Guild Wars 2

Disclaimer: These are suggestions to help engineers who don’t use condition builds, don’t use the Grenade or Bomb Kit, and want to explore the Trait tree to find a way to survive and be useful

I been looking through all the traits on an Engineer as playing an Engineer and facing them (non-nade/bomb spam ones) and see they are very easily beaten no matter how hard they kite because of the skills other classes can use. They do have a ton of escapes and such, but people forget they can’t have all their skills on their hotbar.

Those non-nade/bomb engineers focus on direct damage rather than conditions and while that isn’t a problem in PvE it sort of is in sPvP/WvW because they are so easily evaded and interrupted. I want them to be a challenge rather than a free kill (in large groups rather than small like in WvW or GvG).

Now these ideas are really just focused on helping them survive (non-condition building engineers). Engineers have a lot of skills they are able to use through Pistol+Shield, Pistol+Pistol, Rifle, or any weapon kit…but that’s the problem: They have so many useful skills but having the time to use them is problematic. I hope to suggest something to help non-spam engineer pride (as they are way more interesting to contend with).

Stabilized Armor (Inventions IV):

• Current: Damage Reduced by 20% when knocked down or stunned
• Idea: Damage Reduced by 20% when knocked down or stunned and grants stability for 5s (45-second cooldown)
• Reason: So easy for people to chain knockdowns and stuns and why is the trait called Stabilized Armor when it actually does nothing when you are knocked down for 3s get up and be knocked down again. Engineers are easy basketballs.

Energized Armor (Inventions V):

• Current: Gain power based on toughness (7%)
• Idea: Gain power based on toughness and vitality (10%)
• Reason: Non-condition builds, Non-Grenade builds, and/or Non-Bomb builds are extreme glass cannons.

Inventions 15 Passive (Automated Medical Response)

• Current: Heal skills recharge when struck below the health threshold (25% hp, 90-second cooldown)
• Idea: 30-second cooldown on the recharge
• Reason: Not only do our heal skills have a cast time, they also have a fairly long cooldown. More often than not, you can’t always use a health skill before getting almost instantly dropped to 25% making the passive a waste.

Alchemy 5 Passive (Hidden Flask)

• Current: Drink an Elixir B when struck below the health threshold (75%, 90s Cooldown)
• Idea: Hidden Flask also contains a minor heal amount and grants Protection or Stability or Lower Hidden Flask Cooldown
• Reason: Swiftness(39s) is practically unseen in combat and in sPvP/WvW getting below 75% is very easily hit making it a waste because of the cooldown

Alchemy 15 Passive (Transmute)

• Current: Incoming conditions have a chance to convert into boons
• Idea: Incoming conditions have a chance to convert into boons, applied conditions duration is reduced, and condition damage taken is reduced
• Reason: Mesmers, Elementalists, Necros, and maybe even Nade/Bomb engineers can apply conditions like nothing.

Inventions 5 Passive (Low-health Response System)

• Current: Gain regeneration when you are struck while below the health threshold (25% HP, Regen for 13s)
• Idea: Regen is stronger and faster
• Reason: Once engineers are under 25% HP, that lengthy regen will only help them if they are practically escaping

Smoke Vent (Flamethrower Activated Skill)

• Current: Vent Smoke from your flamethrower, blinding nearby foes (20-second cooldown, 180 radius)
• Idea: Vent smoke from your flamethrower, blinding nearby foes and revealing hidden foes (20-second cooldown, 360 radius, range 300)
• Reason: Engineers can be a very useful anti-invisible tool, as in, people would want them to be near

Napalm (Flamethrower Activated Skill)

• Current: Burn foes with a wall of napalm at the target location
• Idea: Foes that are in the field are not only burned, but are either blinded, confused, or Dazed
• Reason: This wall is extremely avoidable and being in the field is hardly a threat.

Magnetic Shield (Shield off-hand activated skills)

• Current: Create a magnetic field that reflect projectiles and can be released to push back foes (30-second cooldown, 180 radius, 300 knockback)
• Idea: Being able to move and have this on
• Reason: Noticed certain PvE mobs have this same sort of shield but they are able to move with it on… Why can’t engineers do the same?

Rocket Boots

• Current: Fly forward, damaging foes with your rocket exhaust. Cures immobilized, crippled, and chilled.
• Idea: Leaves a smoke trail that blinds or dazes enemies (5s trail duration)
• Reason: Solely used as an escape but has no damage benefit really. Least it can do is be used offensively so the foe tries to escape rather than chase. The F2/F3/F4 is called Rocket Kick which kick attack burns foes in a 300 range…that’s useful to jump back into combat with this change and can also be given the ability to push back foes (so they can be kicked into the trail left behind by Rocket Boots)

Slick Shoes/Super Speed

• Current: [Slick Shoes] Spray oil behind you, knocking down foes (60-second cooldown, 3 second duration). [Super Speed] Run at double speed (45-cooldown)
• Idea: Shorter cooldown or longer duration
• Reason: Solely used as an escape (not a great one) but can be a really interesting offensive skill…sadly the duration and cooldown are way too short to be a threat

Again, these are just some ideas (little bits at a time). Non-spam Engineers can be the skillset of choice to counter other stronger and more dominant classes. You really don’t see a lot of engineers (if any) in large GvGs and you’ll hardly pay attention to them outside the small groups they excel in (because large groups just trample over everything they offer).

I like seeing more Direct Damage oriented engineers in WvW and sPvP…but they just are too weak to contend with really and require a ton of skill, kiting, etc. to be effective…when other classes are way more effective in way less time.

LUST.7241:

Stabilized Armor:

• Current: Damage Reduced by 20% when knocked down or stunned
• Idea: Damage Reduced by 20% when knocked down or stunned and grants stability for 5s (45-second cooldown)

Stabilized Armor is fine imo. It has a lower damage reduction than PI, but it has no down time.

Energized Armor:

• Current: Gain power based on toughness (7%)
• Idea: Gain power based on toughness and vitality (10%)

A small buff wouldn’t hurt but it is useful as it is now for power specs investing into inventions.

Inventions 15 Passive

• Current: Heal skills recharge when struck below the health threshold (25% hp, 90-second cooldown)
• Idea: 30-second cooldown on the recharge

No, just no. AMR is strong, it’d be broken with 30s CD. While I agree that it often is hard to make use out of it, since you go down before getting a chance to heal, it would be far too efficient for tanky builds, as they’re less exposed at 25% health. A way to make it both more reliable for glassier specs and less efficient for tanky specs would be to change it into “Gain defiant stance when you’re struck below the health threshold (25% health)” x seconds, no initial heal, 60-90sec CD. It would also create counter-play (not doing heavy damage for it’s duration) and would backfire for engis also taking AR (since the enemy can choose to bring you over the threshold again).

Alchemy 5 Passive

• Current: Drink an Elixir B when struck below the health threshold (75%, 90s Cooldown)
• Idea: Hidden Flask also contains a minor heal amount and grants Protection or Stability or Lower Hidden Flask Cooldown

It’s fine imo. Maybe reduce the CD to 75s or 60s but I wouldn’t do anything more for it. Mind it’s a tier 1 minor trait.

Alchemy 15 Passive

• Current: Incoming conditions have a chance to convert into boons
• Idea: Incoming conditions have a chance to convert into boons, applied conditions duration is reduced, and condition damage taken is reduced

I’d like a simple cond duration reduction from, let’s say 10%. Theoretically in line with the old version (8% chance to transmute incoming conds) but no rng.

Inventions 5 Passive

• Current: Gain regeneration when you are struck while below the health threshold (25% HP, Regen for 13s)
• Idea: Regen is stronger and faster

Currently it’s very situational. It rewards you for getting up again after droppping below 25% (which again is easier to make use out of for tankier specs) with it’s HoT but doesn’t help at all in that urgent need of recovery. I’d raise the health threshold and give it a higher CD (e.g. 50% health 20s CD) or completely change the functionality.

Smoke Vent

• Current: Vent Smoke from your flamethrower, blinding nearby foes (20-second cooldown, 180 radius)
• Idea: Vent smoke from your flamethrower, blinding nearby foes and revealing hidden foes (20-second cooldown, 360 radius, range 300)

Situational hardcounters=bad. I’d much rather like to see a 1-2sec smoke field added to it (no additional blinds). Radius should stay.

Napalm

• Current: Burn foes with a wall of napalm at the target location
• Idea: Foes that are in the field are not only burned, but are either blinded, confused, or Dazed

It’s fine for might stacking and dropping it on a downed foe. Maybe increase it’s width a bit to make it more useful as offensive tool, but simply adding more conditions and rng is always a bad idea imo.

Magnetic Shield

• Current: Create a magnetic field that reflect projectiles and can be released to push back foes (30-second cooldown, 180 radius, 300 knockback)
• Idea: Being able to move and have this on

Shield is good as it is. It more or less has 4 skills and 2 types of finishers. It offers CC, defensive and utility. I would be careful with buffing it.

Rocket Boots

• Current: Fly forward, damaging foes with your rocket exhaust. Cures immobilized, crippled, and chilled.
• Idea: Leaves a smoke trail that blinds or dazes enemies (5s trail duration)

Again I’ve to say that Rocket Boots are not one of the things that necessarily need buffing. It’s a pretty good gap creator already, additional functions might overtone it. As for rocket kick: The animation could be fixed like other jumps far back in the past, to not be stuck at the end of the cast.

Slick Shoes/Super Speed

• Current: [Slick Shoes] Spray oil behind you, knocking down foes (60-second cooldown, 3 second duration). [Super Speed] Run at double speed (45-cooldown)
• Idea: Shorter cooldown or longer duration

Are you thinking of Slick shoes or super speed? Slick shoes is often hard to land properly but if you do so it’s deadly. Down to 50sec CD max imo. The CD of super speed is fine, maybe 40sec to begin with or an criple/chill/immob remove (that might turn out to be too powerful though).

Texts shaved bc of message length.

Your way to all over the place here.

In some cases your suggesting ridiculously over powered changes to already solid skills.

In others you are suggesting braking skills with great functions.

I am not sure what your intentions were for 80% of these. Were you just kidding around and having a little fun or were you serious?