WildStar Engineer Tank Analysis

WildStar Engineer Tank Analysis by Quillixx

Engineer Tanking at level 50 has yielded 2 popular flavors of builds, with many alternate variants.  Below is an ongoing discussion of these builds.  One build is more threat based with a streamlined and easy to use rotation by using Volatility Rising, the other build focuses on mitigation through shielding with the Repair Bot and Disruptive Module.  As players have different playstyles, one build doesn’t trump the other.  Instead, each one gives the player a different path to achieving their goals.  Feel free to comment and discuss these builds, including any variants you can come up with to meet your needs.

Please note that the builds below factor in the default point allotment for abilities and AMPs at 50, and do not account for additional points that can be earned through Elder Gems.

Threat and Volatility Rising

Below is the current tanking build I run at level 50.  A big thanks goes out to Quietmode and others from the community for their input and making this a great place to maintain an ongoing discussion.

Build link

The last LAS in the build link is empty because it’s a wildcard that is filled depending on the situation.  Typically, I will run Feedback (Base) or Zap (T4), but will rotate in other abilities as needed.  Here are the wildcard abilities:

• Feedback (Base)
• Zap (T4)
• Recursive Matrix (Base or T4)
• Bruiser Bot (T4)

The ability points allocated to increase those wildcard abilities up to T4 would come from reducing T8 Particle Ejector down to T4, or take the points from Shock Pulse, Ricochet, and Unsteady Miasma.  In a full raid environment, I would opt for T8 Particle Ejector to bolster friendly raid members’ Physical damage, but for most all other situations, I would drop down to T4 Particle Ejector in favor of the other 3 abilities keeping their points.

Here is the summary for this build.

• This build does not use Flak Cannon as a builder ability
• Volatility Builders: Shock Pulse, Ricochet, Reckless Dash, and Volatility Rising
• T4 Particle Ejector (3 Vol per tick) + Volatility Rising still has a net gain of 1 Volatility per second during cast
• All Volatility Builders are used to spend on Unsteady Miasma
• Feedback (if spec’d) for additional threat gain with Particle Ejector, proc’d using Unsteady Miasma
• Shatter Impairment, PDU, and T4 Recursive Matrix (if spec’d) for absorb shields and mitigation

The premise is to use the Volatility Rising AMP to feed into T4 Particle Ejector.  This means that we can use Particle Ejector without losing Volatility, freeing all Volatility to be used exclusively on Unsteady Miasma.  The 3 AMP points spent on Critical Hit I II III also result in a direct threat increase.

The AMP build has some options, but the core AMPs are:  Volatility Rising, Reckless Dash, Helpin’ Hand, and Boosted Armor.  That frees up 7 points to be used as player’s choice.  I currently have them invested into Strikethrough I, and Try And Hurt Me! in the build link.  These are my personal preference.

As mentioned above Quietmode had a lot of influence on some of the refinement of the build, so I wanted to make sure he got credit mentioned in here for his insights.  A big thanks!

Shield Mitigation

Here is a common favorite to achieve additional shield mitigation.  Posted in this thread by Tronus (a BIG thanks!) is the build that combines shield regeneration with higher shield mitigation percentages to gain that extra layer of protection on your dangerous outings.

Build link

Here is the summary for this build.

• This build does not use Flak Cannon as a builder ability
• Volatility Builders: Shock Pulse, Reckless Dash, and Disruptive Module
• T4 Disruptive Module and T4 Repair Bot give a combined 90% Shield Mitigation (up from default 50%)
• T4 Bruiser Bot for off tanking and 3.5% Deflect
• Recursive Matrix and T3 PDU for additional mitigation

The goal of this build is to utilize the additional 40% shield mitigation (90% total) and shield building abilities of Disruptive Module and Shield Boost from the Repair Bot.  Each attack by the Repair Bot restores shields, along with each tick of damage done by Disruptive Module.  Add in the Shield Boost ability from the Repair Bot and there is a constant income of shield regeneration.

Shock Pulse + Disruptive Module + Particle Ejector spam for the main rotation, with all other abilities be used as needed on demand.  Reckless Dash can be used to generate additional Volatility if needed for any emergency situations.  With this build, it’s a simple task to maintain Volatility around 70% during any encounter.

The core AMPs for this build are Repair Bot, Disruptive Module, Boosted Armor, and Helpin’ Hand.  Adjustments can be made as gear improves or playstyle changes.

Nearby group members also benefit from this build with Shield Boost from the Repair Bot and avoidance from Recursive Matrix.  Again, thanks to Tronus for his build and input.

General Notes

There was a discrepancy between the Beta 4 patch notes and the bonus T4 Bruiser Bot was providing.  Both the patch notes and in-game tooltip read that the T4 ability should provide 6.5% Deflect, but the bonus was only providing 3.5%.  As of this last beta weekend, the T4 bonus remains at 3.5%, and the tooltip was updated to match the bonus at 3.5% Deflect.  It appears that T4 Bruiser Bot is going to remain at it’s current value.

Shock Pulse’s Volatility building is commonly misinterpreted because of its tooltip’s wording.  The 10 Volatility isn’t a total amount per use, it’s actually 10 Volatility per beam, per target hit.  If you aim correctly and hit 3 targets with all 3 beams, you will instantly generate 90 Volatility.  This makes Shock Pulse the highest potential Volatility builder.  This is the core reason you see both builds above having it in their LAS loadout.