Introducing the Preserver. A new Engineer elite specialization!

So I don't have the skills or traits fully worked out, just a theme/concept. Make a Ley-Line oriented spec called the "Preserver".

Lore: After fighting dragons, gods, and demi-gods, the engineer has been called upon to cleanse the land (literally the land) of their corruption and return the affected areas of Tyria back to their natural state. They are here to try and begin reversing all the damage these horrible monsters have done to the world. Harnessing the power of the ley lines around Tyria, they channel that concentrated magical energy to return Tyria to its natural state.

The Concept: It should play like a support/condi-damage hybrid. Mostly support/healing but also able to provide decent condi damage. I also think this concept fits the lore and storyline of Gw2!

***Engineer gains access to staff as a weapon. Their new class ability "Ley-Line Conduit" allows the Engineer to gather energy from around the land they traverse, gaining one Ley-Energy charge per step taken while in combat. The energy will dissipate after being out of combat for more than 3 seconds. This mechanic can be influenced by Super-speed, Quickness, and/or Swiftness. When the Preserver gathers enough Ley-Energy, they can activate Cleansing Renewal.

*Cleansing Renewal: When activated, allies around the Preserver have 1 condition converted into a boon. Cannot occur on the same target more than once per interval. This continues until the Ley-Energy pool has been exhausted or until the skill is cancelled.

*Staff Skills: The Preserver's Staff has both melee and ranged attacks built into the kit.Staff 1: Ley-Blast: Manifest Ley-Energy at an enemy's location that explodes, damaging them with arcs of Ley-energy applying Burning and Vulnerability. The arc then heals allies near the target for a small amount. The arcs from the explosion have a chance to become Projectile Finishers.Staff 2: Ley-Rift: Ride a Ley-Line to a location, providing Swiftness and healing all allies you pass through, and applying Vulnerability, Blind, and Weakness to all enemies where you land. This skill has 2 charges and act as a Leap Finisher.Staff 3: Ancient Reprisal: Slam your staff into the ground, creating a line of Ley-Energy that acts as a Light Field that Blinds foes. This line slowly grows larger into a larger radial Light Field. This can be cast again to explode, Blinding foes in the area of effect. The secondary skill acts as a Blast Finisher.Staff 4: Gathering Power: Allies in a radius around you gain Might, Quickness, and Fury. By activating this skill, you can gather 2x as much Ley-Energy for the duration of the skill.Staff 5: Ley Storm: A radial Ley-Storm that Burns, Chills, applies Vulnerability, and Blinds. The radius starts off large, then continually shrinks in size, applying greater stacks of conditions until it disappears. Enemies standing in the ending point are Knocked Down, while allies standing at the ending point are healed for a moderate amount of HP.

*Utility Skills: The Preserver gains access to Consecrations. The definition of Consecrate is to "dedicate to a sacred purpose". I think this really fits the theme of the concept really well because the purpose of the Preserver is to restore the world to its natural state as it was before the chaos that has happened.

Heal: Conservation: [Consecration] Create a ring of Ley-Energy for X seconds, granting Protection to allies within. After X seconds all allies in the ring are healed for a moderate amount + a percentage of the damage they took while in that ring.

Sustained Immunity: [Consecration] Root yourself for X seconds, creating a ring around you that provides -33% Condition Duration and +33% Healing Effectiveness to all allies within the ring. Dodging and/or Movement breaks the ring.

Way of the World: [Consecration] Create a ring of Ley-Energy around you for X seconds. Every pulse, this ring will heal the ally with the lowest current HP while also removing a boon from an enemy. If the enemy has no boons, they are instead Slowed.

Ley Battery: [Consecration] Place a battery filled with Ley-Energy on the ground for X seconds. The battery explodes (causing a Blast Finisher), creating a Smoke Field on the ground by being overpowered from residual Ley-Energy in the world. This skill can be cast again to pick up the battery, providing some Ley-Energy to your conduit.

Field Analysis: [Consecration] Create a ring around yourself for X seconds. Allies within the ring are granted Might, Fury, and Swiftness. At the end of the duration, enemies caught within the field are have Slow, Weakness ,and Vulnerability inflicted on them.

Elite: Energy Collapse: [Consecration] Explode the harnessed Ley-Energy in a radial wave that knocks up foes and gathers them to a focal point, then knocking them down. Allies near this wave gain resistance.

*Traits:Minor Proficiency: Staff Proficiency: You can wield staves.

Minor Adept: Ley-Line Conduit: You can gather energy from around the land they traverse, gaining one Ley-Energy charge per step taken while in combat. The energy will dissipate after being out of combat for more than 3 seconds. This mechanic can be influenced by Super-speed and/or Swiftness. When you gather enough Ley-Energy, you can activate Cleansing Renewal.*Cleansing Renewal: When activated, allies around the Preserver have 1 condition converted into a boon. Cannot occur on the same target more than once per interval. This continues until the Ley-Energy pool has been exhausted or until the skill is cancelled.

Major Adept: Overcharged Renewal: Activating Cleansing Renewal breaks stuns and grants Aegis.Major Adept: Shielding Land: When you stun break or grant Stability, also grant Aegis. Can affect up to 5 allies. (20 second internal cooldown).Major Adept: Burdened Light: Blinds you apply also Weaken foes.

Minor Master: Elusive Purging: Whenever you execute a dodge-roll, you gain 1 second of Resistance.

Major Master: Beacon of Knowledge: Staff skills gain reduced recharge. When you are disabled, grant allies around youStability and you create a Light Field around you.Major Master: Insulating Light: Your Light fields will now automatically provide all allies within them a Light Aura.Major Master: Reversed Energy: When you apply Burning, Chill the enemy. When you apply Chill, Burn the enemy. (3 second internal cooldown).

Minor Grandmaster: Restoring Surge: When you provide a boon or cleanse a condition, you heal the target for X amount. Can only have one instance of each happen per target every second. (Meaning can only apply twice per target if a boon was provided and a condition cleansed at the same time).

Major Grandmaster: Dedicated Cause: Your [Consecrations] gain reduced recharge and provide 1 second of Resistance and Stability to you and your allies after their duration ends.Major Grandmaster: Preservation: Your revive speed is increased by 10%. While reviving, you grant yourself 1 stack of Stability and heal allies around you.Major Grandmaster: Field Expert: Gain stacking Expertise every time you heal yourself or an ally. At max stacks, inflict Burning, Blind, and Chill on enemies around you (10 second internal cooldown).

It might obviously be overtuned a bit, but I think it could be a really fun, mobile healing spec!

Let me know what you think!

jamjamjam!

Looks very interesting! I love the theme, the only thing that bothers me a little bit is that the mechanic which gathers ley energy (walking around) encourages players to "wiggle" which would be very effective in gathering ley energy but isn't really the sort of gameplay that should be encouraged, so, that would be something that could possibly be improved :)

Edit: Two more things that I should point out:You should try to involve more "technical" stuff into the spec, it is still engineer afterall - maybe make him utilize some sort of gadgets powered by ley energy to produce the consecrations, or something in that direction!And you should think about Toolbelt Skills as well ;)

Oh you are totally right about the toolbelt skills! I'm not a very experienced engineer player, just thought the concept was really cool. Thanks for your input! :)

I actually like this idea. Very well thought out. I do think having the Staff would be a great next addition to the Engineer. Making it support would be interesting as well. The only issue I have is the name. I think Preserver would be something more along the lines of a Ranger or Guardian. If anything it could be called Alchemist or Ley-Medic or some such. Other then that I think the skills would pair up quite nicely with the existing traits for Engineer. However, given the history of the Engineer this would probably be a broken half-baked implementation for a elite specialization. Giving the Engineers the shaft again. :)

That's why I gave them staff as a weapon...they are used to getting a shaft. XD

There is no appeal to this Elite spec. As of now Engi can dish out good heals but the main issue is their offensive support is weak. This Elite spec offers nothing that any guardian or profession that has a light field can do. Needs something stronger in terms of offensive support. People take ranger cause outside of its heals it has bonuses like Sun spirit, frost spirit, spotter, storm spirit, and might generation. If it were solely up to the heals people would just take a tempest since they have the highest heals per sec.

As it is now, I can really only see this spec being good for WvW cause that light field light aura idea is pretty cool and the condi clear is OP (albeit rather useless in PvE). Other than that it needs some form of unique offensive buff that might go really well with pinpoint like a 10% condi buff to allies within 300 radius of the engi. Cause the last thing Engis need is another niche spec that performs well in one game mode.

Yeah I do agree honestly about the niche it lacks. I also worry that the balance team might be trying to homogenize special buffs (like grace if the land). Even as the creator, I agree there is a little oomph that it lacks. Do you think introducing a new field would be too strong? Like a ley field that is specific to only this spec?

@Cambot.8132 said:Yeah I do agree honestly about the niche it lacks. I also worry that the balance team might be trying to homogenize special buffs (like grace if the land). Even as the creator, I agree there is a little oomph that it lacks. Do you think introducing a new field would be too strong? Like a ley field that is specific to only this spec?

the whole idea of having unique interactions with fields is really neat in general. Prob should make the elite mechanic a lot more appealing. From what I read it just sounds like condi cleanse. It could be a lot stronger. But if they do keep frost spirit(10% buff to direct damage). Something like 10%condi buff would be really nice and really competitive as people would be more likely to take this engi spec for condi comps and rangers for power comps.