Guild Wars 2

iSwordsman if traited don’t get the attack speed trait last time I tested it, don’t know if its fixed now.

alceste.8712:

coglin.1867:

dusanyu.4057:

Bombs and nades are boring Fun Flamethrower build getting nerfed see no point in trying to continue to lvl my engie

Your suggesting the FT or some specific build of it is getting nerfed? What build? And where is the information about it being nerfed. I generally stay on top of upcoming changes, and I have seen nothing that would nerf the FT. I need a link to evidence of this, or I am going to have ot call shenanigans.

FT builds are really being hit hard by the Incendiary Powder change. The loss of 10% damage from FT 1 while burning is significant.

and we all know, its the only access to burning for an engineer…. oh wait!

posthumecaver.6473:

And one big surprise with Celestial/Earth, I am getting really good Condi damage, Burning ticks like 800, so jumping in, dump my AOE, run away, heal, drop again the AOE, my direct damage is pitiful but actually my burning kills people now.

thats not from celestial for sure, maybe with a bunch of mightstacks. You need around 1900 CD to archive this number. Thats a pretty high number even with complete condi gear.

you can take a look at my lookdown build in my signature, 10/30/30/0/0 with Sw/Sw & Sc/P or Sw/Sw & Staff.

people just not adapt to the new content. 90% of the playerbase prefer to copy a build from the forum instead of thinking what traits and skills they need.

No bigger issues getting through the tower with my 3 favorite professions to the top and soloing hybrid with rampager/berserk gear (engineer, ele, mesmer).

@OP: You title is: roll heavy class or don’t play at all. and now you’re are wondering why there are discussions about every profession? c’mon….

Running Windows 8.1 pro without any problems on mediocre hardware (460GTX)

depends on your build. On a power heavy build with added conditions its fine (SD Gadget, Bombs) but on a condition build the pizza is at the top of the food chain

Captain Swag.5893:

blutstein.2468:

its pretty close to my favorite SD Build I use frequently (i switch between TK and EG), but yours lacks in synergy if you ask me.

• you choose Static Discarge, but you only get the full (reliable) effect with one Toolbelt skill, throw wench. Thats not enough to justify a trait imho.
• same with elixier CD, a trait for one elixier? the trait doesn’t decrease Toolbelt CD or the elixierguns super elixier or elixier F, or did they fix that?

i think your build works, but could use a little bit finetuning…

What would you recommend changing?

Depends on your personal playstyle
I would go…

• either towards elixirs but I would slot at least 2 elixirs (maybe S or C depending on situation) and get rid of SD because its not really reliable with ground targeting skills (something like this with HGH or 409)
• or towards SD burst (you can look at my build, if you choose adrenal implant (Tools XII) you didn’t really need IS, protection injection fits perfectly and adds some survivability or you keep IS and trait toolkit. Have you tried gadgets? PBR, Rocketboots and Slickshoes without kits its fun too once you get used to it. Feel free to add a kit or two.

But nevertheless its nice to see another rifle build and not another jump on the Grenade/Bombkit bandwagon.

This is mine

squishy but fun. I hope for some turret fixes (again) next patch so I can finally run a 3 turret SD build

its pretty close to my favorite SD Build I use frequently (i switch between TK and EG), but yours lacks in synergy if you ask me.

• you choose Static Discarge, but you only get the full (reliable) effect with one Toolbelt skill, throw wench. Thats not enough to justify a trait imho.
• same with elixier CD, a trait for one elixier? the trait doesn’t decrease Toolbelt CD or the elixierguns super elixier or elixier F, or did they fix that?

i think your build works, but could use a little bit finetuning…

thanks bro!

let me explain my answer:

1. read the post yes, I readed it.
2. think what you just read(understand it) my thoughts: Oh, somebody complaining about armor and usefulness of ascended armor, and how hard he had to work for his armor etc. using terms like NOT FUN (note the caps), useless and that light armor seriously needs a buff (so yes, i fully understand it)
3. think about your response(use logic) I followed exactly your hint: Use Logic! Player complaints about some pve-content screaming XYZ useless, need serious buffing, because it can’t be a L2P Issue!!!
4. think 2nd time about your response(make sure that you used logic) check!
5. and finaly write it down check!

wasn’t the intention of your thread a little bit of whining or is it just me? Then a big sry for you.

yes, heavy armor gots oneshotted to by the mines to. Because you have to move out of red AOE circles regardless of armor Thats is what I answered you for relation of your armor value to damage taken.

Just for you i will point out: armor doesn’t matter (in case of the mines), skill does. Which leads me directly to my conclusion → Its clearly a L2P Issue, Light armor needs no buffing (in my opinion).

no problem getting through the tower using doging and LOS with my Engineer. My only used ‘defense’ is heal-on-crit foodAnd the mines are clearly big and visible and you have 2 secs for dogding if their red circle appears.

So even if you don’t wanna hear it: its clearly a l2P Issue. Don’t walk into the red circles. Not that new, isn’kitten

look at my signature (like I told you ingame!)

oZii.2864:

I guess we could take the idea of conjured weapon traits a little further, see what we can come up with. The Fire line has a lot of dud traits which could be removed for something else.

I’ll throw out a couple possibilities:

Speedy Conjures Master Tier, probably to replace One with Fire
Conjured weapons are instant cast. Reduce the cooldown of skills of your conjured weapons by 20%

This idea touches on something players have been asking for (instant conjured weapons) with something conjured weapons don’t have right now (a cooldown reduction on their skills. It’d help make conjure builds less predictable.

Conjured Affinity not sure which tier this could go in
Conjured weapons grant the wielder boons if the caster is in the matching attunement.
Fire: Might x5
Air: Fury
Water: Regeneration
Earth: Protection
The boon would be refreshed every 5 seconds, up to (5 seconds * boon duration) if they’re below that amount

This grants a bonus for using LH while in air, FGS while in fire, and so on. It brings some defensive capabilities into the fire line if the player is running Ice Bow or Earth Shield, and improves DPS to some degree for FGS, Flame Axe and LH. The boons affect allies that use your weapons, and the duration mechanic means you can switch attunements and maintain the effect for a few seconds, so the offensive buffs in fire/air aren’t totally overshadowed by the usual Piercing Shards trait in water. I have a feeling this would be top-end Master tier, possible Grandmaster.

Greater Conjuration Master tier
Conjured weapons have a larger impact radius and deal more damage when summoned. Increase the size, range and damage of conjured weapons.
20% impact radius and skill range increase. 10% increased damage when summoned and from conjured weapon skills

Simply put, make the conjured weapons larger and more powerful. Generic statistical buff, but you can at least make it fun by actually increasing the scale of the weapons

These conjure suggestions are really awesome.

BTW Earth shield needs some condi removal, its our defense conjure… We cannot run 3 conj in a build, because of no condi removal (i hate the canneled heal, it screams ‘interrupt me!’)

i think its alot of exaggeration here. No Ele depends on 30 water/arcane, thats completely wrong imho, it only leaves more room for errors.

But i have to admit, 10 points arcane alone add alot of survivability (protection on demand)…

Tken.1986:

About Energized Armor and Blood Injection. Increased conversion from 5% to 7%.
To be honest, I am really curious about what make you guys decide to add extra 2%. I really still don’t see any point in investing in this kind of trait at all. In addition, this kind of change to me is like a filler only to make the list look better/longer.

Explosives IX – Accelerant packed turrets: I suggest redesign the trait to something else.
Even when playing with turret build, I would not go for this trait. This is one of the most questioned trait in my mind. With turret skills’s extremely LONG cool down. I would want my turret to stay alive as much as possible. Although the trait has nice knock back effect, still, doesn’t make sense with the super long cool down of turret skills.

Turrets: * of course, turrets needs the most adjustments.
The cost about the skills are far more than the benefits it can bring.
1. Super long cool down (maybe not rifle turret), brings down utility’s effeciency
2. Super squishy
3. Super weak raw damage

Let turrets crit (and proc on crit traits and/or sigils) and i would run a turret build.

I play both regulary, and both are fun. But its a lot of misinformation here imho.

• Besides grenade spam (I don’t know who like this, maybe warrior players) and Static discharge, there are no viable power builds. Engineers excel at condition bombing, but thats it.
• Elixier spam is like grenades spam. ground targeting over and over again. Maybe its just me, but…..
• a huge part of engineers core mechanic (turrets) is completely broken since Beta.
• some kits are questionable and many traits are broken.
• Ele DPS is by far higher than engineers.
• Build Diversity is the worst of all professions imho.

sure, thats my 2c. Don’t get me wrong, i really love my charr blood legion engineer, but imho its by far the profession in the game that needs more love.

Tempest Defense change is huge. thanks for buffing my D/D Dps spec.
i barely touch water and more than 10 arcana (dont like playing bunkerstyle, its funny some players calling 0/10/0/30/30 a dps spec), so i’m perfectly fine with the proposed changes.

Nikkinella.8254:

Gorni.1764:

Forgotten Legend.9281:

water 25… +2% damage per active boon…

1%, it was nerfed

I don’t know why that trait was ever in water to begin with. Boon duration stuff would belong in the arcane trait line I would think. Would be nice if it were buffed back to 2% and moved to the 25 pt in arcane, since the 25 in arcane is crap anyway, no one would miss it.

the idea behind the 25 arcane is great, but 10% on crit is way to low, even for adept and ridiculous for a GM minor. It should be 60% on crit like the air one.

Grevender.9235:

Eviscera.9703:

Let’s compare some of the elementalist skills and traits with other classes with similiar skills/traits. This was taken from Terra Dactyl.2047

Invurnable:
Elementalist- Mist form: 3s invuln, 75s CD. Can’t use other skills during vapor form, can’t cap points. Can’t trait for automatic mist form at certain hp threshold.
Engineer- Elixer S: Same as above, 60s CD. Can trait to get a second elixer S automatically.
Warrior- Endure pain: 4s invuln, can use other skills and cap points. 60s CD. Can trait to get a second endure pain automatically.

you missed the most overpowered of them all:

Mesmer : Distortion (1s for each clone/phantasm shattered) 60 cd
Blurred Frenzy (1h sword skill 2, lasts 0.5 secs and has 12 sec cd)

guess what? Mesmer will be boosted at what they already excel at

Mesmer will be the new Warrior (I honestly stopped leveling my Warrior, already have a full exo Mesmer that will have everything pressing a couple of buttons: condition removal, mobility, healing, invisibility, insane high damage)

blurred frenzy isn’t a invulnerability. Sry to burst your bubble.
Now go play your full exo mesmer until you wake up.

a wise man said:

you can’t cherry pick skills and compare them between professions in an effort to “balance.” With your logic there should be only one profession in the entire game.

quite similar to my build #2, if you want to take a look at it, but with a completely other focus (i focus on interrupts)

Rampagers works extremly fine with this 10/30/30 setup, but i have to agree with most of alissahs points.

you can take a look at my thread (link in signature), its a lockdown clonespam build with some explanations

Xaylin.1860:

Don’t go for power AND condition damage when running your build with Staff/Sword+Pistol. Staff might be an condition weapon at heart but it is a very defensive weapon. The condition damage coming from a Staff is not that strong and neither Sword nor Pistol would benefit. Focus on power, precision (crit chance) and critical damage while maintaining a level of vitality and toughness you feel comfortable with.

this simply isn’t true, hybrid works perfect, maybe not for every phantasm build but in general it works.
Especially if you take a look at the weapon skills, most of them favor hybrid dmg (Scepter, Staff, Torch). The Pistol to, magic bullet applies conditions and the channel of the phantasm stacks some nice bleeds if your critchance is good. On top of that can you combo chaosstorm – duelist. Even with fix its strong.

you don’t really get much out of Interrupt skills with a phantasm build imho.

Yeah, the sword skills aren’t too great for a condition build. I might give the pistol a try. Do you think it’ll still be better if I’m not in full rabid gear and focusing on the illusion line rather than dueling? The range increase from the pistol trait is nice, but Illusion 25 gives pretty much the same advantage otherwise.

I only focus on the Illusion line if I want a shatterspec or at least plan to shatter abit. At the moment I try a supportive lockdownbuild with heavy use of imbued diversion, but the awful CD of F3 even with 30 illusions is really annoying and not really reliable for a good lockdown build.

F1 is great, expecially with +20% dmg, but F2 sucks, F3 and F4 have more of a panicbutton, simply to long CD imho.

DesertRose.2031:

blutstein.2468:

thats simply way exaggerated, you never do 20%-50% more dmg with grenades.
Its a statement some people come up with because they don’t like the FT kit or whatever, i don’t know how you come to this numbers. So tell me, I would really like to see it!

Assuming you have the shorter recharge trait and the 15% damage trait:
490*2*1.15 = 1127
490*2*1.1*1.15 = 1244,76 (assuming the target is constantly burning)
(244 + 569)*1,15 = 934.95
2061.95 / 6 = 344
2174.65 / 6 = 362.4 (assuming the target is constantly burning)

Assuming the Grenadier trait and the faster recharge trait:
107*3*4 = 1284
179*3 = 537
1821 / 5 = 364.2
Now keep in mind that grenades inflict Vulnerability, and the only damage trait the grenade Engineer cannot take is either the 5% if bleeding or the 1% peer boon; so in the best case scenario for the Flamethrower the direct damage of GK is “only” a little more than 12% higher.
Assume the Engineer has 20% condition duration and factor in Grenade Barrage, Freeze Grenade and Bleed and you easily get over 20%.

Assuming the 10% damage trait for bombs:
407*1.1/0.91 = 492
That’s almost 36% more, and we’re still assuming the target is immune to Vulnerability.
Just for fun, lets assume the target is immune to Burning but not to Vulnerability, then Bomb Kit will deal roughly 44% more damage.

---

So yeah, if you consider dealing 70-80% damage is “coming close” it’s true.

On top of that the only considerable support with grenades is vulnerability, its laughable calling ‘cripple’ support, sry. FT/EG has multiple condition cleans, weakness, knockdowns etc. imho far better support with nearly comparable dmg.

Bomb Kit inflicts Cripple, not Grenade Kit. And yeah, a knockback (not knockdown) which pushes trash mobs out of the AoEs of your teammates and bosses are virtually immune to is such great support.
Also, you’re comparing a single utility skill with a whole build; if you take Bomb Kit, Elixir Gun and Healing Turret along the Grenade Kit the only advantage of the FT/EG Engineer is the shorter recharge of the EG skills. Meanwhile the grenade Engineer will support his team with 20+ stacks of Vulnerability, more than three times as much Blind and considerable more damage.

hell, i know it you throw in all the numbers for nothing.

So assuming:

• best case for grenades and bombs and worst case for FT/EG
• every single grenade or bomb hits you foe
• you are not getting onehittet in berserk gear with bombs melee on a boss, because they never move and you of course dropping your smokebomb in the right time
• you are NOT using knockbacks (not knockdown, thx bro, thank good you knew what i mean) on trashmobs because you are pro.
• you find the sarcasm

you are right and finish of the dungeon about 30 sec earlier!

durend.6237:

Xyonon.3987:

So – I tought about 15/30/0/25/0 recently. What shall I take at 30 in duelling if not mantra stuff?

Well your mandatory things are III in domination and II in dueling. You’ll probably want II and VIII in inspiration at most times, but when you don’t need reflects there’s no reason not to swap something to V.

so those last 2 in dueling.

IV: is one that’s hard not to take. 50 precision will help you and your reflects, give you quicker cooldowns on counter blade (daze for cancelling sword 4), your strongest single target dps phantasm AND blurred frenzy; making it a great offensive and defensive trait.

IX: if your taking sword and pistol offhands for the higher single target dps, take this. or if your in a place where you need the extra magic bullets.

X: clones on dodge, f3 shatter to proc dazzling without needing to put your phantasms to waste, otherwise you’ll probably want to avoid so you don’t override a phantasm with a clone.

XI: mantra of distraction procs your dazzling, if your willing to use mantra of recovery that’s 8% there. especially in cases where you can do high damage to mobs with your reflects.

• I’ll also mention VII because of this. MoR + MoD + Mantra of Resolve. I’m not the biggest fan of the healing mantra, but MoD and MoR give some great offensive utility (through dazzling) and defensively (party con removal) and can really boost your reflects. if your taking XI, VII prevents too much down time on your boost.
• You could also swap to the mantra heal using this, but I would only do so if you don’t need phantasm health or focus reflects (just remember to swap back when you do need the reflect) but I can rarely think of a time this is the case (melandru on arah 4?)

pretty much this^^

If you want, you can try my mantra build that i develop at the moment, but it isn’t finished yet, not completly sure about trait distribution and utilities.

I think we will see more mantra changes in near future.

DesertRose.2031:

Viable for PvE? Well, there are Flamethrower Engineers running around in Celestial gear that are doing “fine”, so I don’t see how your build shouldn’t do “fine”.
Good? No, Grenade Kit or Bomb Kit will give you between 20-50% more damage (properly even more if you run condition damage gear with a Flamethrower) and more support/survivability (Vulnerability, Immobilize/Cripple/Freeze, etc.).

thats simply way exaggerated, you never do 20%-50% more dmg with grenades.
Its a statement some people come up with because they don’t like the FT kit or whatever, i don’t know how you come to this numbers. So tell me, I would really like to see it!

A FT/EG 0/25/0/20/25 build comes close to Grenades. On top of that the only considerable support with grenades is vulnerability, its laughable calling ‘cripple’ support, sry. FT/EG has multiple condition cleans, weakness, knockdowns etc. imho far better support with nearly comparable dmg.

Not to mention the super boring playstyle of Grenades, but thats another story.

@OP: HGH with juggernaut is kind of might overdose imho, you can stack easily 25 might with juggernaut and firefield blasts. One point of DesertRose is valid: Condition dmg doesn’t bring much to the table with a FT/EG build.

Tulki.1458:

Something for you guys to consider… do you really want turrets to be able to follow you? For those who use a flamethrower or tool kit, such a trait would make the turrets completely useless. Think about it… the only “melee” turrets are the flame turret and the thumper turret. If a rocket turret or rifle turret can move, that means it can put itself in harm’s way when you enter combat. When I place one of those turrets, I place it with purpose: at the edge of its range, usually at an elevated position that’s hard for mobs to reach. Whenever I use turrets, I visualize their range and the mobs’ positioning. I want those turrets to stay where they are.

I think turrets should be immobile, but they should be strong. A nest of three engineer turrets shouldn’t be something that a berserker illusion can spin through and completely destroy without even dying itself. If you see a flamethrower, rocket and thumper in a single spot, it should make you think twice about getting close. Moving between them should really hurt. They need higher health, toughness, and damage.

In addition, make the Mortar elite skill both a usable siege weapon AND a turret. When it’s being used the player should have direct control, but if nobody is manning the mortar then it should launch its 1 skill automatically, perhaps with an overcharge (~45s CD) that will make it remotely fire its barrage skill.

really good comment. thats exactly how feel with turrets.

calavel.6249:

Pretty similar gear to what I’m using but totally different focus… interesting.

I’m 0/20/20/0/30, using staff and scepter/sword (2 blocks+leap) and a mix of carrion and rabid gear. I’m more focused on survival, so I don’t really have any chase tools besides blink (it works pretty well though).

I use CoF often to stack confusion, so I like to have the lower shatter recharge rate rather than more crit damage or toughness. I’ve been on the fence with Phantasmal fury since it only affects a few of your clones, but I can definitly see how iDuelist can get some mileage out of it. I usually go for the retaliation on block trait instead, or the sword specialist one.

sure, 2 blocks are nice, but Sw offhand with Condiheavy build isn’t really good.

• phantasm entirely powerbased. Sure, you shatter it, but never the less dmg potential wasted.
• block entirely powerbased – yes, you block, but you hit like a wet noodle, aren’t you?

you would loose a block, but the pistol would be a much greater dmg source for your setup than sword…

i would go berserk too. you can adapt your stats easily for a hybrid build with trinkets.

Mesmer Sc is kind of special, because its designed as a hybrid weapon (staff too). So it works with every kind of build, but best use is in a hybrid build imho

themenaceofseventhdimension.2075:

to be fairly honest and frank Bunda, I have dueled Osicat’s condi cat builds and other MH sword stealth builds with GS and Scepter/Torch for over 3 months almost. I know how devastating they can be. There is just no stopping a MH sword build when paired up with stealth and other mobile utilities and weapons. Plus GS, Scepter/Torch sucks at 1 vs X, just don’t have the change of combat style to throw your opponent off. When you lose to the same type of builds against even noobs, that tells you that something is wrong with your build. I don’t really want to accept it, but it is what it is.

that is simply wrong, MH Sword can be avoided easily with bf being stationary and especially with the immobilize-clone pathing issues.

If you can’t fight with Sc/T – GS doesn’t mean it sucks or others are noobs. this is kind of an arrogant statement.

funny, I like mantras too, but I think we are three out of 10 people who like it. Most players complain about them.

its been a while since i tried 30/30/0/0/10. Maybe I should give it a try again

@Xyonon: Maybe try 20/20/0/30/0. you get a glamour trait (but a mediocre) and a bit vulnerability.

Xyonon.3987:

Just edited my first post for my playstyle. I want to use mantras, glamour, phantasms full zerk.

so here we go:

• you want phantasm dmg, you need at look at the traits to boost your phantasm dmg, because its your mainsource of dmg → Dom III, Inspiration GM Minor, Illusions GM Minor.
• you want glamours, so going at least 25 points in Inspiration seems perfect for you (Glamours and phantasm-dmg). you want mantras? so going 30 Inspriation give you Restorative Mantras on top of that (or you choose between glamour or mantra)
• Since your phantasms inflict direct dmg mostly, goin 10 into dom seems to synergise well with it.
• looking at more mantra and phantasm enhancement, Dueling line seems perfect → Phantasmal Fury and more mantra stuff

And thats it: 10/30/0/30/0 seems to cover most of your wishlist. Play it for a while and adjust it to your playstyle until it fits perfectly.

Xyonon.3987:

Take for example the +3% per Illusion trait, requires 10 points. Now what would happen if I’d spent the 10 points into Dominion? +100 power. This results into:
+3% – +9% more damage for me or approximately +4% more damage for me and my phantasms. What is better now? This is on of the thoughts I’ve made and the keep overwhelming me :s

Better is the line with the trait you desire. If you have to choose between two lines, look what synergises better → in your case why goin deeper in Illusions if you don’t want to shatter often (therefore you don’t need F1F4 CD).

For example, theres another phantasm build around: 0/20/0/25/25. Although your phantasms are your direct dmg source and you rarely shatter, its a great build → but the conditionbonus and shatter-Cd-Reduktion is kind of wasted. But never the less – a great build.

Profano.9514:

17k hp are too low in WvW for me, even with Defense Against Guards maxed.

feel free to add some survivability with PVT or Dire if you need to.

short question, if you tried anything, aren’t you able to pick your personal must-haves by yourself and build around them?

we don’t know your playstyle, hell, how should we help you? what do you prefer? Shatter, Clonespam, phantasm, direct or condition? what PvE? Eventfarming? worldcompletion? dungeons?

at least i can only give you one hint: Don’t choose traits because of the bonus the traitline provides.

berserker has the most dps. But if you lack crit feel free to boost it with a few assassins. It doesn’t really matter…

there’s also a power variation of the 20/20/30 build around, with Sw/T – GS even before blackwater. Its called Hidden Fire… works fine!

2 vs 10 you loose no matter what you do perhaps you can lure some bad players out of the crowd, but seriously… if this would be possible with a build that isn’t made for such situations, i would stop playing wvw.

Sometimes I roam with my necrofriend and if we have the time to prepare us carefully, its managable to 2 vs 6… but again, only if 2 out of the 6 players don’t know what to do and hammer their skills when they are up.

themenaceofseventhdimension.2075:

I am kind of dumb struck on how this build is good at 1 vs X. This build is genuinely cool, and it has so many awesome things within itself, but without blink and only 1 real source of constant stealth (decoy) you are bound to be chased down pretty badly against even 3 people. 2 people you might be able to handle, but it is still very very very tough in my eyes. Again, it is just my own opinion and nothing else. overall great and interesting build. If you can, explain how this build can take on multiple people. I would really like to know to better understand your PoV.

imho no profession except thief due to reengages with full health is able to fight 3 people (that know what to do) at once. its very situational and depends on many circumstances for example: which professions? are they coordinated or synergise together? condi or dd? Its very reactive gameplay that follows no rotation or something. furthermore I try to maintain kind of a priority list:

• Phantasms as soon as possible and clones.
• Engage and look for interrupt. Usually I try to sword block, if no attack I throw it hoping for daze/interrupt. Well timed dodges are important too (don’t dodge only to get a clone, only if you are clearly on the upper hand). nearly everytime i land one or two interrupts before I even take dmg (boons and might up).
• torment block & kite (torment with 25 Stacks might is hurting alot). Due to constant refreshing of the through clonedeath applied first conditions, its not that easy to clean it with a single clean (there are very few condition wipes). Even if cleaned, the blocks are up again in no time (scepter block was slightly buffed last patch)
  If people don’t be careful with their action (chasing me with torment and confusion for example), they go down very fast.
• Look out for healings and always save a instant daze. they are the easiest interrupts with their animations and most people (even the good players i came across) tend to panic a bit if instead of their healing a halting strike hits.
• I got 2 sources of stealth (decoy, MI) Mi is mostly saved to escape.

keep in mind, if clonedeaths rolling, there are constantly weakness (very underrated), confusion and bleedings up. Usually I sit at 25 Stacks might in no time (BI, Sigil of battle). I’ve seen Sw blocks up to 8k, 4k haltings.

Its not a build to outlast your enemy. you get attacked aggressive, you punish aggressive. But you have to careful watch every action and don’t panic

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Will gladly add this to the list of lockdown builds. I really like that second build, and am curious…

thank you Chaos, I’m glad you like it. Have you tried it out yet?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

What’s your mentality when going into a fight? Are you defensive or more aggressive?

If I’ve the jump, I’m goin in very aggressive, usually with stealth (to buff me) or from range with scepter, but only to force some action… Usually I try to land my 2 blocks as soon as possible to add torment and 2 big hits + clone. But it really depends on profession (if thief i save my blocks for stealth reengages)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Have you tried Mantra of Distraction? I ran Signet of Dom for a while in Mind Crush before making the switch to MoD (and I really wish I could squeeze both into a build! )

MoD works fine too sometimes I run with 3 mantras (healing, MoD, MoR) and trait dmg. Since my clones applie their pressure mostly through explosions and conditions, buffing up my direct dmg isn’t that bad, but the constant recharging requires much more attention to the fight and therefore more downtime.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

How’s your defense? Without a Staff and with so little toughness/vit it seems you’re more on the squishy side.

Two blocks on short CD, 2 stealth (+buffing me up), dazes and stuns (and mostly a halting strike on top of that) and most important – the constant weakness from clonedeath helps alot and makes the survivability far better as it seems at first glance.

1vsX is possible, but imho every player who comes up with a story of fighting 5 people at once (and wins), fights against noobs and/or afks and/or with a huge amount of pure luck.

Its extremly important to get used to interrupts and predicting enemy moves (especially the big hitters), it took me a while and its even more difficult if you don’t play other professions and don’t know their mechanics and moves. But its very rewarding and if well timed (and/or some luck you can interrupt-burst one down.

But you’re right, If i’m wvw and only run across groups and/or zergs (not that unusually on elona reach) I switch to a more defensive setup staff + Sw/Sw with traited staff and Furious Interruption (very underrated) or empowered mantras instead of PU and pistol trait. I used this setup first to get used to the build.

Hi,

Engineer Trait Explosives (III) – Forceful Explosives doesn’t eather increase the Gadgets Mine-Radius or the Explosives Master Minor-Trait Reserve Mines

blutstein

Substance E.4852:

blutstein.2468:

Substance E.4852:

Kilger.5490:

Substance E.4852:

Chopps.5047:

“Imagine spike and frost trap at 900 range”

Which is why we’ll never get it lol! Seriously, 900 range traps would be insane! Total insanity imho.

He isn’t wrong in that we need more ranged aoe and it couldn’t be any worse than mark necros operating at 1200 range.

Yep, sry but you think traps are strong, you havent tried necro (my main for last year). Wells and marks do waaay more damage with stronger effects, at longer range. Necro has a trap ranger beat in that department by a long shot. Ranger is more mobile and has better single target dps, with decent aoe.

Which is the reason you see tons of marks/wells Necros in wvw zergs and virtually no trap Rangers. Or if they are there they’re dead seconds after throwing their traps because the zerg ran them over while they used up all their utilities at 600 range.

… and of course this has nothing to do with the current necro meta but rather with their wells. Sure.

Spectral wall and blinding plague form are also insanely powerful in a zerg fight, but, yes, it has a lot to do with the fact that Marks hit hard, have powerful effects and can be laid down in chokes. Anyone who actually brainless zergs WvW enough to try to comment would know this.

fixed that for you.

I play my 2nd hybrid lockdown-build mainly in WvW and its great once you get used to the reactive gameplay (link in signature)

Kizzu.5826:

I play static discharge with 3 turrets. Great burst potential by shattering turrets, providing knockbacks, extra static discharge and endurance.
Including a rechargeable breakstunner, stability for overcharged shots, 16 sec CD block and massive healing burst for survavibility.

same here

20/0/30/0/20 setup, but rather quickly selected, leaves room for further tweaking. But never the less funny, let me play my Engi more and more these days if only these turret bugs were fixed ….

Anyone knows if inventions XII (turret dmg +15%) affects SD? I think so, but haven’t tested it exactly.

Alissah.9281:

Actually, you can take on 1vs3 with any decent Mesmer pvp build that isnt built for 1v1 only. You just have to hope for 3 average players (most are average), if theres a pro, youre kittened :P

^^ this.

My builds (signature) are also capable of 1vsX.

Substance E.4852:

Kilger.5490:

Substance E.4852:

Chopps.5047:

“Imagine spike and frost trap at 900 range”

Which is why we’ll never get it lol! Seriously, 900 range traps would be insane! Total insanity imho.

He isn’t wrong in that we need more ranged aoe and it couldn’t be any worse than mark necros operating at 1200 range.

Yep, sry but you think traps are strong, you havent tried necro (my main for last year). Wells and marks do waaay more damage with stronger effects, at longer range. Necro has a trap ranger beat in that department by a long shot. Ranger is more mobile and has better single target dps, with decent aoe.

Which is the reason you see tons of marks/wells Necros in wvw zergs and virtually no trap Rangers. Or if they are there they’re dead seconds after throwing their traps because the zerg ran them over while they used up all their utilities at 600 range.

… and of course this has nothing to do with the current necro meta but rather with their wells. Sure.

Substance E.4852:

Yep, sry but you think traps are strong, you havent tried necro (my main for last year). Wells and marks do waaay more damage with stronger effects, at longer range.

… with doubled CD and useless combofields that you can’t even combo by yourself, only if you equip that awful staff you’re talking about (worst necro weapon by far) you have a whooping projectile finisher and a blast on CD.

You can’t cherry pick skills and compare them between professions because of what? ground targeting ?

i think thats the new waypoint in the citadel for the living story. Have you been there?

Updated and second build added.

Hi,

Mesmers Illusions look like silly townpeople, not like a copy of me.