Guild Wars 2

Currently playing an engineer. I have played around with your class on PvP but it is much harder than other classes to get the hang of that way for some reason.

You are one of two classes my condition based engineer fears most.
I hate getting my conditions back.

What type of engineer play (if any), poses a great threat to your major builds?
In particularly, your well and condition transfer build and the new minion master builds are tougher than most classes for me.

What am I missing?

Not asking for the Colonel’s recipe (found that online anyway lol).

“New” minion master builds lol, the other class being mesmer isnt it >:D burst your condi then get your distance as fast as you can that’s a pet peeve of mine

Essentially, Necros have two major weaknesses- sustained direct damage and crowd control. Our resilience to either varies a little depending on the build, but they’re ever present. We’re also not terribly mobile – that’s our designed flaw.
If you can make a build to exploit one of these, you’ll have an easier time. Trying to beat the Necro at their own game (conditions) will be much, much harder, as a large amount of our skills/traits help us deal with those.

-Vs condi based necros – automated response
- vs MM necros – aoe the hell out of the minions and necro. Nades, supply crate, anything you have to splash damage around will be your friend. Whittle down the minions and when you get the necro down to just him its gg. This takes a while though so i wouldnt suggest trying to fight an MM necro tanking a point. Remember that MM necros do worse and worse the more people are in the fight. For dueling, it just takes a while. Be evasive and take your time.

MMs shouldn’t be difficult for you to kill as an engi, if you are playing the right spec. If you have anything like bomb/grenade kit, just position yourself so you are near as many minions as possible, and run in a small circle (so they don’t hit you much) and drop AoE at your feet. Once the minions are dead, deal as much damage to the MM as possible, and repeat until they are dead.

As said, MM is not a big problem for Engineer. Minions melt in your nades, bombs, whatever you desire.

In general – despite necro build, if he uses Flesh Golem you might want to kill it. Not prioritize, but on occassion. Better Necromancers will use it’s charge CC to chain you.

Strictly for Condimancers, cheesy ones – try to CC as much as you can, save something for Consume Conditions heal. If you put some pressure on Necro and then interrupt our heal, most of average necros start to freak out. Try LoS-ing, kiting and be aware of Spam+DS+SoS+Fear Chain, just block it with shield, shrink or whatever.

As for Condition Transfers – “meta” uses two. In the past, Putrid Mark was a killer, now it’s a shade of the past and transfers only 3 conditions with a ground-targeting and long CD. Another is Deathly Swarm on Dagger OH which is 18 second cd and transfers up to 3 conditions, blinds and bounces. It has very obvious animation so you shouldn’t be scared, again, dodge or even better, reflect with shield since it’s a projectile – Necro will condibomb himself.

As for Power Necromancers – you don’t see many, but again, CC them to win

Thanks guys. I had no idea I could project back the dagger condition transfer. Now that could be great fun.

It really is more about your giving me my conditions back which hurts than the minions. Just mentioning the two builds I see most necros playing (as I will take any advice inc the tidbit about the flesh golem).

Sure it may only be 3 conditions but they tend to be nasty ones like burning and confusion. I would be delighted to get back my “cover” conditions but seems I get the big ones back.

How does condition transfer decide which 3 (assume there are 7 on you)? Is it last in, first out?

I believe same like condition cleanse : from right to left

First in last out, most likely.

Why are we helping him kill us? This is madness! Staahhp!

Stand The Wall.6987:

Why are we helping him kill us? This is madness! Staahhp!

Better competition makes the game more enjoyable.

Better competition also makes better necros.

Besides any engi playing condition… or any condition class in general will have a hard time with condition necros. We have 3 condition transfers a few great cleanses and even a condition converter.

On top of boss CC and condition spike, the honest truth is that an evenly matched Engineer stands no chance against a Condition Necromancer.

tattoohead.3217:

On top of boss CC and condition spike, the honest truth is that an evenly matched Engineer stands no chance against a Condition Necromancer.

I had the same opinion up until 1-2 months ago. The engi I met played some weird power build with zero points in alchemy. He didn’t have a single boon.. ever, so there was hardly anything to exploit or counter as a necro. Plus, his controll and skill timing was just epic. Not only did I have a hard time against him, but he was almost undefeated the entire evening in the obsidian sanctum arena.

Mind you, this was in WvW, not sure if his build would’ve worked in sPvP as well.
Also, in tPvP you have a different approach to builds. Many engis run some bunker/decap-thingy-whatever-build. This makes total sense in tPvP because you can hold a point for a very long time. Even if you fight alone against 2-3 people initially, you’ll get team support at some point. In a WvW duel you don’t have to decap/contest a point or are under any time constraints. Those bunker engis would probably die to a necro eventually, even if it takes 2 min.

flow.6043:

tattoohead.3217:

On top of boss CC and condition spike, the honest truth is that an evenly matched Engineer stands no chance against a Condition Necromancer.

I had the same opinion up until 1-2 months ago. The engi I met played some weird power build with zero points in alchemy. He didn’t have a single boon.. ever, so there was hardly anything to exploit or counter as a necro. Plus, his controll and skill timing was just epic. Not only did I have a hard time against him, but he was almost undefeated the entire evening in the obsidian sanctum arena.

Mind you, this was in WvW, not sure if his build would’ve worked in sPvP as well.
Also, in tPvP you have a different approach to builds. Many engis run some bunker/decap-thingy-whatever-build. This makes total sense in tPvP because you can hold a point for a very long time. Even if you fight alone against 2-3 people initially, you’ll get team support at some point. In a WvW duel you don’t have to decap/contest a point or are under any time constraints. Those bunker engis would probably die to a necro eventually, even if it takes 2 min.

I play a SD burst build on my Engi and I don’t really have issues with Necromancers, what I should have said (meant too lol) was that a Condition Engineer would lose to a Condition Necromancer.

It truly depends on your spec and theirs. Either way it’s not going to be easy. If you take grenadier and you have decent CC keep distance and try to bait their marks. Act as if you are closing and back off and attack from another position once the marks are placed. Once they use consume conditions you can rush and use your CC to possibly neutralize the point. Short window here so it might be best to neutralize and go.

If they are pure condi spec and you have automated response then dont blast your healing turret. You should be able to outlast their mediocre direct damage. If you are the standard rabid spec just know that you have to clear all condi’s asap once you are around 4.5k health. After that, just CC them, be annoying, and call for help to finish them should you require it.

For MM necros it is pretty much the same, keep distance, but you do not bait their attacks and only focus on the minions. Once those minions are down you can take out the necro. Just try to kite the minions away from the necro and kill them asap.

Versus power necros…well…they turn into a lich…you just run. FAST. Wait for that to drop and you should be able to finish them. Kite them as much as possible.

Anyway – its not going to be easy. Engi vs necro’s are always interesting matches due to the various builds that come into play. You have the advantage because within the 1st 5 secs you kinda know what they are running and whether or not they are worth the time.

edit – yeah some pure power engi’s can take out the necro via burst. Like I say, you will know their build before they know yours so use that to your advantage regardless of what you are running.