Guild Wars 2

Shaogin.2679:

When you run Inventions instead of Alchemy, what traits are you taking?

The standard 2, 3, 2. Heal skill recharge is great, mecha legs is a little redundant with speedy kits, but the reduction on movement impairing condi durations is worth it, imo. Could probably take soothing detonation for turret explosion and BOB, but I’ve not tried it. Bunker down is just too good not to take; it’s generally the main reason I take inventions in any build where I use the trait line.

Edit: jk, been playing my condi stealth bomber build recently and forgot that I don’t take heal turret in this rifle/bomb build. So yeah, soothing detonation wouldn’t be worth it just for BOB..

Gonna hijack this and turn it into a “bring back acidic elixirs!” thread. So…
BRING BACK ACIDIC ELIXIRS!

Sagramor.7395:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it almost feels as if the OP is trying to understand how flames could actually be blocked? As in if someone IRL were holding up a shield and another someone IRL was standing in front of the shield-bearer with a Flamethrower going off in their face, how could it be blocked 100%.

If my assumption is correct then the answer is, “It’s a game.”

If not then you need to explain a bit more.

Yeah I kind of read it that way as well. Hence the part of my answer explaining that GW2 game mechanics don’t work that way.
If OP wants RL physics, they need to go play Mount and Blade or something instead.

Unfortunately I have to admit that it is unlikely Med Kit is getting a huge rework again. The problem is: Med Kit is not balancable with just small number changes, at least in my opinion.

Med Kit was supposed to be a supportive team healing kit. But it doesn’t work out. The healing from the packages is too small if you spread them over the whole team. Why are they so small? Because they couldn’t make the numbers bigger without making them overpowered when the engineer uses them for himself alone.

Anet tried to fix this problem with the new Med Kit trait, giving more healing when you give it to allies instead of yourself. But I think it wasn’t enough, that’s why I thought about this mechanic.

I’m still hoping anet wants to give us the feeling of a battlefield doctor finally. ^^

“What happened to him? – He got burned by a fireball – Give this man a bandage… what about him? – Crippled by caltrops – A syringe of painkillers then…”

The reality is that it’s also nearly impossible to be sure that your tossed items get to the correct team member. I know my own movement, and have gotten good at picking up my own tosses, but when trying to hit a party member with this, it misses almost without fail. Even if it was all instant cast (which would be kitten to come up with an animation for) just the travel time through the air is long enough that it’s hard to predict where anyone will be by the time your toss had deployed. Increased projectile speed might help…

I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking, but the flames will do damage to anything. There are skills on the game which will block all (or almost all) attacks for a limited duration. If this is happening you will see pop-ups that say “Blocked”. Other skills can give limited invulnerability. Just focus more damage when the block stops, and while they are blocking focus on not taking damage. In this game, the actual physics of blocking a flame are not considered; it will be blocked the same as a sword, bullet, explosion, any form of magic, or anything else. It is possible that the “highly reduced damage” you see while these bandits blocked was condition damage. If you look under the health bar of the enemy (top of the screen when you have selected the enemy), you will see little symbols with red outlines. These are conditions. They do damage over time, or have other effects depending on the condition. With the wrong stats on your armor, especially at low levels, they will not do damage quickly. However if you did an attack that inflicted a damaging condition before they started their move that blocked, the condition would continue to do damage even while your new attacks are being blocked.

Looks like basically the meta build. So power for damage, precision to proc bunker down… some toughness and ferocity… looks like you made pretty good selections as far as I can tell. I don’t do much pve, though. Also, with this game you can pretty much pick something decent and go for it. The meta will change again soon, and you’ll be out-dated no matter what.

Sorel.4870:

How I read this image: ele and rev are mandatory, but then you can play any of the remaining professions, as long as it’s not guardian

Yeah, I’m kind of surprised by that tbh. Is DH not any good? I thought their traps could present a reasonably potent threat, taking up the whole node and doing decent damage. My guardian friend and I have gotten some pretty sick wipes on the other team (like take out 3 of them instantly) combining his traps with my hammer/nade spike.

ellesee.8297:

M8 your build dies to one bleed. Get some condi removal in there.

1) it has adaptive armor, melandru runes, and a decent health pool (with sage army), so I pretty much laugh the condis off if they stick.
2) that’s one of the major ways Medkit shines in this build. The 2 skill removes a damaging condi up to every 5 seconds, and if it really gets too hot, I pop resistance.
3) the build has a lot of stealth, decent blind access, and and tons of healing. I was surprised myself to see more healing with this than in an elixirs/bunker down build. Between those, I find I can avoid and/or heal plenty of damage. Perma swiftness and access to reflect also help make sure I disengage when I want, heal quickly, and get back in the fight to burn someone else down.
4) don’t get me wrong; you can’t camp on point in this build. It’s probably better suited to wvwvw, actually.

Edit: admit it only has high health if you go sage over viper. Even so, the adaptive armor and runes do fine.

Actually case in point: today I made a build that uses mess kit to great effect. It’s a condi stealth bomber build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqansTB1ahVVB2XBEqiF2iiO4H+kH8DLxAYMHHjfE-TpgRABAs/gzlBAA

Feels like cheating to double heal with kinetic battery

Edit: plays better with viper

shion.2084:

I would assume most egnis would argue that the HT is one of the best options for healing currently and not really in need of being brought up anymore relative to the other means of healing. We do all acknowledge this right?

Absolutely. It’s the rest of them that seem to have been forgotten with the advent of gyros.
I think there are some good points in this thread so far. A few options, but the general consensus is that a) the base effects are not cutting it, and b) they need to encourage a more active play style by allowing use of the toolbelt while the turret is out (but not at the expense of decreased accessibility to the detonate mechanic).

I do like R… I’ll have to try it. Could be fun at least, if not optimal.

Interesting. I guess I’ve never tried it stacking HP. Maybe worth experimenting at least…

NEAUXLA.1527:

shion.2084:

I am not sold on this gyro thing.

Lol…you guys can effortlessly have a longer period stealth longer than thieves…We have nothing if we try to continue to stay stealth, all initiative is gone. What a joke.

Yeah… but with a big sign that says “drop all aoe here, please” following us the whole time…

The real problem with this kit is that it takes too much time to do anything. This game is about speed and reflex. Attacks that take over a second to cast are really slow. If I have to switch into a kit, spend cat time throwing something, spend time waiting for it to fly through the air and land, and then walk over it before I get the benefit, then it is already way too late for the effect I wanted to be useful. And to make matters worse during that whole time I’ve been doing 0.0 dps and continue taking full damage. Honestly a 1.5k heal on each thrown pack wouldn’t even be OP, because your net damage loss (damage received minus damage dealt minus healing to self) would still be flat at best. 500 heal for over a second of fooling around isn’t even sort of worth it.

Forestnator.6298:

Your link is broken.

Got it. Accidentally had deleted the s from “skills”

“Utmost.” But blasts, particularly on fire and water fields for might and healing. Although more importantly do it in whatever field the commander is calling for (if you’re in their voice chat at least).

Yeah this is the best “rocket” build I can come up with. Not gonna be meta, but decent for some unwanted.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASlUUh2tYtVwvLQ7FLTG13xlcNH9fn37t4zUABAA-TpQOABAs/QvlBAA

I got every “rocket” skill in there.

Edit: fixed link.

I’m not going to suggest better health or armor or crits or any of that passive buff kitten you hear. That would just make another situation like last time.

I find the biggest issue is the fundamental functionality of tutrets and their interaction with our class mechanic (the toolbelt). The skills are designed as something you’re supposed to keep out like a summon, but as long as it is out it blocks use of the toolbelt skill. In every single case, the skill you would want to use more often (toolbelt skill) is blocked by the skill you want to use less often (utility skill, which converts toolbelt to detonate). So the change I propose is to make the overcharge effects (or slightly nerfed versions thereof in some cases) as the regular turret effect, make the chain skill on the utility into the detonate skill, and keep the toolbelt skill available at all times.

For example, a rework that isn’t giving a few seconds protection on two super long CDs that both block or reflect damage on their own in the first place, making the protection redundant/wasted. That’s my main issue. It’s like when adrenal implant didn’t stack with vigor, which was granted by a tools minor trait. Skills/traits that trip over themselves are bad design. Look at meaner shield. Same the 5 skill is basically ours, but affecting a large aoe, stun instead of daze, and interesting active mechanics that allow a recharge reduction as baseline with smart playing. How can you look at that and say our shield is still hitting par for the course?

You’re certainly entitled to your own opinions Fluffkin. I’ve tried the with toolkit and grenades; both are good substitutes, but I’ve gotten the most success with bombs. Mainly the magnet bomb, extra blast finisher, smoke bomb, and ease of actually hitting for full damage without having to take explosives. Like I say, I had all those same thoughts, and tested them, but just found bombs to work best for me in this build. Elixirs does a decent job at keeping condis mitigated, and the Lyssa runes take care of business when the condis are too heavy for the. And again I think people underestimate rifle damage, even on the auto.
Toolkit instead of Elixir S may work, but I really like the extra stealth and find that especially with all the unblockable spam in the game these days, I’d rather have invulnerable than block. Also, I can stomp/rez like a boss; honestly that’s the biggest advantage. Prybar does some serious hurt, though…

Oh I don’t mean toolkit is cheesy. Heck I don’t really think bombs are either. Only cause bombs are aoe I guess. Yeah I’ve tried and loved toolkit demolisher, but any 1-hit kill is little cheesy; only when it happens.

Rifle damage is actually good enough that I can pressure them at least as hard as they do me at range. Also all the CC… don’t forget net shot.
Bomb timing is fine. Just use it in the right situations to compensate: on point, when they’re trying to follow you, and on downed players. With permanent swiftness, high super speed time, and the heavy cc chaining, you’ll land what you want, when you want.
Turns out when the other teams have condi wars, go elixir, otherwise inventions is a really good option.

I was running this build in pvp conquest last night, and to my surprise found it to be super effective. It combines heavy cc with good aoe damage.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUncoC9ZhtoC2XBEqilKja88igGQcZCgyj+tj78G-TJBFABiXGotLAQM7PAwDAAA

I’m considering a variant using inventions over elixirs; since I’m not using HGH anyway, it really comes down to whether or not the damage mitigation from elixirs is better than the healing of inventions.

General tactics are to use blast gyro to get stability, then overcharged shot to ensure the gyro lands; this 2-move combo on short CD is already a heavy cc and can reach 4k+ damage. And it’s the tip of the iceberg. Use blunderbuss and jump shot for heavy bursting on CC’d enemies. Also don’t underestimate the power of spamming bombs on point and/or downed foes. Bomb auto was critting (60%+ of the time) at around 2k for me! Use the magnet bomb from speedy kits to suck in opponents for bursting, and BoB to force them off point.
Build has trouble with sustained heavy condi pressure, but what’s new there? The Lyssa runes can help a lot with that, and synergizes well with the elixirs GM trait.

I’ve heard people wanting a bomb build, so here you go. Enjoy!

And someone called me cheesy for using bombs…
I honestly doubt this will really be fixed. Same type of issues pulls have always had. Small chance to instant kill, but also a decent chance to do nothing or just be a ranged knock down.

The guy asked specifically for NON-scrapper builds.
As others have implied, the short answer is not really. This is mainly because of the improved condo clears many professions now have. That said, if you choose your fights (i.e. run away when none of your condis are sticking) it can be done effectively. Blowtorch is really strong, and glue shot will help you land it reliably. Take flamethrower for its toolbelt and for the napalm fire field that will give pistol autos a chance to burn. Full the rest of the bar with some elixirs and you should be good to go. Otherwise you might want gadgets to pick up rocket boots and slick shoes to facilitate the afford-mentioned getaways. For traits, take firearms definitely, and then some combination of tools, elixirs, and inventions. Heal turret will always be your best choice.

Niche example, admittedly, but how about when rev does crystal hibernation? They are still and blocking, perfect time for this.

To clarify, I meant add unlockable in addition to the current functionality of the trait.
I guess I should also state that I meant with respect to PvP when I was talking down the kit. In pve it is awesome, and does see use. That’s another reason I think adding unlockable to the trait would be good: unlockable would make a significant difference in pvp (I think enough to make them a strong choice) while not making them too powerful in pve.

Bombs are one of the last used kits. This is not my opinion only, reference this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/What-is-your-leasted-used-kit
The short fuse trait is very lacklustre; again, this has been voiced in this forum before. I think this trait should also make bombs unblockable. It wouldn’t be any more ridiculous than unblockable necro staff (which has 1200 range), and would add something to the traited kit that may actually make it attractive. It’s not the most exciting thing that could be done, but it’s very reasonable and simple to implement.

If long duration resistance would be considered OP, then demon revenant needs to be completely redone. They have something like 50%+ uptime (PvP) with the right traits, stats, and rune.

I think this is a great suggestion for making elixir C a more competitive elixir option instead of everyone always using s and/or b. I guess u is used on a few builds, too. I never see C, though, and rarely r.

Gliding is disabled in any mode that’s against other players, and I hardly think the computer would get upset about players being OP. You’re right this will never happen, but I think it would be the coolest.

Don’t mean to poo in the punch, but while all these flamethrower builds may be great in pve, for PvP it will still have the issue of melting as soon as anyone pops retaliation. Love the new trait, and I’m using it with my grenades build. Just ft PvP still has the same issues it always has.

Maybe something like this. Your break combo would go H5>H3>swap to egun for glue trail>activate slick shoes>(walk all over target)>pbr utility>pbr tool belt>supply drop. I’m pretty sure this will totally shred a break bar. Amor stats optional. I put firearms in to pick up some damage, but you could probably do something else if you’d rather. Another good option would be FT instead of egun for the air blast instead of glue trail (tools is no longer needed, maybe inventions instead and get heavy armor exploit for full swiftness uptime). Tools GM is also exchangeable for your choice; any of them are ok since the build has 2 gadgets.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASlUUh2tYjXwzLw6FLsFFdwP8JP4IeiBwYOOGfBA-TZAZAAQZAA

Next elite spec absolutely needs mh torch or shield.

I think you can do this with a custom arena.

As long as I stop getting perma-locked in a 150 radius for 6+ seconds at a time with little to no warning, I’ll be content (I know this is more a DH LB5 issue than traps, but still). This does sound like a good solution, keeping it strong but not unstoppable.

Soon.5240:

Arantheal.7396:

that is because blast-gyro does not carry over player-stats (appart from healing power & condi-dmg).
it’s the same as equiping turrets.
Regardless if you run a power or condi build, blast-gyro, shredder gyro & turrets will always hit for the same amount.

I’m not following you on the Blast Gryo. The damage is not always for the same amount. I’ve tested this in PvE and the PvP Lobby. And it’s greater than the 1,065 listed in the skill box.

Arantheal is saying that whether you use gear with power stats or Condi stats, you will get the same damage because gyros do not scale with any of your stats except healing power and condition damage. Since the gyros only do direct damage, their damage will never scale with your stats.

It just needs to beer merged with pinpoint accuracy. That trait is a bit lacklustre already, and this would make it a very competitive choice for builds taking pistol mh.

For lack of a better way to phrase this, my reply would be “who cares.” I don’t mean to trivialize you, and I know you’re voicing a concern many have.

I’d go back to your point, however, that we are Jack-of-all trades, master-of-none. This is always a position that will inherently corner the profession away from group play; a well coordinated group of specialists always outperforms a similar group of generalists. This makes us tend to be less “needed” for group content. We are still highly capable, and in solo play the engineer is king – no other profession can be as prepared for such a variety of hurdles. This is a trade-off, and trade-offs are the very essence of variety.

The other issue sounds like you don’t like being “forced” to go DPS-centric. I would argue that this is also something faced by every other class in the game. People that play every profession complain that they’re forced into one of a couple top DPS builds. This is only true, however, if you want to do speed runs of the game content. If you want to do things fast, DPS is always going to be king. This is not something that Anet can do anything about; it’s a simple product of the mentality of the player base.

In all, while I see your concerns and think many others (across all or most professions) share them, I think it really all comes down to your play style and the trade-offs that you do or do not want to make.

Edit: typos

Consider rune of the sunless, too. Fear+poison combined with stealth is a really powerful combo. I use it in my P/P Condi scrapper build I posted here last week with a video showing gameplay where I use the sunless rune to do some solid work a few times.

I think gadgeteer is actually quite under-rated. The main issue I can see is that it is balanced around PvP, where taking kittens between gadget uses is all but guaranteed anyway. In that game mode, it is functionally a permanent 2*5*% CD reduction. The “overcharge” portion is absolutely underwhelming in most cases, though. I actually prefer it to kinetic battery sometimes; unless you can sit and stare at your buff bar, kinetic battery often doesn’t even last long enough to use.

Edit: kittens is (5) hits

This is very similar to the other cleric build further down the page titled something like “healing scrapper build.” You may find some good stuff in that thread as well regarding what people have found works well in it.

I made a P/P Condi scrapper build that actually works quite well. It uses both sneak gyro and med gyro as central elements of the build. I included a short video pwning some nubs with it. Check out the post here.
I’ve been spamming this, so apologies to anyone who doesn’t like it. The build works well, though, and I’ve heard a few people having trouble with Condi scrappers.

Dunecoon.5134:

1. What’s the point of the healing power from Cleric’s when rapid generation doesn’t scale from healing power? Seems like only thing it’s benefiting is the med gyro and EG#5.

2. Why not use shocking speed since you invested in final salvo?

3. How have you been using sneak gyro in pvp? I’ve been curious myself

Rapid regeneration does scale with healing power, and very well. The tool tip doesn’t update, but it does scale. I run a different build, but have been using stealth gyro to pretty nice effect in PvP lately with my p/p Condi scrapper. That link has a video showing several times I use stealth gyro.

Edit: typo fix

This would be really cool. Especially with elixir gun fitting in nicely with many new scrapper builds.

Oops. I believe it should work now.

This is the P/P condi stealth scrapper build I’ve been running in PvP. It has an amazing dps condi bomb and very good sustain through regen and stealth.

I created a build editor layout of it, but it has two errors because the editor has not been updated with all runes and amulets:
I use Wanderer Amulet and Rune of the Sunless
Wanderer gives 1050 precision and condi damage as well as 550 toughness and expertise (condi duration).
Rune of the Sunless gives 175 condi damage, -15% incoming donci duration, and gives 1 second of fear + 5 seconds of poison on nearby foes when you use elite skill (45 sec ICD). I use this in key situations several times in the video below.

Some gameplay examples

I also use flamethrower specifically for the toolbelt in my stealth condi PvP build.

kakumbien.8047:

Yobculture.5786:

Swiftness stacking for Scrappers:

Big Ole Bomb -> H5 -> Orbital Strike -> Thumper Turret toolbelt skill -> FT2 -> EG4 -> Elixir B

I am not sure if you are trolling or trying to help..

Get the streamlined kits . Problem solved .

lol this made my day. I’m the same way, so lazy. And the elixir gun glue trail is amazing.

I know; I was tempted, and tried really hard to squeeze rifle turret in this build. The battering ram is just so much better. I lose a little DPS in terms of SD frequency, but it’s only 4 seconds lost. The cast is so fast that with the daze it works as a wonderful interrupt.

I’m pretty positive I’m not the first person to use this build, but it is excellent for PvP.

100% Uptime on:
58% cripple/chill/immobilized duration reduction
25% duration and 20% damage reductions on all other conditions
50% reduced daze/stun duration!!! (And has a stunbreak)

The build also features heavy health regeneration through rapid regeneration, bunker down, and high regen boon uptime. Good sustained damage with hammer and bunker down. Spike damage with static discharge on toolkit and PBR tool belt skills. Very heavy cc: a stun, several dazes, PBR knock back, and slick shoes knock down. Also soft cc through generous cripple application. Always gets the stomp with function gyro and stabilization core (I’ve rallied myself several times with this). Stealth gyro is quite handy for stomp/rez as well.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASnUUBlchNeBeeBEqilOjiurD7zO84qlma8BCgpC-TpgRABAs/wnlBAA