Guild Wars 2

As others have said, Healing Turret is really powerful (I would argue that it is currently one of the best heal skills in the game across all professions). That doesn’t mean, however, that you should blindly equip it and go on.

Med Kit, for example, can also be very strong. It allows you to trigger on-heal effects whenever you want by equipping or unequipping it (e.g. from runes, or from Enhance Performance trait). It has very strong self-healing capacity (though it has poorer condition removal and no team support compared to healing turret). If you spend lots of points in tools, the cooldown is reduced and also refreshed when below 25% HP. And it allows easy triggering of Speedy Kits. I often prefer Med Kit when roaming for these reasons.

If you’re using an elixir build with traits, Elixir H also makes a lot of sense – though generally not otherwise.

I main Engi but have a moderate amount of experience with Ele too. I mostly play WvW.

If you’re looking for team support (offensive or defensive) in WvW, Ele’s are always welcomed for their water fields, might stacking, and heavy AoE pressure (staff). Either one can roam effectively in WvW. I don’t play enough PvE to make recommendations there.

In my impression, the biggest difference is how Ele and Engi’s toolboxes are set up. Both professions have a large number of skills/versatility. Ele’s come in very large packages (20 weapon skills on a weapon set) that are relatively rigidly-defined (e.g. all D/D Ele’s will, of course, have exactly the same 20 weapon skills). Engi’s toolboxes are often smaller (unless it’s a 3+ kit Engi), but is more flexible. You can mix and match any weapon sets (kits/utilities) you like to fit your intended role/playstyle. However, in my impression, each individual Engi skill seems to have a little less impact than single Ele skills, perhaps because you can combine them in almost any way you like.

Finally, in terms of capabilities, Engi is pretty much the top profession IMO in terms of hard CCs, with lots of access to knockbacks and launches. They are also very strong for condition builds. Weakness are lack of stability and poor condition removal. Ele’s can put out a lot of healing and boons for teammates without giving up on personal offense or defense. Someone with more experience may be able to explain their weaknesses better than me, but I think it is mostly tied to their low health pool and armor, which may necessitate more defensive gear, traits, or utilities, to boost survivability.

I’ve been looking forward to a “melee” build with toolkit, yet even with the new 10% damage increase of Power Wrench, it doesn’t really seem to compare to a real melee weapon.

I think switching Power Wrench to increase attack speed with Toolkit attacks by 10% instead of 10% more damage would help to overcome the wrench’s primary drawback (it’s slow). Faster attack speed = more on hit/crit triggers, and an easier time hitting moving targets.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I can see the nice synergy with Cleansing Water, Soothing Disruption, and cantrips (and Elemental Attunement helps too).

As I mentioned, I really like the focus, but I don’t like the scepter, so D/F seems like it would be useful for me. But is it viable? Does D/F lack damage vs. D/D? If so, can I use the focus skills (e.g earth #4, #5, air #4) to make up the defense provided by cantrips, and then take more offense-based traits/utilities? I’ve tried D/F with signets or conjures but haven’t come up with anything reasonable. That said, I am not opposed to D/D +cantrips either. Is D/D signets viable? Or too fragile/slow for roaming?

I also like staff, but I need to be able to roam. Is this impossible for staff? (e.g. if I can’t deal with a thief, then I can’t roam with staff).

Hello,

I am interested in WvW roaming with Ele. I have an 80 Ele and some experience, though my main is another profession. I have messed around with several builds of my own devising (of course, inspired by builds of more experienced Eles), but haven’t been too successful yet.

Does anyone had any suggestions or ideas for WvW roaming builds? Meta or unique builds are both are fine, since I’m new-ish to Ele. Getting input from people who are more familiar with all the possible trait/skills synergies would be helpful. Simple or complex builds are fine, I am not averse to high apm or tactical play.

I see that D/D celestial is good right now, though unfortunately I don’t have celestial armor for my Ele right now, and it takes too long to get. I like D/F – is this useful for roaming? Overall, I am simply interested in coming up with a list of builds, synergies, or ideas that others with more Ele experience have found useful, so that I can adapt them to my own playstyle.

Thanks

@Phyrax

I just responded to your similar thread in the Ele forum. Overall, I think the idea is fine, and I would appreciate the added versatility to the class, despite some complaints by others. I will compare your idea to turrets: We can make a turret build that focuses on maintaining turrets as a permanent damage source with things like Metal Plating and Rifled Turret Barrels. Or we can use turrets as a short-term expendable effect or buff with things like Accelerant Packed Turrets and Fortified Turrets. These different methods of using the same skills is really cool and should be applied to other skills, if possible.

We already have Juggernaut that encourages camping in FT, maybe with the upcoming damage buff, it will be just fine to do that.

I like the idea, but I caution the difference between “stay in a single kit a lot” and “never ever unequip the kit, not even to use Static Shot or Overcharged Shot”, for example". One of these makes sense, and one does not.

Actually I think this is an interesting concept. A non-damage kit with only utilities, as an elite without a cooldown on equipping/removing the kit could be feasible, I think.

I do have some concerns about the details, however:
1. Jammer – there are no other professions that can interact with seige or destructible objects in WvW at all. This inclusion might make engis too inclusive for WvW (even moreso than mesmer portal does). A group of engis could chain-disable a golem, for example.

2. x-ray. Increasing healing by 25% on allies is A LOT. Especially since the field lasts for 5 seconds. People would find ways to abuse that for sure. I think I modest 10% increase in healing, for example, would be safer. Even then, it’s a new field effect to be added to the game which might add too much complexity (because now other classes need to know that your field is special and gives +10% healing)

3. Radar Drone. The 50 target cap / 3000 range might make for some latency issues. I’m not a programmer, so I can’t be sure. It’s a cool idea, but if it lags someones’ game, it won’t be fun. Is there a way to decrease the range / target cap and still make it useful?

4. Target illuminator – this one I’m not sold on. The projectile tracking sounds really difficult to implement, prone to bugs, and likely OP. Especially for the non-targeted things you mentioned, like grenades, or siege weapon attacks.

5. Gyroscopic module – We could use stability, though with all the other creative ideas on this kit, a 120sec cd stun break w/ 10 sec stability sounds kind of unimaginative, to be honest. That said, if it would be useful, it’s not a problem.

My main is not an Ele (it is Engi), but I do have an 80 ele and will put forth my thoughts on this anyways.

I think it is important to define the objective very carefully. Is your objective to be able to sit in one attunement and never switch? I expect the current traits/abilities do not support such a play-style. I think, however, if you want to prioritize using one attunement, it may work, if you’re willing to switch to other attunements from time to time for specific useful utility spells. You may find a build that benefits from sitting in fire attunement most of the time, for example, but still need to be willing to switch to water for a chill or heal, or earth for an immobilize or reflect. If your objective is that you’ll never switch attunements, I think you will be at an inherent disadvantage.

I have considered similar scenarios on Engi and came to these results – refusing to use a resource that you have available always puts you at a disadvantage. However, you may find a build that happens to benefit from staying in one attunement much (but not all) of the time. I can’t say for sure, however, if such a build would be competitive or just passable.

Ronin.7381:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

What I want to know is why, as the ‘boss’, I’m reporting to a freaking child. Asura she may be, but child she remains. She should not be calling the shots.

Being an Asura is kind of a big deal. As soon as they can talk after birth, they’re practically smarter than the average human. :P

I did notice that, when I played through last week’s story quest on my non-Asuran engineer, Taimi had a few profession-specific words for me about steam minotaur design. But when I played on my Asuran non-engineer, she talked with my character at length about researching Scarlett.

Zach.3264:

I’ve ran turret build several times in Solo Queue and I never encountered someone who knew how to counter turrets.

I generally don’t have much problems with turrets. I stay out of range ankitten ot afraid to spend a few seconds nuking them down before moving in. But I do agree that most non-engineer players seem to ignore turrets while staying in their range and getting shot by them.

So I don’t think turrets are OP, it’s just that no one knows how they work except for engis (I mean no offense to players of other classes; turrets change almost every balance patch, and it’s a lot to keep up with if it’s not your main).

Not saying I’m for or against this change, but also consider:

-all of our other alchemy traits that involve elixir use also benefit from elixir traits, so this one probably would too: reduced cd from fast-acting elixirs (from 45 to 36 sec), condition removal with 409, and might with hgh, for example. So in an elixir-based build, this might not be too bad.

-this ability is very passive; perhaps even moreso than the current implementation of automated response. You can’t always control when you get down to 25% hp, making it somewhat random. However, once you’re there, you can control how you respond (e.g. in the current implementation). Do we really want more passive/triggered abilities?

Aaron Parker.9067:

So, this is a post to start getting hyped for the new patch tomorrow!

What are some things us engineers might come to get from the patch?

Personally, I want to see us get hammers. I mean, come one? Engineers are steampunk and what is more steam punk than engineers throwing out turrents and CCing with a huge hammer?
I imagine that new elites will come eventually and would love for a kit elite, like a Gatling gun or something!

What do yall think?

I’m hoping for an elite Gatling Gun turret actually. But I agree with the others, I expect this update will primarily be story-based content and have very little if any new profession balances / updates.

But don’t forget, acidic coating triggers only against melee attacks and only affects the attacker. Armor mods triggers against any attack and will block the next attack against you, regardless of who is doing the attacking.

And on paper, invigorating speed is equivalent to adrenal implant only if it’s triggered exactly every 10 seconds…but if you have +boon duration, that also makes invigorating speed stronger.

I’m not saying one option is better than the other, just something to think about.

On another note, armor mods AND acidic coating together makes for some fun times…

Dice Dragon.4326:

Lol?Cleansing ire is no power sacrificed for it.

Healing spring might not be the best in a mobile pvp fight, but in pve/point holding, it takes 1 condtion a pulse, this thing is kittenED good at healing you AND removing conditions from you, and everyone else.

Engi is once again in a position where, wanna do big deeps? you bring bombs/nades, generally lack defenses though. Wanna stack might? lose out on dps utilities/blow cds to blast for it. We can cleanse conditons but lose so much for it. but I think this is a good balance.

As for Elixer C, I used to run it, but in most cases what makes it bad is that it removes a ton of conditions at once, but has no other application. Elixer C problem is its SO good at removing condtions. Even if it had a stunbreak, EG removes Conditions, and can cleanse others with 3. and heals, and is a stunbreak, and cripples, and weakness spam, and bleeds, and has a blast/escape in acid bomb. it really is just plain better then Elixer C in all regards other then BURST condition placement where they place 6 of them on you are once, you can pop C to be free of them INSTANTLY, but most condition builds add them over time, slowly chipping you. sooooo its useless.

This is sort of what I was thinking. I’m not complaining about our condition removal or asking for defensive options for free. Instead, I thought “I’d really like to use Elixir C. How can I make it useful?” (I primarily play WvW). So I tried it out and, in my experimenting, it was generally better not to use it than it was to use it – often by replacing it with a kit, a stunbreak, or a mobility skill. Even with Elixir C, I felt more sources of condi removal were needed, since once you use it you can’t remove any more conditions (save 1 every 30 seconds from the toolbelt) for 32/40 seconds – this is a very long window of vulnerability. This is not a factor unique to the engineers’ full condi cleanse, of course.

I don’t like useless skills, so I try to find applications for them. It could be that Elixir C is not terribly useful in WvW, or atleast in the roaming-capable builds I tend to play.

Drakent.9605:

Why are you having a hard time cleansing condition ?

engineering has 4 other ways to remove condition beside elixir c,

1) elixir gun – super elixir, remove 1 condition every 20 sec

2)med pack- antidote, remove 1 condition every 15 sec

3) 3 pts in alchemy – transmute, turn 1 condition into a boon every 15 sec

4) 4 pts in alchemy- Cleaning Formula 409, remove a condition when using a elixir.

Cleaning Formula 409 has to be the strongest cleansing ability in the game since you can use 8 elixir at the same time if you wanted too

Also the reason why elixir c has a high cd and can be reduce by 20% is b/c it doesn’t cleanse condition but converts it into a boon

This is all true. I don’t mean to imply that our only option for condition removal is Elixir C. Rather, based on a recent State of the Game talk with Anet, condi removal is intended to be one of our weak points. Despite that, Elixir C still seems unused. I wanted to generate discussion to see if other people agreed that Elixir C was useless, or if anyone had found any clever uses for it.

I don’t think that Elixir C is underused because it is weak. For a 40 second cd, you convert all condis into boons, and you get a toolbelt skill that does the same for a single condition. This is, on paper, stronger than most other classes’ full condition clearing abilities. I think Elixir C is underused because it requires a utility slot, which are highly needed for us to function competitively, arguably more so than other professions. So, has anyone found a way to take advantage of Elixir C in such a way as to negate the cost of the utility slot it goes in? For example, being able to use AED, since you can use Elixir C to clear conditions and no longer need Healing Turret. Or is there anything anyone has done to make particularly clever use of the huge influx of boons you get for 5 seconds after using Elixir C? Etc.

krixis.9538:

they would not be changed for SPVP

SO STOP TALKING ABOUT SPVP I DONT CARE ABOUT SPVP !!!!!!

in pve how ever a game where the vast % of players are is a different story.

for PVE DUNGEONS / FRACTALS ONLY READ IT give them aoe immunity
WvW is all about zerg play and if u are running about WvW alone u will be mown down by roamers and deserve to die. also MMO pvp is never designed for 1v1 its designed for group play so having turrets scale would be nice and wont be OP.

the only OP turret would be the net turret so don’t give that aoe immunity. and u would have to spec into invention to even have a remotely usefull very short reflect for a turret,

as it is right now

lol the engineer poped a turret. random no skill aoe placed over turret. turret dies 5 seconds later and the player is still focused on the engineer.

this is just an example as to show u how useless they can be.

now a pve example

I place a turret in a “safe spot” but it counts on the boss threat list. what is this red circle of doom over my turret that gets 1 shot ??
whats this random stupid person runs into my turret and it dies from the aoe focused on them ?
whats this rocket turret no logner causes burn and is now 1000 base line range has 4 sec fire rate and hits for around 800 dmg but its aoe

whats this rifle turret only this for 500 dmg per shot and forces you to bug over charge to have a 1 sec fire rate to make it even worth using. yet its tool belt ability can crit and scales with power and has a 6 sec cd and can be fired at any direction even when stunned !

whats this full zerk build with 0 points in invention is the fav build for DPS engie even if speced in full inventions does less dps then current meta.

whats this ppl only use the inventions reflect for wvw to protect build sites bu using 3 turrets 1 after each other then a supply crate ? after that the turrets die a painfull death from the aoe zerg that follows

for WvW it would atleast force players to make a choice go for the engie or go for the turret.

atm its just LOL turret random faceroll no skill aoe and focus on engine while the turret dies.

most ppl have no idea what they talk about and just spew out crap.

WoW had this issue with hunter pets and shaman class that uses totem that work exactly like turrets do. both of which was solved by giving them aoe protection.

the pets take 95% less dmg from aoe and have their base hp.

the totem have 5 health but immune to all forms of aoe. and only need a single direct dmg attack to destroy them.

TLDR

give turrets in PVE DUNGEONS / FRACTALS aoe protection and do not add it to SPVP and make turrets mobile on mini tank treds like bomb disposal robots IRL. but again not work in SPVP

WVW is not real pvp its just big zerg vs bigger zerg with stupid ppl running about alone asking to be killed by a thief. any decent WvW player is with a group being usefull .

You make a sad (but true) point about rifle turret toolbelt doing more damage than the turret itself, it is kind of silly.

I personally agree with Anet’s stance on the specific issue of PvE/WvW/PvP skill balancing in that they don’t want to drastically change skills effects between game modes, though tweaking numbers when warranted is okay. However, this is only my opinion, and it is reasonable if you disagree. That’s why I personally do not support mobile turrets in PvE only, for example.

But I can see a few options for reducing the turret mobility problem:

1) make turrets mobile by default – I do not support this method since I like placing turrets in hard-to-reach areas. Even if they got AoE invulnerability, mobile turrets would remove the capacity to strategically place turrets.

2) provide a trait which makes turrets mobile – I think this is an okay option. However, unlike the Ranger trait which makes Spirits mobile, this trait may not be good in all cases (e.g. with deployable turrets, the turret could be placed strategically at range…but then it would immediately run up to you and follow you around? How would this work?). I can also imagine trying to whack one of your turrets with a wrench to heal it and it runs away from you to maintain a specified distance from you…that would be really annoying.

3) Reduce turret cooldowns, especially when picked up. This is the option I support most strongly. For example, if all turrets were given a very short cooldown (e.g. 0-10 seconds) when picked up, they would essentially be mobile(ish) without us joining the ranks of Ranger and Necro walking petting zoos or removing the capacity for strategic turret placement.

I don’t mind turrets being separated from other minions by being unable to move. If they followed you, they would be subject to getting blasted by any AoE you’re standing near/in. Their health, as it currently is, would cause them to die very, very fast. Increasing their health too much might make them OP, since they are immune to conditions, and then players who use condis (WvW/PvP) may be unable to kill them. Being immobile, conversely, you can deploy the turrets in a safer area without fear that they will stupidly walk into AoEs and die.

I would rather see turret cooldowns reduced, especially when the turret is picked up, rather than mobile turrets.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been searching for a good use for Elixir C in WvW to help with our condi-cleansing difficulties. I haven’t yet found a build that isn’t hampered by taking elixir C over some more versatile/mobile/powerful utility. Has anyone else had any success putting elixir C to good use in WvW?

I think flame jet could apply weakness. We have very few options for applying weakness to opponents, and the flamethrower feels like it’s trying to be an attrition-type weapon rather than a bursty one, so weakness seems fitting.

I don’t know how the coding works though. Anet made the last hit do 1sec burning – maybe they don’t want to or can’t easily add small sub-second duration conditions (e.g. making each of the 10 ticks do 0.1sec burning instead of 1 sec from last tick only). In this case, what would be the best way to apply additional conditions with flame jet (weakness or otherwise)? First hit? Last hit? Can we do small amounts (<1 sec) with each hit?

I think it’s good to have non-kit options, and a gadget kit (essentially) would make this even less possible than it is now.

I do agree that gadgets need some benefits compared to the versatility of kits. I think adding some utility to gadgets could help (as Gooz Nooz suggests) or, alternatively, reducing the cooldowns of gadget abilities and gadget toolbelts, making them effectively function as a sort of second weapon set. Although we could use more condi-removal, I don’t know if it would be appropriate to make gadget use remove conditions – it just doesn’t make sense, and it would be a copy of 409.

I think we should address each gadget separately though, to buff (or nerf?) each one appropriately:

-AED: pretty unused, mainly because our heal slot is an important source of condi-removal right now. Toolbelt is also pretty lackluster. I think a cooldown reduction of both would be useful, but still might not be enough to make AED viable

-Rocket boots – I think both the toolbelt and the base skill are in a good place

-Slick shoes – I think both the toolbelt and the base skill are in a good place. Could make super speed break immobilize, but it’s already good.

-Goggles – underwhelming. I think the toolbelt needs 20sec. cooldown. The main ability is good for burst (and X/Pistol Thieves), but using it aggressively makes its stun break situational. I also think the cooldown should be lower, maybe 30 seconds.

-PBR – Doesn’t really have a role. In SD builds, Rifle turret is better because of it’s instant-cast and lower-cd toolbelt. The main skill is useful…but rifle already has a good knockback. The skill and the toolbelt hit hard, which is not too useful in a condi build. The cooldowns are already pretty low, and I don’t think lowering them would make the skill much better. I think, for this skill to be useful, it would need to be overhauled significantly. Thoughts?

-Throw mine – I think this skill is in an okay place, but could be better. It is our best source of boon removal. The toolbelt has a long cast time and is often used as a PbAoE bomb rather than an actual minefield. Furthermore, the grenade kit toolbelt does more damage, while also providing a really useful kit. I think mines in general (all mines) would benefit from an increased trigger radius (e.g. 90 or 120 instead of 60). Overall, I think this skill is limited, but any buffing might make it OP.

What does everyone think?

Bombsaway.7198:

What about this. . . .
Grenades when untraited with grenadier would auto attack. Seems about right given they really would need to hit and not OP when you have 50% less damage (2 v 3).
Grenades with grenadier trait would require ground targeting.

Though this gives the trait a negative feature in some regard (auto-attack removed) – no other traits have tradeoffs, so I’m not sure this is a good idea.

I still think increasing the cast time of grenades would make ground targeting less painful. It would also decrease the versatility of grenades by making them less useful for point-blank AOE attacks while under melee pressure (which we already have bomb-kit for that purpose). I think grenades are too versatile anyways.

What about this?
-grenade cast time increased to 1-1.5 seconds (number of grenades thrown per cast or damage/effect per grenade increased accordingly to keep dps similar to current)
-trajectory unchanged
-Grenadier trait changed to “Grenade Launcher” – provides a grenade launcher animation while attacking with grenades. Grenades have increased range (1500) and 100% increased velocity.

Because it’s weird to throw grenades farther than a projectile weapon shoots, and a grenade launcher would fit nicely here.

Arantheal.7396:

sounds fun…

Plasma blaster (Transmutation from the flamethrower OR what the flamethrower actually should be)

autohit: Glob’o’Plasm
a blue/green glob of heater plasma. Projectile finisher
1 sec cd (like ele staff)
900 range / 180 impact aoe radius
medium physical damage, scales well with power
applies 1sec of burning

#2: Plasma Stream (think green/blue flamejet)
90° conic aoe / 600 range
8sec cd /2.5sec channeled attack
hits 10 times.
applies 0.5sec burning per hit
applies 5 sec blind on the last hit

#3: Emergency cooldown
sucks in air to cool down the weapon
15sec cd
90° conic aoe /range 600
pulls 3 targets to the player, applies 3sec chill
removes 1 condition from the player (burn is prioritized)

#4: Emergency vent
releases hot plasma in all directions
25 sec cd
player centered aoe / radius 360
deals high physical dmg
knockbacks up to 5 targets
applies 5 sec burn to targets AND player
places 5 sec firefield

#5: Feel the energy
Plasma is used as power-source to augment the engi (should add some kind of blue/green aura as long as the condition removal is active)
30sec cd
adds 5 stacks of might to the player for 20sec
adds fury for 6 seconds
adds vigor for 3 seconds
removes 1 condition every 5 seconds for the next 15 seconds

Fireforged triggers / deadly mixtures / backback regenerator works with this kit
Juggernaut does not.

I like the plasma blaster idea, especially skill #5. It would give us a unique empowering self-buff and much-needed condition removal. It may need to be tweaked a bit so that it isn’t so similar to Warrior’s signet of rage though. And for what it does I imagine the cooldown would probably need to be a bit longer, maybe 40-60 seconds.

I imagine if grenades had an auto-target option, then one of two things would happen:
1) the player base devolves into “skilled” engi’s who still use ground target and “noob” engi’s who use targeted auto-attack and fail to hit strafing targets at range. Or 2) in order to avoid (1), grenade velocity is increased (grenade launcher?)

I do agree that grenades need some work, not because they are ineffective, but because they are not fun to use. But I don’t think that targeted auto-attack is the best solution.

Some other suggestions I’ve considered:
-channeled attack for each grenade (e.g. throws 2 grenades at 0.5 seconds per grenade or 3 grenades at 0.33 seconds per grenade traited, for a total 1sec channel. Can move while casting). This is similar to flamethrower, which I personally do not feel is cumbersome and annoying to use.

-Longer cast time on grenades and consequently greater damage and/or effect radius. However, this pushes grenades closer to an artillery weapon instead of an all-purpose weapon, while also solving #1-mashing requirements.

There were some (fake?) patch notes a while back that mentioned reducing turret cooldowns by 50% when picked up instead of 25%, but also rebalancing turret cooldowns around this.
I think if the HT cooldown was increased to 30 seconds, but remained at 15sec when picked up, there would be more incentive to leave the turret out. Other profession group heals have similar long-ish cooldowns (Healing Spring, 30 sec; Well of Blood, 40 sec). Of course, users could still place, overcharge, and pickup, but there would be less incentive to detonate the turret except in emergencies, and thus more value in leaving it out.

So, I think increasing cooldown to 30 sec. (but keep at 15 when picked up) would help a lot. And fix the healing power scaling of the overcharge, but that’s another issue. And maybe change the metal plating trait to 50% damage reduction and/or increase turret health. Yes, I main an engie, and I think increasing HT cooldown to 30 sec (still 15 when picked up) is valid because HT is one of the best, if not the best heal skill in the game.

Here’s another discussion on this topic I started while ago (specifically for WvW): https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Bunker-Down-in-WvW/first#post4027008

I have experimented with this trait in WvW with a high crit rate (50%+) and high power with a few kits/weapons with the following results:

Flamethrower: Lots of procs as expected, but usually you’re chasing zergs (e.g. moving forward), so usually the mines end up behind you and nowhere near your targets. Not as good as expected.

Tool kit: I tried a TK melee build with bunker down. Same as FT, TK melee is often useful only for chasing people who don’t like you being in melee range, and in those situations they’ll be running away and not get hit by the mines. And of course TK is slow so it doesn’t proc as well as FT.

Rifle: works okay. You don’t want people in melee range (just slightly outside of it), so a melee fighter will chase you, and this is where Bunker Down seems to work better. As a result, I think Elixir Gun with Bunker Down would work great, since melee attackers will always be chasing you around (aside from obvious flaws like Elixir Gun generally has a useless autoattack except for bleed stacking, and if you’re using a condi build then mines won’t hit hard),

Bomb kit probably works very well, I simply haven’t tried it. Pistol probaby works okay as well, since you’ll be chased by melee attackers. But again, you’ll need a power build, and power pistol is kinda underwhelming.

I have been running into more of this lately as well (being unable to kill an enemy but also being unkillable myself, 1v1). I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing – these fights are often fun for me since survivability is often tied to player input (proper use of dodges, blocks, and CCs). Nonetheless, I do agree that fights need to end, either by a player dying or running away, especially when the players are both glassy. I have thought of a few possible solutions:

1) undo the berserker damage nerf.
I don’t support this solution since I think damage is high enough as-is. Furthermore, if damage is increased, the chance of dying in single burst in a couple seconds or less also increases. Some may argue against this, but there is a fine balance to be obtained between punishing players with insta-death for a single mistake (or simply being out of defensive cooldowns/dodges) and making defenses/CCs irrelevant due to passive defenses, and I think were are in a good spot in the regard now.

2) decrease active defenses.
I don’t support this solution. In this, I am including dodges, blocks, invulnerabilities, and CCs. I don’t support decreasing these skills because they are all generally active and require well-timed player input in order to succeed. In some cases, it may be possible that players can have too many active defenses, allowing them to shuffle between them on cooldown and have a very high invulerability uptime. However, I do not think this situation is very common, and often builds that do this will give up a significant amount of damage and passive defense. Furthermore, decreasing these active defenses would shift combat outcomes toward passive factors (healing power, toughness, damage-per-second).

3) My proposed solution – Nerf healing
If healing is nerfed, player sustainability is reduced without simultaneously making players more volatile (capable of being 100-0% shot in a very, very short time) or decreasing the value of player input (active defenses). I would support a nerf to all base healing but NOT to healing power scaling. The contribution of healing power is often considered low for many (but not all) builds/skills. Nerfing base healing would make healing power contribute to a greater fraction of overall healing.

TLDR – nerf base healing and survivability goes down without removing the value of player skill, and as a bonus, healing power becomes more valuable

I think Celestial will give you more flexibility, but remember that you will need 30 days to make the account-bound ingredients for the armor (5 days per armor piece).

For zerging PVT might be better (arguable), but you will have a hard time making a high-damage build later if you decide you want to.

Has anyone had any success using Bunker Down in WvW?

I’ve experimented with it in a high crit/power build, using FT (for high rate of crit procs) and Tool Kit (for melee range, so the mines might be more immediately useful). I can also see it being useful with Bomb Kit, but I haven’t tried it yet.

From my initial testing in WvW, most of the mines end up being wasted due to having no target nearby. It usually hasn’t been worthwhile to try to kite someone through the mines either. When they do hit, they often crit for around 1k damage, and in a large area (240 radius with forceful explosives, and could do more damage in a glassy build too), but it’s unreliable so far. Maybe it is better used with a ranged weapon/kit where my enemies will be chasing me rather than me chasing them?

So, has anyone had any success with this trait in WvW? I’d like to make a build around it but haven’t come up with good ideas yet.
Thanks

Rifle is great for fighting Thieves, in my experience. Rifle knockback and net shot give you a second or two to burst them (or try to escape). If you’re glassy and they go into stealth, give them a second or two to get close to you, then use rifle #5 at your position and they’ll probably die if they’re in range. Your victory is not inevitable by any means, but as Myron says, you can kill them as fast as they can kill you.

nice video, you have encouraged me to play my warrior alt!
may I ask what music you used in it as well?

Terrahero.9358:

I’m not all that impressed with Coated Bullet.

It only affects 2 out of 5 pistol abilities, and explosive shot is really very meager. Those traitpoints are better spend in my opinion.

IMO, coated bullets is decent for multi-target AoE direct damage, the problems are: 1) it competes with grenade kit in this regard, and grenade kit generally does superior damage, when it hits; 2) pistols are typically used with condition damage builds, and coated bullets doesn’t do much for condition damage.

That said, I do think the trait is underestimated, and I have used it to decent effect in WvW for splash damage with a direct damage build (generally 600-1k damage on crits on many targets). I think the primary use of coated bullets (CB) is the auto-attack, and looking at it this way, I break down the damage from autoattack into two components, the bleed damage (single target) and the explosive damage (direct damage, multi-target). In this way, the damage dealt is as follows:

without CB:
primary target = B+D
secondary targets (each) = D

with CB:
primary target = B+nD
secondary targets (each, hit by pierced shot) = B+nD
secondary targets (each, not hit by pierced shot) = nD

-B = bleed damage; D = direct damage (from explosion); n = number of targets hit by pierced shot
-This assumes that all targets are clustered together and are all hit by the fragment shot radius. This will certainly not always be the case, but often in PvE or WvW, it is.

So in this scenario (all targets clustered together), we can see that, with coated bullets, direct damage per target scales with the number of targets hit/pierced, whereas bleed damage is capped at one application per pierced target. In this regard, I argue that coated bullets is best used with a direct damage build for AoE damage.

I brought up this idea because of an actually small set of skills that seem to be used in a way different than intended. These are long-range skills with arcing trajectories that make it difficult to hit moving targets. So, these skills often have high damage to compensate. Examples include engineer grenades, warrior longbow#3, and thief shortbow #2 and #4. What often happens is that people use these skills point-blank to get around their difficult trajectory. These skills are intended as high-risk high-reward, but when used point-blank, the risk goes away. Then the skills have to be balanced around point-blank use, which means that if someone uses them at range, they are still high-risk but without the reward. My suggestion above was meant, in part, to address this issue. But there are several options for improving it:

-increase the attack velocity and decrease the damage (I don’t like this idea because I think it’s good to have some unreliable, high-risk, high-reward attacks)
-allow the attack to damage the user and balance the skill accordingly (which discourages their use as a point-blank AoE) – this is the method I discussed above
-use a minimum range on these attacks, and again, balance accordingly (this is the simplest option, but I think a minimum range generally just ends up being frustrating to most players)

In reality, the subset of skills that may provide gameplay balance benefits by affecting the user as well as enemies may be a pretty small subset. But I do think it is a real problem that affects balance and fun, and solving this issue could be beneficial for build diversity.

Aidan Savage.2078:

No. For starters this screws with EVERY rune set that does a zero-point AoE effect when you get hit, and any sigils that have on-hit and on-crit damage/condition effects. It also screws with traits that provide zero-point AoE effects (the ele’s on-dodge one for example). It also completely disregards the cases where if something’s right on top of you, you cant use aoes. Nor does it bode well for classes who’s AA is an aoe attack.

Certainly those rune sets and sigils, for example, would need to be changed or not affect the user. The same is true for traits, like Ele’s on-dodge trait. I am not proposing that skills/traits/runes/sigils should be broken, and I am aware that balance changes needed for them, if my idea were implemented, are not trivial. However, part of my objective was to discourage using AoEs on enemies that are on top of you (except, again, those those AoEs which would decidedly not affect the user). Currently, one of Anet’s goals was to reduce AoE damage to make single-target attacks more viable. I think, however, that this would leave AoE attacks needlessly weak. The change I propose, instead, would leave them just as strong as they are now, but less spammy and more situational.

I’ve been thinking about an idea for a while now to make combat in GW2 more dynamic, with an additional benefit of further differentiating AoE and single-target/cleave attacks. I thought I would present the idea here to get feedback.

The inspiration for this idea came from first-person shooters. GW2’s combat system is designed to be action-oriented and was most likely-inspired, in part, by FPS gameplay. I will talk about one aspect of FPS gameplay that could be useful if incorporated into GW2. In a FPS game, when you use an explosive weapon such as a rocket launcher or grenades, you risk harming yourself in the explosion. Consider if GW2 implemented this idea in the following way:

Your own AoE attacks affect both enemies and yourself (but not your allies).

Obviously, AoE attacks can’t affect allies, or there would be game-breaking levels of team-killing, both intentional and unintentional. But if you could be affected by your own AoEs, this would encourage situational use of AoE attacks rather than the rampant “use them for everything” response we see now. The objective of this change is to encourage selective use of AoE abilities rather than simply using them when they do more damage, for example.

Certainly, this change would require significant overhauls to skills and traits, with some of the following considerations:
1) not all AoE attacks should affect the user. For example, Guardian symbols should not harm the user and Necro marks shouldn’t be triggered by the user.
2) AoE attacks that harm the user should be rebalanced. For example, Engineer bombs would be unusable in their current state if they harmed the engineer. They may need a longer fuse and correspondingly increased damage/radius, for example, to allow the engineer to avoid their own bombs.
3) Traits can be selected to give the user partial or complete protection from their own AoEs. For example, Elementalists may find a Fire trait which makes them immune to their own fire AoEs. Rangers may find a trait which reduces the effect of their own traps on themselves.
4) Combo fields need to be considered – Blast, leap, and whirl finishers in fire and poison fields, for example, may be discouraged by this change. Because of this, skills that are important field generators likely need some inherent or optional immunity for the user (e.g. as part of the base skill or through traits)

Finally, I am addressing this idea as a primarily PvP/WvW player. Someone with more PvE experience may need to comment on the viability of this change in that environment, but it may also require changes to some PvE content.

Rodrigo.1486:

I think you may want to give more credit to PBR. Keep in mind it is a launch rather than a knockback which means that when you land it your target will sit on a floor for a couple of seconds. You may want to try overcharge shot to magnet to prybar to PBR. All attacks should hit, and your enemy is lying on the floor helpless (barring stability/ stun breaks) for your next attack or two… maybe static shock discharge.

Fair enough. I primarily play WvW, where players often need versatility, mobility, and/or some sort of defense (temporary invulnerability/block, stealth, etc.). Unfortunately, PBR doesn’t provide the versatility of a kit, nor does it provide any defense. That said, I can understand that it could be more valuable in PvP for CC/bursting a single target, but I still think it could be more versatile, since it’s only generally used in static discharge builds. It would be great if all utilities would be competitive across PvE, WvW, and PvP, but that sounds pretty impossible to do.

Rodrigo.1486:

I agree that you cant really compare the two traits. However; The gadgeteer still feels a bit weak for a grandmaster trait. I think it would be interesting if the corresponding toolbelt skills also got an upgrade. For example:
1. AED gives condi removal on main and 5 second weakness on Static Shock
2. PBR gives fury and LPBR knocksback
3. Rocket boots gives vigor and Rocket kick dazes for 1 sec
4. Slick shoes gives regen and super speed gives knockdown on enemies in the way
5. Throw mine gives aegis and mine field creates an aoe blind
6. Utility goggles gets might and analyze gets vulnerability and 3 stacks of 100% crit

I also agree that Gadgeteer seems weak, though I think some of these changes would make it OP (specifically the hard CC-oriented ones on short cd toolbelt skills).
One of the main problems people have with gadgets is that they don’t offer much compared to kits. I think there is a simple fix to this, which would also make Gadgeteer better: reduce gadget and gadget toolbelt cooldowns.

My thoughts on specific gadgets:
Utility goggles – 40sec cd and 30sec cd on toolbelt. Unless I’m running a super-bursty SD build, there is no reason to take this skill over something like Elixir Gun, which offers a stun break on a similar cooldown but much more utility. I think utility goggles cd should be reduced to 25-30 seconds and the toolbelt cd to 20 seconds.
Portable Battering Ram – FT offers an AOE knockback with instant cast on a 15sec cd, as well as other features, so why should I take a single target knockback gadget with a cast time on a 25 second cd? I think PBR cooldown needs to be around 15-20 seconds and maybe have some other bonus too. The toolbelt cd is fine.
AED – this heal is known to be unpopular…I think reducing the cooldown to 30 seconds or so would help a lot. It still provides no protection against conditions, however.
Rocket boots – this skill has become really popular in PVP and WvW, I don’t think it needs to be improved. The toolbelt cd could be reduced to around 20 seconds though.
Slick shoes – another good skill in PvP and WvW – the cooldowns are long but well worth it. I don’t think a reduction is necessary.
Throw mine – This skill and the toolbelt have short cooldowns but are not popular. Why should I drop an explosive every 15 seconds or so when I can just take bomb kit and drop an explosive that hits twice as hard every second? The only unique feature of the mine is the boon removal, but this doesn’t seem to be enough to make it worthwhile. Rather than a cd reduction, I think throw mine and the toolbelt need a significant damage increase, or more utility (e.g. 1-2sec of cripple per minefield mine and 5 sec of cripple on throw mine?)

TLDR – Well, this was a long post and somewhat off-topic, but the reduction of gadget cooldowns would make gadgets more viable in relation to kits and would also improve the effectiveness of the Gadgeteer trait. As others have mentioned, adding condition removal to the Gadgeteer trait would also help to overcome one of the shortcomings of gadgets and why gadget builds are unpopular right now.

digiowl.9620:

The main issue i have with flame jet is that it targeting seems to mess it up.

If my target moves, the jet FX moves with them but the actual attack cone seems to stay in place. End result is a disconnect between where the attack seems to happen and where it actually happens.

It seems to snap back into place when i move the camera tho.

Crazy thing is that i don’t recall ever seeing that problem with Fumigate, but then i don’t think that attack tracks the target.

It is one of those weapons that makes me wish that the targeting and camera mechanics of GW2 were more like what you have in Neverwinter.

One of the unfortunate things about this is that, while the FT autoattack seems to work best with no target selected, the #2 attack only works with a target. If autoattack can’t be improved to function better with a target, then another option could be making #2 ground-targeted. That way FT users don’t ever need to target an enemy to attack.

I also think that a target cap of 3 for the autoattack is silly. It should be 5 like other AOE weapons, atleast if it is going to be competitive with bomb and grenade kits.

I think most of these new traits sound like they could have value.

Fortified turrets’ bubble will need to be big enough to protect players, though, for it to be useful.
My primary concern is the Gadgeteer trait…even with a 4-gadget build, this sounds really lackluster for a grandmaster trait. As others have mentioned, the PBR and goggle boons are the only ones that sound potentially useful. No one will use rocket boots just for vigor, as we have better sources. The same is true for aegis and throw mine. Regen on slick shoes is functional, but doesn’t seem very powerful. And a 3s retatiation on AED (32-40sec cd) seems weak too.

Since many have pointed out a vulnerability to conditions with a gadget build, I think this trait should be tweaked to convert a condition to the specified boon. For example, slick shoes should convert bleeding to regen. Something like the following could really make a gadget build viable:

Gadgeteer – gadgets convert specific conditions into boons
Throw mine: weakness —> aegis.
Rocket boots: vulnerability —> vigor
Utility goggles: poison —> might
AED: confusion —> retaliation
PBR: cripple —> fury
Slick shoes: bleeding —> regeneration

An advantage of this method is that weak gadgets can be brought up in power by converting a particularly nasty condition into a boon. Gadgets that are already powerful (like Rocket boots) can convert a weaker condition.

Rifle #4 is pretty good…instant-cast ranged knockback that also clears you of immobilize/cripple/chill? If they’d got rid of the self-cc, they’d have to add a cast time or something else unpleasant…

Toolkit auto attack already has mace-style attack chain though.

I think main hand torch could be feasible and interesting…

But I agree that an offense-oriented true melee option is needed for Engi.

IMO, the FT shouldn’t do equivalent damage to grenade kit. FT has a lot of utility while grenades are generally purely offense-focused. I also think a lot of complaints about FT damage are in regards to single target damage. I don’t think the kit is intended to be used against a single target.

That said, I still agree that FT is weak, but I think its primary weakness is that its utility isn’t good enough to make up for the lower damage. #5 is decent, but could use either a bigger radius, a smoke field, or a shorter cd. #4 is generally pretty terrible (except for might stacking). It could be changed into a circle of flame for easier might stacking, but I’d rather see it completely replaced with a more utility-based skill. #2 hits hard, but is difficult to land against moving targets – perhaps it could apply a condition to improve the utility (e.g. cripple, weakness). Also the toolbelt is rather unimpressive (the cd reduction in the potential upcoming patch may be sufficient to make it better). Finally, the long channel on FT#1 doesn’t allow you to dodge much to protect yourself. I kind of think that the +200 toughness on Juggernaut isn’t enough to make up for this. Maybe it could be changed to +400? Or in addition to giving might every 3 seconds, it also gives 1s of regeneration every 3s? Something to make the player more durable if they’re going to be using FT#1 consistently.

I wonder if a toggle could be easily implemented using the currently-existing show/hide feature for the back item.
For example, on engineers, if the back item slot is shown, it will always overwrite kit backpacks. When the back item slot is hidden, you will always see your kit backpack. So basically we would choose to always see our back slot item (even when a kit is equipped) or always see our kit backpack (or nothing when main weapons are equipped).

I use Med Kit frequently.

Advantages
-if you put 30 points in Tools, it has a short cooldown (15 sec)
-if you put 15 or more points in Tools and also don’t put 15 or more points in inventions, Your Medkit toolbelt heal will come off cooldown at 25% health while any other heal would not. This is big.
-If you use speedy kits, you can get free swiftness. And vigor with Invigorating Speed. Though certainly you don’t need medkit to do this.
-With 5 ore more points in Tools, your toolbelt heal restores 10% endurance (okay, probably not that noticeable)
-dropping 3 bandages for yourself while running adds a lot of health, and can be done every 12 seconds. This is also big. I’ve used medkit so often that using a different heal makes me nervous since I may be unable to regenerate health at all for 15+ seconds after using healing turret or elixir H.

Disadvantages are certainly poor condition removal and lower burst healing vs. healing turret (if you run and use blast or leap finishers in your water field and overcharge the turret immediately upon deployment).

I’ve never gotten the impression that any of our heals are bad … except AED and Elixir H without traits.

I have played engineer since launch and have studied the toolkit (TK) extensively with the goal of creating a true melee build. While I think that it can be done, it is certainly not an optimal engineer build. In my mind, a true melee build is one that uses TK much of the time, including for autoattack (but still, of course, switches to other weapons or kits as necessary).

I won’t link a specific build here unless there is interest, but here are some points I have discovered that support a melee build:

-don’t be too glassy: TK autoattack is slow, and the kit has no mobility, so you need to survive more than a few hits in melee range.

-consider your mainhand weapon: yes, rifle works well with TK (both are power-based weapons). But if you are squishy or pick up rifle traits, it will be far safer and more effective to just autoattack with the rifle most of the time instead of the toolkit. Then you won’t be melee anymore. Furthermore, both rifle and TK are single-target direct damage weapons, but rifle is honestly just hits harder overall…you may experiment with P/P or P/S as main weapons, since they don’t compete with the strengths of the TK (single-target direct damage).

-pick melee-friendly utility skills: This will encourage you to be in melee range where you can use TK frequently. Examples include rocket boots (gap closer and short-range rocket kick) and throw mine (toolbelt can be used to good effect in melee range).

-consider your traits: power wrench is pretty much a mandatory trait for a melee TK build. I also strongly encourage backpack regenerator, if your toughness is high enough that you live long enough to benefit from it. This will reward you for staying in TK rather than switching to your main weapon all the time.

finally, consider your gear: TK is a power-based weapon for the most part. If you don’t have power on your gear, TK will only be something you switch to transiently for 2-5 skills, and you won’t really be a melee engineer. I like to stack power without crit%/crit dmg., and otherwise focus on vit/toughness (e.g. P/V/T gear). This makes you survivable enough to use TK in melee range. Furthermore, with too much crit/crit dmg., it seems more effective to just autoattack for 1k+ at range from the rifle.

In conclusion, it may not be optimal to play melee engineer, but it is feasible in all but hyper-competitive play, and it can be very rewarding. Good luck!

Movement: WASD (A,D = strafe)
Weapon Skills: 1-5
Healing Skill: Q
Utility Skills: E,R,F
Elite Skill: Z
Weapon Swap: X
Toolbelt Skills: Shift + (Q,E,R,F)
Dodge: Middle mouse buttonw
Target: Tab
Interact: T

Psy.7386:

I’d like to know if Engineers are viable for damage dealing and killing in WvW. I"d like to think if I’m roaming and a 1v1 happens, i’d know i had a good chance at beating them. I’m also low level, so I’d like to know a good leveling build to go. So far i’ve been using P/P skills just cause idk the right way to do it.

Basically I’m asking if an Engineer can be one of the top 5 most kills in the leaderboard after a match, and if so, in what situations? Bomb zerging a group, 1v1, or accidental kills like blowing them off a ledge.

First of all, if you’re an engineer, there is no “accidental” blowing someone off a ledge. It’s definitely intentional, and it’s definitely viable.

Anyways, if you want 1v1 killing capability, I think you pretty much need rifle and toolkit, otherwise your opponent can just run away when you get them low on health. Trait the toolkit to cripple, and rifle’s net shot will severely slow down runners. And you should always have magnet for WvW anyways.

Sporadicus.1028:

Tool kit isn’t that bad, but I believe that since our kits take up a utility slot they need to be slightly enhanced versions of the weapons they resemble.

The shield side of Tool kit is enhanced. We have the fastest CD block in the game with this kit, traitable to 16 seconds. Magnet is a great compliment, but should have a faster activation time. Having you stand there for a full second (or up to a second and a half) is pretty much ridiculous.

The weapon side of Tool Kit is okay, but it should do more (reason already said above).

Adding vulnerability to the first two swipes doesn’t do much. Sure, it adds 2% damage for 6 seconds, and if you could cancel out of the third hit it would make this attack amazing. But ANet won’t do that. What we need is a buff to the third strike. It doesn’t have to add to damage, but what we engies really want is damage. It could be a stun, a weakness, or even a 1s of . . . quickness.

1s of quickness can be very advantageous, and I would see it being worth the windup that our third strike costs. You can use it to combo into other kits. A 2 1/2 second FT Flame Jet becomes a 1 second flame jet, poison pistol shots cycle faster, and fumigate can remove boons and apply conditions much quicker. Or you can just apply it to the next round of wrench blows to make your strikes do more. Keep this boon up and you are applying more vulnerability more often, which means your attacks cause 10-15% more damage twice as fast.

Our box of nails needs to drop faster. This whole showy thing of “I’m raising my hand” needs to go. Give it a 1/2 second activation time.

Prybar. . . .Actually I think Prybar does well for what it does. Maybe, and a big maybe, add 1 or 2 more stacks of confusion.

This is my idea for improving Tool Kit.

The only thing is that I don’t think Tool Kit does less damage than other similar melee weapons (maces on warr/guardian). I do agree that it’s only best used situationally rather than using it to actually hit people with the wrench. Here are some of the issues I think it faces:

1) Function – I think the toolkit is a bit confused in terms of what it wants to do. Our rifle works well as a close-range, high damage/CC weapon. It does more damage up-close than the tool kit. I think this is fine, since the rifle works so well, BUT it means the toolkit should have other advantages. I really think a trait should buff some survival capacity (e.g. more toughness) when the toolkit is equipped, otherwise it is only reasonable to swap to it for magnet/prybar/gearshield, then swap back out. Ideally, it would be possible to make a build for each kit that prioritized having that kit equipped most of the time. These builds exist for grenade kit, flamethrower, bomb kit, and maybe elixir gun, and mostly through traits. I think the tool kit could be buffed similarly through traits to be a ‘sword and board’ (or mace and board) style tanky kit.

2) Autoattack doesn’t work right – the third hit only hits a single target and not other targets in range. No other melee autoattack (except daggers, by design) does this. Same for prybar, is it only supposed to hit one target?

3) vulnerability (as you mentioned) is not very useful as slow as it’s applied here. You can get 6-8 stacks or so, but it takes 10+ seconds to build it up. This is really only marginally helpful for bosses/champs. I think it needs to stack vuln faster or do something else instead (weakness?)

4) box of nails. I agree that the cast time is too long – it’s really only useful for retreating. That and, once you trait the toolkit, you’ll never need it for the cripple in an offensive situation.

I get a lot of use out of Throw Mine / Mine Field. The primary skill makes a great trap for chokepoints or a ranged AoE knockback. The tool belt skill provides a lot of PbAoe burst (when geared for power or especially power/precision). I primarily use it in spvp or wvw…I will admit that I get much less use out of it in pve, as we generally don’t like to get close enough to enemies to use the tool belt skill.

My primary complaint with the mine skill (and this applies to the bomb kit as well) is that we are forced to take the ‘forceful explosives’ trait, otherwise they are really hard to use well. I think there are few mandatory traits, but this is probably one of them.

AlietteFaye.7316:

Not many talking about it because the 10 points for Speedy Kits is still a much better bargain. It’s not bad if you’re going for a tanky build like yours, but otherwise is completely overshadowed.

I agree. We have 3 movement speed increasing traits, but there isn’t much choice between them.
Speedy kits gives you +33% speed in and out of combat, just for turning a kit on and off.
Power Shoes gives less speed (25%), and only in combat. I could only see it as being reasonable if you didn’t use kits at all, or didn’t care about out-of-combat speed.
Then there’s Leg Mods, which is still only 10%, and only when you have an unarmed kit.

I think for most purposes, Speedy Kits is going to be preferred, with maybe non-kit builds selecting Power Shoes (and being at an out-of-combat speed disadvantage), and no one would ever select Leg Mods.