Best Engineer Builds in Guild Wars 2 (2024) | High Ground Gaming (2024)

In Guild Wars 2, the Engineer is one of the three Adventurer professions, the others being Thief and Ranger. At its core, the Engineer is a ranged class that has access to various gadgets and inventions which make it one of the more versatile classes in the game. But to bring out the full value of the Engineer, you’ll need to use the best builds available in GW2.

Overview of the Engineer

Whether solo or in a group, one push of a button allows the Engineer to bring extra damage or support. These unique gadgets and inventions define the Engineer in GW2 and provide all sorts of utility skills. Instead of magic, the Engineer pulls Flamethrowers, Rocket Boots, and even a Personal Battering Ram out of their pockets. They even have turrets that can heal allies or deal damage.

To make up for their lack of weapon options, their profession mechanic (Tool Belt) gives each utility skill an extra skill. For example, the healing skill A.E.D normally can heal you. But if you use it with Tool Belt, you can use A.E.D to stun enemies instead.

With the Tool Belt and their gadgets combined, the Engineer has something for just about any situation or build. So, to know what to use, continue reading for the best Engineer builds in GW2!

Power Core Engineer Build

For new players and free-to-play alike, Core Engineer is just as viable as its elite specializations. While you might fall behind the curve compared to something like Power Holosmith, you’ll have an explosive time playing Power Engineer.

The Power Engineer build focuses mainly on its Explosives specialization in GW2. In this trait tree, we gain huge damage boosts. As such, you’ll be throwing a lot of grenades and mines, fire missiles, and unleashing plenty of orbital strikes.

With this Engineer build, you’ll be able to complete anything you come across in Guild Wars 2 – including Raids or Fractals! To get started, let’s see what type of gear we need.

Stats

For Power Engineer, we will of course need lots of Power. We have a few choices:

• Berserker’s – Power, Precision, Ferocity
• Marauder’s – Power, Precision, Vitality, Ferocity
• Soldier’s – Power, Vitality, Toughness

Berserker’s will be our highest damage gear set. It will keep our base damage high and our crit chance higher. For less than 5 gold, you can buy yourself a full set of Exotic Berserker’s gear off the trade post.

If you want more survivability, Marauder’s or Soldier’s are great choices. You’ll do less damage compared to Berserker’s, but more health with help you out (especially if you are new). If you don’t want a big damage decrease, I recommend using few pieces of Marauder’s/Soldier’s then fill the rest with Berserker’s.

Specializations/Traits

For Power Engineer, we need the Explosives, Firearms, and Tools specializations. The Explosives spec will form our entire playstyle. With Steel-Packed Powder, any skill classified as an explosion will apply Vulnerability, while Shaped Charge further increases our damage with each stack.

Additionally, Explosives spec contains Glass Cannon and Big Boomer which gives us a 25% damage increase as long as we keep our health high.

The Firearms spec drastically increases our chance to critically hit. Sharpshooter bleeds enemies hit by crits, which Hematic Focus then increases our chance to crit on bleeding enemies. Likewise High Calibur and No Scope increase the base chance to crit by 40%. When combined, this creates a loop of constant crits.

Lastly with Tools, we gain some extra perks, but more importantly, it grants us another 20% damage bonus. Takedown Round gives 10% more damage when our endurance isn’t full, and Excessive Energy does the same when we have Vigor.

Weapons and Skills

Unlike other builds and classes in GW2, the Core Engineer doesn’t focus on using their regular weapons. While we will take the Rifle for the Blunderbuss (2) skill to generate Might, most of our damage will come from our utility skills.

A lot of our damage will come from Grenade Kit (7), Throw Mine (8), and Mortar Kit (0), plus their respective Tool Belt skills. Since we took the Explosives specialization, these utility skills will apply Vulnerability plus deal extra damage per stack.

As for the other utility skills, A.E.D (6) is a great healing skill to have. Not only does it have a standard heal, but will also prevent lethal blows and give another big heal for 5 seconds afterwards. Plus, A.E.D has a great stun when activated alongside the Tool Belt skill.

Rotation

Power Engineer’s rotation is just as versatile as the class, as it doesn’t really matter what order you use your abilities. Here is an example rotation:

Your goal is to cause as many explosions as you can to stack Vulnerability on your target. What order you cast your skills in doesn’t matter much, but you should try to use Blunderbuss before high damage skills to buff yourself with Might.

Your only real worry is to remember to use your skills off cooldown. Additionally, dodge every so often and never have full endurance to take advantage of the Takedown Round trait.

If you want to customize this build for yourself, click this link to see the full build. For a more bruiser like Engineer build, let’s take a look at the Scrapper.

Power Quickness Scrapper Build

The first elite spec build is the Power Quickness Scrapper. The Scrapper is unlocked for the Engineer from Heart of Thorns, the first Guild Wars 2 expansion. With the Scrapper spec, the Engineer is turned from a ranged class into a melee bruiser/tank.

Specializing into Scrapper gives the ability to wield a two-handed Hammer. This Hammer is complete with stuns, blocks, and missile reflects – perfect for the tank role. It’s auto-attack chain also generates Might, passively increasing your damage.

Additionally, Scrapper has their elite Tool Belt skill replaced with the Function Gyro. Activating the Function Gyro sends out little drones that can revive allies or finished downed enemies. The Gyros also have their own utility skills that drop AOEs which support allies or combo with other skills.

With the Power Quickness build, the Scrapper will have a 100% uptime of Quickness (attack speed increase) for allies, have the option to tank, and deal plenty of damage in GW2.

Stats

This time around we require a few pieces of Diviner’s. Diviner’s will provide plenty of Power, Precision, and Ferocity but will also have much need Concentration for our boon uptime. I recommend 2-3 pieces of Diviner’s gear then filling in the the rest with Berserker’s or Marauder’s.

Specializations/Traits

Since all the support traits we need are in the Scrapper spec, we can get away with Explosives and Firearms for damage. What we choose is going to look very similar to the Power Engineer build.

Since we are going to use Grenade Kit, we are going to choose the Explosive spec for Steel-Packed Powder and Shaped Charge. These two traits will apply Vulnerability to those hit with explosions then increase our damage per stack. We will also take Glass Cannon and Big Boomer for 25% more damage.

In Firearms, we can bleed enemies when we crit then gain increased crit chance against bleeding enemies. Similarly, if we take High Calibur and No Scope, we gain an 45% crit chance just for being within 450 meters of an enemy.

Scrapper is where our boons come from. Gyroscopic Acceleration makes all Gyro skills grant Superspeed. To get Quickness, we take Kinetic Accelerators to give Quickness every time we grant Superspeed.

In this spec, we also have the trait, Impact Savant, which converts a portion of our damage into Barrier. With this we have all the support and survivability we need.

Weapons and Skills

For this build, we will be using the Scrapper’s signature weapon – the Hammer. Rather than tons of damage, the Hammer is full of utility. You have an AOE stun with Thunderclap (5), can block most attacks with Shock Shield (4), and can reflect projectiles with Electro-Whirl (2).

As for utility skills, we will grab Medic Gyro (6), Shredder Gyro (8), and Blast Gyro (9). Each of these will give Superspeed and also give Quickness due to the Kinetic Accelerators trait. We will also take Grenade Kit for damage. In fact, most of our damage will come from Electro-Whirl and skills from Grenade Kit.

Rotation

The rotation for Power Quickness Scrapper revolves around using Gyros off cooldown to constantly keep up Quickness. You’ll mainly use Electro-Whirl, Grenade Kit, and auto-attacks for damage.

As long as you use your Gyros often, your team will have 100% uptime of Superspeed and Quickness. Don’t forget about Shock Shield to block attacks and gain extra Barrier if you need it. Additionally, if your team is taking a lot of damage, you can sneak Reconstruction Field (F1) in to your rotation for Protection boons.

With this build teams will love having you for quick fractal runs. Here is the link to the build where you can customize it for yourself.

Power Holosmith Build

With the second Guild Wars 2 expansion, Path of Fire, the Engineer unlocks the Holosmith specialization. Like the Scrapper, the Holosmith becomes a melee DPS capable of dealing high amounts of damage. They are able to use the one-handed sword as a primary weapon and gain a new profession mechanic.

This new profession mechanic is called the Photon Forge. Activating the Photon Forge cloaks your weapon in hard light, dealing more damage the longer Photon Forge is activated and granting new skills. However, there is a catch.

The Photon Forge also introduces a new resource called heat. The longer Photon Forge is active and the more you use its unique skills, the more heat you generate. The more heat you generate, the more damage you do. But if you generate too much heat, you’ll overheat – damaging yourself and disabling Photon Forge.

For the third time in a row, we will be going for a Power build. Learning how to play the Power Holosmith build will put you at the top of the DPS charts and help you complete just about anything GW2 has to offer.

Stats

For Power Holosmith, we of course need a bunch of Power. As always, the best stat prefixes are:

• Berserker’s – Power, Precision, Ferocity
• Marauder’s – Power, Precision, Vitality, Ferocity
• Soldier’s – Power, Vitality, Toughness

For this build, you really want Berserker’s to get as much damage as you can. However, Marauder’s and Soldier’s are great alternatives if you find yourself dying a lot or want an easier time learning mechanics.

Specializations/Traits

Yet again, this build will be using Explosives and Firearms along with the Holosmith spec. Each of these specs will make it possible to deal huge damage.

With the Explosions spec, explosion skills will apply Vulnerability. which will increase our damage per stack with Steel-Packed Powder and Shaped Charge. Likewise, we will get a 25% damage increase just for being at high health with Glass Cannon and Big Boomer.

With Firearms, we will get a bunch of crit chance for those big damage numbers. Since we will always be in the activation range threshold, we will grab High Caliber and No Scope to get a near 40% crit chance plus extra crit damage.

Lastly with Holosmith, we upgrade our Photon Forge with Solar Focusing Lens. This trait increases our damage in Photon Forge for the first few attacks by 10%. Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit also upgrades our Photon Forge by adding 50% max heat capacity for a total of 150% heat.

Weapons and Skills

For our weapons, we will equip the Sword/Pistol combo. You could also opt for Sword/Shield at the cost of some damage but gain a little survivability. No matter what you take, half of our damage outside of Photon Forge will come from Refraction Cutter (2) and the auto-attack chain.

This is mainly because both of these skills gain increased damage when over 50% and 100% heat. Additionally, the auto-attack chain reduces the cooldown of other abilities so be sure to fully complete the auto-attacks.

As for utility skills, we need Grenade Kit (7) and Throw Mine (8). The other half of the damage we deal will come from these two abilities and their respective Tool Kit skills. They’ll also trigger Explosives traits so we can apply a bunch of Vulnerability to enemies.

We will also take Laser Disk (9) and Prime Light Beam (0) since they deal plenty of burst damage. Be sure to use these skills while above 100% heat for maximum damage.

Photon Forge

In Photon Forge, your damage will increase based on how high your heat is. You’ll passively gain heat during Photon Forge and gain heat from using its skills. At 150% heat, you’ll overheat, taking damage and disabling Photon Forge. Heat also persists outside of Photon Forge so be sure to manage it properly.

When activating Photon Forge, we will gain new skills to use. Auto-attacks, Corona Burst (3), and Photon Blitz (4) will be the main damage. Be sure to use Grenade Barrage (F2), Blade Burst (F4), and Prime Light Beam (0) in Photon Forge for more damage.

Also, Hololeap (2) and Holographic Shockwave (5) won’t be used in the rotation but are good ways to generate a quick 30% heat.

Rotation

What a lot of skilled Holosmiths like to do is “preheat” before an encounter. This means to generate heat before starting their rotation to maximize their damage. The best way to quickly preheat is by staying in Photon Forge and using skills like Holographic Shockwave.

Typically, Holosmiths preheat to 40% or if there were multiple boss phases, stay in Photon Forge and preheat to 90%. Each of these percentages have their own opener.

The goal is to constantly keep your heat high without overheating . Always be sure to pay attention to your heat percentage. You overheat at 150% heat which will damage you and kill your DPS. It’s always better to end the rotation early to prevent overheating.

Outside of Photon Forge your main damage will come from Refraction Cutter and Shrapnel Grenade. Always use them one after the other.

Be sure to use your mines and grenades off cooldown when you can. Grenade Barrage, Blade Burst, and Prime Light Beam should be used off cooldown in Photon Forge for big damage as well.

To take a closer look at this build, click this link. There you will find the full build that you can customize.

Heal Alacrity Mechanist Build

In Guild Wars 2, the last elite specialization the Engineer has is the Mechanist. The Mechanist really emphasizes the versatility of the Engineer. It has a Power build, a Condi build, a Healer build, and even a Power Alacrity Support build. All made possible by their new profession mechanic, the Jade Mech.

With the Mechanist spec, the Engineer takes the jade tech from End of Dragons and makes their own battle mech. While they don’t pilot the mech (like I hoped for), the Jade Mech acts as a pet similar to Ranger pets. Unfortunately, the Jade Mech also replaces the Tool Belt with its own skills.

The Mechanist also unlocks the Mace to be used with the Shield or Pistol. While it does some damage, Mace skills are full of utility like stuns, buffs, and give Barrier to allies.

Since all of the previous builds have been Power focus, let’s look at the top meta build for Engineer in GW2 – the Heal Alacrity Mechanist. Just know that there are multiple builds out there that might fit your playstyle better.

Stats

For stats, this time we need a bunch of Healing Power and Concentration if we want our allies to stay alive and our boons to last forever.

• Harrier’s – Power, Concentration, Healing Power
• Cleric’s – Power, Toughness, Healing Power

Our best gear prefix is Harrier’s. This should give us big heals and long-lasting boons. However, it might take some time to grab Harrier’s gear. In the meantime, you can buy a full set of Cleric’s for around 3 gold.

Specializations/Traits

This time around we will take the specializations, Inventions, Alchemy, and Mechanist. In Inventions, Over Shield and Reconstruction Enclosure will give allies Protection with every Shield skill and healing skill. Energy Amplifier will also give us 250 additional Healing Power.

Alchemy on the other hand, helps keep you alive through passives that cleanse and buff you. More importantly, Alchemy has Health Insurance which increases Healing by 10% and upgrades our Med Kit to heal others by 20%.

Lastly, Mechanist is where a lot of our boons come from. Channeling Conduits will give allies Alacrity every time they gain Barrier, which will be applied by auto-attacks and the next trait – Barrier Engine. This last trait has your mech grant Barrier to allies periodically. With that your mech is set for supporting.

Weapons and Skills

For our weapons, we will take the Mace and the Shield. Since our Mech does most of the work, we don’t really have to worry about over-complicated rotations. All you need to do is use auto-attacks to generate Barrier and Energizing Slam to grant Regen to allies.

Additionally, if you need crowd control your Shield skills have a knock back and a stun. They also give damage reduction to allies.

As for utility skills, we want the Elixir Gun and the Elite Mortar Kit for their #5 skill. Each of these are big AOE heals. We will also take the Med Kit for the burst healing it has.

Med Kit

With the Med Kit, you have multiple healing skills that heal over time, grant boons, and have on-demand burst healing. The first, Med Blaster (1), is a pulsing heal that increases in strength per boon on an ally. With your Mech granting boons periodically, this should heal for quite a bit

Cleansing Field (3) cleanses conditions but will mainly be used to create a water field to combo with other skills. You’ll mainly be using the Shield skill Magnetic Shield (4) or the Med Kit skill, Infusion Bomb (5), to combo.

Lastly, you also have Vital Burst (4) for burst healing and Infusion Bomb (5) for tons of Regen boons.

Jade Mech

For the Jade Mech, Crisis Zone (F2) and Barrier Burst (F3) will give your allies tons of boons including Might and Alacrity. These should be used off cooldown.

Rotation

The rotation for Heal Mechanist isn’t that important to get right. As long as you are pressing buttons, your team will be healed and have their boons. But here are some example rotations:

With the way combo fields work, you always want to use Elixir Shell or Cleansing Field to leave a water field, then combo with a blast finisher. The easiest blast finishers you have are Infusion Bomb or Magnetic Shield. The end result is a bunch of healing.

Additionally, don’t forget to use Mech skills off cooldown for Might, Alacrity, and Barrier generation and to heal allies.

Follow this Engineer build and your team will never die no matter what content you are doing in GW2. To see a customizable visual guide, click here.

Join the High Ground

That wraps up the best Engineer builds in GW2. Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a comment if you have any build advice and subscribe to our newsletter for more Guild Wars 2 content.

If you especially liked this guide, then check out our best build guides for the Necromancer and Daredevil as well!

And as always, take the High Ground.