Guild Wars 2

Yeah, orbital strike is cool, but it has a 40 second cooldown, and it really is the only skill that looks that great. From Dulfy:

“1) Mortar Shot: Launch an explosive round from your mokittenamaging foes in the target area.
2) Poison Gas Shell: Launch a mortar round that spreads poisonous gas in an area.
3) Flash Shell: Launch a phosphorous mortar round that burns brightly at impact point.
4) Endothermic Shell: Launch a mortar round that chills foes in the target area.
5) Elixir Shell: Launch a mortar round that heals allies in the target area.
F5) Orbital Strike: Call down energy from the sky to blast an area.”

I saw pictures before that showed the damage of these abilities, and they weren’t very good (Dulfy took them down for some reason). Orbital Strike is only 900 baseline. Maybe it’s just me, but it looks like I’ll be continuing to use crate, and cry a little inside at my loss of significant range. Not that grenades were ever really useful over 900 range anyways, because they were too slow. But there were a few occasions when that range came in handy. I thought that mortar would fill that niche, but I don’t think it will.

Well the attack speed is a lot faster than it used to be (Screenshoot shows half a sec). And the Dmg numbers are probably something they work on (reason why the tooltips didn’t have them). Not to forget that dmg numbers in general are very vage. I think we’ll have to test it out in proper gear and trait setup before we can judge it’s value as a DPS kit.

Mortar Shot is also a 100% chance projectile finisher, yes it isn’t the blast finisher we hoped for, but it can still combo into some interesting effects, like keeping your enemies chilled with Endothermic Shell.

I do agree that Flash Shell looks lackluster tho. Light field is allways meh, and no additional effects are listed. The Fields are also quite small (only 240) and Mortar Shot have no listed radius.

I just hope we look kitten and it feels good to use.

I think you guys have the longest water field in game now.

I was a bit confused by flash shell as well. It looks like all it does is form a light field with no additional effect? Why would I want to do that?

I don’t know that the tool tips can really be considered that accurate. It was in the PvP lobby, and we have no idea what amulet stats he had equipped, if any. Could’ve been magi stats for all we know.

I think it could have potential for WvW or PvE. Dunno about sPvP though.

gosh what will i ever do in pvp as 06660 ft/slicky/tk/mortar i dont think that will be any good at all with 0 blasting ability, no stab, no move speed, no hard or soft cc, no amr…

i think i need to rethink my theorycrafting

seriously though, 66600 too for more offense and more blasts on our 3 water fields

It’ll still have the side benifit of on-demand procs of “When you use an elite skill” runes without actually wasting your elite skill. It gives interesting potential to things that were formally junk runes like Rune of the Sunless. Still mostly junk to be honest, but Engineer with access to on-demand fear? (One of the few effects we don’t get, otherwise) Someone might figure out some crazy build options with things like that.

I assume the Flash Shell’s effect aside from the light field will be a blind or perhaps a daze on impact. And I wouldn’t underestimate the use of a light field, we can fire the projecile finisher #1 skill through it or rifle jump through it for a condi clense. And more condi clenses are always nice.

That said, I’d mainly be using it for the water and ice fields.

its gonna be cool with HGH builds

Yamsandjams.3267:

I was a bit confused by flash shell as well. It looks like all it does is form a light field with no additional effect? Why would I want to do that?

I don’t know that the tool tips can really be considered that accurate. It was in the PvP lobby, and we have no idea what amulet stats he had equipped, if any. Could’ve been magi stats for all we know.

I think it could have potential for WvW or PvE. Dunno about sPvP though.

light field + projectile finisher = condi cleanse. mortar auto is a 100% projectile finisher so you get like an insane amount of cleansing out of it… yes cleansing, something that engi doesn’t have access to too much.

keep in mind that projectile-finishers + lightfield aoe-cleanse only when they connect, and only around the target.
so you need to be close to your target to profit from the cleanse (360 range if I remember correctly).

Jekkt.6045:

Yamsandjams.3267:

I was a bit confused by flash shell as well. It looks like all it does is form a light field with no additional effect? Why would I want to do that?

I don’t know that the tool tips can really be considered that accurate. It was in the PvP lobby, and we have no idea what amulet stats he had equipped, if any. Could’ve been magi stats for all we know.

I think it could have potential for WvW or PvE. Dunno about sPvP though.

light field + projectile finisher = condi cleanse. mortar auto is a 100% projectile finisher so you get like an insane amount of cleansing out of it… yes cleansing, something that engi doesn’t have access to too much.

gonna be hard for the engi himself to get anything out of it outside of melee

the minor 409 will prolly do more for you without even taking any elixirs since youd get a B @ 75% for taking alchemy

light fields suck and we already have eg5 if we really wanted light :/

plus speaking of eg, if you want the cleansing for allies, fumigate has always been and always will be better than cleansing bolts…

Looking at the cooldowns, it seems a lot les lackluster.
Mortar 2# Poison Gas Shell have a 10 sec cooldown and lasts 5 sec ( 7 when traited). So that is a 50-70% uptime of poison field.
Pretty much the same case with Endothermic Shell or Elixir Shell , they both have a 20 sec cooldown so they each can keep their field up for 25-35% of the time.

Elixir Shell may also gain durration and apply Might with HGH. But if they stack, I’m not sure if it would be base durration * (20% + 40%) or (base durration * 20%) * 40%. If it stacks, we get 8 sec to 8.4 sec waterfields on a 20 sec cooldown (40% – 42% uptime of waterfield) that also removes conditions and applies Might.

Considering the lack of damaging conditions (there is just poison) and the above comments of it lacking good direct damage as well, it would seems that our medium-long and long range offensive capabilities could end up quite lacking after the patch. Still, gotta test it out to see.

Daniel Handler.4816:

I think you guys have the longest water field in game now.

Nope, rangers have Healing Spring and Humans have Summon Healing Spring , both lasts 10 sec and have a 240 radius, Summon healing Spring have the same cooldown as Engis mortar skill as well (20 sec).

But the longest water field in the game at the moment is 12 sec from Healing Oasis (5th treb skill, requiers 4 ranks in Trebuchet Mastery).

Our mortar waterfield wont be longer than 8.4 sec max (probably just 8 sec).

Jekkt.6045:

Yamsandjams.3267:

I was a bit confused by flash shell as well. It looks like all it does is form a light field with no additional effect? Why would I want to do that?

I don’t know that the tool tips can really be considered that accurate. It was in the PvP lobby, and we have no idea what amulet stats he had equipped, if any. Could’ve been magi stats for all we know.

I think it could have potential for WvW or PvE. Dunno about sPvP though.

light field + projectile finisher = condi cleanse. mortar auto is a 100% projectile finisher so you get like an insane amount of cleansing out of it… yes cleansing, something that engi doesn’t have access to too much.

This guy has the spot.

I am really looking forward to the mortar! Expecially since it’s fast and has a great range. But secretly I think its autoattack being a 100% projectile finisher will be a bit overpowered:P Imagine the possibilities:

Heal field = Regen
Light field = Condi removal (Which engi really got a great burst on on this balance change already!)
Poison field = Poison bolts
But maybe Ice is the most overpowered one = Chilled

Imagine Ice lasting 5 seconds(not even traited to 7seconds) and 1/2 second for each mortar autoattack. That would mean 10 seconds of chill!

Even though I love the idea of having a permanent projectile finisher, I really hope that they will keep this in mind, and not nerf if after HoT comes out. (Maybe they can decrease the damage of the autoattack to balance for this?)

Strategist.6132:

I think its autoattack being a 100% projectile finisher will be a bit overpowered:P

Don’t get your hopes up, the projectile flies in a curve and is ground targeted, so it will fly over enemies to close, and it must be a direct hit for the projectile finisher to apply it’s effect. It won’t apply the effect if you hit them with the AoE effect from the projectile hitting the ground.

In fact, the difficulty of getting a direct hit is probably why they kept it as a 100% projectile finisher.

I had hoped they’d keep the Barrage skill, but whatever I’ll make this work one way or Another… assuming the #1 good dmg, anything above 1k base dmg is good when it crits.

you could even just take mortar for lyssa runes to get the 5 condi convert every 45 seconds assuming it works like med kit with lyssa runes.

The main application of mortar now is in wvw with the water field on skill 5 which you can position on top of the melee and blast with f5 (potentially 4x with the relevant traits) from the back line. Who knows how powerful this will be if you spec into healing and take other support traits. Combine this with the buff to juggernaught with stability and you have a potentially very tanky engi that can dps from max range as well as push with commander and drop a long lasting water field on demand, in addition to tagging stuff with ease. In pvp/pve I’d imagine supply crate will still be king with the new buffs.

Are.1326:

Strategist.6132:

I think its autoattack being a 100% projectile finisher will be a bit overpowered:P

Don’t get your hopes up, the projectile flies in a curve and is ground targeted, so it will fly over enemies to close, and it must be a direct hit for the projectile finisher to apply it’s effect. It won’t apply the effect if you hit them with the AoE effect from the projectile hitting the ground.

In fact, the difficulty of getting a direct hit is probably why they kept it as a 100% projectile finisher.

Is this really true? I mean right now I can spam Rifle and Elixer gun without hitting anybody and still get the projectile finisher effect. You’re sure it’s ground targetted btw? I didn’t see it in the video but I might have missed it.

I guess my main reason for it feeling lackluster is that it is almost exclusively a condition based weapon. I hate playing condi builds, and I am more than a little upset that the devs continuously force engineers into condi builds.

I really hope the damage will do/almost do, the damage grenades do now with Grenadier trait. If not, huge nerf to wvw engineer. I also hope the travel speed isn’t super slow. Grenades were slow, but to my feel, mortar shots are even slower (current iteration). Lets hope that won’t hold up. Engineer needs good long range weapon, period.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

I really hope the damage will do/almost do, the damage grenades do now with Grenadier trait. If not, huge nerf to wvw engineer. I also hope the travel speed isn’t super slow. Grenades were slow, but to my feel, mortar shots are even slower (current iteration). Lets hope that won’t hold up. Engineer needs good long range weapon, period.

In the video the projectile flew pretty fast, almost like an staff ele’s fire bolt thing

Strategist.6132:

Are.1326:

Strategist.6132:

I think its autoattack being a 100% projectile finisher will be a bit overpowered:P

Don’t get your hopes up, the projectile flies in a curve and is ground targeted, so it will fly over enemies to close, and it must be a direct hit for the projectile finisher to apply it’s effect. It won’t apply the effect if you hit them with the AoE effect from the projectile hitting the ground.

In fact, the difficulty of getting a direct hit is probably why they kept it as a 100% projectile finisher.

Is this really true? I mean right now I can spam Rifle and Elixer gun without hitting anybody and still get the projectile finisher effect. You’re sure it’s ground targetted btw? I didn’t see it in the video but I might have missed it.

Yes it is ground targeted.

Strategist.6132:

Is this really true? I mean right now I can spam Rifle and Elixer gun without hitting anybody and still get the projectile finisher effect. You’re sure it’s ground targetted btw? I didn’t see it in the video but I might have missed it.

As solori said, yes it is ground targeted.
And the projectile finisher effects you get is just the indication that the projectile did combo, not that it hit and applied it’s effect.
They might make it so the projectile effect happens in an AoE around the impact, but that is stretching our expectations.

Are.1326:

Strategist.6132:

Is this really true? I mean right now I can spam Rifle and Elixer gun without hitting anybody and still get the projectile finisher effect. You’re sure it’s ground targetted btw? I didn’t see it in the video but I might have missed it.

As solori said, yes it is ground targeted.
And the projectile finisher effects you get is just the indication that the projectile did combo, not that it hit and applied it’s effect.
They might make it so the projectile effect happens in an AoE around the impact, but that is stretching our expectations.

So if I understand correctly: I can use “Throw Wrench” in a light field and it doesn’t remove a condition if it doesn’t hit a player, even though the indicator shows up?

Or did you only mean that it has to hit an enemy to apply effects such as poison, chill and stuff?

Strategist.6132:

Are.1326:

Strategist.6132:

Is this really true? I mean right now I can spam Rifle and Elixer gun without hitting anybody and still get the projectile finisher effect. You’re sure it’s ground targetted btw? I didn’t see it in the video but I might have missed it.

As solori said, yes it is ground targeted.
And the projectile finisher effects you get is just the indication that the projectile did combo, not that it hit and applied it’s effect.
They might make it so the projectile effect happens in an AoE around the impact, but that is stretching our expectations.

So if I understand correctly: I can use “Throw Wrench” in a light field and it doesn’t remove a condition if it doesn’t hit a player, even though the indicator shows up?

Or did you only mean that it has to hit an enemy to apply effects such as poison, chill and stuff?

From the wiki:

Wiki:

Projectile finishers with a light field only cleanse conditions from the character launching the projectile if that person is within melee range of target. Otherwise, only those in the path of the projectile after it enters the light field are cleansed.

So if you want to clean things off yourself, you have to be in melee range of an enemy. But you can still use it to clean allies so long as you can get the comboed projectile to move through them.

Ok, given the dev response in the other thread about Mortar kit, I am much happier about mortar kit. The #1 attack does 47% more damage than rifle auto-attack. Add to the fact that it’s a projectile finisher and that makes this a very good kit. I still would rather see one more power based attack other than the F5 skill, but it’s still very good.

I would like more group support on this..