Guild Wars 2

I have heard from several of my guild friends as well as the Engineer community that our kits are very lackluster and underwhelming…
I want to know if this is true, and if it is, what are my build options when it comes to PvE/Dungeons and Spvp/WvW?

I like the feel/look of our Bomb kit and the tool kit, as well as our turrets but it seems it wouldn’t be wise for me to trait/build into those things for the time being anyways, could I please get some definitive answers because I love the Engie I just want to get others who doubt us or dislike the class, to give it a chance again!

Any advice will be VERY appreciated and come with a free cookie!

I don’t use any kits except for the elixir gun. It’s got a nice combo with 1 to slow the targets and then 4 to splash aoe damage on them while you jump backwards. I stick with my pistol primarily.

Putting in 10 points into tools for kit refinement is great for elixir gun because it drops a free super elixir and then you can fire off another for double healing/condition removal.

I like cookies.

Our kits have some problems, but I think kit builds are our best:

Bombs are probably our best kit. Unfortunately, they only really fit tanky builds because they require you to be taking a defensive role (i.e. defending a point in PvP)—they won’t hit anything unless you are being attacked. I use bomb kit as the staple of my bunker build for PvP. The autoattack scales very well with power, burning and confusion are excellent, smoke bomb is a good defensive skill even after being seriously nerfed, and the #5 is lame but useful every once in a while. Big ’ol bomb is also a good toolbelt skill.

Toolkit: also good. The only drawback to this kit is that the autoattack just isn’t strong enough to build a melee dps engi around the toolkit. Box of nails is useful mostly for the cripple. Prybar is great. Shield is great. Pull is great. Throw wrench is a decent toolbelt skill as well. This kit is good for PvP, but not as great for PvE/dungeons.

Flamethrower: our hardest-nerfed kit. The auto-attack is weak even when it hits. The #2 skill is strong but extremely difficult (read: requires perfectly suited terrain/distance) to land. The pushback is the only really good skill in the flamethrower—aoe so it can interrupt stealth stomps/rezzes, etc. The fourth skill is only useful if you need a fire field for combos. The blind is useful since it is instant—you can use it to safely stomp or to save your hide while cc’d.

Elixir gun: a decent kit for support builds. You’ll want this one if you go dungeon support. The autoattack inflicts weakness, i.e. you can drastically debuff a single boss’s damage. The 2 and 4 skills scale pretty well with power, and 4 is a decent escape skill in PvP. Super elixir, the 5 skill, is a good aoe healing and condition removal, and a huge light field. Very useful.

Med kit: my favorite healing skill. It’s viable for any kind of build you run—if you’re tanky, you’ll get a lot out of mileage out of those three bandages and if you’re dps, you get 10sec of fury from your healing skill! Drawbacks: bad condition removal compared to 409/elixir H; bad party support compared to healing turret.

Last but not least: grenade kit—our best PvE damage and excellent for WvW as well. Requires a grandmaster trait to be useful. Can work in PvP as support dps, but it’s very situational. The auto-attack got nerfed bad but it’s still a solid kit overall, just more difficult to use as a main weapon.

Hope the text wall helps somewhat—our kits are indeed underwhelming compared to most weapon sets of other professions, but are super fun and somewhat viable for PvE/dungeons as well as WvW/PvP in certain builds. Builds that incorporate multiple kits are usually tanky/supportive in nature.

One last thing: the Kit refinement trait works well with elixir gun, toolkit, and grenade kit. It’s bugged/lame with bomb kit, flamethrower, and med kit.

Pro tip: go to your characters’s selection screen Select your Engineer click on the delete button and make a thief or mesmer or guardian or something as you will be completely useless in wvw as engineer even with full exotic armor and weapons.

Pro tip: Ignore Rezzet and play the Engineer when you like it!
Some of our kit’s work better then other’s, Flamethrower being the weakest if you ask me. Tool Kit being the strongest and most handy hehe

But if you like the bomb kit, there is two way’s you can go with it, either the tanky defensive way, or the the high condition damage roaming engineer way in WvsW (Work’s fine in PvE for AoE damage)

Yep stick with Rifle or Pistol potion builds for now man.

nevirsay has it all right on everything.

I would like to re-iterate that flamethrower is junk. I found the secret to always making it hit. You’re supposed to hold the camera button in the direction you want to shoot while walking around. The flame particles themselves are complete nonsense for show. That doesn’t make the flamer worth it though For less effort you could just work on turning your rifle into a bullet hose ’cuz it has better range.

I would just like to help clarify what the kit refinement actually does (although I never take it over speedy kits. Where isn’t permanent sprint useful?)

Toolkit kit refinement is totally useful. Look at your box of nails skill, try it once or twice on some mobs. It’s a stacking AoE cripple kitten Kit-refinement on toolkit means you spam nails everywhere you go (10 second cooldown.) Anything that’s had 2 boxes of nails under them isn’t going anywhere fast. Very useful in PvP.

Med-kit refinement just makes a loud, weak blast with no radius. You can spam it for some flashy effects, but it isn’t going to help you with anything.

Flametrower kit-refinement has a “fireblast.” It’s a weak burn over an insultingly small radius, but what I’ve found is that it also cleans a condition off of you.

Bomb-kit drops a bomb. What else is there to say?

Chickenshoes.6250:

nevirsay has it all right on everything.

I would like to re-iterate that flamethrower is junk. I found the secret to always making it hit. You’re supposed to hold the camera button in the direction you want to shoot while walking around. The flame particles themselves are complete nonsense for show. That doesn’t make the flamer worth it though For less effort you could just work on turning your rifle into a bullet hose ’cuz it has better range.

I would just like to help clarify what the kit refinement actually does (although I never take it over speedy kits. Where isn’t permanent sprint useful?)

Toolkit kit refinement is totally useful. Look at your box of nails skill, try it once or twice on some mobs. It’s a stacking AoE cripple kitten Kit-refinement on toolkit means you spam nails everywhere you go (10 second cooldown.) Anything that’s had 2 boxes of nails under them isn’t going anywhere fast. Very useful in PvP.

Med-kit refinement just makes a loud, weak blast with no radius. You can spam it for some flashy effects, but it isn’t going to help you with anything.

Flametrower kit-refinement has a “fireblast.” It’s a weak burn over an insultingly small radius, but what I’ve found is that it also cleans a condition off of you.

Bomb-kit drops a bomb. What else is there to say?

Mostly what you say here. We received a big buff last patch for anyone running the 3-kit set and Kit Refinements. Pack on the right runes and Sigils? We’re popping AoE conditions and heals and stacking might every few seconds, just by browsing through our kits.

Seriously do us all a favor and stop talking about “kit refinement”
Its the only thing we have left and if a Dev recognize that there is a single decent tool/trait/skill left for the engineer, you all know what will happen.

Chickenshoes.6250:

nevirsay has it all right on everything.

I would like to re-iterate that flamethrower is junk. I found the secret to always making it hit. You’re supposed to hold the camera button in the direction you want to shoot while walking around. The flame particles themselves are complete nonsense for show. That doesn’t make the flamer worth it though For less effort you could just work on turning your rifle into a bullet hose ’cuz it has better range.

I would just like to help clarify what the kit refinement actually does (although I never take it over speedy kits. Where isn’t permanent sprint useful?)

Toolkit kit refinement is totally useful. Look at your box of nails skill, try it once or twice on some mobs. It’s a stacking AoE cripple kitten Kit-refinement on toolkit means you spam nails everywhere you go (10 second cooldown.) Anything that’s had 2 boxes of nails under them isn’t going anywhere fast. Very useful in PvP.

Med-kit refinement just makes a loud, weak blast with no radius. You can spam it for some flashy effects, but it isn’t going to help you with anything.

Flametrower kit-refinement has a “fireblast.” It’s a weak burn over an insultingly small radius, but what I’ve found is that it also cleans a condition off of you.

Bomb-kit drops a bomb. What else is there to say?

Grenades drop a barrage of grenades around you, and Elixir Gun drop a Super Elixir that cures a condition and stacks healing with everything else that heals at the moment (even itself if you use #5 for the real Super Elixir).
EG Super Elixir is probably one of the most usefull procs from Kit Refinement.

to add to this:

You can swap kits when stunned, this also means kit refinement is working…

So when stunned you can swap eny kit you have and get every Kit refinement proc.
Usefull combo’s:
-Tool kit and cripple the one near you
- Elixir Gun and clear a condition and get minor healing going. EG tool belt regen is usable when stunned too if I’m not mistaken.
- Flamethrower and aoe him slightly, and even more usefull: hit #5 for blind wich can be used while stunned too!
- Bomb or grenade and hit with some aoe again.

Kit Refinement is extremely usefull if you’re running without a stunbreaker!

@Kontrolle the troll cave is that way —>
Do us all a favor and crawl back into it, so the rest of us can have a meaningful discussion here!

I like the bomb kit.
I pull a few melee mobs, then proceed to 4 (blind) -> 3 (confusion) -> 2 (burning) -> 1 1 1 1 1
Works quite well when you get ambushed in tight places.
Skill 5 (glue bomb) is very handy for a getway. Just drop it at your feet and your pursuers get left in the mud).

I combined the bomb kit with dual pistols eventually because they have (almost) mirror skills and are easy to remember and I’m buffing condition damage for both.

However, I found few useful traits for that kit, except the range and recharge traits in ‘explosives’.

EDIT: Bombs are also good if you are overpowered by mobs. Run circles and drop bombs behind you for random hits. Sometimes it works.

Don’t listen to the trolls. Engi is great and most kits are great. U can’t look at the engi class with tunnel vision and say " I want to use flamethrower and nothin but flamethrower and be successful" that would be like an ele saying I’m going to use nothing but water atunement and then be mad when your DMG blows. Part of the beauty of kits it being able to move in and out of them using certain abilities (not all) to achieve your goal. If u switch to bomb kit in the the middle of a fight it could be to stack confusion with bomb 3 pistol 3 and toolkit 3. or u may be on the run from a zerg shield 2 then switch to toolkit for gear shield then to bomb kit for glue bomb and u could also drop supply drop as your running to aoe stun your persuers. if u switch to a kit and just jam buttons 1-5 then on to the next kit 1-5 u WILL fail. I run power tough and vitality in both spvp and wvw. Wvw I run tankcat in spvp I run turrets and rifle. I solo roam a lot in wvw and the utility/versatility of the engineer is unmatched. Just mess with the kits u like till u find the perfect combo for your play style.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcQQFAUl0pSXnwynF17ISoHSI+pWiP8YfZIXpFA;T4AgyyrEWJtSdlyKqpMTJmyOlbK5UjCOFA

I am wondering if this setup would fit for PvE/Dungeons, and I am also wondering how to tweak it for WvW/sPvP?

Thanks!

I’m not an expert in engie, but would it be better to use dual pistols with so much condition damage?

As a comparison, my build is using something like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcIQJAqal0pCtX8ynF17IxIFkuzgeo38y3PKkbaB;TwAgyyrEWJtSdlyKqpMTJmyOlbK5UA

I tested it on dummy golems as I am still only lvl 33, but it seemed to work well.