Guild Wars 2

Mortar, for all the reasons above, plus:

• Light field offers good cleansing, since the typical SD utilities/toolbelts (toolkit, rifle turrent, and potentially personal batttering ram) are all 100% projectile finishers
• Water healing – via orbital strike double blast and rifle turret detonate (you don’t want to keep up the turret anyway)
• … and since you have the water heals, you can experiment with other healing options besides HT – AED has potential for SD builds.

…or, just play S/D builds where you can just blindly smash all the F-skills :P

I have a MMO mouse with 3 rows of 4 buttons. It used to be perfect, since F1/F4 was bottom row, Utility + Elite was top row, and heal + dodge were in the middle for easy ‘panic’ accessibility.

I’ve bound F5 to one of my spare middle row buttons, but by poor thumb is so confused

…Now I need a 15 button mouse

Well, I found one (just one) use for the ground targeting – throwing swiftness boosts to yaks for speeding them to keeps. But since I can’t really use the rest of the cleansing boosts reliably, I still run HT and only switch to medkit briefly for this small niche utility.

Of course, I could just alt to a warrior to do the same thing, and medkit can go back to being totally unused.

“Elixir U is undoubtedly better, but what are you going to burst with? The kit that you didn’t slot in order to take elixir U?”

— Mortar

In all seriousness, you could run Elixir U for a mortar burst, stack lots of the explosives and firearms point blank/high health damage bonuses (plus scholar runes, fire/air etc). Then throw in something like Elixir B and Elixir S.

You basically play as a thief – stealth, stack fury and lots of might via HGH, and pop out with quickness and lots of point blank damage.

Yes, it would be a one-hit wonder build, you’ll either kill them immediately or lose the long fight, but it appears to be a viable full elixir alchemy build without using elixir gun.

I think the best think I am liking about mortar is it can fill the role of weapon kit, while still providing some of the healing potential of the old supply crate (siege rounds + water field).

With that being your main weapon kit, you can choose 3 actual utility skills. You could run some extra condi cleanse, or a double stun break, elixir B for stability – there are a lot more potential options now.

Played my dire/rabid condi build for a while, pretty much the old build with shrapnel, incindiary plus a few of the new traits like pinpoint. It worked ok, but with so many enemy condi roamers and gank squads wandering around WvW, I was running out of clears before others were.

A ranger had me ticking for 5k burn 2k bleed 0.5k poison with turret + elixir gun on CD

Anyways, I’ve swapped to a glass S/D rifle/mortar build, and am loving it!

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgEB1AL4BWw~

Traiting lock-on with utility goggles – the thieves and mesmer’s don’t know what hit them. I tend to swap around that middle tool, using IV for movement, V for when there are stealthers around, or VI for general combat.

I can nuke condi roamers now, although I tend to bleed out after the kill…

The original design of grenades were very cumbersome and heavy, requiring a great deal of training and expertise (ie Grand Master) to be able to throw over long distances and throwing handfuls (3) grenades at a time.

After some refinement, the new grenades are smaller and more portable, allowing even the most junior of Engineers to be able to throw multiple grenades, albeit at shorter range. However, these grenades are cleverly weighted, so that experienced Engineers may throw them with greater speed and accuracy than was previously possible.

I definitely want to see what the Gadgeteer boosted slick shoes looks like (bigger oil patches!). If its good, that might find a place for stab-stripping Engi’s that want to play a tankier front line support role.

Just a guess really: they’ve rolled Potent Elixirs into HGH. Given that that they’re really talking up the synergy – eg. talking about how seeker rocket is an explosive and is thus affected by explosives traits.

Given the Elixir round has the ‘Elixir’ tagged on it, and they mentioned that it is affected by traits, I was hoping that meant that the other ‘Elixir’ tagged skills would now be affected too.

Some thoughts on healing best-practises:

• Get plenty of tags early in fight with grenade/mortar – get the early kills to stack heal rating
• Water field from mortar, plus blasts from orbital strike, acid-bomb + shield (if safe to enter range), throw-mine (if taken)
• If only using ranged blasts – make sure equip med-kit for +15%
• Keep up regen on self with Elixir healing mist, and med-kit throw bandage (6s d/5s cd) to get the +250H from energy amplifier
• Use elixir-gun Super-Elixir, your heal rating bonuses and HGH will make this reasonably potent, but take care since it is a high duration light field – you won’t be able to dump a water field in this area
• Make full use of your Elixir skills to remove conditions (Elixir Gun: Fumigate, Acid-Bomb, Super-Elixir, Mortar: Elixir Shell as well as any utilities you picked).

On a side note: acid-bomb is now classes as an Elixir and thus affected by HGH +20% duration, so drop it on downs to cause them extended pain

(Mortar-Medic = MM build)

This is my variant of the build above, main trait differences are explosives, and siege rounds. I focus a bit more on condition duration for offensive, and add Elixir B for backline support.

Explosives

Minors:

• Evasive Powder Keg: Create a bomb when you dodge.
• Steel-Packed Powder: Your explosions cause 5s of vulnerability.
• Explosive Powder: Explosions deal 10% more damage. Your turrets explode, dealing damage and knocking back nearby foes when destroyed

Adept:
Grenadier: Increases your throw velocity of grenades by 100%. Increases the blast radius of grenades by 60
OR
Glass Cannon: Deal 5% increased damage while above 90% health
Master:
Shaped Charge: You deal 5% increased damage to foes affected by vulnerability.
Grandmaster:
Siege Rounds: Orbital Strike comes down an additional time one second after the first strike. Mortar Kit ability effects last 40% longer.

Invention

Minors:

• Cleansing Synergy: When you use a healing skill you emit a cleansing pulse to nearby allies, removing a damaging condition from them. This trait has a 10 second internal cooldown.
• Heal Resonator: When you use a healing skill you grant 6s of regeneration to nearby allies.
• Energy Amplifier: While under the effects of regeneration you gain up to 250 Healing power.

Adept:
Over Shield: Shield recharge 20% faster, 4 sec protection to allies
Master:
Soothing Detonation: When you combo a blast finisher nearby allies are healed.
Grandmaster:
Medical Dispersion Field: You heal nearby allies for 12% of whatever you are healed for.

Alchemy

Minors:

• Hidden Flask: Drink an elixir B when struck while below 75% health.
• Transmute: Incoming conditions have a 100% chance of being converted into a boon. This trait has a 15 second internal cooldown.
• Alchemical Tinctures: Elixirs remove a condition from affected allies. Boons you apply last 20% longer.
  
  Adept:
  Health Insurance: While using Med Kit your outgoing healing to others is increased by 15%.
  Master:
  Inversion Enzyme: Elixir Gun abilities which remove conditions now convert them into boons instead.
  Grandmaster:
  HGH: Elixirs grant 2 stacks of might for 20s and their other effect durations are increased by 20%.
  
  Utilities

• Heal: Medkit
• Grenade Kit : take Grenadier if taking this
  OR
  Mine Kit : if you want unblockable boon-stripping and a ranged blast finisher
• Elixir Gun
• Elixir:
  B – for Stab/Fury/Swiftness(runes + tinctures + HGH = +60% duration)
  R – for Zerg Rez support (HGH = more pulses)
• Elite: Mortar

Rune Options

• Altruism
• Water
• Traveler
• Ice

Sigil

• Life: Stack heal rating
• Chilling: 20% Chill duration

Armor

• Soldier

Trinkets

• Berserker

Food

• Koi Cakes
• Toxic Sharpening Stones

Why?

I am trying to achieve something similar to you – a good zerg support build.
However, I don’t want to completely remove its offensive utility: Elementalists currently manage to provide good support while still maintaining offensive capability; we should be able to do the same.

Ultimately, I envisage this as

• Something that sticks in a back-line group, dishing out good healing and boons to the artillary (eg. Necros).
  Some groups will often run a guard in the Necro squads, hopefully an MM Engi can fill that role
  * Some stability in the form of Elixir B
  * Protection via shield skills
  * Lots of healing and condi cleanses – more important with Necro consume conditions being nerfed.
  * Good access to fury via Elixir B and medkit
• More healing potential as (current meta) Ele
  * Sigil of life, Runes (if taken), Energy Amplifier, Health insurance, Soothing Detonation, Medical Dispersion Field should be plenty of heals
  * I feel you shouldn’t need to take any heal rating on your armor + trinkets
• Imparing conditions
  * Lots of chill and poison potential – 2 chill and 4 (!) poison skills
  * Mortar fields have a high up-time and will help zone out sections of the battle field
  * Something that synergises well with other backliners, well timed chills can increase the time enemies spend in wells and other fields
• Maintain good damage
  * Vuln stacking + shaped charge means you can quickly stack vulnerability, as well as deal damage

Why no toolkit? If you are playing more backline support, you shouldn’t need the block unless you are being picked. The shield off-hand already provides some block and protection up-time; I’d rather be able to take grenades (for a solid damage dealer and extra conditions), or mines (for boon strip and an extra blast finisher).

Done. Pretty charts with the results!

@Jack, I believe that means that you are playing the class because your team (sPvP) or server group (WvW) needs that class. It stands for composition – your optimal team might call for a particular class or build. If you are playing a class because it is ‘needed for comp’, I guess it means that it is a class that you are playing out of necessity rather than personal preferences.

I think you can stow weapon to cancel the sword burst skill after the immob, rather than burning a dodge.

Of course, if you are facing down a lich at point-blank, that dodge could be useful anyway

Hmm, now I’m torn.

All things equal, I’d probably go for the Cele Engi then; I like Amadeus roaming vids (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Video-Outnumbered-WvW-roaming)

If you ever find yourself in a zerg as an Engi, at least you can go full blast spec and do some extra heals. However, I find myself always wanting to switch character when I hit a zerg, even random button smashing on an ele/necro/guard/warrior seems to be more useful in a zerg than a well built and played engi

Of course, you could make medium zerker, and try roaming with an Engi SD build

Then the armour is both cheap, and re-usable (for meta thief and ranger glass cannon builds).

Although you might want to practise with SD for a bit before committing to it, since it doesn’t fit everyone’s play-style.

You have a couple of other factors to consider too – price, and reusability.

Question – if you pick Ele, it will have Zerker stats, but Engi will have Celestial?

I’d be tempted to go for the Ele zerker ascended. It costs more to make, but as you’ve said, it will be better cosmetically, plus the same armour will be quite viable for other light armour classes (back-line power necro, shatter or PvE mesmer). Celestial medium is pretty much only usable for Engi’s.

What utilities are you running?

Awesome vid!

Great discipline with picking up your turret… I tend to panic a bit in 1vX and am moving too much when dropping turret, and end up needing to blast it rather than pick up.

Nice to see a well played roaming PP – think I’ll need to give that another try after watching

Of course, if you really want to stay condi for ZvZ, I would aim to fill a role of soft-CC. That is, don’t worry too much about condition damage, but maximise the amount of chill, cripple and immobilise that you can put out.

Something like this, perhaps?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNArdWjc0UebvNe3wfjicBRyetgKQkdyQZ2wA-T1hHABFp8Lo9HA4JAso6PBcKAOTfAUKBDAgAMzysMnZgje0je0je0m5Mn5Mn5MLFAMLrA-w

Key points:

• Focus has excellent chill duration with spinal shivers
• If you do land a good soft-CC (like a long duration chill), use epidemic to spread it around
• Use chilling darkness to trigger chills from bleeds. This has good synergy with scepter/staff low CD skills, sigil of geomancy, and plague. It is pretty low duration, but your runes and food buffs gets it up to some nice numbers.
• Greater marks to punch through the front liners aegis effects
• Path of midnight for tainted shackles, dark path, doom CD

I’d suggest playing with utilities a bit too. Perhaps spectral grasp for plucking someone into your group, and applying lots of your long duration soft-CC to give them little chance to escape alive? You might find you have good synergy with a snipe team.

Since you are effectively filling a support role with this build, signet of undeath might be suitable too. Listen to your voice channel to hear the call for ‘banners’, signet of undeath fills the same role.

In general, I would recommend that whatever route you go for (power, condi damage or soft-cc condi/support), you tone down some of your survival traits and utilities. While roaming calls for plenty of mobility and stun breaks these are less necessary in a zerg fight. Positioning tends to be far more important that survival skills, and death shroud is often enough to get you out of a stick situation.

For Necro, you probably will want to switch to a power wells build for ZvZ battles. I know it is frustrating when you already have your ascended condi gear, and condi is great for roaming and small fights. But ripping apart enemy zergs is just too good, and so much fun for those larger fights, you’ll probably want to get yourself some exotic berzerker gear and switch up your skills and traits.

Join in your commanders voice channel and listen for the call for full bomb/wells etc.
Or if you don’t have voice, wait for a push from either group and drop everything in the enemy front-line. Drop into death shroud to boost your wells crit chance right up, and hit life-transfer and spam piercing life blasts for plenty of high dps. Time your boon strips so that you are ripping stability off them just as the zerg CC hits (ele static field, melee hammers etc.).

The Metabattle build is a good starting point for power wells necro, try both builds that are there and experiment with your own changes. I personally like the wells recharge for smaller groups, or groups with a weak front-line, switching to the full power meta for larger or front-heavy groups.

I did a bit of practise in EotM with this, swap out toolkit for bombkit, and you can blast big ol bomb, heal turret and magnetic inversion, plus the Elixir S utility for 9-10s of stealth.

You can definitely cause mass panic in the crazy blobs that make up EotM with that approach, but I’d want something with a bit more support and well planned (like with Foefaller suggests) to take this out to regular WvW.

Also, for roaming, consider having one of your utilities flexible – ie. change it up based on the situation, before you engage.

So rocket boots might be your typical utility, but consider changing to:

Elixir S: to get the drop on someone via stealth, or fighting a small skirmish and you want to secure stomps & rezzes
Elixir Gun: for extra utility – bit of healing & condi clear, extra poison, downed cleave, and bleed/weakness pressure (good versus burst builds).
Slick Shoes: for some alternative means of escape and low CD stun break, the oil can be used offensively too and is good for securing stomps and rezzes

I even occasionally bring out utility goggles for dispatching enemy thieves. It is worth it just for the sheer fun of seeing them stand in SR wondering why they aren’t stealthing. Although I usually only bother if we are trying to clear a pesky thief out of a captured keep.

I’d drop the 3rd point off Firearms, and either pick up ‘Backpack Regenerator’ from Alchemy, or ‘Power Wrench’, ‘Leg Mods’ or even ‘Speedy Gadgets’ from Tools.

Backpack Regen: for those long, drawn out roaming condi fights
Power Wrench: for block cooldown
Leg Mods: for keeping mobility up versus soft-cc
Speedy Gadgets: for rocket boots CD

Most Engis don’t pack anything other than a healing turret, for 2 condi-cleanse every 15 seconds (provided you pick up and don’t detonate the turret). It is one of the reasons Engis are somewhat vulnerable to condi builds in PvP/WvW.

For PvE I doubt you will ever need more, but you can always take Elixir C. Failing that, try Sigils (Generosity, Purity), Runes (Melandru, Hoelbrak, Antitoxin) or Food – although most of those are only viable options at level 80.

Earth runes look nice, does the magnetic aura proc help? I was worried that 20% was too low for it to help much, and might compete with self-regulating defenses.

My typical go-to for cheap survival runes are Runes of the Dolyak.

Just re-reading insanemaniac’s post – I think I will give kit-refinement a shot too. As you say, only one kit – and no speedy kits – means you can time the kit switch to place the magnet bomb.

MOAR CC!

I have been running something similar for the last couple of days, albeit mainly in EOTM.

I have something pretty close to the second build you linked, although I’ve gone for throw mine instead of rocket boots. Just for giggles, I also traited accelerant-packed turrets. The amount of CC is absurd – slick shoes burns through a few stacks of stabs, while mine, shield (x2), heal turret, big ol’ bomb and supply crate all knock a few more points off. The mine has the boon-stripping as a nice bonus.

It is a lot of fun – I’ve found the slick shoes to be great for not just stab stripping the front-liners, but also for using super speed to run down stragglers as the opposing group pulls back.

Also, if you’re feeling a bit less kamikaze, you can bring plenty of utility to the group with might stacking, healing bombs, blinds etc

I’m going to give it a shot in some proper BL/EB zerg v zerg action – I will probably end up needing to re-jig for more survivability. But hopefully I can keep the skill setup, its awesome to be able to bring the same CC potential as 2 or 3 hammer frontliners

Regarding Torment Sigil: this is actually not a bad choice. Not because of the damage – as you point out, one application doesn’t do a lot – but because it ‘protects’ your heavy damage conditions.

When facing classes that have limited condi-cleanse (eg. only 1 or 2 at a time), there’s more chance they’ll cleanse off a tiny stack of torment, and leave some heavy dps burning/bleeding ticking away.

Engi’s already have pretty much every condition type, with torment the only one you are lacking is fear.