Guild Wars 2: Engineer Class Preview

The engineer, new to Guild Wars 2 lives mostly to the name. Engineers are clever cookies, having various abilities involving numerous gizmos, gadgets and mechanisms. Most likely found sat on the sidelines firing bullets, bombs and even turrets at enemies. The engineer profession is for those who might want to sit back and watch the magic of destruction unfold before them and whilst laughing manic manner.

We need fire support!

The engineer can wear medium armor, giving it ample protection against many threats. While not as sturdy as a warrior, nor as flimsy as a necromancer, the engineer is purposely built to be near the fight, but preferably not smack-bang in the middle of it. This suits the engineer well since they can do most of what they need from a bit of a distance away from any immediate danger.

Once you get used to the range of your guns, you can get some hits in before an enemy can get close

Capable of different attacks with different weapons, the engineer is suited to blasting enemies apart along with supporting nearby allies. Using dual pistols, the engineer can fire electrical shots that chain to other nearby enemies whilst confusing and blinding them. A rifle enables them to fire overcharged shots firing enemies away whilst launching the engineer backwards. They can also use shields that can provide them with any number of defensive abilities. Players should keep this in mind in that since the engineer cannot wield swords, axes or anything similar that they should not exactly storm into a horde of enemies and fight at point blank range. If an enemy starts to draw too close then keep moving and try to keep distance.
These differing abilities can be life saving if used strategically. For instance, if something that has the intent on causing you harm is charging at you, you can launch down a glue shot with the dual pistols, slowing it down immensely. That coupled with the rifle’s overcharged shot (if you can switch weapons fast enough) can help to give you plenty of distance and thus, stay alive for longer.

A single weak enemy is easily taken down with dual pistols

The tool belt is a mechanic unique to the engineer and corresponds to certain utility and healing skills. For instance, if the rifle turret is equipped then the engineer gains the surprise shot skill, which allows a single shot to be fired out of the belt itself. Another example is that with the bomb kit equipped, you are able to drop a “big ol’ bomb”, which is in fact a barrel that erupts into a huge explosion blasting and launching nearby enemies skyward. Yes, it is as fun to watch as you imagine.

It’s alright, I’m a doctor…sort of.

Also acting as a support class defensively and/or offensively, engineers are capable of helping friends or hurting bad guys with an impressive arsenal of equipment. To help other players the engineer can throw elixirs that heal and have a chance of one of a few bonuses including increased health regeneration, speed increase and protection. If those in the engineering shoes are feeling very generous, they can even place down a healing turret that heals allies within range.

These elixirs do not just come in health restore capacity, there’s a whole range of them including elixirs that grants fury, might, retaliation and swiftness to your allies, one that cures conditions and revives allies and one that even increases your allies in size. Each come with a variety of bonuses however so it can be quite the gamble. While you might want increased regeneration you could end up with something like increased swiftness instead, so be prepared for risks and not possibly the rewards you seek.

Tasty, refreshing and good for you. Healing elixirs are extremely handy

An engineer also has a personal set of elixirs that act the same as the thrown variants, giving a handy quick healing boost in the chance that your looking worse for wear. The self-use elixirs also feature the same differing bonuses and, should you wish, you could use your own elixir before throwing one to your friends to run into the radius to gain the bonuses. The higher the level and the more skill points you put into the elixir skills, the more effective they become and more exotic the bonuses.

I have a PhD in Bringing the Pain.

Of course, if you’re looking to bring the pain, the aforementioned healing turret can be exchanged for the more traditional rifle turret. You know…the kind that shoots bullets. You can even overcharge it to go into automatic fire so it can further rain more death upon those unfortunate enough to come into its range. There’s also a flame turret for any pyromaniacs out there. One thing to remember about the turrets is that enemies can destroy them and if so, you’ll be punished with a much longer cooldown than if you picked the turret up. This applies for if you just leave your turret somewhere and have to detonate it to bring out a new one, always look after your turrets and they will look after you, so do not lose them!

The engineer has a number of flame-orientated skills if you like your enemies crispy

Bombs are another skill in the engineer’s big bag of tricks. Smoke bombs can invoke blindness, glue bombs to immobilise enemies and an abundance of other variants. Differing from grenades bombs are timed to explode. There’s something charming and nostalgic about planting an oversized barrel next to a bunch of enemies mid-combat, running off and watching it launch those in its explosive area into the air.

There’s a certain theme going on with this profession, an explosive theme. There is definitely an appeal in running with dual pistols firing into the enemy, whilst your turret also fills them with lead and to top it off there’s even an ability to shoot a surprise shot from your belt. That is a lot of bullets heading in one or however many directions depending on your foes. The combination of support and offensive techniques plus the abundance of gun/explosion themed abilities makes the engineer a fun one to play as if you know how to do it right. By that, it means do not run blindly into the hordes with the close-combat orientated classes. Sit back with your guns, turrets and explosives and survey the battlefield. You’re an engineer and engineers are smart so you should play as so.