12 replies to this topic

[Ehragus]

I'm leveling up my engineer now and i cant decide what weapons to use in endgame. I dont wanna play with FT or Grenades. I wanna know whats the best DPS of Rifle, P/P or P/S.

Anyone know?

[Heart Collector]

I'm still leveling my Engi and mainly using kits so my view is far from the more educated opinion you're probably seeking - but if I may be allowed to chip in, my personal preference goes to P/S. P/P does more damage and has that nifty glue #5 ability, but I feel a bit tougher with P/S - and the abilities on my shield can spell the difference between life and death in some occasions.

I think that if I didn't use kits I would use P/S whilst soloing and switch to P/P in DEs if I had to make a choice. Not commenting on the rifle because for some reason it doesn't sit well with me so I don't play it often.

I would check ot the traits though to see what traits and utilities better suit pistol, shield or rifle play.

[justOneWord]

If you purely want to deal damage with weapons you are in a serious disadvantage compared to other classes. You can't stack conditions high enough with P/P or P/S and if you don't even want condition damage you only use them for crowd control.

I'd say that pistol and rifle can do nearly equal damage. Adding a shield prevents you from using your most damaging pistol skill though. That leaves the shield for three uses, defense, crowd control and comboing. None of them will do as much damage as P/P, but that's not what the shield is supposed to be used for.

Both weapons are usually never used alone. You use the abilities, then swap to a bundle until the cooldowns are over or you're more concerned with staying alive. Your attributes and abilities dictate which weapon fits. If the only bundle you'll be using is the Elixir Gun and you have Healing Power and Condition Damage on your armor it would make little sense to use the rifle.

[dawdler]

In PvE, it doesnt really matter what you pick. Pistol is superior against groups (by alot) while the rifle is superior against single targets.

Endgame you get access to the explosive bullets traits for the pistol which make it even more awesome against groups but... you're not really going to engage that large groups because you wont survive it anyway. Against single targets, you just cant stack conditions fast enough to make it compete.

So I would say the rifle is what you want to focus on at endgame. Its also far better in WvW - the pistol just doesnt have the utility or damage of the rifle. When you need to kill individual people as fast as possible, that's pretty bad. Just not viable. Its quite dissapointing because the pistol/sheild combo is a huge part of what make the engineer both unique and fun.

[Dokem]

If you don't want to use kits as an engineer I suggest play another profession. Because engineers use kits. We can't swap weapons, we swap kits.

[coglin]

Dokem, on 09 November 2012 - 04:53 PM, said:

If you don't want to use kits as an engineer I suggest play another profession. Because engineers use kits. We can't swap weapons, we swap kits.

What ever you do, ignore anyone and everyone who says any thing similar to this to you. It is poor advice. Every profession has 4+ sets of utility types for a reason. Build it your way and play it your way. Many players have elixir, gadget, or turret builds.

[Killyox]

Bombkit is FTW for leveling. It also always gets max dmg possible for your level. LAter on it does't matter as much. Atm i run carrion + p/p + nades + bombs

[Dokem]

coglin, on 10 November 2012 - 03:00 AM, said:

What ever you do, ignore anyone and everyone who says any thing similar to this to you. It is poor advice. Every profession has 4+ sets of utility types for a reason. Build it your way and play it your way. Many players have elixir, gadget, or turret builds.

We don't swap weapons for a reason. Sure you can use only elixirs/gadgets/turrets, but if you want avoid the use of all kits, you'll be limited in your arsenal, because we can't swap weapons, its a core mechanic of the profession. What is your setup? Maybe if you play with no kits, you can help the OP more by giving him some tips on his question.

Edited by Dokem, 10 November 2012 - 09:38 AM.

[Real]

The way I see it, your main weapons are supplements to your kits. You won't burst down anyone as quickly as ranged warriors or rangers with your rifle and, as varied as they are, you won't sustain stacks of conditions for long with pistols.

Ultimately it depends on playstyle. Need knockback, root, and leap? Rifle. AoE root? P/P. Blast finishers and blocks? Shield.

[coglin]

Dokem, on 10 November 2012 - 09:38 AM, said:

We don't swap weapons for a reason. Sure you can use only elixirs/gadgets/turrets, but if you want avoid the use of all kits, you'll be limited in your arsenal, because we can't swap weapons, its a core mechanic of the profession. What is your setup? Maybe if you play with no kits, you can help the OP more by giving him some tips on his question.

i did. i gave him great advice. I advised him never to listen to anyone telling him he has to go play another class, when he doesn't  want  to  use  one of a utility type. If it offends you that I advise folks to ignore anyone who tells them how they have to play or play another class, feel free to put me on ignore.

[BLONDE WENCH]

Quote

The way I see it, your main weapons are supplements to your kits. You won't burst down anyone as quickly as ranged warriors or rangers with your rifle and, as varied as they are, you won't sustain stacks of conditions for long with pistols.

I agree.  As my Engineer levels-up, I find myself using the Grenade Kit & Elixir Gun as much as my main weapon, which is a Rifle currently.

[Cl1p]

Ehragus, on 09 November 2012 - 01:27 PM, said:

I'm leveling up my engineer now and i cant decide what weapons to use in endgame. I dont wanna play with FT or Grenades. I wanna know whats the best DPS of Rifle, P/P or P/S.

Anyone know?

It depends on what stats & gear you're going to use. The basic combinations that don't focus on a kit in my personal experience:

crit chance + condition damage + other  = > P/S   (with the chance to burn on crit trait)
crit chance + power + other => Rifle (with the static discharge trait and low cd toolbelt skills)
Power + Condition damage + other = P/P

I play a p/p engineer myself (with bomb kit & carrion gear) and I do very high, steady damage in WvW and PvE.
Because I can apply all my conditions without the need to crit I prefered to invest in power to up the damage on all my attacks.
I haven't met many engineers that play with the same setup as I do, most use the rifle and can do very high burst damage.

So it's really up to you what weaponset you're going for but you will have to pick the right gear to get decent results.

[Achromatis]

I was using P/P to level for a while because they look cooler, /shrug

Right now its P/S, shield just has a lot of utility(blocking stun, knockback, blast finisher - all in one ability) and I find myself fighting 2-3 enemies regularly. I also run with Thumper Turret, which is GREAT for soloing, and it also gives me two(if used right) additional blast finishers to combo with. But Ive always been more of a defensive minded player, so I dont really give two wiffs about finishing a fight 2-3 seconds sooner than I otherwise could.

Rifle is great for kiting though.

Edited by Achromatis, 14 November 2012 - 06:38 PM.