Guild Wars 2

Need a little advice. Getting the rotations down but not really feeling optimized.

How do you maximize your initial damage stacks quickly on one target and on a small group? +Assume you are using a grenade, bomb, egun combo which is my favorite.

*How do you “stay up” in a fight that lasts a while 1v1 especially? What skills do you use first, second, etc. for defense (e.g. blinds, egun 2 etc)

i like to lead off with pistol. blind their opening attack and slow their regen with poison. then i chill grenade to slow them down and make it easier to land my other grenades. then i’ll throw shrapnel and flash grenades. chill should’ve also made it easier to get into melee range for bomb spam. fire bomb then glue bomb to keep them immobilized inside the burning. from there it’s up to you. swap back to grenades because shrapnel grenade is awesome and on a short cd. maybe acid bomb out inside your fire bomb to get 3 might stacks and put some distance between you and your opponent to repeat the rotation. maybe throw a crate down for lols.

It really depends on what you are facing. I don’t face a Shatter mesmer the same way I face a hammer warrior. Blinds are almost useless against a nade engi while they shut down a thief pretty heavy.

What it comes down to is you have to understand what counters your enemy’s build and what you have to counter with. For example, if I’m facing a thief, I probably will try to stagger my smoke bomb, glue bomb and pistol shots. It’s all about outlasting their bursts while getting some conditions on them when they fail a burst.

In short, know thy enemy. If you understand exactly what it is like to be a Spirit Ranger, you might have what it takes to beat them. I like to think of them as a boss with parts where they are vulnerable. Look for those moments and try to save your strongest skills for those slip ups. Furthermore, you should be trying to set them up as well (putting down snares, auto attacking, baiting them into a bad spot, counting dodges, etc).

You also have to know where you are weak. You stun breaker isn’t that strong (probably the weakest stun breaker for engineers next to Utility Goggles). That means you REALLY need to be avoiding CC at all costs. Facing a hammer warrior? Keep your distance! It seems like you’re a condi build, so you’ll have a ton of trouble against an engineer using Automated Response. Avoid them! Not entering a losing battle is a win to me!