stone cold.8609
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Posts posted by stone cold.8609
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I found the meta condi build to be more squishy than I liked in solo PvE as well, so I actually modified the build to use the Defense trait line (for Adrenal Health) and healing signet that gives me plenty of sustain and works very well for me. Same equipment as meta build. Play style and rotations are similar to meta build, but you won't be able to burst as often:
As for Banners, I almost never use them in open world and only pull them out for a boss fight. I typically use similar utilities as Oglaf above.
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> @"Oglaf.1074" said:
> > @"stone cold.8609" said:
> > > @"Archivist.8109" said:
> > > I think I'm gonna go with a norn warrior. I like the look of their cultural heavy armor, and warrior is supposedly pretty easy, but has some potential to it. I think I'll plan on going for berserker, as I do favor DoTs where possible in MMOs.
> >
> > Good choice. Condi Berserker Warrior is currently the strongest PvE build for Warrior and should fit what you are looking for very well. Welcome to Tyria!
>
> Well that’s it really true. That build is designed being in a raid group with all the support from other classes that implies. When you’re flying solo, core Warrior incorporating Defense for Adrenal Health will be a far more solid build - especially for a new player.
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> There is a thread about it in the Warrior forums.
>
I should have provided a little more detail in my post. Oglaf is correct about the meta build being suited for raids where you have someone to look after your health. Without the defense line, you are much less sturdy. I wasn't referring to this build, but a modification to it which I've found to do the most damage in PvE for me and is fairly straightforward for a novice to play and be successful. It also has the bonus of getting you familiar with the rotations and feel of playing condi warrior which is much different that the power warrior (GS/Axe+X), and will prepare you for running the meta build if you want to get into raids later.
The build I use solo and was referencing is modified from the meta build, using Arms, Defense, Berserker :
It has a lot of synergy, gives a viable ranged option, and has a ton of condi damage with pretty good ramp up time. It also has a good amount of sustain as long as you are bursting (F2, F1) regularly, which really is the key to the build in solo PvE. As for rotations, try to burst as often as you can and remember that your LB fire fields are a major source of damage.
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Good luck with it! Let me know if you have any questions after you try it.
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> @"Archivist.8109" said:
> I think I'm gonna go with a norn warrior. I like the look of their cultural heavy armor, and warrior is supposedly pretty easy, but has some potential to it. I think I'll plan on going for berserker, as I do favor DoTs where possible in MMOs.
Good choice. Condi Berserker Warrior is currently the strongest PvE build for Warrior and should fit what you are looking for very well. Welcome to Tyria!
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I play both professions as well. Engie is very strong in PvE, but plays much differently than Thief. I think you may need to play it more to get the feel for it, because it brings a ton of damage, CC, AOE, stability, and about 5K more life in full Berserker gear than Thief.
The strongest build in PvE currently is Power Holosmith and I'd suggest going with this as you currently are doing. As much as I wanted hammer to work, I found Scrapper to be underwhelming unfortunately and most of the gyros ineffective. You didn't mention your trait lines, but most people seem to run explosives, firearms, tools, or alchemy with holosmith. I've run combinations of all of them and they all work.
For starters, try to spend as much time in photon forge as possible since you do the majority of your damage here. While in forge, you are extremely bursty and typically I can down most vets (including PoF Hydras) well before I have build up enough heat that I need to leave forge. Next, you have to learn to keep an eye on your heat bar and learn to manage it effectively. Holo gives you three options for this in your major grandmaster traits and your choice of this has a major influence on how your build plays. I'd suggest trying them all out to see which one works best for you. Thermal release valve works well with a dodge heavy build, and combines well with the Tools line trait Adrenal Implant and Explosives line trait Minesweeper. Add a sigil of energy, and you will feel like a very tanky dodge spamming Daredevil (this was the first build I had success with, coming from years of playing thief). Photonic blasting module gives the most damage and is recommended by in the meta raid builds. Like most meta raid builds, it works well if you have all raid buffs and someone to look after your health. If using it solo, you have to be careful when you blow yourself up. Enhanced capacity storage unit gives you 50% more heat to use and gives you a chance to self stack might and do more damage if you go over 100% heat. Combines well with Explosives line trait Shrapnel and Firearms line trait Sanguine Array to allow you to easily solo stack max might using Strength runes.
With Power Holosmith, you can use either rifle or sword/x (pistol for a little bit of more damage or shield for block). Either set works, but I find the rifle to give range when you need it and better utility skills. Key point here - Engie rifle auto attack is terrible and you should never use it unless you absolutely need to range! I actually have the Rifle AA turned off so that it doesn't fire off when I don't want it to and delay other skills from triggering. When using rifle, you only use skill 5/3 combo, follow with skill 4 if you need CC and/or have stability, then swap to bomb kit as your melee auto attack. After learning to manage my heat bar, getting this combo down was the most important thing I had to learn to get comfortable with Holosmith. Alternatively, you could use sword/x and use the sword AA as melee and bring a kit as a ranged option (grenades or elixir gun). This is a bit less complicated to use than rifle and may be a good place to start as well.
There are many builds, but here is one that I use:
The elixir gun is swapped to fit the encounter (rocket boots, grenade kit, etc.).
And here is one that I used to use that plays a lot more like a dodge heavy Daredevil:
Good luck!
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The thing that really helped things click for me with Power Engineer in PvE was turning off the Rifle AA so that it didn't fire off when I didn't want it to and really learning that the Jump shot/blunderbuss/swap to bombs combo was my melee attack/gap closer. After that, then it was a matter of working in whatever additional kit(s) (Holosmith for me, sometimes grenades as well if I don't need any other utilities) wanted to use. I basically run the meta power rifle Holosmith build, full berserker stats, but ECM instead of PBM, with grenade kit swapped out for another utility (typically Elixir Gun for the stun break/regen tool belt skill, sometimes Rocket boots when I want more mobility, sometimes Elixir S for stealth).
As much as I wanted the hammer (Scrapper) to work, I just couldn't play it as effectively as Holosmith/core Engineer. I also found the Gyros to be ineffective in most situations. Good luck and welcome to the Engineer!
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Bring back the Angry Chest mini please. I want to get the Red Spark.
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Thank you for the update Irenio! And thank you for taking time to answer on the weekend.
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> @"Nikal.4921" said:
> > @"stone cold.8609" said:
> > With Dulfy's help, I figured out what was going on. You have to first be present on a map where the Awakened are attacking, finish the event and then you get the achievements to open and the mail from Ninn. I didn't see this explained anywhere in game and unless you have a guide, it would be pure chance that you happened to be on the right map at the right time to start this.
> I did a defense event in Wayfarer Foothills with a squad. I was there from before it began until after it was over. We hit several locations and I got plenty of tagging in. No one else complained about not getting credit, but I may have been the only one whose first try it was. I got nothing. No mail, no achievements opened up.
Hmmm. That's too bad. All I can say is that after I got the information on how to start the event and did it, it worked for me.
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> @"Miko.4158" said:
> primal burst nerf.
> try axes
A bunch of nerfs. Primal burst nerf hurt power a lot. Head butt increase in activation time. Stick and move gone. Condi berserker (Sw/T + LB) is the best option for PvE, and you play like a very sturdy melee/mid range fire battle mage, not the rampaging power brute GS swinging core warrior of old. The new elite is focused on WvW/PvP and I hear it is very effective there, so you can go power (D/x + GS). All that being said, once I understood how condi berserker worked, I really liked it.
I have noticed before each patch there is as series of unnecessary nerfs to weaken current specs and unfortunately primal burst was targeted this time. I still remember the Thief Acrobat line that was gutted prior to HoT, just so it could be largely given back to us as the "new" Daredevil elite.
As for the ascended, at least it isn't character bound so that you can move it to another heavy class if you have one. FWIW, power Guardian still probably plays similarly to before you took a break from the game and is a still a very strong spec.
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Thanks RabbitUp. I'm getting the same thing. I couldn't figure out what was going on and at first I thought it was something that I was doing wrong. Didn't occur to me that there could be two bugs! One of the big reasons for me to run FB is the Mantra Heal. Since it is bugged, I'm thinking of going back to DH or maybe even core.
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With Dulfy's help, I figured out what was going on. You have to first be present on a map where the Awakened are attacking, finish the event and then you get the achievements to open and the mail from Ninn. I didn't see this explained anywhere in game and unless you have a guide, it would be pure chance that you happened to be on the right map at the right time to start this.
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I have no issues with this and actually think it is a good idea. You are just trading money for time savings. Now if they added components for the gift of battle in the BL drop tables, I might actually start buying keys!
> @"Rauderi.8706" said:
> Still waiting for Gift of Battle: 800 gems.
^ This would work as well! (I'd even spend a bit more for this...)
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Same here. And I didn't get the e-mail notification from Ninn.
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My standard disclaimer - PvE comments only.
Engineer plays very differently than Thief in PvE and overall is a bit more complex to run. Power Holosmith is the current top DPS build. With this build you try to spend as much time in Photon Forge as possible for its great burst and damage. Compared to condi Daredevil Thief, you bring a lot of stability, crowd control, explosions (yes, you regularly blow things up!) and AOE damage, plus about 5K more life when using full Berserkers so you'll feel much more sturdy. Your equipped weapon is actually only small part of your overall DPS, since Forge skills and kits replace your weapon skills. For example when out of forge, I only use Rifle for the Jump Shot/Blunderbuss combo burst (unless I absolutely have to range), then swap to Bomb Kit for melee damage. I never use the weapon auto attack - I actually have it turned off because it can delay triggering of other skills. It took a while to get the hang of Holosmith, but when I did I really liked it.
OP, like you I didn't care for the Deadeye in PvE either - probably because I've played some version of evasion Thief for 5 years (S/D, S/P, Staff, condi DD, etc). So from my perspective, Holosmith is a much better fit for me in PvE than Deadeye and worth trying out.
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Ah, you are right! I didn't notice the CD on Healer's Retribution. Mystery solved!
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I noticed tonight that when I used the FB heal skill Mantra of Solace with Healers Retribution traited, I received retaliation on the first use of the heal, but not for the subsequent second or third charge. Has anyone else seen this? Is this a feature or a bug? Thanks!
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Is this for PvE, PvP, or WvW? My comments are only for PvE. Please disregard if this is not your preferred game mode.
I assume you are talking about the standard retaliation DH GS/Sc+Torch build, correct? Then it depends on what PvE content you are trying to do and how well you can keep the retaliation buff.
If it is grouped instanced content, as long as you can keep up your retaliation and your group doesn't mind, then why not? In a group is is much easier to keep good up time on retaliation, and you can easily over cap Crit Chance, making too much precision a wasted stat. Pugs and some elite groups may not want you to run anything but full berserker in T4 fractals or raids, however.
If this is mainly solo PvE, then you really have to pay attention to to how well you can keep up retaliation on you own. If you can't keep up retaliation enough, then I wouldn't use Valkyries. Going from 100% Crit chance with retaliation up to 20% Crit Chance when retaliation is down is a huge difference and noticeably effects your damage/performance.
In case you never tried it, Power FB (basically the retaliation DH GS build, but with FB swapped in) has a very impressive burst (similar to Power DH), is much easier to self provide near 100% retaliation up time, lots of quickness, more aegis refreshes, better AOE damage through the Tomes, and optimally includes some Valkyries stats for about 4000K more HP. For running solo PvE content, I find this to be a better choice than Power DH.
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For solo PvE and dungeons, here's the build I use. It is a modification of the meta builds referenced above for solo play. Great damage - able to self provide 25 stacks of might, good sustain, over 17K health in full Berserker gear. Can be used with either Rifle or Sword/X. Very effective for me, however, your mileage may vary.
I sometimes swap to Short Fuse over Big Boomer when I want to blow things up faster in Bomb Kit and very rarely swap out to Skill Marksman over No Scope when using Rifle and I need to decrease the cool down on Jump shot/Blunderbuss combo. The Elixir Gun utility slot also gets changed around frequently to adapt to the current situation. I only really take it for the added sustain and stun break of the tool belt skill.
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An Asura themed set please. Golems (with dye channels) would be fantastic!
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I'm having issues as well that I've never had before. Last night in both Blazeridge Steppes and Rata Sum my FPS dropped to 3 - 8 FPS and my ping was from the 100s to about the 500s. No zerg in sight in game and it was a fairly low key setting in game. The game was unplayable at those locations. I changed characters and moved to the Crystal Desert and everything went back to usual. What gives?
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It took me a while to figure out Holosmith and find a build that really worked for me in PvE:
When I first tried the spec the damage was always there, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the healing/sustain aspects until I realized that most of the healing/sustain comes from going in and out of Photon Forge activating Heat Therapy and that Photonic Blasting Module really didn't work for me when running solo. The Elixir Gun utility skill is added mainly for the tool belt skill that gives regen and a stun break and can be swapped out for something else.
I found that Sword/x works with this build as well. You won't need Bomb Kit since the sword AA is much better than rifle AA, so you can add in another utility skill if you want.
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Certainly! Unfortunately, I still don't know what caused the issue. After sending CS the requested documentation (screen shots of 100% map completion on the Holosmith and the collection log without the Engineer's cache credited), the GM sent me a new Engineer's cache that I opened and my collection log recorded credit for it. So, once again a big thank you to CS for taking care of this for me!
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> @"Minax.3284" said:
> > @"stone cold.8609" said:
> > [...]
> > For what it's worth, I am currently running this build which is essentially the fairly standard retaliation power build with the DH trait line switched out for Firebrand.
> > I find that it is just as survivable if not more so than the DH version and it is much easier for me to keep my retaliation up (which translates into damage) with the FB version when running solo.
> >
> >
> > Good luck!
>
> This looks pretty interesting!
>
> Being new to Guardian myself, any chance you could give us a bit of a run-down on how you actually play this when it comes to anything like a "rotation" in combat? Do you think a build like this would work for a regular old core guardian until I can unlock firebrand/Dragonhunter?
>
> If not, then I'll try to run the build that Bladezephyr posted until I can unlock the elite spec(s). :)
Sure Minax, I'll try!
Remember that even though you have heavy armor, you really can't face tank in this game, so positioning and dodging is still important.
Keep retaliation and might up as much as possible for good damage.
Keep Aegis up for the big hits.
Add in enough passive/traited health regeneration to sustain the smaller damage.
This build has been around for a while and will work fine with core using the Virtues trait line using Virtue of Retribution trait and the Radiance trait Renewed Justice resetting your F1 Virtue of Justice on kill to give you good up time on retaliation. Your sources of retaliation with a core build will be GS skill 4, Stand Your Ground, and every time you activate a Virtue (which should be a lot with Renewed Justice/F1 spamming). In contrast your sources of retaliation for the FB build will be GS 4 skill, Shield 4 skill, Mantra of Solice, Mantra of Liberation, Stand Your Ground, and every time that Aegis ends. Remember to an eye on your buffs and learn to rotate to one of these skills to keep retaliation up as much as possible.
The rotation is the fairly standard GS burst/weapon swap/F1 spam:
Open with GS4 then GS2 in the symbol (and inside the hit box of the enemy for maximum damage) then GS3 in symbol as well.
Swap to Sword/Shield. Sword 2 then Sword AA then swap back to GS when cool downs are over.
Throughout all of this, keep spamming F1 and Stand Your Ground when it renews to keep up your retaliation as much as possible.
Keep an eye on your Aegis and be ready to use either F3 or Shield 4 if you need it.
If you need to range, equip a Scepter.
I hope this helps and good luck!
Not fun or balanced to have only 1 weapon
in Engineer
Posted
OP, I have to respectfully disagree. I've never felt that the engineer needed a secondary weapon swap, because that's the role that kits play. If some of the kit skills are under performing (which I agree with), then I'd prefer that the kits be re-balanced before adding a weapon swap. I'd also like to see the current weapon sets be re-balanced to synergize with the heat mechanic before adding a weapon swap as well.
Currently, power Engie has rifle for ranged and bomb kit for melee. Or (if Holosmith) sword for melee and elixir gun or grenade kit for ranged. Both with a no cool down swap time. How would adding a secondary weapon set with a 10 second cool down improve on this?