Engineer - Core Adrenal Explosions

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

Focused on: Strike damage and Control

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on September 21, 2024.

Overview

A Core Engineer Strike-damage PvP build focused on lockdown, sustain, and the endurance regeneration granted by Adrenal Implant. Damage is primarily dealt by grenades, Bunker Down and Explosive Entrance. It also features considerable Resistance uptime with Mecha Legs and Reactive Lenses which greatly boosts its survivability.

Skill Bar

Mace/Shield

Utility

Grenade Kit

Skill Variants

Utility

• Slick Shoes or Thumper Turret can be replaced by:

• Throw Mine / Mine Field - an unblockable boonrip, stun & blast finisher on Throw Mine, high burst on a low cooldown on Mine Field. Unfortunately this doesn't feature a stunbreak so it's more of a high risk, high reward option.

• Net Turret / Net Attack - a somewhat considerable option against comps with high Stability but low Resistance. Net Attack can help stall while Stability stacks dwindle off and can help land high-value abilities.

Template Code

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Specializations

Trait Variants

• Over Shield - Trades an automatic smoke field for AoE Protection, and makes Protection on you stronger.

• Explosive Temper - Trades survivability for higher sustained damage.

• Experimental Turrets - Gives access to more projectile hate and some boons at the cost of high Resistance uptime. Generally outperforms Mecha Legs in teamfight scenarios.

Equipment

Mace

Shield

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Weapons

• None; Mace & Shield are a core component of the build.

Amulets

• - trades damage for better sustain.

• - trades damage for better survivability against comps with a lot of strike damage.

Sigils

• Sigil of Intelligence can be replaced by:

• Sigil of Cleansing - better cleansing. Due to the frequency of swapping on and off the Grenade Kit, this sigil can be inconsistent.

• Sigil of Savagery - better burst. Stuns in the build are Rocket Fist Prototype, Static Shield, Supply Crate and Electrified Net (from supply crate). Throw Mine is a good skill to pair with this.

Runes

• None

Relics

• None

Usage

• All outgoing disables proc Bunker Down, so you'll want to be throwing out crowd control during fights. This will passively deal a good amount of damage and cleanse conditions off of you. Try to pay attention to who has few or no remaining stunbreaks and try to lock them down.

• Energizing Slam is the best skill to open with since it immediately gives a 10% strike damage boost and a buff to your healing. Boons are given to all allies within the slam. Dodge rolling before use is a good idea if you think you'll get blinded or CC'd before the skill would finish (for Mecha Legs. After using the skill, don't pointlessly remain in melee. Stay just outside of it and pepper foes with Grenade Kit until you see an opportunity to be especially disruptive with crowd control.

• Control space with Slick Shoes, Thumper Turret, Magnetic Inversion and grenades from Grenade Kit. Make it difficult for enemies to do what they want and force as many stunbreaks as you can.

• Peel for pressured allies with your crowd control and consider dropping Med Pack Drop on them for a full cleanse and healing.

• Dodge frequently. With Adrenal Implant and Vigor you regenerate one dodge every 5 seconds. Dodging refreshes Explosive Entrance and also procs Relic of Rivers, both of which contribute greatly to your outgoing damage. Dodging just for these procs isn't a bad idea.

General

• This build aims to maximize the quality and quantity of its dodge rolls for both offensive and defensive purposes, most notably Relic of Rivers and Explosive Entrance. Its namesake trait, Adrenal Implant, along with numerous sources of Vigor from the Tools specialization result in a dodge being available every 5 seconds. This means 40% Alacrity and Resistance uptime, and 60% Regeneration uptime from dodging alone. This Alacrity helps the other defensive cooldowns in the kit be readily available as needed, and with all defensives doubling as offensive skills, Alacrity indirectly boosts damage output there as well. Whenever it isn't dodging about, it can output respectable damage with Energizing Slam, Shrapnel Grenade, Grenade Barrage and Bunker Down, which activates any time you disable an enemy. As such, good defensive play will double as offense.

• Energizing Slam is your best opener and should be used as frequently as possible - activate Regenerating Mist first for Vigor and a leap finisher (if it's available). Energizing Slam deals good damage and acts as a minor gap closer, but also provides 3s of the important Vigor and Regeneration boons. These boons are important since they keep Excessive Energy and Energy Amplifier online.

• Dodge frequently, but not unnecessarily. With Vigor and Adrenal Implant you get one dodge every 5 seconds. Focus on dodging unblockable skills that would get past Static Shield or to wait out Stability stacks, then counterattack with CC. Dodge rolling activates these buffs: Explosive Entrance (buffed by Flashbang), Relic of Rivers, Mecha Legs, and Blast Shield. The regeneration granted by rolling also keeps Energy Amplifier online.

• All explosions apply vulnerability with Steel-Packed Powder, which grants a greater-than-normal damage increase thanks to Shaped Charge. Each grenade from Grenade Kit skills, Rocket Fist Prototype, turret detonations, Explosive Entrance and Bunker Down proc this, leading to high passive vulnerability application.

• 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.

• You can use Regenerating Mist before skills that deal high strike damage to proc Excessive Energy. This pairs well with Energizing Slam as you'll get both Vigor and the healing from the leap finisher.

• While in melee, try cover as much ground as possible with Slick Shoes for CC, damage and cleansing with Bunker Down. Enemies can slip on the oil if they are moving in any way, even while blocking or evading. Enemies who aren't moving cannot slip on the oil slick.

• Static Shield / Throw Shield is the highest value skill in this build. It both blocks incoming damage and dishes a lot out thanks to Bunker Down. Additionally, proper use will spam out Bandage which heals and cleanses. Try standing in an opponent's AoE attack while also in range of them and watch the magic happen. The block/stun functions similarly to Shocking Aura in how it can stun through dodge rolls and evasion.

Damage

• High damage skills in this build are Energizing Slam, Grenade Barrage, Shrapnel Grenade and Freeze Grenade. The rest of the damage comes from Explosive Entrance and Bunker Down, meaning skills like Rocket Fist Prototype which normally deal little damage end up dealing quite a lot.

• Open with Energizing Slam for damage, Vigor and Regeneration. These boons are important since they keep Excessive Energy and Energy Amplifier online.

• While Shrapnel Grenade and Freeze Grenade deal high strike damage, the other two grenade skills deal much less. Poison Grenade applies a long lasting poison and is unblockable, while Flash Grenade deals even less damage but can blind a bunch of enemies at once.

• Lead high damage skills with crowd control to ensure they hit. Rocket Fist Prototype and Magnetic_Shield_(engineer_skill) > Magnetic Inversion are great for this.

• Try to be in melee when healing with Healing Turret for both damage and Vulnerability with Grenadier's barrage.

• Sitting in AoEs during a teamfight with Static Shield / Throw Shield can both shred Stability stacks and deal/heal a lot of damage with Bunker Down.

Offensive Combos

• Rocket Fist Prototype > Energizing Slam > Grenade Barrage is the bread-and-butter burst combo

• Rocket Fist Prototype > Thumper Turret > Regenerating Mist > Energizing Slam > Grenade Barrage is a bit more cooldown heavy but is highly disruptive and will force a roll or stunbreak which you can plan for

• Energizing Slam > Slick Shoes > run around your target while using Shrapnel Grenade and Grenade Barrage.

• Magnetic Shield (magnetic shield) > immediately detonate with Magnetic Inversion > Rocket Fist Prototype > Energizing Slam > Slick Shoes > Thumper Turret > Shrapnel Grenade > Grenade Barrage. This combo is difficult to react to since it is a full lockdown from an instant skill, and will proc Bunker Down 4 times if you time it correctly.

Moblity

• Use Energizing Slam while traveling from point to point.

• Superspeed gives Superspeed for 3 seconds and can be used during combat without the stunbreak if the movement is really needed.

Defense

• This build's defense comes in two forms: frequently available dodge rolls and a large number of crowd control skills. Any time it dodge rolls or successfully disables an enemy it gets some damage in the form of Explosive Entrance or Bunker Down, meaning that good defensive play is also good offensive play.

• Med Pack Drop - drops 6 med packs in an AoE after a short delay. Allies (including you) hit by the initial drop will have all their conditions cleansed and the packs themselves will spawn in a random area within that AoE. The packs heal for ~1.3k each, but you have to walk over them to pick them up. Save this for the cleanse or drop it ahead of time as the med packs remain for 60 seconds. You can use Static Shield to cover yourself as you collect the packs.

• Healing Turret - this will cleanse 5 conditions from yourself and 3 conditions from any nearby allies. It also procs on-heal traits twice, so you'll get 6s of Resistance from Reactive Lenses (and 2 cleanses) as well as 5s of protection from Reconstruction Enclosure; once for the initial cast and once for the turret's overcharge. It also spawns a water field which can be combo'd with any turret detonation including its own, Energizing Slam, Magnetic Inversion, Thump, Rumble and Supply Crate.

• Mechanized Deployment causes all toolbelt skills to cleanse a condition. The skill created by Lock On is considered a toolbelt skill and will proc this trait.

• 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.

Defensive Combos

• Regenerating Mist > Energizing Slam gives 5s of Vigor and 9s of Regeneration in addition to the healing from the leap finisher.

• Energizing Slam > Slick Shoes > run around your target while using Healing Turret > Thumper Turret for a number of stuns and blast finishers. For additional healing, Magnetic Shield (magnetic shield) > immediately detonate with Magnetic Inversion in the created water field for another blast finisher and Bunker Down proc.

• Med Pack Drop > Static Shield to cover yourself while picking up the dropped packs

• Regenerating Mist > Magnetic Shield (magnetic shield) > immediately detonate with Magnetic Inversion > Energizing Slam for double heal finishers. Also works with Rumble in place of Energizing Slam

• Healing Turret > Magnetic Shield (magnetic shield) > immediately detonate with Magnetic Inversion > Supply Crate > Energizing Slam for triple heal finishers and a stun

• Thumper Turret > Regenerating Mist > Detonate Thumper Turret immediately after Thump for double blast finishers and a stun. The turret won't Thump if no enemies are nearby.

• When stunned, wait until the smoke field from Autodefense Bomb Dispenser is created > Rumble for stealth and a stunbreak

Advanced Techniques

• You can bait dodges by fake-casting Supply Crate. To fake cast, use the weapon stow command before the skill finishes casting. The crate visual will still appear.

• 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 a skill's animation. Skills that have long animations but can be canceled earlier like Regenerating Mist can be cancelled by most skills, or by taking out and immediately stowing Grenade Kit. The cleanse comes out faster this way.