Guild Wars 2

Hello All,

After playing around with several classes, I have settled on an engineer as my primary alt in sPvP. I usually solo queue ranked, and run the pretty standard cele rifle build. I am obviously still very new to the class, and am still learning the ropes. Could more experienced engineers help to answer the following questions?

1) Are engineers expected to be able to stand on point for long periods of time during teamfights? Am I supposed to facetank a warrior’s longbow F1, or not kite off point, for instance? Obviously, point holding is better left to d/d eles, shoutbows and bunkers. However, in a situation where my team does not have any of these, should I still attempt to stand largely on point or will that usually be too risky to my poor charr?

2) How are good engineers able to survive for relatively long periods of time under focused fire from more than one player(eg. in a teamfight or a 1v2)? What sort of tricks do they employ? I find myself dying really quickly the moment gear shield goes on cooldown.

3) How would you categorize the builds below in terms of the following orders of difficulty to fight 1v1? I would like to know so that I can better rotate, and know when to kick myself if I lose an easy matchup. If it helps, I am pretty certain that my MMR is significantly but not staggeringly above average (I get matched against big names now and then), so you can assume that the players I face are experienced with their class.

A) Almost impossible to win 1v1. Avoid whenever possible (eg. S/D thief vs Shatter Mesmer matchup)
B) Difficult matchup. 1/3 chance of winning.
C) Even matchup. 50/50.
D Easy matchup. 2/3 chance of winning.
E) Lol faceroll

Warrior: Shoutbow | Hambow | Axe/X Longbow | Condition warrior
Guardian: Meditation (Both GS and Hammer variants)
Mesmer: Power shatter | Condition Shatter
Ranger: Power longbow | Condi point holder
Elementalist: D/D celestial |S/F Fresh air
Thief: D/P | S/D
Necromancer: Power | Terrormancer

Thanks in advance!

You can contest a point for a decent amount of time with 1 or 2 people focusing you, but you should move off point as soon as someone tankier gets on it if there’s pressure on you. If no one is around to relieve you, and you don’t absolutely need to hold the point longer (for win, or with stillness ticking), get the hell out. You’re fast enough to reset fights vs pretty much anyone that isn’t a thief, use that to your advantage and either reset then re-engage or move to a different fight where you can help.

You have gear shield to use when under pressure, but be careful using it vs enemy engineers, focus mesmers, rangers with entangle off cooldown, and eles/guard with static/ring/line warding skills, as they can interrupt your gear shield early with CC, turning you into a freekill. One of the best ways to lessen pressure is to detonate your healing turret to CC (multiple) melee players, then either crate or slick shoes before they get up. You can use Jump Shot into one of your two water fields for a little extra heal as well. Other than heal and block, CC is your best way to avoid pressure. You can turn fights around with a good burst, even 1v2. If there is strong ranged pressure on you, though, you will have to move off point and line of sight them. You could crate a zerker mesmer or ranger shooting you from a ledge, but it would only give you a slight reprieve. You really need to LoS and lure them down, or reset the fight.

As a cele engi, you can 1v1 pretty much anyone that isn’t heavy condi. Some high CC builds like lockdown mesmer can screw you over as well, but they’re not as common in the current meta. Some hybrid builds with good condi pressure can kill you easily as well. Things that will kill you 80+% of the time are terrormancers and condi rangers, as well as a few other annoying condi builds that aren’t seen as often. Do not attempt to 1v1 these unless absolutely necessary. Builds with high projectile hate will cause you trouble, like s/f fresh air eles and m/s wars, but you can outplay these if you haven’t used all your cooldowns.

temporal curtain is blockable

1. Never ever ever ever stand on point unless you have to! And if you have to, you probably lost!
2. Engineers melt very quickly when focused! If you don’t want to be focused, don’t overextend!
3. If you play right, cele Engis can pretty much beat everything 1v1! Condi Necromancers will be the hardest! Any condi build could give you some trouble!

Good luck! Wahoo! Bye frands!

Cele engis can do it all.

But you need to tell us your trait setup and other utilities you use.

In terms of contesting points only remain there as long as you can. Use common sense. This is true of all builds. Unless you are specifically built to tank (bunker guard / turret engi) then just use common sense. Theres no defined role for a cele engi.

Sustaining yourself in a fight comes down to a lot of things. I run a 6/0/0/4/4 setup in pvp. Obvioisly taking speedy kits and invigorating speed. This gives you a lot more dodge rolls as you rotate through your kits. Take accelerant packed turrets also. If you are under pressure drop the heal turret trigger the healing burst which also drops a water field and blast the turret with F1. This will also help to knock back any close range opponents and give you a heal. i also use elixir S which gives you an invuln and access to inviz with the tool belt skill. Use it to disengage. Lastly use line of sight to obstruct enemy attacks. Go behind a wall. Kite around a statue.

Next you have chills and blinds on your grenades. Great for close range fights! If you are running away target the grens behind you to keep them off your back.

All the while doing these things try to dodge the heavy attacks. Your constant equipment swapping will keep your endurance going enough to get the extra dodge roll and swiftness.

I usually run backpack regenerator in pvp but if im going to 1v1 a warrior i take protection injection and run slick shoes instead of elixir S.

Thats the beauty of cele engi. Just equip what you need to suit the situation.

Oh and of course if all else fails. DROP THE CRATE.

(And get the medpaks!)

Thanks for the input everyone. Some very useful information in there!

I run 6/0/0/4/4. Pretty normal build, but with leg mods and protection injection instead of power wrench and backpack regenerator. I definitely have a problem with overextending, so I gotta work on that.

Not sure if leg mods is giving you much value man. Try power wrench (20% cd on all toolkit skills including gear shield!) Or put the extra two trait points back into elixirs and take backpack regen which will really help you sustain better in fights.

Leg mods vs power wrench is debatable to a certain extent even though power wrench tends to be better.
Backpack regenerator is simply mandatory. Don’t listen to meta battle. Never take protection injection over it.

If you want to do the whole on point thing with an Engi, Trikit/Dualkit condi can do it to near infinity while applying decent counter condi pressure.

I find it A LOT more reliable in the current meta as well as a bit easier to get used to.
Cele Engi needs to make good use of certain Cooldowns to be able to do well. Totally a BETTER build in many ways but for on point, dual/trikit condi just excells.

If you’re not running Backpack Regenerator, you’re doing it wrong!

Wahoo! Bye frands!