I find Melandru kind of meh. I happen to prefer Rune of the Forge.
It gives +15% burning duration, which is kind of nice, but it also gives you 10 seconds of Protection at 50% HP. This alongside Protection Injection makes you a lot more formidable.
As for feeling less spammy with your keys, I never run with three kits myself, usually because I find that the grenade/bomb kit and tool kit by themselves get the job done against most classes. I prefer saving my third utility slot for something that enhances the effectiveness of the kits I primarily wield. I used to take the elixir gun as my third utility, but I just didn’t use it frequently enough.
To give you an example, running Slick Shoes makes the bomb kit/tool kit combo significantly more lethal. It forces players into using their stun breaker or else they get nailed with 10 stacks of confusion and a ton of burning, which usually results in death. It also provides a stun breaker.
I also think that too many engineers don’t use their pistol enough. It’s really kind of hilarious how quickly some people die just shooting skills 1-3. It’s not that Explosive Powder itself is all that fantastic of a skill, but it’s very effective at keeping bleeding on your target that can operate as a cover condition for your more important conditions like confusion, burning, and poison.
I know the grenade kit is the bee’s knees for a lot of guys, but I have found good players are remarkably good at staying out of your volleys. Against highly mobile classes like thieves, it’s just a headache to land stuff. I feel a lot of players are often better off just using their pistol and slapping some conditions with that, instead.
[EG] Ethereal Guardians
but use geomantrie sigil 