Guild Wars 2

PierPiero.9142:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

Dawdler.8521:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

If its equal skill, my vanilla condi engi build has yet to lose to a scrapper (came close once in WvW…but not quite).

While I can agree with that in theory (I run wanderer p/p and doubt replacing scrapper would impact my 1v1 killing power vs another scrapper by much), the reason you run scrapper is to get the all-powerfull stomp gyro. That little beauty win fights. I just wish I could slap some lipstick on it, a wig and marry it.

LOL I too run wanderer p/p in PvP and vanilla at that. The build I’m using has won me some tight fights. I even went up vs another vanilla p/p engi (dont know who it was) and they played the build well, however I assume hey were either having a bad night or they were testing the build as they made a few mistakes playing the build.

Went vs a team with a condi scrapper and another condi vanilla and the vanilla put up a better fight (albeit they both lost, but the vanilla did better imo).

Granted the gyro stomp is a bonus, however the build I use, I would be giving up too much to just gain the gyro. (The toughness on condis trait is nice too, but not enough for me to give up one of my trait lines)

All on everyone’s personal taste I guess.

Sorry but people don’t play scrapper for function Gyro. The real difference between scrapper with hammer and other builds is the fact that you have :
– great sustain , you get a lot of regen , much more than without scrapper
- damage and defense on the same weapon so you can have much better condi cleans from utilities .
U have much more sustain with hammer scrapper and you can stay on point. You can not do the same easily with condi engi and it is a huge difference in a capture game

Again, everyone has their personal play styles they are good with. Myself is the condi vanilla engi. I have yet to be beaten by a scrapper, but maybe they are all having bad fights or they are all learning to play hammer scrapper, who knows. If you are better with DPS scrapper, then that’s awesome, play on and may we meet on the battlefield on the same cap point

Vagrant.7206:

displacedTitan.6897:

For “purity of purpose” I think Rocket Boots shouldn’t move you as far as it does, I mean its clearly a damage skill since they buffed it’s base damage for purity, it should barely move you at all! Someone get ANet on here and explain why rocket boots seems like an escape skill!

Also I think that hammer should have some Condi on it and remove some of the DPS, its clearly lacking in “purity of purpose” as well!

Lol @ ANet, they really have no clue what to do with Engineer. I cant wait to see the next train wreck elite spec they give us. Maybe another set of AI minions will do the trick!

Next they’ll give us flying turrets that can’t keep up…

oh wait.

LOL I giggled

In all seriousness, rocket boots needs to be the gadget stun breaker (I mean look at it…the animation looks like it should break stun)

Interesting build, however despite taking HGH, your weakness is any form of condi sustain. Granted you can cleanse them (1 condi at a time) but you blow half your cool down and will need to use some utilities that help you survive even vs DPS.

Your elite (while I like elixirs) I feel you only chose because its an elixir. With the stability that gets thrown around the actual elite isn’t as useful in WvW, and the thrown elite has a high CD for the 3.5s effect. I feel you can drop the nades and pick up another elixir or gadget and free up the explosives trait for another that would better suit the purpose of this build (like take inventions and grab mecha legs, which will allow you to use a better rune set). With the amount of condi builds out there as well, this may only fare well vs dps builds. There’s much diversity to this specific build that you can do almost everything but not as effectively.

TL;DR interesting build, but its strength is its weakness that can counter anything, but not that well.

bumpity bump bump for more suggestions

Dawdler.8521:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

If its equal skill, my vanilla condi engi build has yet to lose to a scrapper (came close once in WvW…but not quite).

While I can agree with that in theory (I run wanderer p/p and doubt replacing scrapper would impact my 1v1 killing power vs another scrapper by much), the reason you run scrapper is to get the all-powerfull stomp gyro. That little beauty win fights. I just wish I could slap some lipstick on it, a wig and marry it.

LOL I too run wanderer p/p in PvP and vanilla at that. The build I’m using has won me some tight fights. I even went up vs another vanilla p/p engi (dont know who it was) and they played the build well, however I assume hey were either having a bad night or they were testing the build as they made a few mistakes playing the build.

Went vs a team with a condi scrapper and another condi vanilla and the vanilla put up a better fight (albeit they both lost, but the vanilla did better imo).

Granted the gyro stomp is a bonus, however the build I use, I would be giving up too much to just gain the gyro. (The toughness on condis trait is nice too, but not enough for me to give up one of my trait lines)

All on everyone’s personal taste I guess.

PierPiero.9142:

Hi , how do you see engineer now in this meta ?
i find it really strong as bruiser/bunker ( paladin or mender , i prefer mender ) . Quite strong in 1 vs 1 but not as determinant as before.
Many time i am stacked in really long 1 vs 1 fights. I can survive and the fight seems stale till a teammate arrive to +1 or an enemy arrive to +1 . This meta seems to me quite bunker again .
Now there is a great return : scepter elementalists hit really hard . I tryed marauder freshair with tempest ( scepter focus ) becouse in a match we were already 4 engineer ( 2 and 2 ) and it seemed to me an hard matchup for scrappers . I saw their heal going down quite fast under scepter so it seems to me that this season as scrapper will not be as easy as elder ones ( and i don’t play ele often ) .
I tried 2 matches with condi engi ( new amulet ) . it is stronger against condition but it dies with one hit. I think vanilla condi engi is yet less effective than scrapper .

If its equal skill, my vanilla condi engi build has yet to lose to a scrapper (came close once in WvW…but not quite). Granted I’ve seen a few condi scrappers and vanilla engis and only 1 condi scrapper was pretty skilled and gave me grief. I can go toe to toe vs berserkers (both DPS and condi), condi chromos (better luck in PvP than WvW due to dire not avail) and some plague reapers (not all but have won a fair share of skirmishes). Mallayx rev’s are a big pain.

I’ve played both DPS scrapper and condi engi extensively, and I know my vanilla engi could beat my DPS scrapper (both non meta). If you are getting 1 shotted (which should not happen) then look at your traits. If you took the new ammy that gives vit, you should survive from being hit once (unless its a critted up kill shot). Maybe try Rabid ammy for that toughness. I also have VoD’s on twitch that show some good fights (both 1v1 and outnumbered)

TL;DR Vanilla engi is very strong if you build it properly, shouldn’t get 1 shotted so look at your traits, or maybe watch some vids on some good set up’s / combos / rotations as a condi engi.

Aandre the Giant.4615:

Howdy BigPapaSmurf. Tyrs Paladium is a legendary 9+ year guild of adventurers 30 years of age and older that has landed here in Guild Wars 2 and is building up a terrific set of ego free warriors that will form our weekly raid team.

You cant find a more active friendly group of players than in Tyrs Paladium. Veterans help new folk and we plan to be raiding here in GW2 for many years. We do multiple raids a week in several games and will do the same here.

So if you are just a bit patient as we build up our guild to our standards, want to BE a somebody (everyone knows everybody here in Tyrs) in a dedicated loyal guild where camaraderie is our most valuable resource, I promise you that you’ll enjoy the Tyrs raid experience better than any you’ve had here in GW2.

I like the pitch. Forgot to mention what server your guild represents for WvW purposes.

Soon.5240:

As some one who runs a P/P Condi Engi, I hope they DO leave Pistols alone – based on their track record of Engi changes…..

As a long time P/P vanilla engi (despite having HoT), I agree with this. It is currently in a good place.

I remember when I was on CD…I commanded but there was few people on, even during NA prime (This was from 2013 – 2015, before I moved from CD in search of servers that actually had ppl to command, and tapdatmouse (TDM) was a thing).

There is a commander now in the same server merge CD is in who is on around 10EST (usually yellow tag) but has a wicked attitude at times, don’t know if he is with CD or DH or what. What good guilds are in CD now that would house someone that has been in the WvW game for 3+ years and has seen many strats that we do not use today? (I remember when portal bomb training was done by a female (legit female) asura, when portal bombs were actually done right, as well as golem-transports and scout training and field training (proper way to utilize an ally’s fields))

Have they tried turning GW2 off and on again?

Still looking for a new home guild/server for my WvWness needs. I am a small scale commander (havoc/calvary). Swapping servers may be considered. Was a part of a guild but wasn’t what I needed.

Jojo.6140:

Exciton.8942:

Because it is competition.

The thing is though, that there is a chunk of players who dont play for the competition but for the rewards, might that be achievements, champion titles, reward tracks or the legy backpack. Ending lost games faster is one strategy for them to get the rewards faster and thus more efficient. Thats all.

Im wondering though why some people are so raging about it. If I see someone in my team going afk i usually just go afk aswell cause 4v5 isnt winable anymore. So just chill and wait for the next match to come.

Btw OP did you use a transparent tool to edit your second screenshot on purpose so everyone can still read the names?

On the contrary…4v5 is still winnable for I have witnessed it with my own eyes

All depends on the group comp, yours and the opponents.

I Just report them. I read somewhere you can report them under “botting”

Eleazar.9478:

Guess the proper term would be havocing at that point. But maguma thinks 10 man groups are roamers (that’s dipping into zerging territory

10 would be a good havoc. Zerg would come in until its like 15+ imo

Krysard.1364:

Justine.6351:

Krysard.1364:

Silv.9207:

Actually the only class that i know using unblockable skills is the necromancer staff,

Guard, thief, ele and rev have unblockable CC, without counting unblockable pet from ranger.

Ranger’s spike trap too, not sure if it counts in the grand scheme of things.

I was talking about unblockable CC in meta builds, but there are effectively a lot more out there

I wonder if an unblockable block is actually blockable with a ranger/druid WH unblockable pet attack ability.

Damian.6978:

I’ve found the cooldown reduction on the Mortar 5 skill to be worth HGH actually, as the reduced cooldown synergises well with Orbital Strike and the low-CD leaps of hammer 3. The double orbital strike provides a lot of oomph, and Tools traitline’s other traits don’t synergise well with Mortar or Grenades (remember that all explosions now give 1 Vulnerability stack; it stacks quickly). Grenadier and Aim-Assisted Rocket are also indispensable I feel. You see the latter proc quite often when throwing grenades, and the faster grenades means it’s much harder for an enemy (even a very agile thief) to avoid them for long. Grenade 5 is also unblockable Poison stacks which is very nice.

In terms of conditions, so far I haven’t had much trouble 1v1 against most condi-heavy enemies, except the rare Warrior or Necromancer. I will sometimes swap skills around depending on composition. For example if I see 2 or more necros on the enemy team, I swap out Bulwark Gyro for Elixir C for that extra condi conversion and removal. But more often than not I tend to be able to out-cc them and use LOS to heal myself enough to handle it.

Interesting. I hope to come across this build in PvP someday and stream the results. This is something I would like to see in action.

Meh, was in a pug only team vs a 2man/3man premades and we still beat them (and I go it ton vid). Premades don’t always equal win.

so….its a vitality version of wanderers? Isn’t going to make much difference. They just need around the same amount of hits to drop them. Only difference is they can take 1 or 2 more tick of condis…that’s all. Vanilla Engi ftw

Interesting concept, however I don’t understand why you are running HGH with only 1 elixir ability with a 24s cooldown. Seems like a waste of a trait. Any of the other 2 traits would better benefit you imo.

I can see you have no reliable forms of condi cleanse so this is better in a group although with the amount of condis that are in PvP atm I can see you struggling with just about any wanderers condi builds.

Just a couple suggestions.
If it was even slightly focused on orbital strike, have you tried running the Tools traitline? Extra damage and reduced cooldown on orbital strike (or any toolbelt skill). It would synergize better with the build, and possibly running sigil of paralyzation for the extra stun time?

At the risk of sounding kitteny, I was in a match yesterday (and I have a vid of it on twitch) where we were up vs 3 daredevils. Me being a vanilla p/p engi (despite I have HoT, I still played vanilla) and they were not that difficult. One was staff camping and another was dagger/dagger condi with a trap or 2 (lots of stealth but wasn’t good enough to be a “ghost thief”).

Thieves/daredevils all melt even with a small amount of condis, especially when you force them to use their shadow step or precision signet. I downed 2 of them in a 1v2. Soon before (or after…I don’t remember but it was the same day within an hours from each other) I was up vs 3 DH. One was scepter shield / scepter focus. Lots of blocks. Was a weird build (although effective) lots of traps (go Elixir S lol) but was good at blocking, slow at the pull shield combo. One was a condi (forgot how fast they can stack burn…8-10 in under 2 sec). He was good at stacking and had okish cleanses. Last was pure DPS (I think LB / Sword focus or sword shield) meta medi trapper. That match was prob the hardest we fought.

Mind you I am just getting back into PvP and forgot how bad zerging is lol.

I currently run a vanilla engi build in WvW so im for it,lol (albeit I own HoT, my vanilla engi is yaysuperfuntimegreat

I used this (a variant that fitted my style as well as your set up) and it is interesting, however with the amount of zerging that goes on in PvP, there’s many counters to it…anyone with mobile bursts (Daredevils/Rev’s/chromos), CC’s and medium condi pressure. Stability is def a bane. I was able to get some fun going but not til I got zerged.

I may tweak this a bit and see what works best with me but I plan on keeping the concept.

Loboling.5293:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

Also, do you have a link to the build anywhere? If not, what utilities are you running with?

It’s in the screenshot. I played a few more games, and its so fun, but I still feel mean when playing it. I sometimes cc someone so much it’s kind of sad. Only lost one game in 7, where my whole team just rushed home, and actually capped the node, minus one that left before finishing the cap, but still went home with the other 3… I got to mid, saw the enemy 4 players, and ours “guarding” home. It was a bad loss. haha.

how well do you handle condis? seems like not too well lol

Meh, a buddy and I (condi engi and reaper) like wrecking small groups with just the 2 of us. I load one up and he spreads em and watched em fall. Its all coordination. We actually won a 2v4 because of this. Help he also corrupts boon due to a heavy boon meta (hense why we typically pick a rev to load up, he corrupts and epis).

When fighting vs a reaper, spread out and try to range or power burst.

side note I always thought that Rocket Boots should have been a stun breaker based on the animation.

But to the main point, yes. People complained that turrets were OP so anet nerfed them to the ground. With the track record that anet is looking at underused utilities, maybe gadgets will get something good.

Turrets def need a buff of some sort. Auto repair would be nice (x%/pulse).

Dawdler.8521:

Powerkitty.3950:

I dont know if engineer is good at offering anything other than dps to a zerg and water healing blast finisher with healing turret.

Hahahahohoho… Oh man, engineer is good for exactly nothing in a zerg so have fun with that. Running vipers, the only thing you are gonna be good at is rallybotting the enemy.

It has its merits in solo/smallscale and can go head to head with the best builds when played well, but even so on vipers it will be a glass cannon. I seriously doubt one could survive a duel against another tougher engie using a rabid/dire combo as above. The problem is the current class climate – better glass cannons such as warriors (glass cannon being a relative term with the 1000hp/s regen and all) are gonna roflstomp you in a single charge before you even get any damage in and sustain condis are gonna out-tank you.

Yeah, pistols have very little DPS to begin with so vipers is almost a waste with the power. I went up vs a pistol/shield condi scrapper and literally wiped him. He was running vipers (talked to him afterwards as we fought a few times 1v1 in WvW). He was squish but he can hurt. Versus my dire/rabid was a challenge for him.

Loboling.5293:

Sorry it took so long to respond, I’m in finals now… :’(

So first off, yes the mines don’t target stability, but they remove about 7 boons, I don’t remember more than a few times I couldn’t strip stability for a quick knockback, even through pulsing stability. (just be sure to watch the timing) And again, you have 2 unblockable knockbacks, so dh aren’t as much trouble as you might think. (unless they trait into virtues to turn virtue of courage into a monolith ability)

Sorry David about bringing you back into the game… haha. But I’m glad to see some people enjoying the build.

The best part about this build is the flexibility. You can hold points, 1v1, team fight, secure rez/stomp and decap. It is a great support character, that can deal some solid damage. I don’t think there is only one way to play it, but the best way to secure kills is cc chains. If the person doesn’t have stability, they are usually toast, especially in team fights, and don’t forget how easy knocking back downed players is. Once someone goes down, knock them far off point and function gyro a stomp. Enemies either loose the point or lose the fight. I find the pressure of this build is immense due to the knockbacks and pulls.

It really is a roaming build, that can’t be killed 1v1 (although if you mess up it can happen; I died to a druid the other day, while taking it too easy, so it’s not invincible without active play)

This build has a lot of potential, which is why I posted it, so give it a try and see what you can pull off. (also ninja trick, but try to learn areas where toolkit will pull enemies into the air. It’s the kind of thing that ruins someones day, especially when you follow up with a immobilize. Players can’t activate skills in the air, so it makes a simple pull into a 1 second cc that can’t be broken, and you can extend it with immobilize) Honestly, I think this build specializes in making others rage… haha. Probably not a good build for the longterm health of the game, but I can always tell when my opponents are losing their cool. Usually if you can get people flustered they don’t play as well. Luckily its a hard build to master, so there shouldn’t be an overabundance of rage inducing engies running around. I’m still making a lot of mistakes with my cc chain, but I get caught up launching people around… Rifle 4->throw mine at feet -> pull toolkit -> detonite mine -> explosive gyro -> rifle 5 -> rifle 2 -> rifle 4… haha. I just can’t help but laugh during all this.

Have fun, and obviously this is a team game, so personal score is not very important. But this build brings a lot to the table, and will increase your chances of winning as much as any meta build I see played today. (maybe minus condi mes, and dh)

Where it’s not meta I must try this. I just revived my old P/P condi engi (vanilla) and in both PvP and WvW, its a friggen beast. Since my last DPS build got obliterated by anet (4 gyros), ive been tampering/making other DPS builds (cause im th etype that needs 2 builds/toon…pref 1 DPS and 1 condi) and have discovered that the mine is very undervalued.

Also, do you have a link to the build anywhere? If not, what utilities are you running with?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalcThyrYfXw+Kw6FLsFVYKeRxmYHNFPB4HWiBAA-T1xCABeq+zYKBxS5HAnAgpfAA6pH4k9HIEwj1A-w

revamped my P/P build on youtube 2 days ago (inspired to revamp from another thread) and solo and small scale its surprisingly effective. This is a vanilla build so its even sweeter when beating a berserker or another HoT build.

Zlater.6789:

haha yeah getting condi anything can be hard to deal with as a thief, thankfully dash does help us deal with some of the ‘cover’ conditions so our clearing is more meaningful.

@Bigpapasmurf.5623 I would love to duel with you, I’ll add you.

This thread inspired me to pick up my p/p engi. Used it in WvW over the last 2 days and im surprised on how well it does (its a vanilla build too…tested scrapper but the scrapper ine doesn’t really do much for it so its a waste of a trait line).

I will admit, daredevils/thieves melt fast and im was really surprised on how well I do vs reapers and berzerkers. Chronos still a pain.

ISKBBQ.3506:

I actually made a build where I can have 7 thieves at once. It’s gimmicky ill admit, but it’s super fun to see!

I would actually be interested in seeing this build,lol. I love seeing diff gimmick builds.

Tbh, it’s always a good idea to save a condi cleanse when fighting a necro/reaper in case of epidemic. Something learned the hard way by some.

IMO I think epi is fine (I rarely play my necro). Its only really good vs downed opponents or if you count dodges (as it can be dodged and is somewhat predictable).

If a change is made, maybe increase CD a bit, but that’s all. It boils down to learning to watch for things like that. (so I guess a l2p issue)

Krysard.1364:

Abuse dodges, headshots and stealth

Abusing dodges won’t do much as the condi sustain at 900 units is hard (same range as ranged weps on a thief/DD

If its a condi scrapper, stealth will get you time to reposition, but they also have access to stealth, so if its a dire build you gotta be fast. Mobility will be your friend. Abuse your mobility hard. Don’t stay melee too long until thei rpassive elixir kicks in at 25% hp, then go full offensive.

If you are running p/p, stay ranged. if you are running SB, keep poison on him once he hits 50% HP. Before he hits 25% HP, burst in and get out but keep him in combat. If running d/p and SB…keep cripple up and AA when ranged, swap and steal burst and back off. Swap back, rinse, repeat (added poison after he hits 50% HP)

Most condi engis/scrappers I see are not “pro” so they will waste CD’s/reflects. Like a good thief/DD, just wait it out

Bhima.9518:

This is definitely a roaming build and I have zero experience with that. If you are looking for a Zerg build, I find this to be the most effective:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQJASmnvNeNS6JvJRVlHlsrykSYW5SJYssrklZlhNma2RNgCawO6r/G-TVhXAB1q+TzKBFd/BAU+9hugAAIAczbezbezbWKgM3CA-w

I know most would say go with Glint/Mallyx, but, Glint’s buffs aren’t as necessary when you have a ridiculous amount of boon duration with Wanderers, Gnashblade, Durability, etc. And Glint only has one stunbreak and cannot cleanse immob (I also don’t think Mallyx pain absorption’s resistance is working properly with immob either). Shiro allows you to basically camp Mallyx as the parties main condi-cleanser, and when you are starting to get focused by actual direct damage and they immobilize/etc., you can quickly swap to shiro and use Riposting Shadows. This has been so much more valuable than going Glint and just dying to the huge Blackgate blobs.

I typically do small scale, sometimes havoc/calvary driver when I have time to commit some time. Only time I ever join a blob (and when I do its always tagging along, not officially in the squad) is when they are going vs another blob in a nice war out in the open.

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

Yannir.4132:

If you don’t like how shield behaves, and are looking for alternatives to axe, you might as well give OH sword a try. It lacks the damage potential axe has but is certainly more offensive than the shield. It brings a block that doesn’t root you and you can cherry-pick targets out of a zerg and teleport them into your zerg. (which is hilarious when pulled off)

Actually sounds fun,lol

Looks like I gotta be within 130 units to pull this off however. I Was looking at the sword as it does offer a block and the shadowstep thingy and pull them to me would be a good combo with swapping to staff and using staff 5 (with hydro sigil on staff)

I may try that (I find most ppl dodge the CC from axe anyway unles sthey are really focused on someone else or they are ressing)

So possibly something close to this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQNAscmnvN2gS6JvQRVlbosryPUYW5IKYs8ElFOFyOgFMhsdpMppNAFoBA-TlCFQBZQXgG0Cwu9HuoSQGcEAIwDAQhK/Qh6BA4UAkCVcIFQEjBA-w

Thoughts?

Yannir.4132:

If you don’t like how shield behaves, and are looking for alternatives to axe, you might as well give OH sword a try. It lacks the damage potential axe has but is certainly more offensive than the shield. It brings a block that doesn’t root you and you can cherry-pick targets out of a zerg and teleport them into your zerg. (which is hilarious when pulled off)

Actually sounds fun,lol

Looks like I gotta be within 130 units to pull this off however. I Was looking at the sword as it does offer a block and the shadowstep thingy and pull them to me would be a good combo with swapping to staff and using staff 5 (with hydro sigil on staff)

I may try that (I find most ppl dodge the CC from axe anyway unles sthey are really focused on someone else or they are ressing)

I used to run a p/p condi engi in PvP and WvW (Rabid in PvP, Dire/Rabid in WvW) all the time

The burn is what you have to watch out for. As an engi (vanilla still works very well vs HoT builds) I used to run Firearms, Alchemy and Inventions (anything burn/condi related in Firearms, elixir stuff in Alchemy and Bunker down/Mecha legs in Inventions). I always started with a stealth burn as close as possible and unloaded in 3>2>1 and spam 1 until ready to burn again. I also had sigil of torment so I could proc torment as well. Runes of Balthazar for the burn.

Scrapper (I am still working on a good one as all I have seen in WvW and PvP have not been very good) but I would def keep firearms and probably alchemy, but scrapper doesn’t really offer anything condi related so its only use really if the sneak gyro and adaptive armor (condi engi/scrapper is weak to condis)

Cleanse the burn ASAP and do quick in and out bursts. Stealth is your friend as you can stealth more often than we can.

If you are NA and want to spar vs mine, let me know as I used to run it all the time (My first non meta build)

Yannir.4132:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

I am running Staff (although may swap for hammer, not sure yet) and sword/axe (Love the CC/Teleporty of OH Axe and unrelenting assault

I’m not well versed when in regards to WvW but I’ll give it a shot since this quite like most sPvP builds.

Only swap to hammer for zergs. If you roam, stick to staff. The #3, #4 and #5 skills on it are quite invaluable. Staff #5 is possibly the most powerful weapon skill in the game when in the right hands. Learn how to aim it. It will always go to the direction your character is facing, not towards your target. But if you can’t pin down your target, don’t even use it. Weapons cd is much shorter than SotM cd.

Use Glint when moving around and for stacking buffs but when you enter a fight, quickly dispense your overturned facets, and swap to Shiro and S/A if you are on staff. Generally don’t use staff for AA but for when you need either blocks, CC or condi clears. Then you swap back to sword ASAP. Swap to Glint when you need to reset your energy, and for when you need more substantial healing.

Try to use the Glint healing when enemies can’t deny it to you such as when you have a ton of condis/when you are standing in DH traps. Use Shiro healing skill when around 50%-75% hp, or even at the very beginning of a fight, depending on if you are the attacker or not.

Use the Elite skills to pin down targets for your SotM. Personally I use Jade Winds more than Chaotic Release because it doesn’t throw back your target, it’s easier to use and it’s less likely to be interrupted based on experience. The downside is the energy cost, so make sure you have enough to pull off the combo.

Great tips. I do like the sword/axe as shiro heal plus unrelenting assault is very good and the staff seems like a strong choice.

My main issue (among many) is micromanaging energy in the heat of a fight. Things may be going good for me, then when I need a skill I find i’m out of energy so when I swap (which is no problem) and keep going, I run out before my legend recharge is up and am like a sitting duck until it does.

I can thief/daredevil no prob with initiative but seems rev takes more skill to properly run (and thief is one of the harder ones to learn properly).

I love Glint (BOOOOOOONSSSSSSS!!!!) and shiro (teleport through walls YEA BOI). I don’t know if jalis may be better but I find shiro better suited for downing people (prob because jalis is more support-y)

I don’t like how shield heal thingy (crystal hibernation?) roots you so its a matter of timing aoe’s/dps bursts on me (couldn’t tell ya how many rev’s I downed where I know to save my burst until after they use this).

I tried condi but felt weak compared to condi mes/nec/engi

I will say that SR thieves hate me more now (staff 5 ftw)

Any more tips for a newb wvw rev?

Xenesis.6389:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

If those that encountered a ghost thief just walked away (or used swiftness/speed boost) these thieves wouldn’t be an issue as they are a condi one burst gimmick. Cleanse and walk away, stay and fight and you will typically get downed.

Just walk away, ok sure. The thief can do the same when they run into a stealth trap then, just walk away.

The trap feels awkward, but there’s no choice since they won’t rework or adjust stealth mechanics, and thieves are built entirely around it. They hand out stealth reveals to a class once a year, probably the one time they bother to look at wvw balance.

When I am bored (or taking a break from serious gw2 play) I do play a scout ghost thief in WvW so I can say this for certain. Just walk away…95% of ghost thieves are vanilla thieves, thus do not have dash so the only mobility is SB and we can’t waste it due to needing initiative for stealthing.

Granted its more of a gimmick and i’m not a serious player of it, it does have many downfalls. The stealth disruptor is a bane, however if the thief has enough init they can slow you down and use sb5 to maneuver around cliffs/hills “typically” long enough to wait out the 30s, however it takes skill for vanilla ghost thieves to do this long enough as (daredevils is no prob…dash dash dash and gone unless there’s a DD or LB druid in your attacking party that can catch up/put him into combat).

Aoe’s, Mobility, condi cleanses, walking/running away via speed boosts, CC’s, stealth detection are our banes which is more than most other builds. Its only OP If you stay and fight as if you stay, we can immob you and keep piling on the condis, howevr the condis are only in bursts so you have opportunities to counter us with one or more of the above.

All in all, despite this, I don’t agree that they should be removed from WvW, although they also do not need any buffs.

If anything, ghost thieves are there to troll and if they can get a kill then that’s the cherry on top. NPC’s wont help, only other players or the above mentioned counters.

TLDR: Ghost thieves are there to troll and despite I play one once in a blue moon, I support keeping them in WvW and as they are now.

Baldrick.8967:

I’d buff the trap so that not only are thiefs revealed for 30 seconds but upon triggering the trap are reduced to 25% HP- think of it as a reverse gank, so instead of a thief freezing you to the spot and macroing you down to 25% HP inside 0.25 seconds or throwing endless condi on you or being totally invisible, they get to experience the other side of life. And their movement speed is reduced to 25% too.

Given it takes 4 seconds to deploy and costs so much supply, these traps should be much more effective and cover a wider area rather than a thing strip.

Or just fix stealth so that in order to be in stealth you have to move steathily, ie slowly, not disappear off the map at lightspeed.

Adding the “drop to 25% HP” would be just plain wrong. “Ghost Thiefs” are kitten if you don’t stay and fight. All builds should have some form on condi clears and as long as you can clear a couple then they are kitten if you just walk away.

Mesmers can abuse stealth as well (they can double their stealth times now), but I don’t see ppl complaining about them. Druids have ways of getting a good amount od stealth. This thread seems targeted toward thieves in particular. Stealth has its counters (AoE’s for one, mobility for another as most ghost thieves are not daredevils, and despite their speed boost in stealth, its not enough as they need to keep some initiative for stealthing after a burst). 30s of AoE revealed is enough and those complaining about “all the supply it costs”. It doesn’t cost that much (10 supply, same as siege disabler) so the cost to put it down is nothing.

If those that encountered a ghost thief just walked away (or used swiftness/speed boost) these thieves wouldn’t be an issue as they are a condi one burst gimmick. Cleanse and walk away, stay and fight and you will typically get downed.

Mizu.4508:

Only suggestion I have for your build is perhaps consider switching “Earth’s Embrace” to “Elemental Shielding”. You lose out on Armor of Earth when you hit 50% but in my opinion its better to have control over when you want protection. By swapping to Elemental Shielding, all the auras you apply to yourself grant protection which is better then the 6 seconds provided by Earth’s Embrace, which also has a CD of 75 seconds.

Your D/F build has Shocking Aura, Fire Shield, Flash-Freeze, Rebound (if you don’t heal), Tempest Defense (25 second CD) and all the auras you get when successfully overloading any attunement. Its more useful to have protection on auras rather then Earth’s Embrace every 75 seconds. You will most likely only get to use Earth’s Embrace once or twice per fight depending on how long the fight goes on for.

This is a great suggestion. I was only using this as a safe stomp (if I am attacked while stomping, the stab will provide me a safe stomp) however I was aiming for a hybrid fresh air auramancer so your suggestion makes sense.

Do you think that this build (with your change) may be at least ok for solo/duo roaming (or possible small scale)?

Any other suggestions from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

I typically solo/duo roam unless I am havocing (so small scale)

This looks like a fun build, even for roaming in WvW. I haven’t faced any auramancers before so I would like to see how this fares in WvW as well. Only think im not a fan of is the lack of stab on OL and it still squish to somewhat decent DPS teefs

I am looking to get back into my tempest (currently main druid in WvW, looking to branch out a bit) and ive been looking into different builds that seems good in WvW. I love the damage that air OL provides but I also know that ele is squish so Ive been tinkering with build editors and came up with the following. It looks to combine good damage (tempests usually have natural good sustain), condi cleanse through shouts (as I know earth has a cleanse but I wont immediately remember about it and the condi spam In WvW today takes skill to fight against), earth to reduce DPS damage to me, auras that grant me regen and more damage reduction. Couple ways to get auras both passive and active, teleport for setting up OL from range and blinking on top of enemies. Fresh air cause air OL = OP. Only think is the lack of active safestomp (passive from earth)

Weps give invuln, projectile hate, CC, heals, might stacking and auras.

Let me know what you think, any good modifications that will increase the potential. Constructive criticism only please.

Edit: Forgot to add build…opps

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJAodn0XCVYidOAGYCcYilHATIAcA2gDlgMwL0dymZ/sA-TlRLAB+rEEA9APoeAL7PEvyPIUxhUARMGA-w

Thanks

TheReaIMC

It defiantly wasn’t a condi build, however they knew I was DPS so prob camped earth for extra tough/null crit.

The weird thing is he overloaded enough to make me think he was fresh air (air/earth) however the amount of cantrips he used made me think he was water/earth (as they have long CD’s). Didn’t have any auras that I recall (maybe after OL) but def was a pain to fight.

Countered me pretty good (LB/Sw + sh DH) so I couldn’t crit or projectile, shuts down a bunch of DPS builds. hence my interest.

Would love to see builds that may come close to this.

Hey awesome people

I came across a tempest the other day who could take a few hits, and dish out damage.

They camped Earth a lot (and I noticed they had that trait that nulled crits)

They had D/F, good mobility and a few cantrips. Only saw water when they needed to OL for the heal, then camped air and earth. Not sure if it was fresh air as they camped earth for the null crit for a lot of it. They were able to 2v1 two DPS builds.

They def had more than 11k HP and thanks to passives and cantrips, they were able to take a bunch of hits and dealt some good damage.

Unfortunately they ran and hid a lot (I assume for CD’s) but did sustain damage and had good survivability.

Didn’t see anything on metabattle (as that’s where 80% of people get their builds from) so was wondering if this build sounds familiar to anyone as I have yet to get a good build set up on my tempest for WvW.

Better for scouts to be able to count the # of ppl in a blob…now if there was a way to remove the dots from pets/minions/clones lol

Draeyon.4392:

Why is it that every druid ever picked this GM trait for WvW and PvP?
Overpowered? Debatable.

Or maybe…
Lets have a look at the other 2 GM traits.

Lingering Light (12s ICD): Healing an ally causes their next attack to heal them and blind their target.
Blind 4 seconds, At 1000 Healing power, 800 heal.

Grace of the Land: Allies you heal with celestial avatar abilities gain increased damage.

One was nerfed to oblivion and never chosen again. The other can only be used reliably when allies are standing still due to the CA mechanics.

Provide me a reasonable alternative for Ancient Seeds. Then we can talk about balance.

^this

Im more worried about them fixing the whole “somehow pop my CA form even tho I didn’t touch it nor is it set to auto” issue in WvW. Pain in my rear.

XTR.9604:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

XTR.9604:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

XTR.9604:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

Thanks for the tips.

As mentioned, DPS berserker I have little issues with, quickness rifle look like I am going to have to camp from max range and time my dodges/evades.

You mentioning they will put on a bit of condis to blow my condi clears (where I have 4/5) tells me that I can clean them, however I have to be more mindful when fighting them and use my smaller/quicker cleanses first. ALso looks like another strat would be “stay ranged”.

Thanks for the tips people, just need to find some of ya’s to spar against to learn visually the rotations I should watch for.

I greatly appreciate it.

A lot of condi warriors that I have seen will play very aggressive like myself. Usually following our burst, we will repeatedly stun/daze you so that you can’t clear your conditions. Feel free to PM me in game if you see me if you want some practice duels.

with 2/3 stun breaks (2 clears condis) plus my CA, that’s good to know when to keep at least 1-2. I would appreciate sparring as between zerkers (the above mentioned) and condi chronos (literally I kill myself) I suck (even tho im built to clean condis lol). I really need to learn to watch my condi stacks lol.

My main account is “Josh XT.6053”, my alt account is this one that I am posting on. Shoot me a PM some time if you see me online and we can do some duels to practice. The key to winning a lot of those fights is simply timing your clears and stun breaks, but you may still be out of luck if your DPS is not enough to take the person down.

I may take ya up on that offer.

In the meantime I started to run condizerker and learned that if I avoid the headbutt it will greatly decrease the condi output/burst. Look slike I will need to either stay ranged or try to force the headbutt and evade it (more ballsy).

As cheesy as I feel running it (able to 2v1 easily with it on the first day I played it), I used to run a lot of condi builds pre HoT (engi/ranger/necro/guard) I kinda miss a strong condi build. Breath of fresh air the first 3 days of playing it,lol

Yeah it is a really insane build lol. Once you learn the combo, it is nearly unstoppable when timed well. The problem with fighting other warriors with it is that they have a lot of stun break, condi clear and resistance. Hard to out play that, but it is possible.

I know that most condi zerkers use sword/sh or sword/torch (my fav so far), I don’t see many LB (prob the projectile hate). I understand mace (stuns with perplexity rune, and with rage burst bar) but I camp sword more than my mace (for mace shield) and I find that the overall condi damage is greater with sword fireball than with mace smash thingy (unless I interrupt then the extra condi application does a bit more damage). I also tried sword/sword and it had its pro and con.

Con:
Only 1 attack block and stun was good for setting up a small condi burst
No reflect in a projectile loving world

Pro:
Torment hurts (even berzerkers due to their GS running abilities) especially if you are chasing and they are always just out of range (that 900 range torment)
Extra source of condi

So less survivability for extra condi damage

Both worked well in different situations

My sw/sw variation:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQRAsf8cnMdAtkiVhAehAElilpA7N1+artHDwAwrTJIU7qBA-TlREwAp0PoQJYo9Hwp+zRlfAM/RKAImGB-w

The faster the adrenaline build, the better (and this will help if you miss your headbutt due to the regen)

I do swap between that and this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQRAsf5enMdAtkiVhAehAElilqATpHE7iBvl2VbsFpA0ACAA-TlREABKoEEAzf4o+Tx7Pki+hjU+RKAImGB-w

I fits someone’s primetime (and lots of zerging) I will usually run this. If its not and there are lots of small scale / roamers then I will run the sw/sw variant

What do you think? (I think the mace one is close to yours, but the inspiration came from Hadi’s build with some minor tweaks)

XTR.9604:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

XTR.9604:

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

Thanks for the tips.

As mentioned, DPS berserker I have little issues with, quickness rifle look like I am going to have to camp from max range and time my dodges/evades.

You mentioning they will put on a bit of condis to blow my condi clears (where I have 4/5) tells me that I can clean them, however I have to be more mindful when fighting them and use my smaller/quicker cleanses first. ALso looks like another strat would be “stay ranged”.

Thanks for the tips people, just need to find some of ya’s to spar against to learn visually the rotations I should watch for.

I greatly appreciate it.

A lot of condi warriors that I have seen will play very aggressive like myself. Usually following our burst, we will repeatedly stun/daze you so that you can’t clear your conditions. Feel free to PM me in game if you see me if you want some practice duels.

with 2/3 stun breaks (2 clears condis) plus my CA, that’s good to know when to keep at least 1-2. I would appreciate sparring as between zerkers (the above mentioned) and condi chronos (literally I kill myself) I suck (even tho im built to clean condis lol). I really need to learn to watch my condi stacks lol.

My main account is “Josh XT.6053”, my alt account is this one that I am posting on. Shoot me a PM some time if you see me online and we can do some duels to practice. The key to winning a lot of those fights is simply timing your clears and stun breaks, but you may still be out of luck if your DPS is not enough to take the person down.

I may take ya up on that offer.

In the meantime I started to run condizerker and learned that if I avoid the headbutt it will greatly decrease the condi output/burst. Look slike I will need to either stay ranged or try to force the headbutt and evade it (more ballsy).

As cheesy as I feel running it (able to 2v1 easily with it on the first day I played it), I used to run a lot of condi builds pre HoT (engi/ranger/necro/guard) I kinda miss a strong condi build. Breath of fresh air the first 3 days of playing it,lol