Once you get to Chronophantasma in Chromomancer tree your quality of life goes way up. Resummoning Phantasms after a shatter is what this class has needed all along.
I like Dueling, Domination and Chronomancer. Until Chronomancer go Illusions line and let your phanasms do a lot of the work. For open world I like Sword/Sword, Sword Focus and Greatsword.
Nike from DnT has a video that goes through some stuff. Not saying its exactly what you want but he spells stuff out pretty well.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I’ve just completed my Chronomancer line and I gotta say that I feel we’re in a pretty good spot right now. Chrono is quite fun and engaging. Phantasms seem much more durable then they used to, I’m sure it’s been talked about but I’ve missed why. Chrono wants you to Shatter without fully losing your Phantasm DPS unlike the pre-HoT mesmer. I feel the class doesn’t fight itself as it used to. I’m considering making Chrono my main. Very fun and unique class.
For general world PvE I like S/S and GS personally but I offhand Shield and Focus too.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Use this and make key pads outta anything. Hook it up to some foot pads or even toe pads! Get some clear plexiglass and make face smash pads! Make a mouth guard with buttons!
Get a Simon Says game, pull the guts out and just use the four key pads. Use one for each foot to trigger some skills.
Get an old organ with a bunch of foot pedals and hook up the triggers.
Kool part is when you’re healed and you’ve taught yourself how to drive one handed and two footed you’ll have a full extra hand and 5 fingers for other controls.
I’d suggest a Logitec G600 mouse for 15 times however many banks you want to program. Or something like a Razer Nostromo game pad but made for the right hand.
Accident sounds terrible. Get well soon.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Returning to the game. Engi was my main before I took a break. I’ve been asked to bring a condi Engi to a raid team. I didn’t do much with Silver Wastes but I do have all the Sinister recipes. I’m looking at Viper but have just come back last week and haven’t had much time in game to acquire n craft.
My question, how much of a loss would I take running all Sinister or even Carrion or Rampagers at first? The group is lacking Condi so could I get away with something else till I can craft Viper?
TY
Blood~
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I agree with you OP, I hate that they completely took away the hobosacks. I’m glad for everyone who hated them but Engi lost some appeal for me. I have hardly touched it since the update where it was my main toon before.
Not looking for a simple backpack skin, I liked the old system exactly how it was. Different skins for different kits switching around all the time. eduardo was wrong on his assumption that everyone would be happy.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I agree with you OP, I hate that they completely took away the hobosacks. I’m glad for everyone who hated them but Engi lost some appeal for me. I have hardly touched it since the update where it was my main toon before.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I really don’t like the new trait system. WoW did this same thing back at the height of it’s game and a few years later it’s lost half its subs, not blaming that totally on the changes but it’s playing a part. Don’t fix what’s not broken.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
There’s been a constant uproar from the Enti community to hide the back piece from kits for years.
The uproar was from people who hated them, of course those of us who liked them wouldn’t say much. My original post simply expresses my personal opinion, I’m not saying the change is wrong at all, just that I would like the option to have mine back.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
If you are some oddball that liked the look of the hobosacks, well no fear! There is a backpiece for you! Remember the old backpiece you had an option to get just from creating an engineer? The Universal Multi-Tool pack is here to rescue you from ever looking cool! Yes with this old backpiece that no one used, you too can impress your hipster friends with how “ironic” your unpopular backpiece is!
Create a level 1 engineer today to get your Universal Mulit-Tool pack!
Seriously, all you people that complain that you liked the hobosack, how do you forget that this exists?
I started this thread trying to be respectful to everyone who hated Hobosacks. I was hoping to diffuse pretentious responses like this but I guess I failed there. I never posted any derogatory remarks in the hobohate thread, why, cuz that was your opinion and it wasn’t wrong. I simply liked them and would like to see them return for those of us who want it. I personally don’t want a static back piece, I want the kits as they were.
Oddball? Hipster? Way off the mark buddy.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I know this won’t be the popular opinion but… I really liked the hobosack, it was unique to Engi and it was one of the reasons I started the class back in the day before I really knew how fun the class was.
Please ANet give us an option to turn them back on if we choose to do so, at least in PvE. And do something about the ridiculous bomb kit graphics also. I don’t really want to blow things up with a wash tub..
This is simply my opinion, ideally this game gives as many people the experience they want. I’m not looking to force others back into seeing hobosacks if they don’t want to.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
The nerf isn’t ideal but at least we can still manage constant swiftness with medkit n kit refinement. I don’t at all like this new talent setup limiting us to only three trees and limiting choices within those trees. WoW did this same thing a while ago and it really hurt the game IMHO.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I was trying this with Mantra of Distraction/Power Lock in PvE, it wasn’t reducing the CD of pistol skills at all. I also had Power Block traited and was getting damage so I know the interrupt/daze went through. Think this is intended for PvP only or are we bugged in PvE?
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Is it a field thing or a Temporal Curtain thing? Guards can drop their symbol and gain swiftness if they already have a source of swiftness. IIRC we could add duration going through multiple Curtains just not the same one?
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I like the DnT calc because it was validated in game. Don’t trust calculations without validation, I’ve done my fare share of figuring and testing but I never had confidence in it. I did see a significant drop in DPS when deviating from Assassin/Zerker though to the point that I wouldn’t touch Cele for PvE, 20%ish in game. SD adds a notable increase in DPS.
That being said, a good engineer in cele that knows kits and cycling will out perform a mediocre zerker camping grenades any day. If you’re at the top of your game I wouldn’t worry about zerker vs cele especially when the new traits and condi system drops.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
First off, ^ this guy is the real deal. Even if you don’t wanna wvw read through all the info he’s posted cuz you will understand the class a lot better and there is so much that is relevant to PvE
So wich gear with condition damage would you recommend to me?
Secondly, Condition in Dungeons are pretty terrible currently. It’s slow and can get overwritten or pushed back very easily. It’s even worse on large open world events where tons of people are hitting the same target. If you’re dead set on Condi you’ll have to go with Rampagers and Grenade Kit n Pistol/Pistol or Pistol Shield.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
When you say PvE are you talking about open world stuff or Dungeons?
If you’re running dungeons check out the meta build. In every dungeon group you’ll have different levels of expectation from the other players so deviate from this build at your own risk. Groups will look to us to apply Vulnerability with Grenades among other things.
For open world run anything you like. I’d suggest something that can tag mobs easily.
To excel at this class you need to cycle through every kit and weapon you have loaded up. Hit the highest damage abilities as soon as you can and keep them off cooldown. Rifle 3n5/5, Grenade 1n2n4, EG4, FT 2/2, Bomb 1n2, TK3 are all good damage. If you camp one kit or weapon you’re not taking advantage of the class. Grenades can sorta be an exception when your group needs you to apply Vulnerability.
Honestly, spend time with every kit and weapon. Really get to know your fields and finishers. It gets really fun when you can adjust your loadout on the fly for the current need.
Right now Conditions aren’t good in PvE. I think they’re getting some love in the xpack.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Has this been validated? I’m not questioning D/D’s superiority but I’d love to see actual numbers.
Be careful using Pistol Whip, defiance stacks can upset people. I’ve recently returned to the game after a long while, didn’t realize that Pistol Whip added Defiance and stopped the Ice Bow from freezing the boss. Luckily I was in a guild group at the time where they kindly schooled me in the pros n cons of S/P. Could that be why the Guardian came after you?
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
For me, theme is really important when I’m playing this sort of game. I really like the theme of blasting about with a rifle. I tend to leave my competitive side to card games. If rifle warriors are as trolly as choovanski makes them out to be then I’ll probably just keep playing my engineer the way I have been. I have no interest in micro managing kits but all the other classes don’t really appeal to me thematically. Intense micro is partially why I stopped playing Starcraft 2 haha.
Honestly, stick with the class. There is the meta build top end dps rotation which is quite involved but in most average groups you’ll be looking throwing out might or vulnerability. Run Rifle with Static Discharge and fast cooldown toolbelt skills. If your group has good might and vulnerability this will do pretty good. Grenades are super strong and IMHO fun to play. If you just switch between Grenades and Rifle you’ll be fine. I was overwhelmed at first but if you level getting to know each kit you’ll be fine at 80. Engi is easily my favorite class in the game.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Can you provide a link to what you’re looking at Bloodgruve?
I simply scrolled through the various solo DPS options for Guardian and then compared them to the same for a few other classes and noted multiple times where a Guardian build was higher DPS than another class’s build.
Populate the calculator with a group that gives 25 Might and 25 Vulnerability. Mesmer 6/4/0/0/4 is the highest build vs Guard’s 4/6/2/0/2. There is a problem though, Ranger Runes no longer work for Mesmer IIRC so Scholar would be needed. Guards must scale less effectively in a group. Also any deviation from the full DPS build will result in lower performance, just look at the difference between the best Mesmer build and the 6/4/0/4/0 reflect build, ~20% difference…
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I was recently clued into this Group DPS Calculator. Apperently this was calculated and verified in game.
Guard at its best is the lowest in the game, slightly lower then Mesmer at its best IIRC. The two classes sit around 10.8K DPS average in a full DPS spec where others top builds average ~13k DPS and up to Thief’s 15K+ not even counting Ele conjure weapon use.
I really hope to see shatter builds better in PvE. I hate that even at our best our dps is 30% lower then the top class and 10% lower then the average.
I agree that in PvE we are punished for doing stuff. Get your three Phantasms on the field n hold your breath n hope that they don’t die before you can resummon them, oh yea, don’t use that last mantra charge either…
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
FT isn’t bad but as most kits go you don’t want to camp it. With Engi you want to cycle through all your highest damaging abilities, which we can do due to the lack of weapon swap cooldown.
For PvE 4/6/0/4/0 or 2/6/0/4/2 or 6/6/0/0/2 may work well. Speedy Kits is really nice. Rifle/Healing Turret(Med Kit if you don’t have Speedy Kits trait)/FT/Elixir Gun/(your choice)/Supply Crate. Cycle through Rifle 3,5/5, FT2/2 and EG4 for bigger damage. FT auto is good for bunches of targets, Rifle is good for single targets.
FT in WvW is risky. Auto attacking a group with Retaliation may just kill you..
Like Dimes said FT is power based. Pistol and Elixir Gun are Engi’s Condition weapons. Grenades benefits from both Power and Condition. Power is the go-to PvE stat currently but may change in HoT. Berserker’s/Assassin’s gear is what you want to use in Dungeons. You’re sorta squishy but that’s not a problem with experience. I have a set of Knights gear that I run with sometimes too. Celestial is good when you need more survivability in WvW.
In Dungeons you’ll want to be familiar with 6/6/0/0/2 Grenades with Zerker gear.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
You are right (sort of). Yes if you can block a hit and counter-attack quickly, it will make the dps GS – Mace/Focus reach that of GS – Sw/F. But it’s highly unlikely. You need to land your counter-attack in the first second or you will lose dps. For that reason, it’s more of a gamble than anything else.
It’s very much a gamble and a test of an individual’s skill. I ran it exclusively for a few months and got pretty good at hitting that PS at the right time. I liked it a lot because it felt to me like the more ‘Guardian’ of the weapons we have. It’s a viable alternative with a higher skill cap.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Mace’s DPS is dependent on how good you are at hitting Protector’s Strike at the right time. If you can get the block and damage out of it with a very short channel you’ll do good DPS. Also your target has to stay in the symbol. Without PS, Mace is lower DPS then Sword. With a quick PS it comes out equal or higher from my testing. Not sure how accurate these statements are but I feel fine running mace with PS as a DPS ability.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I believe that the Sword has higher auto attack damage then the GS. One meta build uses GS//S/F which wants you to hit GS 2,3,4,5 then move to Sword for auto. Are you traited for the Sword?
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
In PvE I ran a Mace/Shield // Scepter/Focus build for a bit. Definitely not in the current meta but it was pretty good and felt the most like how I’d expect a Guardian class to play coming from other games. Protectors Strike hits hard and increases your ‘DPS’ if you time it just right. I think I was running something like 5/5/4/0/0 or 4/6/4/0/0. It felt pretty durable so Zerker n low HP works fine.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I’m not a fan of the limitation. I played wow for a long time but lost interest when they consolidated and dropped their talent tree system. I love GW2 for its trait system among other things, hope I this doesn’t turn my interest away.
On a positive note it does look like some interesting options will be available…
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
To clarify, yes, SD does highest damage with an ascended rifle + facing enemy so aa starts or is chaining while using a insta hit (rifle turret) toolbelt. When you have rifle, yet aa chain disabled, means you’re not doing an AA, then the whole thing is reverted again. I hope you get it, if not, ask again
Got it, great info, TYVM.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Hmm, I was pretty bummed out about them putting Power Wrench and SD as competitors. After reading this and assuming they don’t fix it Rifle SD may not use Tool Kit anyway…
So to clarify, SD does highest damage with Ascended Weapon + weapon auto attack + instacast toolbelt?
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
I prefer a different route. Lower Phantasm damage dramatically, and put the phantasm’s lost damage into shatters and weapon skills. Give some extra perk for shattering Phantasms. Now we aren’t hamstrung by Phantasms anymore, and all the problems with Phantasms getting killed vanish.
I would welcome a change like that too. I like the flavor that Phantasms add, I just hate feeling useless with none on the field. So shift our damage potential back to us or let our phantasms stick around.
I really like Xyonon’s suggestion about invulnerability during from dodging too.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Other large MMOs have figured pet classes out. ANet was smart not to include a damage meter here, saves them from balancing.
Strictly PvE;
*Phantasms should be immune to AoE damage.
*Phantasms should stick around until you leave combat, not pop when their target dies.
Is there any other class in this game that gets there damage turned off when a single mob dies? We are either struggling to get more phantasms on the board or sitting there with very little to do when we have three on the board.
I hope we either get some improvement here or they make shatter more viable in PvE…
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
You don’t want to camp the kit in any serious dungeon run. It has it’s uses but as an With Engi you either stick with Grenades to apply Vulnerability or you’re using another build that constantly cycles through kits/weapons to hit the highest damage abilities that are off cooldown. There are worse things out there then FT but its not a high damage kit to stick with even in Zerker. OK for open world zerg PvE where tagging stuff is important.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Active button mashing with purpose. Keeps my hands busy. That combined with the “universal cog” mentality, it’s just the profession that fits me the best.
Going all the way back to ‘99 I was a bard in EQ, known to give carpal tunnel to many players, it was the most button pressing demanding class with versatility like no other. That’s an engi. It’s just what I like.
I was just going to post that Engi brought me back to the EQ glory days of twisting songs on my Bard..
Versatility is great and it takes a good player to pilot this class effectively. I love the feel and flavor too. Just wish Flame Thrower was better in PvE.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Ok then, I see some damage modifiers didn’t hit phantasms so I can see where the DPS discrepancy comes from as buffs are applied. In a vacuum, with no party buffs and three Phantasms Mesmer does well with my in game testing but I was not able to account for group play.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
Edit*** This post is referencing data I took solo in game quite a while ago. It does not account for group buffs and Might scaling.
Mesmer sustained ‘DPS’ is dependent on how many phantasms are on the board.
3 Phantasms = very good
2 Phantasms = slightly above average DPS
1 Phantasm = below average DPS
0 Phantasm = poor DPS
If you can average 2+ Phantasms you’re doing pretty good. I’ve done extensive testing across many classes and the only thing that significantly beats 3x phantasm is fire staff ele. I did not include Ice Bows in my testing. I’d consider Mesmer to have the ability to compete with top tier DPS dependent on Phantasms.
Just because you see big numbers on one attack doesn’t mean that some class/build necessarily has good sustained dps.
If they would just make Phantasms immune to aoe damage in PvE we’d be in a great spot.
Realistically everything pales in comparison to Ele with Icebows it seems like right now.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
S/P is good in PvE. It’s actually not far off from D/D and you can mitigate a ton of group damage with Black Powder and a ton of personal damage with Pistol Whip. Pistol Whip is only a very slight DPS increase over the auto attack so you can support your whole group with aoe blinds throughout the run. Back it with Short Bow for easy blast finishers for Might and Stealth.
P/P is low DPS. Even if you gear/trait for Ricochet and Ini regen you’re losing a lot of Power so your shots do less damage. It’s over 20% less then S/P.
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
