Guild Wars 2

Lately I have been seeing a lot more condition engineers that just spam grenade kit. Most of the time I can handle them because they are pretty glassy and I good burst will take them out quickly. But everyone once in a while I come across a engi that has skill and isn’t just spamming 1-5 randomly. And I have a really hard time with them because they stack so many conditions on me that I can’t clear them enough since thieves have no mass condition removal. Then if I try and clear them I get tossed around and get 15 stacks of confusion on me. Do I just run away because thieves are doomed to lose against any condition build?

walk away… -_-

Cynz.9437:

walk away… -_-

Hun hun, summon your warrior ~

If the area is large enough so you cankeep your distance, and patiently get in / get out, you may slowly wear them out, although even a 5% hp’d engi is still very hard to burst down.

Otherwise, in a close area, yea, walk away. Fighting against the camera while being showered with AoE (and FX) doesn’t help either.

/sleep and hope they think you’re dead

Lock the door. And hope they don’t have blasters.

What kind of thief build are you running? I don’t really lose to engineers on my P/D spec or D/P spec, but D/D is where I feel challenged.

Assuming you run a typical backstab build, you definitely need stealth removes a condition. The trick with a backstabber, you need to steal to them before they get to you, then get in stealth and haul kitten out of the AoE they drop, then prolong stealth with a utility soil and get a backstab in, then get out. Their bomb kit is ridiculous. So much PbAoE.
The easiest way, don’t run a backstab build. I know people will say that it is the only viable build, and other non sense, but that’s not true. A Valkyrie s/d build is awesome, even with the 1/4 cast time, or a dire p/d build, my personal choice, is extremely amazing.

Run Lyssa runes, full condi cleanse + stab so you can go ham without worrying about getting interrupted. 30 in shadow arts for condi removal and heals in stealth. Hide in Shadows removes all damaging condi’s besides torment (don’t let it get interrupted though, use it in stealth). Sword 2 is a good emergency condi clear, so is Shadow Return on Shadow Step. Carry a weapon with Generosity Sigil on it for fighting condi classes. Also, fancy bug, if you interrupt someone with Basilisk Venom (and only Basilisk Venom) that has Perplexity Runes on, it puts 5 stacks of confuse on them and uses their condi damage to determine the damage. This is a bug that will be fixed most likely but in the mean time its hilarious. =] It pairs really well with Generosity, I love putting 5 stacks of confuse and torment on a Mesmer with one Steal Cloak and Dagger Backstab combo. xD Signet of Agility is an option as well.

In order from most to least valuable:
Lyssa Runes
30 in Shadow Arts
Hide in Shadows
Generosity Sigil
Shadow Step
Sword Main Hand
Signet of Agility

In short, with how strong condi’s are atm it is always good to have some reliable condi cleanse in your build. I run all of the above (besides Shadow Step or Signet of Agility), using Basilisk with Lyssa right after I get Signet of Spited has saved my kitten on many occasions. Being able to cleanse consistent conditions in stealth while having a few burst cleanses is usually all you need. Pair it with 30 in Trickery for control or 30 in Critical strikes for damage and you are golden.

I’m going to have to join the walk away vote. Most condtion engineers I have encountered are way too tanky to take down quickly and any fight over 20 seconds (CD for healing turret, traited bombs, gear shield, etc….) will often benefit them unless they really mess up. This is against good ones though. Bad ones should fall in the first 10-15 seconds. If you find they are competent though, DoTs only get stronger/harder to deal with over time.

Even against bad ones though, you’re going to need condi clear on stealth to combat the condi burst they are capable of. A chained CnD, then backstab and a couple of heartseekers might be enough to take them down, but remember if you don’t have them really on the defensive at the end of 20 seconds, it probably will come down to luck in addition to skill to beat them.

bursty nade engies are easy, just dodge the blue colored ones and then try to stay behind them so they can’t throw at you. other than that, light em up.

you can also try using a sb and just plinking away. most nades builds are pretty squishy with poor access to gap closers. sb4->sb2 and plink plink plink til they go down. avoiding nades is easy at anything greater than 400 range.

perplexity bomber engies however, you should run from.