Guild Wars 2

I made it all the way to level 80 without ever using a shield – first because I didn’t like the look of shields in general, then because I focused on rifle weapon mastery and then because I started using kits a lot more.

Now in the last few days I’ve tried out the shield skills. I really love the jade shield skin, but I won’t waste a jade weapon ticket on one if I’m not going to use it.

Now. I have had several people on here encourage me to use pistol/shield over pistol/pistol. But in my own few hours of playing in the last few days, I found it underwhelming. I assume that I’m doing it wrong. But the shield skills didn’t seem to be worth it, compared to the off-hand pistol skills.

What am I missing here?
Can you explain in some more detail how to use the shield skills efficiently?
Make me love the shield so I can justify getting the dragon shield.

For reference:

• I only played PvE last week.
• I’m using a home-made condi build, traited to elixir gun/pistols.

I prefer the pistol as well because I feel like I need the offense with blowtorch. I have used shield though, in builds where I had more offense via kits and it’s really good. For pve, probably don’t bother, it’s a pvp weapon. Interrupts, knockbacks, reflections,… It’s all in there. One thing that’s annoying though are the long cooldowns.

utility:
blast finisher
reflect
knockback
block
stun
ranged stun*2

vinceftw.5086:

I prefer the pistol as well because I feel like I need the offense with blowtorch. I have used shield though, in builds where I had more offense via kits and it’s really good. For pve, probably don’t bother, it’s a pvp weapon. Interrupts, knockbacks, reflections,… It’s all in there. One thing that’s annoying though are the long cooldowns.

Are you kidding me? Shield is a fantastic pairing even in PvE with bombs. Fire field + two blast finishers (i.e., B.O.B. and Magnetic Inversion) = 6x stacks of Might. (You can even get an additional 3x stacks if you have Superior Sigil of Battle, because the order of operations for stacking is generally B.O.B. → Fire Bomb → swap to pistol/shield for additional Magnetic Inversion blast finisher, which procs Battle.) It’s great on mobs, since the shield throw goes through multiple foes (i.e. plural). The shield has a lot of options can stripping down the defiant stacks of tougher PvE bosses.

In short, as Linguistically lists (with modification in bold):

utility:
blast finisher
reflect
knockback
block
stun
ranged stun*2
daze

You get a tremendously greater range of control and combo-creation through the shield. True, the cooldowns are longer than the off-hand pistol or even similar skills on the rifle; however, the shield’s two skills are effectively four skills rolled up into two skill slots.

It depends on your offensive Kit u are using:
For bombs: u don’t need AoE burning from pistols – u got fire bombs. U also don’t need AoE immobilise – u got this from bombs too.

For Grenades: p/p ist your choice, your don’t need a blast finisher, plus AoE immobilise and burning fits well with grenades.

Genesis.8572:

In short, as Linguistically lists (with modification in bold):

utility:
blast finisher
reflect
knockback
block
stun
ranged stun*2
daze

mb; i lump stun/daze/… the other one… is there another one? in the same group because im too lazy to remember which is which

On top of everyone else’s comments, if you build correctly you can get everything oh pistol has to offer and more. Engi’s have many ways of applying burning outside of pistol 4. if’n you run bombs, toolkit, or nades you have access to an aoe slow… and so on.

It’s always handy to have a shield in your inventory for any occasion, it brings a lot to the table that could turn a point in a fight around in your favor. I liked the Jade shield as well but I used it with my magic find set since I was set with main shield from SAB (I just need to find a pistol skin since the quaggan pistol is funny looking). Otherwise I stick with duel pistols.

I never used a shield while leveling either. P/P all the way, and I still do in open world. But in dungeons and PvP the shield is just too useful to leave at home. A block or projectile reflect at a key moment can be the difference between alive & dead, especially if your endurance is low (think reflect warrior killshot). A daze/stun can halt an enemy’s big opener, especially if followed by a knockback (sorry thief). And an on demand blast finisher in one of your fire fields or healing turret field = aoe might or aoe healing. Good times.

To trade that for what…a hard to use, short duration immob and 1 hard-hitting burn shot that requires me to be at close range? Nope. I’ll keep my shield.

Magnetic Shield doesn’t work if you move, which makes it useless if you’re always moving.

The OP may not realize that there is a trait that will reduce the cool down of shields by 20% plus grant 90 toughness. It’s in the Inventions line.

I still run P/P however. I find myself too many times either not using the shield or not timing it’s use well. Nothing is worse than waiting to use it, lining up the shot, and then… and then…. and then…. nothing, missed. Sorry, wait 30 seconds and try again.

The Blow Torch however has a 12 sec cool down (!!!!!!!) and can hit multiple baddies without much aiming, and delivers, what by any measure, is a healthy amount of damage. And did I mention it has a fricken 12 second cool down?

Love the Tool Kit shield, by the way. 20 sec cool down and blocks EVERYTHING.

As you may have read, there are some that like the shield, for the blast finishers, 90 toughness and the “ranged stun”. I do mainly WvW and for me p/p is much better than P/S: The blast finishers will come handy from time to time, for healing / whatever, the ranged stun helped me I think Once? The reflect is too short and on a long cooldown.

Still going defensive it`s not something I do. As most of the engineer toys it brings some situational benefits, but IMO as most of our toys it`s far too situational and the sacrifices one has to make in order to use them at full capacity are too high.

As Soon well said, tool kit > shield.

The shield is awesome because:

-reflection is awesome against some mobs (i.e. karkas)
-Stun is great against everything, as is block
-Most importantly: blast and projectile (100%) finishers. The blast is great for might stacking (fire field), invis (smoke field from smoke bomb), retal from light field (elixir gun 5), and vulnerability from poison fields. The projectile finisher is most useful with elixir-gun light field (skill 5) to remove an additional condition.

If you trait for piston cooldown reduction, however, P/P could be superior. My thought on doing so, however, is that if you use a couple of kits, you have more than enough skills that there is no need to get access to any one pistol skill faster.

And walking into a thief’s shadow refuge and hitting shield 4 to knock them out of it is… so, so, so kitten awesome! Not to mention this with rezzes, stomps, etc.

BlackBeard.2873:

….My thought on doing so, however, is that if you use a couple of kits, you have more than enough skills that there is no need to get access to any one pistol skill faster.

^This. We are generally using our kits for real damage dealing. I never swap from grenades so I can run in close and hit pistol#4. Instead I’ll swap to P/S if I need the utility (block, blast, daze, etc).

Soon.5240:

The OP may not realize that there is a trait that will reduce the cool down of shields by 20% plus grant 90 toughness. It’s in the Inventions line.

Either of those mean fart all. 20% on the shield cooldowns still leave us with long cooldowns, and 90 Toughness results in no practical damage reduction. Never mind that the shield has to actually be out to get it, so no kits. Heck, i think you get more if you plop a toughness weapon into off-hand. And it remains in effect even with kits active.

Honestly I think shield shines the most in spvp where you can knock back enemies for a res or for point capping. For WvW its use is situational like bomb kit, and is mostly effective when you have enemy running up the steps as you’re trying to cap a keep (or any other choke point situation like that). Also, what Genesis and Linguistically said.

Here i’m thinking Engi shield is OP, and someone doesn’t even “like” to use it….

How is having a projectile reflect/aoe knockback/ blaster, 2s block/melee stun (witch is AWESOME vs thiefs) a bad thing? Nothng beats reflecting a kill shot or a pin down back to the warrior.

Sure pistol 4 is quite good, and 5 is cool because you can shoot it behind you while running. But nothing compares to a shield in pvp.

I have saved countless souls from getting finished with shield 4 or 5. You cant do that with p/p. Also the extra blast when you drop healing turret, its effectively x2 blast + 2,500(+) healing for nearby allies.

Both in PvE and PvP, P/S is miles better, more healing, more cc, block, blaster, projectile finisher.

End of rant XD

I too want to like shields. I can never stray far from my Rifle though…

“This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine….”

Stick with the Rifle and if you ever want a shield just equip a Tool Kit. Only get shield if you want to build bunker.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Stick with the Rifle and if you ever want a shield just equip a Tool Kit. Only get shield if you want to build bunker.

…
…
or mainly use a kit and value p/s utility (2 sigils, poison, blind+others already mentioned above) over rifles (immob… leap finisher… single target knockback)

This video should help you love shield.

Great video Velron, lol. That tornado….

Velron.3729:

This video should help you love shield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBOxCqyXPG0

Only applies for PVP tho, as mobs can’t be knocked off edges…

I love the utility of the shield – The off hand pistol makes it a bit easier to apply certain things with ease (Glue shot, Flame) but really….the combo heave nature of the shield makes me never leave home without it. Need an interrupt…or two? Shield. Knockbacks to help with reviving a poor soul being wailed on by a mob tag team? Shield. Combo field blast finishers? Shield. It meshes so well with bombs and elixir gun….I just never leave home without it!