocket boots/Elixir S and using crystals and condition duration food for the buffs.
My standard tactic is to usually open up with static shot to ruin their opening strike, then just flip between EG, ‘nades and pistol to keep poison, bleeds, confusion on them + torment from my sigil. When it looks like they’re gearing up for another big spike or are about to run away I’ll drop a supply crate on them. If things get too much then I’ll rocket boot/ Elixir S stealth away.
Thieves, Necros and clone Mesmers tend to be my biggest pain but other than that I can drop most things. If you can survive the initial spike and keep the conditions up then you should be able to wear them down before they wear you down.
Currently I’m having more fun with a 10,30,0,20,10 setup (will most likely become 0,30,20,20,0 after Dec 10th update) with dual pistols, EG, Tool Kit and rocket boots. It’s less punchy than grenades but I’m finding that since most people I’ve been fighting with it are expecting grenades, the change of tactics throws them.
Still if you’re not finding grenades aren’t working for you then experiment with different builds until you find one that suits your play style.
Bombs/nades is a pretty tough set to use, especially in the open field.
You might look at taking elixir gun over toolkit. The block is hard to give up, but you gain a ton of utility with elixir gun.
Bombs and nades require different tactics vs. different opponents. Vs. melee opponents, you’ll want to try to kite them and bait them into trying to keep up with you. Vs. ranged opponents, you’ll need to try to gapclose on them, because you won’t be able to land nades from further than about 300 range, except on downed players.
I run P/S 30/10/0/20/10 with toolkit + nades + rocketboots for both 1v1 and large groups and don’t have any probs killing people (I just swap out IP for shrapnel for large groups). Most prefer bombs and EG (it’s harder without a stunbreak) but I don’t find myself getting caught often because of the rocket boot mobility. You just have to be spot on with your stun dodges/knockbacks/shield stuns.
Normally I’ll start on pistol in mid range and then toss some nades. Most will dodge out of the way of the bright flashy chill nades etc. (if they eat the chill nades I just run up on them). Then once they’ve dodged, magnet->rocket kick->prybar->Grenade Barrage->throw wrench (ALL the toolbelt skills!) then back to pistol for some cond coverage/defensive stuffs. That’s usually enough to overwhelm a WvW-er.
It’s SO much fun to go and catch unsuspecting runners with RB->magnet as well xD
After the dec 10 change I might be going 3x kit bombs/nades/eg though. Toolkit doesn’t have enough offense without IP with my current setup and without perma vigor I don’t know how I’ll feel about not running any stunbreaks… but with all of the immobilize spam flying around RB has been very useful… so I don’t know which I’ll wind up taking for that last slot and I’ll have to tinker.
Another runeset that I don’t see hardly anyone take are antitoxin, but they are a solid choice since eng lacks cond removal in this heavy cond spam meta for WvW unless you run 409 HgH. It’s pretty rare that I have problems vs mele so I swapped over from undead and it’s been working great. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_Antitoxin
Since you’re full rabid you’re basically cond only. Are people wiping your conditions too quickly? Are you running koi/pizza for duration? Have you tried putting in a few carrion/rampagers instead of full rabid stuffs? If you’re really set on going very heavy cond you might want to use a few dire instead (more cond dmg when using crystals).
Are you hitting with your nades? Learning to lead/how much to lead/predict your opponent can take a while but it will really help. Then you can use them outside of mele-ish range but it’s still lawl yea right @ 1,500 to say the least.
Don’t get frustrated. Eng is a very complex class with a reasonably high initial learning curve (most say it’s the hardest in the game to pick up).
Tarnished Coast
Salvage 4 Profit + MF Guide – http://tinyurl.com/l8ff6pa
Salvage 4 Profit + MF Guide – http://tinyurl.com/l8ff6pa
(edited by Aberrant.6749)
I’d say pick up Incendiary Powder instead of Sharpnel so you get the extra condition coverage, but that’s going to be rendered counter-intuitive with grenade builds in the next patch. I generally run bomb and toolkit with grenades, drop a BoB, Magenet pull and when they’re knocked on their kitten throw grenades at them. Also unless you’re in a good position where they can’t really get you avoid fighting people from long distances – it’s better to be closer to reduce travel distance.
I’ll come at this from a different angle, drop condition and go pow crit! Condo nades are fine and the above posts are quite helpful but tbh I switched because my fingers can’t take the abuse with nade spam.
I run 0/20/10/10/30 SD rifle build with med kit, tool kit, rifle turret, & rocket boots. I’ll switch rocket boots for elixir b or goggles sometimes but I do love my boots. I have 105% crit damage without buffs or food and 65% crit. Rifle #1 crits for just over 2k, #3 crits for about 6k and #5 crits for 4k (on the lift off) and 8k (on the landing) then you add in SD crits for about 2k per plus the actual skill and long story short I have no problem killing people.
Conditions are great but if your havng an issue with the build experiment with other builds, find a playstyle that fits your needs and master it.
I’ll come at this from a different angle, drop condition and go pow crit! Condo nades are fine and the above posts are quite helpful but tbh I switched because my fingers can’t take the abuse with nade spam.
I run 0/20/10/10/30 SD rifle build with med kit, tool kit, rifle turret, & rocket boots. I’ll switch rocket boots for elixir b or goggles sometimes but I do love my boots. I have 105% crit damage without buffs or food and 65% crit. Rifle #1 crits for just over 2k, #3 crits for about 6k and #5 crits for 4k (on the lift off) and 8k (on the landing) then you add in SD crits for about 2k per plus the actual skill and long story short I have no problem killing people.
Conditions are great but if your havng an issue with the build experiment with other builds, find a playstyle that fits your needs and master it.
I agree, after playing a condi engi for a long time and getting frustrated, I realized that the play style just wasn’t for me. Once I picked up a SD build I started having a lot more fun. Now granted I’m still not at a point where I can reliably win 1v1s but I have a lot better win ration with this build than any other.
I also sometimes run a power FT/EG build which is also a lot of fun but really more suited for PvE than WvW. Bottom line is if Condi’s aren’t working for you, try direct damage.
My general tactic is to keep the bleed up high with nades and kite them with bombs. I got a pistol for the confusion and poison since the autoattack is horrrid and usually use the shield for extra survivability unless I’m going HGH (which I’m decent with).
The problem i see here is that you’re using your skill for all the wrong reasons. Nade’s are not really meant to stack bleeds. Instead, they are used to CC you’re enemy and kite them (you can look behind yourself while throwing if you enable free camera", blind your enemy, proc incendiary powder, proc a few bleeds, and give a little burst of power dmg (even if you are condi-spec).
The pistol 3 skill also does more than just give confusion… the blind is the most important aspect of it. Use it on hammer warriors/ Bas venom thieves… etc…
Finally, remember that attacking is better than doing nothing at all. You’re not going to hit someone at 1000 range reliably with nades, so just auto attack them.
Good luck.
In terms of spvp (not hotjoin!) SD engi isnt viable. Condition engineer is.
Every condition engineer should have:
above 1k condi damage
incind powder trait
perma vigor/swift
healing turret
Now for generally useful information I’ll give ya help with each kit…
Grenades are for ranged damage. Very strong (obviously grenidier trait)
Flamethrower is for having more burn proc. Has nice cc + blind.
Elixir gun is for team support + weakness. Not for pressure.
Bomb kit is pressure/utility. Strong but not the only pressure kit, (you need another kit)
Toolkit is defensive/for the pull) Not for pressure
Remeber playing engi with 2+ kits takes a higher skill level than a normal build. Don’t get discouraged!
Team Radioactive
Crysis, Lil Damage, Ovi, Jindavikk, Guard
Causing cancer all day.
Crysis, Lil Damage, Ovi, Jindavikk, Guard
Causing cancer all day.
Definitely pick up incendiary powder in the first trait line instead of bleeds. Switch out tool kit for elixir gun if you need a stunbreak.
Spec for condi dmg/duration. Don’t waste your grenades, especially the freezing one since if you land that you can land everything else easier. Don’t autoattack on grenades when roaming, you’re condi and will probably miss them sometimes. Set up your burst with glue bomb or some other cc, don’t just spam buttons. Always rotate through your kits and weapons, you have plenty of low cd’s to maximize the amt of condi uptime. Stealth bomb + heal turret overcharge or shield 4 is a free stealth disengage. Practice and you’ll be 1vXing in no time.
“Ur all trash!” the spvp player said,
as angry nerd tears rolled down his fat young cheeks.
as angry nerd tears rolled down his fat young cheeks.
Elixir gun is for team support + weakness. Not for pressure.
True but don’t forget it has one of our only single target attacks! I’ve found the auto pretty important for getting IP to proc on a player, not a spirit/clone/pet. Of course, as soon as you get the proc to go off, you’ll be better off switching back to something that hits harder for pressure for the next ten seconds.
In terms of spvp (not hotjoin!) SD engi isnt viable. Condition engineer is.
Every condition engineer should have:
above 1k condi damage
incind powder trait
perma vigor/swift
healing turretNow for generally useful information I’ll give ya help with each kit…
Grenades are for ranged damage. Very strong (obviously grenidier trait)
Flamethrower is for having more burn proc. Has nice cc + blind.
Elixir gun is for team support + weakness. Not for pressure.
Bomb kit is pressure/utility. Strong but not the only pressure kit, (you need another kit)
Toolkit is defensive/for the pull) Not for pressureRemeber playing engi with 2+ kits takes a higher skill level than a normal build. Don’t get discouraged!
Every condi engineer does not need healing turret. Elexir H is very viable in HGH builds.
Grenades are generally used in close proximity to the enemy UNLESS you are free-casting on a node. Using grenades as purely a ranged weapon is just dumb seeing as how they are most effective when right next to the enemy where they cannot be juked.
Also i would still consider SD variants viable. For example, Tool kit Nade kit PBR is a very good build for hotjoins. A properly executed combo at the right time will allow you to 100-0 them in a cc lock. However, Pure SD is not really effective because one of the vital roles of most engineers is to be able to free-cast on a node when the opportunity arises.
In terms of spvp (not hotjoin!) SD engi isnt viable. Condition engineer is.
Every condition engineer should have:
above 1k condi damage
incind powder trait
perma vigor/swift
healing turretNow for generally useful information I’ll give ya help with each kit…
Grenades are for ranged damage. Very strong (obviously grenidier trait)
Flamethrower is for having more burn proc. Has nice cc + blind.
Elixir gun is for team support + weakness. Not for pressure.
Bomb kit is pressure/utility. Strong but not the only pressure kit, (you need another kit)
Toolkit is defensive/for the pull) Not for pressureRemeber playing engi with 2+ kits takes a higher skill level than a normal build. Don’t get discouraged!
Sorry man but I just flat out disagree, sPvP SD build works fine. I run 20/20/0/0/30 or 20/0/10/10/30 for more def. Using took kit, bombs, and slippery shoes. I feel fine in sPvP no conditions needed.