Guild Wars 2

So my favorite 2 professions have always been Guardian and Engineer, and even though I’ve dedicated almost my entire play time (nearly 1000 hours) to Guardians, I’ve always had an itch to play Engineer.

Coming from a Guardian, I know everything about that class, the meta for PvE/PvP/WvW, all the specifics for every trait and skill, and I’ve tried every viable build (and most unviable ones too). Coming to the Engineer though, I’m a noob.

The kinds of things I’m looking for are tips like the ‘best’ builds to see the trait/skill interactions. I don’t copy them as I always make my own unique build, but knowing something like “0/30/30/10/0 is considered ideal for X because of Y…” speeds up the process of having to learn everything through trial and error. It’d be nice if Engineer options were more open though.

Knowing any notable bugged skills/traits is also big up there.

Also, knowing certain things that are just bad that I should stay clear of would be useful. Like on Guardians, we have a Grandmaster trait that says “Greatsword attacks heal you!” but what they don’t tell you is that it’s only 25 health per hit and doesn’t scale.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Engineer-Builds-while-the-6-Gods-are-Silent

Some decent info here. Sorry for the short post.

The general sentiment us that you will find an OK pve journey until 80. Expect some difficulty until intense familiarity with certain builds is achieved for pvp/wvw and even then you are likely to work harder than other classes to get similar results aka see the large threads on Engy problems.

Opinions do vary (for the myopic). Engineers are quite fun however

Look at the sticky about Engi bugs, it has everything.

Off the top of my head:
Tools is probably our best and most used trait tree, followed closely by Firearms.

30 in Firearms is almost a must for condition based builds. Provides great bonuses for power builds too. Use either Infused Precision here or Speedy Kits in Tools. Hair Trigger is currently bugged, doesn’t change the cooldown like it should, so I try to avoid it.

30 in Explosives is necessary to get the most out of grenades (50% blanket increase plus additional hit for procs), otherwise bombs are a better option in most cases., especially in melee range.

Alchemy only if you’re using a couple elixirs or flamethrower, and I love 10 points for vigor on swiftness (works great with speedy kits). Self-Regulating Defenses is also a fantastic sort of crutch that allows you to heal up a bit with medkit while invulnerable, or use any other kit/toolbelt skill.

Tools is a great supplementary line to every spec and a main for some, pretty much everyone puts points here. Static Discharge is great, Kit Refinement is great, Speedy Kits is great, Power Wrench is great. Toolbelt recharge cooldown is great. Adrenal Implant is alright, but I find Invigorating Speed from Alchemy much more effective if you can spare points for it.

I don’t really like the Inventions line, and I don’t see it used very often. Reduced falling damage definitely has its uses in WvW, but is pretty lackluster in sPvP everywhere but Khylo and I guess Temple. Automated Medical Response is definitely awesome though, especially in conjunction with Self-Regulating Defenses.

A lot of my opinion, and experience in the game. I hope it helped a bit.

@Whelm, thanks for the link, it’s helping.

@Phuriocity, after intensive theorycrafting over the last few days I’m seeing first hand what you mean by the above. Every good build I come up with has at least 20 in Tools, rarely any in Inventions (I’m flirting with the idea of reduced falling damage for WvW), probably 10 flat in Alchemy. The last 40 points is generally split between Explosives/Firearms.

Couple extra questions:

1.) Which is overall better for damage? Power/Precision Rifle, or Power/Precision or Condition Pistol/Pistol? I noticed the Rifle has large burst but I’m wondering if I’d be more effective overall with Pistols.

2.) Is Static Discharge worth maximimizing? I’m trying swapping out my two non-Toolkit utilities for low cooldown Toolbelt skills, and I’m actually using the Rifle Turret solely for the Toolbelt spam.

3.) How the kitten do I use the Healing Turret to its full potential? Seems to be a lot of micromanaging with it, and since I don’t like RNG at all I stick with the Med Kit.

4.) Are bombs really flat out superior damage to the Flamethrower + Toolkit? That’s what it seems like based on my initial impressions, even though bombs are my least favorite of the three (I hate the delay), but it could grow on me.

Anyone here know how to maximize damage using P/S condition and static discharge trait? This thread made me want to try out the tool line kit since you guys are saying its used by just about everyone. I don’t see it syncing well with condition builds since there isn’t alot of power behind it.

reaperxo.2478:

Anyone here know how to maximize damage using P/S condition and static discharge trait? This thread made me want to try out the tool line kit since you guys are saying its used by just about everyone. I don’t see it syncing well with condition builds since there isn’t alot of power behind it.

It doesn’t sync particularly well with Condi builds. I generally only use it for Speedy Kits in mine, sometimes kit refinement depending on what I’m using.

The only build I don’t use some in tools in is a might stacking elixir build, since elixir h is pretty important for that.

I hate healing turret, myself. Other people are god-awful at timing the water field it gives, and the regen it stacks just gets in the way of any other source of regen you or your allies might have because it doesn’t scale with your stats. Power/pres rifle does strong burst, but it’s a lot easier to keep up consistent damage with condi pistols.

The best way to run with static discharge is probably toolkit/rifle turret/goggles. Since suprise shot and analyze can be used “off the gcd” you can unload an impressive amount of damage in an extremely short window of time fully power/pres spec’d.

I’m just not good with bombs, so i’m totally not the person to ask about them.

To use the Healing Turret to its full potential, there are a few methods (depending on which ‘full potential’ is being aimed for).

1. To get the most personal healing out of it, place it, and pick it back up when your character returns to their previous pose. Cooldown will be reduced to 15 seconds, don’t know whether regen will decrease to 5 p/s (but probably will).
2. To get the most party healing out of it, place it, and detonate it. The detonation will combo with the Water field, causing it to heal everyone around it for a thousand or two. With a Thumper Turret equipped in another slot, that’s another possible party heal.
3. To get the most regeneration out of it, leave it on the field somewhere. If it’s removed from the field, regen granted by it decreases to 5 points/second.

So is a P/P or P/S build only good for condition damage builds and how does this compare to a prec/power rifle build with static discharge?

I use a Power + dual pistol build. Works pretty well, actually. Dunno about the precision/power rifle with Static Discharge, though.

Anymras.5729:

To use the Healing Turret to its full potential, there are a few methods (depending on which ‘full potential’ is being aimed for).

1. To get the most personal healing out of it, place it, and pick it back up when your character returns to their previous pose. Cooldown will be reduced to 15 seconds, don’t know whether regen will decrease to 5 p/s (but probably will).
2. To get the most party healing out of it, place it, and detonate it. The detonation will combo with the Water field, causing it to heal everyone around it for a thousand or two. With a Thumper Turret equipped in another slot, that’s another possible party heal.
3. To get the most regeneration out of it, leave it on the field somewhere. If it’s removed from the field, regen granted by it decreases to 5 points/second.

Thumper Turret has 3 potential blast finishers on it. Detonate, Overcharge and toolbelt skill. A little know fact. The overcharge only works when there is something around to knockback though. Also all turrets are 20% physical projectile finishers on auto attacks.

Then that’s a whole bunch of possible combos. Awesome.

The only elite worth slotting is the crate but you probably know that already or possibly a racial ability if you have something useful.

I prefer the medkit for healing with points in the tool line it reduces the cooldown of the main heal “F1” and also has smaller medpacks for heals when equip and a condi removal. If you run with a group often I could see where the healing turret could be useful though.