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
Bookmarks