Guild Wars 2

Fay.2357:

I’m using scepter when I play condie because I enjoy the weapon. However…sword is absolutely better defensively due to blurred frenzy over the block. DH have a lot of unblockable attacks, and the evade on blurred frenzy is far better for keeping yourself alive in a fight vs a DH.

Sword 2 has 16 secs cd …. i can use once … then i have no way to make damage to a dh becouse i can no more stay melee to him and i have to wait to have staff ready. The advantage of scepter, for me, is that i can block , put myself out of point and make damage again . Do you go with sword againsat a dh with autoattack after u use your sword 2 ? My problem with sword is … ok i use sword 2 .. and then if i have not staff ready i am really in trouble ( ok i can shatter or use shield but i have not autoattack to rely on … if i stay melee to a warrior or a guardian …. goodbye … )

Soothsayer.9206:

That’s my current thinking too. Although some might disagree, I think in melee situations, especially against dh, sword is a liability. The current meta doesn’t have the toughness (no more mercenary amulet) nor does it have the direct damage burst needed in a melee situation against a dh. My main is a staff/scepter-torch and my alt(in the testing stages) is a gs-scepter focus.

Which amulet are u using ? I tried both rabid and carrion and at the end perhaps i find rabid easier to use. What i find really strong is phantasmal disenchanter now .

with all this dh in spvp , is it not better to take scepter to sword ? With classic meta i find really hard to fight a dh , it seems to me that with scepter torch/shield, staff it is easier for the block and the more range pressure you can output on them .

I am switched from meta to this build .
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNArfWnknBlphNqBGqBEgilXjqeYP2l9sICijDNAypjA-TJRFABAcKAEe/hoKDgwRAAA
I find it quite strong against dh obviously you have to kyte their traps or block and blink or move . It is something similar to what i use in wvw , i used it only for giving it a try and it seems to work well. if I need portal i trade .

coro.3176:

insanemaniac has it exactly right. You can play vanilla, but you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.

Meta/HoT builds attack while defending. Vanilla builds don’t.

Eg. Compare Gear Shield to Shield of Courage. One is a 3 second block that does nothing else. The other is a 5 second block (of a ~75% forward cone) for 5 seconds that lets you attack.

Take Zerker invulns like 8 seconds of endure pain and 18(!!!) seconds of resistance + every minute. In that time they get free reign to kill and survive virtually unopposed. The only counter is to moa them, or pop invulns of your own and run very far away. Compare that to Elixir S, which is 3-6 seconds of invuln every minute and you might die to condis while it’s active if you’re not careful. Oh, and you can’t do damage.

Obviously, there are differences between classes, but in general, meta builds deal damage while safely defending or healing. Older non-HoT specs weren’t designed that way, and they deal less damage as well. Other than novelty, there’s no reason to choose them.

There is a great reason to play vanilla …. scrapper is boring, at least for me and after some matches i need to change

Erzian.5218:

PierPiero.9142:

But the real problem is that this game miss a resign button …

Yeah, you can call gg in ESL games, why can’t you resign in gw2 similar to gw1 :|
+
If someone disconnects before the first cap, the game should simply stop. No pip gain/loss for anyone. Desertion for the person who left.

I call gg in mapchat but if team go on … i let them go on alone ( obviously i call gg when there is no hope …. usually when there are 250 or more pt differences )

Malediktus.9250:

Or give moa invulnerability. So you can make someone useless for some time, can use it to decap but not for easy kill.

It would become completely useless. Moa can be great in 1 vs 1 but when i play mesmer , i usually go in solo i prefer gravity well . You will find it stupid but i find it better and with a lower cd

for me hammer is ok as it is now … i also like the leaps for combos. it would be a loss imho , it is better as it is now

Wolfric.9380:

It can happen to all of us that we can´t start or finish a match. But it should be and exception. I think i had it two times that i got dishonour (one due to client stuck in match start screen and once due to disconnection …) since HOT start…
Dishonour effect cumulate. It´s not a big issue if it happens once. Get a coffee and start the next one. If you do it more often (which is usualy intentional, maybe by not wantign to waste time when seeing three thiefs on your team or the rooky from last game ..) then prepare to be punished by longer timeouts and being scheduled with other AFK er´s.

But the real problem is that this game miss a resign button …

Wolfric.9380:

I realy dislike AFK ers … Had one in ranked two days ago… The match was even and one player made a mistake, another one criticided him, and as a result did go AFK loosing us the match … If you go in a match then you do it to play and if it´s ranked you should trie hard till the end … you are not alone. Throwing a match affecting four others is very unsocial and should be punished by cumulating dishonour.

Only an idiot for a kid throws away a close match going afk. The bigger part of afk i meet are when match is a no way match. Another thing i see in this season is some bot. You recognize them becouse at start they run till the first wall and run against them all the time . They don’t go down and don’t respond to any word. I saw a warrior in 3 matches doing the same thing so i belive it is some sort of bot

epouvante.7392:

Lucred.1802:

livlaender.8790:

@Lucred…, i wrote about “meta builds” and those 6 i mentioned use power based amus (i didnt wrote anything about runes, nore did i wrote something about the viability about condi speccs of those 6 classes)

and @power warrior being terrible in pvp…tell that obindo

Yeah sorry I got a bit mixed up.
-thief is running Marauder (power/crit) or Carrion (condi/health), though power is slightly favored.

-DH is running Mender’s (health/heal)
-Necro is running carrion (condi/health)
-Scrapper is running Paladin’s (power/crit/health) or Carrion (condi/health), meta is tied powerhammer/flamethrower condi
-Warrior is running carrion (condi/health). I don’t care if Obindo plays power warrior, it is bad for 99.999% of sPvP players.
-Ele is running Mender’s (health/heal)
-Mesmer is running Carrion (condi/health)
-Druid is running Mender’s (health/heal)
-Revenant is running either Seeker’s (power/health/concentration) or Viper’s (power/condi), meta is tied power vs. condi.

So again, while I screwed up the wording, you have 3 viable power builds, 6 viable condi builds, and 3 builds that focus on healthpool and healing (and which have a mix of power and condi attacks).

Condi is grossly over-represented in the meta.

Your analyze is really not representative and good.
1) condi scrapper and rev have really less survivability tools than power version! Just compare the hammer and p/p or bombs/flamethrower kit mandatory that delete a defensive utility slot. So the meta is power rev and power scrapper. First mistake.

2) all carion builds are condi/health AND power. I don’t know if you play this amulet but in a mesmer/chrono/rev/scrapper the total power damage is high, sometimes equal or higher than condi (yes for a chrono too). So it’s an hybrid build not just a condi one!

3) druid and tempest are support with health/heal amulet BUT the do power damage and no so much condi one. Mender give an important POWER and CRITIC that allow druid (and tempest in a weaker measure) to have decent or nice power damage.

So the conclusion is not the same:
- power meta: dh, thief, rev, scrapper
- hybrid meta condi/power: chrono, reaper, warrior
- hybrid meta heal/ power: druid, tempest
- condi meta (damage with only condi stat, rabit for example): 0

Condi are powerfull but actually condi builds have in general less sustain than power ones. And condi alone without hybrid power condi are not sufficient to be meta.
In the meta you can do near 800k damage with power builds but rarely 800k condi damage, is more like 300k power and 500k condi (with good players and good teams).
So condi alone are < power.
The problem is not condi damage but defensive condi (chill, fear, cripple, weakness etc)

For condi engi rabid/wanderer is better than carrion . One of the most damage source of conditon damage in condition engineer remains incendiary powder, which needs Precision …. so carrion is not a great choice … you can use rabid /wanderer or sinister/viper. For SPVP i prefer rabid becouse it has more survivability. WIth a low health pool the toughness helps you a lot to lose less vitality from direct damage.

In my opinion it depends on the situation. Sometime i am an akfer . Why have i to play when i am 50-350 ? what is the meaning to jump down and feed the enemy ? I prefer to wait next match when it’s happen …. and usually people who insult me is the same who run 1 vs 3 at every respawn … for example, or people camping far for hours dieing as a rally bot . I think that the real problem is that it is too common to find people who don’t consider base rules … like wait for people to respawn when you get reck … if you get reck in 3… or 5 … what do you want to do going alone ? Or when you see people losing 1 vs 1 a time and then go back as a bot to make them stomp. If i get stomped once, i try to avoid to go 1 vs 1 against the same player again … i wait to go in 2 or i go in a teamfight where i can be more usefull or trying to overrotate . AFK quite often is related also to other players …

In my opinion the most difficult class to play are thief and mesmer. The reason is not the class itself, but for the fact that their role requires more strategy. Having a thief mechanicaly good but with no strategy is quite unsuefull. A thief has to rotate fast and properly. Quite the same for mesmer : if you want to be usefull you have to know the map, know the spot where to use your staff 2 for example , use your portal smartly. My main is scrapper but scrapper is really an easy class to play ( not like core engi ) . A good scrapper is also a really good support for your team ( eg 3 and 5 to clean condi can helps a team fight really much ) or ress and stomp but thief and mesmer in my opinion requires much more map knowledge and rotation . Condi mesmer is simpler than power one, but in any case you have to use your skill with attention becouse your “burst” is also your condi removal and a great part of your healing … so it is really easy to waste them . Thief in this is simpler

Vagrant.7206:

Shovel Face.4512:

Vagrant.7206:

Question: How many of you guys actually play engineers? Most of the people who I see who complain about them don’t actually play them.

I play Engi although I’m a terrible one. And despite being a terrible Engi, I can stay alive againts any class because the passive and childish defenses this class was given is ridiculous. Sure I can’t kill other players but like I said, I’m a terrible Engi. Now get this, I’m not a very good Engi yet I can sustain with the best of them, imagine just an average Engi. An average Engi is better than a great thief, rev, warr, and Mesmer. That is not ok. So imagine what a great Engi would look like? An unkillable class that can burst with the best of them.

I assume your build is the power hammer build, right?

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Scrapper_-_Power_Hammer

This build is designed to tank while applying moderate pressure. It’s incredible for that purpose, so that even a newbie can tank. The thing is, at high level play, that build doesn’t do quite as well as you might think. You may not die that much, but most of your enemies won’t either, unless they are bad at kiting, evading, or other forms of damage mitigation. Thieves and mesmers can run circles around power hammer engineers. Guardians can simply wait out the cooldowns. Warriors can condi and CC like nobody’s business. Rangers can just outheal the damage. Necros can simply chill the engineer and kite, all while corrupting boons.

It’s not that the class or the build is overpowered (surprise, powerful builds end up as the meta), it’s that you need to learn how to counter these builds.

Good counters to the power scrapper? CC. CC the crap out of them. Cripple them. Chill them. Blind them. Deal with their buddies first then focus them down.

I don’t usually play that build because I find it boring. The damage is moderate at best — it’s decent pressure and you can get an occasional spike if you do it right, but it’s ultimately a tanking build that’s boring. No careful timing required, no clever play required. I prefer engi condi builds for that reason.

And if you consider ANet’s design for engineers, that’s not surprising. As a class, they have ALWAYS been designed as a victory by attrition class. They have never had the most amazing burst damage, or the best CC’s, but they could always outlast the other classes. That has been their whole design philosophy, and ANet has stuck to it with the scrapper.

I play engineer as main and mesmer as alternative in spvp. For going against scrapper it is important to “wait” As mesmer I usually make them use their bulk gyro toolbet skill and then i try to condi spam them as hell. Scrapper suffers condi ( not like core engi becouse it has more sustain) and it has low mobility . IF you use a class with mobility use your mobility skills only to make distance and avoid melee. Scrapper is strong, really strong , but in my opinion it is balanced now . It is not simple to take them down neither impossible and in any case if they are good ones it is better to overrotate them and go elsewhere +1 . Many times going 1 vs 1 is not the best thing to do. It has a meaning only if you can win 1vs 1 fast and it is not the case if you go against a good scrapper

Condi mesmer is really strong but not so easy to play. More than a build i suggest you to roll a mesmer, copy the build from metabattle and do a some hotjoin matches. You will learn how it works , how to see the “right” mesmer and how to avoid his burst. I had problem against mesmer too, now i play mesmer quite often ( 30% of the time becouse i really like it in spvp ) and playing it helped me a lot to fight against them .

sephiroth.4217:

Moderat.4635:

BadSanta.6527:

this is rediculos condi mesmer domnating pvp like god mode…
but hey as long as people crying on that lame gurdians all good right?
this is so embarssing ""balance"" @anouther bad season

it’s funny what you are saying because guardian is a really good counter to condi mesmer and you see a lot more DH than condi mesmers playing ranked

Viper Mesmer beats DH hands down anyday.

You would have to be a terrible Mesmer to die in this meta to anything besides a thief too with the lack of condition removal and tanky amulets.

Also the counter to DH hasn’t changed in 4 seasons, it’s still as basic as using clones, gryos, pets or what ever to activate traps before engaging. Or even a dodge if you feel like wasting one.

Is it not better carrion for condi mesmer ? I main an engi but i play also mesmer quite a lot and i don’t have great problems against DH. Blink … staff 2 … distortion, sword 2 … shield … mesmer has many way to avoid traps and to kill a dh … i don’t see dh as an impossible match up. I have much more problem against some warriors condi … than against dh for their cc

I main an engi but i play mesmer quite often . ( it is the second class i have more fun in pvp ). I think that dh is strong but it is not an impossible match up. If you play smarty you have staff 2 , distortion, sword 2 shield and blink .. you have your “weapon” to fight a dh and to kyte their damage . ( it is not easy but neither impossible ). I don’t find a dh an unfair matchup with mesmer ( i am not say that i win every time…. ).

condi mesmer , not easy to play as others but really strong and with great utilities , especially in this condi meta .

In your build i’d swap elixir S for elixir B or elixir C if there is a really strong condi party

Krag.6210:

PierPiero.9142:

You could try playing the scrapper variant which addresses some of the condi and general survability issues with the scrapper traitline.
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqanUUB1ah1XBmcBEqiF2iSsjminAMELxAgO4H+kH-TJhMAB0UGg5HAAA7Pw6JAAA

I tried but it is much weaker imho than tools variant :
– you lose chemical round … so you lose 50% condi duration increase on pistol ( great loss)
– you lose the reduction on toolbet skill recharge (15%) so you lose damage from ft toolbet, and stealth reduction and also toolkit toolbet .
– you lose power wrench so you lose really much ( block , prybar, pull ) … the block every 13.5 secs is really strong
– you lose speed out of combat …. ( for me it is quite a must playing in solo to have at least the 25% speed)
- you lose kinetik battery : when you get used to it you can use stealth twice or ft toolbet skill twice ( a lot of damage )
- you gain 20% condi reduction … it is strong but not enough imho for 1vs 1 a condi warrior or a condi necro
- you gain sneak gyro : i usually don’t take it neither with scrapper becouse good players see you from gyro … i prefer elixir X .
- the survivability you get in my opinion does not not compensate the loss of damage and the loss of skill reductions , u don’t have access to superspeed so 101 heal for sec is better that nothing but not that great with a vitality of only 15k. It is more different with paladin or marauder where you have more than 25% of vitality (21.5k ..or so)
In my opinion the not scrapper variant is stronger but it is a personal choice and perhaps the fact that i am used to it

In my opinion engi is really in a good spot .
Scrapper is really strong even after last nerfs and it is the way to go if you want to play high level i think. If you want to play as a casual player ( no tournament and all) but only make seasons vanilla engi can be really fun and strong. Condition engineer can be really really strong in this meta . Rifle in my opinion is not that great now but pistol pistol can be really impressive. It is a different way of play from scrapper but you can win and carry teams even with that. The great difference is that you have to learn it and to learn what you can not win.
In s3 i arrived diamond with this build ( really common , not mine ) , it has a strong burst and it is quite good in 1 vs 1 excpet against full condi classes :
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUhatYJXw+KQ+FLsF1YbMG/oYHNFPB4HWiBAA-TJRHABJVGAgTAQwPAgK2fAA

Now i changed, i found that there are too many conditions and i find this build stronger. You have less burst but you have 2 great thing :
– really strong against condition classes
– great support, the 2 light field with mortar and eg are really strong in teamfights against condi party
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUh2tYBWw+KQ7FLsFlYHNFPB4HWiBQ4SdRvGA-TJRFABds/AAnAgkfAARVGAA
The strong points of this build are the passive and active defence you have ( field of mortar on points can be really strong ) and the great condi remove. It is not a pure hgh build but when the fight become long your might stack up and your damage becomes quite strong . You have less access to burning but IP is quite strong and also pistol 4 and with 3 blast you can put out a lot of combo. ( i really love when melee pistol 5, pistol 4 , eg 4 for example ) . Even this build is not mine

Engineer, with 2 reason a major reason and a min or . Major .. Engineer is much more fun to play at least in spvp and pve and fun is the real reason for playing. Minor : with a single class , the engineer, you have a bit of everything … from soloing dungeons to every other expect of the game . OK …. i prefer engineer….

shion.2084:

Wouldn’t Sigil of earth (the one that causes bleeding on crit) be a better synergy with the 10% crit chance bonus when target bleeding, and the 33% greater bleed duration? It’s not areas abut maybe give you more damage in 1v1’s…. Your sigil of earth will give you 10 second duration at 108 damage a tick for a single stack…. you reapply ever two seconds. So …. you could have 5 stacks sustained if your 1 v 1’ing. plus crit increase… so how much damage does the Torment give you … looks like you can last for 9.5 seconds… and you can reapply after 5 seconds… If they are moving then you get 160 best case… so much less damage on an individual target and much less apply frequency.

Yes i changed it becouse against full dps class wanderer can be hard. Now i am playing this :http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUh2tYBWw+KQ7FLsFV4SdRvmYHNFPB4HWiBAA-TJRHABA8AAC+EAkUZgK2fAA
it is quite the same with rabid amulet instead of wanderer. Surely it is not a build for ESL but with this i win a lot of fight…. also many 1 vs 1. I would have not bet a copper on mortar, instead when you are used to it it is extremely valuable . chilling, poisoning with fields can change really a fight .. or avoid a ress . When i saw this build first time ( it is not mine ) i thought it was trash , instead it is really strong in this kittening condition meta

with some little modification i took this build from jebro and others. It is really strong . I usually used rabid with ft as posted before but this build is better in fight where there is high condi pressure. It seems weak but it is not weak at all ( the build is not mine so i don’t want to seel you nothing )

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUh2tYBWw+KQ7FLsFV4SdRvmYHNFPB4HWiBAA-TJRHABA8AAqY/hvLDE8JAAA

For pistol pistol i think that scrapper is not the best setup. I think that classic engi can be better than scrapper with pistols . I usually play rabid with firearms , alchemy tools ( ft, toolkit elixir S, elixir X) and it is really strong, otherwise you can try wanderer with firearms, alchemy and invention ( eg, eli c, eli S , mortar ) . IT seems weak but when you get used to it it is really a strong setup . I find this build really strong expecially now … with all the condi in the game . Obviously you have not to fight a warrior or a guardian or a necro in melee…. but with chill , pistol 5 , eg 2 you can really play safely keeping the rigth distance. It is not a nodefigher as scrapper obviously. For now i am doing quite well .
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUh2tYBWw+KQ7FLsFV4SdRvG4HWiBgYHNFPBA-TJRHABfXGAgTAQF7PQ2DAAA

Sorel.4870:

Fumigate is great in teamfights, especially with all these condis flying nowadays.

EG is a great utility, and I don’t think it needs any buffs, except a faster projectile on Glob Shot. I’m pretty confident this change could happen, because Anet has been buffing the speed of movement-imparing projectiles lately (pistol#5, rifle#2 in the last patch).

Glob shot is slow but if you get used to use it as a melee shot it is quite strong … EG in my opinion in in a really good state. Another thing that is really strong and i have completely revaluated, also for spvp in condi builds is Mortar ( problem is that you have to use it smartly … put down the field you need and switch ) . It can also be really strong but you have not to camp in it

I tried many different build with pistols becouse i hate hammer gameplay. I have to tell that there are 2 builds quite strong , one with ft and the other with elixir gun and mortar. Old teldo or pistol pistols build are gone ,but there are viable builds really fun to play. Probably you will not go ESL with pistol pistol engi, but if you make season only i can ensure that you can do really really well with pistols condi.

I don’t quit but i think that real life, in any case is better than videogames , so have fun life and a lot of women :-)

Cynz.9437:

I wouldn’t say DH are OP, stacking traps and high uptime on blocks is definitely obnoxious, then again they crumble under pressure. Bunker guard is still kind of a joke

Engis needed a lot of nerfs. They were too good at almost everything in this game besides teleports.

Staff is weakest build on thief? Since when? Staff works great vs other classes but.. lol thief. Thief weakest class? In some cases – yes, they are still better off than in season 1 although recent change to stealth attacks is most clueless, stupid, not thought through balance change since HoT release. It makes 0 sense since this game is flooded with blocks, invuls, passives and movement bug preventing you from landing strike but then again it is GW2 devs – no surprise here.

I can solo ele and i main “weakest” class in game lol.

Wars – they definitely could use some adjustment in defense department.

I am surprised you didn’t mention mesmer anywhere xD They have been on top of the food chain for 4 seasons now.

Engies got a lot of nerf. I don’t know if they are op more, now it seems to me that they are quite balanced. And core engineer is not op at all. Scrapper is strong.. not core engineer so , if you have to nerf it, you have not to nerf core engineer ( which is much more fun to play than scrapper )

I think power faceroll builds need to go . it is the same thing . How many classes use condi builds ? how many uses direct damage ? The only thing that introduces a little diversity is the 2 or 3 class which uses condition builds … otherwise the game is only dps/healsbot …

Dirame.8521:

Your changes won’t necessarily bring Teldo’s engie back. People will play Engie if they make these changes, but the overall weakness of the profession comes from the limited tools it has to deal with the current meta.

So blasting combo finishers twice won’t help in any tangible way and Blast Combo finishers removing a condition would help but people will go for things with faster activation like Elixir C or Cleanse Gyro.

The only way Teldo’s engie can come back is if the Engie can strip boons (mainly stability and resistance) and pierce block skills. Because those are the things that permeate most of the dominant professions now.

Nades on the other hand, can actually be used in this meta, but it’s up to you guys to find that build, I personally never liked nades.

For spvp i don’t think nades have this space . If you go condi u should go explosive+ firearms … not that easy . If you go scrapper in my opinion scrapper, alchemy explosive is not that great, scrapper , alchemy invention, scrapper alchemy tools and also scrapper, alchemy firearms synergies better, so i dont’ see that space. The uniq possibility to go nades is with rifle imho but now it seems to me quite bad .

none was happy with leaderboard…. remember also this

In my opinion it is a good thing . Putting bad players against good players was meaningless for both side , unfair and not fun . I don’t have fun losing 150-500 or winning 500-150 . Would you make a soccer league in which premier league teams are matched with lower divisions team all the time ? has it a meaning ? I have no problem to remain in amber ( i am diamond now ) , if i have good matches in it, if it is my level. I have problem to arrive to diamond and have only 50-50 0 matches or 500-50 matches . Pvp is for fun , not for grind. For farmin,g i can run cof, silverwaste , drytop or what you want . The ending part of season 3 was terrible. Diamond for me was really a pain … sometime i won 500-50 or lose 50-500 …. so i finished to leave it and go to play something else. For me not getting legendary is not a problem. Having not fun is a problem and then i go to watch tv

Phaeton.9582:

Until we develop AI further we cannot artificially remake Teldo. His engi build however, whilst boasting some of the greatest build depth of anything in GW2, is not currently viable.

His build relied heavily on combo fields, and really struck at the heart of what the Engineer class was initially designed for.

Not this passive hammer scrapper nonsense. Blinds, combo stealth’s, and lots of smart kiting.

I stopped posting suggestions on the forums about a year ago, but thought of this trait the other day and felt obliged to post about it.

It would likely go in the explosive line, as this line has no place in any meta build post -HoT. It could replace any of the three GMs there (they’re all pretty much worthless atm), and would go something like this.

“Blast combo finishers activate twice”

This could then be combined with a change to the minor trait ‘Explosive Powder’, which could look something like this.

“Your Blast Combo finishers remove a condition”

This trait line can’t be used on builds because engineers lose sustain and condi removal from otherwise taking either Alchemy or Inventions. What this trait does is provide extra non-passive sustain (double water combo finishers) as well as double stealth finishers for a more viable stealth off of smoke bomb.

Bearing in mind with these traits current scrapper builds would gain nothing at all. All this would allow, is the return of a comparatively much higher skill cap set of builds reliant on bomb kit.

I’ve got hundreds if not thousands of hours PvP on every class in this game, so please don’t see this as in any way bias. I’d just love to see higher skill cap builds like this one returning to the game, without buffing their more brainless cousins.

It is much more simple. Core engi was killed when Anet moved incendiary powder to firearms. In my opinion the only thing that could revive old style builds ( i loved really much also nades toolkit elixirS/eg condi build ) is to make effective damage for bomb and nades not dependent from explosive trait (grenadeer and short fuse as base at least) . Give a viable condi remove outside alchemy ( invention is not enough alone for spvp or wvw ) and if you take firearm, explosive and alchemy you have not speed… and it sucks a lot

Autoattack … instant kill of everyone in spvp /wvw ….

In my opinion this is the stronger build alternative to meta ( it is not mine but i find it great when you get used to it and it was on since season 1 )
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUhatYJXw+KQ+FLsF1YbMG/I4HWiBgYHNFPBA-TJRHABVs/QwPAgkKDAwJAAA

For pvp i switch from elixir X to mortar and i take a mix of rabid/ dire jewellery. I take all rabid till precision to about 33% … then all dire for having more vitality. I find it really effective . I prefer the tool version to the scrapper version for many reason… more burst … 2 times stealth … reduction on all toolbet skills and perma speed . At begin i found kinetic battery kitten, but when you are used to it it is quite strong , expecially for escaping .

you will see less people becouse … people is on holiday

The problem is real. one solution could be to have the reward directly connected to the numbers : if you attach 10 vs 1 or 50 vs 20 you have no reward or really low reward and reward on the maps are at maximum when map is balanced , otherwise, the biggest group you are the worst reward you get. This for forcing people to spread on all the 4 map and not only on 1 or 2 (usually homeborder and eb )

Problem is that some classes are better than other for zerging . I play engi. Most of the time i play rabid condi core engi and not scrapper ( i have it) , and i kill a lot of people , but obviously it is not the best build to go in a zerg …. it is really good for roaming alone or in small groups but not for that. every build has strenght and weakness. And some classes are better than other for a specific role . Find your role with ranger

IN my opinion for spvp engi have only 2 viable build : meta scrapper ( with some variation ) , and pistol pistol condi with ft, elixir S ,toolkit ( firearms, alchemy , tools ) . The other builds don’t work like these 2 … it is sad but it it true (and hammer scrapper is superior to pistol pistol for the better sustain ).

why taking firearms instead of explosive for a power build ? you have rifle reduction but on the other hand you would have better bomb as you use them . ( you have already 3 knock back, rifle ,blast gyro and BoB so the rilfe reduction does not seem to me so important , i’d prefer short fuse ) and you can also have double blast on mortar toolbet skill . Your build has 2 great weakness imho : first you don’t have good condition clean as others stated , second you don’t have any block or life saver. You have not stealth , you have no elixir S, nothing . Your build can work in melee or short distance, but you have to arrive at it . Mortar is a good (or great in some case) support weapon but it is not that good for range fight. You can put down mortar 2 and then 1 1 1 1 but if your opponent is not stupid, it is not that difficult to move away from mortar shield … and if he had a long bow it is in a better spot than you in a long range fight. And.. .with all the stability of this game … i don’t know how your cc will be usefull ..

BrokenGlass.9356:

UnbentMars.9126:

BrokenGlass.9356:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBLhFyxgyG23AjGwHxiAg52ant12gAQo8AMED2BFBA-TxRAQBA4ECEQ9EtRJYEV/RMK/CwDCQg7PQKgFVWB-e

The sheer damage from the burn/bleed is insane.

Earth provides 30+ bleeds in a single rotation, then fire can spike up 15+ burns before half the bleeds fall off. Then back to earth and spike up both burns (scepter 2 combo thru field left from fire overload) and bleeds. Rinse and repeat. The full damage rotation keeps both condis up all the time, and damage never falls below 2k per tick on either one.

Burns can spike to 10k alone and self-mighted.

Bleeds can spike to 9k alone and self-mighted.

In full party buffs, burns up to 25k. Bleeds clocked up to 19k.

It can get pretty silly. Also,it’s fun as hell.

I actually quite like that. Most people say ele can’t do a real condi build but that build shows real damage potential! Especially now that Vipers ascended rings/amulet/backpiece are available in Bloodstone Fen (potential damage increase of 5% or so just due to the increased condi duration)

Actually, best way to do that (since its already at about 91% condi duration for burning and bleeding) would be to get the new ring and amulet and make them both vipers and then make the backpiece sinister to bring yourself up to 100.13% and not waste the extra 1% above 100% that you’d get from making the backpiece vipers.

The community undervalues conditions ele, because it undervalues bleeds in general.

As for that last 10% durration… I thought about vipers rings and ammys, however… I loose on a lot of toughness which is converting to conditions damage, the amount of conditions dmg lost somewhat looses out on the bonus. Gain pwr dmg, true… don’t know it it’s worth the trade off.

I had thought about using a givers warhorn to fill the gap… but I’ve found that 90% seems to be enough. That last bit doesn’t seem to be enough to increase my “stacks per rotation” in any noticeable way.

For spvp and wvw a condition ele is in my opinion a nogo against decent players . Problem is that elementalist can output how many conditions ? condition cleean cleans the number of condition u have. You can also stack 10 burning and 25 bleeding but with a single condition clean pass usually your opponents will clean them both. It is different for profession as condition mesmer, condition engi or condition necro, warrior, or ranger which , in few seconds put on you 5… 6 different condition type ( confusion, torment, poison, bleeding, burning,chilling and others) . This is the reason why for me condition ele is not a good approch as other condi classes can do . For pve it can be different but i don’t play pve . Condition ele is suboptimal respect to other condition specs only becouse it can not put so many different condition as the others

Chaith.8256:

Supreme.3164:

We want to play a viable bruiser that require just as much effort ( we don’t mind some more effort respect to warrior and condi chronomancer which require none) as the rest.

We don’t care how many eles are used from esl teams, we don’t care what’s meta or not….we want to play what’s fun to play and we want to play it now, got it?

Yes sir, Mr. Tantrum sir, I’ll page the ArenaNet staff and have them serve up the easy mode damage dealer Ele this instant.

In my opinion the real problem , for common people is the lack of build diversity. Probably a pro player see the thing with a different perspective from a casual player.
For me having so many traits , so many weapons and see every class with quite the same weaponset, traits and utility is really sad. For example ,I play engineer since 2012. I have HOT. I play a build with FT and pistols with no HOT ( something really similar to your stream) , not becouse i don’t have hot, not becouse i think it is stronger that scrapper but for a more important reason for a casual player : i have not fun with scrapper and hammer. The balance and ESL scene will be important for you but , in general , if the playerbase will have no fun … the game will die becouse Anet makes money with casual players . PVE is quite repetitive, wvw is quite unbalanced , SPVP for me remain the only thing that i do quite every day .

PierPiero.9142:

I use a variation of that build ( rabid balthazar with torment/doom sigils ) in spvp and i find it really effective . I prefer the tools version to the scrapper version. The reason is that power wrench is really strong and without hammer a block every 13.5s is really usefull. I love also the perma swift of tools and the fact that you can use toss elixir S (stealth) twice in a row quite easily . Tools have also much more damage becouse toolbet skills have a cd reduction and the toolbet of FT gives you a strong burst . For SPVP you can keep the build as it is . I replace elixir X with mortar quite often . And in pvp i suggest you to use a mix of rabid /dire trinchets. Incendiary powder has a cd of 10 secs so 33% or even 30% of precision is enough for triggering it. take rabid till you arrive at 30/33% of precision and then take all dire to boost your vitality. It is a great build when you learn it and learn the fight you can not win .

Rabid is better than warader for me becouse you lose a little of condi duration , but with balthazar rune and rabid you have really a good damage already but toughness with only 15k vitality help you a lot to manage your fight. It does not reduce condi damage but when you take condi damage and direct damage togegher a bit more of toughness is better than nothing . ( obviously you don’t have the sustain of scrapper )

I use a variation of that build ( rabid balthazar with torment/doom sigils ) in spvp and i find it really effective . I prefer the tools version to the scrapper version. The reason is that power wrench is really strong and without hammer a block every 13.5s is really usefull. I love also the perma swift of tools and the fact that you can use toss elixir S (stealth) twice in a row quite easily . Tools have also much more damage becouse toolbet skills have a cd reduction and the toolbet of FT gives you a strong burst . For SPVP you can keep the build as it is . For wvw I replace elixir X with mortar quite often . And in wvw i suggest you to use a mix of rabid /dire trinchets. Incendiary powder has a cd of 10 secs so 33% or even 30% of precision is enough for triggering it. take rabid till you arrive at 30/33% of precision and then take all dire to boost your vitality. It is a great build when you learn it and learn the fight you can not win .

Dirame.8521:

In addition to the above, here are some ideas for improving turrets;

Apply a change to Experimental Turrets:
Healing Turret applies Resistance instead of Vigor (Reasoning: In PvP and WvW, I believe the resistance would be more useful)

Apply a change to Advanced Turrets:
Using Healing Turret whilst other turrets are active gives your other turrets a 5k damage shield and Resistance for 3s. (This replaces the 33% less damage functionality). Turret Overcharge have 100% crit chance. Turret Cooldowns are reduced by 5s when their toolbelt skills are used. (Reasoning: With a skill on a short cooldown that can apply a shield to your turrets, they wouldn’t die as quickly. The 100% crit chance on turret overcharge means that players can use turrets just for that reason only and you could even give them 25% crit chance while active to make leaving them active somewhat worthwhile.)

I think that pistol pistol now for pvp ,expecially if used with toolkit traited are really in a good spot. You have good condi damage . the only problem is that they should increase a little bit the sustain of not scrapper engi or to give to condi engi a better condition remove option . Pistol pistol now is in good spot with rabid and ft and toolkit. What it means is only that it suffer conditions more than scrapper for 2 reason : much lower sustain and lower health pool (with rabid you have 15k vitality so conditions hurt you faster) . If only a major trait of tools ( like adrenal implant for example ) would help a bit in condition clean it woul be great

The real problem of this game is that even after all this patches we have only one viable build/ weapon set for each class ( with little or not variation ) and this is not fun. We all play with the same builds … and having so many traits and weapon it is really sad. I think anet should think about it

FOR roaming a classic condi rabid-dire/balthazar rune build with firearm, alchemy and tool in my opinion works really well … not worst than scrapper ( ft , toolkit, elixir S, mortar ) . I use it quite often and i find it more effective than scrapper. scrapper is really strong but it is slow and you don’t have any good range weapon ,

I’d take power wrench instead of static discharge ( toolkit is really strong if traited ) and then i would take elixir B or U instead of rifle turret

flamethrower does not shine for dps damage. Nades and bombs with explosive are much better. In my opinion FT is better in a condition setup. You will use FT for its toolbet skill, for its utilities but not for dps damage imho.