Guild Wars 2

I can’t speak to the Guardian class, but running around as a de-leveled 80 engineer in exotic gear to do world completion, my damage is hysterical. I’m one-shotting everything in the 1-15 zones. I’m betting he was high level, scaled down.

I spec 30/20/0/0/20 (Incendiary Powder, Explosive Powder, Grenadier, Rifled Barrels, Rifle Mod, Speedy Kits, Static Discharge.) Utilities are MedKit, Rifle Turret, Grenade Kit, Tool Kit, Supply Dump. Carry a Berserker’s Rifle of Air. In full Berserker’s gear, it is hilarious how much mid to long range direct damage you can do.

I absolutely wreck people 1v1 in ways I never could as a condi. dmg. engineer. Even putting on Pow/Tough/Vit gear and Valkyrie jewels for more survivability, I still wreck people, albeit a bit less quickly. You still have the grenades for when you need to clear the walls or defend the gate, but your best single target damage comes from your rifle. All of your toolbelt skills, including your heal, proc lightning bolts. Open with Barrage (which does a terrifying amount of damage as long as you’re holding your rifle), follow it up with Surprise Shot and Throw Wrench. Your rifle autoattack hits pretty hard already; Blunderbuss is even better, and Surprise Shot should be up again to finish the job.

We can do some serious damage at mid range without grenades, and we aren’t completely useless at 1500 m without grenades. However, just like a warrior is required to use a gun or longbow in long range combat, we’re pretty much obligated to use a grenade kit to do our best long range damage.