Guild Wars 2

Whats the best builds around atm ?
I´m trying use power build with rifle and grenades but it looks like it does low dmg compared with other class… And using full exotic power, precision and crit dmg

Adivces? :P
Also what armour status should i use…

Thks

rifle/grenade with rocket turret rifle turret or elixir.

you need 30 in Explosion with grenadier trait for it to truly be best dmg

If your not happy with the damage of rifles/grenades with full exotic power/prec/crit dmg gear, then nothing we can advise you on is going to make you happy. That is just the truth of the matter

Grenades are pretty crazy, especially when it comes to stacking vulnerability. I tried it for a while and went back to a flamethrower spec. Personally I feel the damage is very comparable and without a damage meter it is probably difficult to determine which is higher, I just feel more comfortable with a flamethrower.

Whether its the best, is subjective, I will say I’ve tried a lot of recommended builds on the forum and always go back to the following:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Post-Your-Build-Thread/206665

I tried a flamethrower build once, compared to grenades it was weak.

Range isn’t there, damage isn’t there, buggy and honestly… not got the same utility.

I liked the chill, the blind, the poison of grenades. Flamethrower didn’t match that.

Buff FT damage a lot. Fix the misses.

Buff it hugely. Getting hit by a FT should not be “oh look, a FT”, it should be “OH KITTEN A FT RUN AWAY”

I think there is a pretty significant difference in a flamerthrower spec (even if it has HGH) and my flamerthrower spec that has +40 seconds on might for HGH.

The first spec has 5 stacks of might, with minimal increase to that stack, the second spec has 10 stacks of might 100% of the time with a stack that can spike to 25, and safely hover around 17 stacks with 100% uptime. I can guarantee this is at least 3x more powerful than a flamethrower spec with Juggernaut and Deadly Mixture only.

The problem is no one is willing to invest in the superior runes (which make the build work) to really see if it is all BS or not. And trying it in sPvP is unreliable because of all the strafing and targeting issues with flame jet, but honestly this spec is a really good in PvE spec especially because the target rarely moves unless you move, and you can just drink potions without having to reserve them for a situation that require utilizing their effect. Which means you can retain a higher stack of might more often.

You’re probably not going to like my suggestion, since you’re already in full exotic gear and it’ll be an expensive switch but…

-Run a condition/power/vitality build with dual pistols, and melt face in PvE and PvP.
-Elixir H, B, S & R is all you ever need. Supply Crate for ultimate.
-0/20/20/30/0 in traits.
-Carrion gear with matching socketed gems (Chrysocola)

Of all the builds I’ve tried none have been more reliable to me than this. I’ve used it to complete 100% of the map solo, and have over 500 kills in wvwvw with less than 150 character deaths.
It doesn’t make you invincible, you still have to play smart, but this build has all the necessary tools to survive and still dish out increadible damage to multiple targets.
Knowledge of kiting is highly recommended.

I still don’t have enough Ecto to craft my exotic jewellery yet.

Ashes.6418:

You’re probably not going to like my suggestion, since you’re already in full exotic gear and it’ll be an expensive switch but…

-Run a condition/power/vitality build with dual pistols, and melt face in PvE and PvP.
-Elixir H, B, S & R is all you ever need. Supply Crate for ultimate.
-0/20/20/30/0 in traits.
-Carrion gear with matching socketed gems (Chrysocola)

Of all the builds I’ve tried none have been more reliable to me than this. I’ve used it to complete 100% of the map solo, and have over 500 kills in wvwvw with less than 150 character deaths.
It doesn’t make you invincible, you still have to play smart, but this build has all the necessary tools to survive and still dish out increadible damage to multiple targets.
Knowledge of kiting is highly recommended.

I still don’t have enough Ecto to craft my exotic jewellery yet.

funny enough this is almost the same build i run in spvp, i never really tried it in pve but i guess ill give it a shot now. one of the elixirs i run goggles in its place. but ill try your exact here in the upcoming days.

erigais.6805:

funny enough this is almost the same build i run in spvp, i never really tried it in pve but i guess ill give it a shot now. one of the elixirs i run goggles in its place. but ill try your exact here in the upcoming days.

The advantage of using Elixir S and R over Goggles is that they are both effected by the 20% faster cooldown on Elixir trait and they both provide a stun blocker. S also makes you immune for 3 seconds and R refills your endurance to full.
For toolbelt skills, stealth and stability from S is good in PvP, and decent for dropping aggro in PvE. But R is brilliant, being able to res your allies mid-battle or royally screw over other condition builds by standing in the field.

Well i tried almost all combinations in traits with power i just can´t find one that is really good in pve, that can output dmg like other classes.
Flamethrower build will get you killed in a lot of situations.

I guess i really need to go condition dmg.

Ashes what armour stats you use? And weapons status?
power, precision, condi? thoughness, precision, condi ?

Thks all for the advices.

Ashes, I quite like your suggestion with your 0/20/20/30/0 build.

One question I have though, more specifically, which traits do you pick up in the build?

Thanks!

As a counterpoint to the above: I also use an elixir and pistol condition damage build. The condition removal and self-buffing is just amazing.

10 Explosions: Grab Incendiary Powder
30 Firearms: Rifled Barrels, Hair Trigger, Coated Bullets
30 Alchemy: Fast Acting Elixirs, Potent Elixirs, Cleaning Formula

In terms of gear I have more specialized armor for the task and a generic set of jewels.

My armor is Precision/Toughness/Condition Damage. This is Orr exotic Karma gear. My helmet is currently +Precision/Toughness/+Power because Balthazar is bugged. I have 2 water runes to extend boon duration. I have krait and afflicted runes to extend bleed duration.

My jewelry is all crafted Precision/Toughness/Power. Because I don’t want to commit to all condition damage everywhere. Except the necklace, that is the +Precision/Power/+Condition Damage.

My guns are both crafted Precision/Power/+Condition Damage and both have the 60% bleed chance on hit runes.

I also eat high end veggie pizza.

Currently I do ~95 damage per tick per bleed. Again, my jewels are not condition damage optimized. With the veggie pizza the base attack from pistols is up to a 3s bleed duration.

My base critical chance is well over 60% so it jumps to over 80% when I take my elixirs. 1v1 there is nothing that is able to really touch me in WvW. I don’t particularly care if “blah blah but thieves” because I have never had issues 1v1. Some things take longer or shorter. 2v1 I will still engage. I can be chased down and killed if outnumbered by more than 10:1, but whatever, it happens rarely.

A fun thing to do with Elixir U and Elixir S is to get finishers off on players who think they are safe inside their zerg before running back inside your fort. You double the finisher move speed and are invulnerable.

For PvE purposes it functions perfectly as well. I don’t have problems killing anything or dealing with large groups of enemies. It just works. In very large fights I don’t feel like I contribute as much because of bleed stack limits, but in that situation it isn’t really important. Clearing large groups of mobs is trivial because you end up stacking a lot of bleed on everything in the line.

TL;DR – PvE Focused build: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#McMzM9colaoMolaoMx0G0GVkqVRom
Pistol/Shield, Healing Turret,
Grenades, Elixir Gun, situational 3rd utility, Supply Crate.
Knight Armor/Weapon, Valkyrie Jewelry.
30/0/20/0/20 (Grenadier & Kit Refinement).
Great damage at a safe range, crazy high utility. Sorta complex, use Elixir C when in need of crazy self-condition removal.

—

I’m currently using a Pistol/Shield +Grenade/Elixir Gun build for pure PvE, splitting gear between Knight armor/weapons (Pow/Pre/Tough) and Valkyrie jewelery (Pow/CritDamage/Vit).

Traits are
Explosives: 30 – Incendiary Powder, Explosive Powder, Grenadier*
Inventions: 20 – Energized Armor, Power Shoes
Tools: 20 – Speedy Kits, Kit Refinement*.

• - Key Traits, best not to switch them heh.

I use the Grenades for general damage output & control (4 is AoE Chill, 3 is AoE Blind), switching to Pistol/Shield for utility (3 is chain blind, 4 Projectile Reflection/KB/Blast Combo, 5 Block/Line Daze). Both Pistol 2 & Grenade 5 can apply Poison (and a Poison field) to help with Regenerating mobs.

The Elixir Gun (EG) is used mostly to clear conditions – swapping to it with Kit Refinement drops a Super Elixir (EG 5) at your feet, curing a condition to all in the AoE and providing healing and a light combo field, stackable with a manually cast Super Elixir. Further conditions can be removed from allies via Fumigate (EG 3), while EG 2 is a chain cripple.

The third utility swaps between Elixir B (Fury/Might/Retal/Swiftness) and Elixir U (Quickness) as they’re both good damage boosters – Toss Elixir B is useful for more sustained damage and boosting allies while Toss Elixir U will generate a Projectile Reflect/Absorption wall two-thirds of the time (very, very handy in CM Exploration).

Healing Turret is used for it’s low cooldown and Blast combos. Finally, I typically take Supply Crate as my elite – the AoE Stun, Blast Combo, and Medkit supplies is just all-around good.

Overall, I find it gives me a ton of support utility ON TOP of great damage at superior range. The trade off is it’s somewhat complex having to switch between 2 kits and your weapon while trying to keep track of the invisible cooldown on EG’s Kit Refinement (and any kit cooldowns you arn’t currently using). Lastly, curing conditions on yourself can be a bit of a pain – swap utility 3 for Elixir C or stay near the Warrior for ‘Shake it Off’.

Edit: Added Guildhead link.