Guild Wars 2

Any tips… I am confident in most 1v1s, I can do most other builds DH is easy if you focus, just count the heals and time the traps. War too I just need to kite Berserk and wait until he comes out to finish.
But condi engi is destroying me at the moment. I can only really use shadowstep, thats the only thing I have against them… to run away or trick them, lol neither of them are effective. I am using just a normal conquest thief build for spvp not dueling.

Just looking for some tips and tricks, I would probably swap PI out for the extra condi cleanse and I think that might do it, but is there any way to know which build they are running before the match starts?

there are a few variants of condi engi running around nowadays and almost all of em are lethal if you tank too many of their skills plus the passive 2 stacks of burn.
so which one variant was causing you trouble?
was it a normal engi?
was it scrapper?
were they using shield or pistol off hands?
which kits were they using?
etc

the pistol variants troubles me enourmously also. I just pray for my Improvisation to refresh my Shadowstep everytime I fight them.

There different brands of condition builds. Some rely on 1 or 2 damaging conditons with multiple cover types. others have 3 or more damaging condtions with fewer covers.

The type of cleanse you have is important.

I find with engie the targeted type cleanses > generic. Ie shadowstep and EA just not as good as PR, HIS or SE.

P/P can load on every damaging condition type outside torment and the Condi Engie has ample access to burn. you just can not afford to do cleanses that remove covers rather then getting at those burn stacks in particular. if you can not avoid getting those burns on you via dodges evades or blocks think about getting one of those cleanses specific to burn.

Someone above mentioned Improv and hoping it reset his shadowstep. Well if you had HIS and Shadowstep you just doubled your chances of getting a nice cleanse recharged and sometimes “wasting a heal” to get thos killer condition stacks off you before they get their damage done is better then allowing the conditions to take you down to low health and force the same.

Indeed. Condition breadth has been the thief’s biggest struggle with cleansing since launch.

Pretty much comes down to what Baba said, though HiS is pretty terrible for non-stealth builds due to its cast duration.

I used to run a p/p condi engi in PvP and WvW (Rabid in PvP, Dire/Rabid in WvW) all the time

The burn is what you have to watch out for. As an engi (vanilla still works very well vs HoT builds) I used to run Firearms, Alchemy and Inventions (anything burn/condi related in Firearms, elixir stuff in Alchemy and Bunker down/Mecha legs in Inventions). I always started with a stealth burn as close as possible and unloaded in 3>2>1 and spam 1 until ready to burn again. I also had sigil of torment so I could proc torment as well. Runes of Balthazar for the burn.

Scrapper (I am still working on a good one as all I have seen in WvW and PvP have not been very good) but I would def keep firearms and probably alchemy, but scrapper doesn’t really offer anything condi related so its only use really if the sneak gyro and adaptive armor (condi engi/scrapper is weak to condis)

Cleanse the burn ASAP and do quick in and out bursts. Stealth is your friend as you can stealth more often than we can.

If you are NA and want to spar vs mine, let me know as I used to run it all the time (My first non meta build)

Abuse dodges, headshots and stealth

Krysard.1364:

Abuse dodges, headshots and stealth

Abusing dodges won’t do much as the condi sustain at 900 units is hard (same range as ranged weps on a thief/DD

If its a condi scrapper, stealth will get you time to reposition, but they also have access to stealth, so if its a dire build you gotta be fast. Mobility will be your friend. Abuse your mobility hard. Don’t stay melee too long until thei rpassive elixir kicks in at 25% hp, then go full offensive.

If you are running p/p, stay ranged. if you are running SB, keep poison on him once he hits 50% HP. Before he hits 25% HP, burst in and get out but keep him in combat. If running d/p and SB…keep cripple up and AA when ranged, swap and steal burst and back off. Swap back, rinse, repeat (added poison after he hits 50% HP)

Most condi engis/scrappers I see are not “pro” so they will waste CD’s/reflects. Like a good thief/DD, just wait it out

Lyssa can be a great equalizer on some builds.

haha yeah getting condi anything can be hard to deal with as a thief, thankfully dash does help us deal with some of the ‘cover’ conditions so our clearing is more meaningful.

@Bigpapasmurf.5623 I would love to duel with you, I’ll add you.

Zlater.6789:

haha yeah getting condi anything can be hard to deal with as a thief, thankfully dash does help us deal with some of the ‘cover’ conditions so our clearing is more meaningful.

@Bigpapasmurf.5623 I would love to duel with you, I’ll add you.

This thread inspired me to pick up my p/p engi. Used it in WvW over the last 2 days and im surprised on how well it does (its a vanilla build too…tested scrapper but the scrapper ine doesn’t really do much for it so its a waste of a trait line).

I will admit, daredevils/thieves melt fast and im was really surprised on how well I do vs reapers and berzerkers. Chronos still a pain.