Guild Wars 2

I have recently invested in making a scrapper and have been having lots of fun however I can’t help but worry. I have been reading countless post and heard people talking about engi/scrapper not being in meta or being unable to win vs other classes is there any merit to these statements? If there is are there any plans to improve engi/scrapper all I have seen are nerfs that seem uncalled for. if engi isn’t able to win against other classes played by players around the same skill level in roaming, not being able to put up with other classes in ranked or lacking the dps other classes have in pve content I think there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

You should read the threads and decide for yourself, Harry. Not everyone agrees on the actual state of the Engie/Scrapper in the current meta, so you need to choose who you believe.

Widest common ground seems to be “Hammer is the best weapon, Rifle is really bad, Shield is not useable”, and that the two major builds for Engie are hammer power Scrapper and pistol/pistol condi Base Engie.

I feel I pretty succinctly covered my own opinion of how engineer/scrapper fares in PvP in a thread I wrote a couple weeks ago. You can find it here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/PvP-What-is-our-role-this-season-exactly/first#post6451725

If you don’t want to click the link: my honest assessment of this season is that it’s very difficult to progress solo-queuing in platinum as an engineer. The volatility in skill level between matches even during prime time means that you have to play a “carry” role to do well, and the truth of the matter is that engineer cannot provide that. We aren’t a bad class, and scrapper is actually quite a solid teamfighter, but with the way the season is designed, and with how survivable warrior and dragonhunter are while outputting substantially more damage, we are absolutely not a “meta” class anymore. Like I said, I go much better in depth on this in my own thread, and I encourage you to read it (and respond to it) if you have the time.

Regarding other aspects of the game, engineer is always a valuable class in fractals due to its versatility. We don’t deal top tier damage anymore, but taking the Elixir Gun and Mortar Kit with the meta condi build gives us good to great sustain and some team support.

In raids, engineer still deals competitive DPS, but the condi ranger build is a lot easier to play and outperforms it on the boss fights where condi actually matters. I think most engineers in my guild that still raid just play the power build now.

I can’t speak for WvW because I barely play it, but on Sea of Sorrows I’ve had plenty of success both roaming and zerging with scrapper. In zergs I run a Soldier/Berserker mix and roaming I run full Celestial.

Scrappers are OP in PvP, I even killed someone today!

Phineas Poe.3018:

I can’t speak for WvW because I barely play it, but on Sea of Sorrows I’ve had plenty of success both roaming and zerging with scrapper. In zergs I run a Soldier/Berserker mix and roaming I run full Celestial.

Do you mind sharing your Celestial build?

I play pretty much exclusively WvW roaming/small scale, and scrapper can be quite an amazing character, but it’s pretty situational – double res is nice, AoE stealth is nice too if the enemy doesn’t know your numbers. I also run build with a lot of CC and can share a lot of Superspeed, which helps chasing/escaping.

Sure. I cannot guarantee it’s usefulness for you, as I tend to adopt builds to my personal playstyle, but this is pretty much what I run in WvW, both roaming and in zergs: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASlUUhSuY7Ww6KQ7FLTGF9fn37t4zUABQ42lMhFA-TlBGABA8AAO4CAky+D6pEUKlfQq+DA-w

Lol, exactly the same build, sometimes I take rifle and I change inventions by firearms because I prefert the game play of the rifle, but otherwise it is the same ^^

darknanor.6810:

Lol, exactly the same build, sometimes I take rifle and I change inventions by firearms because I prefert the game play of the rifle, but otherwise it is the same ^^

No doubt I’m sure most run something similar. After all, what I posted wasn’t that different from the default “meta” build; I just prefer the Elixir Gun over Elixir S, and I think HGH is far superior to Iron Blooded, even in zergs.

I tend to opt for Elixir B due to the on command swiftness and stability, but if you’re rolling with a friend who can offer you these things, I’d take Bulwark/Purge Gyro or even Rocket Boots instead.

I also think Mortar Kit is the most underrated elite skill in this game. With Celestial, Elixir Shell heals for a ton and the chill/blind fields give you some kiting potential.

In WvWvW I can at least attest that the engineer can hold it’s own. It isn’t impossible to win against people who are your skill level or even slightly better. Scrapper roaming is not difficult or anything particularly off-putting.

In other game modes I have found that perhaps the Engineer is best understood for its original intention as a “jack-of-all trades”. It really does do that. It isn’t the “best” at anything but it is truly far from abysmal at any given thing. You shouldn’t feel too discouraged in playing with one in PUGs or with friends since most people will not harshly judge you.

It really isn’t great for high pressure, high tier content such as speed runs but otherwise it’s a fine placement and nestled right where you’d actually expect a jack-of-all type class to be. I am uncertain whether I personally think that it is a great state but I admit that the versatility of the class really should lower its standing in the hierarchies of “best” classes.

DGraves.3720:

It isn’t the “best” at anything but it is truly far from abysmal at any given thing.

I agree, and in many instances this is a good thing. Open world, engineer is among the best classes at soloing hero points. In high level fractals, where a mix of support, survivability, and damage is needed, engineer is also incredibly valuable.

In raids, engineers are still worth taking, but the condi engi rotation is literally masochism, especially if you’re stuck fighting the same boss for several hours. Besides, not only does condi ranger do more damage than condi engineer, it does so with a simpler rotation—while having the added value of swapping to druid and fulfilling both tank and support roles of the raid.

The status quo of the engineer in raid content is simply untenable.

As for PvP, I think it’s a much more convoluted issue that is hard to explain without experiencing it yourself. You’re either too tanky and take too long to kill anyone, or you’re too squishy to properly 1v1 half the professions in the game.

Condi Ranger has to flank for that dps and is heavily crippled by a moving target, where Engi basicly only loses Napalm. If you can handle Engi, the dps will be higher, but as mentioned before, if you aren’t really into Engi, Ranger is just easier to handle.

The big difference however is by having a Ranger, the subgroup has an additional Glyph for Grace of the Land. Since 2 Chronos are meta now, you can spam the Sun Spirit for damage, wich means it’s more useful for the Subgroup to let the Ranger take it, while the Druid uses GoAlignment.

What Engi has to offer is lots of CC, Seeker control and not to forget blinds. You will not notice it if an Engi prevented a Thug kick at Sabby that would have pushed an ally into a flamethrower or off the platform while waiting for the Green Bomb, or blinded some shard buffed adds at Sabby, corrupting Slubs at Sloth, etc. You will only notice it if he didn’t.

Xyonon.3987:

Condi Ranger has to flank for that dps and is heavily crippled by a moving target, where Engi basicly only loses Napalm. If you can handle Engi, the dps will be higher, but as mentioned before, if you aren’t really into Engi, Ranger is just easier to handle.

The big difference however is by having a Ranger, the subgroup has an additional Glyph for Grace of the Land. Since 2 Chronos are meta now, you can spam the Sun Spirit for damage, wich means it’s more useful for the Subgroup to let the Ranger take it, while the Druid uses GoAlignment.

What Engi has to offer is lots of CC, Seeker control and not to forget blinds. You will not notice it if an Engi prevented a Thug kick at Sabby that would have pushed an ally into a flamethrower or off the platform while waiting for the Green Bomb, or blinded some shard buffed adds at Sabby, corrupting Slubs at Sloth, etc. You will only notice it if he didn’t.

You raise a few good points, and I ultimately have faith in ANet that they’re figuring out a solution to the condi rotation. Even just buffing the pistol or FT auto to get us away from spamming nades would be a huge relief.

Xyonon.3987:

Condi Ranger has to flank for that dps and is heavily crippled by a moving target, where Engi basicly only loses Napalm. If you can handle Engi, the dps will be higher, but as mentioned before, if you aren’t really into Engi, Ranger is just easier to handle.

The big difference however is by having a Ranger, the subgroup has an additional Glyph for Grace of the Land. Since 2 Chronos are meta now, you can spam the Sun Spirit for damage, wich means it’s more useful for the Subgroup to let the Ranger take it, while the Druid uses GoAlignment.

What Engi has to offer is lots of CC, Seeker control and not to forget blinds. You will not notice it if an Engi prevented a Thug kick at Sabby that would have pushed an ally into a flamethrower or off the platform while waiting for the Green Bomb, or blinded some shard buffed adds at Sabby, corrupting Slubs at Sloth, etc. You will only notice it if he didn’t.

I’m not exactly sure what you just said but yes I also kill stuffs and things when pushing buttons.

I played both condition Ranger and Engineer.

Engineer is better by far unless you go condition Druid or you’re bad at Engineer.

Well, considering Zan is consistently on the top 2 EU, I’d say scrappers are atleast viable.