How to 616 your engineer

[GigaBits]

Hello all, and welcome to my first ever guide! I chose the engineer because it is both my favorite class to play and the one which I have the most experience. I look foward to input and any suggestions. Okay, here goes nothing:

How to 616 your engineer

Philosophy: The 616 philosophy is all about effectiveness and customization. It relies on a simple theory that engineers reach their full potential through their class specific abilities, to be more specific group heals and the ability to revive your fallen comrades.
What does 616 stand for? the numbers reference skill point allocation to Empathy, Revive, and Transference. Followers of the 616 feel that an engineer without at least these three skills are not maximizing their parties effectiveness nor their own. The concept is derived from min/maxing in other rpgs, in which you place the minimum points needed for use in certain skills, while maxing out others for effective builds with little to no "middle ground" skills. In a way, the concept is very similar to what I have heard of "dual-speccing" in pocket legends, in which you only put the minimum points into a given skill for equipping certain items. The 616, currently, is only concerned with these three skills due to current level cap and skill point limitations
Why 616? I put 6 points in both group heals to maximize healing power and only 1 point in revive so that I can actually revive, while saving as many skill points for customization as possible.

the builds

disclaimer: the builds I will list are a starting point and not meant to be taken as the end all, be all of the engineer class. These are my opinions and I have used each of these builds effectively at one time or another. The purpose here is to show that you can have many viable builds and still have the most important engineer skills available. I also assume a basic understanding of game mechanics and skill description, please see noneos engineer survival guide for an in depth look at this info http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...Survival-Guide
disclaimer2: these builds are designed for a level 30 or 31 engineer, This is a work in progress and my first guide so please bear with me.(skill point allocation is taken to 30 because I think more people are still around there than at 31)

Within the 616 framework are 3 archetype, or paragon structures The healtank, or paladin, the dps, and full support. I highly encourage hybrid builds and will throw in my current build at the end for comparison.For now all of these builds will assume you have put all your stat points into intelligence.

Healtank
aka paladin

What is a healtank? a healtank is a tank who can do enough damage to keep aggro off his squishy pals and enough healing and armor to mitigate the incoming damage after he gains the aggro, it isn't easy and not recommended for beginner engineers

skills: Wither-0 a healtank need not concern himself with this single target dot .
Leech-6 This single target dot however, will also heal you, it is invaluable to the enginerr looking for aggro.
Empathy-6 it isn't a 616 without it
Revive-1 see above
Force shield-6 a bit of controversy here, see below
Suppression-2 This will help you control mobs and gain aggro, be careful because it makes everyone in your party un-target any target you suppress. If you are not comfortable using suppression, I suggest adding the points to pain
Protection-0 although it may seem like a good idea for a healtank to have this skill, I don't recommend it as it takes too many points to become useful
Transference-6 hello last 6 a group heal and aoe damage, this is THE engineer mainstay, I can't say enough about this skill, good damage, relatively short cooldown.
Pain-2 okay 1 point is sufficient here but a little extra damage never hurts. mainly, a boss control skill but is usefull for grabbing aggro from mini-bosses and high armor/hp mobs
Sonic boom-0 there is no debate here, this skill takes too long to cooldown for any usefulness anywhere.
Decay-0 this particular build has no use for this dot, although I do LOVE this skill in general.
Playguide: a healtank is comfortable on the front lines, running in guns blazing next to a commando or even in front of one, if need be. Cast empathyas you are running to the group so the first tick will start about the same time you start to take damage, cast empathy to engage and pull aggro, when/if your health falls below half pop up your shield The reason you wait is because force shield doesn't take a lot of damage before it bursts, so you'll want that extra armor midfight. the difference between life and death is one hp, this could save you from an embarassing death after running into a group of mobs full tilt all alone( I know it has for me at least once). With pain and suppression you will want to be careful, supressing a group of enemies going after your operative is a good thing, trying to suppress a boss everyone is attacking or casting it first off when a commando will be trying to grab aggro with aoe is not. pain is an excellent aggro grabbing ability after it explodes, it has been noted elsewhere the suppression and pain make a wonderful unofficial combo that will give you surefire aggro if the baddy survives.

Note:some people feel like force shield is useless, I am not one of them. If you are, by all means allocate those 6 points elsewhere.My suggestion would be to add some to pain and decay, decay is a high damage skill, great for grabbing aggro.

the DPS

What is the DPS? DPS stands for damage per second and this build knows how to dish it out, through stacking dots on single targets or spreading them around in a mob this build can get the job done quickly and efficiently.If you feel your engineer is undervalued for his damage capabilities or just want a more action oriented playstyle, this is the build for you.

skills: Wither-5 stacks well with decay or leech, low indivdual tick damage means low aggro draw
Leech-4 another dot=more dps plus it heals, yay!
Empathy-6 it isn't a 616 without it
Revive-1 see above
Force shield-0 you're looking for damage, not damage reduction
Suppression-0 no damage done means it is useless for this build
Protection-0 see Force Shield
Transference-6 hello last 6 a group heal and aoe damage, this is THE engineer mainstay, I can't say enough about this skill, good damage, relatively short cooldown.
Pain-1 a boss control/utility skill, it stuns for 3 seconds then goes boom.
Sonic boom-0 there is no debate here, this skill takes too long to cooldown for any usefulness anywhere.
Decay-6 this skill does amazing damage over time, plus a small debuff to enemy armor, invaluable to this build in my opinion, stacks well with other dots.
Playguide: your goal here is to target the biggest baddest mob you can see and send him to the great beyond. You'll want to let your tank engage first, but be sure to cast empathy on the way in, like the healtank, so the first tick starts when you start to take damage. The idea is to keep empathy up whenever possible/needed, too much and you will pull aggro constantly, not enough and the party wipes. pick your target and lay on decay then wither then pain for maximum effectiveness., at this point you may want to pick a new target and cast leech and wither, if it is off cooldown. transference is here mostly as a damage dealer and can be cast whenever your team needs the heal or you want some more damage, like empathy, be careful as this skill is an aggro hog.

the Full Support

What is full support? Well, there are certainly enough engineers out there concerning themselves with hybrids and dps and tanking and all these other things, you however, want to aid the team as much as possible and aren't worried about dealing a ton of damage. This build should stay back and let everyone run in before him, but just because you are full support doesn't mean you can't lay out some damage from time to time, as well.

skills: Wither-0 as stated above, this isn't a damage oriented build so you don't/won't really need it
Leech-3 this is here for self healing when the going gets tough.
Empathy-6 it isn't a 616 without it
Revive-1 see above
Force shield-6 as full support you need your mana topped off and it works as a panic button, see playguide
Suppression-0 you could debate the merits of this skill as support function, but I find it's best to let the tank worry about crowd control
Protection-6 or 0 see note see Force Shield
Transference-6 hello last 6 a group heal and aoe damage, this is THE engineer mainstay, I can't say enough about this skill, good damage, relatively short cooldown.
Pain-1 a boss control/utility skill, it stuns for 3 seconds then goes boom.
Sonic boom-0 there is no debate here, this skill takes too long to cooldown for any usefulness anywhere.
Decay-0 or 6 see note
note: some people do not like protection but this is a full support build so I included it, and used it myself when testing this build, however if you feel like those points could be better used elsewhere, by all means do so. My suggestion is decay because it stacks well with leech and does decent damage.

Playguide:mmm, support. as stated twice already use empathy as the group runs in and transference as needed. you'll want to let the party head in first but don't let them get out of range for your heals in case something bad happens. stick to your tank like glue, he will keep the baddies off you, hopefully. use leech when you need to heal yourself, but be careful, none of these heals are instant cast, it takes about 1 second for leech to activate. force shield and protection(if you have it) should be up whenever possible, the exception is in the midst of a firefight, save force shield for when you finish the fight to recoup your mana stores if needed, if you went with decay, I suggest targeting the biggest baddest mob you can spot and double teaming him with decay pain(this will prevent an immediate rush to you and give the commando time to regain aggro, hopefully.)

Gear: gear choice is fairly straight foward, pick the armor you like the best or that is within your budget(plat, custom, or atomite) and weapon choices are very subjective at this point. I prefer a rifle for dps, black widow/limited shield for the other two, although you really can't go wrong with the incinerator either.Implant, I suggest damage because it improves your heals, armor implant isn't a bad choice either. leave the crit, and dodge implants alone unless you are using plat armor that gives a dodge bonus, then dodge implant is a viable choice for the healtank.

Okay, so that's it for the how to 616 your engineer guide, please be gentle, I know there are probably a ton of mistakes, clerical and spelling errors as well as unclear advise, I'm not perfect enough to get this right the first time. I would like to extend a thank you to all the people who came before me with great guides and insights into the engineer class, as they have helped me(knowingly or not) come up with all of this stuff. A special thank you to noneo, kamikazees and IBNobody for their continued efforts on the engineer forum and the inspiration to write a guide.