Guild Wars 2

Hello all. I just hit the 10-point mark in the Tools trait line. I’m going to put 20 points into this line for the Scope master trait to complement my rifle damage/crowd control build, but I’m not sure what to do with the adept trait.

Because I primarily play open world PvE (solo more often than not), I’m not sure I’d get much use out of Always Prepared. And because the goal is to not be put into the downed state, I tend to shy away from traits that only activate when downed.

The only gadget I run is Slick Shoes, and I only use that to get out of trouble when things go south. So Speedy Gadgets isn’t going to be of any use to me. I do run the Flamethrower for “farming” DE’s with lots of mobs, so Kit Refinement, too, would be of limited use to me. And I’ve completely ruled out Deployable Turrets and Speedy Kits.

That leaves Static Discharge. I’ve got a turret on my utility bar giving me access to a Toolbet skill with a short CD timer. So I’m thinking this is probably going to be my best bet. Does this trait get the thumbs up from you veteran Engineers? Or would I be just as well off taking Always Prepared for emergencies? Thanks.

Scope right now doesn’t work, so don’t take it. A lot of players recommend Static Discharge while leveling up in a direct-dmg build, but I have no personal experience with it.

Why would you rule out Speedy Kits with the Flamethrower though? It doesn’t take much to swap in and out.

Static discharge is good, does good damage and bounces from target to target so coupled with the flamethrower it will give you good aoe damage output. Speedy Kits is also very helpful for perma swiftness. Also as Ayestes said the scope trait is not working.

Definitely! Just take speedy kits when running from place to place and then switch for static discharge when you fight stuff.

Kit refinement with flamethrower does remove a condition (10 second cooldown) so that can be very useful since engineers don’t have much condition removal below level 40.

Thanks for the replies. I didn’t know Scope was bugged, so that’s certainly good to know. I don’t want Speedy Kits because I’m usually not in that big a hurry to get from Point A to Point B; and the times I am I’m a WP away from being there in no time at all.

Yesterday I stepped back to evaluate my build (or future build) as a whole. And I came to question the use of the Rifle Turret to up my damage output. “If I replaced it with Utility Goggles, coupled with Analyze, would the combined Fury and Vulnerability not increase my damage output by more than that of the Rifle Turret?”, I asked myself. This would also give me a reason to run Speedy Gadgets.

Then I asked myself, “If you’re going to do that, why not just run Elixir B?” I’m assuming, of course, that the overall damage output would be increased more by Elixir B than by the combination of Utility Goggles and Analyze; but I don’t know if this is actually true. If it isn’t, please correct me.

So I’m still sitting at not knowing what I want to do. Maybe I just need to completely rethink what it is I want out of this class. Do I want to continue to strive for the Jack-of-all-Trades PvE balance I’ve used as a model for all of my other characters? This involves a bit of offense and a bit of defense and a bit of flavor to set it apart from my other characters?

Or do I want to specialize solely in the “flavor” (the playstyle upon which I focus the build) with just enough offense to keep killing mobs in PvE from becoming a tedious chore? This would obviously be at the expense of well-roundedness, but it would give my Engineer a more distinctive playstyle; which is always a good thing when one has four other characters he plays regularly. In the case of my Engineer, the flavor would probably be crowd control.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. And, please, keep it coming.

I would say as level 40ish u can bump urself kinda godly if you get some might stacks
Right now at level 80 I love soloing any place even those big vets in Orr (talking about the giants) and some champions as well, just by stacking 25 stacks of might… easily 99% of the time having 22 stacks, not even counting the combo with the crate. So… knowing that each stack of might at level 40 would give you 17 power + 17 condition dmg (at level 80 u do 875 power and 875 cond dmg) then you would be doing some nice combo with shield blast + napalm from ur FT (gives 3 stacks of might), then use ur Elixir to get 3 to 4 more stacks of might so we are talking about 6 to 7… and… if you level up more and u get ur last training book, u chooose Juggernaut for ur FT giving u around 7 might + 6 thats already 13 stacks then u can get HGH to get extra might even by drinking any elixir to get some extra 4 stacks of might (drinking + tossing) which goes up to 17 stacks. I combine static discharge with my throwing elixirs, that way I not just get buffed, I also hit multiple targets… the great thing is static discharge has no CD… I love Throwing Elixir H + Elixir B in Chain doing double static discharge, also incendiary ammo would fire a static discharge WITH fire, without even firing ur weapon (u need to target something in order to make it work). Same goes to rocket kick (big cone AOE burn dmg).

Also I wanted to ask ppl here, there is something that I really wanted to know… does Static discharge has any condition dmg? or just plain dmg?

For myself, I use the Utility Goggles/Analyze option, because I have Elixir B on auto from the Alchemy tree.

Keep in mind the idea is to keep fury up 100% of the time, so you would also want to use medkit #5 cycling back and forth between medkit and ft and using goggles as needed.

I have speedy gadgets, speedy kits (because I have the 50% chance to vuln on crit rather than swift on crit) coupled with protection injection and deadly mixture in the alchemy tree. If I am in pvp I swap out protection injection for elixir S auto.

Then fireforged trigger and juggernaut in the firearms tree along with the +50% vuln.

I am constantly respeccing back and forth between 20 Tools and 10 explosives (for burn on crit) 10 tools (i stick with speedy gadgets) because I used speedy kits like crack while leveling, and it is a hard habit to break, but perma swift during combat is pretty nice with all the kit swapping.

nakoda.4213:

For myself, I use the Utility Goggles/Analyze option, because I have Elixir B on auto from the Alchemy tree.

Keep in mind the idea is to keep fury up 100% of the time, so you would also want to use medkit #5 cycling back and forth between medkit and ft and using goggles as needed.

I have speedy gadgets, speedy kits (because I have the 50% chance to vuln on crit rather than swift on crit) coupled with protection injection and deadly mixture in the alchemy tree. If I am in pvp I swap out protection injection for elixir S auto.

Then fireforged trigger and juggernaut in the firearms tree along with the +50% vuln.

I am constantly respeccing back and forth between 20 Tools and 10 explosives (for burn on crit) 10 tools (i stick with speedy gadgets) because I used speedy kits like crack while leveling, and it is a hard habit to break, but perma swift during combat is pretty nice with all the kit swapping.

It is a very interesting build, I would like to know what do you use against a thief that goes with the chain burst? I’m sure ur using something to stun him besides the crate, lets not mention crate because its a big CD. I usually go for the shield, but in order to trigger it I wait for him to start attacking me, some would even petrify me then I go Elixir S fast switch to FT burn him, smoke (blind), rocket kick, vent, and then… I go shield discharge to wait for him to hit me and get stunned for 2 secs. My drawback is that I need urgently to have rune of altruism available for PVP, I know devs are working on that since there were stuff they didnt add for PVP such as trident stuff, etc (as I read around the forums).

Yours attempts a high dmg because of vulnerability and I like it, but I would like to know what would you do to CC a thief cuz they have a very fast burst, melee range.

Also if anyone could please answer, Im curious about this:
does Static discharge has any condition dmg? or just plain dmg?

Naioby.3705:

Also if anyone could please answer, Im curious about this:
does Static discharge has any condition dmg? or just plain dmg?

As far as I know, just plain dmg.

Static Discharge works differently with different skills. If it is a targeted attack skill like Ram head or Suprise Shot then the lightning will track the enemy that you have targeted.

If using GTAoE skills like Thrown Elixir or Grenade Barrage the lightning will go towards the center if the AoE.

If using other (buff) self target skills like Healing Mist or Incendiary ammo the lighitning will tend to shoot straight out where you have the camera aimed.

Sometimes it works differently but either way the Targetted Attack type skills will net you reliable damage with Static Discharge while all the others are kindof a toss up if the lightning will hit or just go into the ground.

Static Discharge rifle build still is the better direct dps build for engi as glass cannon, viable in wvw and open pve. I like TK, Rifle T and Goggles, this way u can use well the toolbelt skills and TK gonna be rly versatile for many situations, atm i love more p/s cond bomb build but sd rifle build is amazing also.

Naioby.3705:

nakoda.4213:

For myself, I use the Utility Goggles/Analyze option, because I have Elixir B on auto from the Alchemy tree.

Keep in mind the idea is to keep fury up 100% of the time, so you would also want to use medkit #5 cycling back and forth between medkit and ft and using goggles as needed.

I have speedy gadgets, speedy kits (because I have the 50% chance to vuln on crit rather than swift on crit) coupled with protection injection and deadly mixture in the alchemy tree. If I am in pvp I swap out protection injection for elixir S auto.

Then fireforged trigger and juggernaut in the firearms tree along with the +50% vuln.

I am constantly respeccing back and forth between 20 Tools and 10 explosives (for burn on crit) 10 tools (i stick with speedy gadgets) because I used speedy kits like crack while leveling, and it is a hard habit to break, but perma swift during combat is pretty nice with all the kit swapping.

It is a very interesting build, I would like to know what do you use against a thief that goes with the chain burst? I’m sure ur using something to stun him besides the crate, lets not mention crate because its a big CD. I usually go for the shield, but in order to trigger it I wait for him to start attacking me, some would even petrify me then I go Elixir S fast switch to FT burn him, smoke (blind), rocket kick, vent, and then... I go shield discharge to wait for him to hit me and get stunned for 2 secs. My drawback is that I need urgently to have rune of altruism available for PVP, I know devs are working on that since there were stuff they didnt add for PVP such as trident stuff, etc (as I read around the forums).

Yours attempts a high dmg because of vulnerability and I like it, but I would like to know what would you do to CC a thief cuz they have a very fast burst, melee range.

Also if anyone could please answer, Im curious about this:
does Static discharge has any condition dmg? or just plain dmg?

Tbth, CC thieve’s are a pain in my backside, but I’m not the only one, so my misery loves the company. Essentially for for CC thieves, I have both goggles (stun break) elixir R or S (stun breaks), med kit 4 (cond removal sometimes lucky enough to hit a CC instead of a bleed) and I have P/Shield as well for the blocks, knock back, and daze. It isn’t pretty, and they give me grief, but I console myself knowing that that thief is locked down trying to take me out and not someone else as I rampage through a zerg setting everything on fire.

If I have the prescience of mind to actually see the thief coming I will try to get a pistol 3 ready and fire it off on him as he starts his frenzy so that the confusion lashes back as his first strike or so gets to me. FT 3 is then wicked for keeping him at bay, ideally you want to keep any foe within the flame jet, not exactly at melee range, so anything you can do to knock them back is awesome. Sometimes I try swapping out goggles for rocket boots to maintain that stun break, adds burning, and distance,

so, rocket boots -> ft 2 -> ft 4 (they run through get burned on way back to me) -> med 5 (fury swift) -> P 3 (confuse) -> ft 2 -> ft 3 -> shield 5 ** throw (daze) -> FT 1.

note that the problems with FT 2 missing because FT 3 knockdown isn’t long enough.. you have to fire the FT 2 first and PUSH the foe into the explosion. timing is tricky, but as always, timing is critical for engie combos.

For me replacing Goggles with Elixir Gun in SD build greatly improved versatility and survivability. Elixir F bounces nicely and hits heavy sometimes, Super Elixir along with its Kit Refinement brother and Throw Wrench (100% Projectile Finisher + Light Field = good) added much sought condi removal. Overcharged Shot and Rocket Boots (greatly underrated skill in my opinion, also serves as my only stunbreaker) also take care of movement-impairing condis.

CriSPeH.8512:

Static Discharge works differently with different skills. If it is a targeted attack skill like Ram head or Suprise Shot then the lightning will track the enemy that you have targeted.

If using GTAoE skills like Thrown Elixir or Grenade Barrage the lightning will go towards the center if the AoE.

If using other (buff) self target skills like Healing Mist or Incendiary ammo the lighitning will tend to shoot straight out where you have the camera aimed.

Sometimes it works differently but either way the Targetted Attack type skills will net you reliable damage with Static Discharge while all the others are kindof a toss up if the lightning will hit or just go into the ground.

Nice info, thanks for the description on variations with the static discharge.

I was wondering why some of the blasts were hitting the target, some were going to the ground, and others would go in weird directions.