Guild Wars 2

I have always found this build to be the most effective. I am sure people very skilled with the skill builds can do better, but this build is incredibly forgiving and does enough damage to wear down almost any enemy before they can get you. Two years ago when I started playing engi this was the most effective build I could find, and it’s weathered every patch. Mainly PvP and small group wvw, but also awesome in pve.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqelUUhSuY1Vw+Kw6FLsF1YbMGfB4HWiBgYHNFPBA-TJBBwAAOBA12fwcZgNPAAA

Optional changes:
elixir H for heal turret. Turret does more heal with group support, same Condi removal as elixir (409 with chug and throw) but ht is faster.
Elixir b instead of r: I like r for 6 dodges (sigil of energy, perma 50% energy regeneration), imob clear, and the clutch rez throw. B gets more damage and stability.

Use your blocks, elixir s, and heal to stay alive. Use f1 often, and always before doing shield 4 to get the blast heal. If they try melee burst, shield 5->prybar.
main damage is prybar, throw wrench, and pdv. Use static shot to blind. Always self rez with throw r, can escape with throw s, always use cutback maneuvers in stealth to throw off enemies. Hide magnet pull lines by using through particle fields-> prybar face.
Use med kit drop if you get behind on healing. Ht-> oc, pickup for max healing over time, detonate for helping allies.
elixer s stomps and rezzes.

Enjoy

I can indeed see that this build is forgiving, but it does look really, really difficult to kill anyone with it. You have a lot of power, but your p/s weapon set will do very little damage. Toolkit will do okay sustained damage for you, but most opponents will not let you stay within melee range (or if they do, they’re a thief or a greatsword warrior and you don’t want to be in melee range). You also don’t have any mobility, so low-health targets can easily get away from you.

If it’s working for you, then play what works. But if you do find that it’s hard to get a kill, I would suggest swapping p/s for rifle. You will lose a little defense, but you’ll gain cc, lots of damage, and a little mobility.

Alternatively, you may consider switching to another amulet (like settler) to get some condition. damage. Then your p/s weapon set will also be more useful.You take a lot of condition damage traits in marksman line, but your condi damage with soldier amulet is very low. Since the June 23rd patch, condis deal much less damage when your condi. damage stat is low. You may then also switch runes to something more condi. oriented, or something more defensive to offset the vitality loss from not using solider amulet, if you prefer.

Power based build using pistol shield? Use rifle since you are running Soldiers.
Same goes for traits that are orientated towards conditions, you have no use for it since you have no condition dmg beyond might.

Sigil of Energy is a good choice but Sigil of Accuracy is not, if you want those extra crits, go for Intellegence instead.

You have no damaging kit at all. Even your pistols will barely deal damage.

Inventions is much better than Tools now, only good trait you have there is Power Wrench, Inventions gives you a lot more.

If you swap Elixir B for Elixir gun you can stack might more AND get more utility, You just lose out on stability.

To be honest the build is pretty poor and all over the place.

I’ve seen similar build like this wreck people in wvw roaming, but it needs to be condition based , your current runeset really doesnt do you much, also elixir H :O .. + rampager gears or something

I really don’t see that killing anyone. Mostly because it’s just…. too straightforward. It’s easy to read and you have a limited range of actions you can take.
You have a ton of health and toughness, sure, but all you’re doing is mostly auto-attacking and going for the odd pull from stealth.

I’m aware that p/s in a soldier amulet seems bizarre, but it does end up working better (for me, at least). The rifle without a doubt does much more damage, but the utility of the p/s set is key for survival which is the focus of the build. It’s about grinding them down, letting them mess up and eventually die before you because you just absolutely refuse to ever die yourself. Here’s why I go p/s not rifle:
Compare auto-attack: any fair comparison in a build with baseline condi damage and obviously rifle is way better, but pistol does still keep ticking away. Not great damage, but it does deal damage and slowly wear them down.
Skill 2: i find net shot hard to hit. it can be done, and many more skilled players have great results, I’m sure. However, in the end i find net shot only ok. Does zero damage and is hard to hit from much range (which is when you most want to stop them moving). Compare to PDV, which does good damage scaling with power, and the poison can really ruin enemy heals when timed well. That goes along nicely with the build’s general approach of slowly grinding them down. Some damage, and don’t let them heal it off. The mh pistol conditions are all about utility, not damage. The real pistol condi damage is in blowtorch offhand (which of course would not go with this build).
Skill 3: again I find this hard to hit on rifle. it does awesome damage when you do hit with it in melee, but again this build doesn’t care about doing tons of damage, just need to stay alive longer. Pistol 3 does meh damage, but it can stop a burst. The blind really blocks most burst openers pretty well, and many players I’ve found stop bursting when they see confusion pop up (it wouldn’t do much really, but the mental effect still happens). Again it’s about the utility in the blind/confusion and not so much about the damage.
Skill 4: I am not a fan of this on rifle, especially in a build with no stability and only elixir s stun break. Shield 4 is very versatile. Reflect, blast, knockback.
Skill 5: Rifle does massive damage and gains some mobility here again, which is good, but not super critical for this build. Shield 5 blocks, which is great, and in melee range gives a stun that can open them up for retaliatory attack. Saved my hide several times. Mobility isn’t an issue in this build with perma-swiftness and super speed (on TK swap every 20 sec). I find I feel plenty mobile. Also magnet can work as a gap closer in a pinch, and box of nails tends to keep enemies slowed down.

I take the precision sigil over intelligence because intelligence effect is blocked by the energy sigil effect (I think that is still the case since they are both “on swap” sigils). I’ve used the chance to chill on hit sigil before with grenth runes, which actually does pretty nicely and fits the theme of the build well (grind down the enemy slowly). That’s a great alternate.

I disagree that power wrench is the only good tools trait i get. The permanent 50% endurance regen (equal to vigor now) means a lot more dodges and opens up alchemy adept for protection injection. The +10% damage with full endurance isn’t bad either, especially with elixir R to insta fill endurance (gets some of the damage that, as pointed out, is badly needed). Reduced toolbelt recharge is also great in general, but especially for elixir R toss for rez. Elixir gun instead of elixir R would change all that of course, and I’m sure would be a good build for some people, but I’ve just found it less effective than elixir R and tools.

There may be a better amulet, but I’ve just always found myself not doing as well with others. The soldier appears mismatched to the build, but it just works out in my experience shrug

@Dirame your skepticism is warranted, and in truth I rarely kill anyone in 1v1. However, that’s because team members will almost always arrive before the conclusion of such a drawn-out affair. In a 1v2 it still fairs similarly, though, and then your teammates can easily outnumber elsewhere. It is really a bunker build. But nothing in this game is as close to unstoppable force as this build is to an immovable object (aside from the occasionally bugged beyond broken move after patches, lookin’ at you grenade barrage). That means that when team mates do arrive, I’m usually still near full health whereas the opponent is not because of the slow attrition.

if you are dead set on using p/s you should use carrion amulet and different runes. currently you are stacking power damage while using a condition damage weapon and condition damage traits. that is the opposite of synergy, something all builds should aim for.

I would just change some traits and learn how to use rifle. it has excellent damage and control, and as such is very popular in conquest.