Guild Wars 2

Rfreak.6591:

I’m sorry if I sound frustrated or mad or anything really, but I don’t want buffs, in any single way, I want this game to work properly as it should, I want skills named “elixir” with a bolded tooltip clearly meaning they should count as elixirs actually count as elixirs, if not then a simple rewording would be fine.

I never understood how people got tripped up over Elixir Gun skills and elixir-based traits like Cleansing Formula 409.

It distinctly says consumed or thrown elixirs. Elixir F, Acid Bomb, and Super Elixir are not thrown or consumed. They are fired. Out of a gun. The Elixir Gun.

NevirSayDie.6235:

Phineas Poe.3018:

Ostricheggs.3742:

Whenever I die in a team fight retal is at the top when there’s a guardian there. Tough times.

You were hit by it 52 times and it still only did 12K damage.

Still do not see the issue here.

The issue is that in a very long teamfight he practically never got hit. Those 52 hits would have come in a few seconds if he placed his grenade barrage on a few people/pets. Retal was likely not up the entire time, just randomly off and on throughout the fight from people unintentionally using finishers in the guard’s light fields.

So then maybe don’t Grenade Barrage a group of people in sPvP when they have Retaliation up? You can easily target them and see what buffs they have on.

I thought the conversation here was about WvW anyway. sPvP is a totally different beast and is played completely differently.

Rfreak.6591:

Dude it should work with everything not force your build to get that one utility

1. It does work with everything as I just illustrated, at least in my experience.

2. No one is forcing you to use the Rifle Turret for Surprise Shot.

Could our gadgets be better? Yes. Could they have lower cooldowns? Yes. Are they very specialized in their roles that suit only niche situations? For the most part, yes.

But that isn’t what we’re talking about here.

What we’re talking about is you saying that Surprise Shot is the skill that works properly with Static Discharge. This is false.

Rfreak.6591:

It’s not “more powerful” actually NOW surprise shot does a normal amount of damage, before it was trash but it’s the only skill that functions properly with static discharge

It had its damage boosted by 50%. I don’t see how that cannot be considered “more powerful.”

And what do you mean, the only skill that functions properly? Analyze, Throw Wrench, Launch PBR, Mine Field, and Rocket Kick have always worked perfectly fine for me.

Rfreak.6591:

I honestly can’t accept people that say “we are ok” when we definitely are not and there’s no sign of improvement.

This is precisely what I’m talking about. This kind of talk doesn’t contribute fruitfully in any type of discussion because you’re labeling the class as a lost cause or that we’re ignored by the developers with “no sign of improvement.”

If that’s how you feel about it, re-roll and play another class for a while. It’s not like your Engineer will go anywhere if you leave it alone for a couple months. Perhaps it will re-color your perspective on the class, for better or worse.

If you guys want to sit there and circle jerk on what the latest nerfs did to your build, confine it to a thread and stay there. I’m just tired of this bleed-over in any thread where mentioning the Flamethrower turns into a huge argument. It’s so tiresome.

Ayestes.1273:

We can still burst with SD builds

One of the things most overlooked in the latest patch is that Static Discharge has actually gotten more powerful thanks to the buff to Surprise Shot (50% more damage).

If you want to use the Rifle in WvW, trait for Static Discharge in Tools and use skills with relatively low toolbelt cooldowns that can be freely used every time they come up (i.e., Surprise Shot with the Rifle Turret).

You can wear either offensive or defensive armor sets with it.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Whenever I die in a team fight retal is at the top when there’s a guardian there. Tough times.

You were hit by it 52 times and it still only did 12K damage.

Still do not see the issue here.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Confusion is substantially different in that players who quickly cast abilities take more damage, a more balanced and less nuanced problem than retal.

How so? Confusion hits for 2.5K damage easily with Pry Bar or Concussion Bomb and with Condition Duration food can make peoples’ lives a total nightmare. They literally cannot do anything for ten seconds when paired with Static Shot. Many classes can’t even dodge, including us, because of on-dodge proc effects.

Retaliation comparatively hits for 200-400 damage depending on the Guardian’s Power and can be easily avoided. Just don’t attack.

It really is that simple.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Just because it’s strong in certain situations does not mean that the benefits of having multi-hit attacks outweigh the risks.

That is your opinion. If you do not like using the Flamethrower in WvW because you’re afraid of Retaliation, then don’t use it.

Ostricheggs.3742:

The question is would it be better for us if flame jet/grenades were only one hit versus 10/3? And if so, would it be balanced? I think the answer is yes.

Flame Jet’s 10 attacks is the one thing that makes the Flamethrower worth wielding in WvW. Taking that away would not only destroy its capacity to sweep an entire crowd of people and collect badges like crazy, but would affect how it works with certain sigils like Strength and Earth.

This is a terrible idea and would affect the kit’s viability in PvE.

NevirSayDie.6235:

It’s not that confusion is too strong, it’s that an odd mechanic makes it instant death in certain situations.

Replace “confusion” with “retaliation” and you’ll begin to understand why I don’t think anything needs to be changed.

Guys.

Do not use HGH with the Flamethrower.

As others have said, Magnet is one of the best pulls in the game. Necromancers and Thieves are the only other classes that have a 1,200 range pull, and they’re both utility skills.

Scorpion Wire
Spectral Grasp

Now compare them to Magnet. Sure, their casting channels are shorter. But with Power Wrench it has only a 20-second cooldown. And slot for slot, the Tool Kit does a lot more for us than Spectral Grasp or Scorpion Wire does for them. We get an AoE snare, 3-second immunity, a 5-stack of Confusion, and a relatively decent auto attack rotation along with Magnet. The Tool Kit is an exceptionally powerful slot option in PvP and WvW. Magnet is just icing on the cake.

You have to consider all of this when you think about balancing skills. We by and far have the upper hand here.

nakoda.4213:

the loss of 3 over-relied upon effects is not a class ending ordeal.

I agree. I’ve since swapped to a 10/30/0/30/0 setup with my FT/EG build and I’ve done just fine. Did a few runs of CoE over the weekend with no outstanding issues. Perhaps there was an over-reliance of Super Elixir on my part and an inability to think outside the box.

Hell, with Energy Conversion Matrix + Incendiary Powder, Flame Jet actually does relatively good DPS. Not Grenade Kit levels, but it’s certainly satisfactory given everything else the kit provides (i.e., not dying when I get breathed on like a Rampager-spec Grenadier).

My problem though, is this:

nakoda.4213:

our ability to swap kits and chain our abilities remains unhindered.

You’re right. Swapping kits and chaining our abilities remains unhindered. But what’s the point in a projectile reflect when swapping to the Med Kit when I have no idea when it’s actually going to proc? I love Magnetic Shield. I think it’s amazing. So I use the shield all the time in groups.

But how amazing would it be if it only worked half the time? If it didn’t work every time you used it? If there was an invisible cooldown on its projectile reflect? I may be able to overcharge it and proc a Blast finisher with my Healing Turret for an AoE heal as I always have, but to an extent I’m uncomfortable using it.

And that’s really how I feel right now. I like the new proc effects on the whole (except for the Elixir Gun really) but I never know when I’m actually going to get them. It’s hard to time it because they’re way too situational.

When would you ever NOT want a Light field on the ground with Super Elixir? Never! Proc that every time it comes up! And I did. And I loved it. And I built a rotation around it swapping from the Flamethrower to the Elixir Gun to the Med Kit and back to the Flamethrower. Perma Light field. Perma Fury. What was not there to like? It made the Flamethrower and the Elixir Gun actually good. Even Fractal 40s good.

And like, Magnetic Bomb and the Magnetic Aura are cool and all … but they’re way more situational than a Light field is. If I don’t have a condition on me, Super Elixir still gave me Retaliation or passive regeneration. Yet Magnetic Aura … if I’m not getting shot at, what’s the point?

What’s the point of “utility” if you can’t use it properly?

Kit Refinement didn’t define my build. I just happily integrated it. It was no more build defining than Incendiary Powder is now. Any more than Deadly Mixture is. Any more than Juggernaut is. And these are 10, 20, 30 point traits certainly and should be judged on their own merits. But I had to distribute my 70 points some way, some how, and Kit Refinement made a lot of sense. I grew to rely on it, maybe.

Perhaps I was wrong to “rely” on it. I’m still not fully convinced on this point. A lot of people loved the FT/EG build that others and myself designed and made them enjoy playing the Engineer. I still enjoy playing my Engineer, but it still bothers me that the clear solution in my mind was just to buff the other effects and move it up the tree. Make it super good as a 30-point trait that pushes people to go into Tools instead of relying always on Juggernaut, Grenadier, Elixir-Infused Bombs, or HGH in the design of their builds.

Instead we got the worst possible outcome. They deleted it and made something else. I’ve revised my build and dealt with the change. And as I wrote above, I don’t notice much difference.

Still, just a part of me feels like the spirit of the FT/EG build is dead with this change. It just isn’t the same. I felt dirty making those edits. The build just looks hollow now, honestly.

Sorry for the wall of text.

NevirSayDie.6235:

That was my point. It’s a counter to a single large attack. Retal was maybe intended to be a counter to fast attacks? Except it’s functionally a damage add, that’s just super effective vs. a few specific attacks.

I see Retaliation on my Guardian the same way as I see Confusion with my Engineer. It’s just a way to watch people kill themselves without me doing anything.

I don’t see the problem with this. If they want to change it to where it is dependent on the damage of the attack received, I’d be fine with that. But I think it’s fine as it is now too. Sorry.

Seras.5702:

I’ve recently discovered the joys of my Toolkit; it hits like a truck. There are builds for conditions P/P, grenade/bombs, FT/EG…but I’m wondering if there’s a build that uses Toolkit at its center.

I’m assuming stack power & precision?
Also useful: rifle, goggles, elixir U, FT, rocket boots?

I’m lvl 45 btw, so this is a “whilst leveling and beyond” question. I’m 80% PvE but have started dabbling in hotjoin PvP.

Not really. Pry Bar, Gear Shield, and Magnet are all great skills and are what make the Tool Kit so popular in WvW and sPvP. The problem is that Gear Shield and Magnet are largely useless in general PvE and dungeons.

Pry Bar is great, but Concussion Bomb is just as good at stacking Confusion while offering a lot more with the Bomb Kit than the Tool Kit does in both group support (with Elixir-Infused Bombs) and damage. It also has a Fire and Smoke field to proc additional effects off your party members.

I think you should look at the post I quoted before you identify what the real issue is.

And Aegis blocks one attack. Not effective at all against Flame Jet.

Kardiamond.6952:

You can be mindful about it, but mostly every zerg now have perma AoE retaliation from combo field and guardian.

I love this internet forum fantasy where bus vs. bus is even remotely coordinated.

It’s a 10 frames-per-second total kitten show. It’s literally just one crowd charging into another one and the larger one prevails. The smaller group either dies or preemptively runs back to their tower/keep to hold off until reinforces show up.

This is 99% of what WvW zerging is. Do you know why Jade Quarry has been #1 since as far as I can remember? Numbers. They have the largest number of dedicated WvW guilds, many of which are European. That’s it. There is no grand orchestration of skill going on. It’s just a mass of people running from one point to another and the larger mass prevails. We are “outmanned” nearly all the time except during primetime NA hours.

Yes, there are Guardians. Stand Your Ground gives Retaliation. It does not last 25 seconds. It lasts 5. Maybe 10 with Vengeful and Boon Duration runes. 10 seconds.

Not permanent.

Guardians are very good about sustaining Retaliation on themselves. But this idea propagated that a 50+ mass of people is constantly under the effect of Retaliation is so false.

Kalan.9705:

Elixir gun and lame thrower need big buff, especially when engineer has like 5% a many weapon choices as some classes.

And you wonder why no one feels like posting here anymore.

Do you really think when you write stuff like this you think you’re coming off as constructive?

Silentsins.3726:

I feel that the basic problem is that the flamethrower is far too similar to the bomb kit in terms of what it brings to the table. There’s simply too much overlap between fire field, knock back, and blind on both kits. THAT is the main reason why the condition removal on the old kit refinement had value: it let the kit bring something that would be otherwise hard to fit into a build, and it was something that the bomb kit didn’t bring. That’s ALSO why the original juggernaut had value as well (even though it was OP): stability is somewhat hard to get on this class.

True.

The Bomb Kit is very powerful at what it does, and there is significant overlap in what each kit brings in a utility slot. I think the Bomb Kit is great. But in a lot of PvE content it’s totally unsuitable as a DPS option because of boss or environmental mechanics.

I have used it a lot more recently, especially in CoF p1 in place of the Grenade Kit. But the Flamethrower is a viable option in a lot of areas where the Bomb Kit simply is not.

SilverWF.4789:

FT most weak in front of the face of Retaliation. Nades – lesser.

Retaliation does not discriminate what attack you are using. It’s a flat rate modified by the source’s Power. If a Guardian has 3000 Power, every time he’s hit you’ll take over 400 damage. Whether you’re using the FT or the Grenade Kit.

If the Flamethrower is inherently “weak” in the face of Retaliation, it is purely because it is more efficient at tagging multiple targets than the Grenade Kit is. The funny thing is that this is actually a strength of the kit yet a lot of players use Retaliation as a counter argument against that. Just as you recently have.

Which is why I brought up the Grenade Kit and that it is just as badly affected by it as the Flamethrower is. So what is it? A useless kit with no viability in the sPvP meta or WvW? Or is it a powerful AoE kit that can tag so many targets it kills you with Retaliation if you’re not careful?

It can’t be both.

SilverWF.4789:

I’m talking about massive fights here, so put down your useless speech about solo gankin.

What speech? I never said anything about “solo ganking.” And even if I did, the Flamethrower as an AoE kit isn’t really suitable for that. Confusion spam builds with the Tool Kit are way better at that.

There are AoE kits and there are single-target kits. That is the definition of “balance” that people in this class folder seem to stumble around.

SilverWF.4789:

All classes affected by Retaliation at the same level as Engis? Yes? Thanks for explaining of your game experience – zero experience.

I said all classes that are built for AoE damage are affected by Retaliation the same as the Engineer is. Explain to me how this is not the case? Where on the Wiki does is say that Retaliation hits Engineers—and Engineers only? Is there a hidden Engineer modifier taken into account that I am not aware of?

If a class is not as badly affected by Retaliation as we are, that is solely because they do not dish out as strong AoE as we do. They, to put it simply, do not hit as many targets. Your job as an AoE DPS player is to control the output of your AoE and know when to back off. In other games it’s about drawing aggro. In this one it’s about mitigating Retaliation.

I don’t mean to crudely suggest that it is a L2P problem, but, well … there it is.

I totally knew that about on-swap and on-crit proc effects being bugged together (otherwise I would use Strength + Battle together), but I totally forgot that one afternoon when putting them both on my weapons. I was just going off my current sPvP setup, which I’ve been tweaking a lot lately. My mistake.

Though I guess that gives credence that the setup works even with only one working sigil, for what it’s worth.

1. Drop the second pistol and use a shield instead. If node defense is what you want, then you’ll get a lot more use out of Magnetic Shield as a projectile reflect and point-clearing AoE push than you will with Blowtorch or Glue Shot.

2. Power Shoes is also pointless. If you’re planning on holding down one point or moving between two of them, speed is not really your priority. Getting the most out of your setup will be—so go for Reinforced Shield instead, which gives 90 Toughness when wielding a shield plus 20% cooldown reduction.

3. Fast-Acting Elixirs in my opinion is best used for builds that focus on offense (i.e., HGH). Think of it this way. Is getting Elixir S twelve seconds faster going to make the difference between life and death for you? Perhaps. But why not just arguably have two Elixir S at your disposal through Self-Regulating Defenses?

4. Or how about Protection Injection? With 30 points in Alchemy you will have near permanent Protection on you as you get knocked around in a 1v2 situation; it’s way more useful in my opinion. If you must have it, I’d drop Cleansing Formula and put Elixir C on your bar instead.

5. You have 30 points in Inventions yet go without Cloaking Device?

Kardiamond.6952:

Elixir H is mostly used for HGH/formula 409 build.

So you have to fill up your Alchemy tree with traits specified for it that the Med Kit does just fine naturally (and with no points in Tools).

Drop Antidote removes one condition on a 15 second cooldown—4 removed per minute. Comparatively, having taken Fast-Acting Elixirs you get 5 conditions removed per minute (3 from Elixir H, 2 from Toss).

You get only one less removed condition going with the Med Kit, and it requires no traits to do so (and traits are the only way Elixir H outperforms it). Though Fast-Acting Elixirs is a trait a lot of people take, even those that don’t use Elixir H, it’s something to keep in mind. But I think the Med Kit outperforms Elixir H in every other area.

Now, Elixir H itself can be drank every 20 seconds and has a chance to give Regeneration. 5560 + Regeneration does outperform 4920 raw healing from Bandage Self…

….Until you compare everything else the Med Kit has to Elixir H.

Med Kit has 3x Drop Bandages that heal for 1K each—far more than Regeneration does with Toss Elixir H—and on 12 second cooldowns. For every 30 seconds of Toss Elixir H that may give you 1300 health from Regeneration, you will have healed yourself for 6K. No RNG, and more health back.

Further more, Drop Stimulant will always give base 10 seconds of Fury and Swiftness. Every time you drop it. No RNG.

So I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take Fury (perma with 6/6 Altruism runes) and its +20% critical hit chance over another 70-105 Power.

In a group situation, even with an HGH build, I take the Healing Turret or Med Kit over it. A couple stacks of Might does not in any way outperform the substantial support the Healing Turret provides to your group or the raw healing and buffing to yourself that the Med Kit does—without any trait dependency.

The only reason I can think taking Elixir H is worth it is if you’re too lazy to just swap to the Med Kit and press 1-3 while running forward.

Ever since the fix to the Healing Turret in February, I’ve used it almost exclusively in PvE group situations except for CoF. Learn to time the Water field with detonating it and you’ll never want to go back. It helps if you have the “combat circles” graphic options enabled because the game will display a white circle for Combo fields knowing when to detonate it. Just practice in Lion’s Arch and you’ll get the hang of it quickly.

Plus…

Cleansing Burst (Overcharge) = AoE Full Condition Cleanse
Regenerating Mist + Magnetic Shield = Regeneration + AoE Heal

But I use the Med Kit in CoF and solo situations for self-heals and buffs (Fury + Swiftness, 3K+ healing on a 12-second CD).

Never understood the fascination surrounding Elixir H. I always felt like it was the worst of the three.

SilverWF.4789:

After Omnomberry nerf FT becomes not only useless but suicidal at the WvW – coz Retaliation.

I never understood the “Uh-oh Retaliation” rebuttal to the Flamethrower. The Grenade Kit and Coated Bullets are just as affected by it, if not more so. As of right now there’s a thread not even half-way down the page complaining about Retaliation when using the Grenade Kit.

Flame Jet can be controlled and the casting channel can be canceled at any time. If you’re traited for Coated Bullets, your shots will go right through the crowd for 900 range. If you hit 3 people with it, whatever. But I’ve had it hit a lot more than that and have Retaliation hurt me just as badly as it does with the Flamethrower. The same with the Grenade Kit—especially Poison Grenade which lingers on the ground as a Combo field. If Retaliation starts chewing me up, I’ll just cancel Flame Jet at any time. It is not a big deal. I back off, heal myself, whatever.

And spare me the “BUT TIER 1 LOL” nonsense because I play on Sanctum of Rall.

Retaliation doesn’t just affect the Flamethrower. It affects all AoE builds—for all classes, and not just the Engineer. That is the risk vs. reward of these types of builds. Play it wrong and you’ll die every bus vs. bus fight; play it right and you’ll get badges like candy.

Sporadicus.1028:

With this trait, you are rewarded for staying in the FT kit. If you are rewarded so, shouldn’t you be able to make it a stand-alone kit?

If you go the Condition Damage route with the FT in sPvP, wear a Rabid or Carrion trinket with Sigil of Earth and Sigil of Battle. You’ll get a good stack of bleeds easily on top of good burning damage because of all the added Might.

I also make a point to swap out of it quickly for Static Shot + Poison Dart Volley, which synergizes well with Sigil of Battle.

Retaliation can hit you hard if you’re using the Grenade Kit or Flamethrower. You just have to be mindful of this. It’s a very effective “check” against runaway AoE DPS. I think they should leave it as it is.

NevirSayDie.6235:

You will probably be constantly disappointed if you try to use only main hand weapons.

I thought it was generally accepted that Pistol + Pistol (or Shield) is a viable option with nothing but elixirs for HGH or Cleansing Formula.

Has something changed in that regard?

Whatever dude. If you want to sit there and bite at my ankles rather than actually address the topic of this thread that’s your call.

When you’re ready to actually talk about the subject at hand again, I’ll check back here later on.

Saying I would like something is not the same thing as I need something.

Saying something in the way of how to improve a kit by no way suggests that I think that the kit is not viable or is weak without it. If I felt that, I wouldn’t have written a guide on how to use it.

You misinterpreted what I said. Plain and simple.

Zinwrath.2049:

So in your statement, you ARE saying it is NOT balanced….it is WEAK …and with any strain of logic would mean…NOT VIABLE.

You’re cherry-picking a single phrase to suit your perspective even though the overwhelming majority of what I said was in favor of what I previously said.

Phineas Poe.3018:

The Grenade Kit will dish out more damage, but the Flamethrower has its own strengths.

Which I’ve already listed. More Toughness, passive Might stacking, AoE knockback, Fire field, PBAoE Blind while stunned, and perma burning.

I said it would be “balanced.” As in, with quotation marks. As in, appeasing the masses.

I think the kit is perfectly fine as-is.

Zinwrath.2049:

So in the end, you agree its too weak and not balanced, thus not viable.

Don’t put words in my mouth.

I never called the kit weak, imbalanced, or not viable. I said it needs work.

And I couldn’t care less if someone was sponsored or not. I’ve been playing the class for six months. I have just as much right to talk about it as anyone else.

Against my better judgment, I’ll bite.

waka.9826:

Why use a flamethrower when grenade kit scales way better with power and condition damage.

Because for one thing, it doesn’t.

Flame Jet scales x1.5 of your Power value.
Grenade (#1) scales x0.45 of your Power value per grenade.

1.5 > 1.35

What makes the difference is that Grenade has a .8/second attack speed, which is obviously faster than Flame Jet’s 2.25 second casting channel. So in the end the Grenade Kit will do more damage than the Flamethrower, but it does not scale better with Power, especially given that Flame Blast factors in x1.75 Power in its damage, far better than anything the Grenade Kit has.

Where the Grenade Kit excels is in Condition Damage, where you were right to point out. Bleed stacking with the Grenade Kit is the best that we have.

waka.9826:

Why use a flamethrower when grenades can be used to help team fights from 1500 range away.

Why should anyone play a Guardian over Ranger?

waka.9826:

When are you going to use your flamethrower other than the knock back and the smoke field.

The Flamethrower has no smoke field. It should. But it doesn’t.

waka.9826:

but grenade kit by far surpasses anything you want to do with flamethrower kit.

The Grenade Kit is great at doing a few things: Bleed stacking, rolling a glass cannon, and attacking from range.

Correct me if I’m mistaken, but none of these roles involve capturing, controlling, or protecting points. The Grenade Kit can chill and blind people, but it cannot toss anyone out like Air Blast does. It has no interrupts, either. It has no Fire field. It does not grant 200 Toughness when wielding it or passively stack Might.

All of this being said, I think the Flamethrower needs some work. For one thing, I would like it if Smoke Vent was a Smoke field. I would like it if Napalm was circular. I would like it if Flame Blast was a Blast finisher.

If they did these three things, the Flamethrower in my mind would be “balanced.”

But even without these changes, the implication that the Grenade Kit is a better option than the Flamethrower in all situations is quite frankly absurd.

BurrTheKing.8571:

Nades are fun and all, but they get very dull very quickly. Is using a HGH build with Flamethrower viable, or would it simply be an inferior HGH nade build?

I’m thinking of 0/30/0/30/10 with more tanky gear taking advantage of Juggernaut with HGH with a pistol and shield so i have 3 interrupts with blow back. Would this be decent or have we been just forced into Nade kit or a SD build with toolkit only?

Well, I use neither the Grenade Kit nor the Static Discharge build and I do just fine in tPvP (which is honestly greatly overrated in how different it is from hotjoin matches). I do use the P/P + Tool Kit frequently, but I don’t use HGH and don’t need it. I used to, pre-patch. But I’ve since taken the Kit Refinement nerf as reason to heavily experiment with stuff and have noticed that the damage difference is almost negligible while at the same time having significantly boosted survivability with traits like Protection Injection.

You don’t need HGH with your Flamethrower either, because Juggernaut gives you 5-10 stacks of Might already (depending on your Boon Duration). I’m still trying out different variations with the Flamethrower since the nerf to Kit Refinement but I have used the Pistol + Shield with a Carrion trinket in both hotjoin and tourneys with moderate success.

I suggest you ignore the trolls, too. It seems like everybody hates the Flamethrower and thinks it’s useless until you notice it’s the same 5 people in every thread parroting the same misinformation. Grenade Kit will dish out more damage, but the Flamethrower has its own strengths.

It’s a UI bug. If you use the same runes in sPvP that you do in PvE, the game will get confused. That counts for any rune set.

You are not actually getting the bonus of both your rune sets.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Vicarious.3047:

Mso I know juggernaut MUST play a role in it.

EDIT: And this is in terms of sPvP btw.

There’s your problem. Unkillable and the firearms tree does not mix.

They can. 0/0/20/30/20 is my bunker spec with P/S + Tool Kit + Elixir S + Elixir C, but I’ve messed around in matches with the Flamethrower with Carrion trinket with a P/S going 0/30/20/20/0 to much the same success. It all comes down to playstyle and what you feel more comfortable with.

Tool Kit is obviously more survivable, but perma burn with Might does a lot more damage than people give credit, especially with the added Power for Flame Blast. With Protection Injection and Self-Regulating Defenses along with 20 in Inventions for faster interrupts with your shield, it doesn’t really matter if you put points in Firearms or points in Tools. It’s all overkill unless you’re constantly 1v2ing.

The problem with Tool Kit specs is that you rely on Pry Bar and Static Shot to deal most of your damage for you. If you’re dealing with a competent enemy it’s not nearly as effective as people talk about it on here. In WvW, yes. But in sPvP I’ve had mixed results.

The Flamethrower however delivers relatively good, consistent damage that doesn’t come with a cooldown.

Fabis.7649:

So now after the update, anyone care to share your updated PvE build?
The build topic as always has only PvP builds.

I run 10/30/0/30/0 on my Engineer for both of my PvE builds

When using the Flamethrower + Elixir Gun/Elixir B + Elixir R + Elixir C
6/6 Berserker + Ruby jewelry with Altruism runes

Explosives: Incendiary Powder
Firearms: Precise Sights, Fireforged Trigger, Juggernaut
Alchemy: Fast-Acting Elixirs, Deadly Mixture, Cleansing Formula

When using P/P + Elixir B + Elixir R + Elixir C…
6/6 Rabid + Rabid jewelry with Undead runes
(May go for 2x Lyssa, 2x Mad King, 2x Lich for Condition Duration)

Explosives: Incendiary Powder
Firearms: Rifled Barrels, Hair Trigger, Coated Bullets
Alchemy: Fast-Acting Elixirs, Potent Elixirs, HGH

I carry all of this gear with me depending on if the group needs more Condition Damage or not.

Hsinimod.5784:

If it was “too much”, it could simply been made 20 points. But, Elementalists have a similar trait, also adept, that gives them a ton, and gave them more benefit than ours ever did.

Explain to me how getting Regeneration (which we can do at will with Healing Mist with the EG’s toolbelt skill) gives a ton more benefit than a Light field? Or how one stack of Might compares to a condition removal with the Flamethrower? Or Grenade Barrage with the Grenade Kit?

I miss Kit Refinement. I really do.

But Elemental Attunement was garbage compared to Kit Refinement before they nerfed it into the ground.

Also not sure what this “variety” of builds is with the Elementalist. They mostly run S/D or D/D with the majority of their points in Arcane and Water. They’re almost as static a community as Guardians have become surrounding Altruistic Healing.

I’d argue that even after the Kit Refinement nerf the Engineer is one of the few classes currently that has the luxury of not being a class pigeonholed into a single build.

Magnetic Bomb was a lot of fun to use at first until you realized that it does absolutely nothing for you given its radius is no different from any of the other bombs you drop. You will not pull anyone into “bombing” range that wasn’t already there.

The thing is pointless.

Given what else you can get putting your 10 points elsewhere, yes. It is that bad.

The only reason anyone would really have use for Kit Refinement is if they wanted Power Wrench and just grabbed KR on the way. Even then, I personally would choose Speedy Kits or Static Discharge over it, because coincidentally (ironically?) the Tool Kit has the most useless KR proc of them all.

Caudecus’s Manor and Twilight Arbor both have Rabid armor sets that can be bought with tokens.

It allowed the Elixir Gun to 100% sustain a Light field.

No one contested the idea that it was too powerful as a 10-point trait, but to completely remove that ability in place of an immobilization (?) on top of a 20-second cooldown was very harsh.

I think a lot of people would’ve been fine if it was just moved up the tree and buffed into an Evasive Arcana type trait. Instead we got something ridiculously worse that’s nigh useless.

Looking over your setup on Guildhead: I just can’t imagine running with no stunbreakers on my bar without the help up Power Wrench or Reinforced Shield to help mitigate damage through blocks. I suppose detonating turrets would even-out getting stunlocked, though.

I’ll give it a try tonight though if I can get online.

I enjoyed your video, but I wish I could see a recording of an entire match with this build to see its real viability when Supply Drop isn’t available.

I just realized my error.

I meant to say their gem slots are empty.

I just put Exquisite Chrysocola Jewels in mine. You cannot have Rabid/Rabid stats without ascended gear like Marriner’s Flask since to-date no such jewel exists with those stats (though I would personally go for the V/T/CD ascended gear).

Apologies. Post has been edited.

Also just for a full breakdown of where you can get Rabid slots:

Dwayna = Back, Amulet, Rings, Earrings
Balthazar = Helm, Gloves
Infiltration (Arah) = Shoulders, Coat, Gloves, Legs
Grenth = Coat, Legs, Boots
Melandru = Legs
Lyssa = Legs

42,000 Karma each. The rings have no jewels in them, so I’d upgrade them with ascended gear if you really want to maximize Rabid stats.

You actually don’t have to spend any money on Condition Damage gear.

Rabid gear can be bought fully with Karma from different vendors in Orr, including jewelry. That’s what I did.

Conjure Fiery Greatsword is the sole reason I returned to leveling my Elementalist a few weeks ago (mostly because I’m done gearing my Guard and Engi).

I’m not sure what else to tell you. Maybe it’s Flame Jet that procs burning across multiple targets and I was incorrect in my thinking. Whatever the case, I see the 650+ number popping up across multiple targets consistently—at the same time occasionally—and what appears to be permanently, if not close to it.

Flame Jet has a 2.25 second channel and not 2.5, btw.

Kardiamond.6952:

The others are burning from your auto attack from FT.

That’s impossible. The auto-attack burn only lasts for 1 second. I will see multiple ticks from two different targets, even proccing at the same time, mid Flame Jet.