Guild Wars 2

I was trying to read up about engis and what I want to do with mine. I mostly want to dps and maybe support in PvE, but I’m not quite sure how to go about this – should I pick one over the other, ie, do one thing well vs many things poorly? She’s 10 atm, but I’m starting to need to make choices with her traits, etc. Right now I’m pistol/pistol with no kits. I’m not crazy about shield or rifle.

Seras’ quote in another thread was helpful (see below) which sounds like advice I should take for what I’m wanting to do – I take it the gear suggestions would also work?

Thanks for any suggestions and advice in advance!

Seras.5702:

Generally speaking, you’re going to want to use a kit to deal the majority of your damage. The pistol/shield/rifle are great weapons, but in my experience, are swapped to, used, and swapped out of for your kit again. Elixir gun is a fantastic kit, however it’s best used in a support role (healing, spreading conditions, blast finishing). Its auto stacks bleeds more effectively than pistols even, so it’s not a bad weapon to fight with at range if necessary.

The primary damage kits are Grenades, Flamethrower, Bomb, ToolKit. Despite what was said about, FT is not a condition weapon, it’s a power/prec wep. It may apply burning, but it shines with stacks of precision and +crit dmg due to its fast fire rate and hard hitting #2. Grenades are a hybrid, benefitting from cond & straight dmg. Bomb & Tool Kits are melee range kits. Never had much luck with bomb kit but that’s my shortcoming, not the kit’s. ToolKit is incredibly useful, especially in PvP. It hits hard (power weapon again), applies confusion, cripple, bleed, has a block, and a long range pull. Useful if you are operating at close range with Bombs or FT.

In general, you’re going to want to gear for damage, not survivability with respect to PvE dungeons. Some toughness and vitality is helpful, but in general your best defense is not getting hit. Use shield blocks and most of all dodge! Some dungeon attacks, no matter your armor and hp, will squish you dead. You have to avoid the damage. If you stack too much touhgness & vitality, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed with your damage output. People say that high damage potential of a dead player is useless so stay alive. While this is true, gearing simply to stay alive makes you equally useless since your damage & support abilities will be diminished. PvP requires more tough/vit than PvE, since you will be getting hit. Just my 2 cents.

I also was not a fan of kits, but once I started using them more and more I fell in love with it. It is one of our actually working mechanics and I do suggest looking into them to see what you like. As your Engineer is only 10 I wouldn’t worry too much, I’d take something that levels nicely before anything else.

Once you reach a higher level you’ll know what you like and then we can help you out!

Thank you very much for your reply The kits are fine so far – I tried to read a little more to match up traits with what I’m doing and I think it’s working out nicely so far. Thank you again!

No problem! Enjoy!

If you want to maximize your dps, use grenade kit from 1300 range in full zerker, or bomb kit in melee range for dungeons like CoE. Always go for full zerker in PvE theres no point to gear otherwise.

FT is NOT a good weapon in a power spec since FT#1 has abysmal damage. Same thing goes for Tool Kit, it’s not really usefull in PvE since only #3 has decent damage.

Spec for swift/vigor(on crit or swap) and use Elixir B and keep that perma fury.

Pizz.3698:

If you want to maximize your dps, use grenade kit from 1300 range in full zerker, or bomb kit in melee range for dungeons like CoE. Always go for full zerker in PvE theres no point to gear otherwise.

FT is NOT a good weapon in a power spec since FT#1 has abysmal damage. Same thing goes for Tool Kit, it’s not really usefull in PvE since only #3 has decent damage.

Spec for swift/vigor(on crit or swap) and use Elixir B and keep that perma fury.

Does full zerk gear work for fractals? I would think giving up some of that damage for defensive stats (toughness/vitality/healing power) would help a lot in higher levels, but I have not stepped in a fractal to even know or test! lol

Fractals is doable in Beserker gear up to like 40 where it becomes harder. At least I’ve done it. Though a full beserker group requires some good dodging skills. My group usually had a PVT guard and 4 beserkers. Note that I did fractals on my necro, but we had a Beserker Engineer(edit: i forgot the engineer part :P) (with valk accessories) with us.

Pizz.3698:

FT is NOT a good weapon in a power spec since FT#1 has abysmal damage.

Flame Jet may not do a lot of damage, but Flame Blast does. It scales by 175% of your Power value.

I also disagree with Seras’ statement about the Elixir Gun: It is great for support, yes. But Acid Bomb does a lot of damage. With Deadly Mixture and Fireforged Trigger, you get free 2K damage per second for six seconds every twelve seconds. That’s a flat 1K added DPS that can additionally be used as a Blast finisher in your Napalm or Healing Turret for Area Might or Area Heals.

Actively integrating Acid Bomb into your rotation boosts your DPS by 20-25%. Easily. All the while buffing your allies. Use it every time it is available.

Phineas Poe.3018:

I also disagree with Seras’ statement about the Elixir Gun: It is great for support, yes. But Acid Bomb does a lot of damage. With Deadly Mixture and Fireforged Trigger, you get free 2K damage per second for six seconds every twelve seconds. That’s a flat 1K added DPS that can additionally be used as a Blast finisher in your Napalm or Healing Turret for Area Might or Area Heals.

Actively integrating Acid Bomb into your rotation boosts your DPS by 20-25%. Easily. All the while buffing your allies. Use it every time it is available.

This is true. As a point of reference, my quote dealt with broad strokes for a new Engi. I think it’s fair to say that you won’t be running around with EG as your primary damage weapon. It’s primarily a support weapon. However, i did mention thakittens auto deals pretty great damage and bleed stacking for not being a kit designed around straight damage output. I omitted Acid Bomb for the sake of simplicity. It is a great skill, scaling well with power, being a blast finisher, and an escape tool all in one. I think too many Engis overlook the damage portion of the skill, focusing instead only on the blast finisher & escape. I personally bring EG with me into every dungeon no matter my spec because it’s just that good. Tons of conditions, escape, light field, aoe healing, blast finisher in 1 util slot is too good to pass up. Plus the toolbelt skill is 1 more heal and off the GCD.