Guild Wars 2

Hello frands! Vee Wee here, retired #1 Engi NA and world first rank 80!

IMO the Explosives trait line restricts a lot of potential builds! For example, a condition build that doesn’t run grenades has absolutely nothing to pick in the adept tier! The once popular Bomb Kit, Elixir Gun, Tool Kit build is just weak because they’re forced to take worthless Glass Cannon or Explosive Descent! A condi build that doesn’t run Bomb Kit has nothing to trait in the master tier! Shaped Charge? Worthless! Aim-Assisted Rocket? Not that great!

Suggestions:

• Combine Explosive Descent with Grenadier! They both deal with grenades! This frees up a slot in the adept tier for a condi focused trait for people who do not use grenades! As for what that trait is, I’m open to suggestions! A possibility would be to bring back some traits that were removed like Go For The Eyes with the rifle requirement removed! Or Acidic Coating! Or a new, more offensive condi oriented trait! The possibilities are endless!
• Remove Glass Cannon! Move Shaped Charge down to adept tier! Now gives +10% damage to vulnerable targets! This frees up a slot in the master tier for a condi trait for people who don’t use Bomb Kit, and it keeps the +10% damage bonus for the PvE players who like to maximize their damage output! It also gives power builds a nice option if they don’t run grenades or would rather run grenades with a damage boost!

This doesn’t have anything to do with the Explosives trait line, but I’ve also found Orbital Strike to be woefully disappointing! Traited with Siege Rounds, a grandmaster trait, this elite toolbelt skill only does slightly more damage than Throw Wrench traited with Power Wrench, an adept tier trait for a pleb toolbelt skill! Orbital Strike also has double the cooldown and an extremely obvious animation and a giant red circle! IMO the damage of Orbital Strike should be increased by 10-15%!

Thanks for reading! Wahoo! Bye frands~

I am very glad that i like grenade kit so much. It seems that people who don’t like it are not having fun with the new engi.

Shaped Charge should give +10% damage to targets with vulnerability and also increased vulnerability duration applied by explosions, somewhere around +30% to +50%. If it’s too powerful for a master trait they could always make it a GM trait by switching it with Shrapnel.

Grandmaster, Adept, and Master tiers don’t really matter anymore since if you pick a trait line, you get the whole thing! If all grandmaster traits swapped with adept traits right now, it wouldn’t make a difference!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

I’m very much for a damage increase on orbital strike. Even on the PvE DPS side of things the orbital strike is actually a loss in dps (presuming 25 might stacks and fury are a given!). And that is compared to autoattacking with grenades! Big shame! I guess it’s for the blast finishers and high range. But it’s definitely a bit weak.

Alternatively could have it be classes as an explosion! That would solve that issue easily. It would be in line with the rest of mortar.

I think the biggest problem with the explosive line is how Shrapnel and Steel-Packed Powder are balanced around grenades and their 3 hits. You can also pick up grenadier, Aim-assisted Rocket and Shrapnel at the same time, while Mortar will have to chose Shrapnel or Siege Rounds, both good in control/condi builds.

I almost wish they would honestly just move incendiary power back to explosives. They could even nerf it a bit, but I think it would keep celestial engineer from being dead.

Are.1326:

I think the biggest problem with the explosive line is how Shrapnel and Steel-Packed Powder are balanced around grenades and their 3 hits. You can also pick up grenadier, Aim-assisted Rocket and Shrapnel at the same time, while Mortar will have to chose Shrapnel or Siege Rounds, both good in control/condi builds.

yes this. Steelpacked powder single handledly made grenades supreme in all things.

And new explosives/firearms all favor grenades.