Guild Wars 2

Hi all

I’m starting my new engi and has grown quite fond of the Pistol/Shield setup. However, I have no idea whats a good PvE build for this wep set.

I would like to see and hear from experienced engi whether there is a good P/S build for PvE (DEs, mob killing, world bosses, etc).

Kindly include details like traits, wep and sigils, armour and runes, trinkets, skills, etc.

Thanks in advance!

What utility skills are you interested in using?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0paZ37y4F17IxoHce0hOkC7bYQKyLgB

this is a quick idea using the now useful gadgets. If you want to use kits, by all means. They are the bread and butter of our versatility. You could use tool kit and keep pressure with the confusion, gear shield, and the #5 pull. The pull will be useful keeping close to enemies.

For the build, having a 15 second ~5k heal isn’t bad at all, including the extra bandages, antidote, and stimulant on the med kit. Everything else is all about damage and keeping people near you.

Feel free to switch up things, but this is a good skeleton if you want to play this way.

Not sure if this is what you’re looking for but I run P/S in a power build, but grenades are the main damage and P/S is more for utility, blocks and 2x runes. I’m messing with actually two builds, Grenades and HGH 30/0/0/30/10 or SD 30/10/0/0/30.

HGH has a ton of condition removal and might stacking. I run Sigil of Battle and Accuracy. A mix of Zerker and Soldiers gear, heavier on zerker. 2x Runes of Strength, Holbreck and Fire each for 60% Might duration. This feels like a safe and strong build but I’m ‘forcing’ myself to practice it. Healing elixir, Elixir B, Grenade Kit, Elixir U (for toolbelt) and Supply Drop or Elixir X

SD has less condition removal but higher damage I feel. I really like SD as it’s burst is nice especially with Grenades. Same gear except I’d simply run Ruby Orbs. Medkit, Rifle Turret, Grenades, Toolkit and Supply Drop. I’m also having fun with Personal Battering Ram in PvP.

Again, this is more of a Grenade build but I’m messing with P/S instead of Rifle. I’m not a fan of full condition builds, direct damage seems a bit more reliable and faster for most PvE content IMHO. Traditionally though pistol likes Conditions if you use it for your main damage source AFAIK.

For WvW I run full Rabid with P/S 30/10/0/0/30 with a focus on Gadgets and it works quite well.

I’m still pretty green here so take this how you will.
Blood~

Hey thanks for your recommendation, both of them look great. I’ll try them out soon
I noticed that the wep kits are interesting too, any builds for flamethrower with P/S setup?

I am actually running flamethrower now.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0paZn1y4F1LJxIFdmzgUU37KSBmb8nCsF-jkQAEEgqgA-w updated with sigils

this is my skeleton I am thinking of playing with. Right now it’s a 10/20/0/0/20 build.
I am thinking of going 0/20/0/20/30 for packaged stimulants or leg mods.

That crazy tools trait line is just so tempting to me after patch. Feel free to change around utility skills to your liking. Sometimes I run with the elixir gun if I need to cleanse conditions, need more healing, and spread conditions more. Also maybe switch one gadget out for the PBR. Oh, as for sigils I am going with adding power because it’s great for the FT #2 as well as gadget damage.

Whats nice about P/S is that if you’re looking at a kit as your main ‘weapon’ you will get 2x sigils that apply to it and some decent cc. I really like the shield4 for reflect and blast finisher.

10/30/0/30/0 could work. HGH and might duration works well with Juggernaut. FT4 and Blast Finishers throws more might. P/S Sigil of Battle and Accuracy, Zerker/Soldiers and 2x Rune of Strength, Fire and Holbreck each. Healing Elixir, Elixir B(or another), Flamethrower, Elixir Gun and Elixir X. This gives you Hair and Fireforged Trigger for better cooldowns, Elixir cooldown, dmg increase with kits and might stacks. With runes and traits you will sit in 11 might stacks just for having FT on. Then blast your napalm, switch into P/S and toss elixirs for more might.

Hi, I have condition-based grenade kit build that i use and is both supportive and has great condition damage and easy to stay alive.

The main weapons you use are pistol and shield as you mentioned but most of the time you will stay in the grenade kit which is your main source of dps. Though you should swap to your weapons to use skill 2 + 3 and the others when necessary.

Healing slot: Elixir H, i love this skill because of high heal + extra boon which is almost great in any situation.
Utility slot 1: Elixir S, Usually this skill isnt used that much but is always nice to have since its a stunbreaker and makes you invulnerable.
Utility slot 2: Elixir B or Elixir gun. Elixir B is just all around good and can be used in any situation for more dmg etc, Elixir gun is really good in team fights, the autoattack weakens the foe and the toolbelt skill gives regeneration and skill 5 aoe heals.
Utility slot 3: Grenade kit, what can i say, dps.
Elite slot: Supple crate since dont have anything better, well actually its pretty good.

Traits:
30 points in Explosives:
Major adept trait: Incendiary Powder for that extra burn condition.
Major master trait is short fuse for more bleeding and poison from grenade kit
Grandmaster trait is grenadier, I guess that explains itself.
Note the 25point minor trait that gives vulnerability from explosions. Since you have 3 explosions per attack when in the grenade kit you will stack lots of vulnerability.

30 points in alchemy:
Adept trait is fast acting elixirs since you have many elixirs this trait fits well
Master trait is cleaning formula 409 No more conditions !!! Yay
Grandmaster trait is HGH this fits well with the elixirs.
Note that the master trait can be changed depending on siituation since not all mobs have lots of condition.

The last 10 points are in Firearms for 100 extra condition dmg, the trait i use is precise sights, even more vulnerability! This is far from mandatory you csn tske whatever you think fits.

Armor it full Condition dmg, precision and toughness with 6 superior runes of the undead.

Weapons should have the same specs as the armor, the sigils should be superior sigil of earth and strength for even more might.

Ok my final notes are that this build is dependent of a relatively high crit chance (my crit chance is about 63% if i remember correctly) for procs since procs gives vulnerability, bleeding and burning and might and maybe something more thati forgot.

Havefun!

If you’re really good at dodging and want to run zerker gear, here’s a FT-based glass cannon build. You use FT for damage dealing, so the weapons with it are entirely up to you and your personal utility preferences. Rifle has immobilize/knockback, while P/S has blind, reflect, and blocks.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelspSXHvSrF17IBIF19uie84GP5PFYLA-jwxAYrASUAICgJvioxW6KiGruGT5SEVDA-e
It has an extra ten points to be spent anywhere you like. I’m a fan of putting them in Firearms personally, and taking either the vuln on crit or the extended burning, depending on if my party members and I can keep permanent burning up without it or not. Another option would be to put them in Explosives for Enhance Performance for better might stacking. It is capable of stacking might like crazy, and deals pretty awesome AoE damage. It’s amazing anywhere you can survive long enough to make use of it.

A lot of great advice above. I will point out (if it wasn’t already mentioned since I merely skimmed) that your P/S won’t be your main source od damage. You will be bouncing between kits or sitting in grenades, and your P/S will be used situationally.

I use various builds in PvE with P/S and only use them when I need the utility of the pistol or shield or the range (if using FT) from pistol #2 & #3. #2 actually scales well with both condition or power and #3 is a good bouncing blind when needed.

Thanks all for the great advice! Yes I noticed P/S wont be the main source of damage. I’ll try out these builds and find which one suits me most, will be open to more build recommendation