Guild Wars 2

Hello,
I would appreciate if any experienced engineer in WvW (zerg) would take a few minutes and look at this build, please let me know what would you change and why.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcQQJAqalspSXX3ynF87IRoHFG/qV0jHrfK/pgcB-jEyAotAS/DY2rIas1uhoVeDreBTpSEV7SKiWtUA9rMC-w

The purpose of this build is to be on the melee train providing decent support, damage.

1. High Protection up time. (Self)

2. Somewhat decent group condition removal (Toss elixir H, B, Super-elixir, Fumigate).

3. Decent and practical healing:
*Elixir infused Bombs @1061 HP = 251 per bomb x5 targets (This technically never stops, unless the engineer is downed or away from the zerg)

I don’t know what the exact attack time of bombs is, 0.92 according to wiki. Over 30 seconds it’s possible to attack 32.6086 times x 251 HP x 5 Targets for an estimate of (up to) *40923.9130 Hit Points (Please correct if you have data.)

*Not an utility skill, a huge plus for WvW zerg fights taking into consideration the massive skill lag players have been experiencing. (Weapon skills seem to have priority over utilities in the server net queue, i personally experience this odd behavior)

4. Bombs still provide decent damage, up to 5 targets:
Using the wiki damage calculation formula.
Damage done = (Weapon Strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)
Damage done = (952.5) * 2095 * (1.1?) / (3000) = 731 damage per bomb average on a 3k armor target. This is twice of what guardian staff hits for.

5. Group Stability and Booms via Toss elixir H, B, Healing mist.

6. Access to Combo fields:
Wide area smoke/blind, fire field, long lasting light field, and x2 wide area snare/immobilize (These are specially good for choke points).

Please feel free to provide constructive feedback, also have in mind, with this build i’m not trying to out heal guardians, out dps warriors, or out support ele’s. I’m trying to provide a very reliable, flexible “Group Combat” engineer.

Edit 1
- Nothing is set in stone I’ve been debating between protection injection and invigorating speed. (i can already get a semi-reliable source of vigor from elixir H).
- My numbers may be flawed because i didn’t take into consideration “after-cast delay”, ill fix when i find out what they are.
—————————————
Unrelated
- I created this build after i heard a few people from my server TS say : “why would you play engineer on a zerg?, log something useful, lol”; of course this was just a troll joke, but it made me wonder what we were capable of.

Very interesting build…

My feedback:
If its a “zergy” build changes Cloaking Device to Stabilized Armor.
This food doesn’t convinced me. Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup or Chocolate Omnomberry Cream maybe?

Don’t really like those sigils… Why don’t you try one sigil of renewal (AoE healing on kit swapping) and one sigil of life (stacks healing power)? I mean, a 5 sec random boon just for you isn’t that useful if your team is already killing stuff enough to make a difference.

I would also change protection injection for HGH (try drinking all of your 3 elixirs just before the zerg clash and CC/damage the enemy straight to hell) and you could take a look on kit refinement, the magnetic bomb and the glue trail are good stuff.

Your build reminds me of when I started running with the melee train, lots of fun and survivability. Here’s what I would change imho:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcQQJAqelIq6ZX3SfF1LJxoCdO0D7ff1KSR+1/nCyF-jECBoNBkgAgEBM7pIasFhFRjVvATpiIq2loIa1SB0vyI-w

Shield is for blasting fire/water fields and dazing at choke points. Glue Shot/Bomb is only great when slotted with Sitting Duck imho.

Healing Turret outheals Elixir H and provides two water fields for blasting when the commander asks for it. Don’t be shy to use the healing turret as blast finisher while buffing up. The runes give extra boons.

Elixir Gun + Healing Turret provides sufficient condition removal. I like to plonk Super Elixir when the commander says to drop all damage at his location. This to stack heals and spread random retaliation while bombing.

Elixir S as second stun breaker or stomper/safe rez/panic button. Stabilized Armor along with Protection Injection will give you 53% extra damage reduction while stunned. This should help against those pesky static fields. You could switch Elixir S with Slick Shoes for some cc when running into zergs.

Speedy Kits for running with your group, goes well with Invigorating Speed. Share swiftness by blasting static fields.

Supply crate: stuns, heals, nets, fire, blast finisher…

Hope to have helped.

Banumiel.1926:

Very interesting build…

My feedback:
If its a “zergy” build changes Cloaking Device to Stabilized Armor.
This food doesn’t convinced me. Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup or Chocolate Omnomberry Cream maybe?

Thanks you for your feedback, yes after some experimentation, i am now using condi reduction food. Also with the new team priority for buffs/cleanses im staying closer to my team mates.

Kepow.1038:

Don’t really like those sigils… Why don’t you try one sigil of renewal (AoE healing on kit swapping) and one sigil of life (stacks healing power)? I mean, a 5 sec random boon just for you isn’t that useful if your team is already killing stuff enough to make a difference.

I would also change protection injection for HGH (try drinking all of your 3 elixirs just before the zerg clash and CC/damage the enemy straight to hell) and you could take a look on kit refinement, the magnetic bomb and the glue trail are good stuff.

Thansk you for taking the time looking at it.
The reason iam using both sigils of luck is that they both stack and can provide a good amount of protection/aegis, i’ve considered swaping 1 of them for Heal on kill. The booms from these sigils trigger quite often if the battle is large enough, and scale off this build 45% boom duration.

The problem of Sigil of renewal is that the AoE healing is very low for a 9s CD (Healing: 374 (0.1)), had it been something over 1k and i would have taken it instead.

Elmori.7369:

Your build reminds me of when I started running with the melee train, lots of fun and survivability. Here’s what I would change imho:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcQQJAqelIq6ZX3SfF1LJxoCdO0D7ff1KSR+1/nCyF-jECBoNBkgAgEBM7pIasFhFRjVvATpiIq2loIa1SB0vyI-w

Shield is for blasting fire/water fields and dazing at choke points. Glue Shot/Bomb is only great when slotted with Sitting Duck imho.

Healing Turret outheals Elixir H and provides two water fields for blasting when the commander asks for it. Don’t be shy to use the healing turret as blast finisher while buffing up. The runes give extra boons.

Elixir Gun + Healing Turret provides sufficient condition removal. I like to plonk Super Elixir when the commander says to drop all damage at his location. This to stack heals and spread random retaliation while bombing.

Elixir S as second stun breaker or stomper/safe rez/panic button. Stabilized Armor along with Protection Injection will give you 53% extra damage reduction while stunned. This should help against those pesky static fields. You could switch Elixir S with Slick Shoes for some cc when running into zergs.

Speedy Kits for running with your group, goes well with Invigorating Speed. Share swiftness by blasting static fields.

Supply crate: stuns, heals, nets, fire, blast finisher…

Hope to have helped.

Thanks for your valuable feedback,
I’ll try to use the trait configuration you have provided tonight if i am ever able to get into any of the BL’s. We’re having 1hr+ on every BL at SoR, and up to 3hrs for EB.

The reason i didn’t add healing turret to the build is because getting the cleanse off before the turret is destroyed has been extremely difficult in my situation, with our current match-up (JQ/SoR/BG) skill lag is present at almost every fight we have anywhere, after the leagues started I’ve been getting skill lag for as long as 15s without been able to use the 6 heal. This is a game play issue tho, maybe for other match-ups the turret will be more viable.

- Elixir infused bombs are in WvW zergs sux. You can use it in SPvP in some situations but over all 250 HP is nothing. Healing others well if you have damage income 5k/s from multiple ppl.. Imo its simply waste of trait in WvW. Better pick Automated Response instead and save your kitten first then you will try save others.
- Runes of Earth arent bad I also run it in past with full protection build but trust me Melandru setup and -40% condi duration food is in zerg fight far more superior than protection.
- Cloaking device is also waste in zerg where you get AoE damage anyway
- 2x Sigil o Luck: They share cooldown so you havent benefit from both at first place. Also there are far more superior sigils. Sigil of Battle and Bloodlust if you want better damage or Sigil of Restoration and Stamina if you want extra 1k heal and endurance refill for better mobility.
- New Toss Elixir B is good for stability but in zerg in 50% of situations gets stability all around you but not you:-)

I’ve noticed the zerging in wvw usually boils down to who can melt ppl the fastest, and I’m sorry to say that this build won’t be melting anything soon.
And its been brought up many times that elixir infused bombs just underperforms, for using that much Healing Power your better off focusing on blasting water fields. It’s so effective because its a double burst, damaging while healing (in huge chunks, compared to the tiny amount from EIB)
I’ve recently switched to a full Dire might stacking build mentioned here
I’ve found it an exceptional build for zerging

Although there are more dps builds out there, a high survivability bomb build is ideal for learning how fights are played in the melee train. The last week has especially brought alot of rallybots to wvw not knowing how to stay alive or why people sit on top of commander.

He’s getting 550 hp/s stacked with regen. I hardly had to pop healing turret during a fight when I tried this build to see how it would play. Healing turret was ready when everyone needed to blast water fields. It’s surprisingly survivable.

There hasn’t been one engi build to rule them all. One runs condition while the other says wvw all about p/v/t. One runs flamethrower while the other says that retaliation will kill you. One thing that makes playing engi interesting is that there different builds and ways to play.

Rozbuska.5263:

- Elixir infused bombs are in WvW zergs sux. You can use it in SPvP in some situations but over all 250 HP is nothing. Healing others well if you have damage income 5k/s from multiple ppl.. Imo its simply waste of trait in WvW. Better pick Automated Response instead and save your kitten first then you will try save others.
- Runes of Earth arent bad I also run it in past with full protection build but trust me Melandru setup and -40% condi duration food is in zerg fight far more superior than protection.
- Cloaking device is also waste in zerg where you get AoE damage anyway
- 2x Sigil o Luck: They share cooldown so you havent benefit from both at first place. Also there are far more superior sigils. Sigil of Battle and Bloodlust if you want better damage or Sigil of Restoration and Stamina if you want extra 1k heal and endurance refill for better mobility.
- New Toss Elixir B is good for stability but in zerg in 50% of situations gets stability all around you but not you:-)

I’m kind of having trouble figuring out the logic here:
You state Elixir-bombs are the sux, because you can’t out heal 5k/s dps from people, and that taking automatic response would be better, but the 5k/s dps comes from a group of over 30+ people, i"m just 1 here, and i’m technically able to provide 1,250HP/s heal to ease off the pressure (250×5). How is this teh sux?

I have changed my food to – %condition duration, and looking at a more group buff oriented runes.

I took out cloaking device. Trying stabilized armor or power shoes.

Both sigils of luck do stack, i have tested this myself, they also do not have a cool down (big bonus here, if you’re lucky you get huge regen/protection stack).

I don’t understand what you’re trying to say about elixir B and stability, but its a 5 man 5 1/2 seconds of stability on a 30s CD plus another random buff, this is as good as Stand Your Ground untraited.

Linc.6834:

I’ve noticed the zerging in wvw usually boils down to who can melt ppl the fastest, and I’m sorry to say that this build won’t be melting anything soon.

Along this line of thought, I’ve actually had the best luck—in zergs—with a full Berserker SD rifle build. I tried healing bombs with Cleric’s, grenades, PTV flamethrower…but I found I became more effective—and a better player (you have to when you’re overextending yourself with such minimal armor)—once I switched to Berserker. I work my way around the edges of the enemy zerg picking off squishies. I’ve single-handedly disrupted entire backlines, giving my guys the time they need to demolish the zerg without having to deal with meteor storms or ranger barrages. Plus, I don’t have to worry about switching builds for solo/small group roaming.

The only issue I have is that I have to put up with the kissass sycophants who berate me for not being where they are…precisely up the butt of the commander at all times.

Heiltdo.2891:

I’m kind of having trouble figuring out the logic here:
You state Elixir-bombs are the sux, because you can’t out heal 5k/s dps from people, and that taking automatic response would be better, but the 5k/s dps comes from a group of over 30+ people, i"m just 1 here, and i’m technically able to provide 1,250HP/s heal to ease off the pressure (250×5). How is this teh sux?

I have changed my food to – %condition duration, and looking at a more group buff oriented runes.

I took out cloaking device. Trying stabilized armor or power shoes.

Both sigils of luck do stack, i have tested this myself, they also do not have a cool down (big bonus here, if you’re lucky you get huge regen/protection stack).

I don’t understand what you’re trying to say about elixir B and stability, but its a 5 man 5 1/2 seconds of stability on a 30s CD plus another random buff, this is as good as Stand Your Ground untraited.

Its still not enough. You want catch guardian heals and thats impossible. 30% of zerg are usualy guardians. Our heals are simply not needed. 250 HP/person is like trying fill pool with spoon you will mindlesly spam bomb and noone even notice:-)

I didnt realize that runes havent CD now it sounds much more interesting I must try it.

Well if you toss elixir its ground AoE for 5 targets. If there is many ppl on one place its randomly pick 5 o them for that buffs and its not guarantieed you will be one of them.

I use this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcQQJAqel0pya37SfF1LJxoCdOkiCbfQKq7dFpQ/WG-j0xAofhQKDAJCM7VEN2yYR0YV2YqXioapAYSZE-w

This build utilizes the flamethrower most of the time, which is great because the number one skill is a powerful cone shaped aoe attack. This is great during skill lag. Also, the backpack regenerator helps greatly because you cannot always pop healing during skill lag.

While running this in WVW the flamethrower must be kept equipped at all times because it gets you up to 6 stacks of might. Every 5 seconds while running switch to med kit and back to keep swiftness up and drop skill 5 on medkit whenever possible. While running if you see a static field go down try to blast it with rocket boots or shield for more swiftness.

When in combat switch weapon every ten seconds to get an extra 3 stacks of might that last for 20 seconds. Use appropriate pistol and shield skills at this time. It is great to use the number 3 skill on the flamethrower and drop it at your feet and blast it with magnetic shield to get more stacks of might. Dropping elite supply crate and then rocket booting into combat is great for even more stacks of might. Additionally, while in combat make sure to use incendiary ammo whenever possible…really just try to use all skills as the cooldown runs up. However, if it is to hectic in battle just stick with the flamethrower and make sure to use your aoe interrupts and blinds in addition to the damage skills. Keep elixirs on an easy to reach button since it is your oh crap button when you are about to get rolled by the other zerg or go down (remember this does not work well during skill lag it is best to dodge at this point). The rocket boots are also excellent to get you out of combat so you can heal up.

Survivability is the main focus of this build. The runes of melandru and the bowl of lemongrass poultry soup make it so that conditions just fall off. When the lemongrass soup runs up you will notice you die much easier. The pvt gear is there for survivability as well. The traits are selected for survivability as well

As for traits:
Fireforged trigger – is chosen because the flame thrower is your main weapon.
Juggernaut – is chosen to give you more toughness and more stacks of might.
Protective shield – is chosen to give you a little protection against crits
Stabilized armor – is chosen because you will get knocked down and stunned a lot.
Protection injection – is chosen to give you even more protection when cc’d
Backpack regenerator – is chosen because it is great. During skill lag it help a lot and sometimes gives you that little extra health you need
Speedy kits – because you want perma swiftness in wvw.

I hope everything is sorta clear. Enjoy and I look forward to killing you on the battlefield.