Hello everyone,
As a long time engineer player, I am a huge advocate of bringing an engineer or two to the melee train. I will go over the build I made in extreme detail as to highlight everything an engineer brings and why it is viable in the WvW front line meta.
WEAPON AND UTILITIES:
For obvious reasons, the hammer will be used in the melee train. I’ll try to quickly go over each skill and why it is useful in raid.
1: 1.5s auto attack chain that provides, at the end of the chain, two stacks of personal might and AoE vulnerability
2: A 1s whirl on a 6s CD. From experience, this whirl does anywhere from 3k (no crits), to 7k (all crits) AoE. This is what will be compared to a warrior’s 100B on a downed clump. It is infact less damage, however I believe it is much better. 100B is a front facing conal effect that roots the warrior. Electro-whirl is a 360 degree spin which you can move while using. Slightly less damage, hits more bodies, doesn’t root the player, and has a shorted CD. Did I mention it reflects projectiles and is a whirl finisher? And I will repeat, 6 second cooldown.
3: The leap is kind of clunky, however it covers good distance and, when used in melee range, provides pretty solid AoE damage while evading. 4-8k damage overall on a 10s CD. This is what is used to still cleave when the downed clump gets a bit too hot to use 2.
4: A 2s block on a 20s CD. It applies 10 stacks of vuln AoE to anyone it touches and ticks for damage for the entire duration. The damage gets up to usually 4-6k per target. Again solid filler damage when 2 and 3 are on CD but cleave is still needed.
5: Every 24s, a Scrapper can cast a 240 radius AoE lightning field that stuns on the first strike. After the initial strike, pulses 6 times doing high damage and applying vulnerability. This skill is unbelievable in combination with 2 or 3, which will ALWAYS be up and ready to combo considering their short cooldowns. In this 6s time span, the engineer can AoE stun everyone in the targeted area and pump 10-15k dmg into the radius.
This is something a stance greatsword warrior just can’t compete with. I have played both, and although the numbers on 100B are higher, the Scrapper is much more effective at cleaving downed bodies and as well as pumping damage to wherever the tag goes. The hammer is a beast. The damage is high, the survivability is crazy, the mobility is there, it has everything. I would go as far as saying the 1-5 skills on the Scrapper’s hammer make it the best melee zerging weapon currently in the game. The hammer alone makes Scrapper a frontline contender.
The healing turret is the best heal in the game. It provides around an 8k heal, AoE regeneration, and a water field with a built in blast finisher. All need be said.
The utilities are where things get interesting. The build I posted runs Elixir U, Toolkit, and Elixir Gun. Things get complicated here, because these are optional… but they’re not. Toolkit block will save an engineer’s life, hands down. Any engineer can attest to this. 3s block on a 20s CD seems lackluster, but it is a life saver. It has to be there. Toolkit also brings an AoE cripple/bleed field which can be surprisingly useful when trying to retreat and regroup. Even 1-2s delay on an enemy frontline bombing us can be the difference between landing a regroup and not. The cool thing, however, is that toolkit allows engineer to sub in as pick (Gank). Magnet pull + pry bar combo is always there and ready to use on an enemy ele or necro that is out of place.
Elixir Gun is a must have. The toolbelt skill is a stun break, and 5 skill pulses healing, the 4 skill ticks for 2,000/sec on downed bodies, and the 3 skill sprays poison in a frontal cone. The elixir gun is 6 stacks of AoE might, AoE poison on a short CD, a stun break, and a massive boost to downed player cleave. Definitely worth bringing.
The 3rd utility is largely up to preference. In my experience it is best to take Elixir U. The toolbelt skill is a 50% chance between a Wall of Reflection and a Smoke field. Either way, it will block projectiles on a regroup, allowing guardians to run tri-shout. The Elixir U itself is pretty self explanatory. Take a look back up to the damage that comes from the hammer skills. Increase the speed that damage is pumped out by 50%, add fury, add 7 stacks of might. Things will die. If for some reason the engineer is lacking stability, Elixir U should be subbed for Elixir B for a 16s AoE stability throw combined with strong boon presence.
This is one of the biggest beauties of the engineer. It is completely unique in that the build does not revolve around the utilities (Shout cleanse guardian, stance warrior, cantrip ele, should I continue?). The build works with no utilities. The engineer can bring to the raid what the raid needs, not what the engineer needs to make the build work.
No banner warrior? Throw Elixir R is a banner with twice the range, 1/8th of the cast time, and on 1/3rd of the cooldown, however pulses revive rather than does it instantly. However… sometimes banner doesn’t work. The ally is healed to 90% and isn’t picked up. With a 12s pulsing revive, that won’t happen (Unless they are well bombed, but what can you do…). No, pulse isn’t great, but an engineer can get this out literally 8 times faster than a warrior can banner, and can even use it before anyone goes down to anticipate downed players and pick them up before the enemy has a chance to even notice they’re down. It may not be “better”, but it’s undoubtedly viable. It works.
Slick shoes completely stability strips the enemy, as it isn’t a knock down. It’s a knock down FIELD, which does not exist anywhere else in the game. Everything else of its kind pulses. Slick shoes does not pulse. It provides a lined out field of knockdown. Enough said.
Elixir S for AoE stealth and extra survivability? Rocket boots for focused burn and crazy mobility? Bomb kit for fire fields, smoke fields, immobilize on a push, or a Big Ol’ Bomb on players trying to revive downs?
The point is engineer is versatile. Scrapper isn’t cornered into utilities x, y, and z to be viable. A Scrapper can change and adapt utilities based on what the raid requires at that time, which is a big factor to combat that no other raid class can currently offer, and if so, not nearly to the caliber of a Scrapper.
The Scrapper frontline elite is obvious: the mortar kit. Huge AoE damage from orbital strike, AoE poison, AoE chill, AoE blind, and a water field. All jammed into one elite skill. What does this mean, though? This means that a Scrapper in the melee train can contribute to ranged pressure with more than a staff-3 symbol or a greatsword 4 toss. A Scrapper can put very relevant and constant ranged pressure into a group when the melee are too low to jump in and bomb, which is something no other melee brings. Versatile and universal contribution to combat.
TRAITS:
The trait lines the frontline hammer Scrapper should bring are Alchemy, Inventions, and Scrapper.
Alchemy: The minors for alchemy are very strong. Every 40s, while stuck below 75%hp, the engineer drinks an Elixir B. This provides the engi with Fury, Might, Retaliation, and perma swiftness. Perma swiftness is extremely important to this build which will be explained in the Scrapper trait line. In addition, every 15s, a condition is converted to a boon, elixirs cure conditions, and boon duration is increased by 20%. Protection Injection provides 3s of protection on kitten ICD when the engineer is disabled. This is very important for a frontline player as, every time the engineer is knocked down, the damage received in that time is effectively mitigated. Next is backpack regenerator, which provides about the same healing per second as the regeneration boon. This applies when using toolkit and elixir gun only. Finally, we take HGH. This is such a good trait. It reduces the cooldown of all elixirs (Elixir U, Elixir U throw, Healing Mist [our stun break], Elixir gun 4 and 5, and mortar kit 5 [our disposable water field]) by 20%, increases their duration by 20%, and grants all allies around the engineer 2 stacks of might for 28 seconds. What does this mean? With the current build setup, a well played Scrapper can contribute anywhere from 11-16 stacks of AoE might to the party. This is based on proximity, however, so this might is going to the melee. However, this brings a unique mechanic to the table. All of this might stacking is disposable skill use (not part of core rotation), meaning this can be prestacked. No need to stop and blast might. Two engineers can get the party at 25 stacks of might ON THE MOVE going into the fight. Oh… and every single one of these cures a condition on allies, Elixir gun 5 clearing two as one is base (16s CD :sick:).
Inventions: This trait line is more of a filler and survivability boost, as neither explosives or firearms is really any good for a scrapper. The minor traits AoE clear a damaging condition and grant AoE regen every time the engi uses a heal. This provides perma regen for self (and party if played correctly), which will permanently increase healing power by 250. The best trait engi gets here is Bunker Down, which spawns a mine and healing pack (heals for 500-1k and grants regen). The mine does about 2k AoE dmg. This skill is on a 2 second ICD and procs every time the engi crits. 70% crit chance with fury. Considering the lack of a GCD and an auto attack ICD of 0.5s, this equates to a critical hit approximately every 0.7 seconds with fury (more if you take into account skills that tick and hit multiple times like 2 and 5), which means an extra 740 AoE dps/sec where ever the engineer trains. 740 AoE dps/sec adds up. Mech legs is only takes for the reduces duration on cripple/chill/immob, which is a big boost to a scrappers survivability. Finally we take either AMR or ABD. AMR would be the goto for obvious reasons, but has been broken for a long time and does not function correctly with healing turret, therefore we take ABD for AoE blind when knocked down, further buffering damage taken while disabled.
Scrapper: So good. A ranged stomp/revive. It is buggy and yes it can be killed, but it is mostly used for a double speed revive, which unarguably is handy. Other than that, its used to stomp a downed enemy in Africa. Helps clean up the trash. Reviving or stomping grants superspeed (this is better than it sounds), and AoE 5 stacks of might for 14s, further strengthening an Engineers ability to stack might for the party. Finally, stun durations are increase on others and decreased on self by 25%. Start from the lesser this time, Recovery Matrix provides 30% protection uptime (currently 60% as it is bugged and procs twice with healing turret). Since might is taken care of, MM is overkill, therefore we take Recovery Matrix. This gives pack runes a purpose aside from being a fury bot. Permanent swiftness + Backpack regenerator + permanent regeneration boon = about 400 passive healing per second, which is just about a warrior’s healing signet. This allows the engineer to conserve healing turret AND elixir gun 5 for TWO separate water fields blasts. Please understand this; with this much passive healing the Scrapper’s healing skill is used as a raid-wide healing cooldown as opposed to a personal heal. Healing turret base 4k heal + zerg blast + detonate blast is essentially a full raid heal. Finally… Adaptive Armor. The god trait. This provides 100 toughness every second while hit stacking up to 5 times, which ends up being a sustained 500 extra armor in combat. In addition, it proves -20% condi damage taken. Note, this is not condition duration as seen on typical frontline food or hoelbrak runes. This is direct mitigation to condition damage, which is something brand new to HoT and engineer.
GEAR:
Let me begin by saying none of the gear stats are set in stone. The stats for this build, due to certain traits, can afford to drop a lot of survivability for straight berserk gear. Beginning with a pure power/precision/ferocity setup, berserk can slowly be dropped for knights gear until a comfortable armor level is reached (keep adaptive armor in mind). I added a soldiers hammer to the build as well. Considering the removal of guard stacks, which is a loss of 2,500 health, I feel that 16,500 health is a bit too low for frontline,especially when outnumbered. 18,500 feels much more comfortable. Again all of this gear can be swapped for knights/soldiers/zerk to reach whatever stat cap you feel appropriate.
The rune of choice is Superior Rune of the Pack. This provides AoE swiftness, fury, and might on hit which is crucial for party-wide fury uptime. Furthermore, however, it gives the Scrapper the permanent swiftness needed to maintain the passive ~400h/s.
The sigil choice is fairly straight forward as well. Energy for dodge on weapon/kit swap and bloodlust for the damage increase.
SUMMARY:
If you are still reading, thank you. I put a lot of time into typing all of this up and trying to convey why I feel frontline Scrapper is viable. If you skipped everything and are just reading this, that’s fine, but an uninformed opinion on Scrapper’s viability carries no weight nor influence.
Scrapper is the warrior’s cooler cousin. They are fairly similar in playstyle at the core, but Scrapper brings a lot of extras whereas warrior is black and white in terms of what it brings to the raid. A warrior brings party might, AoE swiftness (so does everyone else), focused damage, and a banner. An engineer brings similar party might with a different mechanic, arguably more damage, and utility worth 4-5 pages of text, as opposed to a warrior’s selfish stances. I am not at all suggesting all warriors be replaced with Scrappers, but to say that a Scrapper brings nothing unique and new to a raid group is just insanity. Read above. The healing turret, the disgusting cleave damage, the combo finishers, the fields… poison spray, situational utilities, mortar kit, AoE HGH might stacking, modified banner… permanent party regeneration, A 1200 RANGE STOMP OR REVIVE, wall of reflection, the only stability strip field in the game… I could go on.
The WvW meta has changed, friends. What used to be the the most unloved, under-represented profession in the game which saw no viable use outside of roaming and sPvP is now the powerhouse of the zerg-busting front line.
Please let me know what you all think. I truly believe Scrapper is more than viable in the zerg, however I think people are partially biased by the history of the “engineer”. Engineer in a zerg was never viable before, so why would it be now? Same reason front line parties include druids. They saw a major reworking, they heal better than anything, and they’re worth bringing. Scrappers saw a major reworking, they cleave and bomb better than any other melee, they have high amounts of utility and support that has yet to be seen in a zerging class, and they’re worth bringing.
Thanks for reading,
Aarrgon
which pushes me to around the 45% on top of typically sitting at 3k power after might stacks.