Guild Wars 2

Okay, so I’ve been dragged into sPvP by some friends of mine after playing WvW almost exclusively since launch. My experiences in the past with sPvP have been bad for the most part, in that my thief build and skill level, which I have become renown for in WvW is completely non-functional in this format due to the drastic nerfs surrounding D/D damage throughputs, and the overall increased durability and slower speed of the fights everyone has in sPvP. So I get it; don’t play the hyper-burst thief in sPvP because it won’t actually kill anyone. Okay, fair enough, so I moved to a P/P attrition bunker as a troll build for guild PvP events and whatnot, Well, the BP nerf kind of killed that idea, too, and the thief almost generally speaking is too fragile to handle well in this condition-heavy format.

So I’ve since moved to a variety of classes and builds and never really found one which could deal with condi bomb engis. The problem is that no matter what build I seem to play, I can’t deal with the constant pressure and crazy mobility and CC this class supplies. I tried today playing on my S/S war, and it got to the point where I was running Cleansing Ire + Berserker Stance + Signet of Stamina active + Shake it Off + Sigil of Generosity + Sigil of Cleansing + reflect projectiles on block on S/S + Melandru runes in an attempt to not die to condi engineers, and I still got massively overwhelmed every time I tried to engage. In every other fight excluding engineers, I had absolutely no problems, and even held a point 1v4 and killed all of them in one of my games in an attempt to avoid feeding the engineer on the opposing team more kills. I’ve heard that using range can help, but that doesn’t really do much to stop a capture or let one engage on a point, especially if there is more than one engineer.

So, what am I doing wrong that causes me to keep getting melted so easily, and how do I go about adjusting to better counter this class/build in general? I feel like running nine ways of removing conditions is way overkill and the problem is lying in mis-playing somewhere, but I’m just kind of frustrated that I can out-play everything else including D/D celestial eles but get rolled 99/100 times by pretty much every engineer I fight against.

Thanks, the feedback is much appreciated.

Also, is it just me or do the engi skills like flamethrower and grenades cause huge lag spikes whenever they’re used? Is there a way to fix this? I get ~80 FPS on high settings and maintain a steady 40 in map-queued blobfights in WvW, but close to even one engineer (or even playing as one), using those skills causes huge spikes, so I know it’s not a hardware-related issue as much as it is probably some setting somewhere.

Thanks again.

Metabattle.com go for shoutbow.

First thing, the only removal you will probably need is zerk stance and cleansing ire, then the sigils and runes can be used for might stacking or extra condi application. Second thing, Condi bomb engi in my experience is very fragile to condis that arent removed by healing turret. Best way to beat them is to bait out healing turret with a few poke condis like shortbow 6 with a sigil of doom active on the weapon. Unless they know what you’re doing they will probably pop healing turret then you can switch to s/s and start condi bursting.

In terms of defense, watch for their supply crate and well… bombs. When they drop their big bomb get out of the readius or dodge. The best way to beat a condi bomb engi is to deny them the ability to put condi on with their bombs. If they miss their bombs they have no point control.

Not sure how much sense that made so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Good luck!

Run a condition build or prepare to fight at a huge disadvantage.

Engineer class will destroy any class that doesn’t run a cheese condition spec.

Doomdesire.9365:

Engineer class will destroy any class that doesn’t run a cheese condition spec.

Meh, that’s only somewhat true. Engineers are very susceptible to conditions, but you can kill them with direct damage too if you’re smart. Try to bait dodges out of them until they run out. They’re probably running something like invigorating speed, or elixir R, or sigil of energy, so pay attention to how many dodges they actually have. Being immobilized also really sucks as an engineer. I usually have one utility that will break immob, but if that’s already been baited out I’m in a bad place vs. a warrior. Mobility is the biggest asset an engineer has, unless they’re running a turret build or something. Try to bait out their heavy condi skills before you use berserker’s stance and either dodge them or clear them while you’re immune. Watch out for elixir gun’s autoattack too, as it inflicts weakness. Try to time your burst with your stance so you don’t lose half your damage.

They’re pretty weak at range as well. You can use your low cooldown weapon swap to bait out dodges at range, swap to melee, bait out their best condi skills, dodge out of the way and swap to range, etc. It’s a lot of timing and what will work will vary from player to player.

If making an engineer is an option for you, that will help you more than anything. You don’t have to love it or level it to 80, but go to HotM and hotjoin and learn what all their skills actually do, and how long those cooldowns feel in fights. Or spectate and watch the engineers. There are a lot of different ways people play the profession, and if you figure out what utilities they’re using early on you’re at a huge advantage.

In the current meta engi>warrior. But if you are smart as warrior you get the decap and sometimes the fullcap. Warrior is able to have 21+ stacks of might and with the bow fire field it is not possible to hold the cap for a very long time as an engi.

The new shoutbow build is also very strong vs conditions because you not only remove them you convert them

Hard to say because thief always was basicly freekill for engi. Those perma evade builds was always pretty annoying for me tho. Also take anything range condi engi limited condi removing

Shout warr is a very viable warrior build at the moment and Engineers won’t trouble you with it.

The only warrior build I struggle with as a condi bomb engineer in spvp is hambow, in situations when i want to defend a point and he’s kiting me with his bow applying constant burning. This fight is all about pressure and sustain, and if your keeping your distance and dodging correctly the bomb engi wont have much of a chance. A good engi probably won’t die but you will force him to ditch the point.
condi bomb engi dont really have a great ranged sustainable damage, use that to your advantage

Rozbuska.5263:

Hard to say because thief always was basicly freekill for engi. Those perma evade builds was always pretty annoying for me tho. Also take anything range condi engi limited condi removing

teef was pretty terror back before ferocity

Hambows get beaten pretty easily as a condi Engi! Vee Wee never had much trouble beating hambows 1v1 even before the adrenaline nerf! The best Warrior build to beat condi Engi with is the new shoutbow meta build! They can hold out forever 1v1 vs a condi Engi and usually win that matchup because 27k+ health and tons of condi removal while dishing out a lot of condi pressure themselves! I believe the trait setup is 10463! Or 01463! Or 00464! Vee Wee isn’t a Warrior player! Better off asking a Warrior main!

Don’t play D/D Thief in PvP! It’s just bad! Compared to WvW, CnD damage is reduced, your overall damage is reduced because of the lowered ferocity, revealed is 4 seconds instead of 3, and there’s not many things to stealth off of as opposed to WvW where there’s just random deer and oakhearts and whatever to CnD! If you want to play Thief, DP and SD Thieves are the way to go! You’ll have a better chance of beating an Engi as an SD Thief rather than DP but it’s not your job to 1v1 an Engi in the first place especially if it’s a bomb Engi which Thieves are really weak to!

If you want to reliably beat a condi Engi, just roll a condi Necro! There is no harder matchup for a condi Engineer than a condi Necro!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

how to beat an engi

step 1: CC the heck out of them
step 2: apply condis while cc’d
step 3: rinse and repeat.

> Play Warrior
> 4, 0, 4, 0, 6.
> Mace/Sword + Bow
> Rabid Amulet, Orr Runes, Sigil of Doom.

Win every 1v1, unless special needs tier uncoordinated.

GG

Hearing this whole Shoutbow thing as being “new” after being gone for a few months baffles me because I remember using something very, very similar a long time ago. I guess that’s what happens when you nerf everything else Wars have. Really sad to see everything be “Cele or bust” though.

BurrTheKing.8571:

Really sad to see everything be “Cele or bust” though.

Wut?

Bunch of Rabid builds being thrown about for killing Engi as well as Celestial “shoutbow”, which incidentally works well with Rabid as well.

Point being made is, Engi is weak to Condi/CC in terms of the “meta”.

If you want to kill an Engineer as a Warrior 1v1 100% of the time, assuming sufficient mechanical skill run:

Strength (III) + (VII)
Defense (V) + (IX)

—spend the other points where you like, recommend Discipline for adrenaline.

Use Mace/Sword and Longbow.

—Utility as you please, consider more CC = more confusion.

Rabid Amulet with at least one Doom Sigil for additional condi pressure.

This build is god-like vs Engineer.

In fact, the only combo you probably can’t 1v2 is Mesmer/Thief…

1 word.

NECRO! Engi’s HATE necro’s, more so for Condi engi’s, lesser for Celestial Engi’s.

Warriors never bother me, just watch the status bar, simple enough with Toolkit + Shield damage negation. Oh and 1/3 uptime on vigor.

ArrDee.2573:

Hambows get beaten pretty easily as a condi Engi! Vee Wee never had much trouble beating hambows 1v1 even before the adrenaline nerf! The best Warrior build to beat condi Engi with is the new shoutbow meta build! They can hold out forever 1v1 vs a condi Engi and usually win that matchup because 27k+ health and tons of condi removal while dishing out a lot of condi pressure themselves! I believe the trait setup is 10463! Or 01463! Or 00464! Vee Wee isn’t a Warrior player! Better off asking a Warrior main!

Don’t play D/D Thief in PvP! It’s just bad! Compared to WvW, CnD damage is reduced, your overall damage is reduced because of the lowered ferocity, revealed is 4 seconds instead of 3, and there’s not many things to stealth off of as opposed to WvW where there’s just random deer and oakhearts and whatever to CnD! If you want to play Thief, DP and SD Thieves are the way to go! You’ll have a better chance of beating an Engi as an SD Thief rather than DP but it’s not your job to 1v1 an Engi in the first place especially if it’s a bomb Engi which Thieves are really weak to!

If you want to reliably beat a condi Engi, just roll a condi Necro! There is no harder matchup for a condi Engineer than a condi Necro!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

Glad to see that ACTUAL Engi player responding, everyone seems to be screaming HamBow, and I am like hell do any of these people actually PLAY Condi Engi? :P

Condi Engi’s always win the waiting game, and that is what the HamBow is weak to.

Novuake.2691:

Condi Engi’s always win the waiting game, and that is what the HamBow is weak to.

There have been several engineer players that responded to you, actually. Condi engi doesn’t always win this game, trust me. As for hambow though, I think hammer offers less in terms of fighting an engineer than sword/warhorn does, especially if you trait for warhorn. Sword gives you access to more conditions and warhorn allows you to remove more conditions. Since engineers are weak to conditions and apply lots of conditions, I think that’s the way to go. You’ll still have access to cc through your longbow and utilities.

Condi engineer is more difficult to beat than other professions as a warrior, but it’s far from impossible. When I’m able to get the upper hand as a warrior, I absolutely feel it’s because I understand engineers and what they’re likely to do next. It’s already been said though, if your primary goal is just to beat condi engineers, roll a necro. Watch out for the warriors on that necro though, lol.

I would advise playing an Engineer. They are by no means unkillable.

I don’t think anyone is going to tell you how to beat one since its a pretty complicated question with no videos of your play in front of us. Play an engineer, understand its weaknesses and go from there.

There are very few builds (if any) in this game that do well in all situations against all classes and all builds.

Elegy.2159:

Novuake.2691:

Condi Engi’s always win the waiting game, and that is what the HamBow is weak to.

There have been several engineer players that responded to you, actually. Condi engi doesn’t always win this game, trust me. As for hambow though, I think hammer offers less in terms of fighting an engineer than sword/warhorn does, especially if you trait for warhorn. Sword gives you access to more conditions and warhorn allows you to remove more conditions. Since engineers are weak to conditions and apply lots of conditions, I think that’s the way to go. You’ll still have access to cc through your longbow and utilities.

Condi engineer is more difficult to beat than other professions as a warrior, but it’s far from impossible. When I’m able to get the upper hand as a warrior, I absolutely feel it’s because I understand engineers and what they’re likely to do next. It’s already been said though, if your primary goal is just to beat condi engineers, roll a necro. Watch out for the warriors on that necro though, lol.

Exactly. Condi Engi’s are reactive, not often aggressive, so if you understand the class then you won half the fight. Now to take advantage of the small gaps in their defense, which any class can do, although the necro can just throw a wrench in.

EDIT : I often stand around and wait for an opponent to DO kitten something in WvW before I fully engage to the fight, especially when I am unsure as to what build they are running. Spending HOURS fighting a bunker Ele is not my idea of a good time, and yes this HAS happened to me although hours is a bit of an exaggeration.