Guild Wars 2

Is it me or is this class worse than the thief when you get hit, when I run dungeons I spend more time on my kitten trying to keep myself alive than anything else. I always have the feeling that the mobs in dungeons hate the engineer class because everything is always running after me. Is there a hidden aggro mechanism on the engi that I am not aware of ???

Before everybody tells me that i should change my armor, no I am not full zerker and yes I have toughness. This class is becoming a part time job if I go for grenades and I will soon have carpal tunnel syndrome if I continue so I tend to go more with bombs.

I am kind of tired of always finishing stuff with 50 hp left, if I am doing something wrong please advise me because I am about to put my engi in the closet and forget about him.

bunker is one solution
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIq6ZHxyuF17IxoCdO0jCbf1K6R+t8kB-jECB4hBkaAgoGMJtIasFhMasVPAqZER16kYA-w
or a power/nade build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIq6ZHxyuF1LJyoCdGoC5lIFVml95xblWQIA-jUBBofBM1sIaslRFRjVZDT9iIqGA-w

Well, it’s medium armor, so at least you are naturally more tanky than eles/necros/mesmers. I don’t PvE, but when i’m roaming on my engi (fullzerk SD or HGH rifle), i’m in a much greater fear of stuns than of damage alone.

they keep attacking you because you have too much toughness. if you’re using a shield, they’ll be drawn to that too. and i don’t know why people complain about grenades. it’s the same thing as bomb kit. you just have to position your cursor.

I have about 1200 toughness which is not to much and my necro can tank all day, not even comparable to the engi.

By the way, bombs are on auto attack, nades aren’t so complaint valid.

Blind+evade is the key. I am the last man standing in a dungeon.

Dodging = Engi survival

We have plenty of ways to gain vigor and boost our endurance regen. Grab 1 or 2 of those traits and dodge often.

Never stop moving. I know it’s a pain but learn to toss those ’nades while on the move.

Grenade and Bomb Kits have aoe blinds. Use them wisely. Your pistol also has a bouncing blind. With 3 aoe blinds and high endurance regen, you should be getting hit very infrequently.

Also, Healing Turret is amazing. Since you’ve got a shield, practice dropping it, overcharging it, popping shield #4, and then detonating or picking it up (as the situation requires). It’s got a relatively low cooldown and heals for quite a lot, plus it cleanses 2 conditions. Get good at using HT.

Seras.5702:

Dodging = Engi survival

We have plenty of ways to gain vigor and boost our endurance regen. Grab 1 or 2 of those traits and dodge often.

Never stop moving. I know it’s a pain but learn to toss those ’nades while on the move.

Grenade and Bomb Kits have aoe blinds. Use them wisely. Your pistol also has a bouncing blind. With 3 aoe blinds and high endurance regen, you should be getting hit very infrequently.

Also, Healing Turret is amazing. Since you’ve got a shield, practice dropping it, overcharging it, popping shield #4, and then detonating or picking it up (as the situation requires). It’s got a relatively low cooldown and heals for quite a lot, plus it cleanses 2 conditions. Get good at using HT.

^ This

I am still 70 on my engi but done my share on dungeons. In PvE I roll with bombs as mobs just rush you. In dungeon I switch to Grenadier trait and roll nads. Mostly mobs will attack the heavy’s so you can attack all days. Any agro I pull I run flamethrower for knock back and slow. I also run rifle for the cc and as Seras said, use healing turret to its full potential.

Good addition Darkoray…I didn’t even get into all the various cc we have.

Rifle #2
Rifle #4
Shield #4
FT #3
BoB
Bomb #5
Pistol #5
Net Turret

…and those are just immobs and knockbacks.

I find Engineers survivability comes in the form of “skill” based mitigation. Simply not being where the damage is going to happen, or predicting when it may come. And although the following can be said about every profession, Engineers especially benefit from knowing every professions moves/combos so you don’t waste your limited amount of Stun breakers or CC ect on moves that are not as prevalent. So play all of the other professions is my advice! I find depending on your spec, you can be remain alive quite well if you fully utilize your fields. Granted Conditions are still very potent versus Engineers currently.

Engineers, like elementalists, are pretty much balanced around their large toy chest of skills. End result is that each individual skill is not as potent as those found in other professions. Meaning that to reach the same performance as other professions, the engineer has to be played more like a piano and less like a washboard.

digiowl.9620:

Engineers, like elementalists, are pretty much balanced around their large toy chest of skills. End result is that each individual skill is not as potent as those found in other professions. Meaning that to reach the same performance as other professions, the engineer has to be played more like a piano and less like a washboard.

You are exactly right.

Also I really like that analogy, mind If I use that one later?

Daxxter.8920:

Is it me or is this class worse than the thief when you get hit, when I run dungeons I spend more time on my kitten trying to keep myself alive than anything else. I always have the feeling that the mobs in dungeons hate the engineer class because everything is always running after me. Is there a hidden aggro mechanism on the engi that I am not aware of ???

Before everybody tells me that i should change my armor, no I am not full zerker and yes I have toughness. This class is becoming a part time job if I go for grenades and I will soon have carpal tunnel syndrome if I continue so I tend to go more with bombs.

I am kind of tired of always finishing stuff with 50 hp left, if I am doing something wrong please advise me because I am about to put my engi in the closet and forget about him.

In the words of Isai, the quiet sage of SSBM, don’t get hit .

In all seriousness though, here’s what you can do:
Weapons
If running Pistol mainhand:

• Static Shot. Clutch Blind for big hits. Save it, because its damage is pretty bad. Works great when you have multiple enemies due to the bounce.

If running Rifle:

• Net shot to kite.
• Overcharged shot to open distance, also is a clutch interrupt.
• Jump shot to leap away (I like Jump shot for its damage, so I usually don’t use it defensively.)

If running off-hand Shield:

• Magnetic Shield: 3 seconds of Reflection at the cost of rooting yourself. Hilarious in WvW against Longbow rangers, Killshot Warriors and other hard-hitting ranged attacks.
• Magnetic Inversion: 300 range push back. Press 4,4 quickly if you’re in melee and you need some space. Doubles as Blast Finisher, which Combos well with Healing Turret and other Water Fields.
• Static Shield: 2 second block. Stuns enemies that hit you in melee. This skill shuts down Thieves and puts them in a dumpster.
• Throw Shield: 100% Projectile finisher, 900 range boomerang Interrupt. Slow though, so you want to use it sub 600 range.

If running Healing Turret:

• 6, 6, F1. Better yet, re-bind your heal key so you can execute the combo faster.
• 6,6,F if you’re not under a lot of pressure and you just want to top off.
• Combos with both Leap and Blast Finishers, so you can Jump Shot through Healing Turret’s Field or Magnetic Inversion it for extra healing on top of the Blast healing. With the right build you can stack 3-6 Blast finishers before field fades. Easy game, easy life.
• 15 points in Inventions gives you a reset of the heal at 25% HP. Can save your life. Unfortunately, Inventions sucks.

If running Med Kit:

• Biggest heal is on the F1, not on 6. Biggest heal over time if you use F1 and all 3 bandages.
• Single cleanse on 4, but doesn’t work on Immobilise.
• Fury and Swiftness on 5. Good for running around without IMS traits or perma Swiftness.
• 15 points in Tools gives you a reset of the F1 heal at 25% HP. Can save your life.

If running Elixir H:

• Strongest burst heal before combos and casting time taken into account. Unfortunately, it’s the worst heal as a result because you can’t increase it with mechanical skill.
• 10 Alchemy for the CDR is mandatory for the heal to be viable.
• Don’t rely on the Boons.

Survival traits, synergy and combinations:

• 15 points in Tools gives you a reset of Toolbelt skills at 25% HP. Synergy with Med Kit F1 heal, Elixir Gun Mist Stunbreak, Thumper Turret Stunbreak, Elixir S throw , Slick Shoes Stunbreak, Elixir R Revive field . Bolded certain skills for emphasis.

• 10 points in Tools and 10 Points in Alchemy gets you Speedy Kits and Invigorating Speed. 50% Vigour uptime, 100% Swiftness uptime. Running faster gets you out of the big bad red circles. Dodging more means you are more dodgy and therefore live longer.

• Alternatively, 10 points in Firearms and 10 points in Alchemy gets you 100% Vigour uptime in combat , but you sacrifice perma-swiftness and a combat trait slot that you can use for more DPS. Personally, I like my DPS more than I like being able to dodge a lot, so I favour Speedy Kits/Invigorating Speed.

• 10 points in Alchemy gets you Protection Injection which gives you guaranteed Protection when disabled. Lets you laugh at Thieves, then proceed to put them in the dumpster.

• 10 points in Inventions gets you Stabilised Armour which gives you 20% damage reduction when stunned or knocked down. More niche than Protection Injection. However, take them both for a tanky build that laughs at Hammer Warrior, which then proceeds to put them in the dumpster. And yes, Protection and Stabilised Armour do stack.

• 10 points in Inventions gets you Protective Shield that gives you protection on a critical hit. It could be good, but Protection Injection is better.

• 10 points in Inventions also gets you Cloaking Device. Stealth on Immobilise, which happens to be one of the conditions that Engineer is extremely vulnerable to. Laugh as people spam AOE 400 units to your right when you haven’t actually moved at all. Then put them in the dumpster when your cooldowns come back up.

• 30 points in Inventions gives you Elixir Infused Bombs. Useful only in a Cleric’s or Settler’s build with a lot of Healing Power. Otherwise sucks. Don’t use unless you’re willing to give up a lot of damage.

• 10 points in Alchemy gives you Self Regulating Defenses which lets you become invulnerable for a few seconds at 25% HP. Unfortunately no longer as strong as conditions still tick when invulnerable. Still useful in an elixir build.

• 20 points in Alchemy gives you Backpack regenerator and Cleaning Formula 409. Both are good depending on your build. Regenerator for kit builds, 409 for Elixir builds. Still better to not get hit in the first place.

• 30 points in Alchemy gives you Automated Response which gives you condition immunity at 25% HP. Useful for bunker builds, but Power builds will put you in a dumpster. Use with caution, and have an Invulnerability ready.

• 20 points in Tools gets you Leg Mods, which reduces snare duration. Extremely niche. Useful in Gadget builds with unreliable condition clear. However, Gadget builds should always take Rocket boots, which invalidates Leg Mods.

• 30 points in tools gets you Adrenal Implant, which increases Endurance Regeneration. Become 50% dodgier. Good for DPS builds needing some extra evade frames. Stack with Adventurer Runes or Energy Sigil to become even dodgier. Utilise all 3 and become the artful dodger.

Remember, Don’t Get Hit.

The trick with the engineer is that there is no “one thing” to do to remain standing up versus taking a dirt nap.

In other words, we have great abilities to dodge, blind, stealth, weaken, retaliation etc. etc. The hardest thing about surviving as an engineer is knowing what to use when. Other classes have a much simpler (though not necessarily more effective) sustain.

Initially, I think all engineers go thru the phase of “how in the heck to I avoid dying”. But, you will get it.

Engies have a ridiculous amount of healing and decent armor and high health on top of having 50 million CCs on their bar at all times, if that’s not enough for you maybe roll a cleric AH staff guardian or something.

Daxxter.8920:

no I am not full zerker and yes I have toughness.

There is you’re problem this is why you are taking so much aggro.

I have a lot of experience with my engi, I know him inside out but dungeons where you have to stack it’s weird but mobs always seem to hit me in all the stack. I doubt the +100 in toughness I have is the problem.

Daxxter.8920:

I have a lot of experience with my engi, I know him inside out but dungeons where you have to stack it’s weird but mobs always seem to hit me in all the stack. I doubt the +100 in toughness I have is the problem.

Mob stacking is wierd like that. The toughness does play a role in generating aggro onto you if everyone else if full Berserker. In particular, the extra armour from Shield offhand can sometimes prove a problem. One of the things about stack-and-cleave though is that you cannot be solely focused on DPS. Any aggro you draw will kill you due to the number of hits you can take. I would suggest dropping a Smoke Bomb or Flash Grenades or Static Shot just to minimise your incoming damage; or if you can drop your Poison Grenades down first for Combo Field priority, Blast it a few times to get AOE Weakness.

Bombsaway.7198:

Initially, I think all engineers go thru the phase of “how in the heck to I avoid dying”. But, you will get it.

I suspect that the way the UI works, in that 3/4 of the skill set is hidden at any one time, increase the confusion. This because when we don’t see we often forget we have.

Honestly, half the fight in GW2 at any serious level is keeping a reasonably up to date map of where various skills can be found and their state. And that is while avoiding attacks and AOE fields.

As such, i can understand why ANet claims very few change skills around to adapt to the situation. It is simply because doing so breaks muscle memory. And when you break muscle memory, you lengthen the reaction time massively. This is why in say martial arts they practice what is sometimes called kata. when doing so, a incoming threat can be met with an appropriate counter faster than can be consciously processed.

And this is why you can’t simply “action up” a MMORPG. The impact of the heightened action has to be considered throughout the design.

Jon Peters stated on Reddit a while back that they didn’t put in permanent camera look because in their mind it made the game too much action-y. except they already did make it a action game when they put in active defenses, and the addition camera controls don’t change that, it just ups the workload of the player for no real gain.

Much the same deal with weapon swaps, kits and attunements. It ups the workload of the player because it is hiding the state of part of the skills set available. end result is that most will play in ways that reduce the workload, by staying for long durations with a specific set, kit or attunement.

Sorry for the rant.

digiowl.9620:

Bombsaway.7198:

Initially, I think all engineers go thru the phase of “how in the heck to I avoid dying”. But, you will get it.

I suspect that the way the UI works, in that 3/4 of the skill set is hidden at any one time, increase the confusion. This because when we don’t see we often forget we have.

Honestly, half the fight in GW2 at any serious level is keeping a reasonably up to date map of where various skills can be found and their state. And that is while avoiding attacks and AOE fields.

As such, i can understand why ANet claims very few change skills around to adapt to the situation. It is simply because doing so breaks muscle memory. And when you break muscle memory, you lengthen the reaction time massively. This is why in say martial arts they practice what is sometimes called kata. when doing so, a incoming threat can be met with an appropriate counter faster than can be consciously processed.

And this is why you can’t simply “action up” a MMORPG. The impact of the heightened action has to be considered throughout the design.

Jon Peters stated on Reddit a while back that they didn’t put in permanent camera look because in their mind it made the game too much action-y. except they already did make it a action game when they put in active defenses, and the addition camera controls don’t change that, it just ups the workload of the player for no real gain.

Much the same deal with weapon swaps, kits and attunements. It ups the workload of the player because it is hiding the state of part of the skills set available. end result is that most will play in ways that reduce the workload, by staying for long durations with a specific set, kit or attunement.

Sorry for the rant.

I….what? What do mechanics like kit swaps or attunements have anything to do with prolonging survival? The sole differentiating factor in GW2 between new players and veterans is knowledge and experience. Simply knowing what each class can do at any point in time in response to a certain situation is enough – regardless of reaction time or speed of mechanical execution.

As a case in point, look to GW2 streamers like StunningStyles . This is a player that on occasion “clicks” skills – that is, activates them by point and click rather than by keybinds; which is oftentimes more inefficient and slower. Yet he is able to routinely play at the upper levels of tournament PVP and WvW with success across different builds and classes. He is successful because he knows what is coming. In GW2, knowledge and anticipation can get you further than mechanical speed.

Back on topic, I posted a list of things one can do to prolong one’s life in GW2. For Engineer, there’s a lot. Engineer is replete with Vigour uptime, Blocks, Blinds, CC, Snares and Combo Field/Finisher interactions that the sole differentiator of efficiency between 2 Engineers using the same build is who can execute more combos within the same skillset. Everything combos, all the time – unless you’re running standard Static Discharge in which case you don’t have much.

If you’re dying during stack-and-cleave in PVE then clearly you are not using enough of Engineer’s active defense, or you’re standing in red circles, or whatever else. Tank stats and Toughness do nothing in PVE aside from attract aggro and slow your DPS due to the sheer number of ridiculously damaging pulsed AOEs, one-shot hits, and instant kill mechanics. 1 dodge can mean 100000 damage avoided in PVE. Don’t get hit, and you won’t die.

The point of this tread was not to point out player skills, what I was saying is that you can’t always be 100% and when that happens and by a bad luck you fall into a red circle or you forget to dodge or what ever and you get a hit, you really feel that hit with an engineer.

Heh, sorry for the hijack.