Guild Wars 2

Idk about you guys, but as someone who has faced this build, and doesnt play thief, i founded this build…. quite hard to read.

A D/P thief could attempt to Basilisk venom me with his steal, i just need to pop immunity and re-engage the fight, i know how to read the actions of a D/P thief, and i know i have options to win against him.

When a S/D condi did the same thing to me, and tried to apply the same thing… it backfired very hard, i simply died inside the immunity.

I have heard arguments that a good S/D condi willl load you conditions from time to time, but the ones i have faced? they bomb you with a Steal, daze combo (or thats has been my exp.)

I can stand a chance if i have all my utilities off cd, but if one catches me of surprise, chances are, i will lose the fight very soon.

It doesnt help that they also have options for break cc when i manage to land one (and that is IF i manage to, with all their evades…) in those thiefs, a simple tp safely from my distance.

They are defenitely squishy, but man, the pace of fighting a S/d condi is nothing enjoyable at all.

All what i know is that he will insta tp to me, load me conditions from a hit i didnt saw happening (steal surely), and that i will have to pray i have cleanses on my hand…

If i could predict the hits of the thief, just like the hits of a condi warrior, i would have zero concerns against this build…. i dont read minds for know when i should pull immunity from his steal, theres no time for react!

Platinum 2 Player.

insanemaniac.2456:

Vagrant.7206:

insanemaniac.2456:

Vagrant.7206:

insanemaniac.2456:

i hope pve will finally not be “skip elite, core is better dps” and thats really the only hope i have at the moment

Fixed that for you.

hmm no if its bad at dps i expect anet will fix it cuz otherwise it would be pointless so theyll make sure its good enough to one up core. if not at release, then <1 year after. they arent stupid, just too kitten slow and undermanned for the project of balance. what i dont expect is for any single forum denizen’s vision of change to impress them.

Considering how they treated the scrapper, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if they nerfed the hell out of holosmith, leaving it a husk in PvE.

scrapper wasnt supposed to be good in pve…

Altough true, the original Scrapper was hilaring it to do it, the amount of damage it used to dealt was waaay more than today’s Scrapper, some tweaks in some number, and it could have been a decent dps option.

If only Anet embraced the Split balance more earlier, these nerfs to the damage wouldnt have nerver met in PVE.

Vagrant.7206:

insanemaniac.2456:

Vagrant.7206:

insanemaniac.2456:

i hope pve will finally not be “skip elite, core is better dps” and thats really the only hope i have at the moment

Fixed that for you.

hmm no if its bad at dps i expect anet will fix it cuz otherwise it would be pointless so theyll make sure its good enough to one up core. if not at release, then <1 year after. they arent stupid, just too kitten slow and undermanned for the project of balance. what i dont expect is for any single forum denizen’s vision of change to impress them.

Considering how they treated the scrapper, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if they nerfed the hell out of holosmith, leaving it a husk in PvE.

Or actually backwards this time, nerfs that leave the spec out of question for pvp and only effecitve at pve…

A straight improvement for our Power dps, thats all what im asking, nothing else…

Thats a great thing to know, last time i run into a stuck wall situation, i tried to use the command, and, it really didnt help, perhaps i did desperate, but at the end the enemy had to execute me for get me out of the place.

This happened in the Clock Platform of Kylo btw.

Intersting choice, wouldnt Elixir gun be a better choice over shredder gyro or bulwark gyro though?

For keep some things clear, blunderbuss and Jump shot are actually good at their job, wich is damage in general.

The autoattack its not that bad, a slight number adjustments would be good enough, no need to touch its range or make it unblockable.

I can understand people complaining of how harming can overcharged be in use, wich i have learnt to always use while in stability effects, or if i know that i have a cc break off cd, i would suggest to keep its weaknessess at exchange of a more powerful blow, give damage bonus, conditions, etc?

The only skill i have no simpathy is the second skill, a remove aegis skill in a 12 sec cd, and even if the opponent has no removals against the net shot, its duration its nothing threatening at all, a massive buff or rework would be the solution for this skill.

You guys are missing the point.

As en engie, i could slot Elixir C and be good with conditions, but its so kitten painful to dedicate an utility only for condi cleanse, when it could be used for something else, other survival utilities, uutilities that could improve your build, more damage, etc.

Theres nothing fun in sloting a forced cleanse only becuase a bomb condi dealer is around, in other words, its a counter that its not fun to play.

David.5974:

I am still confused about holosmith. Sword is Power based weapon sure, but some burning options and meaby pistol in off hand force me into hyrid build. Hmm, berserk gear with balthazar runes and sigil of smoldering?

I’ve never seen a true hybrid work though, it always ends as either Power based with condition damage as a bonus, or condition based, with power used in some few skills that naturally have high power numbers

At least, for pvp, i would totally take rifle in hopes of theorycrafting new marauder rifle build.

Idk, the last line of options are actually in a weird poistion, neither of the options sound weak on paper, but HGH do many things at once in a trait that is related to elixirs that its so hard to not take it.

ArthurDent.9538:

Lord Velar.1509:

Ivantreil.3092:

Koto.1824:

Condi thief IS NOT OP. D/p is way better in so many ways. Thief is a +1 role, and d/p will always be superior due to on demand stealth and the damage burst. If you think condi thief is OP, you need to get a better duo partner to carry you out of bronze xD

Let me put you some perpective, as an engi, when i get basilisk venom’d outta nowhere i instantly release elixir s so i dont get blown by a power thief combo, i reengage the battle in my favor if possible.

This was my normal method, but this method backfired me when i tried a condi thief, got the same thing; steal, basilisk venom scenario, i release elixir s…. im trapped in elixir s dying in conditions, im ded, now i have to decide etiher take elixir s or elixir c, and i cant tell wich one to take because thiefs dont have 1 viable build only, its the only class that made me had to decide on get a hard condi cleanse utility, no other condi build was this opressive in condition bombs.

Wait till you run into a plat burn guard or a plat fire ele or a deathly chill necros, youll realize quickly that, in all actuality, thief isn’t the worst offender

I stayed in platinum/top 250 all three seasons and I have not seen any fire eles or any offensive eles that were remotely effective. Condi thieves on the other hand are a dime a dozen and very deadly.

Im plat aswell, and hes right, condi ele i have not seen one at all, i ahve seen a fresh air ele but thats it, i have seen burn guards and they are not the worst thing to deal at all, i always have a good answer agaisnt their burns.

Koto.1824:

Condi thief IS NOT OP. D/p is way better in so many ways. Thief is a +1 role, and d/p will always be superior due to on demand stealth and the damage burst. If you think condi thief is OP, you need to get a better duo partner to carry you out of bronze xD

Let me put you some perpective, as an engi, when i get basilisk venom’d outta nowhere i instantly release elixir s so i dont get blown by a power thief combo, i reengage the battle in my favor if possible.

This was my normal method, but this method backfired me when i tried a condi thief, got the same thing; steal, basilisk venom scenario, i release elixir s…. im trapped in elixir s dying in conditions, im ded, now i have to decide etiher take elixir s or elixir c, and i cant tell wich one to take because thiefs dont have 1 viable build only, its the only class that made me had to decide on get a hard condi cleanse utility, no other condi build was this opressive in condition bombs.

Nilix.2170:

Is this one of those things that works because the meta looks down on it too harshly?
Thing exists -> There are direct counters -> There’s lots of casually available hate -> People don’t use it because of hate -> No one builds to counter a build that isn’t commonly taken -> Succeeds via blindside

I would say, you have half of the story right.

I doubt anyone builded for directly counter me, but i did had some opponents that made my life a nightmare, necro corruptors, support tempesst are some of the builds that comes in mind, but im sure those counters where meant for other meta builds.

How many of those counters actually work though, as an engi, calling slick shoes an option is bs, since the nerfs they have not seen a use in a real scenario.

Has anyone tried to benchmark power engi? with the nerf to bomb aa, is it wortwhile to dodge with the new powder keg trait? (in theory its a dodge with more damage than bomb aa, and, keeps excessive energy up)

You know, a big bag of gold reward would even suffice it for me, no need to be so fancy, titles are a nice thing, but pointless once you got them the previous season, and you know it becomes impossible to get the next title.

A reward for the rank, and another rewards for being inside top 250 (and how deep you are in.)

2 Things.

1. Yes, the projectile hate is bad against this build, but its not insta gg because of it, 2 of my damage skills ignore the Projectile hate, the counter denies you 4 seconds of attacking at best, its an easy contest for the enemy team but im not dead yet, once they run out of answers, the damage begins, plus elixir x ftw.

2. the difference is about 300 more range, wich in most scenarios rangers will not approach this range, you dont think on those details in combat, most of they time, they end inside my range, and mostly, my aa results superior due to boon buffing.

Peak result pic

So, the pvp season just ended a few days ago, and im here with my results of this season playing drunk engi.

Games played: 219

Matches won: 133

Matches lost: 86

Season spot: 106 (I almost had top 100 T.T)

Best season spot peak: 57 (Actually i managed more lower: 33, but i forgot to make a pic proof).

Aaand 1 mere point away from plat 3, dam.

Well, those were my results, any discussion is open here, i also have something else that i want to talk about, but that will be in another post.

Iozeph.5617:

I’m just waiting for the follow-up to this thread.

Engineer: The Final Solution

Allow us to be healer engineers?

I have a friend wich is exactly interested to role Engineer for this reason, shes a rev main, but she feels that the new spec was the last nail in the coffin and now she wants to role something new.

That said, i bet many people will go back and leave engi after some months of gameplay, if they enjoy it, hey, we might have won new engi members, otherwise they are just tourists testing the new shiny stuff.

On the bright side, the new elite spec its not 100% pointless.

While i was in the vagon of wanting a support spec for us, this new spec could be the answer to a new respectable power dps build that some of us wanted, a power build that debunks the bomb aa supremacy in power setups.

Bonus points in more pvp builds?

Wondrouswall.7169:

Ivantreil.3092:

Engi with Pistol mainhand, and sword offhand confirmed, sword will compete with pistol offhand for the slot.

Isn’t the right-hand the main-hand slot?

Wops, you are right, re changing, though the character was left handed for a sec lol.

New Rifle Engi AOE skill with the elite spec.

Engi inflicting a new passive AOE damage skill.

Engi with Sword mainhand, and Pistol offhand confirmed, sword will compete with pistol mainhand for the slot.

Shield could be back boys!.

Lalainnia.3598:

I’m pretty sure its the new healer

We already have the tools to be a healer, but they have never bothered to buff them at all… while i would be kinda kittened thay they held these buffs until the expansion only for the new spec, i guess it would be also a nice thing to finally get.

Alek Seven.2374:

If it turns to be another P/P full kit condi / Hammer bunker (sPvP) build for 2 years after again , i will ditch my Engineer for good-oh wait, already did.

Then…. why you bothered with visiting this post…

Sup.

Your character will always be scaled according to the mobs, so the lvl per lvl example doesnt really change a lot.

it would require more details, simple mobs can totally be killed in a simple 432 of your pistol or in a simple full use of your grenade kit, but everything that its a veteran or higher will totally take more than 3 skills to be killed.

If you want a summary of how much kits we use in the current meta:

Pve:

Condi: 4 Kits

Power: 3 Kits (But you pretty much sit all the time in one, and you make use of the rest only in specific situations., wich means you can toss one or two kits if you so desire it.)

PvP

Condi: 2 Kits (you can reduce it to one though)

Power: 1 Kit

WvW

Frontline: 1 kit

Roaming: Random, we dont have a stablished roamer build, so the amount of kits could be any amount.

scorekeeper.6524:

Phineas Poe.3018:

scorekeeper.6524:

tigirius.9014:

Thats the thing about engineer for some reason the so called “balance team” still haven’t addressed the shear lack of burst damage on the engineer in PVE without having to resort to using the grenades or the flame thrower.

I argue that properly traited, our PvE burst is pretty good with rifle alone. It’s our sPvP and WvW burst that is lacking.

The crux of the matter is that the engineer as a class doesn’t lack damage in anything, burst or sustained. Running Explosives/Firearms/Tools together, whether power or condi, competes with anything for damage output.

The problem is that engineer in its current situation gives up far too much sustainability to match the damage output of other classes. Thieves have more stealth than us. Mesmers have more evades than us. And revenants have more blocks and better healing than us. Engineer in the current meta wins 1v1s not through spiking down targets quickly but merely outsustaining them through attrition with the help of a well-timed reveal, daze/stun, or unblockable damage versus these professions.

This will likely never change. Engineer has nearly always favored filling the role of a bruiser, and the few times glass cannon engineer was viable in PvP or WvW it was built on a gimmick or a poor foundation that was easily patched out of existence by the slightest nerfs.

If the Scrapper trait line between Adaptive Armor and Rapid Regeneration wasn’t strong enough to support Explosives+Tools or Firearms+Tools builds on its own, then nothing likely ever will.

If they continue to think of our class solely as a bruiser, well then that’s dumb. Other classes have the ability to build for different types of combat. Ele is a prime example- you can go glass cannon with staff or d/d; and you can support. Guard can also be either a support class or damage as well. Thieves can spec for power burst or condi burst. Thieves can even frontline with a staff. Mesmers can go all power, all condi, or party boon-share. And so on.

I anticipate the sword bringing the class more power burst capabilities and hopefully give the engineer class more diversity in making builds. I could also be horribly wrong. I do believe that giving the class 1 more weapon won’t magically fix everything. Indeed it might make things worse. Maybe the answer is overhauling the whole class :/

Im actually giving my hope more in traits with ridiculous new sinergies than a new op weapon.

Just telling by the icons, i bet they are gonna improve the gadgets via the new elite spec

tigirius.9014:

Medkit spray has a tiny cone and doesn’t last as long as the conversion spray from the elixir gun #3 skill.

Actually thats a big visual issue, the Flamethrower AA has a shorter range than the Med kit AA, yet his visual spray is more larger than the med kit one.

600 range, appears to reach melee only.

425 range, looks like it can cover plenty distance.

draxynnic.3719:

Well, Reaper is more the other way around – it’s more a power specialisation that can be made condi-compatible. Neither greatsword nor Reaper Shroud inherently have damaging conditions, but if you choose the right traits and eschew greatsword for more condi-oriented weapons, you can make a good condi build out of it.

I hope it doesnt get a Reaper treatment to be honest, where as you point, it can go condi, but they way that was intended to be used (power) results to be worse than the alternative way

Argue what you want, but Panda nailed our situation.

Problems like lack of build diversity are problems that ANY game with unique flavors (classes), and with multiple paths (roles); are problems that are expected to be fixed from ANY game that wants to follow such philosophy.

If their philosophy is that kits must be an option open to anyone who wants to learn engi, who doesnt have money for the new fancy builds, and therefore it must kept alive all the time, like a stock basic build.

By all means alright, i can go with that, but dont forget we should (and any class should) have the chance to go more further, and people who desire to go further should be able to find a build, as good as the stock one when you compare it apples to apples, but with a different flavor when you play it.

True, stagnant is a problem that any class frecuencies, but dear, tell me the last time the grenade kit (for example) was out of the meta in pve… since my f2p entry to the game to today, i dont remember any moment the grenade kit was a bad or niche option, ever!

Things have been the same so much, that i agree with panda about having a change of winds, even if we are currently peforming well, just for the sake of seeing changes.

Our meta builds today:

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Engineer

Our meta builds almost a year ago:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160628142642/http://metabattle.com:80/wiki/Engineer

Just give it a look and see how kittening kitten stale our pve builds are…. THEY ARE THE KITTEN SAME.

guildabd.6529:

Or just make it give resistance for few seconds.

Actually thats a better solution than the one OP proposed, as with the non-cancel skill idea, you could be casting as skill that doesnt cleanse conditiona and be trapped on the same situation.

The Overcharge skill of the Net Turret doesn’t trigger Expert Examination, despite the skill says it has a stun.

Eastcorn.5901:

Is worth it to go Firearms instead of Inventions? The rifle trait’s 10% attack speed increase doesn’t really help that much. While the cooldown reduction does, I kind of feel like the survivability from Inventions (or even scrapper) outweighs the risks of taking Firearms.

You know, in a beginning i was in that dilema, is it worth to trait the rifle? would i be better if spent the trait on better survival traits?

And, to be honest, i was surprised traiting firearms wasnt as bad as i thought, i could still decently survive, while i heartly agree that the 10% speed increase is so kitten useless, nonexistent imo, i cant feel the speed difference between a traited rifle an a non-traited, the cd reduction pulled his weight at the end, the lost frequent healing was compensated with a very truck hitting jump shot, and a blunderbuss that would be active when you need it.

Elixir gun is a bless for survive, let me tell you.

Extra pic: A frustrating loss.

Sup.

For a while after having fun with the Drunk Engi i started to feel that it was time to find anything else that i could see playable from the rifle.

After plenty of arguments trashing the Drunk Engi build, i did find myself with the need of find something else that could be used with the rifle.

So i went to the build editor and see what could i do.

The build in question: The Marauder Rifle build

The build wasnt like this in a beginning, there was stuff i did attempt to make workout and at the end i dropped it:

AED

Reason for bring it: Potential full heal when timed right, only 22 secs of cd when traited.

Reason i did drop it:Was waay inconcistent, moments where i thought it was a good time for AED it took like an eternity for get hit, either because the enemy had his damage skills on cd, or because the enemy realized i had AED on.

Honorable mention to the anti sinergy with the auto elixir s, wich i felt it was my fault if that happened.

Slick Shoes

Reason for bring it: An extra cc break, and a great tool for disengage battles or rotate more faster thanks to the superspeed, 30 secs cd when traited.

Reason i did drop it: Was missing damage, and the main utility was… nothing helpful at all, the toolbelt resulted to be more valuable to me than the main skill, wich made traiting this gadget pointless, at the end, i learnt how to escape without the need of this utility.

Utility googles

Reason for bring it: An extra CC break and a potential window for extra damage with those 10 stacks of vuln, 22 secs of cd when traited, a second healing mists in other words.

Reason i did drop it: Lack of damage was the only reason i did drop it, this one actually saddens me it didnt workout too well, because this utility was sweet butter for the rifle, overcharged shot + healing mists, with the next overcharged shot, i could do the same thing but with +utility googles, i did never experience the downside of the self-knockback while using this, while one cc break was on cd, the other one was ready for the shot.

That said, i started to notice my main damage skills… werent doing much damage as i did expect, i needed that fury for the guaranteed crit, so i had to drop it and bring elixir b to the build.

Honorable mention to the anti blind when used with elixir x, the hits where guaranteed to hit.

With the build i linked, thats what i did play, and i manage to reach platinum with this build.

32 games won.

26 games lost.

So, whats good with this build?

It is a great build for +1: you can pull out the 4,5,3 combo and leave the enemy as an easy target for your teammate.

More tools for play against projectile hate: Unlike the drunk engi, i had elixir gun on my side this time, and i had more option for fight against when the enemy pulled projectile hate, so fights where i would do nothing with drunk engi until the projectile was gone, i could fumigate in the meantime the projectile was up, once was down, overcharged shot time.

Better control area: And this is because thanks to acid bomb, enemies cant just stay in cap safely like they used to do me with durnk engi, now i can drop an acid and leave threat for staying there, my enemies do move now.

BTW, it wasnt that awful for duel as i thought, you can still pull out a 1v1 build with this, just know your kitten and your enemy’s kitten.

That said here are the negatives i saw from thid build.

Terrible against aoe spam fights: I couldnt do a lot with fights where many necros and guardians sit in cap and aoe the kitten of it, my only choices where to rotate or caught someone off place, or pull out a great moa.

The rifle is….. so…. god….. kitten …… SLOW: for blunderbuss being a 1/2 sec cast time, it feels like an eternity for see the hit get out, by the time i made my shots, the enemy evaded or pulled out blocks, aegis, etc, the rifle its completely the opposite in speed fight pace compared to the drunk engi, its 2 different rifles, thats how i feel it.

Jump shot would be the exception as i didnt feel differences with this skill.

The rifle is so kitten dependant on boons: if it wasnt by the buffed boons, i wouldnt pulled out the damage i was pulling, rifle needs to be more good without the need of having boons, if it was that good with raw stats and traits only, i would have kept utility googles.

This build is not so kitten boon dependant as the drunk engi, but it still needs boons, boons over other cool utilities.

Another point:

The build is similar to the meta scrapper from some patches ago: i do realize this, but i it was the only way i managed to make the rifle workout with more base damage from him, rather from boons, idk, i did attempt to use tool kit too (and traited), but, it wasnt the same, not the same damage, not the same cleansing, elixir gun was a better option overall.

I plan to post this in metabattle, to show marauder rifle is still playable at some level, defenitely not for beginners, but another option for attempt for those who are sick of hammer only.

A pic of my plat badge.

Vagrant.7206:

Eastcorn.5901:

Doesn’t qtfy benchmarks put Engineer as the second highest DPS against small targets?
Less than 1K DPS below condition daredevil.

Benchmarks are here: http://qtfy.eu/benchmarks/

IMO, most of the benchmarks are pretty stupid given that they assume absolute perfect timing and placement. Reality is much messier, and the engineer has the single most complicated rotation. It can be simplified of course, but that still also assumes the enemy is standing still (which is exceptionally rare)

The problem with engineer is that their playstyle has been stagnant since HoT released. There has been little overall variation in anything. If you haven’t played in >1 year then this shouldn’t matter, but for us experienced engineers it is kind of frustrating.

Since before HoT released? Hell, the PvE playstyle was stagnant long before that! The only difference HoT made was making us all trade in our handy dandy rifles for hammers.

Yeah, we passed from rifle and 4 kits to pistols and 4 kits… wow…

Riddle.2714:

Ivantreil.3092:

the access to ranged power damage was the only thing that made rifle a good choice over hammer.

Exactly why I chose rifle over hammer. Sadly, I need to get close, almost hammer-range close to use 3-5 effectively..
Which leave us with 1 & 2 as true ranged option.

This is just my thought—At this point, it looks like they want to keep rifle ‘short-ranged’ for engineer, whatever the cause. The traitline for firearms says it out loud. They even make the new legendary rifle more pleasing to see on engin(using jump-shot with the predator is cringy for some people).

That being said, it’s fine as long as it’s not outclassed horribly as it is now.

And not by nerfs, by powercreep, damage wise Hammer and Rifle are on the same page, however, when we talk about evades, cc, mobility, or team utility, rifle falls behind.

Thats why i have been only trying to do builds that focus on the rifle aa, dealing as much damage as possible, i not even bother to trait firearms for the rifle , most of the time, that trait only helps rifle 3, 4 and 5, when the other traits offer A LOT more for buffing your utilities, your survivability, cd reduction etc.

leviathan.2148:

Phineas Poe.3018:

Never is a strong word, and there’s nothing stopping them from making the sword strong enough to where the off-hand doesn’t matter. Look at revenant, for example.

I just figured it made sense to make the sword a condi weapon in this instance just so perhaps in PvE we can finally shed our reliance on kits and run a sword/pistol setup … while still giving us a reason to run shield in PvP/WvW. It just seems logical to me.

The only real guarantee right now is that, without some kind of rework, no future elite specialization would ever have a power off-hand, as we’d be stuck running the pistol with it.

As we all know, engi has a good main hand + off hand condi combo with pistols. Then there is an offhand shield. I really doubt that they’ll give us now a condi weapon when our condi build already uses 1 hand weapons and they aren’t underwhelming.

IMHO a power weapon with some utility that would complement the shield (which could use some buffs) seems much more realistic.

Also I doubt that they’ll create a weapon just to counter kits. Either they’ll redesign kits or try to counter kits with the new specialization mechanics. But in terms of weapons we’re certainly missing a main hand weapon that complements shield and is useful in a different way than the other main hand (pistol) is. We need something that works well with the shield. Variety is the key.

There isn’t really point to give us another condi weapon currently – it would be either useless in comparison to MH pistol, or it would make the MH pistol useless. No point in making things more difficult for themselves when there’s no need for it.

I agree with your point leviathan, a power mainhand and a buff to the shield should be the way to go for our next set of expansion weapon.

About the kits, who knows what they could do with them, if they see kits are too represive with our pve builds, i coulds see thgem doing traits that anti-sinergize with kits, that, if they are really desperate on achieve variety against kits.

And i mean top meta variety, not simplified kitten that cant reach the potential numbers as a 4 kit build can do.

im frustrated with this support patch, this patch could have been a big opportunity to make med kit a thing, ive been wishing this so badly and the fact they didnt saw that, its just…. kitten

Caffeine.6724:

What is the rifle HGH build if you don’t mind me asking?

Not worried so much about expensive, as i have a full set of ascended trailblazer, and full set of marauder, so i can swap pieces to other stats if and where needed.

I was more interested in the idea of hybrid for when i roam. as it seems going hybrid would help deal with everyone being a thief, warrior, or other cancerous class. (oh wait that’s everything except engi

Ill give you a link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlcTh6rY1Vw8KQ+FLTG1461eRA9cn3Bu4zUABAA-TxRBQBA4BAQSlgXU53DuAA3THwBV/hf7PAA-e

The build is based on abuse elixirs via HGH so you empower yourself with tons of boons, 25 might, fury, quickness, and more other boons, all thanks to that high amount of boond duration from the commanders stats.

These elixirs will also be your only way of cleanse conditions. (The elite will cleanse 3)

The reason behind why rifle over hammer is because you are an easy target if you cant keep up with the distance of your opponent, thing that shouldnt be a problem with the rifle aa, not to emntion, in zergs it would be suicide, this is not a frontline build, its a midline build.

The build is selfish but the aoe stability is sometimes helpful for the team, along with the aoe stealth.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Power HGH Rifle worked out well enough for me when I ran it. You get a lot of utility out of elixirs and spend any free time plinking away.

Just beware OP, the rifle HGH build…. is expensive.

You dont even need to play like piano, someone figured out a clean way to pull out the condi rotation:

LaFurion.3167:

Second is the rifle. Rifle is absolute dog trash, without a DOUBT the worst weapon in the game out of any class.

HA, i think you are forgetting we have a shield my friend, are you sure rifle is the worst?

As padra pointed out, berserker stats are an awful option for vs a player, you have to remember, you are fighting against players who will have 25k of hp “at best”, these arent pve mobs with inhumans amounts of hp, you can sacrifice damage, and use it for more better survival stats.

Marauder is the recommended option, theres other stats you could toy with too, soldier, celestial, just make sure the stats you select offer vitality or toughness, one of the two stats will be good enough for keep you alive more time.

Oh, another thing, trait the auto Elixir S, its totally helpful in dueling scenarios.