Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, I just hit 62, and I have a few questions that I’d like answered if anyone has time :0, preferably before I hit 80.

Ok, so I’m a dual pistol full engineer, my slot skills on right side are throw mine, rocket turret, elixir U and (well I just switched it out, I was using the golem, havent actually tried it yet but i’m about to test it) my elite skill is supply crate.

I love this build, or at least most of it, I love the control it gives me over mobs, and mob placement, and my placement, I’ve only used this for solo questing and group events, and a couple dungeon runs. No pvp to speak as of yet, I may dabble in it later, but for now, just trying to get to 80 asap.

My questions, are based around two things:

One: up till now, i’ve been gearing full condition damage/precision, is this correct? Is this what I want at 80 to get the full benefit of my build? I don’t plan on changing builds currently, because I really love how these skills I have currently work together, but I’m not going to say that’s a 100 pct decision.

Two: Totally based on that last statement I made. How do you think this build is going to hold up in level 80 explorable dungeons/stuff? Up to now, it’s been awesome, but if there’s something, some pitfall i’m going down I’d like to know haha.

So ya, what say you guys? please reply, I tried to get some engineers assistance on /map but noone replied to me, and I really want to kill all doubt about what I’m doing with this guy before I hit 80.

Thanks a bunch before hand, again, please, please, people with knowledge reply thanks a ton.

i’m getting a bit discouraged, I tried in both lions arch and cursed shore with my 80 ele to try and get these two fairly simple questions answered.. not really loving the helpfulness of my server heh, please reply to the two questions above if you have experience with engineer, thank you.

I find the Engineer forums kind of dead compared to some others, Warrior/Thief/Guardian etc. The help so far I have recieved (although I got 1 PM) has been pretty minimal, most Engineer’s will try and persuade you to be a grenadier and tell you this is the top DPS build. however they don’t understand that grenades feel clunky, they are slow to attack and very hard to use when trying to keep mobile. so my advice is if dual pistols work for you and you get the job done, it shouldn’t really matter what everyone’s opinions are on how you spec. if it feels right, then most probably it is right.

I have been watching youtube videos and finding the ones that would suit my game style (mobile/tanky and fun) – so I have been using pistol/shield (shield for the stun/knockback) and I have been using the bomb kit (slow/blind/confusion) and big’ol’bomb. although this is what I am using now, its not going to be the only build I will every use for the rest of my gaming as an engineer, I would most probably change things the way my play style changes.

So to sum this up. I’m sorry I can’t offer you good advice as I am only a level 17 Engineer, but I can offer you my perspective.

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/engineer#10|10|1207|4641|531|4056|4065|10|1422|0|0|30|1419|1866|2269|0|0|0|0|20|1015|2188|0|10|1446|0|0|0|0|5|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|

This is the build I’m currently running for my lvl 80 Pistol/Pistol Engi. It gives me plenty of control and utility both for PVE and WVW. I am able to take down most classes 1v1 and hold my own against more occasionally. Mostly focussed on condition damage and precision as they will be your two main sources of damage.
In full exotics, Health sits around 20k, Cond damage is about 1300 and crit is at 46%. Usage of Utility goggles and Med kit’s stimulant boosts crit into the high 60’s.

I would recommend getting at least some Toughness and Vitality your not going to be able to dodge everything in dungeons later on and you cant do very much dps lying on your back.
Engineer downed skills don’t always allow for an easy pick up like some other classes do so you will want to avoid being downed as much as possible. Numbers wise grenades have the highest damage co-efficient for the class. That being said they can be very difficult to use and its boring as hell throwing grenades from 1500 yards away all the time. I recommend more then anything else being flexible. Try everything out and you will find that the playstyles have pro’s and cons. Engineer is a very diverse class with many many many combinations of abilities. Condition dmg and precision will be the best for dual pistol tho… i dont recommend min maxing for just cond dmg precision and power.

I used a very similar build for a long time. I love it! I geared a similiar way, but also gathered equipment for +crit dmg beings my precision & power were high enough to take advantage of it. Definitely by 80, vitality & toughness are necessary (in only as much moderation as needed to live comfortably). I had also switched the mine out for utility goggles—they lend themselves to group play better. Also in group play, I find myself frequently switching out the turret for an additional elixir.

awesome, thanks a ton guys. I finally tried pvp tonight, did it for a few hours, ended up with the same dual pistol but i switched out my mine and my rocket for elixir s and elixir b. It seemed to work pretty well, it was tough for me to control the aoe when things got crazy, easier to just target and hit a button heh

Cond is pretty terrible compared to power/prec.

Pre coated bullets you might have had an argument. but now post 60, you can get coated bullets for p/p. its no question. power is your prime scaling damage.

Now, I do have to say, pistols scale much less then grenades/rifle… but probably viable.
But really when explosive shot is criting for 600×2 and rifle is critting for 2k, and grenades are 1200×3, its hard to stick with pistols.

firearms is giving you free cond damage, and crit chance. Gear for power first to scale with that crit.

Casia.4281:

Cond is pretty terrible compared to power/prec.

Pre coated bullets you might have had an argument. but now post 60, you can get coated bullets for p/p. its no question. power is your prime scaling damage.

Now, I do have to say, pistols scale much less then grenades/rifle… but probably viable.
But really when explosive shot is criting for 600×2 and rifle is critting for 2k, and grenades are 1200×3, its hard to stick with pistols.

firearms is giving you free cond damage, and crit chance. Gear for power first to scale with that crit.

The only time P/P is worse than rifle is against objects and condition immune stuff, and things that take bonus damage (Like legendary dredge mining suit).

P/P can keep up just fine with rifle otherwise, and grenades while good are too much of a pain in the kitten to use forever. Seriously, I’m not playing the game to spam 1 1 1 1 1 over and over on 5 minute fights.

Also not sure where you’re getting 2k rifle crits, with 3700 power and 68% crit damage I drop maybe 1800 crits with a rifle.

Also Pistol is more utility.

Anyway play how you want, don’t try to cookie cutter your way to success you’ll just burn out.

Ahlen.7591:

Casia.4281:

Cond is pretty terrible compared to power/prec.

Pre coated bullets you might have had an argument. but now post 60, you can get coated bullets for p/p. its no question. power is your prime scaling damage.

Now, I do have to say, pistols scale much less then grenades/rifle… but probably viable.
But really when explosive shot is criting for 600×2 and rifle is critting for 2k, and grenades are 1200×3, its hard to stick with pistols.

firearms is giving you free cond damage, and crit chance. Gear for power first to scale with that crit.

The only time P/P is worse than rifle is against objects and condition immune stuff, and things that take bonus damage (Like legendary dredge mining suit).

P/P can keep up just fine with rifle otherwise, and grenades while good are too much of a pain in the kitten to use forever. Seriously, I’m not playing the game to spam 1 1 1 1 1 over and over on 5 minute fights.

Also not sure where you’re getting 2k rifle crits, with 3700 power and 68% crit damage I drop maybe 1800 crits with a rifle.

Also Pistol is more utility.

Anyway play how you want, don’t try to cookie cutter your way to success you’ll just burn out.

3700 power? uh… Not calling you a liar, but are you confusing attack and power?
I have about 2200 power in full zerkers, and getting 300 from explosives.. 10 stacks of might, would be 2550power.
When I say 2k rifle crits, its admittedly a grenade spec, and might be gaining from vul.

Both rifle and pistol hit at .8s attack speed.

Rifle base damage is 986-1205, 1095 average.
Pistol is 876-1029, 952 average.
(this is largely the problem)

Rifle has a +10% damage trait.
Pistol has coated bullets, for double and triple hits.

Both get 5% vs bleeding targets. A rifle spec, does the 20% cdr, and 10% damage for sure.
Blind on crit, vul on crit, or 5% damage vs immobalized targets is up for grabs by choice. all 3 are good.

The vast majority of any damage is from skill 1, due to .8s cast timers, compared to 4-20s on others . while they can’t be ignored in reality, understand most damage comes from skill 1. (this is why I say, power for pistols. The vast majority of pistol 1’s damage is DIRECT aoe and coated bullets)

Rifle1 is .65 skill coeff.
Pistol 1 is .35 skill coeff.

2500 power vs 2600 armor target (overly high armor)
Rifle 1
.65*1095*2500/2600= 684 hit *15%= 787 hits.

Pistol 1
.35*952*2500/2600= 320 hit *5%= 336 hits. Coated bullets at max range for double hit=336×2 672 damage (Triple hits on 2 or more, its decent.)

The bleed and double hitting on pistols. The bleed on pistol 1 is single target only. The exploding hit does not cause the p1 bleed. with coated bullets, double hitting the direct hit, its still only 1 stack of bleed. Thus P1 scales with power better. its power scaling is aoe. on double and triple hits, all power based.
Rifle is only 1 hit per .8s. While pistol double or triple hitting is 2 or 3 per .8. And pdv is 5 per 2s. even blowtorch is 3 per .8s, and static can be 2 per .8s. so more hits/s. for 50% chance for vul on crit.
Again, note vul, 5% damage vs bleed, only effect direct damage. so again, power>cond.
While sharpshooter, 30% chance for bleed on crit. is aoe, with no cooldown. every hit is a chance for this. however, mathematically. 30% chance on a 60% crit rate, for 3s bleed is VERY small total dps gain. Its a nice extra, but not something to focus on. power, not cond.

Crit chance, and crit damage to get 2k crits on rifle, or 600 crits on pistol would be the same. +50% crit damage, over base 50%. and that was vs a very high armored target. Soft targets like light armored mesmers, etc. easy peasy.

Rifle1 does more then twice as much damage as pistol 1, be default.
As you can see the base weapon damage messes things up. .65 scaling vs .35. yet even with .35×2, that rifles .65 does MORE damage. p1 surpasses with tripling hitting.
And for total damage, we need to consider PDV, static shot, blowtorch, vs blunderbuss, etc.

If you dont have coated bullets, pistol isnt even close. if you do, it can compete. Still probably lower in most cases though.
Blind/confuse vs overcharged knockdown.

you may note I am not taking the +range for rifle or pistols.

And for good reason. For rifle only rifle 1 gains from it, realistically. going from 1000 to 1200.
Net shot does go to 1200. but the travel time for the net, means it will not ever land at that range vs a moving target. Its realistically, <800.
Blunder buss full damage/bleed at 100 range does not change. the max range does increase to 500.
Overcharged does increase from 400-500.
And jump as well gains 100. but again, going from 700-800. All these abilities are only realistically used 100-500 range in the first place. Effectively melee.

Pistol is pretty much the same deal. Static gains from it. But pdv, past 500 and the spread means you miss. Pistol 1, by increasing the range, it makes using the max range double hit harder to do.

Cond builds were nerfed beyond belief a month ago since then those builds have not come close the pow/pre/% crit damage builds. It’s odd too that a game that supposed to be all about choices pretty much pigeonholes the one class that’s supposed to be all about choices into a single dps model,

I find the best utilities are the pistol shield combo. They keep mobs off you and dizzy long enough for you to finish them off easily and when fighitng karka (which im sure will be in future content soon) you can use the magnetic shield to reflect their barbs and nets right back at them doing massive damage. Also, I find that the second pistol abilities often miss inexplicibly something else that annoys us engis that no one’s commented on or said they will look into, the torch ability misses like the flame thrower and the fumigate cone abilities of other weapons.

The shield bubble is also useful in creating a bubble around yourself from other player
s combo fields. OR your own for that matter. I dunno how many times I used it on my blind wall from the toolbelt of elixir u to disappear and reposition myself in a fight or give someone else the aggro before I started fighting again. the toolbelt elixir U is useful for that in that it has two possible invis options.

If you plan on farming pistol is the easiest fastest option for hitting multiples.

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.4.6.0.19.0.35.0.9.0.80.88.97.100.102.0.0.0.230.0.0.245.246.252.261.0.0.0.0.0.287.294.0.10.30.10.0.20

Hopefully this will load properly, my build for farming with a single change. If you plan on running dungeons it helps to have a faster cd on pots and to use the Elixir H.

I made this build for farming everywhere else. If i planned on going to Orr I change two things. I make it 10 in inventions because I dunno how many times my cloaking device has saved me from being eaten by everything over there. Since they all toss you around and web you in Orr it’s a must have. Otherwise just using 10 points in Alchemy and have faster pots.

I actually use either toolkit or goggles depending on the type of mob I’m hitting. They are both very fast and the lighting ability in tools helps with AOE damage ALOT. So if you find you’re going to be stunned alot stick with Goggles.

Piercing bullets is an absolute must imo. Burning is okay but the faster you can use your pistol abilities the better, so I chose a faster cd. If they fix conds so they are back to their normal damage again then I’d say go ahead and put 20% burning but as it is since pvp and pve behaviors weren’t coded separately like we thought they would be cond damage builds were given a huge nerf that they’ve never fixed. Piercing when you do some leg work in aiming will allow you to line up the hordes of mobs in places like Orr to get the best results. After a while you’ll be able to anticipate where they’ll come running in.

Range doesn’t really help much imo, I keep vul up all the time now so it improves damage.

You could use all elixirs if you want but I find that 1 elixir U is fine for the walls and the quickness.

I also placed runes of rage on my weapons they do stack btw if one goes off they both do and gives you an extra quickness boost. When that’s on CD i use the U a couple of times before I know it’s back up.

hope this helps.

tigirius.9014:

Cond builds were nerfed beyond belief a month ago since then those builds have not come close the pow/pre/% crit damage builds. It’s odd too that a game that supposed to be all about choices pretty much pigeonholes the one class that’s supposed to be all about choices into a single dps model,

What nerf?

For builds and utilities, go with what feels right for you and matches your playstyle. If someone is telling you about what skills and whatnot you should be running for maximum damage, etc., if it doesn’t feel right to you then you aren’t going to be effective at it. And screw ‘practice until you get it right’. Play the way that feels right for you.

I run dual pistol and have absolutely no issues at anything related to PVE. It could be solo map completion running, to farming DE events in Orr. I do just fine.

Don’t worry too much about ideal stats until you hit 80 and can start shopping for you exotics. Then you just need to set yourself some guidlines. I run gear that gets me just over 16k health, 50% crit, then stack power and %crit damage after that. For me, that’s full Knight’s armor, carrion pistols and ruby/ruby berzerkers accessories.

I switch to rifle and grenades for WvW. Full 30 points in both explosives (grenadier) and Firearms (coated bullets). I honestly do not feel lacking in any area in whatever I’m doing.

Best thing you can do is figure out where you feel you need help, and arrange your stats and traits and skills to make up for that. Need extra range? Need more CC? Need to move faster? Want better AoE? It’s all there, just arrange until you feel like your character is running that way you want.

One: Your going to want to run Berserker set, you’ll want to use some Rampager’s. Your Crit is good around 55%ish. Then you’ll want Crit damage. Replace Elixir U with Elixir B. It outclasses it so much.

Two: Yes, you’ll do fine. Mind you, other builds will do more damage, It will work, if you use the Swiftness on crit and vigor on swiftness combo, you’ll survive and be dealing damage, provide some support and get to play the way you want.

P/P is carrion gear all the way, you have access to all conditions. You may want to switch some carrion out with some precision gear if you have an on-crit sigil, about 25% crit chance is more than enough.

Berserker is only good for grenadier/rifle builds, and even then it’s not recommended.

If you’re going to want to perform, I’d switch out your mine for a kit. (I only like bomb kit, but other kits are possible).

In all honesty, I love my P/P engineer in WvW and own with it. But for dungeons I’d consider a rifle/support build instead.