Kano's Engineer Academy : Comprehensive skills + Play guide.

[Kanozaki]

WELCOME

Hello my fellow engineers , welcome to the place which will change your engineer career. If you are looking at this thread i am going to assume you are new to this class or would like some guidance.

The engineer is the class which suffers the most criticism so you do have immense responsibility on your backs. Most people who criticize don't understand how difficult this class can be to play well and effectively. Fear not however, the fact that your looking at this thread means your a step closer to understanding this class.

Lets begin , here are some questions which are faced by most new Engineers.

Is this class for me ?
To answer this question , ask your self . Do you want to be the person the entire team depends on to stay alive ? Would you like the ability to heal not only you but your team mates as well ?

If you answered YES then this is in fact the class for you and keep reading.

What do i need to be an Engineer?
This class requires you to be very alert and have quick reflexes . The moment your attention slips so does your team mates health. Apart from this, much like the name this class does require a little bit of brain power.

What are some of my duties as an Engineer ?

- Keep your team mates health in check , pay close attention to this . That being said don't just simply spam empathy , not only are you wasting mana but when you do need empathy for the crucial moment you would have already used it.

- Engineers have some pretty nifty de buffs and DoTs like Decay and Transference . make sure u use these wisely.

GUIDE

Down to the nitty gritty part of this guide.

How should i spec my stat points ?


ALL INT
You may be asking why all INT ?

Keeping our duties in mind . Not only does INT have the highest stat gain / per point used for Engineer but it also gives skills the best damage which transcends to having empathy carry a bigger punch . This has a better effect on the amount of health replenished which is your ultimate goal playing this class.
As this is a PVE build , Full INT is the best choice.

Skill Guide

Once again keeping our duties in mind, i use this build to play this class well and effectively.



As you can see i have all the skills necessary in order for this to be quite an effective support class. Keeping both my teammates health in check and laying some pretty impressive Dot's and de-Buffs.

Skill Breakdown

Wither (6) - Pretty nice DoT, which does some decent damage.

Leach (6) - While your busy keeping every one alive , you may end up taking damage. To counter that , this skill will prove to be quite useful by not just doing decent damage but healing you in the progress. After all a dead engineer puts every one else at risk.

Empathy (6 ) - This skill goes with out question , get the skill.

Revive (3 ) - Traditionally one point would be sufficient however , revive has a hidden buff of 1 m/s by bringing revive to three points it cuts down the mana required .As they say " a credit saved is a credit earned ".

Force Shield (5) - Force shield's effectiveness wears down at higher levels such as voleria but it does have one other interesting property. Force shield has a pretty amazing mana regen and if used wisely can save you a lot of stims. Unbeatable when used in conjunction with revive . Also can be used as those " oh crap " moments.

Transference (6) - Once again another important skills . Very nice AoE paired with a nice health regen for the entire team. Be wary of spamming this however as you may end up taking a lot of unnecessary ago.

Pain (2) - Pretty nice skill to have , not only a stun but decent AoE damage at the end of the stun. Use it right as you engage a mob so the AoE is in effect .

Decay (6 ) Up until the lvl 30 cap raise the engineer did not have a de buff , until this showed up. Amazing armor de buff which is really useful for assisting Ops take down tough mobs / bosses.

Skills Which were left out.

Protection - This skill only provides you with +60 armor at (6) which only protects you from minimal damage. Nothing empathy cant fix and these 6 points could be used else where

Sonic Boom - Not a very powerful AoE , could be used on another skill.

Suppression - I personally found this skill to be more detrimental than beneficial for me as when used , my team mates cant damage the target. " Damage breaks the stun".

Play Style.

Below are some tips which i have learned over the months of playing this class .

- Empathy has minimum range and unless they are close together , chances are you will not get every on the buff. This is where the brain power comes in , you should be constantly asking your self Who needs this buff the most ? When playing with a good group the commando would be ahead of you gathering agro for the next mob. Ensure that he/she has a buff before and after engaging each mob. As for Operatives should be your primary concern . If you see an operative losing HP fast , rush to him and biff with Empathy. That being said you dont want to spam with out a purpose . Not only are you wasting mana but you render empathy useless when its on cool down and some one needs it badly. Use it only when necessary.

- Most New engineer love spamming their skills, how ever skills such as transference will get you into some trouble , you should skills like this in moderation when commandos have most of the agro or for a final cleaning up of the mobs.

- Pairing up Mana Shield + Revive can lead to a +5 M/s. This is just amazing as it can help you save a lot in stims. Use this combo in between mobs.

- Stay sharp and alert , moment your attention slips so does your team mates. Your that final piece that ties the team together , don't put them at risk.

GEAR

Recommended Gear

Pistol + Shield - Very high base damage ( Bigger Heals ) and provides you with a nice armor boost from the shield

Gauntlets - Very high DPS + Lots of INT. Some prefer this over pistol + shield.

DMG Implant - More DMG = Bigger Heals.

Armor Implants - Recommended if your just starting out , makes you tank a bit more than you normally would.

Congratulations !

You just made it to the end of this pretty lengthy guide. I would like to congratulate you for taking your first steps in mastering this class. Im sure like me you too would fall in love with this class. I Hope some of you benefited out of this and truly become masters of their trade. remember practice makes perfect. Hoping to see many intelligent engineers in the future.

Signing off at 5 am
Kano

[pigeon]

Another awesome guide! I will definitely give this build a try. Ty kanny. <3 Hugs

[bronislav84]

So this is what you've been doing lately Kano. No wonder I haven't seen your Op. Add me in game on your Eng?

Ok so a decent overall assessment, but I don't agree with the build at all. This is, quite simply, still a PVP/damage build. People don't ask us to be the damage dealer, knowing our damage sucks. A support Engineer has zero points in Wither and Leech because their damage just sucks, doesn't help the party at all because stuff dies before the dots finish, and are single target, still has max Protection despite the fact that it's pretty crappy because our job is to keep people alive, and maxing Field is a natural choice for survival. The party typically dies if you die. I would also keep Res at 1. I have 8 points left over.

[Paar]

>.< So many Engineer Guides! This is one of the best though. IMFHAO!

IMFHO- "in my freaking honest awesome opinion."

[Deathpunch]

Yeah, Res at one or go on up one more point to 4 to get a 2 m/s buff. Although,IMHO, 3 skill points for one more m/s is not good skill point management.



Here's my current build. I got heals, buffs, debuffs, AoE, mana regen, and stuns. Its fairly fresh, but it seems to be working OK in the support role.

Also, it's Force Shield, not Mana Shield. ;-) Just saying to hopefully clear any confusion in the future.

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

[bronislav84]

Really Death, Res at 4 raises the not stated buff to 2 ms? You're not just pulling our leg?

I agree with your build more dude, although I maintain Leech is bad for reasons already stated, and Pain is just not worth more points. Single target stun is the most important feature. The damage it does is negligible, if the mobs even live long enough to take the damage.

[Mitchturbo]

Good guide :-)
Although, with practice and excellent timing + judging the moves your team mates are doing, Suppression can be extremely advantageous.
Not only at stoping 5 enimies firing at you (therefore reciveing less damage yourself) but also enables you and your team mates to pick the current enemy your firing at off easily one by one and move to the next ;-)

My two cents ofcause. It's not everyones cup of tea and it takes time to practice it to its full potential, knowing exactly what your fellow teammates are going to do once you use it and allowing yourself enough time to build up a bombardment of pain on your target before suppression breaks.

Thanks- Mitchturbo, Rawk On Yeah! Engineers FTW!

[HunterSLAYER]

Nice guide kano but like bro said above, its a dam build. For general kill/exp farming it may not work really well.




Sent from The Vular Hive! XD

[Deathpunch]

Really Death, Res at 4 raises the not stated buff to 2 ms? You're not just pulling our leg?

I agree with your build more dude, although I maintain Leech is bad for reasons already stated, and Pain is just not worth more points. Single target stun is the most important feature. The damage it does is negligible, if the mobs even live long enough to take the damage.

AFAIK, from the various guides and discussions on here I've read over the last year, rev does give 2 m/s @ 4.

I like leech because it gives me, personally, a flow of HP aside from the one I have from empathy. Plus it does a little damage, as well. Pain is great just for the stun, and unlike supression, others can attack without breaking my stun. Plus the bonus AoE blast you get if your target lives long enough.

My build is more a combat engineer as opposed to a support or pvp. It's a pve build with emphasis on support, but with a dash of damage so I'm not just sitting there zapping away with my gun all the time. Who knows, that pain stun may be all that saves a com long enough for my empathy to cool off and use.

I use all of my points, because even 3 points in leech is better than wasting them by letting them sit unused.

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

[Deathpunch]

Quote madness!!

Very constructive. /sarcasm

How about you edit it, because all you're doing is disrupting a conversation we are having.

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

[Kanozaki]

So this is what you've been doing lately Kano. No wonder I haven't seen your Op. Add me in game on your Eng?

Ok so a decent overall assessment, but I don't agree with the build at all. This is, quite simply, still a PVP/damage build. People don't ask us to be the damage dealer, knowing our damage sucks. A support Engineer has zero points in Wither and Leech because their damage just sucks, doesn't help the party at all because stuff dies before the dots finish, and are single target, still has max Protection despite the fact that it's pretty crappy because our job is to keep people alive, and maxing Field is a natural choice for survival. The party typically dies if you die. I would also keep Res at 1. I have 8 points left over.

Yea sure thing mate (:

Now the reasoning behind this build. All that's said works only for lower level campaigns
Protection - +60 armor buff saves about 1hp , which can easily be compensated with empathy. Why waste 6 points on this ? Really at level 40 it's absolite.

Mana shield - The only reason I do not have (6) in this is because in maps like vol , one hit Burt's the bubble , not much of a survival tool. Besides shields more than make up for this only skill. The only reason I have this is for mana regen . Nothing else.

Revive - one point is all thats needed in this , however I have three in there to bring down te energy consumption . Which ties in with the mana shield to really boost my mana regen .

Leech - Apart from the damage of this skill it has healing properties which is really useful , as death said a secondary besides empathy and transference.

@Mitch - suppression is only useful if you don't have a good com. When you do have a good com suppression is actually a hindrance than beneficiary . Your Stopping ops from doing their Job.

@bronislav - The reason i also have skills such as leech and wither is not just because the other skills are absolite but to aid with effeminacy. Why waste skill points when it could be put to good use .

This build works really well for me. If used properly I don't consume any stims. Any one who has run with my eng knows how effective this build is.

[Deathpunch]

If all you're concerned with on force shield is the mana regen , then drop it to 4, slap a point into rev, and you have an extra point to spend elsewhere. You get a 33% increase in you regen potential using less points. ;-)

EDIT: math fail.

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

[Kanozaki]

If all you're concerned with on force shield is the mana regen , then drop it to 4, slap a point into rev, and you have an extra point to spend elsewhere. You get a 25% increase in you regen potential using less points. ;-)

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

Lol didn't know rev could be bumped to 2 m/s , if not I would do that . Need to test that out

[Deathpunch]

Lol didn't know rev could be bumped to 2 m/s , if not I would do that . Need to test that out

like I said before, from what I gather from various conversations on these forums, it does bump to 2m/s. Others have said they confirm this. I, however, have not tested this. I've never really been too concerned with my mana pool as I got a boat load of mana stims that I rarely use.

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

[Kanozaki]

like I said before, from what I gather from various conversations on these forums, it does bump to 2m/s. Others have said they confirm this. I, however, have not tested this. I've never really been too concerned with my mana pool as I got a boat load of mana stims that I rarely use.

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

Ah if this turns out to be true it will be just as effective as a coms Kinetic reservoir , interesting.

[bronislav84]

Uhuh. I personally let the points sit there rather than spend on skills I have no room to put into a bar. Dots just don't work well in this game. With everybody shooting mobs die before the dot ticks down. I haven't met a mob yet that didn't drop with five people shooting at it. Dots are only good on bosses where everybody is FRANTICALLY DOING THEIR JOB, and I for one have to worry about keeping the party and myself alive. My build reflects that. No nonsense, keeping everybody from dropping.

It might be useful in Voleria with actual surviving mobs if we were not constantly being one shot killed either by mobs or snipers.

If somebody could come in game with me and show me the 2 ms thing with Res I would be really grateful. I am extremely hesitant to spend the points myself because if it's just trolling or wishful thinking then I will have to respec right away to take the points out. I am very efficient with my points. Either I use it and it fits into my bars as Rank X, or I don't use it and have zero points in it.

[Kanozaki]

Uhuh. I personally let the points sit there rather than spend on skills I have no room to put into a bar. Dots just don't work well in this game. With everybody shooting mobs die before the dot ticks down. I haven't met a mob yet that didn't drop with five people shooting at it. Dots are only good on bosses where everybody is FRANTICALLY DOING THEIR JOB, and I for one have to worry about keeping the party and myself alive. My build reflects that. No nonsense, keeping everybody from dropping.

It might be useful in Voleria with actual surviving mobs if we were not constantly being one shot killed either by mobs or snipers.

If somebody could come in game with me and show me the 2 ms thing with Res I would be really grateful. I am extremely hesitant to spend the points myself because if it's just trolling or wishful thinking then I will have to respec right away to take the points out. I am very efficient with my points. Either I use it and it fits into my bars as Rank X, or I don't use it and have zero points in it.

ill test this out when i get in game (:

[Deathpunch]

Uhuh. I personally let the points sit there rather than spend on skills I have no room to put into a bar. Dots just don't work well in this game. With everybody shooting mobs die before the dot ticks down. I haven't met a mob yet that didn't drop with five people shooting at it. Dots are only good on bosses where everybody is FRANTICALLY DOING THEIR JOB, and I for one have to worry about keeping the party and myself alive. My build reflects that. No nonsense, keeping everybody from dropping.

It might be useful in Voleria with actual surviving mobs if we were not constantly being one shot killed either by mobs or snipers.

If somebody could come in game with me and show me the 2 ms thing with Res I would be really grateful. I am extremely hesitant to spend the points myself because if it's just trolling or wishful thinking then I will have to respec right away to take the points out. I am very efficient with my points. Either I use it and it fits into my bars as Rank X, or I don't use it and have zero points in it.

Yes. I'm trolling. *eye roll* Believe what you will, it doesn't matter to me. *shrugs*

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NOTE TO READER: This post should most likely be read with a sarcastic tone.

[Mitchturbo]

I've used suppression right after The coms attack with their aok. it works that way. I've used this with Rice and Piano, both playing coms and some of the finest coms I know, its getting to know who your playing with. Yes its usless to use it before a com attacks with aok, so wait till they used the combo then suppress the enimies. It works to great respect and they appreciate while their skills refresh.

I am also one to hate it when people use suppression while during combat or engagement with the mobs. It messes ops and others up so I completely understand where your coming from my good freind.
Instead only use it if your in front leading the charge, like a good Eng tanker does (comeng) then none of your team catching up gets affected by the auto lock swap.

Then when your running with coms that are good tankers and group leaders you let them do all the aok and then, if you feel they are needing a little
more crowd control, use suppression after the aok to help the coms recover from their aggro mob rush.

When there is a op in your party though, I repeat never use suppression during combat, always before you engage. It helps the team work best.

When all your team mates are dead because of blue IP Vular praying mantas type bugs have ripped their heads off and your the only one left to revive em for example. Use suppression first to block the mobs then revive, then heal, then continue the fight.

Hope that helps clarify why I believe suppression is a helpfull tool and these above are the correct way to use it without upsetting the balance of your group dynamics .

I also apologise if I'm coming off sounding like A nut here, hut I have prooved to countless people that suppression can work effectively when used in small doses at the right time.
It's down to you if you refuse to believe me now and so forth I will zip my lips and let it be.

*zipp*

Keep up the good discussions. This is how we better as a class when we discuss good strategies and a good guide like yours.

My best Respect and love for you Kanozaki <3

[Kanozaki]

I've used suppression right after The coms attack with their aok. it works that way. I've used this with Rice and Piano, both playing coms and some of the finest coms I know, its getting to know who your playing with. Yes its usless to use it before a com attacks with aok, so wait till they used the combo then suppress the enimies. It works to great respect and they appreciate while their skills refresh.

I am also one to hate it when people use suppression while during combat or engagement with the mobs. It messes ops and others up so I completely understand where your coming from my good freind.
Instead only use it if your in front leading the charge, like a good Eng tanker does (comeng) then none of your team catching up gets affected by the auto lock swap.

Then when your running with coms that are good tankers and group leaders you let them do all the aok and then, if you feel they are needing a little
more crowd control, use suppression after the aok to help the coms recover from their aggro mob rush.

When there is a op in your party though, I repeat never use suppression during combat, always before you engage. It helps the team work best.

When all your team mates are dead because of blue IP Vular praying mantas type bugs have ripped their heads off and your the only one left to revive em for example. Use suppression first to block the mobs then revive, then heal, then continue the fight.

Hope that helps clarify why I believe suppression is a helpfull tool and these above are the correct way to use it without upsetting the balance of your group dynamics .

I also apologise if I'm coming off sounding like A nut here, hut I have prooved to countless people that suppression can work effectively when used in small doses at the right time.
It's down to you if you refuse to believe me now and so forth I will zip my lips and let it be.

*zipp*

Keep up the good discussions. This is how we better as a class when we discuss good strategies and a good guide like yours.

My best Respect and love for you Kanozaki <3

lol <3