Guild Wars 2

What PvP build was this engineer using?

I just got into PvP last week and I’m really enjoying it. I’m only rank 5 at this point. I play a hammer guardian and love to park on control points or cycle between two adjacent points.

Anyway I ran into a Engineer yesterday who completely out-played me. It was like watching art. This Engineer also had a build which shut me down a lot (but not in an unfair way — he was just good!). Afterwards I hopped onto my little-played Engineer to try and reverse-engineer it (heh, pun?). I’m not having much success so I’m asking the community. Here are the details I know:

1. Dual pistols
2. Turrets (although my have been from elite instead of utility)
3. Locked me down often with daze, immobilize, cripple, and an occasional knock-down. I think this was mostly from glue-shot, net turret, and pistol 4 (but not sure). Also no clue where the knock-down was coming from.
4. When I did land some hammer blows it did not do as much damage as I expected. The sequence of hammer3 + full-hammer1 + hammer2 took off around 25% of health (give or take). This includes burning from F1 which he may have purged quickly. He may have been standing on an elixer — not sure.
5. I’m not sure if he had any speed boosts since he could stop me often. I think he was a bit more mobile than me but he was also out-playing me greatly.
6. I didn’t see him break out any kits although it’s possible. There were frequent AoE circles on the ground around him which I thought might have been from turrets. One of these AoE circles would knock me back/down if that helps identify the source.

Any thoughts related to his build?

Engineers do not normally have a daze mechanic outside of throwing a shield, but since he was an asura he might have been using the “Technobabble” Asura racial skill which dazes for 2 seconds. This would also give him an AoE confuse on his toolbelt, assuming of course that racial skills were allowed for the PvP build. Being hit with Supply Crate also causes a 2 second stun if you’re in its AoE radius when it lands (and if he’s any good you will be), so you probably experienced this at least once.

Kit backpacks don’t always appear due to a bug, so he may have been using bomb kit for the red circles and the backpack graphic just not showing, or he could have possibly just been using the kit’s toolbelt ability “big ol’ bomb” (which he could drop while using pistols). BO’B causes excessive knockdown when it explodes. Alternatively he may have been using Throw Mine, which is also a viable possibility. There is also an early trait in explosions that causes 4-5 mines to launch automatically when an engineer hits 25% health, as well as one that drops a little mine every time an engineer dodge rolls (these both cause red circles). Mines and Bombs are the only methods I know of

Glue shot will both immobilize and cripple, immobilizing things in its area when it hits and then crippling whatever enters or remains in the area for its duration. Net turret typically comes along with supply drop, though if it’s equipped it can not only be dropped to fire a 3 second immobilize once every 10 seconds, but the toolbelt command can launch a free 3 second immobilize on demand as well (60 second cooldown).

For reduced damage, engineers have a couple of neat traits he may have been using that trigger as they take damage, or he may have built himself for toughness. Some of the fun traits include drinking an elixir B at 75% health (gives a number of free boons), gaining 3 seconds of protection every time you’re disabled (5 second cooldown, triggers on application of stun, daze, knockdown, knockback, launch, float, sink, fear), gaining 3 seconds of protection when crittically hit (20 second cooldown, less useful), or he may have gained it as a random effect from using elixir H’s toolbelt ability, as if he wasn’t using elixir gun and was still removing conditions then he probably had Elixir H equipped. There is also a trait deep in one of the lines (30 points in Alchemy I think?) that makes an engineer immune to condition damage when at critical health (less than 25%), so that’s also a possibility depending on his build.

Possible setups, untraited, from what I can figure out:
Healing: Elixir H/Healing Turret
Utilities:Throw Mine (AoE circles, one with knockback), Slick Shoes (Knockdown, mobility), Elixir C (Condition removal)
Elite: Supply Crate (drops a crate with turrets and medkits, stuns on impact)

With traits, more flexibility in choice of elixir; could trait Cleaning Solution 409 and use Elixir B instead of C – or, if they were an Asura, Technobabble for a daze, using Elixir H for condition removal. Supply Crate can be traited to include a Flame, Net, Rifle, and Healing turret set.

Durability’s probably from traiting Toughness or Vitality, then wearing gear to emphasize. There’s a few traits that increase defense, as well, usually by 5% or so from one stat into another.

May have been me. What was English name? And what race?

I played yesterday with a triple turret build, rocket, net, and rifle or flamethrower with two pistols. I had accelerant packed turrets, might when using heal, and one other thing in that line I think.

Then in invention line I had turrets take 30% less damage, turrets heal themselves, and the increased turret damage and range. Then I had another random trait somewhere, I think it was increase pistol range. Of course it may not have been me. But I distinctly remember fighting a hammer guardian. I randomly ran around when people came to kill me and shot everything.

Asura was the race… don’t remember the name. The map was Temple of the Silent storm.

I had a rough go on that map between this skilled engineer and a different group which was a roaming ele + thief + ranger. I don’t expect to survive a 3v1 for very long, but I consider it a victory if I can hold out a while as that allows my team a 2-up somewhere else.

The engineer I ran into 1v1 and I could not do beans against that player. I’m pretty sure I died in that fight from all the conditions, but there may have been a roamer that came in afterwards from behind.