Guild Wars 2

Noss.4105:

Condi cleanse on healing turret is pretty neat. Med kit #4 is IMO pretty poor. And EG #5 is OK…ish. Kinda slow to use, but if you have projectile finishers it’s cool. With the current condi pressure and the way condies are cleansed, I don’t think that’s good enough. More options to cleanse would definitely be welcome.

For stunbreakers EG toolbelt is good, but that’s pretty much it. I don’t really see why anyone would use a precious utility slot for Slick Shoes in it’s current state, unless you’re running some super mobile build.

Agreed on most points, just wanted to point out the options outside elixirs for engis that might not know or assume elixirs are the only choice.

However, slick shoes is a great utility now with its stun breaker. Run a circle around a person or small group and it’s amazing CC, a stun break and mobility. Combine it with a rifle build and have fun juggling your opponents. It really fits the in-and-out, mid range skirmisher/disruptor role that I feel engineers are designed to fill.

Noss.4105:

I’m really excited about bombs too. I’ve never used HGH, and probably won’t after the patch either. Feels too straightforward and simple.

I can understand OP, though. It’s odd that elixirs get this kinda buffs, when engies lack good condi cleanse, stability and stunbreakers outside elixirs.

edit: But then again, we don’t know what else the patch brings us. So it’s a bit too early to speculate.

Condi cleanses on healing turret, medkit4 and eg5, stunbreakers on slickshoes, eg toolbelt. But no stability.

Prybar
Static Shot
Concussion Bomb
Flash Grenade

Hit your 3’s! All the above skills either confuse or blind, and they are all bound to button 3. Coincidence?

Button 4 on many kits is also defensive. 2 shield blocks, 2 knockbacks, chill, blind, a leap back.

Toolkit 1 is fun sometimes too, as the third swing can hit hard in power builds.

9/10 I always liked that armor and jetpack combo

Here is my steampunk inspired Asura.

Of course, I go out of the country and the finisher appears on the gem store!

Anyone else feel that the small percentage of users that actually bought this consumable should be grandfathered into the new finisher?

I’m in the same boat as the OP. And now the finisher is in the gem store to add insult to injury…

The small percentage of people that actually bought the finisher as a limited-use consumable should be grandfathered into the new finisher. Anything less is unacceptable and shady practice.

Solo.9027:

There should be a mystic forge recipe to upgrade them to permanent finishers. I paid for one too but forgot about it until this new hero menu panel didn’t list it.

Excellent idea! Perhaps the recipe could put to use the many bountiful glory boosters we all have acquired over the course of spvp.

I cannot conceal my disappointment that my pvp finishers tab was not graced with the Super Explosive Finisher that I purchased from the gem store. I knew it was a consumable when I purchased it, but I couldn’t help but hope that it would be granted retroactively for those that purchased it.

However, I have discovered that now each of my remaining charges of the Super Explosive Finisher will only grant me 5 stomps per charge of the consumable.That means the 3 charges I have left will only net me 15 finishers.

In essence, I just got cheated out of 3 hours’ worth of finishers, and given 15 total finishes instead.

I liked this build better when it didn’t include power shoes and was posted by Mask.

Thanks! (also, thanks for reading)

Lightsbane.9012:

notanewmethod.8267:

Lightsbane.9012:

it’s a close range weapon. +200 range on the immobilize is really the only reason to get it.

In a thread titled “rifled barrels bugs” you dare to claim it is a close range weapon? Shut up, you’re making yourself look foolish.

Also, the extra 200 range is helpful in more ways than one. Defending keeps, kiting attackers, chasing down eles/thieves, landing more jumpshots (ironic I know), etc.

You are aware there are traits that cripple targets upon immob, and upon hp threshold? Surely that 200 range would help land those. (Don’t call me Shirley)

‘you dare claim rifle is a close range weapon?’
blunderbus’ range of maximum effectiveness is 100. smh.
magnet>range increase.

Warrior Rifle#5 is 130 range, your argument is invalid.

If words confuse you, here are numbers that prove the rifle is a ranged weapon, and how Rifled Turrets benefits ALL skills:

Skill                                Base       Rifled Barrels
Hip Shot	                 1000 < 1200
Net Shot	                 1000 < 1200
Blunderbuss                  400 < 500
Overcharged Shot	   400 < 500
Jump Shot                     700 < 800

Toolkit has a ranged ability that goes 1200, according to your logic – that means it’s a long range weapon, right?

Playing with this last night: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VVRw;2cP-9-26gTFx0;9;69TT;40;002515AXJ;4PcWCqRnC6Zn

Boons

• 50% Boon duration, 65% protection duration
• Perma swiftness
• Perma vigor
• Two sources of protection
• Aegis
• Free Blind on melee (might take kit regen instead and see how it feels)
• Elixir B at 75%
• Multiple sources of Regen
• Stunbreaker

Combos

• Two light fields, one fire, one smoke
• 5 Blast finishers (shield, turret, supply drop, BoB, Eg#4)
• 1 Leap finisher
• 1 Projectile finisher
• Two knockbacks (technically BoB is a launch)

Now I just need to get better at my blast combos. I had fun with EG#5, EG#4 blast out, Rocket Boots back in followed by Rocket Kick. It looks hilarious and provides some decent heals when you blast and leap combo off the light field. Needless to say, this little Asura was ping-ponging all over nodes last night. I took Rocket Boots for the awesome new mobility, a source of burning, the leap combo and fun.

Damage is nothing to write home about, and it doesn’t have a lot of condi removal. But with high hp/toughness those regen heals help take the edge off of conditions.

I need help landing my healing turret combos. I was finding myself taking damage very slowly, but not able to fill it quickly. Not the build’s fault, I’m just not used to healing turret, overcharging it, detonating it, then blast finishing other skills before the field wears off.

I remember a post on these forums with supporting youtube videos showing how to pull off certain light field and smoke field combos with healing turret/smoke bomb. Anyone remember that?

The single most unheralded buff in this patch is the Aetherblade Medium Boot Skin and the new breakthrough improvements in Shoe Leather Elasticity that these tricky Aetherblade buggers seem to have a firm grasp upon.

Assuredly my alumni at the College of Dynamics will be the first to backwards engineer this new tech and then… you will all pay…

us handsomely, for our fine new shoes.

Lightsbane.9012:

it’s a close range weapon. +200 range on the immobilize is really the only reason to get it.

In a thread titled “rifled barrels bugs” you dare to claim it is a close range weapon? Shut up, you’re making yourself look foolish.

Also, the extra 200 range is helpful in more ways than one. Defending keeps, kiting attackers, chasing down eles/thieves, landing more jumpshots (ironic I know), etc.

You are aware there are traits that cripple targets upon immob, and upon hp threshold? Surely that 200 range would help land those. (Don’t call me Shirley)

jniel.3581:

Maybe I just like the under dog.

Dear Arenanet,

I would very much like for my abilities to go off when I press the corresponding button. I’m tired of missed blowtorches or poison volleys that never land because there is a significant delay between when I hit the skill button and when it actually fires.

I am on a high speed connection so it is not an internet connection issue. It is a delay introduced by long animation prevalent on most engineer attacks, and skill queuing.

It is challenging enough to land shots in pvp, and this additional penalty time before the skills fire is ridiculous. 75% of the time in close quarters combat the target runs through you during this penalty time.

I understand telegraphing attacks so they can be dodge rolled, but in a skill-based game – why do I have to content with significant skill delay?

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

there is no unified formula or way to interpret “survivability”.

Agree and disagree. Effective health calculators exist to help you decide between vitality and toughness when selecting gear upgrades. There are spreadsheets that calculate the dps contribution of crit/critdmg/pow to help you locate points where diminishing returns outweigh the benefits of the stats given up to reach those points.

Likewise, I think the OP just wants a simple way to determine at what point is he hitting diminishing returns on +healing. As long as he understands that the relative value of a heal is very dependent on the myriad of combat variables you alluded to, it can still serve as a good guideline.

As a fight progresses the value of toughness and healing also increase. Again, something that is very hard to model.

its not fair man. My thief doesn’t use the offhand pistol when attacking with dagger.

its not fair man. My warrior doesn’t use the warhorn when attacking with sword.

its not fair man. My gaurdian doesn’t use shield when attacking with scepter.

wth i didnt understand anything.

Subsampling on a 560 is blasphemy.

I know, I have the same card and won’t be caught dead with textures like those.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1g6odl/new_steampunk_armor_chat_codes/

You’re right, the main pieces are tier 2/3 and shoulders are tier 1.

I agree, midnight fire can go from pure black and darker than abyss on certain items, to a rich, dark burgundy that looks like has the depth of a finely dyed, glossy leather. I’m looking for a dye that matches the effect midnight fire has on the center metallic disc in the chest. Copper pot is close, depending on the surrounding light. Warm environments result in a copper/bronze color, cool environment make the center disc appear more like steel, or polished gunmetal grey.

I wish the T2 chest had more slots for color, too. The center disc should have 2 dye slots separate from the top/bottom half. Hell, common “pirate” chests have 4 dye slots. Why not an expensive cultural item?

Rascal items look decently steampunkish. I thought my cyborg-asura mix has a certain steampunk flair to it. Unfortunately for our Charr buddies, it’s a mix of tier 1/2 Asura cultural.

Grand Theft Golem

I can’t take credit for it, but hands down the most clever Asura name I’ve seen.

Clearly I’m a bad engineer, because I average 12 stacks of might with spikes to 16 stacks and sometimes 20 if auto-elixir b procs at the right time during a fight.

I run the standard hgh grenades build, sigil of battle, boon duration/might duration runes, I swap weapons in combat blah blah…

I guess only “OP” players can manage 25 stacks for 40 seconds as I see purported all over the forums.

Also, +1 to Chaith. Well said.

http://gw2dragons.com/guesting.html

Works great for finding open temples. Better than guessing, at least.

Also, rabid rings do, in fact, have an upgrade slot. Not sure why that disinformation was passed.

Edit: also you can purchase any type of gear (berserker, soldier, rabid, etc) from the new WvW vendor for a little coin and some WvW badges. This might be useful if you have a stockpile of badges. Also the vendor contains free skin transmutes to some of the common skins (glyphic, etc) that will save you a Transmutation Crystal. Wish I had known this before transmutting 2 glyphic pistol skins. Oh well.

Forums always represent a small vocal subset of the population that plays the game.

In other words, it is not an accurate assessment of the state of the game. People have their own agendas, and everyone wants their class to be “OP” or “apex predator” or be able to “troll” people in wvw.

Take what you read on the forums with a grain of salt and play something that is fun to you. I love my engineer and find he is quite formidable, but sometimes I want to melee – so I go play my thief. (which btw, didn’t really get nerfed that bad unless you’re a pve pistol thief)

I can’t speak too much from the pve standpoint, having only run a few fractals and dungeons. However, cloaking device really must be used before you assess it. Like you, I was not a believer in the trait – as it seemed gimmicky. However, in wvw and pvp it is very effective at helping you mitigate damage, giving you time to heal or cleanse conditions, or allowing you to better position yourself for the next attack.

Chained with the stealth from Toss Elixir S (if you are 50% lucky) means that you can really throw some opponents off and change the tempo of the fight in your favor. It is a phenomenal escape mechanism.

Also, blood injection looks great on paper and on the character stats, but 20% cd reduction on elixirs means you can keep might up higher. I’m not sure of the math, but since might benefits both power and condition attacks – it might come out ahead of the ~100 condition damage you gain from blood injection.

Dodge roll w/ Evasive Arcana + Confusion = Happy engineer.

I run this in spvp, but recently swapped to boon duration runes after enjoying the length of my boons in wvw (mask’s wvw toolkit build).

Options are more limited in spvp, but I went with 2xWater, 2xMonk, 2xHoelbrak.

In the mists with 30 in elixirs, that’s 50% boon duration with 70% longer might duration versus 30% boon duration with 90% might duration. It seems to me that an extra 20% duration affecting all my boons would be more beneficial than slightly longer might – especially with how easy it is to keep might stacked through tossed/consumed elixirs.

So I’m curious why do you recommend might runes over boon duration runes?

R.I.P. 100nades

I loved you for an afternoon, then despised you ever since. Good riddance.

Rocket Boots
- Chance to leap backwards.
- Chance to burn enemy.
- Chance to gain swiftness.

Azure Prower, I call what you are doing skirmishing. You’re not standing at max range, you’re going in and out of enemy range and entering the “no mans land” between two opposing forces. Playing the mid-range, pulling players, etc.

However, if you want to pull a player and increase your success rate at stomping them, HGH + boon duration runes + confusion & conditions = dead player. Build might stacks in FT and HGH, pull them, apply your pistol/toolkit confusions, burns and poison (to reduce their healing) then chase them down with FT again. Elixir S and the stomp is yours.

After all, if you want to support your zerg – removing enemies from the equation undoubtedly helps.

That said, if you just want to be “showered in loot bags” – go grenades and collect your loot. Or continue suicide charging the enemy zerg and trying to tag as many as possible.

Unfortunately I find too many players that prefer to collect lots of bags from the safety of a zerg, rather than endanger their life and commit to being offensive. (God forbid you die and have to run back!) But that’s for another thread.

Happy to hear you are enjoying the engineer class. Might I offer some suggestions?

I’m assuming from your trait and weapon choices you like to play a “skirmisher” type playstyle that involves quite a bit of mid-to-melee range. That said your build is very close to Mask’s wvw build that revolves around conditions, confusion and ultimately has to engage in some melee range combat.

Traits / Utility slots
Swap Elixir C for Elixir S. 3 seconds of invuln is powerful, and you can still swap to toolkit and flamethrower while invuln and perform actions like drop box of nails, or vent smoke. This also lets you drop Self-Regulating Defenses (Alchemy 10pt) for something else like, Fast Acting Elixirs, Protection Injection or Blood Injection. Often I would get bursted past the 25% threshold and die without it proccing the invuln so I prefer more reliable traits. Also, the protection boon will last longer if you play with boon duration runes.

I might play around with swapping 409 out for HGH. With boon duration runes (2xMonk, 2xSuperior Water, 2xMajor water) your boons last a long time, and I’ve easily seen boons hit 1min durations. This synergizes well with Energy Conversion Matrix – giving you 1% more damage per boon. This might also play well with Juggernaut allowing you to maintain longer duration might stacks boosting both your direct flamethrower damage and your conditions.

I would move your 10 points in Tools and place them into Inventions for “Cloaking Device”. I know its hard to give up speedy kits. Trust me I do. I finally let go a couple weeks ago, and it was frustrating at first – until I started playing with Cloaking Device and discovered it is amazing at providing escapes and avoiding burst from opponents. If you chain cloaking device stealth into toss elixir s stealth, you have 6 seconds of stealth and can completely throw your enemies off track or just escape. Also it provides a good way to get into position for pry bars and blow torches (if using pistol offhand – highly recommended – the burn is strong) or flame thrower attacks.

I’m not a huge fan of Precise Sights in the Firearms tree, I think increased range on pistol is more advantageous. Lets face it, sometimes you’re going to have to play at range and having that pistol range means you land more Static Shots.

Weapons
You could drop your shield for a second pistol and open with Flamethrower Toolbelt > Magnet > Pry Bar > Static Shot > Blow Torch > Dart Volley > Flamethrower. With condition damage and confusion being strong in WvW at the moment, this is a serious amount of damage and tons of conditions to remove. From there it’s a matter of chasing them down with the Flamethrower and reapplying conditions. (if they haven’t killed themselves via confusion yet)

Gear & Stats
Gear-wise, Mask’s stats are very nice and may not be attainable for you right now, but he has found a nice balance of stats: 1500 Power, 1700+ Prec, 1350 Tough, 1500 Vit, 1200+ Cond damage. This means he has a healthy amount of HP, is rather durable because of the toughness, and is easily over 60% crit with Fury up (which is almost all the time). A mix of carrion, rabid, soldier gear will get your stats near that level – however you won’t hit those stats without some ascended items and food/oil.

If you aim for stats balanced like this your direct damage on FT won’t be abysmal, your condition damage will be strong, and you’ll be able to take a few hits.

I might actually try this out myself. I’ll just swap out elixir b for the flamethrower. It could be interesting.

Tried this build last night with a mix of carrion/rabid/rampager and had a blast with it. I particularly enjoyed the lasting power of the build as I went up against extended 2v1’s that turned into 1v1’s and then back into 2v1’s as more opponents showed up.

I’m too lazy to farm Monk runes, so I’m considering 4/4 altruism and 2/2 water runes. Has anyone tried Altruism runes with this build? I’ve been doing fine with 6/6 undead runes, but having might last longer is certainly something I would enjoy.

Also, I’m curious why isn’t Rare Veggie Pizza used to lengthen the duration of confusion?

Not open on Maguuma. Any others?

I would permanently trade my elite slot for toolkit. Can you imagine the havoc a hgh condi-grenadier could wreck if we had access to prybar without losing a utility slot.

Not to mention, it just feels more engineery.

Great information here. I too picked up this build and after much cursing at the grenade kit, I have gotten somewhat comfortable with ground targeting in pvp. These tips will improve my game.

I thought sigils of the same type share ICD. For example, “on crit” sigils share ICD with other “on crit” sigils. But I was not aware that “on crit” sigils share an ICD with “on weapon swap” sigils.

I’m using both earth and geomancy, as outlined in the other thread about this build. Is this not preferred?

There were strong arguments made about the benefit of additional toughness in this build. What are your thoughts on Rabid vs Rampager?

Also, I noticed you use Runes of Undead instead of the 3 sets of 2 rune bonuses that give 20% might duration each. So perhaps you have come to find toughness valuable in your experience? Do you feel the additional toughness is better than longer duration might stacks?

Definitely move the utility skill keybindings. Shift+key or Ctrl+key are you best friends. Don’t forget Q, E or R for keys that are easy to push and near the movement keys.

Can anyone help me identify these boons on the engineer?

Also, do they count as boons for the purposes of Energy Conversion Matrix? Do consumables count towards this trait as well?

krixis.9538:

has any 1 ever considerd that its part of asura culture to have unisex armor. gender has little role in asura society apart from reproduction it has little relevence.

unlike say human culture where gender is very important

i like we dont have skimpy armor as asura

I must know what helm/monacle krixis is wearing!

Stole this look from Kutsus @ gw2guru forums.

Armor: Vatlaaw’s (or any of the “named” sets, Vatlaaw’s, Zho’s, etc)
Helm: Anonymity Hood (thief starter helm)
Dyes: Midnight Fire (darkest black in-game) and Oxblood is used in the screenshot, although I prefer Burgundy instead.

Kit Refinement
Because double super elixir is strong and bound to get nerfed. Double grenade barrage is nice burst. Also, its fun to constantly explode when spamming medkit.

Cloaking device
A fun trait that is sometimes helpful. Sometimes.

Self-Regulating Defenses – A hard stop on damage when you’re about to die is always clutch in pvp. It lets you cheat death, or at the least delay it. Synergizes well with Inertial Converter, allowing you to pop off some last minute damage while invulning incoming damage.

Speedy Kits – required in WvW. Wish it wasn’t true, but I have less fun when I don’t use it.

I read the forums specifically to see what builds other players come up with and to learn about interesting trait/ability synergies or techniques.

This thread’s derailment does however, bring up a good topic of discussion that seems to bridge across numerous threads. Namely, the topic of min-maxing for one specific role. There seems to be a prevailing mentality brought on by years of mmorpg min-maxing by those good at math and theorycrafting, and the inevitable hangers-on that just want to know, “wut spec maeks gud damge”.

This thread is disheartening to me, not because of the opinions contained herein, but rather because it seems that very few are willing to entertain the thought that perhaps our class was designed to be a hybrid of survivability, utility and damage.

It bothers me that anyone that explore builds that fall outside of the extreme ends of burst or bunker are immediately met with disapproval and blind criticism.

What is wrong with wanting to survive a little longer than a glass cannon, or do a little more damage than a full bunker? Why is it ok to stack one or two stats to the detriment of others? Why is it “wrong” to experiment with balanced builds?

Of all the professions, I feel we are the most suited to experimenting with balanced builds and gearsets. And maybe… that’s what Anet intended?

I remembered chaining confuse like that while leveling up and had some fun with it. Lately I had the same thoughts and adjusted my tankcat build and gear. I dropped my full soldier gear for carrion gear with rata sum runes (for the crit, cheap), sigil of accuracy/hydromancy. We’ll see how hard confusion hits with the additional condition damage.

Power: ~1600
Tough: ~1300
Vitality: ~1900
Precision: ~1000
Cond: ~950
Crit: 15%

Going to play it for a while and then come to a decision. It’s going to take serious adjusting to not have Elixir S slotted.