I have to say, as someone who counts a Holosmith in her top handful of Guild Wars 2 toons, that I couldn’t initially see the appeal slapping a bow on my Engineer. I rolled an Engineer to use steampunkier kit, personally. But if it’s something you’ve always wanted to try, then you’re going to appreciate the proliferation of the shortbow to the class, which ArenaNet previewed last night.
“The engineer has been experimenting with isolating and storing the magic used by others and infusing them into their own contraptions,” the studio’s Chun-Hong Fung writes. “This has led to the creation of essence-infused arrows, devices equipped with canisters of distilled magic that can be fired at a distant location. These arrows can then be detonated, releasing the essence within and covering the surrounding area with a magic field that affects both allies and enemies. The magic from these canisters may even combine in certain circumstances, causing their effects to be even more potent than when used by themselves!”
I’m sorry but did he just say detonation arrows? OK, you know what, scratch that intro paragraph and count me in.
“By wielding the short bow, the engineer exchanges attack power for team support, gaining a total of four types of essence-infused arrows that can be fired into the ground. Despite them being arrows, the actual act of placing these on the ground is unblockable, so don’t worry about those pesky projectile blockers getting in your way. These devices vary in effect, from debilitating your enemies to strengthening or protecting your allies. Once planted, the arrows can be triggered in several ways. They will detonate by themselves after a set amount of time (if the engineer is close enough), or the engineer can choose to detonate them manually with the follow-up skill. Finally, all arrows (except the autoattack) have a special property called Chain Reaction; when an arrow is active, it will also cause your other arrows in range to detonate. If this happens, those arrows gain bonus effects depending on the initial arrow that caused the detonation.”
The fun begins during the beta on November 28th, followed by the official introduction of this weapon and more during the first big patch of 2024.
Here are all the new weapons revealed so far:
