Guild Wars 2

Anyone else finding a lot of success comboing Scrapper with the Flamethrower and Elixir Gun? I can’t say it’s a potential meta spec or anything, but I’ve had remarkably decent success with this build—a lot more than I honestly expected. It at least feels a bit more fleshed out and well-rounded than the FT/TK condi build floating around, and with some adjustments it may be a very good option down the road.

Some build highlights:

• 16 stacks of might pre-HGH procs
• Permanant vigor in combat with HAE+IS
• Good to great sustain from Adaptive Armor and Recovery Matrix
• Moderate damage from the Flame Jet buff coupled with Incendiary Ammo and hammer skills
• Decent decap/CC potential with Air Blast + Thunderclap

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASlUUhatY7Ww6KQ7FL3FF9qH7zO4CGhBgYB9D5AA-TJBFwACuAAt2fAaZAAPAAA

Try it out and let me know what you think! (Third utility is a flex slot. I have Elixir B there, but I’ve slotted in Rocket Boots and Slick Shoes as well.)

Giving this a try now. I like the idea behind this.

The lack if IMS is very noticeable though.

lorddarkflare.9186:

Giving this a try now. I like the idea behind this.

The lack if IMS is very noticeable though.

Elixir B helps with that, but you’re right. It is the primary downside to not running Inventions or Tools … but in the current meta I can’t imagine dropping Alchemy.

I’ve been running FT/EG/Elixir U for about 2 months now, and scrapper has only enhanced the build spectacularly

Can you give a bit of a guide on rotations etc? Would like to try out this build

I would run rifle with this set-up. I’m just not digging the functionality of the Hammer right now.

Dirame.8521:

I would run rifle with this set-up. I’m just not digging the functionality of the Hammer right now.

I am slowly realizing why my Engie is pretty much the only character I want to ever you regularly: I hate, hate, HATE melee.

Was a shock to realize this.

I have been using P/P and P/S on my Scrapper for PvP.

I use almost the same setup, only without Eg. I use either Elixer U or Slick shoes there. its pretty fun.

Ustaf.2953:

Can you give a bit of a guide on rotations etc? Would like to try out this build

Certainly.

You want to spend most of your time in the Flamethrower for Juggernaut. The hammer AA chain is stronger than Flame Jet, but you’ll obviously maintain your might stacks better the more you’re wielding the FT.

The biggest damaging abilities are really from the hammer though, so you still want to swap to it, but not so long that you lose out on too many of your might stacks. I find as far as the hammer is concerned, Thunderclap -> Rocket Charge is the obvious winner. I also tend to use Shock Shield more offensively than defensively, as it ticks upwards to 1K damage a second.

I also have since swapped out the Mortar Kit for Supply Crate. The 2.5 second stun from Supply Crate lends well to the hammer play style, and the Net Turret helps root players for Flame Blast, Electro-Whirl, and Shock Shield. I also felt that just the way the Flamethrower worked with Juggernaut lended better to running as few kits as possible.

Overall, the sustain of this build is really its best attribute, as you have the option to pop Healing Mist off cooldown for condi cleanse and regen with the perma stability from Juggernaut, and Flame Blast’s short cooldown lends well to blasting Regenerating Mist off cooldown. Med Pack Drop and Super Elixir should also be obviously used off cooldown during fights.

If I could summarize it best:

• Hammer off cooldown
• Elixir Gun for sustain (honorable mention to Tranq Dart mitigation)
• Flamethrower all other times for stability and might stacks

Dirame.8521:

I would run rifle with this set-up. I’m just not digging the functionality of the Hammer right now.

I can see reasons to use it, but the hammer does significantly more damage than the rifle when used properly.

Lots of diversity using FT with Scrapper traits. I’m loving it. Problem is what vanilla traitline to give up.

Obtena.7952:

Lots of diversity using FT with Scrapper traits. I’m loving it. Problem is what vanilla traitline to give up.

I use a similar setup in PvP, with firearms & alchemy. Heavy armor exploit will solve all your swiftness needs once you’ve engaged into combat the first time, and actually stack it up so much that you’ll have perma-swiftness during the match.
and since the ICD matches that of invigorating speed, you now have the viable option to sacrifice some protection-uptime for perma-vigor in combat.

Just wanted to dip in here one more time and say that Soldier + Intelligence is also very effective. I may actually swap to this for the rest of the night.

Ugh, came crawling back to the hammer in PvP. Hammer 3 and 5 are too good together.

After 30-40 unranked matches and 1v1ing a ton with this build over the past 48 hours, I think I can give an honest assessment of this setup and some ideas that may help Scrapper in general.

During the livestream Irenio Calmon-Huang heavily hinted that Mass Momentum would work well with Juggernaut. And as someone that has for a long time desired the FT/EG combo to be a viable choice in top-level PvP and in end-game PvE, I became naturally excited and had high hopes for this new trait line. The FT has had its moments in the meta in both PvE and PvP, but generally speaking it has always operated more as a cog in the wheel than a bona fide, self-contained build similar to what the Grenade Kit or Bomb Kit have had.

In PvP, the decap engi was popular for a time and part of its success was Air Blast. The current FT/TK condi spec, by comparison, relies heavily on Incendiary Ammo but not much else. There really just hasn’t been a build out there that’s truly competitive and revolves around the FT, but I do think the Scrapper helps put the kit on that path.

The primary problem with Mass Momentum and Juggernaut combo, however, is that Juggernaut imposes such heavy limitations on you. Spending just five to six seconds outside of the kit results in a massive might sustain loss that Elixir-focused Scrapper builds don’t deal with, which means to maximize Mass Momentum, you have to spend most of your time camping the Flamethrower.

The fundamental issue there, however, is that the FT does significantly less damage than the hammer, both in its auto-attack and its overall skill set, which means you are effectively forced to weaken your damage to theoretically gain in damage. It seems weird to me, because on paper I think the hammer and the FT complement each other well: they’re both melee weapons, they’re both power weapons, and they’re both CC weapons.

To make this FT Scrapper build an actual reality in higher level PvP, I have a couple suggestions:

1. Remove the 10% damage modifier to burning targets with Flame Jet and simply make it baseline. I think right now Flame Jet’s damage is “good enough” for bruiser/CC builds when targets are burned, but you took condition duration out of the Explosives line and merged Napalm Specialist with Incendiary Powder, and now make us choose between Incendiary Powder and Juggernaut. Essentially, no build with Juggernaut and Mass Momentum will have enough burning to where this damage buff makes sense. This burning damage buff is a forgotten relic from a previous era, and it’d be good to bring Flame Jet up to modern times.

2. Remove the might stacking from Juggernaut because most engineers end up double-dipping with HGH and hitting the cap (with Mass Momentum) without it. Instead, alongside stability, have Juggernaut give Flame Jet some kind of debilitating effect like chill, cripple, or torment.

These changes will keep the Juggernaut and Mass Momentum synergy alive, but will also make spamming Flame Jet actually worthwhile when hammer skills are off cooldown by keeping enemies within range. This will also maintain the purity of the FT as a decapper weapon, as it will give us the Air Blast knockback to coincide with a soft CC to keep them out.

Eh…until the FT can actually do some decent burning (outside of Incendiary Ammo) or can at least get some decent sustained damage somewhere on the weapon, it will never see use as a primary weapon like the grenade or bomb kit.

Dahkeus.8243:

Eh…until the FT can actually do some decent burning (outside of Incendiary Ammo) or can at least get some decent sustained damage somewhere on the weapon, it will never see use as a primary weapon like the grenade or bomb kit.

New juggernaut trait:
- Pulse stab for 3 seconds every 3 seconds while wielding the FT
- reduce incomming cripple / chill / immob by 33% (intentinal synergy with mechalegs)

You now can become immune to soft cc’s in WvW, and get up to 91% duration-reduction in PvP. Finally this trait gives you the feeling of being a unstoppable menace.

New FT AA:
- Ticks 100 times (20sec cast)
- applies 1 stack of burn per tick for 0.2sec (will cap at 1 stack without condi-duration)
- applies 1 stack of vulnerability for 2sec (will cap at 10 stacks without condi-duration)

FT #2 stays as is

FT #3 clears burning stacks from allies & applies 2 stacks of burn on enemies. for 5 sec

FT #4 now uses the new technology of growing fields and creates a immobile circular fire-field beneath the engineer that slowly grows bigger. Ticks more dmg & applies burn to up to 5 targets per tick. lasts 10sec final range of 360

FT#5 now releases smoke constantly on the engineers position & ticks 2sec blind per second for 5 seconds. mobile smokefield.

Note that I changed the AA only to get rid of the aftercast. I expect no one to cast the full 20sec, but now it at least feels less punishing to camp it while waiting for cd’s.

If the Deadly Mixture trait came back, I could actually imagine flamethrower being a major damage contender; it could even give the Auto some use!

Sold Out.7625:

If the Deadly Mixture trait came back, I could actually imagine flamethrower being a major damage contender; it could even give the Auto some use!

The only thing is I’m not quite sure what trait I’d replace Deadly Mixture with. They’re all fairly vital to the build in its current state, especially in the Alchemy line. I think the better move would just be adjusting coefficients so that the FT is more competitive, or, as someone else suggested, simply overhauling Flame Jet’s mechanics so it is more reliable. I still think simply removing the 10% damage buff to burning targets and just making the damage buff baseline would go a long way to getting this kit on the right track.

I also am aware that their current focus is Scrapper, so a small change like the one I’m proposing is probably all we could potentially see in the near future. Even still, this is really kind of just a pipe dream at this point. It took them over two years to put a blast finisher on Flame Blast, so I’ve learned being patient pays off.

I felt that HGH might-stacking was still superior to Juggernaut+Mass Momentum because yea, you have to camp in FT to sustain the stacks, which wasn’t allowing me to experience the hammer too much as a weapon.

Chaba.5410:

I felt that HGH might-stacking was still superior to Juggernaut+Mass Momentum because yea, you have to camp in FT to sustain the stacks, which wasn’t allowing me to experience the hammer too much as a weapon.

Precisely. HGH has pretty much replaced any potential for Juggernaut. I’m fine with it, because elixir builds are finally viable in PvP (especially this one I’ve been using off and on for a month or so now), but they need to give the FT a role again—and it can’t just be stability, because Scrapper gets enough of it on its own through evades to max out their might with HGH anyway. And even if you don’t take Mass Momentum, Slick Shoes + Elixir B just significantly outperform FT + Elixir B because Rapid Regeneration and Perfectly Weighted are significantly better traits.

Like make no mistake: I had a lot of fun with this FT/EG build but it has a lot of brick walls in its way. And with the way Irenio was talking about Juggernaut and Mass Momentum in the livestream, I feel like he intended this to be an actual thing… and it’s not.

It just underperforms compared to the PP HGH build and the “Slixer” Scrapper build. And I don’t think they should nerf these so much as bring the FT up in line by giving it something to complement the hammer aside from just might and stability.

It doesn’t show in the video I had posted, but I choose Perfectly Weighted originally over Adaptive Armor cuz yea, +10% damage.

Is a roaming WvW Power Rifle HGH Engi possible? Scrap, Alch, Fire Arms doesn’t seem to be able to pull constant swiftness or at least 25% constant movement speed. I’m aiming for a kitless (Mortar can be used so it’s not really that kitless) build focused around 2 elixirs and 2-3 drones. I’ve had great success with it running alch, fire arms, Inventions/Tools but both the latter have some form of movement speed :-(