- by Dargron, Long-time marksman engie of great skill, but still only 5' tall
"Y're dead, you just don't know it yet ... and probably won't know it until
10-20 seconds after you've already killed me."
It's the Engineer's lot in life. Many classes are designed for burst damage.
Engineers are designed for a slow powerful burn and tremendous support
skills. The trade-off is a lack of survivability common to ranged dps, you
might not last long enough to see the full effects of your engie bag of tricks!
Generally, to be an Engineer is to give up your dreams of personal glory
and accept your place as a true support class. You have a mountain of
crowd control abilities, many of which have timers before you can use
them on particular opponents again to prevent this crowd control capability
from unbalancing the battlefield.
Engineers aren't designed to solo enemy players, and if they do manage
to do so, they often may not survive the encounter to gloat about it .. engie
DoTs (Damage over Time abilities) can often finish their enemies off after
they have perished to their foe .. the engie in the dirt nearby.
The key then for an Engineer is to find a large group of friendly players,
hide amongst them, do your best to avoid drawing the attention of the
enemy, while carefully watching the flow of battle, and (with a little
luck) controlling it by streaming out your abilities across the enemy
force at key moments rather than trying to focus down each opponent
in turn.
Suggestions:
- Using Snipe (perhaps aided by Hollow Points tactic), extremely long
distance sniper capability, to finish off wounded destro that have
run beyond your companions' range.
- Using Crack Shot to disable Melee and Tank classes that are
rushing forwards into your battlelines (no doubt ruining whatever
nasty ability they had planned and leaving them vulnerable when
they reach your battlelines).
- Using Point Blank (Morale 1) or Concussion Grenade to knock a
melee class (witch elves in particular) off a vulnerable healer or
ranged class - or Crack Shot to disable them just as they think
they are about to finish off their prey.
- Using a Penetrating Round from your Gun Turret to debuff the
armor of a particular enemy your battleline is focusing on,
and/or Incendiary Rounds with Coordinated Fire Tactic to add
15% damage for everyone targeting him.
- If you happen to be on advantageous terrain, using Point Blank
(Morale 1) or Concussion Grenade to knock a key member of
the enemy force out of play for a while by punting them off a
cliff, bridge, into lava, etc.
- Using Barbed Wire of a well-placed Land Mine to snare or stagger
enemies trying to chase down a retreating ally that is vulnerable.
- Briefly diving forward to plant a Land Mine in the middle of a cluster
of enemy healers to stagger them (at the right moment, 9 seconds
can be a lifetime without heals).
Keep Sieges
Sieges deserve special mention because it is here that Engineers can
truly excel, make their mark, and really become dangerous. Morale
has time to build and there's a nice solid wall between you and those
nasty combat classes. It doesn't get much better.
Offensive Sieges
The primary role of an Engineer attacking a keep is to take out the oil
before the enemy can build it. Oil is a major drain on resources
(especially in lower tiers) and extremely tough to bring down once built –
removing it from play frees up most of the healers and ranged classes in
the attacking force for other things.
* Tip – Cannon Smash (Morale 3) is fantastic for taking out the oil
platform before the enemy has time to start building, instantly
dropping it to a slither of health, ready to be finished off with an
instant cast ability like Hip Shot or Focus Fire before the enemy
can even start building. Highly recommend saving up Cannon
Smash for this purpose, and as a bonus it will be ready and
finished it's cooldown in time for the oil platforms next respawn.
Once the oil is out of the way, Engineers can have fun picking the enemy
off the walls. Engineers aren't known for their burst damage, but there are
enough players watching the oil platform, Morale Abilities can again come
into play to provide the edge.
For burst, try opening with Snipe, instantly following with Cannon Smash,
and finishing with Focus Fire – it may not be enough to provide a kill, but
it will usually be enough to panic an enemy ranged or healer class off the
wall and ensure they are too scared to put their neck out for more than a
few seconds (severely limiting what they can do).
For a slower potential kill, kit them with instant DoTs (Damage over Time)
abilities like Incendiary Rounds and Signal Flare followed by Unshakable
Focus (M2), and then Focus Fire to really bring the pain and continue
damage after they have retreated and left Line of Sight.
* Tip – I would recommend Focus Fire as a finishing move. It is instant
cast, and will keep hitting your target even if he runs out of sight (so
long as he is still in range), which is very useful. Too often you will
line up a slow, powerful ability like Gunblast, Crack Shot, or Snipe to
finish off a target, only to find your target is out of Line of Sight by the
time hthe move tries to fire (or worse, headed back to full health).
Defensive Sieges
In a defensive siege, just have fun. Engineers have a weath of potential
mayhem and mischief they can get up to, so have fun experimenting.
Some examples include:
- Walk right up against the gate and build a turret – it will appear on the
on the other side of the game (usually hidden within the enemy ram).
Self-Destruct the turret to knockdown the enemy (preferably in time
with an oil drop if you can).
- Pop out the gate and immediately hit Strafing Run (Grenade Line), to
punt multiple players away from the gate, before diving back inside to
safety.
- Toss Land Mines around the postern gates to castle keeps to assist
players in getting safely inside – hopefully staggering enemy players
attempting to stop them.
- Sit on the wall above the postern gate, with a Land Mine (or turret
ready to Self-Destruct) sitting inside. If any destro mdps (Witch Elf,
Maurader, or Choppa) try to sneak in you can briefly lock them in
place inside (Stagger or Knock-Down), giving you a few seconds to
alert others and/or prepare to punish the intruder from the relative
safety of the wall above.
Always remember to keep a turret up (walk up to the edge of the wall
near the gate, so the turret drops down to the ground below). Most
enemy will ignore a turret (it's not exactly their biggest threat at the
time), all the while that Turret is building up your Morale abilities!
Dwooid Personal Note: I've never understood where the "Engineer"
title comes from until now. I've always thought of engies as SW's
with big guns and "pets" in the form of turrets, but after reading this
for the first time I now really understand the class name.
Dwooid Note: If there are more engie subjects you'd like Dargron
to cover, or comments you'd like me to pass on, obviously feel
free to contact him directly or send it to me through the "Contact
Dwooid" address on the sidebar and I'll send it on to him :).