Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow engineers! I’m brand spanking new to the class and really having a blast… Literally! I have a warr/guard/necro all maxed though I haven’t had much time to really learn the ins and outs and thoroughly enjoy WvW but I find myself switching builds/spending gold for different gear to support said build etc. I wanted to hunker down on a class with versatility rather than being in a set niche for a ZvZ or any other situation where “AH is tha best dood!” Or “Melandru runes/lemongrass or die.” I’ve actually found myself seeking out more roamable builds in order to test my skill in some 1vX and really push my limits even though I’m still fairly new! I wanted a class that could roam but also do well in a group setting!! And after seeing a roaming video where the situations were 1V2 and more, pistol/pistol with elixirs and toolkit(can’t remember the exact elixirs and I’m on my phone atm). I was absolutely blown away and instantly saw how versatile the class looked! But as I said before I’m no expert yet and unfortunately haven’t been able to seek out much information for myself yet and so I come to the Engi veterans and ask my questions outright:

-How viable are Engis REALLY in wvw aside from pro players dominating people.
-How strong of a class in general are Engis? I really don’t hear much about them and they typically sit middle of the road on people’s lists.
-Have I chosen the right class for versatility without requiring me to carry 3-4 sets of gear?(I figure with all the tool sets and turrets etc that versatility is one of their strengths!)
-And finally what do YOU most enjoy about the class?

Thanks all in advance for the answers to any or all of my questions!!

-Mord

WvW wise, in zergs…we’re ‘okay’. That is to say, We have a lot of hard cc, but it’s easily countered by stability. A lot of zergball guilds don’t even recruit medium armor classes, excepting for sometimes thieves.
Solo, in the hands of a skilled player, engineer’s are God-tier, up there with mesmers and thieves. There’s a much higher skillfloor/skill ceiling for the class, but it’s very rewarding.

For PvP, Engineer is extremely good. The condi pressure, survivability, and access to combo fields and kitten tons of blast finishers make us amazing for small scale combat.

I carry around 2 full sets of armor and three sets of accessories, a rabid set, a set that’s a mix of knights/zerkers/cavaliers, and a set of Apothecary accessories. Now, that’s only because I enjoy two widely different styles of play on engineer, DPS based and Condi based. (The apothecary accessories are just when I feel I need more tankiness when running condi, and switch to a few or all of those accessories idly).
If you get a set of power and a set of condi armor that you feel works well for you, you won’t need kittentons of different armor sets to fit certain utilities.
This is mainly because Engineer builds, even moreso than most classes, are highly dependent on traits.

PvE wise I have no idea. I’ve done VERY little PvE on my engineer, just because I’m not a fan of this games PvE, personally.

PvE is fine, Engineer does about anything you want it to do, beware the shortsighted people though.

And PvP well… we’re left with tricks and stuff but can do insanely good with it no matter what the build. (And yes for the love of God HGH*409-conditions aren’t the only way)

Thanks for the input guys!! Really looking forward to maxing this toon and getting into some WvW/PvP. And to reach that god-tier skill cap with lots and lots of practice! I’ve heard some complaints about downed state and a couple turret bugs? Aside from that it seems like it’s an extremely underrated class and no one aside from those that play the class seem to know much about it! Loving the feedback from actual Engineers! Keep it coming guys, roles you play, builds you run, and your success in roaming etc! As I said before my main interest is in WvW I’m not big on PvE min maxing! Keep your WvW experiences coming!

Thanks guys
-Mord

I’ll provide my answer in an anecdote. I’ve been an engineer since BWE1 and it’s the most fun profession IMO. I know engi quite deeply compared to all other professions. Yet even with a known good roaming build (HGH+409), I only win about 25% of the 1v1s I get into.

Recently I saw an interesting build for mesmer and rolled it. I don’t have a deep understanding of the traits and I couldn’t off the top of my head tell you what any of the weapon skills do. However solo roaming with it, essentially button mashing, I’m winning 80% of my 1v1s.

The moral of the story should be obvious: some professions are better than others at a specific skill level. Based upon my experience, at my skill level engineer is not near the top of the list. Even so, I prefer the engineer, so I guess that says something about me.

That’s awesome news that you can be winning on your mesmer yet still prefer engineer! That’s what I like to hear, I want a class I can “main” and I’m really enjoying engi more than my others and hoping it will stay that way once I reach end game!

Mord the things are pretty simple.

Engineer has the most options (via kits) and largest array of abilities (conditions / boons included) in game. But they require you to have a very good memory for each kit / toolbelt slot so you can piano literally through weapon set / kits / utilities / toolbelt skills.

It has the highest APM of any class in GW2. You won’t spend more than a few seconds in a given kit / weapon set, and constantly switching depending on your needs.

Regarding WvW – you have all the tools (depending on build) you need to deal with anything, your success or failure lays strictly on your player skill vs enemy skill.

Pretty much the only limit is your imagination and ingenuity in utilizing your skills in combat, with good options both at range and in melee (depending on kits of course).

I keep coming back to what’s probably that P/P + TK build you saw in the video you mentioned. I started with Mask’s build.

Anelyn.4593:

Mord the things are pretty simple.

Engineer has the most options (via kits) and largest array of abilities (conditions / boons included) in game. But they require you to have a very good memory for each kit / toolbelt slot so you can piano literally through weapon set / kits / utilities / toolbelt skills.

It has the highest APM of any class in GW2. You won’t spend more than a few seconds in a given kit / weapon set, and constantly switching depending on your needs.

Regarding WvW – you have all the tools (depending on build) you need to deal with anything, your success or failure lays strictly on your player skill vs enemy skill.

Pretty much the only limit is your imagination and ingenuity in utilizing your skills in combat, with good options both at range and in melee (depending on kits of course).

So you can’t play the Engineer casually? It is the only class that interests me, but i am a very casual player. Can i just level using rifles or am i forced to change kits all the time?

:(

The beauty of the Engineer is that if you can justify your utility/trait/gear choices it’s a viable build.

That’s exactly what I’m looking forward to is that versatility, the ability to say "I wanna do this, so I should be this spec to maximize my effectiveness. The “piano” like dexterity you mention is definitely true as I’ve noticed already and the memorization and optimized key binding is a must as well! If you’re clicking on an engineer and doing above average then I commend you!

The build I’m looking at actually is Mask’s build. Using elixir S for stomping/getaways elixir B and tool kit, with p/p and optimized stat gear. His video made me want to be an engineer!

Sagramor.7395:

I keep coming back to what’s probably that P/P + TK build you saw in the video you mentioned. I started with Mask’s build.

Mord.9237:

The build I’m looking at actually is Mask’s build. Using elixir S for stomping/getaways elixir B and tool kit, with p/p and optimized stat gear. His video made me want to be an engineer!

awwwwwwww <3

PrinceCola.5620:

Anelyn.4593:

Mord the things are pretty simple.

Engineer has the most options (via kits) and largest array of abilities (conditions / boons included) in game. But they require you to have a very good memory for each kit / toolbelt slot so you can piano literally through weapon set / kits / utilities / toolbelt skills.

It has the highest APM of any class in GW2. You won’t spend more than a few seconds in a given kit / weapon set, and constantly switching depending on your needs.

Regarding WvW – you have all the tools (depending on build) you need to deal with anything, your success or failure lays strictly on your player skill vs enemy skill.

Pretty much the only limit is your imagination and ingenuity in utilizing your skills in combat, with good options both at range and in melee (depending on kits of course).

So you can’t play the Engineer casually? It is the only class that interests me, but i am a very casual player. Can i just level using rifles or am i forced to change kits all the time?

:(

Actually you can level using a rifle pretty well, once you can put 10 points into the tools line for static discharge and have toolkit (which you don’t have to use for anything other than the toolbelt skill, but the block on it can be quite handy), rifle turret (for the low cooldown on the toolbelt skill) and either battering ram or rocket boots or even utility goggles. Beware though, this build really lends itself to using damage stat gear much more than survival stat gear and it’s aoe capability is not quite as good as some of our other options, but it is certainly more than capable and will only require little keyboard dancing, at least not any more than any other class with the ability to switch weapon sets.

You can play an engineer casually, same as you can play any class. But you won’t have same success (soloing champions, group events, large groups of mobs etc) as someone who’s using all their tools obviously.

Sure you can 3-4 shot any mob with rifle autoattack if you build for it so by no means engineers lack damage when built (gear + traits) for it.

Maskaganda.2043:

Sagramor.7395:

I keep coming back to what’s probably that P/P + TK build you saw in the video you mentioned. I started with Mask’s build.

Mord.9237:

The build I’m looking at actually is Mask’s build. Using elixir S for stomping/getaways elixir B and tool kit, with p/p and optimized stat gear. His video made me want to be an engineer!

awwwwwwww <3

Haha yessss, keep cranking out vids, I was absolutely blown away! I can only hope to achieve that skill level on my engi. I have a lot to learn!!

Anyone else with solo roaming experience that can post links to vids or builds, I would appreciate it! I’m looking to compile several and break down what makes a solo engi tick! Really looking forward to being able to theorycraft and come up with builds of my own!

Mord.9237:

Maskaganda.2043:

Sagramor.7395:

I keep coming back to what’s probably that P/P + TK build you saw in the video you mentioned. I started with Mask’s build.

Mord.9237:

The build I’m looking at actually is Mask’s build. Using elixir S for stomping/getaways elixir B and tool kit, with p/p and optimized stat gear. His video made me want to be an engineer!

awwwwwwww <3

Haha yessss, keep cranking out vids, I was absolutely blown away! I can only hope to achieve that skill level on my engi. I have a lot to learn!!

Anyone else with solo roaming experience that can post links to vids or builds, I would appreciate it! I’m looking to compile several and break down what makes a solo engi tick! Really looking forward to being able to theorycraft and come up with builds of my own!

I’m on my phone atm so linking a video isn’t genna happen but I’ve made 6 roaming videos and each is a different build my youtube channel is ukuni99, the builds should be in the links, anyway it’s a good variety of builds so they should atleast help with your theory crafting

Masks builds are also a great place to start, they are very effective and get the job done