Guild Wars 2

I would not consider myself a fresh level 80. I have a fair understanding of builds/game mechanics, but there are a lot more things to be learnt. One question I have would be what kind of gear do you all use?

I currently switch between the HGH Flamethrower build and the HGH Grenade build, but mostly use the HGH ’nade build for the burst/range/AoE. I aim for pure damage. Are there any gear sets/runes that will strive ahead on builds?

Besides using common sense (and not using gear that would give you say… healing power), I am not sure if using carrion, rabid, rampager’s or berserker’s would be the more practical choice. I currently have full Vaatlaw (rabid) gear, with runes of the Flame Legion to compliment the flamethrower build. Would switching to say Carrion, Rampager or Berserker armor increase my damage significantly?

I know this may sound like a blatantly obvious topic to some engies at this point in the game, but I would like to know thoughts/opinions for re-assurance.

Thank you for your time.

Its generally agreed that power sets work better with flamethrower than condition damage, as burning is basically the flamethrowers only source of condition damage (Not counting traits that give bleed etc) so I would choose something that gives power too. If it was me I would take berserker or rampagers but if you can’t survive take a knights set.

As for runes, since you seem to focus on hgh you could try using the runes that give more boon duration to get 25 stacks going, so that would include 2x Rune of Water and 2x Rune of monk + whatever other two runes you want or 2x rune of water or monk and 4x rune of altruism.

This is just on my understanding that all you just wanna do is damage.

So berserkers/rampagers will make it so you have prime damage, but you will be squishy, and knights takes away a bit of damage for more survival? Is the change quite significant?

I can’t say for sure how significant the change would be. Oh also I forgot to mention that berserkers is the highest damaging set at the moment, it would probably be a better choice than rampagers.

Seeing as the Power build with FT comes from Skill2 and the condition build uses Skill1. For the most damage it might be best to bring them both up together. Just focus on Power, pre and con.
Just dont forget to swtich to the pistol from time to time to apply some long lasting poison and a dash of confusion.

I now roll with 6/6 Divinity (all stats), which is mad expensive.

but 6 Ruby Orbs is also, totally legit.

6/6 Atruism (using the Med Kit) is also BROKEN (in a good way) for a dungeon build. That one is probably my favorite one for most situations.

I’ll just post what I’m running with the flamethrower.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/engineer/?2.0|a.1g.h2.e.1g.h14|0.0.0.0.0.0|1n.7d.1n.7d.1n.7d.1n.7d.1n.7d.1n.7d|1g.67.2s.0.3s.0.1g.67.1g.67.2s.0|a4.u58b.0.u27a.0|0.0|2b.2g.2w.0.30|e

I change the 10 points in explosives to tools for wvw for the perma swiftness… And if I need more survival I switch those points to inventions and get the 5% toughness converted to power… Autos do around 4k on heavy armor at the end of the channel and the no.2 hits for around 6k crits when detonated and around 2k on just passing through the target. I run pistol / shield just for the stats + sigils since they both apply to the flamethrower… The pistol auto is around 800 crit on auto attack and upwards of 3k on the no.2 and 1.5k on the 3 which is useful if I can’t get in range with the flamethrower. The strength runes + the sigil of force for the +10% damage and all the traits bring it to +40% base damage before any crits happen… The 51% crit damage ups it further.

Anyways it could do more damage if you use zerker armor but I just don’t like being 100% glass so knights felt more safe for me.

Full Berserker + Ruby Obs. Sigil of Force.

I believe in dealing damage instead of resisting it.

I use PVT + Melandru runes. Not really a true bunker (2819 armor), but I’ve been able to tank up to 6 Orr mobs (24k hps) if I’m careful enough (usually dodging/kiting is better). I tend to use FT alot as well. Not as much dmg as the build Dakiaris uses, but I tend to last a good while in zerg fights.

60/40 Zerker/Rampager gear, 6x Altruism runes, Sigil of Battle, Sigil of Accuracy.

I sprinkle in some Celestial accessories for survivability, but otherwise follow the Zerk/Rampager model.

Pistol/Shield for dungeons. Pistol/Pistol for open world (except SSC).

I bounce between grenades & FT builds, always bringing EG for support. PvE only.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/engineer/?2.0|4.1g.h1h|0.0.0.0.0.0|1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.a7.1g.71i.1g.71i|2v.0.2s.0.2v.0.1i.67.1i.67.1i.67|u5ab.a5.0.0.u68c|2e.7|2d.2f.2x.2p.30|e
This is what I’ve been running lately after doing conditions I got really tired of my explosions not doing any strait damage. I sacrificed some precision/power for toughness with the cavaliers trinkets. But with good fury uptime this is mitigated. Does have weakness to conditions, but I can usually put so much pressure conditions won’t have time to kill you before the other person is down.
>100% crit damage is insane, throw wrench hits fo 5k+ jump shot for 7k+ prybar can hit for the same. That,s not even including grenades, which I mostly only use for the toolbelt and stacking vuln.