Guild Wars 2

You guys are awesome! I swapped my soldiers to commanders (expensive as heck) but i’m not actually sure what benefit im getting? It only seems to be like a few measly % more boon duration, which doesn’t sound impactful but than again – im a noob.

I put in rocket boots and the mobility i gained is pretty sweet, i’m unsure about tools vs inventions though and the green elixir vs the purple one (sry not in game to see name )

Adamantium.3682:

Sobin.5947:

I’m still trying to learn how to play / find a build that works for me, which i’m sure the first part is way more important.

It seems like even with maurader/soldiers I either get steamrolled by a single person or i take absolutely no damage. I’ve tried gyros but they just seem to instantly pop

Any tips?

Also, i seem to have an issue with keeping swiftness up. If i do hammer 5 + heal turret / eg 4, then all that stuff is on CD if i happen to see an enemy

thanks!

I’m learning to be more effective roaming myself, here is what I have learned. My playstyle is to look for 1v1, 1v2, maybe small groups if I can pick someone off and RB away. I’ll join small skirmishes if I see them but I generally stay away from zergs. I run to camps when map chat calls out small groups attacking them. That’s the scale I am commenting for.

I don’t find a lot of use for gyros in WvW. I try to stay very mobile and they can’t keep up is the biggest thing, but also like you said they will just die in bigger fights. Other utilities shine more IMO.

You talked about stats, but what about build? You need to check some boxes for a good roaming build: burst damage, escape/chase, stun break, damage avoidance, condi clear.

Tools traitline will help with your speed issue, assuming you’re using a kit which you should. I also find Tools traits are more useful overall than Inventions in my build so I take that out. You definitely don’t want to be stopping to blast fields for speed in WvW.

I use a mix of Commander’s and Berserker’s armor. Commanders gives a lot of boon duration which is good for Elixir U in my build. Berserker’s helps me stay dangerous.

I linked my build below it has worked pretty well for me. Open to any improvements, like I said I’m no WvW guru just sharing what I landed on that’s made me most effective at roaming. Elixir X is also good in this build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdQQFASnUUB9dhlXBubBEqilJjac9qgzS8ZKgAg+vr79G-TFCEABtphgJlfJcBA4X9H43fAgHAA76A2SJIpAiYrF-w

Hey thanks for the awesome reply!

I’m currently running mauraders/soldiers, based on that metabattle build with runes of durability. I currently run inventions instead of tools but ill swap back and see how it works out.

I’m tempted to swap my soldiers to commanders (seems super expensive) but it seems like everyone has praise for boon duration, which i can’t say i totally understand yet. I know it extends the duration of boons (duh) but is there one specific boon that we try to have max uptime up?

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you need burst damage for wvw and aside from theives being squishy, i feel like i have issues taking most people down.

Theives: If i even get them low enough, they run away – heal – and come back with a million conditions that i feel like i can’t keep cleansing

Mesmers: So many kitten illusions, sometimes. If i try to kite them, im not doing any damage to the main mesmer and he continues to wail on me. If i run in, it seems like i just die faster

Necromancers: Same story as above, they can range me and when i go in to attack i end up being inside what seems like a million traps or i can sit at range and tickle them with elixir gun

Warriors/guardians – Super tanky, seem to block lots, if not most of my stuff, i’m lucky if i drop them to half haha

I know its a learn to play issue for the most part, I completely understand i’m terrible but i am looking to get better. I tried doing Spvp and im better at smashing buttons there, but i also use the metabattle build with the mender amulet and it just plays nothing like WvW 1v1s

When fighting someone with a lot of condition damage, should i be using elixir gun 5 and leap finisher from hammer 3 for that light aura?

Thanks!

I’m still trying to learn how to play / find a build that works for me, which i’m sure the first part is way more important.

It seems like even with maurader/soldiers I either get steamrolled by a single person or i take absolutely no damage. I’ve tried gyros but they just seem to instantly pop

Any tips?

Also, i seem to have an issue with keeping swiftness up. If i do hammer 5 + heal turret / eg 4, then all that stuff is on CD if i happen to see an enemy

thanks!

Adamantium.3682:

Sobin.5947:

Can someone give me a low down of what’s the real deal with Engie? This forum seems to be lots of complaints, most people say the rifle is useless but browsing other forums, people seem to say engie is OP.

I’m still trying to learn the game, it’s complicated as all heck. I’d love to try rifle out again, but it seems everyone is split if it’s viable or not (and meta battle doesn’t have rifle stuff)

Engi is awesome, it has a solid place in PvP and is one of the highest condi DPS in raids.

Don’t come to the official forums for real discussions about professions. Inability to downvote really hinders the forums, you can’t separate the ridiculous from the constructive and threads often get derailed into the same pointless whining. “Upvotes” and “downvotes” are your hint of where to go for GW2 discussion.

About rifle… the power Engi build in Metabattle (or qtfy) uses rifle not sure what you’re looking at. It’s just not as good as condi right now, Holosmith may disrupt that.

What about wvw? I see some people playing with rifle but i’m not sure if its viable there?

Can someone give me a low down of what’s the real deal with Engie? This forum seems to be lots of complaints, most people say the rifle is useless but browsing other forums, people seem to say engie is OP.

I’m still trying to learn the game, it’s complicated as all heck. I’d love to try rifle out again, but it seems everyone is split if it’s viable or not (and meta battle doesn’t have rifle stuff)

Rising Blade.9206:

Sobin.5947:

Im trying to relearn the game after not playing for a long time. Is rifle in a good spot for engie in wvw? Everything i see makes it seem like the sky is falling and rifle sucks

yes, the rifle is in a good spot next to hammer. Pistols in other hand, barely see anyone play it.

Ahh, that’s awesome to hear. I haven’t tried the rifle because everything on metabattle seems to be hammer only. Any builds you reccomend i try out?

Im trying to relearn the game after not playing for a long time. Is rifle in a good spot for engie in wvw? Everything i see makes it seem like the sky is falling and rifle sucks

Hey man,

Let me preface by saying that i’m 100% trash. I admit it and i’m ok with it. I’m sort of in the same boat as you, just coming back and trying to learn the game. I made a thread about the same exact thing and the only reponse i got was to ‘look at metabattle’..now that’s great advice and i appreciate it, but i sort of felt like if i had a problem and some simple text based website could fix it, world hunger woulda gone away a long time ago..

As someone who is clearly a noob, i’m going to point you to this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXxG80bYwBg&t=574s). Now he doesn’t explain what he does, but it’s certainly mesmerizing and definitely educational to break down each fight. Also his video description is amazing and that’s what i’m working towards. I’ve been playing the video in slowmo and trying to learn as much as i can and its been soooooo useful compared to just ‘reading metabattle’

Hey,

I’m looking for some build advice. I haven’t played in a long time but i have a big itch i need to scratch. I miss WvW and the arena pvp in this game, its so complex to me but everytime I come back, i need to relearn everything!

I’m currently using berserker gear for WvW, which i know seems to not be viable at all, so i’m looking to change that. I’d love to be able to win some 1v1s and roam around either by myself or in a small group.

Is rifle any good or has hammer just completely eclipsed it?

Thanks!

I think (i’m not positive), you’re talking about removing conditions on yourself with Mortar #4 and Mortar #1 but i don’t think it works like that. Mortar #1 is a projectile finisher, so i think the mortar #1 has to hit the target to remove the condition, i don’t think the splash effect counts as the projectile finisher.

Hopefully i’m not wrong in saying this

While they’re giving people free scribe mats, i’d like free flax/linseed oil and some empty kegs. They KNEW the supply would be low, i demand compensation!

I was totally against kits when i first started engineer, that’s why back at launch i played a full rifle/elixir build and back then it worked quite well. However, today, since i’ve started playing again i’ve forced myself to use kits and i absolutely love them. Right now i only run 1 kit, grenades, for the ‘ranged’ damage but i’m tempted to switch that to elixir gun and see how that pans out.

Kits are the bomb-diggity and you really should try them out because the engineer has everything.

I don’t remember about healing mist but i know that mecha legs, at least for the past few months since i started playing again, has not given 33%

BrettM.9062:

I’m feeling mighty screwed by the info release. My little guild of 10 had a pittance of about 50k influence collected. We were told that we could exchange 10k influence for favor, implying one favor since no other exchange rate was given. Well, that was so punitive for a small guild that I took the advice of a later blog post and just spent most of the influence to catch up on upgrades that would grandfather over, whether we really needed them or not. Now I find that I could have held back and traded for enough favor to start the GH claiming mission.

We were not given enough detailed info early enough to make solid, rational decisions about the best way to transition our guilds to the new system. I call that a major communication failure, but, unfortunately, I can’t say I’m surprised by it.

We have a guild of like 4 people, we did 1 guild mission post hot and claimed our guild hall. I don’t see any sort of issue here, it was like even half of a guild mission that earned us enough favor.

I’ve seen something like that, the ball of light goes up and drops down but nothing happens. I just assumed there was no proper animation and so it was playing the animation twice of a normal stomp just sped up. (if that makes sense?) Because when i see the second ball of light go up, i know i get the stomp. However, if the downed npc moves or blocks the first attempt, the gyro potatos out

wolfyrik.2017:

I maintain that the better fix would be to simply crap the entire elite, instead just give core Engineer access to the hammer. The class would be immesurably improved. Gyros were just a terrible idea that should have been binned. If anyone at anet had any idea what they were doing with the classes, the moment somone said “hey about flying drones for scrapper?” someone with more sense would have asked “and how exactly would that work within the context of the game, given tht we have this long list of problems with Ai including the pathing and the lack of active defence”?
The next reasonable, rational step would have been to think of something else.

If only….

The concept of gyros is awesome, is their implementation bad, sure — but the idea is great. There’s quite a few ways in which they could be fixed and i’m sure they’ll get around to it, maybe not anywhere in the near term but i still have hope. There could be some guy locked in a closet working on the perfect solution (like the guy who made the action camera). Only time will tell, i’ll continue to try to work gyros into how i play because i really enjoy them. The bulwark gyro (prenerf/bug?) in pve was so good and the toolbelt skill for it was just fantastic.

I agree it doesn’t solve the problem, it sort of is the problem. When i do all these events that eventually lead up to the meta, i should just be able to go right in, i shouldn’t have to use the lfg tool. If i happen to check it too late, then i’m screwed and get an instant failure.

Gaaroth.2567:

Foefaller.1082:

JackOfAllGames.2409:

Josa.5067:

I just kind of got the masteries while I was maxing the elite specs of my alts.

Man. When I see comments like that so soon after the game’s release, I wonder how much others are playing…or whether I’m just THAT inefficient. Anyway, it is good to remember that the masteries are account-wide. I’m now working on leveling some of my alts and it does help leveling the masteries feel like less of a chore…though you can only do the same events over and over so many times without it getting boring.

Hopefully in time, more people will get into the later zones, making some of the later events POSSIBLE (providing more variety). Right now, only the first zone is proving reliable for decent fast-moving event completion. SOMETIMES the second zone, depending on time of day.

For the most part, it’s really all about stacking boosters; Birthday/Celebration(same boost, different durations), New XP booster, Old XP booster, Killstreak booster, normal consumables/food, halloween consumables, banners, guild hall bonus, and likely one or two more things I’ve forgotten. Also, kill any non-hostile beasts you run into, most people just ignore them, and all mobs give bonus xp up to a total more than twice their normal worth depending on how long it’s been since they’ve spawned.

When you’re getting 7-8k xp base and up to 12k or more xp on everything you kill, those masteries start filling out pretty quickly.

EDIT: I misworded the bonus xp bit, the bonus itself can rise to more than double the base, after boosters, meaning a mob noone has killed in forever can be worth more than three times what it’s normally worth. Hence how you can get to 12k or more. A guildie of mine once got 16k xp on a single mob kill thanks to that bonus xp.

Exactly, the problem is not the exp but the mastery points..i currently have 2 unlocks ready (exp filled) but not enought mastery points…

Did you finish the story? I’m the otherway around, i have tons of points left over and i’m just waiting on xp and of course this stupid map completion bug. Once that’s fixed i’ll have this sexy hammer

SchlemazelTov.7310:

coglin.1867:

Thee is nothing wrong with bulwark. Anyone claiming it is not viable is either over reacting for the attention to a perceived issue, or has a bit of a learn to play issue.

WvW Never had a 95% damage reductions, and this skill serves me great purpose there, and survives better the some of the claims here declaring a lack of survivability in PvE.

I was probably over reacting. I tested it out and here’s what I noticed: I play a zerker scrapper build, when I start to take damage I don’t have much time to react so I’m often using my “oh sh***” buttons in combination. Because the bulwark gyro can be healed and benefits from boons it works really well in combination with the healing gyro and the healing gyro’s toolbelt skill, just for example.

Having a %50 reduction in damage for the full duration of the gyro (15 seconds) is pretty kitten overpowered when compared to other defensive abilities imo.

Except you don’t have 15 seconds of 50% damage reduction, both you and the gyro take damage leading to the gyros very very early demise.

How did you guys get past the broken map completion? That’s the last part i need now, so close yet so far

Wahaha.7938:

DivineBuddha.1589:

Dam Drone Race is bugged for me and I cant complete my collection anybody know a way to fix it or do we have to wait till anet fixes it?

How is it bugged?

One of the missions that you have to complete to unlock it gets stuck and is unfinishable, i assume that’s what he means

Nate.8146:

Sobin.5947:

Where did you guys get the charged hammer head from for the Machined Hammer?

You need weapon smithing and craft an oiled hammer head. From there, bring it to any place of power to charge it up (similar to quartz crystals).

In addition the the map completion bug for some, there’s another bug where completing the Treasure Mushroom event will unlock the collection for a random specialization. So far I killed the champ twice on my engineer and it’s unlocked the Berserker and Druid collection, but not my engineer’s collection yet.

Hey thanks for the reply, is it the Oiled Orichalcum Hammer Head? I see that on the ah, unless it have to craft something different that is soulbound

Where did you guys get the charged hammer head from for the Machined Hammer?

Its really just a bandaid fix tbh. If you stick the sneak gyro to you, you’re definitely not very sneaky you are stealth, sure, but you also have a big beacon hovering over your character that says ‘Shoot Here’.

I really wish the function gyro was able to rez dead people, not just downed and it most certainly needs an indicator, i honestly hate how i can’t tell if the kitten thing is off cooldown or not

I’ve tried blast, i want to love it but any sort of elevation difference makes it potato (aside from the toolbelt).

The defense field of the bulwark gyro, what does it actually do.

Does it reflect all ranged moves?
What happens if an enemy is inside the bubble?

I guess it’s just me, i keep trying to do the auric basin event and we usually only have 2-4 on a side and fail miserably. Granted we did have some close games yesterday.

I hate Tangled depths too but it seems to grant the most xp, or so i’ve noticed except its usually just me trying to solo an event for an hour.

I’ve not tried dragons stand, went there twice just to look around and it looked real empty but i haven’t tried to do anything there because i didn’t want to ruin the story. I’ll check it out tonight, see if its popular

Never used the looking for group thing, i was always afraid i’d be put in a group in an empty instance which wouldn’t be any better than what i was in. I’ll give it a shot though

Anyone wish there was some way to tell your function gyro was out there reviving? I honestly can never see it, sometimes i think its reviving but its not. Wish we had a buff or maybe another toolbelt skill slot thing that showed us.

Also, it seems the gyro has problems reviving/downing if the teammate/enemy gets pushed. The gyro goes full special mode and doesn’t know what to do.

How do you feel about having no stunbreak? I haven’t tried bulwark in pvp but i want to, it seems like it would be sweet but i don’t think i could take that + a stunbreak so it’s one or the other

Anyone else feel like the zones are still empty? I guess it could be i always get put in a super underpopulated instance but that happens all the time. Something like silverwastes is packed, no matter where i go there’s people but trying to get 4 to a side in auric basin or do some events in tangled depths seems nearly impossible. It just feels like there’s no one playing

Hey guys,

Learning the scrapper, or trying to and i’m loving the hammer but the gyros just feel iffy to me. I really want to love the blast gyro because the knockback is huge and follow that up with hammer 5 means i generally always hit and this allows me to use the toolbelt skill as a stunbreak and use nades/toolkit but i’m sure as many of you realized the gyro will very rarely hit its mark, be it getting stuck on a ledge or hitting another mob.

Shredder gyro looks cool but either mobs nor players are never in the same spot for it to work

I might try using bulwark gyro instead of blast, see if the damage reduction is worth it during stuns.

Also unrelated to this but i thought i’d ask. I’m having a hell of a hard time because i’ve never played a melee character in any game, always done range that’s why i feel its a necessity to always have the grenade kit both pve and pvp. In pvp i find myself using grenades way more than my hammer because anytime i get in close i’m just perma crippled or chilled making it impossible to catch up to anyone to do damage with the hammer.

Anyone got any builds that they like both pve and pvp? It doesn’t have to be ‘elite l33t jesus specs’ but just something that is working for you guys or maybe any tips on how to not be a potato when in melee range in pvp.

Thanks friends

basz.6129:

I am super not excited to have to go hunting hero points again to play with hammer in pve. My understanding is I must essentially hunt down every hero point in all maps to fill my new scapper spec.

Please correct me if I am mistaken because I find this a huge turn off. If I have to redo all the old maps, may as well just retire engi and start fresh with another class. *sad face

I’m right there with you man. When i bought the base game, i thought i would instantly be max level and i would have all my hero points unlocked so i could spend my days running around lions arch playing hide and seek. It’s such a big turn off that i actually have to play the game

IgnisVulpesXI.3015:

Be wary of Static Discharge, there’s a queue bug which will unqueue skills while using SD or Bunker Down. Also, keep in mind Static Discharge pretty much misses with all non-target Toolbelt skills, so it will only reliably work with Throw Wrench – hence I suggested Power Wrench for extra block uptime. I’d say Static Discharge isn’t worth it unless you have at least two skills that can reliably hit with it.

Warrior might be pesky to fight against, as you have to check what buffs he’s got. If he hasn’t popped Berserker stance you can Flash Shell and wail on him (you’ve got the range and chances are he’s not Rifle Warrior), if he pops Berserker you will have to do your best to mitigate as much damage/heal up while running away until it expires and can blind him. Note that Rampage’s skills all come with around 1 second cast time, so you can stay in Flash Shell’s field with little fear of retaliation if he didn’t use Berserker stance when he entered Rampage.

Good luck too ! The hardest part of running multiple builds is knowing or trying to guess when each skill has come off cooldown and using them all effectively. Also, remember to use your combo finishers ! Elixir Shell lasts quite a bit and you should be able to blast it 3~5 (if you use HTurret and Big Ol’Bomb) times and leap through it before it expires, giving some extra healing while pressuring the enemy.

That’s good to know about beserker and flash shell, i’ll try that next time.

You’re right, in my mind i know what skills i want to use (kinda) and when but actually using them is where i fall short. I’ll switch to elixir gun only to realize acid bomb is on cd. Also when i want to heal, i know i can blast inside elixir shell but actually accomplishing that during battle is what i’m working towards.

That’s good to know about static discharge, for some reason i was under the impression that it would work on any toolbelt skill as long as i had an enemy targeted. Is that the reason some of my rifle abilities go on cd when i use them? Sometimes ill use blunderbus and bam, it will go to like a 3s cooldown instead of its typical one

IgnisVulpesXI.3015:

Chances are it might be able to do things and win you games, but if it isn’t meta it’s for a reason. However, unless you have super-high MMR you should be able to get away with pretty much anything, so you could give it a go.

This next part will be all theorycrafting since I don’t have the PvP experience or time to thoroughly test these builds, so take them with a grain of salt. And if anyone wants to drop their 2c feel free to do so, of course.

~~~~~~THEORYCRAFTING HERE~~~~~~
I’ll be ruling out Medkit since it’s kind of a pain to use in its current iteration, so if you want four kits, Elite will have to be Mortar kit. This pretty much implies one of your specializations will be Explosives to grab Siege Rounds, since it boosts the kit so much.

Running four kits also means you should grab Elixir Gun as support kit, since it is the only kit that offers a stunbreak; that leaves you with two open utility slots. I’d rule out Flamethrower out of the question if you’re running Power, which leaves Tool, Grenade and Bomb Kits. Out of these three, ToolKit has the very solid Gear Shield for when things get sticky since you don’t have Elixir S to get you out of danger, but you could forgo it and go nuts with both Grenade and Bomb kits, using whichever skill is off-CD but with only dodges and blinds as defense.

Since you’ll be taking many kits, Tools for Streamlined Kits seems a no-brainer, as well as Power Wrench if taking ToolKit. That’d leave you with one open specialization line: I’d pick either Alchemy for HGH might/cooldowns and some condition removal if you take Elixir H, or you could try Inventions for Bunker Down. Since you’re a glasscannon, you could even try out A.E.D. with A.M.R. and Gadgeteer – Gadgeteer doesn’t expire, so your A.E.D. would practically be on a 22~30s recharge (depending on when/if it fires off) with A.M.R. resetting it from time to time, giving you an option to turn the tide of a duel. Alternatively, just run Healing Turret and pick whichever specialization you like (Firearms for crits?).

So basically:
—> EXPLOSIVES:
1 .- Take Grenadier if using Grenades, Glasscannon otherwise.
2 .- Short Fuse if using Bombs, your choice of AARocket/Shaped Charge otherwise.
3 .- Siege Rounds.

—> TOOLS:
1 .- Power Wrench it using ToolKit, Reactive Lenses otherwise.
2 .- Streamlined Kits.
3 .- Gadgeteer if you want to try A.E.D. as your heal, your choice of Kinetic Battery/Adrenal Implant otherwise.
Note: It’s wise to learn which Streamlined Kit effect triggers which kit. The ones you want to aim at are ToolKit (2s of Superspeed), Elixir Gun (drop a glue trail that immobilizes foes behind you for 2~3s) and Bomb Kit (drop a magnetic bomb that pulls enemies towards its center).

If taking Elixir H heal:
—> ALCHEMY:
1 .- Protection Injection seems to be the best bet here.
2 .- Backpack Regenerator or Self-Regulating defenses.
3 .- HGH.
NOTE: Keep in mind Alchemical Tinctures (remove conditions with Elixirs) would only work with Throw Elixir H, Elixir H, Hidden Flask and Self-Regulating Defenses. HGH gives might and reduced cooldown to the previous four and Healing Mist (your only stunbreak!), Acid Bomb, Super Elixir, Elixir Shell.

If taking A.E.D. (With Tool’s Gadgeteer):
—> INVENTIONS:
1 .- Automated Medical Response.
2 .- Mecha Legs (you can change Tools-> Streamlined Kits for Takedown Round if you like).
3 .- Bunker Down.

If taking Healing Turret:
—> FIREARMS:
1 .- High Caliber/Armor Exploit.
2 .- Skilled Marskman/No Scope.
3 .- Modified Ammunition.

A different approach could be dropping Tools and run Explosives/Firearms/Alchemy to abuse Armor Exploit swiftness and Invigorating Speed procs for extended dodging, but I’m not sure if that’s as viable as it was before the Vigor nerf.

Wow that’s freaking awesome. That’s kinda the same thought process i had. I didn’t want medkit cause it seemed sort of lackluster, and for some reason i’m really hooked to mortar kit. I love the fields, not sure if they’re actually useful or i just pretend they are. Next i realized for sure i needed a stunbreak, so obviously elixir gun and the added benefit of acid bomb to jump back. Toolkit i already had, mainly because of gearshield since magnet almost never works for me. The last kit i’m totally unsure, i was going to run bombs, but it sounds like that was more condition damage so i went with grenades.

I’m running explosives, tools and alchemy with the same traits you listed, except i think i grabbed static discharge. I love that i can do anything, on paper, but i’m starting to notice that actually doing all that seems to be a feat in itself.

For example, if a warrior jumps on me i can’t push him back, can’t netshot him, can’t cc him so i either run with jumpshot/acid bomb or drop a mortar light field to try to reduce the dmg and kill him. If i do the former, i’ve basically done no dmg to him and he’s still wailing on me, if i do the latter i reduce the damage a bit but he just steps out of the circle. Not to mention losing that gcd each time i switch to a kit, feels like i lose an ability everytime i switch kits.

I’m going to keep playing it, maybe swapping out grenades with bombs, cause that magnet bomb sounds pretty kitten. I’m gonna play until i know i have the muscle memory down and then i’ll see if things change for me. I still love the idea of the kits now and before i used to be so against it

insanemaniac.2456:

dancingmonkey.4902:

I have soloed stonemist on NA T1. So I do not know how you declare it as not an option.

eh, i havent even soloed it, ive duoed it (and considering how easy that felt im pretty sure i could solo it. on a power build.) … but ive never gotten lucky with hiding and i dont like solo building siege for 2 gates so i dont try often and when i have tried someone else has come along. plus you have to at least be able to solo a keep to be able to solo sm and that already cuts out ~99% of players.

i can easily see how he wouldnt consider it an option :p

That’s a good point, seems like it’d be pretty lucky to be able to build a siege thingy, run back get supply and continue building it without being caught. Bravo to whomever can do that

IgnisVulpesXI.3015:

The grenade/bomb kit thing is up to you, really. If you play hybrid/condi, Bomb kit offers that sweet 8/10s CD fire field along with 5 stacks of confusion; if you play power, Grenade kit has harder hitting attacks (Shrapnel, Poison, Freeze, Grenade Barrage) and you got some range to lay down the pain.

Technically you can still run 4 kits and not take Medkit, since we have Mortar kit now \o/ Can’t really offer much advice at how a build like that would work, though.

I run power, i’m torn between marauders and beserkers. Seems i’m just being stubborn. What i meant about the medkit was, i like the idea of the kits so i was researching any 4 kit builds last night but they were all years old and had the medkit. I assume this was well before the mortar was redone into kit. So i really couldn’t find much information. Would you consider it viable to have 4 kits and healing turret?

10 stacks, no rewards. No one in my party got anything either

IgnisVulpesXI.3015:

You should use Flash Shell in specific scenarios. If you’re defending Waterfall against a melee class, dropping Flash shell right under you on point will give you a pretty big advantage, but might not do as much in Graveyard or against ranged classes. Also, make use of Endothermic Shell against classes reliant on cooldowns (Eles and Necros come to mind) and save Flash Shell for heavy hits (Ele swaps to Fire, Necro pops Lich), or use it to secure a stomp.

I think pretty much noone takes Grenades for the blind, it might boil down to a matter of positioning and experience. Also, Smoke Bomb is a poor man’s version of Flash Shell unless you need Stealth; it lasts less if you take Siege Rounds and ticks once every two seconds instead of once per second as Flash Shell does.

I was just recently thinking about if i should use endothermic shell more, cause right now i only use it if i’m running away. I hope that helps a bit, i’ve noticed that if i get eles low enough they just pop that earth shield thing and absolutely dunk me and i just get the constant ‘invulnerable’.

That sucks about bombs, was hoping that was going to be my saving grace lol! So are grenades really that worth it and i’m just being stubborn?

Also, would it be bad to run 4 kits, did some reading last night. All i found was info back in 2012 or 2013 about people using it with medkit, but the information i see more recently is that medkit is trash

Thanks guys!

I love the idea of blinds, I just feel like everyone knows how to avoid them. Blinds are the main reason I took the mortar but what I’ve noticed is people just ignore it and don’t stand in it. I like the idea of static shot but don’t think I could switch off of my rifle. I’ve thought about getting grenades and dropping rifle turret but would that be wise?

That would bring me up to 4 kits,I’m really not sure if that’s good or bad. Would the single, long cool down, blind from grenades actually make a difference? A field that pulses seems like it is good but a single blind seems a bit underwhelming. Maybe I’m missing something.

Could bombs be my salvation?

Thanks for the reply! I’m still very much a noob haha

I keep reading about how good we are at kiting, more specifically kiting warriors but for the life of me i just can’t do it. Elixir F is about the only cc i can ever get to land. Netshot? They just dodge roll, overcharged shot, always invulnerable. All the while they’re just slicing and dicing me with their swords right up in my face. Feels like there’s absolutely no way to kite them

edit my current build as of now

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUh2tYNVwkLQ7FLTGk4zKQA+Oeyb+4IqQ8B-TZgaAAQZAA

I just feel like i do no damage, go through an entire rotation of all my big hitters + more and necros + warriors still have like 85% hp left

edit* Using marauder amulet not soldier

So what if these skills were reworked slightly, which wouldn’t be hard to do. just have the target get lifted up off the ground a bit and then pull. I guess it would be a buff to the skill but maybe it wouldn’t be broken

I’ve noticed this so much. I only recently started playing again and thought i’d give the magical ‘magnet + prybar’ a chance. While i still use it, i’d say 2/10 times it’s actually successful.

I’m in the same boat as you, i’m basically a potato. Played a launch but barely did pvp and naturally things are much different now. I spent a lot of time reading these forums, and posting and the other engies out there have been instrumental in my learning. I won’t give too many specifics because i don’t want to give you the wrong information. However, i will say it does get better. I’m sure it’s common sense but i’ll say it anyway. You just gotta play. Find a decent build or a build that looks fun to you, and just play it. Make sure you know all your keybinds by heart, we have so many kits and so many buttons to press but that’s what makes this class amazing. Also, learn to use your heal properly (ie if you’re using turret make sure to hit the button twice).

As far as switching kits, at least to me, that came with just time spent playing. If a ranger is up on a ledge, i think to myself, ‘how can i kill him? Oh, just switch to wrench and pull him!’ Add in a prybar and you certainly ruin his day.

One of the biggest mistakes i’ve made is spamming my rifle #1. I was thinking, hey i’m far out and doing decent damage i’ll just continue spamming it, completely ignoring all other skills, but i can say that things go a million times smoother when you actually use your high damage abilities and then get outta dodge.

I’m at about 2.5k power unbuffed, this only makes me more unsure whether i should attempt to stack might via using all my elixirs, or if the dps is so marginal its better spending that time and those GCDs to kill the enemy instead

How important is might stacking in pvp? I just grabbed the elixir gun instead of utility goggles and i noticed that i can now get 8 stacks of might, albeit i have to pop lots of things ( healing mist, elixir shell, acid bomb, super elixir). Thats why i’m wondering if its worth it, using all those elixirs (cooldowns) for what may only be a very slight dps upgrade

edit i swapped out inventions for alchemy and grabbed hgh. thats how i’m getting might

HaoleToke.5691:

You mean leap like the Elixir gun skill Acid Bomb?

That’s a blast finisher

Does acid bomb drop a field or is it just a dmg thing?

I think i’m gonna try it, just watched a bunch of youtube vids, i’m sure they’re old and may not apply, but the disengage seems totally awesome as well as the extra poison to prevent resses

PierPiero.9142:

yes problem is that 40 sec for skill is quite a long time … it means 10 sec fury every 40 sec…. it seems to me weak. As win skill i prefer elixir U but obviously it is not good for you

Thats kinda what i was thinking, i could get a stunbreak every 30 seconds and have 5 more skills to possibly use (dunno if i’d ever use them*). But I would lose the toolbelt skill which seems to be incredible for everything

PierPiero.9142:

eg and utility googles are really different . Eg has many utilities in a single slot … this is the great thing of kit … not only eg. You trade a skill and a toolbet skill for 5 different skills and a toolbet skill. This is the reason why kits are so good . do you use a power build ? i think that utility googles is really good for full dps build for thieves .10% from toolbet i suppose

I do run a power build and i rely heavily on the toolbelt skills for the static discharge thing. That’s why it’s such a tough decision, i think. I honestly can’t decide haha