Guild Wars 2

Why is it that the trait allowing your pistol shots to pierce was removed? I really enjoyed that trait…

pistol 1 pierce by baseline now if i remember correctly

Pistol 1 and 2 do not pierce anymore and the trait has been removed. I’m not sure why they would remove it though, to be honest.

randomly.6395:

Pistol 1 and 2 do not pierce anymore and the trait has been removed. I’m not sure why they would remove it though, to be honest.

If I had to guess, it’s probably because of the vertical nature of the terrain in HoT, and the difficulty of aligning shots. I notice that, at least graphically, my Blowtorch sometimes seems to fire right into the ground when I’m targeting an NPC slightly above me.

But, all in all, Pistols are in a pretty good place in HoT right now.

PierPiero.9142:

pistol 1 pierce by baseline now if i remember correctly

They said it in a Livestream, but the have not implemented it.

Soon.5240:

above me.

But, all in all, Pistols are in a pretty good place in HoT right now.

Correction: Pistol offhand #4 is good for condi specs. Pistol mainhand is horrible now and leaves no room for pistol+shield builds.

At least with Coated Bullets (the pierce trait) we could use pistol mainhand in power builds for the double hit when attacking from above, just under max range or when your enemies are up against a wall. It was a fun playstyle, not the most viable, but it did add some unique strategies for every encounter.

Yes bring this trait back already!

It just needs to beer merged with pinpoint accuracy. That trait is a bit lacklustre already, and this would make it a very competitive choice for builds taking pistol mh.

Are.1326:

Soon.5240:

above me.

But, all in all, Pistols are in a pretty good place in HoT right now.

Correction: Pistol offhand #4 is good for condi specs. Pistol mainhand is horrible now and leaves no room for pistol+shield builds.

At least with Coated Bullets (the pierce trait) we could use pistol mainhand in power builds for the double hit when attacking from above, just under max range or when your enemies are up against a wall. It was a fun playstyle, not the most viable, but it did add some unique strategies for every encounter.

I’m not trolling you, but right now, in HoT, I’m running an Ascended Dire Pistol/Pistol build with Rocket Boots + 4 Gyros + Krait Runes.. I kid you not, I’m just bleeding and melting everything in my path. I don’t hesitate to solo Champs, herds of Veterans, etc. I’m proc’ing Bleeds at around 9 to 11 stacks and Burns from Rocket Kick, Incendiary Ammo and Blowtorch. I’m easily maintaining around 4,000 per tick damage from Condi alone – and it all bypasses Defiance. Often I take down enemy with the Defiance bar at 75% or better.

Soon.5240:

Are.1326:

Soon.5240:

above me.

But, all in all, Pistols are in a pretty good place in HoT right now.

Correction: Pistol offhand #4 is good for condi specs. Pistol mainhand is horrible now and leaves no room for pistol+shield builds.

At least with Coated Bullets (the pierce trait) we could use pistol mainhand in power builds for the double hit when attacking from above, just under max range or when your enemies are up against a wall. It was a fun playstyle, not the most viable, but it did add some unique strategies for every encounter.

I’m not trolling you, but right now, in HoT, I’m running an Ascended Dire Pistol/Pistol build with Rocket Boots + 4 Gyros + Krait Runes.. I kid you not, I’m just bleeding and melting everything in my path. I don’t hesitate to solo Champs, herds of Veterans, etc. I’m proc’ing Bleeds at around 9 to 11 stacks and Burns from Rocket Kick, Incendiary Ammo and Blowtorch. I’m easily maintaining around 4,000 per tick damage from Condi alone – and it all bypasses Defiance. Often I take down enemy with the Defiance bar at 75% or better.

INcendiary ammo is not flame throwser ? how can you use it with 4 Gyros ? do you have 1 utility more than us ?

PierPiero.9142:

Soon.5240:

Are.1326:

Soon.5240:

above me.

But, all in all, Pistols are in a pretty good place in HoT right now.

Correction: Pistol offhand #4 is good for condi specs. Pistol mainhand is horrible now and leaves no room for pistol+shield builds.

At least with Coated Bullets (the pierce trait) we could use pistol mainhand in power builds for the double hit when attacking from above, just under max range or when your enemies are up against a wall. It was a fun playstyle, not the most viable, but it did add some unique strategies for every encounter.

I’m not trolling you, but right now, in HoT, I’m running an Ascended Dire Pistol/Pistol build with Rocket Boots + 4 Gyros + Krait Runes.. I kid you not, I’m just bleeding and melting everything in my path. I don’t hesitate to solo Champs, herds of Veterans, etc. I’m proc’ing Bleeds at around 9 to 11 stacks and Burns from Rocket Kick, Incendiary Ammo and Blowtorch. I’m easily maintaining around 4,000 per tick damage from Condi alone – and it all bypasses Defiance. Often I take down enemy with the Defiance bar at 75% or better.

INcendiary ammo is not flame throwser ? how can you use it with 4 Gyros ? do you have 1 utility more than us ?

I guess it’s a typo, referring to the old incendiary powder trait, that is now part of napalm specialist.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqancoC9dhFpCepCEqiF2iiO4L+kH8DLxAIMFvoXD-TxxCABA8AAO+EAAoeAPV/JRlgzs/QWK/AA-e
I guess this is roughly how is build looks like, and yea, you can reach 4k ticks, but usually you are rather in the range of 2.5k ticks with it…

My bad. I mean Incindary Powder….

Here’s the build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqancoCtoi9dBGpCEqiF2iiu3H+lH8DLxAIcpuoXD-TxhAABJqH4U1fi4EAIpSQAeAA8s/gYK/IEwi1A-e

One thing that I do is use Superior Sigil of Speed because it will proc a small, but constant Heal, when coupled with the Scapper Trait Rapid Regeneration. And the Final Salvo Trait also provides Superspeed which in turn proc’s with Rapid Regeration. So you can get about 475 heal per tick.

Soon.5240:

My bad. I mean Incindary Powder….

Here’s the build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqancoCtoi9dBGpCEqiF2iiu3H+lH8DLxAIcpuoXD-TxhAABJqH4U1fi4EAIpSQAeAA8s/gYK/IEwi1A-e

One thing that I do is use Superior Sigil of Speed because it will proc a small, but constant Heal, when coupled with the Scapper Trait Rapid Regeneration. And the Final Salvo Trait also provides Superspeed which in turn proc’s with Rapid Regeration. So you can get about 475 heal per tick.

And since that passive heal will be up if you get pressured enough to loose your gyros, you’ll always have it when needed. Good thinking.
Still I’d consider the following:
switch blast-gyro for elixir Gun. and inventions for tools.

Taking tools automatically reduces your toolbelt cd’s so more rocket kicks for you, and more reconstruction fields + bubbles.

Streamlined kits will give you perma-swiftness so you could swap that speed sigil for corruption, also it would give you the immob-trail from EG’s kit-refinement proc.

Reactive lenses gives you a additional stunbreaker, that also makes you immune to blind (but saddly also triggers on blind), luckely EG comes with its own stunbreaker.

And the elite is open for your liking.
Adrenal implant would be the most straight forward option for more dodges.
But gadgeteer would greatly improve your mobility, while kinetic battery could give you double rocket-kicks to start the fight (dodge once -> double-kick), and double waterfields midfight, that you then can finish not only with rocketboots, but also with EG’s blast.

EG itself will allow you heal better, comes with a more powerful & useful AA than pistol, and further improves your mobility.

Yes, no-kit builds are interesting, but there is no shame in taking at least 1 kit
It would look like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqancoCtbh9dBGpCEqiF2iiu3H+lH8DLxAYMHHDA-TxhAABJcCASUPwpq/IpSQAeAA8s/gYK/IEwi1A-e

The Tool Belt Skill for Blast Gyro has a Stun Break on a 30 sec cd (as opposed to Reactive Lenses 40 sec) and it also Heals for around 1,200 via Rapid Regeneration and Superspeed.

The Tool Belt Skill for Sneak Gyro has a Reveal on 20 sec cd in lieu of the Reactive Lens 40 sec. Good for WvW, but not so much for PvE. And Sneak Gyro, coupled with Krait Runes, proc’s 8 sec of Torment, Bleed and Poison. I pop this for the Condi then pop it again for heals. Exploding Gyros for Health is a very useful thing to do. They all are on such short cd’s.

Furry (via Reactive Lenses) just doesn’t do much for me, since nothing I do relies on Crit.

Bunker Down will usually have 3 or so Med Kits laying around and, coupled with Rapid Regeneration, this means that Heal is always at hand. And the bombs are just icing on the cake.

And — I gots to admit — the Blast Gyro offers a much needed CC — something which I lack. Now I just need to learn to avoid being “That Guy” who knocks NPC off of AOE like <<ahem>> Rangers….

I have used Elixer Gun (for years actually) and Acid Bomb is a good finisher for Lightening Field proc’d by Gyros, but for now, I’m content with staying in Pistols.

This build is just Tough. With lots of Heals. It does lack Condi Removal, but condi in HoT (the first two maps at least) don’t seem to be that big of an issue. I can “out heal” them. Same for most of the core PvE.

Edit: Reading your statement a little more closely that, “Streamlined kits will give you perma-swiftness so you could swap that speed sigil for corruption, also it would give you the immob-trail from EG’s kit-refinement proc.”

One thing I don’t like about Streamlined Kits is that they proc outside of combat. This drives me insane. If they would change it, I would seriously consider what you suggest.

- The TB skill of EG comes with a stunbreaker on just 29 sec cd, so you have 2 stunbreakers all of a sudden. and it applies regeneration, healing you for 1300 over time. Additionally, reactive lenses does not reveal your target, it just applies fury & gives you immunity against blind – that’s it.
- you still can pop your remaining gyros whenever you want, so you get your superspeed regeneration on top of everything else.
- sneak gyro is still part of the build I posted, so nothing changes about its characteristics & interaction with krait runes (even tho mortar would have similar, if not better synergy, still sneak gyro is nice to have)
- Bunker down relies heavily on crits to proc, and your crit chance on bleeding targets is 19%… EG #5 delivers higher & much more reliable healing than bunker down for you. It also clears a condition.
- The blast gyro cc is barely worth it, less so even when trying to deal with break-bars. immobilizes burn trough defiance bars much more quickly, and with the glue-trail from EG’s streamlined kits proc, you have plenty access to immobilizes, on the same cd as your former blast gyro. Using glue-trail instead of blast-gyro also solves the depositioning issue you get from it, and won’t fail due to its projectile being obstucted

You know your stuff!

I did use Mortar specifically to proc the Krait Rune, since Mortar has no cool down where as Sneak Gyro does. But ultimately I switched to Sneak Gyro because it’s FUN, and it has a heal tied in with it.

Kaboom!

But more seriously, Sneak Gyro also de-targets you momentarily from what ever is doing you the most harm. While Sneak Gyro is active, you seem to pop-in and pop-out of being a “target”. This can be useful if you are in need of a heal or to elapse a cool down during a NPC battle. I’ve been farming CM dungeon, and it’s pretty darn indestructible and highly supportive.

Blast Gyro does good because it can basically side-line multiple NPC for about three ticks — due to Daze. If you are proc’ing 3,000 Condi, that three tick “pause” can add up!, especially to NPC who are less than Veteran, Elites or Champs. I’ve also seen my
Blast Gyro lower the Defiance bar by 70% or so on numerous occasions. More investigation is warranted…

I just finished dueling in WvW EB, with this build, and lost one match in six.

There’s a lot going for it. For some reason, Blast Gryro seems to “crit” for over 3,000 damage more times than not…..

that is because blast-gyro does not carry over player-stats (appart from healing power & condi-dmg).
it’s the same as equiping turrets.
Regardless if you run a power or condi build, blast-gyro, shredder gyro & turrets will always hit for the same amount.

Arantheal.7396:

that is because blast-gyro does not carry over player-stats (appart from healing power & condi-dmg).
it’s the same as equiping turrets.
Regardless if you run a power or condi build, blast-gyro, shredder gyro & turrets will always hit for the same amount.

I’m not following you on the Blast Gryo. The damage is not always for the same amount. I’ve tested this in PvE and the PvP Lobby. And it’s greater than the 1,065 listed in the skill box.

Soon.5240:

Arantheal.7396:

that is because blast-gyro does not carry over player-stats (appart from healing power & condi-dmg).
it’s the same as equiping turrets.
Regardless if you run a power or condi build, blast-gyro, shredder gyro & turrets will always hit for the same amount.

I’m not following you on the Blast Gryo. The damage is not always for the same amount. I’ve tested this in PvE and the PvP Lobby. And it’s greater than the 1,065 listed in the skill box.

Arantheal is saying that whether you use gear with power stats or Condi stats, you will get the same damage because gyros do not scale with any of your stats except healing power and condition damage. Since the gyros only do direct damage, their damage will never scale with your stats.

With more testing, I see that the Gyro’s are probably bugged. Every Gyro – when detonated – is doing around 2,300 to 3,000 damage across multiple targets. And only the Blast Gryro is showing any damage in the Combat Log. The Gyros will not only vary in their damage when detonated, they can also proc Incendiary Powder and Sharpshooter when detonated.

Pistol autoattack definitely needs a buff of some sort. I thought they were going to make the pistol 1 and 2 skills pierce and that the AA would also count as an explosion. I really think the main-hand pistol needs this as baseline. As people have stated pistol/pistol is ok because of blowtorch (pistol offhand skill), but pistol/shield builds are dead.

yeah….we were told a lot of things….

hotcarl.8621:

…. but pistol/shield builds are dead.

I’d love to find a viable excuse to use my Shield — especially with my four gyro build. But I just can’t justify it.

With the Shield’s Blast Finisher and Daze/Projectile Finisher, it would work well with all the Lightening Fields and Water Field (Reconstruction Field – Tool Belt skill for Medic Gyro). If the CD’s for Shield were reduced to 12 sec and 16 sec, I might do so.

But Man, that blowtorch burn is hard to give up….

Soon.5240:

hotcarl.8621:

…. but pistol/shield builds are dead.

I’d love to find a viable excuse to use my Shield — especially with my four gyro build. But I just can’t justify it.

With the Shield’s Blast Finisher and Daze/Projectile Finisher, it would work well with all the Lightening Fields and Water Field (Reconstruction Field – Tool Belt skill for Medic Gyro). If the CD’s for Shield were reduced to 12 sec and 16 sec, I might do so.

But Man, that blowtorch burn is hard to give up….

If you are running a Confusion Build with perplexity rune shield can be an option cause you have 2 interupts on it.

Haralin.1473:

If you are running a Confusion Build with perplexity rune shield can be an option cause you have 2 interupts on it.

I hear you, and the new Gyro’s also proc Daze and, often times Interrupts, when exploded (although I think this may be bugged and/or inconsistent). They work well with Shield 4/5 and could work with Perplexity. But I don’t believe that Perplexity can come close to the type of damage that Burn does.

And, as I mention in an above post, right now Gyro’s do detonating damage that is ridiculous – which, if bugged irritates me because I don’t want to use an exploit and I don’t think I really need it.