Build:Engineer - Core Sanguine Grenadier

This is a test build. You may comment and rate it.

Focused on: Strike damage, Burst and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on July 27, 2025.

Overview

A Core Engineer PvP build focused on mobility, kiting, and damage that is playable by free accounts right out of the gate. Retains high Might and Vulnerability stacks via grenades through traits like Sanguine Array and Steel-Packed Powder. This build heavily relies on kiting with the about-face command and snap-targeted grenades, and as such is not beginner friendly.

Skill Bar

Rifle

Utility

Grenade Kit

Skill Variants

Utility

• Note: If you would be stunned while using Rocket Boots, rather than being stunned, the boots will be preemptively canceled and you will be free to act. Because of this, skilled usage of the ability generally outperforms other available utility skills.

• Utility Goggles / Flashbang - A more reactive option. Gadgeteer buffs this by making it provide 3s of Protection in addition to the usual cleanse and Resistance. As of a 2025 patch this skill was improved, now also granting ~2100 barrier. The toolbelt skill Flashbang is good up-front damage, anti-stealth, and procs a bunch of different traits. Very solid pick.

• Personal Battering Ram / Launch Personal Battering Ram - low cooldown CC to quickly proc Equal and Opposite Reaction. Successful hits of this skill will grant 3s of Quickness and Stability, and as such can be considered a damage skill and "stunbreak". The toolbelt skill is excellent for triggering Mechanized Deployment which helps the build's burst windows be more effective and practical. Lastly, with Gadgeteer, Personal Battering Ram applies light Burning which can help cover the build's otherwise tight condition spread.

Weapon Variants

• None

Template Code

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Specializations

Trait Variants

• Lock On - Trades 100% Swiftness uptime for burst Vulnerability application, Fury, a cleanse and a 4s reveal upon disabling someone. This is a two-part skill; the same buffs/debuffs are applied if hitting someone out of Stealth, though the reveal is shorter. You'll want either Rune of Lynx or Relic of the Wayfinder for movement speed if using this. If you're after anti-stealth, try Utility Goggles and its toolbelt skill, Flashbang.

• Explosive Temper - Trades survivability for slightly higher sustained damage.

Equipment

Rifle

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Amulets

• - better survivability against comps with a lot of strike damage, but you lose out on a lot of crit.

Sigils

Sigil of Opportunity can be replaced by:

• Sigil of Cleansing - better cleansing. Due to the frequency of swapping on and off the Grenade Kit, this sigil will proc frequently and "automatically", which will lead to you either accidentally cleansing deadly conditions or something random with .5s left.

Runes

• Rune of Lynx - mobility if you choose to swap off Streamlined Kits

Relics

• Relic of Mistburn is the backbone of the build. Don't swap off of it.

Usage

• This build features high mobility and burst damage first and foremost, with decent defensive options after. It performs well as a +1 to a skirmish or in teamfights where there isn't projectile hate. It is extremely reliant on kiting with grenades & the about-face command, an action which allows you to instantly do a 180° turn. This, combined with grenades being throwable in every direction allows you to remain safely out of melee range while dealing full damage, even if focused. This command must be bound in the options menu.

General

• Grenade Kit skills can be thrown in any direction, making it one of the strongest kiting tools in the game. Utilize the about-face command and snap targeting to remain outside of melee range while still dealing damage.

• All explosions proc Steel-Packed Powder, Shrapnel, Sharpshooter, Sanguine Array. The Vulnerability and Might granted by these traits will retroactively boost all currently applied conditions as well as future ones on your target. You'll want to be spamming grenades as much as possible to keep stacks of these up.

• Blunderbuss & Shrapnel Grenade have low cooldowns and long range. Use them as often as possible. Sanguine Array causes them to provide a lot of might so they should be used before other strong abilities.

• All successful outgoing crowd control gives 3s of much needed Quickness and Stability. Keep an eye on enemy buffs and don't waste stuns if they have Stability.

• Net Shot is great for landing important skills and keeping up Vulnerability stacks. With a 10s cooldown you can fire this off pretty regularly. Likely to miss moving targets at longer ranges.

• Rocket Boots have two charges with 16s cooldowns a piece. Use either to gain distance when pressured or when anticipating a stun. This skill has a unique property where it will essentially "parry" a stun if you're hit with one during its use.

• Use Grenade over Rifle Burst for filler. Rifle Burst's only niche use is to quickly knock off a stack of Aegis.

Damage

• Use Blunderbuss, Shrapnel Grenade, Freeze Grenade & Rocket Kick as often as possible.

• Use Static Shock or Net Shot to land your high damage skills more reliably.

• Fill with Grenade; do not use Rifle Burst. Rifle burst deals much lower damage and gives only a third of the Explosions.

• Grenade Barrage deals less damage here than in a purely power-focused build, and as such isn't as pivotal to land. Still great to throw out as a finisher or into larger groups for quick Might stacks.

• Other grenades are more situational; Poison Grenade is one of the build's only unblockable skills, and Flash Grenade is one of its only sources of blind. Knowing when to use Poison Grenade is key against teams with projectile hate.

• There are seven non-projectile damage skills in this build: Blunderbuss, Rocket Kick, Jump Shot, Poison Grenade (unblockable), Drop Mine (created by Streamlined Kits), Static Shock, and Supply Crate.

Burst Combos

• Open with a toolbelt skill to proc Mechanized Deployment (for Excessive Energy) if possible. Static Shock if you're in range is the best option, but you can also preemptively use Med Pack Drop.

• Running at your target, Net Shot > Blunderbuss > Overcharged Shot > Shrapnel Grenade Grenade Barrage > Frost Grenade > Grenade spam

• In melee, running at your target: Overcharged Shot > Blunderbuss > Rocket Kick > Shrapnel Grenade > Slick Shoes > run through or around your target while casting Grenade Barrage (this will also trigger Drop Mine if it's off cooldown) > Net Shot > whatever's up

• In melee with stuns: Net Shot > Blunderbuss > Rocket Kick > Overcharged Shot > Shrapnel Grenade

Remember that explosions inflict Vulnerability and also stack Might, meaning any grenades thrown will add to any future condition ticks, even if the conditions are already applied. Always pepper targets with Grenade after using your high damage skills.

Moblity

• Swap to Grenade Kit every 20s (watch for the Streamlined Kits buff on your bar) for 100% Swiftness uptime.

• Rocket Boots have two charges at 16s recharge a piece. Use either to roam, gain distance when pressured, or when anticipating a stun. This skill has a unique property where it will essentially "parry" a stun if you're hit with one during its use. Gives Superspeed with Gadgeteer.

• Jump Shot - Solid mobility option that can get over gaps. Gives 1/2s of evade starting at frame 1. This evasion doesn't last for the entire jump.

Defense

• While lacking in hard mitigation like blocks and evasion, this build makes up for it by having permanent Cripple application (thanks to Shrapnel ) and a slew of crowd control options. In theory, damage is mitigated by staying out of range of it entirely, so the above Mobility section also applies here.

• A.E.D. - improved by Gadgeteer to last 8 seconds and heal a whopping 12,280 health if your health would hit 0 while active. Cover your cast with Slick Shoes's stability if needed.

• Slick Shoes - has both an initial knockdown and added cripple thanks to Gadgeteer. Is now a stunbreak which applies 5x Stability for 4s. One of the few skills that still works against blocking or evading enemies.

• Net Shot and Overcharged Shot - each provide ~2 seconds of control, in their own ways. With a bit of practice these can be used while running away by untargeting, beginning the cast, then turning around and retargeting before the cast finishes. The about-face function makes this possible without having to flail your mouse everywhere.

• Jump Shot - gives 1/2s of evade starting at frame 1. This evasion doesn't last for the entire jump.

• Med Pack Drop - drops 6 med packs in an average-size AoE. Allies (including you) hit by the initial drop will have a staggering 14 conditions removed, and the packs will spawn in a random area within that AoE. You'll have to walk over them to pick them up, where they will heal for ~1.3k each. Save this for the cleanse, or drop it ahead of time as the med packs remain for 60 seconds.

• Mechanized Deployment causes all toolbelt skills to cleanse a condition.

• Supply Crate - drops a Healing Turret, Net Turret, and Flame Turret which immediately overcharge. This gives a 2s initial stun, another 2s stun from Electrified Net, a blind-pulsing smoke field from Smoke Screen and the usual heal from Healing Turret. The water field from the healing turret will take priority over the smoke field, but it doesn't last as long. This means you can blast/leap/Detonate Supply Crate Turrets after the water field dissipates for a bit of Stealth.

Advanced Techniques

• Slick Shoes > Rocket Boots or Jump Shot can be used as a risky, aggressive stun that ignores block & evade.

• Supply Crate - an incredibly powerful tool overall, and one that can provide much needed Stealth. The smoke field provided by Smoke Screen is initially overlapped by the water field from the dropped Healing Turret, but it lasts a bit longer. Blast or leap through it after the water field disappears for a sneaky getaway or to finish a downed opponent.

• You can bait dodges by fake-casting Supply Crate. Using the weapon stow command, you can cancel the skill mid-cast and still get the crate visual.

• You can stow Grenade Kit by dropping your bundle (same keybind as swap weapon). This doesn't have a cooldown, unlike the native stow attached to the skill, and can be spammed as quick as you can press it if you really feel like it.

• Mechanized Deployment will only cleanse conditions at the end of the skill's animation. Skills that have long animations but can be canceled earlier like Regenerating Mist can be cancelled by taking out and immediately stowing Grenade Kit in a pinch. The cleanse comes out faster this way.