FIRST an introduction: I haven’t tried this build yet, however Static Discharge builds have been something I’ve wanted to play around with in WvW for a while now. I understand that typically the idea with SD is to burst your target down relatively quickly, however I’ve found that I like to float around somewhere in between burst and survival, a hybrid of sorts. I also like control, and engineer has a plethora of control abilities and this build intends to use some them to their fullest. From net shot, to net turret to magnet pull, I want to try and keep the flow of battle where I want it, which works well with my typical up close playstyle.
Outside of being a solid trait I took Sitting Duck to help minimize the power loss by not running HGH. I know it can’t replace consistently having ~12 stacks of might, but It can potentially stack significant Vulnerability, which not only helps me but my friends as well.
Speaking of Immobilizes, we have a few. Net Turret (stun with overcharge), Net Shot, and Net Attack. Three Immobilizes combined with Magnet Pull and cripples from Box of Nails and Throw Wrench seems really powerful at first glance. Then we add in Overcharged Shot…
Protection is an unbelievably strong boon, and in the spirit of “Keeping ourselves alive with boons” I decided to try and maximize its potential. 3 ways to proc it: when controlled (3 seconds, 5 second cooldown) via a trait, when crit (3 seconds, 20 second cooldown) via a trait and when hit (4 seconds, 30 second cooldown) via runes. In theory it should be up at all times when I need it most.
No Elixir Gun. Not that I didn’t think about it, because I really wanted to stack its potential for regeneration, condition removal and so on, but I decided to go for more control. Survival, in theory, should be good enough without it. Also its tool belt skill doesn’t sync well with SD.
On Runes: I like runes that do stuff. Proccing protection is good, more protection to help me keep it going is always nice. Why - condition duration? I don’t have a lot of ways to remove conditions, so I took the next best thing without sacrificing the utilities I want for it.
On gear: This is my power gear, and what I typically use when using a rifle. I could see dropping some of the more defensive stats, however I’d like to try it this way for now.
Backpack Regenerator is better than you think (In theory). I’m still not sold on this one, but I feel like its worth testing out how well it interacts with protection and relatively high toughness. Also the potential of this with regeneration, protection, and high toughness is ridiculous.
Static Discharge: It’s a really good ability and works well with both Throw Wrench and Net Attack. I really like the idea behind firing off two lightning bolts while simultaneously stunning, immobilizing, crippling and vulnerabiliti…izing my target.
The Ugly (primary cons)
Seems weak to conditions, hence why I have -30% condition duration and Elixir R. If I find that conditions don;t have as much an impact as what I originally thought then I’d drop R for S in heart beat. The rez is really nice though…
Not enough damage? Will I be able to kill someone via attrition? The build seems like it relies on pressure to get its target(s) down, and against hard targets, say D/D elementalist, it may be pretty hard to keep them off their heals.
There are other cons, but these two stick out the most to me.
Conclusion
I’m just wondering what you folks thought, if you’ve run something like this, etc. I’ve seen a few builds like this mentioned on the forums: i.e. the big game hunter thread, but nothing quite like this.
I like the thought of this and may try something similar. It’s close to my bunker bomb build with the protection/regen aspect (learned the power of prot/regen on my Guardian).
I like the thought of this and may try something similar. It’s close to my bunker bomb build with the protection/regen aspect (learned the power of prot/regen on my Guardian).
Yeah you won’t get the kinda regeneration like you would with Guardian, however duoing with a Guardian would be fantastic. I’m glad you like the idea, if you try it ( or something similar) out let me know how you fair.