Looking for a support Scrapper build for T4 fractals

[stone cold.8609]

I'd like to try a support Scrapper in Fractals. Has anyone run one successfully and could share the build or tips? Thanks!

 

EDIT: I know this isn't going to be one of the meta builds. I typically run T4s as a pDPS Holo with the meta. I'm trying to find out what's the best build possible for Scrapper in Fractals because I'd like to stay with Engie, but change things up a bit when I'm in a more relaxed group.

[Wolfb.7025]

First of all, Support Scrapper doesn't really offer anything more than just overhealing, which in Fractals is bad itself. You dont even really need the dmg mitigation tbh.

 

But taking that aside, you can use the WvW build from Metabattle.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Scrapper_-_Med_Kit_Scrapper

 

1. You can switch between Blast Gyro and Elixir Gun if you need CC or Condi Cleanse respectively.

2. For 3th utility slot you'll want to use Elixir B for Toss Elixir B, sad thing it only provides with 5 Might on a targeted AoE, but its better than not giving anything at all besides just healing.

3. You'll always want to have Supply Crater as your elite skill to use Med Pack Drop as a condi cleanse and some more healing. Switch to Stealth Gyro on some specific fractal parts (like running through the city on Urban Battleground, Activating and soloing Control Panel on Underground Facility

4. Im not that experienced on combo field on healing scrapper, but I can at least tell you that you should always use Medkit 5 then Medkit3... since 5 is a delayed blast finisher and 3 is a cleansing burst with a waterfield.

[stone cold.8609]

Thank you Wolfb! Anyone else?

[pocky.1597]

Hear me out, but don't go scrapper. Go holosmith. Heal holosmith. It has more relevant boons for fractals, brings more DPS for phases, and still has the same heal output. It's not going to fit in with chrono/druid or fb/ren/slb but for pugging, you may be able to carry the group just enough.

[Dediggefedde.4961]

@"pocky.1597"

Perhaps something like this?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAsensTB1IjFJDmIDcJjlBDL8AkO+PfBg1z7p/HWEPiA-jxRDQBhVJYMfAAxTPQU2fgrK/AwJAQqq/QKA/WGB-e

It deals pretty good damage while being able to heal a bit and block damage from allies, as well as high protection output.

Compared to a full-heal-scrapper, you have less healpower, and miss the +20% heal of alchemy as well as condition-conversion.

If conditions are a problem, elixir canon instead of spectrum shield might be an option. Also beauntiful oil gives more heal output. But since overheal is not important, that much should be enough.

Regarding offensive boons, you grant fury and swiftness. some might stacks on blast finishers, but neglictable.

Main advantage is large CC output and your own damage...

 

What do you think about the build?

 

[pocky.1597]

> @"Dediggefedde.4961" said:

> @"pocky.1597"

> Perhaps something like this?

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAsensTB1IjFJDmIDcJjlBDL8AkO+PfBg1z7p/HWEPiA-jxRDQBhVJYMfAAxTPQU2fgrK/AwJAQqq/QKA/WGB-e

> It deals pretty good damage while being able to heal a bit and block damage from allies, as well as high protection output.

> Compared to a full-heal-scrapper, you have less healpower, and miss the +20% heal of alchemy as well as condition-conversion.

> If conditions are a problem, elixir canon instead of spectrum shield might be an option. Also beauntiful oil gives more heal output. But since overheal is not important, that much should be enough.

> Regarding offensive boons, you grant fury and swiftness. some might stacks on blast finishers, but neglictable.

> Main advantage is large CC output and your own damage...

>

> What do you think about the build?

>

 

This seems a lot more relevant in PVP than in PVE.

[Dediggefedde.4961]

> @"pocky.1597" said:

> This seems a lot more relevant in PVP than in PVE.

What would your attempt be about this?

[pocky.1597]

> @"Dediggefedde.4961" said:

> > @"pocky.1597" said:

> > This seems a lot more relevant in PVP than in PVE.

> What would your attempt be about this?

 

There's really two schools of thought coming from me, whether I can work with a pug, which a support engi can carry with heals through easy enough fracs, and if the team is coordinated enough or if we're dealing with golem bosses so I can apply more useful boons.

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAsensTBlIjVWB2UB0ehFDDLMA8XyPi7n+z/p/G2DHiA-jBiXQB0TPAA2fYbKBljyAEq0LUnAA/p+jueAAkCwvZWA-e

This build works great with applying boons (whatever engi has available anyway) with solid heals and some DPS/cleave for adds and phases. But people probably won't recognize the value of standing near the turrets and may move away them regardless due to mechanics. Turrets' main weakness is it can't really adapt unless you know a fight enough to place them for as much boon uptime as you can get out of your utilities.

 

Some tweaks in mind though - you can take anticorrosion plating instead for condi heavy fights instead of MDF. It's fine if you don't have MDF, it's the regen that has insane sustain from condi cleansing.

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAsensTBtbhVYBmID0ehFDDr/G2DHihBg7T+Rc/0f2AA-jBiXQBIUpnueAA+T9nQdCA2mSQ6pHAA7PIHlBkCwvZWA-e

 

This is easier to pug with since you don't have to reposition turrets and move with your group, as well as a revive on your utilities for clutch fights. This build also brings more healing output, burst condi cleanse, and personal survivability at the cost of boon uptime and fury generation.

 

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

This is one of the big reasons why I do not really make any suggestions about improving Engineer on this board. Someone asks for build suggestions to survive T4 fractals, specifies on Scrapper with the insight that it will not be meta-compatible, and you post Holo builds. *sigh*

 

-

There are a couple of options to survive T4 fractals as a Scrapper with a support-role. However the Scrapper does not have that many support-options in general. We have the gyros, the connected toolbelts. Most of the traits are selfish and do not offer some real support-feature (except for the Rapid Regeneration <-> MDF).

 

- Healer (see @"Wolfb.7025")

- Power Damage & Support

- Condition Damage & Support

 

**Power Damage & Support**

 

 

 

As long as you do not focus on healing with the kit, you can mostly run regular damage gear (Zerk, Marauder, Viper). Most of our support-aspects depend on the situation and require some flexibility.

 

Standard PVE Brusiser

It basically focuses on survival, regeneration and speed. Your support abilities are narrowed down to resurrection and granting some boons via Elixir toss. It is pretty sturdy, you can switch from melee to ranged at around 30 % HP and quickly recover without much trouble.

 

PVE Damage Bruiser

Slightly modified for situations when you are not really required to do any support, you can just focus on DPS. You basically can use the standard damage sigils, Scrapper replaces **Rapid Regeneration** for **Mass Momentum** and you have to pick between **Applied Force** (if your group has no reliable quickness-source) or **Kinetic Stabilizers** (if quickness is no problem). **Backpack Regenerator** is replaced by **SRD** and the **Motar Kit** gets replaced by the **Supply Crate** (for CC and easy cleanse + heal).

 

Adjustments for different situations:

- Flooded by conditions: replace **Elixir B** for the **Purge Gyro**. So you can cleanse with Elixir C and the Gyro. In most cases this will not be enough, but often your necromancer in group just misses 2-3 conditions to cleanse which are neglectable in his opinion, but cricital for your and your team-mates' survival. It is basically a first option after a wipe, to see if the conditions really were the main problem. It is an easy option. The Purge Gyro is hated by a lot of people, but it cleanses pretty good as long as it is up. It is however no permanent solution, and should only be used in condition-intensive situations.

- Uncategorized Fractal and other projectile-intensive situations: replace **Elixir C** for **Bulwark Gyro**. The toolbelt reflects almost everything and can be used for the annoying knockbacks during the platforming-parts as well as on the stairs to cover your group and protect it from the beams. If you do that, make sure to grant the group superspeed via Toss Elixir U (finally a purpose for the useless trash ^^). You will probably not reach the top with the shield up, but the last bit can be dodged. The damage-reduction of the Gyro is OK. It is as powerful as protection.

- More CC required: replace **Elixir C** for **Thumper Turret**. There is not much to say about that, it is quite powerful and grants you access to a couple of Blastfinishers

- People drop like flies: That is a problem we had in the old Mai Trin fractal and still have in the Solid Ocean Fractal. Especially if your group is not fast enough with the tentacles. Replace **Elexir C** for **Elexir R**. The toolbelt is still one of the most powerful resurrection skills and currently (sadly) a lot more reliable than the Function Gyro. It is also pretty useful in large meta events or legendary bounties where you have to revive a lot of people quickly. Most Warriors do no longer bother with the Battle Standard and the other classes usually focus on DPS only.

- More damage: replace **Blasting Zone** for **Grenadier** and replace **Elexir C** for **Grenade Kit**.

 

 

As you can see by now, the support-options with the Hammer Bruiser are quite limited. The hammer is, especially since the last balance-patch, used as a power weapon. Most of the boosts we receive currently only scale direct damage and ignore condition-damage. So when you pick hammer, you are in the front line, capable of face-tanking and surviving lethal strikes and aoes, resurrect your team-mates quickly and grant vital buffs such as stability & damage reduction when needed most. Especially the Bulwark Gyro has a lot of good situations it can be used, I often leave it equipped during an entire fractal run.

 

About the stats: The 101 Zerk-Meta dictates full zerk-gear at all costs. You can do that as well. Why Marauder? 20k HP is a good pool to start with. It allows you to survive a lot of nasty attacks other engineers on full zerk-gear would get downed instantly. Why Assassin? We sacrifice some stats for the extra HP. And there is always a chance, especially in custom groups, that you will not have the precision-bonus-passive. It is a double-safe-method we use for PVE builds, just in case.

 

 

 

**Condition Damage & Support**

 

 

Condition Damage & Cleanse

Standard pistol-shield-kit engineer. Focus is on abusing Anticorrosion Planting to cleanse conditions from our allies. AP cleanses conditions whenever we grant protection to an ally. We can also do a lot of blasting-combos. The most useful ability is the medic gyro with its pulsing protection field (toolbelt), probably one of the first things that are going to be nerfed in 2019.

 

Adjustments for different situations:

- more damage: replace **Thumper Turret** with **Flame Turret** for more burn stacks.

- Uncategorized Fractal and other projectile-intensive situations: replace **Thumper Turret** for **Bulwark Gyro**. The toolbelt reflects almost everything and can be used for the annoying knockbacks during the platforming-parts as well as on the stairs to cover your group and protect it from the beams. The damage-reduction of the Gyro is OK. It is as powerful as protection. You can combine it with the toolbelt of the Medic Gyro to increase the effect. Both do not increase toughness.

- more damage II (I need more might!): that is a problem you can come across when soloing content or work with non-meta teams. The hammer buriser can almost manage permanent 25 might stacks without real trouble, while the condition engineer ... cannot. Buffing might with fire-field-combos is an option, but in most cases a joke as even druids can maintain might for the entire party nowadays. **This is option is still in the test-phase**. You basically sacrifice 15 % condition duration, which is a lot. But you gain a lot more condition damage. Just replace the runes with a complete set of Rune of the Aristocracy and Scrapper **Rapid Regeneration** for **Expert Examination**. The damage we get from bleeding can almost be neglected, so you can also replace Chemical Rounds with Sanguine Array. So we gain might through bleeding, which also lasts longer. In addition our Throw Shield causes weakness on every target, which grants us 5 Stacks of additional might. Still not enough? Back in the good old zerk-meta (long ago), you may remember the Skale Venom. It also inflicts weakness on hit. Even with the 1 second cooldown, it can still be utilized. I also fear this is going to be fixed in 2019.

 

 

 

Again there are not many options to utilize the Scrapper for support. In most cases we use core-abilities and mix them with the Scrapper (same goes for Holo builds). What you pick is up to you. Holo is by far still the better option in many cases. But ignoring the Scrapper is wrong (imho).

[stone cold.8609]

Thank you all for the input! I've been trying them out over the last few days. Again, this is for a non meta team composition relaxed T4 runs in PvE.

 

I tried a pure healing build similar to what Wolfb suggested and found that it really did overheal the group, but that was about it. It did bring the functional gyro that ressed when I could get it to work, but didn't really bring any additional useful boons that could be shared with the team. Also, the DPS was just too low for the support that it gave the team. It worked much better in open world zerging metaevents, but then any build is ok there.

 

So I switched it up to more hybrid support/ power or condi focused builds and found it worked a bit better for me. I am still trying to find the right balance between support and DPS and will try some of HnRkLnXq's suggestions next.

 

After spending more time with Scrapper, I really think Anet was attempting to make it a tank/support/heal hybrid spec, but it really can't compete with the meta in its current state. One thing that would be very useful would be to revert the stability sharing changes from the last patch and give Scrapper more ways to share boons with the team. A stability/protection/might/heal/barrier/protection sharing spec with average DPS could find a place in the current meta.

[pocky.1597]

@"HnRkLnXqZ.1870"

 

I like scrapper but I like holosmith more, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Also, the OP seemed more in line of asking for a support engi build in the same way almost everybody views scrapper as the sole way to support on engi. If anything, it's YOU who are limiting us by saying holosmith is not a valid suggestion. Fact, I'm being fair here by offering more options with support engi. Let people play what they like, I was totally prepared for him to go for scrapper than my holosmith suggestion, which wouldn't stop me from helping out with my own scrapper builds, that's the nature of suggesting things online - people have the freedom to make choices there. Also, people already posted scrapper builds in this thread, there's no harm being done in throwing in my 2 cents.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

>**Hear me out, but don't go scrapper. Go holosmith.** Heal holosmith. It has more relevant boons for fractals, brings more DPS for phases, and still has the same heal output. It's not going to fit in with chrono/druid or fb/ren/slb but for pugging, you…

This is no limitation? I pointed out a couple of times that the Holosmith might be the better option (in my own post).

 

Holosmith is the best thing ever happened to you and a lot of other people on this board, noticed. Core and Scrapper still exist. As long as the developers not decide to wipe the Scrapper from the game completely, it is part of the Engineer. I like the Holosmith as much as you like the Scrapper. Yet I even decided to give it a real try. Making a full ascended & infused gear for a class I dislike, that is pure joy. Engineer is all about adaptation to different situations, we have never been a pure dps class although some here forcefully deny that. I may not like the Holosmith, but ignoring it would be a bad idea.

 

If you enjoy the Holosmith, play it. 2019 is going to be long and full of balance-patches. It will surely be a mad roller-coaster ride for the Engineer (Holosmith and Scrapper included) again. We will find a way, as we always did.