Guild Wars 2

So, I wrote a nice long explanation of my build and what I think could be improved and I was rather happy with it…then the game decided to not save it and going back doesn’t revive it. I really can’t bring myself to write it all again so I will just post it here and ask for your feedback. I’m looking forward to the buffs this build will receive in the future based on Skill Bar but I also want to improve it’s current state so I can be as useful to my team as possible. It’s primarily for PvP but I’m seeming good WvW results as well.

The Minegineer

Thank you for your feedback in advance.

EDIT: OK so after some feedback I have slightly modified the build.

The Minegineer Update 1

I swapped out to runes of the Citadel for an extra explosive. I think Air/Pack is still viable but I also subbed out Sigil of Air for Energy so that you have more dodges that produce bombs that can crit and create more mines and then if you get hit you create yet another bomb.

I love theme/gimmick builds, they keep me playing.

Maybe it is my lack of experience, but I do not see the strength of this build. WvW it lacks stun breakers, Codi. Dmg., cleanses, really anything useful. Not even that great of Dps. Could you explain it a bit more for the uneducated?

Raiff.6742:

Maybe it is my lack of experience, but I do not see the strength of this build. WvW it lacks stun breakers, Codi. Dmg., cleanses, really anything useful. Not even that great of Dps. Could you explain it a bit more for the uneducated?

Utility Goggles is a stun breaker, it also has a toolbelt skill well suited for Static Discharge seeing as it’s instant and give 10 stacks of vuln. In fact, all of the toolbelt skills have fairly short CDs. The Static Discharge blasts also bounce, giving you AoE damage on top of your mines. The amount of damage that Minefield can deal is huge. Each mine created by Bunker Down is around 1k+, not bad for something with a 2 second ICD. They are also buffed by both of the explosives traits, which doesn’t show on the builder but does in game. Let’s also not forget how hard the Rifle combo hits.

Condi Cleanse is a problem in most Engi builds, it’s a major class weakness. Even HGH builds with 3 Elixirs only gives you around 6 one condi clears and most are on a long CD. That being said, Overcharged Shot removes movement impairing conditions, and Goggles give you immunity to blind when activated. Throw Mine is an unblockable, knockback, and a boon strip. Place it in a choke point or use it to deny a stomp (potentially from multiple targets).

It’s really strong against Thieves, place the mine at your feet and they’ll almost always screw up their attack because most sit in stealth for as long as possible and after they get knocked back they don’t have enough time for a second attack. Backing up while you fire creates mines in your wake so melee fighters often stumble over them constantly.

Ranged fighters can be a pain but you have 1,200 range yourself and the ability to pull with Magnet. The best combo you have is laying down your MineField toolbelt skill, backing up while using Magnet, then pop all the mines at once while smacking them with Prybar. Set it up right and you’ll also drag them through several Bunker Down mines in the process.

It’s basically a varient of the old Static Discharge build but if played right has much higher damage. In PvP the small points means there’s basically no avoiding all the AoE and you can also just sit off point AAing/using toolbelt skills, create a pile of mines, and pull the most vulnerable target.

One thing I’m debating is using A.E.D over Healing Turret. ATM I would say no but next patch it will remove conditions so it might be good. It also has a Toolbelt skill that doesn’t have a bad habit of firing the Static Discharge shot into the ground. Sometimes Regenerating Mist goes towards your target and other times it doesn’t. It’s something that could use fixing. Also, the Explosions damage trait actually makes Detonate Healing Turret do more damage and you can Throw Mine and use Jump Shot in the water field for a sizable heal.

Its a nice build, but idk if I’d call it a strong build. I can see it being very weak against a tanky archer, and you can’t create mines without mine skill with thieves, so if they can skirt your main mines they can still down you easily. Against warriors and guardians I can see it being a little more useful. Id be interested in this build if it was more condi oriented, since condi is king in wvw. if you have the mines and add on the 15% chance of bleed on explosions, could certainly make for some nasty conditions. Thieves have a harder time with conditions, since you can’t run away from a 14 second bleed. Throw in bombs for more aoe, and I’d like to see em try to get close lol.

I’ve actually seen your twitch videos Burr, and I am quite jealous of the insta-gibbing capability, however, I run a slightly different Engineer build orientated a bit more for 1v1 fights.

Basically, I don’t trait as heavily into using just mines. I don’t find the 10% extra damage from the explosives trait line to be as helpful either compared to other possible traits such as armour mods and go for the eyes as they add a lot of defensive pressure combined without needing to ease off on the DPS during a fight, and can seriously mess with people’s combos.

However, I don’t run a stun breaker, which I replace with rocket boots as it is great for kiting, getting distance from an enemy, and is a great escape tool for getting out of immob or chill. Healing turret for the water fields as both mine and boots are blast finishers and can heal from the blasts + healing turret for a massive amount without any healing power (at least 8-10K healing in total). With healing turret, overcharged shot, rocket boots, almost can never be immobed or chilled which is amazing. I grabbed knights armour, weapon and cav amulet to have a bit more survivability in a fight, with the rest zerker amulets for the damage. I find this combination of stats works best with this build since it can save you as you have no stun break and don’t evade the attack, as well as can get close to ranged opponents for massive burst damage (from the rifle + mines)
Basically I find my build to have great damage, balanced with enough survivability to make it extremely dangerous.

I don’t believe traiting completely for mines to be worth it. Sure the 10% dmg is nice and mines all over the place, but mines you cannot control their explosion are too easy to avoid by the enemy, and I already explained my reasoning on the 10% extra explosives dmg, as well as only having 2 skills (throw mine + toolbelt) which can take advantage from it.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUpvrdZxkLseNichM6yVfC6HZu8pAA-TFCFABls/Qb6AA4CAclSQkU65kyAHeAAJq+DA-w

I love you have Tool Kit as a Weapon Kit on this build, beyond anything else. Rarely seen, hugely fun. Good on ya for that if nothing else.

I played something sort of similar for grins but I used quite different utilities.
For one, I like bomb kit much more than tool kit with this build. Plus, stealth and might stacking might work well too. And you can might stack

Next, I prefer (until patch) e-gun’s stun break and utility to utility goggles. For a power build, the acid bomb is quite nice! And the condi clearing in PvP off the light field helps as does having an extra large regen on a point.

Combos work out much better with those utilities too in pvp imho. I love having 5 blast finishers (2 for mine, one for e gun, one for HT, one for BOB) to use on either the light field (retaliation) and/or the fire field (might!!). Huge damage spike increase and it isn’t like you will use these just to get stacks versus to do damage. Leaping thru the fire field is also quite compelling to jump up the might stacks with the sigil of battle too.

I have also found that resetting a fight with smoke bomb is extremely helpful.

Runes are fine but might duration might be better with runes of strength.
Sigil I always suggest with power build engineers a sigil of battle. It is about 10-12% damage increase depending on the number of stacks.

I typically find that having 6 stacks of perma strength (or 9 with right runes) is much better than say an AE sigil of fire.

Bombsaway.7198:

(2 for mine, one for e gun, one for HT, one for BOB)

Mine tool belt skill doesn’t count as a finisher at all anymore. Only one for mines.

Twigifire.8379:

I’ve actually seen your twitch videos Burr, and I am quite jealous of the insta-gibbing capability, however, I run a slightly different Engineer build orientated a bit more for 1v1 fights.

Can you link me to these Twitch videos? Because unless someone is stalking me I don’t have fast enough internet to play and stream, hell I can barely play for more than a half hour before my connection becomes so bad I can’t do anything without a second delay on everything. There is a Rifle Turret-Mine-Util Gogs that does something similar but I’ve never seen one with Bunker Down. Tool Kit makes the most sense to me because Pry Bar scales well with Power, you get a block, and the toolkit skill has a low CD and with Static discharge can hit up to 3 times.

As for those saying that ranged classes can take you down, it depends. You also have 1,200 range AA/Net Shot and a leap on Jump Shot. You also have the block on Tool Kit and a Pull so if you want to get close you generally can.

I actually want more people to play this because as I said my internet is so atrocious I can never get an accurate feel on how strong the build is. I’m thinking swapping runes/sigils for more defense. In PvP it’s best that you aren’t the first one in. I use all the Took Kit skills to cause AoE damage with Static discharge, which makes a pile of Bunker Down Mines at your feet. Then I drop the Mine Field and pick a vulnerable foe and drag them through all the mines. You can get in on the mid fight but it’s much more risky. Thieves can burst you down fast which is why you want to have the Throw Mine at your feet because it totally throws off S/D Thieves since they teleport in then instantly get knocked on their rear.

A really cool Rifle combo you can do is hitting Net Shot, then toss Throw Mine behind your target, detonate it which will send them towards you which lets you land Blunderbuss and Overcharged Shot or both the jump and landing of Jump Shot.

Yes it was the one with goggles, rifle + mines. I know it’s slightly different but they’re fairly similar besides tool kit, and with rocket boots, tool kit, you can close the gap very quickly and easily, even the rocket boots toolbelt skill is good for getting that little bit close

Twigifire: Why not Gadgeteer on that build in place of Armor Mods?

I used a variant of this build before, and the mine field and bunker down destroys thieves. It’s like a really buffed version of retaliation, and I was also running runes of citadel at the time so it was as if they were in a boxing match with a cactus. With that said though, I had very little in the way of disengaging and I was made quick work of by mesmers and rangers.

Mighty Favazz.1546:

Twigifire: Why not Gadgeteer on that build in place of Armor Mods?

Because Gadgeteer, although grants vigor, I wouldn’t be using the throw mine enough for the aegis proc. I find keeping the gadgets handy for when I need them works better than throwing them for boons, and Armor Mods give me the aegis every 15 seconds still which is what I need, I find saving the gadgets for blasts works better overall, and the armour mods applies it more constantly as well as less predictably, whilst throw mine is blatantly obvious when you throw it. But that’s just how I play and my opinion Armour mods still procs while stunned as well, since I run without a stun break it can be very helpful at times if I muck up the evade or interrupt.

Might just want to add for an extra reason, I mostly use throw mine for either more health off of a water field, or interrupting a skill. If I interrupt there skill, there is really no need for the aegis since they’ll most likely auto-attack me afterwards as their wombo combo is already stopped.

Ameno.6813:

I used a variant of this build before, and the mine field and bunker down destroys thieves. It’s like a really buffed version of retaliation, and I was also running runes of citadel at the time so it was as if they were in a boxing match with a cactus. With that said though, I had very little in the way of disengaging and I was made quick work of by mesmers and rangers.

Citadel might actually be a great addition if only for the fact that when in WvW it’s nice to have that 13sec swiftness so you don’t have that annoying 1/4th second gap after the swiftness runs out. In PvP though that’s not really a big deal. I assume the bomb is affected by the Explosive traits as well. I’m not going to lie, I feel stupid for forgetting that the rune exists because it’s a perfect fit.

BurrTheKing.8571:

Ameno.6813:

I used a variant of this build before, and the mine field and bunker down destroys thieves. It’s like a really buffed version of retaliation, and I was also running runes of citadel at the time so it was as if they were in a boxing match with a cactus. With that said though, I had very little in the way of disengaging and I was made quick work of by mesmers and rangers.

Citadel might actually be a great addition if only for the fact that when in WvW it’s nice to have that 13sec swiftness so you don’t have that annoying 1/4th second gap after the swiftness runs out. In PvP though that’s not really a big deal. I assume the bomb is affected by the Explosive traits as well. I’m not going to lie, I feel stupid for forgetting that the rune exists because it’s a perfect fit.

Yeah, traits built around bombs also works on the citadel bomb. Citdadel rune doesn’t grant swiftness up-time though:

(1): +25 Power
(2): +10%Fury Duration
(3): +50 Power
(4): 25% chance when struck to gain Fury for 15s.
(5): +100 Power
(6): 20% Fury duration; 50% chance when struck to summon a bomb. (Cooldown: 15s)

It’s not too useful outside of the power and the summoned bomb (and even that’s on a 15 second C/D). But if you’re taking Utility Goggles then it might not be half-bad.

Another trait that I see used very rarely that might synergize well with this build is Kit Refinement. Swapping to the grenade kit with this trait places a single mine, if instead you swap to bomb kit you drop a magnetic bomb that sucks everybody in an AOE into the center of it (both of these have the damage of a regular mine and bomb respectively and are also affected by-related traits).

I haven’t tested the Kit Refinement magnetic bomb with the bunker down trait yet, it would be interesting to see how it performs.

On an unrelated note, I would love to see if more people used Kit Refinement, it adds a whole other level to the utility we can bring to the table, albeit some of the triggers can be especially gimmicky (toolkit 2 second x2 speed and flamethrower flame shield comes to mind). There’s nothing as awesome as reflecting a rangers/mesmer/thieves spam back at them, or laying down that extra CC during a mid fight. Even if you’re not actively trying to use them, having them just passively go off during your usual kit rotations has always helped me in more cases than not. KR doesn’t randomly trigger as some people seem to think from looking at the tooltip, each kit swap has a very specific effect attached to it. For instance, if you’re running nothing but medkit that effectively gives you an on demand 2 second reflect every 20 seconds (which actually makes medkit bandage heal pretty darn appealing in PvP / WvW).

It won’t win you any tournies surely, but if you’re ever looking to have a fun time in hot join or play something that isn’t mindlessly spamming conditions then it’s a pretty cool trait.

I do like Kit Refinement, adding Med and Bomb Kit could be fun. I think they are affected by traits from what I can tell. Placing the Big Ol’ Bomb and swapping to bomb would be pretty funny on point, watch them get sucked in then thrown like rag dolls.

I think I still prefer Tool Kit and Static Discharge though because they play off of each other and a second block on a build with otherwise low sustain helps as well. In PvP I think you could afford not having the swiftness duration since you rarely need more than 10 seconds to get from place to place.

Mines like bombs need an overhaul. They need the skills that the mobs like Aerin on Dry Top for example that throws out three mines all with wide angle trigger zones. The Fskill version could have been enhanced by making it a triangle shape in front of the engineer.

It might work for PVP but I doubt it’s helpful in PVE because of these problems.

tigirius.9014:

Mines like bombs need an overhaul. They need the skills that the mobs like Aerin on Dry Top for example that throws out three mines all with wide angle trigger zones. The Fskill version could have been enhanced by making it a triangle shape in front of the engineer.

It might work for PVP but I doubt it’s helpful in PVE because of these problems.

Yah it’s probably not amazing for PvE. Although if you swap out Riffled Barrels for Precise Sights you could still stack a ton of vulnerability on a target. I used to use it by default but that makes you much weaker at range.

I do wish that the Mine Field skill was more consistent with what shape it made. While they’re always for the most part clustered together it’s in a random spot.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUnUISNV2lFudBrXGRugGdZqSqBdCywo/UAA-TlBFABCcBAQa/R5Xa6AA4BAUo6PXpEMAACwNvZAwNv5Nv5NvZpAGbYF-w

This is the rifle+mines+goggles build I use. I don’t particularly like AED as the cast time is still too high, but the toolbelt does as much damage as surprise shot.

Burst mine engie has been an effective build for a while and is very effective when used correctly. However you wont see many of them around.

Here is a video of it in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB5B3UEVMmM&list=PLsd22GuySw5ptLDefqbdgi8S5jhBJheld

It’s not a bad build and I have run pretty much the same build before.

But it’s big weakness tends to be no elixir s or rocket boots. If you get heavy pressure, or condi spammed, that’s the fight.

Great if you got everything setup and they come to you, bad if you get attacked moving from A to B, and if you fight someone who knows what their doing, they can avoid the mines all together.

A good ambush setup, but kinda of limited elsewhere.

Karast.1927:

It’s not a bad build and I have run pretty much the same build before.

But it’s big weakness tends to be no elixir s or rocket boots. If you get heavy pressure, or condi spammed, that’s the fight.

Great if you got everything setup and they come to you, bad if you get attacked moving from A to B, and if you fight someone who knows what their doing, they can avoid the mines all together.

A good ambush setup, but kinda of limited elsewhere.

Pretty much.

I spend a good part of the game off point then going for the Pull + Mine Field and saving my Throw Mine and Overcharged Shot for saving teammates or to ensure a cap. You do hate the Gear Shield and the Jump Shot to escape pressure though and throwing your Mine to throw off pursuit.