Engineer rotation help

[Ziorah]

I’m currently refining my Keybindings and rotation for Bitsy (CR 37) and would love some feedback. I’ve been watching many videos since it's hard to find up-to-date written guides, but I want to make sure I’m not missing anything crucial or wasting space.

My current setup:
F1-F6 (Mouse): Acid Bomb, Flashbang Grenade, Firebomb, Fragmentation Grenade, Napalm Grenade, Concussion Grenade.

Mouse F7-F8 / Alt / Ctrl: Blunderbuss Blast, Hip Shot, Incendiary Rounds, Friction Burn. (I rarely use Static Discharge and Phosphorous Shells).

Q, E, R, T, F, G: Gun Blast, Land Mine, Barbed Wire, Addling Shot. (I rarely use Spanner Swipe and Signal Flare).

1-6: Bombardment Turret, Gun Turret, Flame Turret, Redeploy, Self Destruct, Flee.

Not in use: Shock Grenade, Hamper War Engine, Bolster War Engine.

My current Rotation:

I start with Acid Bomb and Flashbang.
Firebomb is my main filler whenever possible.
In groups, I add Fragmentation and/or Napalm Grenade.
At range: I use Gun Blast.
If enemies get close: I use Land Mine, Barbed Wire, Incendiary Rounds, Blunderbuss Blast, and Hip Shot.
Note: I currently never use Spanner Swipe.

My questions for the pros:

Decluttering: Based on my rotation, is there anything I can safely remove from my bars to save space?
Signal Flare: Is it mandatory for spotting WHs/WEs, or can I skip it?
Static Discharge & Phosphorous Shells: Should these be part of my rotation at CR 37?
Spanner Swipe: Is the knockback reliable enough to keep it on a primary keybind for self-defense?
Rotation Check: Does this priority make sense for a 6v6/Warband environment, or should I change the order of my grenades?
I really want to make sure my layout and contribution are as efficient as possible for the upcoming guild events. Thanks for the help!"

[DirkDaring]

Honestly I`d stop using Napalm, and same goes for Magus Dissolving mists, in keep/fort fights. The reason is, it still suffers from the same issues here, as it did on live. It has low damage per tick, a long duration, in order for it to do its damage.

It is easily healed through, and most people stand in it in order to help build morale's faster, as the damage doesn`t really hurt them, you can cast it on the ram but not when the door is down. It is an ok PVE ability, but casting it on doorways, pre push while attacking, or defending a keep, or Fort, just helps the other side build morale.

[Gunlinger]

the question is a bit hard to answer without knowing the exact build you want to play.
Rifle, grenade or tinkerer supp. It all depends on the build.

Lets say you play grenade( later with the right gear maybe even magnet+ flashbank tactic) as it is the general aoe group build.

Forget gun blast in group play while on grenade spec. You lack the weapon skill to make it hit hard enough to justify its 2 sec cast time and the ap cost.

open up on priority targets with Signal flare and incendiary rounds, since they are both corp dmg and your strongest single target dots.

against tight enemy groups always use Acid and frag grenade. Acid grenade is the most important grenade when it comes to help your group to deal more corporal dmg.
Frag grenade is not just for aoe. It is mainly a very strong corp dmg dot.
fire bomb is a good filler for single targets as long as everything else is on cooldown.
But as soon as there is more then one target, rather use acid and frag again instead of firebomb.

FLASHBANG! never inside the rotation. It is the most important situational Ability.
Always use the Flashbang tactic! Flashbang choppas when they start to channel.
Flashbang healers when ever possible.

In general you need rotations for:
- Acid and frag
- Signal flare, incendiary rounds, frag/fire bomb
- (close range) Acid grenade, Friction burn,(ultra close range: Static discharge) Blunderbuss

situational:
- magnet (on high end gear/rr tinkerer spec) For choke point (doorway/corner) defense situations or on fleeing groups where you are closer then all the rest of your team.
- Self destruct in situations where aoe knockdown will aid and not sabotage your wb/group
- Flashbang against channels, healers and maras that walk up front for obvious pull attempt
- Focus fire st channel burst
- Phosphorous shells into clashing melees for extra pressure and the slow
- Land mine (NEVER just because enemy is in range for it!!!) Landmine is for stopping a flanking or fleeing Warband/group. Or for staggering a pack of healers standing extended to their groups so they not get freed from stagger instantly by aoe dmg. Or to secure your warbands/groups retreat. NEVER EVER hand out free immunity to enemy with it just for the sake of using the dang land mine if you expect immediate AOE from others onto your staggered targets.
- Shock grenade! together with flashbang and land mine one of the engis 3 most powerful tools. You are always a bit behind your tanks and melees. That means that you are right behind them when they get staggered right before clashing into or while chasing fleeing enemies. USE IT! YOU AND ONLY YOU are able to UNSTAGGER your teamates with this long range 25 feet aoe friendly target ability.
- Strafing run for situations where a 10 feet aoe punt could send off multipe enemies off a wall or bridge/ledge. Or where you can free your backline healer from multiple WEs that popped up onto them.
- Spanner swipe for everything that hits you in meele. To slow fleeing foes and to deliver the ultimate mockery to an enemy if you manage to land a killing blow with your melee attack as a range class.
- Barbed Wire only as last resort when falling back or when you run out of options to stop fleeing enemies. Most of the time they just free them self from it, are immune anyway or will not be stopped at all because of the 50% chance.(maybe some day tangling wire tactic will be merged with barbed wire base mechanic)
- Concussion grenade to punt away melee that caught you. Use it AFTER you hit them with spanner swipe! A melee you punt will just charge back at you otherwise.

If you want to minimize your bars, you need the sequencer addon.

Then you can put the following rotations together
- Acid, frag
- Signal Fl, Incendiary R (fire bomb)
- Friction B, Static D, Blunder B

Always use just 1 turret on hotkey depending on your build. And put the other 2 on a bar to 1. Click them with mouse depending on the situation 2. To switch them with the one on your hotkey place when the environment changes (for example when you transition from wall to bottom floor defense to switch from Gun turret to flame turret)
- Grenade turret for gren spec.
- Flame turret for close range tanky tinkerer spec
- Gun turret for small scale single target focus armor debuff.

Get the side bar addon, for all the non combat abilities. It will add an extra bar that only pops out when you hover over its trigger, where you can drag all the emote macros, liniments/armor pots, or even flag jacket and burn salve onto it.

With these 2 addons alone, you could minimize your action bars down to 2 full rows
+ a 3rd with the 3 turrets, self destruct and redeploy on it

[Ziorah]

Gunlinger, I don't know how to thank you! I'm reading this through right now, then again and again. You've helped me enormously. And yes, I'm currently playing as a Grenadier, as Sniper isn't supposed to be very good. I'm still a beginner who spends a lot of time working on his class and enjoys it. I want to get better, and your support is a huge boost for me. I'm going to take some time now to adjust my rota/key layout. Thanks a million!

[Ziorah]

I didn't really have time yesterday, so here it is again today:

Wow, thank you so much for these 'bombastic' tips! This is incredibly helpful and exactly what I was looking for. I have to admit, I wasn't fully aware of some of these combinations and synergies, especially the strategic use of Shock Grenade and the importance of Corporal damage. I’m already setting up the 'Sequencer' addon now to streamline my bars and practice the rotations you suggested.

One quick question: You didn't mention 'Hip Shot' in your breakdown. Where do you see it fitting into this setup? Is it worth keeping as a finisher or on-the-move filler, or should I prioritize the other rotations you mentioned instead?

Thanks again for taking the time to write this out—it’s a total game-changer for my Engineer!

[Sadsong]

I'd say your build and rotation are perfect! My witch will love to finding you in the battlefield

[Gunlinger]

One quick question: You didn't mention 'Hip Shot' in your breakdown. Where do you see it fitting into this setup? Is it worth keeping as a finisher or on-the-move filler, or should I prioritize the other rotations you mentioned instead?

Hip shot is a relic from a time where melees could prevent any engineer range attack to be usable by simply getting closer then 5 feet to them.
Together with the stopping power tactic it was then used to punt the melee 10 feet away to be able to shoot again.

The 5 feet min range was taken away from all range classes so they no longer get denied any chance against close melees. No idea why the tactic was left and not changed to something useful. Hip shot itself is one of the weakest abilities even tho it is an instant attack. And using it as a range disrupt with the cost of loosing a tactic slot and gifting the target punt immunity for just getting punted 10 feet is not even worth the thought.

Well maybe hip shot could be useful to dismount enemies. But there are better ones for that purpose