Guild Wars 2

…but I want to know, so I will brave the fires and pitchforks and hurled tomaters!

Pick those suckers up after the thread’s done, Make sure I don’t need to buy them buggers again the next time I power-level cooking for ex-pees

ANYWAYS.

What on earth is the “SD Rifle” Engineer build I keep hearing about? It’s supposed to be the new cat’s meow for the class, even better than HGH Grenadier and such, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why. Most of the time I can figure out what a new Hawt Bild is all about with a bit of experimentation in gw2skills, but for this one I just don’t know.

I’m aware that it’s based on Static Discharge, which is a neat little perk of a trait but does not strike me as the sort of thing one designs an entire build around. let alone the sort of thing one designs a heavy-duty meta build around. What am I missing? Other than those tomatoes heading me way in three…two…one…dd

Whew! Daily Evasion +1! Yeah!

New? This is one of the oldest builds around. Anyway, it is generally an x/30/x/x/30 style build that uses the trait static discharge from the tools line, and utilities with targeted and low recast skill on their tool belt version. Each time you use a tool belt skill with the SD trait, it shoots out a bolt of lightening that bounces between foes.

Essentially it is the classic engineer glass cannon build.

the SD rifle build uses the rifle’s hard hitting and control abilities along with quick, fast recharging tool belt abilities to proc static discharge and burst your target down quickly.

with that being said rifle SD and hgh grenades are both low-mediocre builds in the current meta in terms of effectiveness. if you want to run a glassy SD build, run grenade SD. it has more survivability, more control, more sustained damage, and most important, waaay more burst.

Hmm…suppose that’s what I get for not paying attention to class forums since…well, beta weekends.

So! Sate my curiosity – what’re the things people who aren’t using low-mediocre builds are doing these days? Note that I do general PvE/‘scrub’ dungeon runs (i.e. non-skipping, non-speedrun normal clears with my equally underachieving guildmates. GTFC for you and for me!). Been struggling with Engineers since release – I want to like them and level them properly, but Gehenna if I can find a build I really like the look of. Yes yes, I know, “you can do whatever you want in scrub PvE”, but that doesn’t mean I’m not rather curious.

As for SD…well. I suppose that’s simple enough, though it has the definite flavor of a PvP build. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t grok it at first. Oh well. Thanks anyways folks, appreciated.

just survive and youll be golden
take other traits if you like, but leave mod ammo, grenadier, and speedy kits

Hello frands! Vee Wee here, #1 Engi NA and world first rank 80!

If you’re curious I run this build in PvE! http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqelIqSYX3SiF17IyoCdGoH1FgNife8WtFEC-jwBBYfBkEBgKAMzsIasVOFRjVXDT5iIqGA-e
And I swap out EG and Elixir R for Bomb Kit and Elixir S if we need more might stacks or if we’re stacking!

and you can absolutely run Rifle SD in PvE! But ArrDee is right! Grenade SD is way better in PvE and PvP though SD builds are pretty poop in general in PvP!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

I use the cookie-cutter variety of SD build in WvW: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vcAQFAUlsTptrlcxmKseNSM6Bp78mB9wu51vfKQXA-z0xAYrgQUCCRAM5VEN2ibR0Y11YKXioaSBExYA-w

Healing turret is also a nice thing to slot with this, especially with APT, but I like the medkit since it has the stimulant and allows you to get a heal recharge when you’re low. I’ve also tried swapping out rifle turret for personal battering ram, which worked fairly well (although you wouldn’t take APT if you had no turrets).

The main idea with this is to CC your opponent (i.e. overcharged shot & net shot), then use the F2-F4 tool belt abilities to proc the static discharge ability multiple times, causing heavy damage on the opponent. Then you usually follow up with high damage rifle abilities (i.e. blunderbuss, jump shot).

The utility goggles are handy for giving you fury, but you can also use the stun breaker to cancel out of the self-CC that overcharged shot causes, allowing you to be very aggressive. Magnet and pry bar on the tool kit also add some nice CC and damage, and the gear shield can be a life saver. Generally, you won’t lay down the rifle turret since you want to keep spamming surprise shot (the rifle turret tool belt skill), but it can be a useful thing to drop due to the CC from APT you get. It’s sometimes also just nice to drop the rifle turret when you need to back off and heal, or you need a blast finisher for something. Also, exploding your turret also procs static discharge, so you can get an extra SD bolt in there as well.

The common video demo of this build is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl6z-RjPUGg, although it is slightly outdated. The build should still play mostly the same though.

Since this build is complete glass, it’s a case of killing/CCing them before they kill you. I’ve roamed and zerged with it quite frequently in WvW, and it can be pretty fun/effective in most situations (not always though). It’s also decent for general PvE, although one of the other builds quoted above would probably be better overall for that particular application. I haven’t really tried it out in sPvP, but I feel it would be tough to make viable in a tournament setting. Can probably work in hotjoins though.

Once you learn how to handle an engineer in zerker gear it doesn’t matter really your trait setups. But you have to have 30 in Tools. I run 0/30/0/10/30 Rifle HT TK RT and RB which is a pretty cookie cutter build, although sometimes I use Pistol/Shield with it too, it’s more about timing your abilities and learning to survive than the build itself. No get out of jail free cards.

Hmm…all right.

I know the grenade kit is hands-down the best weapon* for the class, but find me in the Alps if I don’t start hating my life a little bit after trying to use it steadily for a few hours. I’ve got the multi-button MMOuse you need to really break the thing open (Naga4Lyfe), but Lawdee the carpal tunnel on that blasted thing…anybody got any creative solutions for using grenades without risking medical conditions?

Anyways. Thanks for the advice and assistance; much appreciated, folks. Will definitely be investigating some new options for the class when the 15th hits and we get the rest of our balance updates. Just kinda sad that most of the new Grandmasters (for everybody) are such poo…

DevilLordLaser.8619:

anybody got any creative solutions for using grenades without risking medical conditions?

I personally like to hot key my most used kit to the weapon swap button “~”. This happened to solve a lot of the problems that I see everyone else was having, as it lets me swap more effectively and promotes a more fluid playing experience in general. My suggestion, pick the kit you are going to swapping to the most and have the utility bar hotkey that number to your weapon swap.