Wilt Industrious

Skill Bar

Hammer

Utility

Weapon variants

If you don't have access to Weaponmaster Training with Secrets of the Obscure, you will not be able to wield a hammer. Use Rifle instead.

Rifle for players without Weaponmaster Training or who prefer a ranged playstyle. Good ranged damage though it performs best in melee range due to
Blunderbuss
.

Skill Variants

Heal skill

Rectifier Signet

is great because it also heals your mech. Other alternatives can be considered:

Healing Turret
provides very high healing and cleanses 2 conditions when first deployed while creating a water field where you can detonate the turret to provide even more healing (See: Guide:What are Combo Fields). Always pick up the turret or detonate it, as it will provide more healing over time than the super weak regeneration that leaving the turret deployed provides.
A.E.D.
- helpful to negate a big attack or a oneshot. This skill requires a bit more skill to use, as it only provides large healing if you were to take lethal damage.

Utility skills

Throw Mine

has great damage and crowd control, never replace it.

Shift Signet

shares your boons with your mech, and can be used to stun break and teleport while cleansing two conditions, it's a really good skill. Never replace it.

Force Signet

is a passive damage increase and can be activated for crowd control in emergencies. It has low impact and can be replaced by other alternatives:

Elixir U
- Quickness and stunbreak.
Barrier Signet
- if you need to block dangerous projectiles.
Rocket Boots
- if you need extra mobility.
Elixir C
- massive condition removal and heals per existing boon.

Elite skill

Overclock Signet

is the best elite for this build. It can be used for damage, or to resummon your mech if it dies. Never replace it.

Specializations

Firearms 3 3 1

Explosives 3 2 3

Mechanist 2 3 1

Trait variants

Aim-Assisted Rocket
- use it when playing rifle for higher damage.
Equal and Opposite Reaction
- trades damage for quickness and stability, can be considered for solo play since you will not apply too many conditions on enemies to truly benefit from
Modified Ammunition
.
Mech Arms: Jade Cannons
- if you prefer a ranged mech. The damage difference is negligible for open world, and it might help you stay closer to your mech to maintain
Mechanical Genius
.

Equipment

Ascended gear is not required.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Dragon

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Dragon

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Be rserker

Ring
Berserker

Hammer
Berserker

Sigil

Rifle
Berserker

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

If you are gearing this character from zero, start with exotic quality gear. Search the trading post for "Nika" armor. Then search for the weapons you want to use: "Ironfist" hammer, "Exterminator" rifle. Upgrade to ascended gear as you progress. See also: Guide:How to Gear a Character.

You can use
Relic of Zakiros
to trade a minor amount of damage for sustain or
Relic of the Cavalier
to start combat with boons.
For defense, equip the highest tier Jade Core you can afford. Use defensive food or skills if required.

Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
Plate of Spicy Moa Wings
/
Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup
Superior Sharpening Stone
/
Tin of Fruitcake

Defense

Farming

Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
Birthday Blaster
/
Feast of Delectable Birthday Cake
Peppermint Omnomberry Bar
Sharpening Skull
(and variants)

Usage

This build is extremely easy to play. The mech will tank most enemies for you and has extremely high health.

Damage

Spam
Electro-whirl
,
Throw Mine
, and
Thunderclap
. You can also use
Rocket Charge
to command your mech to use
Rocket Punch
, this doesn't interrupt any action the Mech is doing.
- If using rifle, spam
  Blunderbuss
  (preferably in melee range) and
  Jump Shot
  . You can also use
  Net Shot
  to command your mech to use
  Rocket Punch
  , this doesn't interrupt any action the Mech is doing. You can save
  Overcharged Shot
  for CC or to cleanse yourself of movement-impeding conditions, or otherwise spammed for damage.
Stay near your mech to avoid the small cooldown penalty of
Mechanical Genius
.
Spam your mech F1 skill off cooldown. You can set it to auto-cast if you want by pressing control+mouse 2 on the skill.
F2 and F3 can be spammed for damage, or saved if you need CC. If you need to save them for CC, do not set them to auto-cast.
In fights where your mech is not at risk of dying, you can use
Overclock Signet
for extra damage.
Stay close to your target to benefit from
No Scope
and
High Caliber
.

Defense

The best defense is always to dodge or sidestep attacks
Your mech will tank most enemies for you. Hide behind it when fighting enemies that fire projectiles.
If your mech is standing in a damaging AoE, you can recall it to your location with F7 Return to Me, then command it to continue attacking with F1 Attack My Target.
You can block attacks with
Shock Shield
.
You can teleport out of danger with
Shift Signet
. This skill also cleanses 2 conditions from yourself and your mech.
If your mech dies, wait three seconds for the skill to go on cooldown, then use
Overclock Signet
to resummon it immediatly.
You have minor healing over time from both
Rectifier Signet
and
Big Boomer
.
If your enemy gives itself boons, save
Throw Mine
to remove up to 3 of them.

Crowd control

By far my favourite Engineer based build - Mechanist already took my least favourite class and made it fun, but this build takes it from fun to insane! Great CC, great damage and able to hold its own when being attacked.

Stupidly easy to play, great damage, great crowd control, super tanky pet. All in all a great build.

Hammer is the perfect weapon for this build. Tons of cc, ridiculous burst, and a significant amount of defense are available with just a few key presses. With mech skills on full auto, just drop hammer 5, then inside the electric field do some or all of Throw Mine, hammer 2, and hammer 3, then add a couple of auto attacks if needed and anything less than the hardest hero points will be dead, usually without you taking damage due to the built in defense, heavy cc, and mech tanking. Kills most open world stuff faster and with less effort than anything else I've tried. Biggest downside is that, due to long weapon skill cooldowns and lack of an engineer kit to swap into, for anything that survives your burst you'll spend a lot of time with nothing to do except dodge and auto attack. Also it's a melee build, which isn't great for those who strongly prefer ranged attacks.

I never stopped using my rifle. It's still fun as heck and kills everything in front of my barrel. I don't see how a hammer could be as fun as a rifle.

In open world you can play whichever weapon you like best. We recommend hammer because it deals slightly higher damage. But if you like rifle, feel free to use rifle

Is Impact an optimal sigil choice even when using rifle?

I played rifle mech while learning the modern game in the Please Nerf Me phase where rifle mech could solo... I mean, pretty much anything. Certainly all the hero points in all the expansions, which is a pretty good meter for class power solo. then we got the nerf, which was acceptable/fair, then a rework which really sucked & made the spec a LOT less fun.

Then came weapons master & Hammer, which is straight up one of the best weapons in the game. Good DPS, got it's own combo field, good secondary defense. Plus since you fight on the mob more, your pet tends to be in range for Mechanical Genius more.

Good spec. Easy to play, effective. Probably won't get nerfed. Also EXCELLENT for farming since your pet handles mobs while you mine or log or gather.

Carry a rifle for zerg tagging.

Booster Mechanist

Introduction

This Celestial Booster Mechanist build is a great beginner-friendly offensive setup made for open-world. The equipment above is designed to be played with the Exotic gear obtained by the Level 80 Boost, with some modifications to runes and sigils. To gear this build without the Level 80 Boost, use crafting or purchase items directly from the trading post. This build will allow you to provide permanent Alacrity icon Alacrity, Might icon Might, and Stability icon Stability uptime and some Barrier icon Barrier. Being a pet build makes it very strong as it allows your mech to tank for you.

Build Fundamentals

This build supports allies with Barrier icon Barrier, Alacrity icon Alacrity, Protection icon Protection, Might icon Might, Fury icon Fury, and Stability icon Stability.

Use Crisis Zone icon Crisis Zone and Barrier Burst icon Barrier Burst when available to upkeep Alacrity icon Alacrity. Using Crisis Zone off-cooldown is unnecessary and, so save the skill to break stuns or cleanse conditions. Giving Might icon Might and Alacrity is achieved by using Barrier Burst and letting your Mech auto-attack Mech Arms: High-Impact Drivers and Mech Core: Barrier Engine icon Mech Core: Barrier Engine.

While applying boons with Mechanist is easy, one should remember that the boons are distributed around the Mech. The Mech must be nearby you and your allies to provide the best support. Shift Signet icon Shift Signet teleports you and your Mech, removes conditions, and breaks stun. Overclock Signet icon Overclock Signet allows you to recall your mech if it is destroyed.