Guild Wars 2

So, I recently tried the engy condition damage build, and I’ve fallen in love with it.
Basic premise is use pistols and grenades to apply conditions while maintaining decent survivability and good sustained damage. Currently using 30/10/0/30/0, with traits being Cleansing formula, HGH, cooldown reductions everywhere (pistol, elixir, and grenade), along with burn on crit and grenadier. Combined with runes of the undead and the tough/prec/condition amulet, you hit over 1300 condition damage before might. Survivability comes from your utilities, for me, elixir b and elixir s. B is for movement/damage, s is for stomps and escapes. For healing, elixir h, as it provides a random defensive boon and cures an extra 2 conditions (toss elixir). Sigils are by preference, I like geomancy and bleed on crit, as both go well with the kit/distance swapping you can do.

So, by class…
Ele- A hard target, generally keep up pressure and figure out what kind it is fast. If has high damage, it’ll probably drop quickly to your combined conditions/direct damage. If it only tickles you a little, just keep applying conditions. Makes sure to keep their conditions off you though.
Engy- Weeeell, fudgemuffins. First, figure him out. If it’s running a rifle, watch out for hundred ‘nades. If it doesn’t want to die quickly, just keep conditions on the tankcat, eventually he’ll run out of lives. And if it’s a static discharge, well, treat it like any ranged enemy. LoS, dance in close and long range, and keep elixir s ready. Honestly though, you don’t see too many engies, so hard to be certain how to counter them 100% of the time.
Guardian- Ironically, the second easiest kill. They’ll want to stay in close, let them. If you can dodge their whirling blade, great, if not, just throw ‘nades at your feet and pop elixir h when he’s done. Even bunkers will go down quickly, just keep applying conditions, especially poison.
Mesmer- The second most annoying to fight, they fall into three basic catagories- SHatter, confusion-condition, and annoying kitten who won’t die. With the first, shoot them in the face until they die, and use grenades on their phantasms. Not guaranteed to work, but they probably can’t kill you. Confusion mesmers are more predictable, you have 6 condition cleansers, just keep the conditions off you while you give them right back. The last, just keep them occupied until your team shows up and they run away. No real way around it, sadly. You can try supply crate->grenade barrage in a glue shot to do some burst condition damage, but they’ll normally still either get away or outlast it. Thankfully, there aren’t too many of them, as they do diddly for damage.
Necromancer- Our rival in conditions. They’ll try to kill your boons, return your conditions, and eat your babies. Let them. Cleanse yourself as much as you can, and keep pressure on them. Once you see death shroud, you know you’ve probably got them, barring a massive enemy zerg or something.
Ranger- You’re going to walk into a trap ranger’s traps at some point. Just drink elixir b and shake it off. Use confusion when they have their shortbow out, and otherwise just outlast them. They run out of condition cooldowns much fast then you do.
Thief- Winner of most annoying bokittenet to kill. Depending on the sort of thief, they’ll either burst you down with quickness, pistol/pistolwhip venoms onto you, or pretend they can out dps you with a shortbow or death blossom. In the first two situations, you just have to survive them, which is a challenge. Still, avoid heartseekers by dodging with glue shot, run around throwing ‘nades behind you randomly, and pray they aren’t specced to cleanse conditions and regen health while stealthed. As for the last, just shoot them until they run away, and hope your conditions kill them in stealth.
Warrior- Contrasting the thief, your easiest kill. If it immobilizes you, elixir b, ‘nade barrage, then walk away laughing as it hundred blades at air. If it’s a shield/axe warrior (been seeing them a lot lately), kite them. They don’t have a lot of burst, and their sustained isn’t sustained at range. Finally, rifle warriors. Line of sight them, let your conditions burn them down. They can hit rather hard, but there’s no need to let them. If you can’t line of sight them, your best bet is point blank ‘nades to scare them to death. They’re usually made of glass, so that often works.

If you have any other class strats with this or a similar build, post them below. No need to flame, we’re trying to make engies the best they can be here. If you think I’m wrong, say why in an educated manner befitting the most intelligent class.

Some decent information in here.

Just wanted to point out that your Sigil discussion is a little unclear. I’m not certain this is the case, but just in case it is Sigils share cooldowns with each other. That would mean Geomancy and Earth wouldn’t function very well together.

Great information here. I too picked up this build and after much cursing at the grenade kit, I have gotten somewhat comfortable with ground targeting in pvp. These tips will improve my game.

I thought sigils of the same type share ICD. For example, “on crit” sigils share ICD with other “on crit” sigils. But I was not aware that “on crit” sigils share an ICD with “on weapon swap” sigils.

I’m using both earth and geomancy, as outlined in the other thread about this build. Is this not preferred?

There were strong arguments made about the benefit of additional toughness in this build. What are your thoughts on Rabid vs Rampager?

Also, I noticed you use Runes of Undead instead of the 3 sets of 2 rune bonuses that give 20% might duration each. So perhaps you have come to find toughness valuable in your experience? Do you feel the additional toughness is better than longer duration might stacks?

small detail: isn’t that a 30/10/0/30/0 build? It’s a small typo I’m sure, since you mention the traits from that line anyhow.

nice guide, seems pretty basic in the explanation but often those are the best.

I don’t use this build at all, so can’t comment on anything for real. Just here to say I like the effort.

It’s just really annoying with mesmers.. Because it still takes 2-3 hits with grenades to kill the clones/illusions (i’m running condition grenade build though). In the mean while the real mesmer is somewhere in stealth hiding or among its clones while the illusions is dealing massive damage. The clones/illusions are also often spread out so you can put them down with the AoE, maybe 2 at once. I got 2700 armor in my Spvp build still I have real trouble with mesmers, mainly cause the illusions are just pain in the kitten + the insane amount of stun and daze and the burst, and you cannot focus one target (like with theives or warriors) because you have kitten hitting at you from all over the place.

An other reason why I find it hard, because it’s not that easy to predict the movement of the targets. And even when you do, they just seem to be a bit too faster than my granades hitting them.

Kimbald.2697:

small detail: isn’t that a 30/10/0/30/0 build? It’s a small typo I’m sure, since you mention the traits from that line anyhow.

You’re right, fixed it.

Also, sigils are at your discretion, and I had forgotten about the shared cooldowns (most arbitrary mechanic). Running sigil of corruption is a decent substitute, or any other that you feel improves survivability.

On the topic of survivability, one big key of this build is you need to choose your fights. 1v1 you’ll almost always win, but if it’s 2 on you, you’re almost certain to lose (exceptions exist, such as 2 gs warriors or something). 2v2 can be dodgy as well, as your partner can be a huge boon or the reason you die. In more specific terms, any partner that can distract the enemies is great, but if you have a thief that hides half the time, you’re probably going to get dropped if you’re facing decent classes/players.

Also, some more specific encounters…

Hundred ‘nades- First, keep moving. Net shot is horrible at targeting and can easily be juked, but if it lands, he has an opportunity to use his combo. If an ally of his shows up, hoof it. Like thieves, hundred ’nades take a lot of focus to avoid their bursts, you usually can’t keep focus on one if his buddy is plugging you with arrows. If your ally shows up, don’t stand anywhere near them. Hundred ‘nades burst is pure aoe, and can down 2 people as easy as one if they are too near each other. Other things to watch out for are magnet pull, overcharge shot, invis. from elixir s, and falling boxes. All of these can be set-ups for the burst. As long as he can’t get his burst on you, you can win through attrition OR you can pull a reversal and pop ‘nade barrage inside him, not for the direct damage but for the bleeds on crit. Keep your fight out of close range, since that’s where his attacks are most powerful, and where it’s easiest for him to land his combos.

GS mesmer- 2 real things to watch out for, their knockback and their phantasmal berserker. The knockback isn’t a high damage attack, but it works well to set you up for the zerker or for a shatter. Best way to kill their illusions is dots from your ‘nades, but don’t spend too much time on them. Best way to beat a mesmer is make them panic, use glue shot and supply crate aggressively, and keep them crippled/chilled/poisoned so they can’t run far or heal much.

SB ranger- First, check their pet. If it’s a canine, watch out for the pounce, as that can give the ranger a perfect opportunity to unload a quiver in your bum with quickness. Daze/stun from their bow isn’t a huge threat unless you’re extremely low on life, but hopefully you can avoid that situation by cleansing before you pop your elixir h (still can’t confirm is 404 procs before or after the heal, and it may not get the poison regardless if you have multiple buffs). LoS is your friend, and if the ranger refuses to chase you around a corner, just blow up his puppy while you wait for your heal to recharge.

notanewmethod.8267:

There were strong arguments made about the benefit of additional toughness in this build. What are your thoughts on Rabid vs Rampager?

Also, I noticed you use Runes of Undead instead of the 3 sets of 2 rune bonuses that give 20% might duration each. So perhaps you have come to find toughness valuable in your experience? Do you feel the additional toughness is better than longer duration might stacks?

I prefer rabid, the higher condition damage plus bonus condition damage from toughness outweighs the higher precision rampager has. As for might duration, it’s viable for might stacking, but then you want to switch grenade cooldown for might on heal. Can’t say exact number for which is more beneficial damage-wise, and runes of undead only grant 50 toughness so it’s about the same defensively, so really, it’s up to your preference. Still, runes of the undead with rabid amulet grant about 388 condition damage (assuming my math is correct), which is about the same condition damage as ten stacks of might… Real question is, is the bonus power from might stacking makes it worth it to you (as it does make glass cannon drop a little bit faster), or do you prefer more consistent damage with shorter durations of might?