I use kits purely for their utility. For example in WvW when facing a thief that drops down a shadow refuge, I will to the edge of the shadow refuge and flamethrower #3 to push him out which can hinder them significantly. If my FT #3 skill is on cooldown then I’ll run into the center of the shadow refuge and use my shield #4 skill twice to push him out.
I wouldn’t say you have to use the kits to continuously swap between them but rather use them when you need them much like Elementalists swapping between attunements when they need certain skills.
To answer your questions more indepth
1) Eles and Guardians are pretty OP, engis struggle with leveling up because they just don’t hit as hard that early on.
2) I answered that above but I’ll say it again, use the kits when you need certain utilities (at least that’s how I use them). It’s like Elementalists using attunement swaps to get what they need but we can switch to a different kit whenever we need to without the 9~15 second cd.
3)Turrets are crap. End of story. Maybe for spvp bunker builds but in pve they’re generally worthless. Only one worth using is healing turret for the heal+overcharge (5kish heal + 2 conditions removed + 5 second water field that allows you to heal more if you have blast finishers ready)
4)I use my equipped weapons when my pistol #2/3 is off cooldown and when I need to use my off-hand shield.
5)HGH engies are extremely OP, in full condi gear you would be pushing around 2k condition damage which hits HARD but it’s generally only good to use 1 or 2 or even 3 elixirs. Elixir H for healing, Elixir B for the 4 boons it gives (might, fury, retaliation, swiftness), Elixir S for the invulnerability/toss Elixir S for the stability/stealth (elixir S used to be really REALLY good but it was nerfed and it’s not as useful anymore), Elixir R for the instant endurance refill and toss elixir R for the revive field (use the toss Elixir R as you’re about to go down to generally get yourself back up). The 2 elixirs I almost never use are Elixir U and Elixir C, U is situational with its 2 combo fields that reflect/negate projectiles and C is good to cleanse ALL conditions on you.
6) I never really switch my traits due to them being exactly how I want them, sometimes I’ll swap out one of them to lower a cooldown of something trivial for a little bit but I’ll go back to what I was using of course that’s only in the build I’m using and doesn’t really apply to all builds.
7) Not sure what you mean by this. Stats as in the defense or the major/minor stats the armor has (such as Rabid armor having precision/toughness/condi damage). Regardless you want to have level 80 exotic gear because that gives the maximum stats all together.
On the build you’re using, I would swap out rifled barrels for hair trigger simple because the range increase isn’t all that useful but a cooldown decrease on those pistol skills is. Also swap out or remove cleansing formula 409 because you’re not using any elixirs at all.
