I've put a lot of thought into an engineer build that is viable in most if not all PvE and PvP situations, and The "Perma Engineer" build is a build I revamped from my original "Flame-throwing Elixir Grenadier"
(other post on site), while trying to keep it fun and less micro intensive.
I will post the build detail here first then discuss it! (remember to switch tabs on the site to see details of traits..gear..etc)?
I suggest reading my flame-throwing one first to see my approach for building since I won't mention some details again here.
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Synopsis:
The perma engineer has constant access to important boons that gives power, conditional damage, endurance, movement speed, improved critical hit chance and health regeneration.
Relying on a hybrid of direct damage, bleed and burns, the perma engineer scales really well with all stats.
The perma engineer relies on his rifle net shot to immobilize/cripple his opponents to land his heavy damage grenades, but the burning/bleed that procs on-crit will guarantee him decent damage with his other range weapons.
The perma engineer is a great asset in teams due to the high vulnerability stacks and crowd control he can provide to opponents and the might and fury he provides for teammates.
The perma engineer is really mobile in battles, but while accounting for stuns and conditions taken, is not the best at dealing against them in large amounts compare to other possible set ups.
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Highlights of the Perma Engineer: Permanent Swiftness/Vigor/Fury/ Might(12~18 stacks)/"Regeneration"/Bleed+Vulnerability stacks(6~8 for bleed, ~20 for mobs)
Damage source:
Vulnerability, Grenades, Bleeding, Burning, Critical Hits
Crowd Control source:
Immobilize, Cripple, Chill, Launch, Weakness
Defense:
Good armor, health and healing power from celestial stats. Hp regeneration, swiftness, vigor, acid bomb and rocket boots for in-combat sustain and maneuverability
2 slow-activation condition removals, 1 stun break.
Since this is a revamp from the other build, let me point out aspects of the other build I didn't like and decided to work with:
1) Low Power/Conditional Damage: When you are wearing full celestial gears, your power/conditonal damage is lower than that of full power/cond based gear, in comparison you will always have more crit damage than those that don't have it, condition damage compare to berserker builds, more precision than PVT builds and so on, but bottom of the line the main thing is that you will have less Power, this becomes slighting annoying when you are fighting against things you can't crit such as buildings, objects, TEQUATL THE SUNLESS..etc
So I address that personal concern of mine with trait, rune and sigil: On swap and on-heal skill use proc based; thus I choose med-kit since it allows you to proc the on-heal skills just by going into the kit, without actually using your heal skill.
So during a battle, you should always have **Permanent Might**: 9 stacks of might guaranteed, 12-15 stacks in an average scale fight, and 18+ stacks if you micro well (this is a bit harder because you need to keep track of your boon duration tool tip more, but still really common)
This gives +315//+420~525//+630 Power + CondDmg permanently, which in my opinion well make up for the power you sacrifice to have the celestial stat set up; and both stats scales well with your build since you have constant access to bleeding and burning, and high crit-chance.
2) Speedy Kit reliance: it's a common thing in eng builds to grab speed kits, but I find it annoying to keep my swiftness up by checking my boon every 5 seconds, plus I really don't like the gain 10 endurance on tool belt use minor trait, and the 10% tool belt recharge speed, these never did anything significant to me, the 10% crit damage was a bit tough to give up though. If you are an engineer that see yourself not having swiftness on because you forgot to swap kits during a long fight, or tiring to swap every 5~7+ seconds (depending on your boon duration), this build might just lighten things up.
By choosing infused precision you have easier access to **Permanent Swiftness/Vigor** during a battle because you don't need to keep track of the timer, it just sets off for you on crit, so you will have guaranteed swiftness/vigor up time over the potential down time speedy kits can have, and mental stress.
By grabbing target the weak in this build, you will have really high crit chance which will help finish off mobs/players more securely ( 3x % default, 20% perma fury, 10% trait => 6x% crit chance!!!)
This set-up was only possible by freeing up speedy kits trait line, phew!!
As for PvE movement speed , you can rely on the med-kit and rocket boots to help you move around, it won't slow you down too much compare to speedy kits.
**Permanent Fury** comes from your 35% boon duration which brings the pack stimulant fury on med kit to about 13.5 seconds and the rune of altruism fury to about 6.75 seconds, thus you have 20 seconds of fury to match the 20 second cool down on drop stimulants, therefore you're fury boon itself will act as an easy timer to keep track of when to drop stimulant again (this is important because it's easier micro as oppose to using other methods to remind yourself when you can drop stimulant again), giving you permanent fury. I also believe the 3 stack of might and fury you provide to your teammates due to the rune set will scale exceptionally well with the vulnerability stacks you apply on foes, making you're team role very welcoming.
3) Over Micro: I put 3 tool kits in the last build, although I said flame thrower is optional, I did give it weight in the build; I decided that with too many tool kits it's harder for you to use all their skills to the max potential, and it's just mentally too tiring, the output is not worth the cost (for me anyway). Also the main issue was I felt a lack of mobility: gap closer, escape. Eventually I find myself always grabbing rocket boots as oppose to flame thrower, so that's the change I've made this time around. Rocket boots + Acid bomb will make you really mobile in a fight, which I consider necessary on top of swiftness/vigor.
The problem with using med kit is the time it takes to drop your 1-5, having rocket boots/acid bomb both at the same time allows you to move out of combat and drop you're 1-5 more reliably; and by 1-5 I really mean 1-3 because those are the 3 you don't want to drop the most while under fire, because it just means you're not doing damage and healing up some damage you're about to take anyway => completely doing nothing. So when you really want the heal, I suggest to move yourself out of fire with acid bomb/ rocket boots first.
I mentioned using rifle to get out of immobilized, I decided I rather use it to interrupt more, so having rocket boots around really ease up my micro a bit to get out of cc since I have more than 1 option.
**Perma Regeneration**: This was kind of a joke because it heals similar to that of the regeneration boon, I wanted to mention it because I choose it over Protection Injection, which is a very very powerful trait. I see it like this, if i want more direct damage mitigation I choose protection injection + mango pie, if i want more conditional damage mitigation I choose backpack regenerator + Loaf of Saffron Bread. I really want the sustain in battles, and since backpack's uptime is more frequent than PInject, I chose BRegen + stun damge reduction food.
I think the stun protection from either trait or food cannot be compromised in this build since we only have ONE stun breaker: Elixir gun tool belt. No matter how good/lucky you are with your immobilize/cripple/chill/dodge from this build set-up, a good player will always stun you now and then, it have been life and death just to have either the trait or food around to mitigate damage taken after a stun.
Side Note:
I realize you cannot have runes of altruism in sPvP, therefore I suggest switching to runes of Earth for direct damage mitigation play, or runes of Lyssa for random boon + condition removal play.
Also, in sPvP your chance of being stunned is pretty much all the time, so I'd take Protection Injection over Backpack Rengenerator.
