Guild Wars 2

I read in many threads that celestial engi is dead or complaing on engi status .
Now celestial engi is not strong as before, ok , but it is not unviable as people is saying. Perhaps is not the best setup if you play high end tournaments … but for a casual player is still viable and strong . Soldier probably is stronger but it has no healing power and 0 condi damage . If you take explosive, alchemy and invention with celestial ( nades, toolkit and elixir S or ss or eg) you can have quite fun. Rabid engineers are still playable in many levels and with many different builds . Maradeur and soldier are quite good … so why people complain so much ? How many top teams are in this game ? 100 ?
if there are 100 top teams this means that only 500 or a little more players have the problem that celestial is not viable …. for quite all the other people it remains a viable path . In my opinion eng is much better now than before. Before patch we had only celestial op builds … all other builds were (even rabid) far less effective. Now we can choose between many builds and the gap , for casuals players ( which are the great part of players ) is not so huge. Be happy and enjoy this build variety

I do not see that complaining much. You must dwell on the unreasonably toxic PvP forums.

I find celestial to be quit valuable in PvE and WvW situations.

PierPiero.9142:

Perhaps is not the best setup if you play high end tournaments … but for a casual player is still viable and strong

How is it strong? With what build?

I play two different celestial engineer builds. Both are virtually identical, but I swap firearms to inventions for my more bunker build. Funny enough, I’m not using grenades. I slot elixir H, R, S, gun and X. Alchemy, firearms, tools. I can sustain really well in teamfights, help with rezes (mercy runes with toss R, or elixir S rez, or stealth rez), I put out a lot of conditions, although none do amazing damage, its really hard to cleanse. I also have good direct damage with rifle. I can 1v1 any build I’ve encountered, and again when it turns into team fights, I can offer might and rez support, along with cleanses and heals, other boons, I can remove rampage or lich. The build is very versatile, and feels a lot like the old cele engineer in terms of 1v1 potential. I’m sure there are some, but I’ve still yet to lose or have to give up a point 1v1 to a celestial ele. A good thief can force me off point in a +1, but they won’t down me, and unless they stay 2 at the point, I’ll simply recap it 1v1. It is my standard conquest build for now.

for example i had a lot of fun with this :
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhSsYJXw+KQ7FLvFV4IGRpm4F1EJx3QFhBAA-TJRHwAFeAAs2fAwFA4YZAA
I am not saying it is better than meta or so, i am saying that i play every night in pvp and i could do quite well. Probably it is not strong as soldier, i am not discussing that, but it is not true that it is not viable for a common player. How many players play top level pvp ? Try it and see. for me it is quite confortable

In my opinion elixirs build work much better with rabid. The reason is simple : if you take 2 elixir and elixir gun / mortar or elixir X you have a strong condi build ( i usually play elixir B ,S) and elixir gun is much stronger as “condition weapon” rather then as direct damage weapon .

PierPiero.9142:

for example i had a lot of fun with this :
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhSsYJXw+KQ7FLvFV4IGRpm4F1EJx3QFhBAA-TJRHwAFeAAs2fAwFA4YZAA
I am not saying it is better than meta or so, i am saying that i play every night in pvp and i could do quite well. Probably it is not strong as soldier, i am not discussing that, but it is not true that it is not viable for a common player. How many players play top level pvp ? Try it and see. for me it is quite confortable

All I really see that you’re doing is you’re just wearing a Celestial amulet over a Soldier amulet. Your build would be much stronger if you just took Siege Rounds since you’re using the Mortar Kit already.

I’m all for people trying new things and diversifying away from the meta, just as I did with the FT/TK condi build for a time, but it just feels like your build is just a Soldier rifle build with a Celestial amulet.

PierPiero.9142:

and elixir gun is much stronger as “condition weapon” rather then as direct damage weapon .

I have to disagree. The Elixir Gun only has access to poison and bleeding as far as damaging conditions go. You gain a lot more damage building for power with Acid Bomb than you do going conditions with the Elixir Gun.

sharphanel is quite strong in my opinion. Siege Rounds is a very telegraphed skill and quite easy to avoid even if the double blast, expecially in water is really strong . I played this build before meta appeared. Yes the traits are the same becouse with rifle and nades i think it is quite a must. Acid bomb is strong but it has a 15 second cd … all the other skills are condi damage based .In any case playing quite always in solo i prefer elixir S becouse so many time with pugs there is really nobody who can stomp … ( not for the eg itself ) . I am not saying it is better or not, i am saying that in casual pvp or in wvw also ( for small roaming) it is quite viable . Now i am taking more often elixir X as elite becouse toss elixir X is really usefull for warrior rampage or necro’s lych form . Usually in pvp , lately , i use elixir X and i tend to use mortar for wvw .

Incendiary powder was the main reason cele engi worked so well.

There are other traits that made it worked as well, but now that it is split across 4 lines it isn’t worth it.

In WvW, Celestial Engineer lost its punch, everyone else hits harder and tends to shrug off your pressure. With this in mind, you tend to be better off going Dire/Rabid or Berserker. In sPvP it’s another story but the same thing remains, more or less. Nobody prevents you from persevering with Celestial though. I mourn my wupwup gear, but I still use it from time to time.

As an Engineer main who only plays sPvP competitively I’ve tried Soldier and Celestial. In my opinion Celestial Rifle Engi is better than Soldier Rifle. With the Celestial amulet you have just over 30% crit chance where as the Soldier amulet you get 4% crit chance which means your main bust is solely reliant on your Intelligence sigils and rifle burst, where the Celestial amulet you should burst with Intelligence sigils on rifle but the Slick Shoes and Grenade combo is far more effective on Cele. Also with the Mortar Kit’s combo blasts for heals the healing power you get out of Cele amulet is better than the non-existent healing power on the Soldier amulet.

I’ve tested both out for a while now and you can still bunker a point no problem when using Mortar Kit properly and you should be able to win your 1v1s a lot quicker with Celestial.

In summary, if you want to be more tanky as an Engineer then run Soldier, but if you want good sustain with decent damage and IMO better team use, use the Celestial amulet.

MrForz.1953:

In WvW, Celestial Engineer lost its punch, everyone else hits harder and tends to shrug off your pressure. With this in mind, you tend to be better off going Dire/Rabid or Berserker. In sPvP it’s another story but the same thing remains, more or less. Nobody prevents you from persevering with Celestial though. I mourn my wupwup gear, but I still use it from time to time.

Nobody is saing that moving incendiary powder was not a nerf. It was but we are saying that saying that it is not completely viable is a lie. In any case with celestial you have more condi damage and more healing power. I find that the miss of healing power on soldier, for me at list is something huge.

ANyone tried celestial with explosive, firearms and inventions for example ? ( for mecha leg) ? i did not try but i will

The problem with the current power creep is that it indirectly weakens your healing power and toughness in WvW. If you don’t dabble in Firearms and Incendiary Powder as Celestial. The tankier builds will laugh at your pathetic attempts to deal damage while accidently cleansing your poison and bleed and shred through the few bits of toughness and healing power you have with their increased damage. With that in mind, why not go Berserker or Knight?

Concerning traits, going Firearms, Alchemy and Tools is more or less mandatory for Celestial. You could try to replace Tools although it’s hard to conceive, but the other two lines get to stay no matter what.

if u use nades with celestial you can let firearms out and take explosive . The damage is not that bad. IP was strong… but it is not the only access to damage celestial engi has . With berserker you are really squishy and with knight you hava no vitality. And both of them has no condi damage . In my opinion you can try explosive, alchemy invention or explosive, invention tool , they are different and the first for me is better, but they are both viable .

Cele engi is far from dead its still very good.

PierPiero.9142:

ANyone tried celestial with explosive, firearms and inventions for example ? ( for mecha leg) ? i did not try but i will

that’s what i run in pvp.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhatY7Ww+KQ+FLsFVYKeRvG4IuBBgYHNFPBA-TJhAwAfuAAT3fAwDAQcZAA

you can swap Egun for TK if you want, both have their merits. it’s all about cc chains and baiting their condi clear so you can hit them with IA. the 40% burn duration really helps.

For now, my celestial build for pvp looks like this :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUh+sY7WwWLQ7FLsFV4SdRvG4IuBBgYHVFPBA-TJxHAB1+AAUZ/BAuAAFVGAA

Burning is the new bleeding. If you really want to mix your damages, then what you want is a lot of burning. And in pvp a lot of burning sources is always better than a longer burning duration or a higher burning tick (we can cumulate all but here we just want the most effective).

I was angry against bombs because of their range, but I had to admit 4 pulses * 5 targets * 4 seconds burning, every 10s, is good. This + IP + FT is already enough to have a good output of condi damages.

All other conditions are not intended, but always come as a good bonus. Then everything else go in sustains and direct damages. That’s it.

I hesitated between Elixir X and Mortar, but I really hate rnd, and mortar is good to have a perfect rotation, never use any auto attack, and one more blinds field help to go in melee.

Elixir X is really strong for toss elixir X .. expecially against lich form

I’m one of the many engis with a celestial ascended set that’s seen less use than before. I’m torn between rolling it to sinister, rabid or keeping it the same.

sinister cries out for pinpoint distribution The amusement of downing instantly, watching your opponent run up to stomp and keeling over before he gets half way to you from the condi’s you put on

Miliko.5480:

I’m one of the many engis with a celestial ascended set that’s seen less use than before. I’m torn between rolling it to sinister, rabid or keeping it the same.

I’d suggest you to wait till expansion come out. Now it will be really hard to say which will be next “meta” for eng in pvp or in wvw. I already have a rabid ascended armor and a celestial ascended armor and i am looking for making work both of them . I am not so sure of what will be better in expasion so in my opinion it is safer to keep what you have and to correct the stats you don’t like with jewelery in the worst case