Guild Wars 2

Started playing a 30/10/0/20/10 condi build and must say it’s quite fun even though the learning curve feels steep with so many options at your disposal. I got a message from an ele today while doing dailies. “I <3 engi’s who can’t play anything but bunker condi, u r pathetic.”

Felt pretty good. As far as I know this a newer build and not “bunker” as it has 0 healing nor stability. But I know I have a long way to go… I am fairly consistent with my condition upkeep and cc but want to get into the nitty gritty of the spec so…

Had a couple questions for those more experienced. How often do you use mine kit? I know it’s very situational but I find myself in ft kit or p/s most often. And on that note do you prefer ft auto attack for burning or pistol for bleed stacks?

Do you generally open with incendiary ammo for a lot of up front pressure? As it has such a long up-time I hit this pretty much whenever it’s up to kick-start the cd… is this wrong? Any other tips would be great, thanks.

Oh i run full nightmare rune’s, rabid ammy/ jewel, sigil doom/ smoldering if that helps.

Dolt.2731:

Started playing a 30/10/0/20/10 condi build and must say it’s quite fun even though the learning curve feels steep with so many options at your disposal. I got a message from an ele today while doing dailies. “I <3 engi’s who can’t play anything but bunker condi, u r pathetic.”

It would help to know what traits you are using in those categories, since no one has any idea what you are running with just the points allotted. We currently have no idea if advice given might conflict with what you are already doing. For example:

Dolt.2731:

Do you generally open with incendiary ammo for a lot of up front pressure? As it has such a long up-time I hit this pretty much whenever it’s up to kick-start the cd… is this wrong?

This statement seems to suggest that you just use FT primarily for the tool belt burn, which could easily be swapped out for the Explosives Trait V and Rare Veggie Pizza. With a Rabid set it would help to diversify your conditions with Grenade Kit or Bomb Kit, both of which combo well with offhand shield. I personally prefer Grenade Kit with the typical HGH setup 30/10/0/30/0. So to summarize here, it would really help us if you were to post a link of the current build so we can more accurately provide you with specific feedback in this type of case. I highly suggest http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/

Had a couple questions for those more experienced. How often do you use mine kit?

I find that I never use or encounter them at later levels. As a whole the mines are a bit of a let down (at least for me). I think it is important to note that they are not a kit, but rather a gadget and function quite differently.

Dolt.2731:

I know it’s very situational but I find myself in ft kit or p/s most often. And on that note do you prefer ft auto attack for burning or pistol for bleed stacks? Oh i run full nightmare rune’s, rabid ammy/ jewel, sigil doom/ smoldering if that helps.

Again, to offer a personal perspective I have found that using FT for burning alone to be a bit underwhelming as is the same with bleeding and pistol auto-attacks. Between the Explosives Trait V and offhand pistol I can maintain perma burns just as with the FT, which then opens up other kit options such as the very impressive bleed stacks of Shrapnel Grenade. I also find the range and channeling effect of the FT auto-attacks to be a bit of a draw back in fast paced combat unless you can keep the person within your reach somehow; a very big challenge when the FT’s main CC effect attempts to push foes away from you and only further complicated with your shield’s pushback effect.

If you can provide just a bit more information for us, I would be more than willing to offer some advice if you would welcome it. Hopefully this can provide at least a bit of help concerning the questions you had.

Using the new build that high lvl tourney engi’s are using… http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-VRw;0B-cP-i0c-sTFx0;9;4T9-J94275;308-5;0Tw;4hoHAhoHA2VN

I use FT for many many things, the utility it brings is outstanding.

The idea (i think) is to keep reapplying condi’s, all of which (outside of fear) are available to you at a very rapid rate. I have the basics down just wondering if anyone had any in depth tips on when/ where to use the multitude of blast finishers available etc…

I prefer not to play hgh builds as the dynamics of the build are a bit more one-dimensional than this one.

Dolt.2731:

The idea (i think) is to keep reapplying condi’s, all of which (outside of fear) are available to you at a very rapid rate. I have the basics down just wondering if anyone had any in depth tips on when/ where to use the multitude of blast finishers available etc…

The combination of this information with the build is much easier to follow. Off the top of my head the one combo that I know takes quite a bit of practice to time right, which would essentially provide you with an 8s stealth to give you and/or allies the drop on others if you can achieve it. You want to use Healing Turret + Big Ol’ Bomb + Smoke Bomb + Mines… detonating both the mine and turret and bursting shield 4 skill in the smoke combo field to have everything stack stealth for you and everyone close enough. This might take some practice to get straightened out, but once perfected is an amazing contribution to the setup you currently have.

Aside from that, if you haven’t done so already in PvE situations, is to either buy or cook up some Rare Veggie Pizza to maximize your condition durations as the 40% duration is very nice to maintain. Something to consider as well would be to mix and match runes to maximize other aspects of your play style or build. You stated earlier that you use full Nightmare, but unless you are relying on it entirely for the off chance that you might fear someone at an opportune moment you could easily get an additional 10% condition duration from just 2 Superior Lyssa Runes, which could free up the other 4 slots. As an example you could utilize 2 Superior Monk and 2 Superior Water to give yourself a grand total of 50% boon duration (30 from runes 20 from traits PvE or 40% PvP). In the grand scheme of things the 100+ condition damage lost from sacrificing nightmare would only equate to a marginal loss in actual condition dps. If you have any questions specifically regarding this particular avenue I might be able to help out more, but overall I hope this is giving you something useful.

Will this build change as a result of the patch?

Hey this looks like Teldo’s build. But elixir r is no longer a stunbreaker so you may need to reconsider that for pvp.

I wouldn’t open up with incendiary ammo unless you cast it a good portion before getting to a point to fight and getting the most out of it’s cooldown (like you already do). Load them up with conditions from pistol 2&3 + bomb kit and try and force their hand to use their condition removal skill before popping I.A. imo to get the most out of it. And I wouldn’t waist it on bunker’s either…

FT #1’s damage is pretty rubbish overall, namely because it’s only the last hit that causes burning but only for 1s (there are a lot of variables in pvp that could see you not even get that far through the channeling) but if you don’t want to get into the middle of a fight and still hit everyone it can be useful. It’s 3-5 skills are why it’s more useful while #2 can load up some decent dps from time to time.

Bomb kit is your dps friend and obviously the easiest way to connect it is in tandem with bomb #5 for the immobilise. I often run sigil of hydromancy when running bomb kit to help it connect. Maybe give it a shot.

If you’re going to stick with elixir r, remember that it’s also a condition removal tool.

This build has such good sustain that I could see sticking with R as being totally fine. The toss and endurance refill on that utility seem way more useful than the stun break for this build.

Started this before the patch… since then i, dropped 10 in alchemy (backpack regenerator) for 20 in tools picking up speedy gadgets. Swapped FT for elixir gun and elixir r for rocket boots….

The dynamics of this build are hard to put into words other than you have an answer (if cd’s are up) for any situation. You are an excellent group fighter/ roamer. Insane mobility. Great defense and asinine condi upkeep. with that being said…

As of the new patch I’m trying out builds every hour. Gadgets are kitten addicting, it seems any style of play we can think of is possible atm… great time to be an engi.