Engineer Skill Thoughts and General Observations

All,

Engineers are amazing; here are my thoughts and musings on them.


I initially posted this as a reply to Noneo's amazing Engineer Survival Guide; if you haven't read that guide, go read it. Really, now, go read it. This guide will wait. Given the length of what I posted, I reconsidered and figured I'd start my own thread too. Consider this my opinion; different playstyles will see different results. My focus is on party support--keeping my team alive. I don't focus on maximizing my engineer's DPS via skills; I still try to maximize my dps to help my team though. Skill choice, however, is entirely based on supporting and helping my team.

On the skills, here are my personal opinions. Take 'em for what they're worth. My engi is level 23, and I've done multiple guardian runs, but I haven't personally tested out Sonic Boom yet. That said, I don't see a big use for this skill given it's long recharge time and its lack of team support outside of just DPS. Again, my skill decisions are focused on support--not pure dps. The skill descriptions below are taken from page 1 of Noneo's guide; the commentary is mine.

Wither - (Damage over Time) - Earned at level 2
Rank 1: 8 energy, 12 second cool-down, 12m range, 10 seconds of 1 - 2 damage every 2 seconds.
Rank 2 - 6: Increased damage dealt over the same 10 seconds.

Commentary: Not a necessary skill. Mobs die too fast as is, better skills to spend your points on.

Leech - (Damage over Time, Healing over Time) - Earned at level 3
Rank 1: 10 energy, 15 second cool-down, 12m range, 6 seconds of 1 - 2 damage per 2 seconds and healing to the caster.
Rank 2-6: Increased Damage and Healing over the 6 second period.

Commentary: See Wither above. Not a necessary skill. Mobs die too fast as is, better skills to spend your points on.

Empathy - (Group Healing over Time) - Earned at level 4
Rank 1: 15 energy, 8 second cool-down, 8m range, (3) group heals of 5 - 10 HP over a 9 second period (casting every 3 seconds).
Rank 2-6: Plus 5 - 5 more heal with each level.
Note: 3 group heals means that the entire group will be healed 3 separate times in 9 seconds with one cast of this skill.

Commentary: This skill starts to set you apart. I believe in ranking this up to 6 as soon as you can. This skill will let you solo low-level maps and level with ease; this skill is fantastic high-level support, too. I can't imagine any build that doesn't include this skill.

Revive - (Bring a player back to life, Small Party Buff) - Earned at level 6
Rank 1: 20 energy, 15 second cool-down, 8m range, revived your fallen party member within range.
Rank 2-6: Reduces energy consumption by 5.

Commentary: Another must-have skill. This skill has the already-discussed amazing secret hidden buffs (Noneo's guide again) that alone make it great; the fact that you and you alone can bring a dead teammate back to life with this skill makes it indespensible. People will die, no matter how well you play. This fixes the mistake, fast. I love this skill for the mana regen. I rank this skill up to level 3 to lower the mana cost from 20 to 10. I spam this every other time I spam my Force Shield, discussed below, for the hidden buffs. It recharges fast, and it's almost always available when needed for a revive even with me spamming this. Keeping these buffs active dramatically cuts down on the number of stim pots I need per run, too.

Force Shield - (Protection to the caster, Armor Buff) - Earned at level 8
Rank 1: 10 energy, 45 second cool-down, 30 second duration, adds 20 armor, adds 2 energy regen, the shield bursts when it takes ____ damage.
Rank 2 - 6: Adds an additional 20 armor buff and increases the amount of damage the shield can take by _____ damage with each subsequent level.

Commentary: Force Shield is great for mana regeneration. I don't use it for anything other than that; I spam it on cooldown and I use Revive with it every other activation. Armor, as has been pointed out, just isn't very effective. I consider that a purely secondary effect of this skill. To me, this skill is all about the mana regen. As such, I rank it to 4 to give me 2 m/s regeneration and to keep me going.

Suppression - (Stun) - Earned at level 10
Rank 1: 15 energy, 15 second cool-down, 12m range, a 6 second mesmerize on (2) mobs within 6m of target. Any damage done to a mob while mesmerized will break the spell.
Rank 2 - 6: Adds (1) more target to your mesmerize. So at level 2 you can mesmerize 3 targets, level 3 - 4 targets, etc.

Commentary: I can see where this would be useful for solo play, but I don't solo with my engineer outside of easy runs and this isn't needed for easy runs. I don't take or use this skill.

Protection - (Armor Buff) - Earned at level 13
Rank 1: 15 energy, 10 second cool-down, 120 second duration, and gives a group buff of 10 more armor.
Rank 2 - 6: For every level past 1, you will increase your armor buff by 10 armor points.

Commentary: Armor just isn't very effective; I wish this wasn't the case. My commando really wishes this wasn't the case. See the math previously done for proof on armor and it's low effectiveness. That said, I don't have other great places to spend my skill points, so at current I have 2 points here and I'll finish with 4 points total. The little bit helps, and no other skill gives even a little bit of survival like Protection does. Until armor is more effective, though, I pass on this being a rank 6 skill.

Transference - (Damage over Time, Area of Effect Group Healing over Time) - Earned at level 16
Rank 1: 15 energy, 10 second cool-down, 12m range, __ - __ area damage, damaged targets heal teamates by __ - __ within a 10m range.
Rank 2 - 6: Adds 1 - 2 more damage dealt each level, and adds 2 - 2 more heal to group members.

Commentary: Hello, my favorite engineer skill. Welcome to great AoE damange AND great healing. Carefully timing this skill can bring a nearly dead party back to nearly full health. I use this almost on cooldown, and it allows me to be more selective with empathy. It's the best skill I know of to take care of big alpha strike damage and keep things going. Rank 6 for the extra healing. I love this skill; damange and healing all in one.

Pain - (Damage over Time, Area of Effect Damage) - Earned at level 20
Rank 1: 15 energy, 8 second cool-down, 12m range, 2 - 8 Damage, 3 second stun and knockdown and 15 - 25 area damage at the end of stun (explosion).
(After stunned, the target will explode and hurt all enemies around it.)
Rank 2 - 6: Adds 2 - 2 more initial damage to target with each level.

Commentary: I love Pain; I don't find the extra damage with anything above rank 1 worth it, however. Pain takes a mob out of the fight for 3 seconds; a stuned mob doesn't do damage, and preventing damage is as important as healing it (arguably more important.) This skill is a fantastic skill for bosses. Take it, rank it to 1, use it aggresively.

Sonic Boom - (Area of Effect Damage) - Earned at level 24
Rank 1: 15 Energy, 30 second cool-down, 6m range, 2 - 10 area damage
Rank 2 - 6: Adds 2 - 4 Area damage with every subsequent level.

Commentary: Again, I'm level 23 and haven't played with this much. That said, I play as a support engineer. I don't play as a damage engineer. As such, I don't have a big use for this skill. I don't plan to place any skill points here.

A few other points...

1. Hand Blasters are cool and are nice single-target dps. Your skills--mostly Transference--will do more damage with a rifle, however. The hand blasters are fun to use, but don't hesitate to equip a big-damage rifle for maximum effectiveness.
2. You'll need pots. I believe the game was designed to need pots so that Spacetime Studios can make some money; people spend money, buy credits/plat, and buy pots. I'm totally o.k. with this, too, as Star Legends is an amazing free game at it's core. That said, I make enough money via selling greens and other items that I don't have to spend real money to get pots. Don't be cheap. Use mana pots, and use health pots if needed to keep yourself upright and fighting.
3. Have fun; I love how survivable my engineer is. My commando takes a lot of damage, but he only has pots to keep him going. My engineer can solo like a machine, as long as I'm smart, and never need pots or anything else. It's a great class to play.

Again, there's my extended two cents. Hope it helps someone.

Tiran--Engineer
Rast--Commando

Nice, like it... Sweet.

Engy is definitely my favorite class. Trying to level up a new operator right now and its hellish when you land in a PUG or incomplete group with no engy. Landing in a group with an Engy versus a group with no engy is like night and day. As I leveled up my Engy to 25 (soon 26), I didn't realize how good I had it and how good the groups I landed in had it. I'm tempted to scrap my operator entirely because they're so dependent on getting in a strong group with an engy to really shine and have fun and not blow through a bazillion pots. As an engy, *you* are the engine of the group and the groups that form around you sail through the dungeons with relative ease. Especially once you hit 16 and start ranking up Transferrence to 6 points ASAP.

Transferrence is what makes or breaks both engies and the groups they're in. By the time you get to Delta-7 and beyond, the mob size and easy aggro adds means you must have potent healing/damage output for the alpha spikes. Only Transferrence gives you this. Max it asap after you hit 16.

Special note re Suppression: not only is it not worth it in a group context, it actually *hinders* your group badly because in the most recent patch it resets all target locks. In a big mob with very dangerous mini-bosses that need to be taken down ASAP (Uncharted Ruins--I'm looking at YOU), it's critical that you don't break the target lock that your teammates have on those big lobsters (lol). Don't take Suppression and if you do have it, stop using it unless you're soloing.

My build is essentially like yours, except I have only 5 points in Empathy (can solo heal a Guardian group just fine between 5 Empathy and 6 Transferrence), and I currently have 1 Revive and 6 Protection. But ya I agree with you I don't think Protection is useful at all given that it essentially mitigates only 1 point of damage from each hit. I might instead max out Empathy and max out Pain just because Pain is pretty spammable and the AOE from the explosion component also helps to mitigate an alpha spike faster. Some of those big mobs in Numa Uncharted Ruins last a long time so the more AOE damage you can put out, the better. Since Revive already gives you (and your teammates) +40 points of energy over its hidden buff life even at level 1, I don't see the advantage of spending more than 1 point on it to get another 5 or 10 points of energy out of it. You won't need Revive that much for actual rezzing, and you'll never need it to be cheap.

Something like this is what I'm going to try for a while: 6 Empathy, 3 Revive, 4 Force Shield, 6 Tranferrence, 6 Pain. (The 3 points in Revive is just because there's no better place to put those last two points after maxing out Empathy, Transferrence, and Pain, but definitely spend these two extra points in Revive last, at levels 25 and 26.)

Skillbar setup (bottom to top): Slot 1: Empathy, Transferrence, Pain, Force Shield. Slot 2: Empathy, Transferrence, Pain, Revive. Yes, there's redundancy between the slots but that's because you always want Empathy, Tranferrence, and Pain close at hand.

For your implant, pay plat for the +1m/s regen implant (Refreshing Stat Amplifer). Mana regen is your friend. With Force Shield and this implant alone, I rarely fall below 80% energy except on a looooong boss fight like Guardian. By using Revive every minute I can get up to +4m/s, spam every Empathy, Transferrence, and Pain as soon as they cool down, and usually kill Guardian without drinking a single energy potion if my team is solid.

One more note: the engy gloves are terrible. I have the best green drop from Guardian (Salvage Claws), and frankly the Explorer's Repulsor Rifle is superior because it gives you +3 Dodge, +6 min damage, and +12 max damage compared to the Salvage Claws. Yes, it's a plat rifle, but it's worth it. Your Tranferrence damage and your Pain damage are buffed by the higher base damage stats of the rifle, and Dodge is everything to a healer. Also, the engy gloves give you no visual feedback as to what you're shooting at, whereas a rifle shows you exactly what you're shooting at because it points to it like a needle. The dotted lines that usually show your target are worthless in huge mobs. If you want to be certain that you're target locked on the big bad guy in a huge Numa mob fight and hitting it with your pains, then get a rifle and see how much better it is just for giving you the right visual feedback, never mind the damage bonuses!

Which brings me to one last point: On the Commando and Operative, I think its debatable whether the special stat buffs of the green plat gear is worthwhile compared to what you can get from in-game drops, but for Engineers, it's clear that Dodge is your best friend for surviving alpha spikes and also for surviving the spikes from some bosses and mini-bosses. All the green gear for Engies is loaded with +Dodge and you get almost no +Dodge from other green drops except for a few rare weapons like Lab Buddy or Overtime, or from the iHelmet, etc. IMO spend some plat, support Spacetime devs with a little money, and buy yourself a ton of +Dodge green plat gear if you're an engy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shannong

One more note: the engy gloves are terrible. I have the best green drop from Guardian (Salvage Claws), and frankly the Explorer's Repulsor Rifle is superior because it gives you +3 Dodge, +6 min damage, and +12 max damage compared to the Salvage Claws. Yes, it's a plat rifle, but it's worth it. Your Tranferrence damage and your Pain damage are buffed by the higher base damage stats of the rifle, and Dodge is everything to a healer. Also, the engy gloves give you no visual feedback as to what you're shooting at, whereas a rifle shows you exactly what you're shooting at because it points to it like a needle. The dotted lines that usually show your target are worthless in huge mobs. If you want to be certain that you're target locked on the big bad guy in a huge Numa mob fight and hitting it with your pains, then get a rifle and see how much better it is just for giving you the right visual feedback, never mind the damage bonuses!

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I agree with almost all of this. On my Commando, I'm a HUGE fan of the plat gear for the + dodge. You get so much more survivability on the + dodge gear it's not even a debate as to what gear is better. On my engineer, it depends a lot on who's tanking. Given the AoE damage and healing, I end up tanking far too much. Noneo does a nice job of discussing the pros and cons of the plat gear vs. the green Numa gear, but I'm still undecided as to what gear is best. For pure surviving, the plat gear is superior. The green gear, though, buffs your heals, damage, and other stats a nice bit.

Weapon wise, I tried to word it nicely but you said it best. The glove are terrible. No engineer should ever use gloves other than to look cool. The rifles are far superior due to the increase in damage from Transference and Pain. I love your build, and I appreciate your comments.

I love your feedback on the implant, too. The mana regen is just too important and too nice. The only other implant I'd consider is the 5 dodge implant. Again, the survivability is just awesome with 5 extra dodge.

Tiran--Engineer
Rast--Commando

Thanks for the comments, Rast. BTW I just did a pick-up group Guardian run with the newer build and it worked fine. My energy never fell below 40% during the boss fight, and that was with constant spamming of Empathy, Transferrence, Pain, and Force Shield, with a Revive every other Force Shield.

Spamming both Transferrence and Pain ASAP during the alpha strike of a big mob really helps compared to Transferrence alone.

BTW ya I hadn't looked at the plat weapons for commando in a while so I was assuming they were like the operator's plat gear. IMO they want operators to be too darn squishy. Now that I know I can up my dodge on my 17 commando, I'll probably stop punishing myself with my operator and just take the commando to max level next. Thanks for the reminder!