Guild Wars 2

Hi,
So I think Im going to start an engineer. Reading some threads…yah itd be a nice change of pace.

-What races and genders do you think would look the least…goofy with the packs and guns that an engineer utilizes?

-What specs for leveling do you recommend and what stats to stack? I was thinking of a grenade engineer, or flamethrower/elixir gun thingy..

-Any general advice?

For leveling my eng, I used primarily rifle. As for traits, I didn’t really understand those till well after level 80, though now I’m tending toward bunker/control build. Bomb Kit can come in handy as well as Elixir Gun however.

I suggest the first 10 points you spend go to Tools for VI Speedy Kits. That will help the running around part of leveling up quite a bit. Rifle is based on direct damage (and more offensive), and pistols are based on condition damage (and more defensive) so it would probably be a bit better to level with rifle in the early going, but either is good. We’re lucky in that all our weapon sets are great, albeit “all” is only 3 possible combinations.

Bomb Kit is very strong in leveling, the AOE blind is very helpful early on. All the kits really, getting 5 new skills from a kit before you get all your utilities is going to help quite a bit.

Mine is Asura. I dare you to call him goofy.Take a look at the stickied thread we have of Engi screenshots, see which races you think look cool as an Engi.

cesmode.4257:

Hi,
So I think Im going to start an engineer. Reading some threads…yah itd be a nice change of pace.

-What races and genders do you think would look the least…goofy with the packs and guns that an engineer utilizes?

-What specs for leveling do you recommend and what stats to stack? I was thinking of a grenade engineer, or flamethrower/elixir gun thingy..

-Any general advice?

For pve, you really can’t go wrong with berserker type stats…. Grenades really are not overly effective until you can get the grandmaster trait for them, that isn’t to say you can’t use them but perhaps not your best choice. A rifle sd build is pretty effective even at low levels once you can get the static discharge trait. Bombkit is pretty amazing at all levels. I think the best advice to give is simply to say just mess around with the kits and playstyle you like, they will all only become more effective with traits. As for animations well that is entirely subjective, I find charr to feel less “cartoony” than other choices but they have their own set of problems to contend with, from a lore perspective they do make a fair amount of sense being engineers (Iron legion ftw!)

With engies, the general rule of thumb is that if you can justify your choices logically and run the build acceptably, it’s a viable build. There aren’t any engie skills considered worthless, and its very easy to put together a build suiting any particular skillset.

In general, I advocate focusing yourself on one area: choose between bunker, support, cc, crit damage, or condi damage. Pick a weapon that is applicable to your role (shield is amazing for bunker, pistols pack a punch with condis, rifle is godly for cc or crits) and in general, you’ll also want at least one kit that fills a similar or synergistic function. Toolkit is the canonical bunker kit, bombs function well with bunker and support if you take Elixir-Infused Bombs in the invention line, elixir gun works well with support, flamethrower works well with bunker or crits, and grenades work ok with crit or amazing with condis.

Once you’ve got that, you’re half done. Pick your utilities to complement your function: gadgets give cc and mobility, elixirs give damage buffs and support, turrets give CC and meh damage, and an all-kit build has crazy versatility but might not use a kit as well as a more specialized user.

Your elite skill, 90% of the time, will be supply drop. It’s too good of a skill to pass up, and is a really wonderful elite. Elixir X is unreliable, and the mortar, while a lovely idea, is extremely bugged (don’t use it).

Got this far? Now you’re in the home stretch! Choose traits to complement the big parts of your build. Focus on damage with grenades? Take explosive traits. Focus on damage with anything else? You’ll want firearms. Use elixirs? That’s what alchemy’s for. If you do WvW, I’ll strongly strongly recommend that you put 10 points into tools and take Speedy Kits, since it allows you to keep 100% swiftness on yourself.

As far as gear goes, see the same guidelines as the traits. Take what most enhances your primary focus.

Any time anyone asks how to build an engineer, I link this. It’s more relevant at 80, but still holds true while levelling.

General advice: get and learn to use EVERY SKILL in your toolbox. There is no skill that engineers have that doesn’t experience widespread use. Learn which ones you like using, which ones you don’t, which ones complement your build, and which ones have no synergy.

As far as aesthetics, any race more or less works. I’ve got a female human, and the bombkit looks lean and clean, while the elixir gun looks like a giant mess. A lot of people express anger at having large characters for anything requiring spacial awareness, so try small maybe?

Given the aesthetics of the backpacks and deployables of the class, I would suggest Norn, Human, or Charr for race. Asura technology looks a lot “slicker” than the patchwork styling of what the class drops down.

As you are leveling, unless you’re into pvp and will be charging into matches as early as you can, I would suggest unlocking all the kits first. Where as other classes swap between weapons to change up their playstyles, Engineers are much more reliant on abilities from their kits for versatility.

Early on, turrets are rather lackluster compared to the pets, minions, and summons of other classes. They are remarkably effective at drawing aggro, but will only survive one or two hits, so are generally only effective as decoys.

Flamethrower is excellent for solo PvE roaming. Grenade kit is good for group events. Bomb kit I find really effective for kiting melee enemies; just drop them as you run and the AI will walk right into them.

I’ve just started the class, but it seems rather lacking of any real burst damage ability.

Solkard.5136:

…

I’ve just started the class, but it seems rather lacking of any real burst damage ability.

This comes later I promise. Using a Zerker Static Discharge build, you can easily drop 30k damage in a couple seconds even without the best available gear.

Jump Shot, Blunderbuss, Big ’Ol Bomb, Grenade Barrage, Throw Wrench, Pry Bar is a pretty insane burst combo which can get into the 50k range.

Thanks to their diminuitive size, the packs (read: hobosacks) look best on asura. On hulking male norn they just look funny.

That being said, asura run into the same problem no matter the profession: small weapons & scrunched (always male) armor. For an engi, who can only use 3 weapons, it’s not much of a problem, especially since we spend most of our time using kits anyhow. You want a gigantic rifle though, don’t pick asura.

We only have 1 viable elite (Elixir X is a gimmick and Mortar sucks). I like using the asura racial golems when leveling and in open world.

As for play style: try everything. Literally every kit and weapon is useful in some way (yes, even turrets). As you unlock them, give em all a try. Remember that our kits are good, but are amazing traited so don’t be discouraged if grenades aren’t phenominal pre-60 and FT is lackluster pre-40. Also, take Speedy Kits in Tools tree for perma-swiftness to make leveling in open world that much faster. It tends to be a staple of nearly every build.

Adamantium.3682:

Solkard.5136:

…

I’ve just started the class, but it seems rather lacking of any real burst damage ability.

This comes later I promise. Using a Zerker Static Discharge build, you can easily drop 30k damage in a couple seconds even without the best available gear.

From what I understand, the SD build is based around a trait spec that is considered the “glass cannon” build. I would hope the class has some core abilities that would provide some of that aspect without the need of specialization that would lock out other builds.

I find it hard to kill PvE enemies that can heal or regen, simply because I can’t burst out enough damage to overcome their health gain. I generally end up having to change my loadout for heavy conditions, so that I can stack enough bleed and burning to widdle through their replenishing health.

Solkard.5136:

Adamantium.3682:

Solkard.5136:

…

I’ve just started the class, but it seems rather lacking of any real burst damage ability.

This comes later I promise. Using a Zerker Static Discharge build, you can easily drop 30k damage in a couple seconds even without the best available gear.

From what I understand, the SD build is based around a trait spec that is considered the “glass cannon” build. I would hope the class has some core abilities that would provide some of that aspect without the need of specialization that would lock out other builds.

I find it hard to kill PvE enemies that can heal or regen, simply because I can’t burst out enough damage to overcome their health gain. I generally end up having to change my loadout for heavy conditions, so that I can stack enough bleed and burning to widdle through their replenishing health.

Engineers are incredibly trait-dependent for a lot of their builds because of kits. When you’re level 80, you’ll have a better grasp of this and will be able to burst as you wish.

Regarding gear and builds, go for direct damage rather than conditions. Outside of PvP, most Engs are power/crit direct damage based. Condition Engs are rare, and with good reason: condition fights are slower and conditions are often wasted in group fights.

I disagree. With Rabid builds you are very tanky while still dishing out a lot of damage via conditions. I don’t think Condition Engis are as rare as you might think.

Adamantium.3682:

I disagree. With Rabid builds you are very tanky while still dishing out a lot of damage via conditions. I don’t think Condition Engis are as rare as you might think.

This is true, but condition damage builds have an achilles heel in certain scenarios in pve that power based builds do not (condition cap/overwrite, damage against static objects etc etc) . For leveling however you are not likely to encounter too many of those situations so it is probably a moot point, but I think it is worth mentioning since in certain zones there are still very much DE farms in progress (I’m looking at you queensdale). The argument for zerker> all else in pve has been pretty much been talked about ad nauseum, but just the fact that having multiple condition users can lower your performance where as multiple power users is not a decrease in performance, makes power precision crit damage the far better choice for versatility in most situations in my opinion.

Solkard.5136:

Adamantium.3682:

Solkard.5136:

…

I’ve just started the class, but it seems rather lacking of any real burst damage ability.

This comes later I promise. Using a Zerker Static Discharge build, you can easily drop 30k damage in a couple seconds even without the best available gear.

From what I understand, the SD build is based around a trait spec that is considered the “glass cannon” build. I would hope the class has some core abilities that would provide some of that aspect without the need of specialization that would lock out other builds.
~snip~

For all of engineer’s versatility you still need to specialize in some capacity to make it work. Trust the advice being given, if you use damage stat gear you can pretty much run any build and be able to down enemies in no time flat. If you load up on vit tough and still expect to be able to kill things in a timely manner that is not a fault of the engineer class to be honest. Just don’t base engineer damage capability off of the pistol autoattack heh. Also with engineer they don’t have a 1 button burst skill like say a 100b, but that skill takes 3.5 seconds to execute, a engi is quite capable of doing as much or more damage in that timeframe it’s just not done with pressing 1 button. When people say engineer has a higher skill floor than other classes it’s for a reason, the nice thing about that is it also gives a higher skill ceiling which allows for lot’s of personal growth with getting better with the class.

Cesmode,
If you are afraid of looking goofy, then Engi is not for you.

We have a belt buckle that fires a surprise shot, an acid bomb that makes a sound like a bowel movement, a battering ram that pops out of God-knows-where and we smack people with a pry bar. The list goes on and on. Playing an Engi is all about being ridiculous.

Embrace your inner-goofball! I dare you!

ShadowPuppet.3746:

Adamantium.3682:

I disagree. With Rabid builds you are very tanky while still dishing out a lot of damage via conditions. I don’t think Condition Engis are as rare as you might think.

This is true, but condition damage builds have an achilles heel in certain scenarios in pve that power based builds do not (condition cap/overwrite, damage against static objects etc etc) . For leveling however you are not likely to encounter too many of those situations so it is probably a moot point, but I think it is worth mentioning since in certain zones there are still very much DE farms in progress (I’m looking at you queensdale). The argument for zerker> all else in pve has been pretty much been talked about ad nauseum, but just the fact that having multiple condition users can lower your performance where as multiple power users is not a decrease in performance, makes power precision crit damage the far better choice for versatility in most situations in my opinion.

Okay, at first I thought you were saying condition damage was mostly pointless, but this I can agree with. In fact I used to run 2k condition damage a lot and never had my conditions overridden by anyone, but it still had too many downsides for me to use anymore. Namely damage against objects and burst capability. I have since moved to a hybrid build that still has about 1k condition damage so I can get a lot in there, but also about 1600 power. I think that a hybrid build for an Engineer is very strong because we can take full advantage of both the power and the conditions, neither is really “going to waste”.

cesmode.4257:

Hi,
So I think Im going to start an engineer. Reading some threads…yah itd be a nice change of pace.

-What races and genders do you think would look the least…goofy with the packs and guns that an engineer utilizes?

-What specs for leveling do you recommend and what stats to stack? I was thinking of a grenade engineer, or flamethrower/elixir gun thingy..

-Any general advice?

- I personaly play female charr (screen below). Before start I planed play asura but they are just too small to show off, all faces are terrible ect. Charr female has amazing furry tail and one horns what are tweaked with small gears – perfect for engineer. She move and dodge like cat and ofc charr has all racials skill with that engineering feel (you dont use tham later but still if you want a bit RP).
Only problem is with some armors and tail – its clipping fortunately not all of them

- Grenades+ P/P are best way for leveling. Other builds require pretty much all trait points to work. Stack gear with Might, precision, crit damage and condi damage. You pretty much dont need any defensive stat if you lern to move and dodge.

- Every 10 levels go to trading post and buy best green gear for that level. Its incredibly cheap and it helps a lot. Also as was mentioned first 10 trait point invest into tool and get speedy kits. It make your life much easier:-)

Well I play condi engi and I thnik it works just great. I use healing turret,grenades,toolkit and Thumper turret
Healing turret is a must when lvling, it has 2 water blasts with Thumper turret.
I found that grenades works best in PvE, i use mouse for movement, so i just point on me, rightclick, start throwing grenades and kite pve enemies. Toolkit is for defense as skill 4 in block.
And condi engi has only one disadvantage: static enemies like walls, crates etc are slower to kill, but not that slow with grenades.

Adamantium.3682:

ShadowPuppet.3746:

Adamantium.3682:

I disagree. With Rabid builds you are very tanky while still dishing out a lot of damage via conditions. I don’t think Condition Engis are as rare as you might think.

This is true, but condition damage builds have an achilles heel in certain scenarios in pve that power based builds do not (condition cap/overwrite, damage against static objects etc etc) . For leveling however you are not likely to encounter too many of those situations so it is probably a moot point, but I think it is worth mentioning since in certain zones there are still very much DE farms in progress (I’m looking at you queensdale). The argument for zerker> all else in pve has been pretty much been talked about ad nauseum, but just the fact that having multiple condition users can lower your performance where as multiple power users is not a decrease in performance, makes power precision crit damage the far better choice for versatility in most situations in my opinion.

Okay, at first I thought you were saying condition damage was mostly pointless, but this I can agree with. In fact I used to run 2k condition damage a lot and never had my conditions overridden by anyone, but it still had too many downsides for me to use anymore. Namely damage against objects and burst capability. I have since moved to a hybrid build that still has about 1k condition damage so I can get a lot in there, but also about 1600 power. I think that a hybrid build for an Engineer is very strong because we can take full advantage of both the power and the conditions, neither is really “going to waste”.

Yeah I would never say that any one particular build or gear choice is pointless, each will have it’s own distinct advantages or disadvantages. As you said you can be extremely “tanky” using rabid gear while still dishing out respectable damage via the conditions which translates into a fantastic soloing set where you want to win a battle of attrition. However for group play having more than one person specced for condition damage becomes problematic, sadly because of the way conditions work those types of builds end up competing with one another instead of complementing, take burning for example it does not increase in intensity only duration, so having more than one person applying burning in a party is actually a detriment to party wide damage potential since only one member will get credit for the burning damage, or put a grenade engi and a necro in the same party and they will compete for bleed stacks so on and so forth. Mathematically speaking from a group damage potential it has been proven by others much more inclined towards theorycrafting than even I am that power/precision/crit damage is the way to go in terms of group damage potential. Toughness and vitality at a certain level become even less desirable in group play simply because there are certain attacks that no amount of those stats will keep you from being downed (this is mostly true in high level fractals), the caveat is that if a individual player is not comfortable with a certain encounter then having some of those stats is not a bad idea because as we all know dead dps is no dps same holds true however for the enemy. So there is a point to having multiple different types of gear choices even in pve, but certain sets will far outstrip others in terms of their potential usefulness in the widest range of scenarios possible. Of course there is always personal choice, some people just like to feel like they can stand and facetank tons of trash mobs all day, that high defense slow kill speed that is so familiar for anyone who played a traditional tank type in many other mmo’s and who would I be to dictate that their personal preference is incorrect even if it differs from my own.