70-79 Dimitre's Guide to Engineering at 70

Mcmurphy

Legend
Introduction
Watching old PVP videos was something I have always enjoyed. What really caught my eye was the players' use of engineering in PVP. Many of the players I've seen play use bombs and special pieces of gear to CC their opponents for very long periods of time.

I thought to myself: "Wow! That's a really cool idea. I wonder if I can play like that now." After a few trial BG runs, I realized that indeed, you can use many of the items that the old PVPers used in the days of yore, and they work quite well. By this time you've probably guessed what I'm doing here. Yes, I'm going to tell you what I've found; yes, you'll be able to get these items; and yes, you'll be able to use them to dominate players in BGs.

I began writing a guide just for bombs, but since many people have asked me about what profession to roll, I decided to include everything engineering has to offer. I've separated this guide in into three sections: tinkers, bombs, and gear. This is an exhaustive guide of everything I think would be useful to the average PVPer. There will be many items you've probably seen or heard of already, and some that you haven't. So without further a-do, I bring you Dimitre's Engineering guide for 70s.


Tinkers
Tinkers are one of the main reasons people roll engineering. There are plenty of useful tinkers, but some tinkers you probably don't want to use. Most tinkers are applied to your gloves, but some are applied to your cloak or belt. Tinkers never override enchants, meaning you can keep both on a piece of gear at the same time. Another very important thing to remember is tinkers are not on the GCD, so you can use them at the the same time as your other abilities without waiting for a GCD cycle. Some of these you can use in arena, others you cannot.

Some tinkers can be learned at the trainer, but others are learned automatically as you craft engineering items. These are learned at random, so you never know if you'll score something useful or get stuck with cardboard assassin. Every race can unlock one of these special learned-on-craft tinkers at 70. Gnomes are the only exception; they can unlock three. This is because their engineering max skill is higher than 450 - I believe it's 465 at 70. I'll specify which ones are trainer-learned and which are learned via crafting engineering items.

There are a few tinkers I have left off the list. I don't think these tinkers would be very useful. For example, one increases armor, another taunts npcs - I didn't think these were worth mentioning, since this engineering guide is PVP-oriented.


-Glove Tinkers-

Blizzard removed many of the old features that were associated with certain professions. The reasoning behind this is that you should not be choosing your profession to maximize your DPS. Therefore, all of the damage/stat effects that previously were in the game have since been removed, and bonuses have been nerfed or gotten rid of entirely.

Synapse Springs: This is the tinker most people go for when they roll engineering. It gives you 96 agility, int, or strength at 70 and 192 at 71-74. Basically the equivelent of an on-use trinket. Since many strength or agil-based classes use proccing trinkets, synapse is a great damage supplement. Also, it does not break stealth or subterfuge - I'm not sure about invisibility. This can be used in arena. This tinker is learned via crafting engineering items close to skill 450. (THIS TINKER HAS BEEN REMOVED)
Tazik Shocker: This tinker has recently been nerfed. It was an excellent choice up until the enchant scaling change, now it hardly does any damage. I've been hit by 70s with it for less than 1k. Obviously it would be a bit better at 71-74 - though people tell me the pyro rocket is actually a better choice. Can be used in arena. This tinker is learned via crafting engineering items close to skill 450. (THIS TINKER HAS BEEN REMOVED)
Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket: This tinker is a pretty decent substitute for synapse if you don't have it, it does around 1-2k damage. It's a great supplement to burstly classes like prot paladin, boomkin, mage, or rogue. Can be used in arena. This tinker is learned at the engineering trainer. (THIS TINKER HAS BEEN REMOVED)
Hyperspeed Accelerators: This tinker increases your haste by 240 for 70-74s. This is another on-use trinket tinker. It's very useful for getting off a quick heal or supplementing damage CDs. I am almost certain this, like synapse, does not break stealth or subterfuge - again, not so sure about invisibility. Can be used in arena. This tinker is learned at the engineering trainer. (THIS TINKER HAS BEEN REMOVED)

-Cloak Tinkers-

Flexweave Underlay: This is a must have for engineers. There is really no reason why you shouldn't have this tinker. At 70-74 this is the only tinker you can put on your cloak. What is does is slows fall speed - but what makes this tinker shine is it's potential to be combo'd with other abilities. For example, you can disengage into parachute to increase your distance traveled. You can use the momentum from a speed increase like sprint or your mount to parachute you across the whole BG. You can also carry the flag while in parachute. Also, removing the parachute buff cancels momentum. This means if you are pushed by typhoon or thunderstorm, you can parachute and cancel the buff to prevent getting pushed off the cliff. Another fairly obvious use for this is to activate parachute before hitting the ground after a long fall to prevent fall damage. Doing damage or taking damage doesn't break parachute. So you can actually combo shadowstep or cloak-and-dagger to teleport to people as they're falling without cancelling your parachute buff. Can't be used in arena. This tinker is learned at the engineering trainer.

-Belt Tinkers-
Invisability Field: As the name suggests, this turns you invisible. You can only use it out of combat - basically if you already have stealth, this isn't worth it. This would be very useful if you are a class without invis that wants to take his/her opponent by surprise. Keep in mind though, this has a 3 minute cd. Can't be used in arena. This tinker is learned via crafting engineering items close to skill 450.
Grounded Plasma Shield: Puts the equivalent of a power word: shield on you with a cooldown of 5 minutes - the shield cannot be dispelled. I don't have alot of experience with this one. It seems to me there are better tinkers out there, considering the CD. You cannot use this tinker in arena. This tinker is learned via crafting engineering items close to skill 450.
Nitro Boots: I've noticed most people use this for their belt tinker. It increase your speed to faster-than-mount levels. It used to stack with other speed buffs like burst of speed, but that was changed. You cannot parachute cloak while you have the nitro boots buff, but if you run off a cliff, take off the buff and parachute, you'll still be able to take advantage of the momentum from the nitro boots. Otherwise, this is great for escaping a threat. You cannot carry the flag with this. This has a 3 minute CD. Keep in mind, it can fail - if it does it places a debuff on you that damages you for a percent of your health every second (like 80% in total or something like that). Can't be used in arena. This tinker is learned at the engineering trainer.
Mind Amplification Dish: This allows you to mind control players, and has a CD of 10 minutes. Obviously, this can be an amazing tinker if 1) you dont waste the CD on something dumb and 2) it doesn't fail. You can MC the enemy healer into your team so they die as soon as the MC breaks. You could MC the flag carrier into your team, for the same result. You could MC someone off a cliff. You could MC someone in font of a hunter on their team spreading dots to get hit with serpent spread. You could MC the enemy healer into his teammate's ring of frost. The possibilities are endless. However, I know for a fact that this tinker can fail, and I'm not sure what the failure rate is - you'd have to test it out for yourself. Obviously, cannot be used in arena. This tinker is learend at the engineering trainer.
Spinal Healing Injector: Heals you for (according to WoWHead) 4250 for 70s and 71-74. Although you could use this for a quick heal, there are definitely other viable choices available. Can't be used in arena. This tinker is learned via crafting engineering items close to skill 450.
Frag Belt: The best tinker in the game out of arena. This gives you a bomb on a 1m CD that has a 40 yard range and saps the target for 3 seconds. I have used this to decimate rogue openers, stop druid trents from casting roots, close distance from a fleeing foe, interrupt a healer with aura mastery up, bait trinkets from all classes, bomb warrior charge, bomb mindbender to prevent damage, cc a healer while I kill his friend, and save my own life multiple times. You definitely want this; this is one of the first things you should get when you roll engineering. Sadly, you cannot use this in arena, but if you could that'd be OP. One more thing to note, this tinker does not share a CD with other bombs. Meaning you can theoretically use both at about the same time. This tinker is learned at the engineering trainer.

Bombs
Aside from the frag belt, I have not seen a single player other than myself use the actual engineering bombs. Most people do not realize the sheer OPness of these bombs. All of the bombs mentioned are very cheap to make, and extremely useful. You cannot use any of these in arena, hopefully you can understand why.

Some of these bombs can fizzle when used on players above 60.What does this mean? It means you don't throw the bomb. That's right, you don't waste a bomb when it fizzles, you just can't throw it. In addition, it doesn't incure a CD. This means you can spam your bomb bind until you throw it. If your bomb fizzles, spam the bind and you will eventually throw it after a few clicks.

Flash Bomb: Fears all beasts in a 5 yard radius on a one minute CD. By "beast" it means any beast. You can fear ferals, druids in bear, and shamans (shamen?) in ghost wolf, as well as hunter pets. This is extremely useful, especially if you aren't a class that can fear, this takes off alot of pressure and in most cases baits a trinket so you can use your actual class's CCs right after. This is also useful for getting rid of pesky hunters pets. I would seriously consider trying this item out. Keep in mind, if this fizzles, spam the bind and you will throw it. This is also the only bomb on this list that does not require your engineering skill to be active to be thrown. That's right, you don't have to be an engineer to be able to throw these. The Schematic for this bomb is dropped off Mekgineer Thermaplugg in Gnomeregan. It's fairly easy to farm, but it will take awhile. I decided to spend around 1,000g to get this schematic after not seeing it drop after close to 100 runs.
Frost Grenade: This is the same as a mage frost elemental nova. It freezes all targets in place, has the same radius as pet freeze, and is on a one minute CD. Yes, the target of your bomb counts as "frozen" meaning you can shatter it. Other than that, you can use this to root players to peel or using it to root and LoS to heal yourself up or get a restealth. This is very strong against warriors. This will not fizzle. You can learn to make these at your engineering trainer.
Arcane Bomb: The most overpowered bomb in the bracket. First off, it drains 700 mana. Second it does damage equal to 50% the amount drained. Third, it silences the target for 5 seconds. That's not a typro, it silences for 5 seconds. This puts up huge pressure and more often than not forces a trinket. This would probably be most beneficial for classes without a silence like ferals, warriors, etc. Keep in mind, if this fizzles, spam your bomb bind and you will throw it. The schematic for this bomb can be found off mobs in level 60 dungeons like BRS, BRD, MC, or BWL. This is, by far, the rarest item to acquire on this list. I would suggest buying the schematic off the auction house of you can. If not, good luck getting this to drop - the drop rate is less than 1%. I bough the schematic for about 2500g, and it's proven to be well worth the investment.


Trinkets
Probably the second biggest reason people roll engineering is for the awesome trinkets you get. As far as I know, you can use all the trinkets I list here in arena. Some will always be useful to you, while others are purely situational.

-Should Probably Keep Equipped-
These are the trinket you're going to want to have on you pretty much at all times. The static buffs they provide are great, and (for most of them) their proc or on-use is amazing.

Gnomish Lightning Generator: This trinket increases crit by a 30, and has an on-use that does around 600 damage to your target. This is definitely the trinket of choice for prot paladin because 1) huge crit and 2) damage supplement to their infamous one-shot combo. This trinket is definitely good for other classes as well. Since the crit is static, you can always roll generator x 2 for twice the crit benefit. Note, if you roll two, you will have to wait 30 seconds after firing the first one before firing the second one. You cannot fire both at the same time. You can learn how to make this at your engineering trainer. You DO NOT have to be a gnomish engineer to use this item.
Sonic Booster: This trinket gives 37 stam, and has a 98 attack power proc on a one minute CD with a near 100% proc rate. This trinket procs as soon as you deal or receive damage, making it a very effective burst trinket for 70s. 37 stam is pretty huge, considering stam is now the best defensive stat for 70s. I've seen some healers wearing this for the stam in the past, but it's not really worth it imho - since you take no benefit from the ap proc. After the stat squish of Warlords of Draenor, this item may no longer be the best choice. This is a really good trinket for AP users, though prot pallies reap a greater benefit from the lightning generator because of the static crit and direct damage on-use. Keep in mind, the sonic booster proc will not stack, if you have two they share an internal CD. You can learn how to make this item at your trainer.
Noise Machine: I call this Meh: The Trinket. The only reason why you'd want this is for the 25 static int. However, if you are just going for the intellect, there are better trinkets out there. The 500 shield has a 100% proc chance when you take damage on a 1 minute CD. You can learn how to make this item at your trainer.
Goblin Rocket Launcher: I call this one Overlooked: The Trinket. This trinket gives you a respectable 36 stam, pretty decent for a trinket an int user can actually use. In addition to the static stam, this trinket has an on-use that shoots a rocket. Here's the interesting part, the rocket stuns you for about a second, but stuns your opponent for 3 seconds. This trinket has no charge up time, it is instant cast. In addition the rocket range is 45 yards, which is farther than any heal, CC, or damaging spell. This is definitely something healers should look into, as I said above, you can use this in arena. If you roll this trinket in arena, is amazing for baiting trinket or getting off that vital CC to get the kill. To make this item, you MUST be a goblin engineer. After you do what is require to attaint goblin engineer status, all you have to do is learn this at your engineering trainer.

-Purely Situational-

These are trinkets mostly for fun. I am almost certain you can use all of them in arena, but do so at your own risk. I have not tested these often enough to get an estimated chance of success. If anything, it would definiely be worth it to try out the ice deflector, especially since frost mages are so popular and the burst is so high. Unlike the bombs, if they fizzle, the CD will still be incurred. This means, if the trinket fails, than you have to wait 5 minutes to use it again.

Gyrofreeze Ice Deflector: This trinket offers some frost resist. But that's not why you want it. You want this because it can deflect all frost spell for 5 seconds. This means if the mage isn't careful, he can actually global himself. You can learn to make this by purchasing the schematic from Xizzer Fizzlebolt, a vendor within Everlook in the region of Winterspring. He sells the schematic in limited supply, meaning that he can run out. He resets his inventory every 2-3 minutes - so if you don't see it, wait around for a few minutes and it'll show up.
Hyper Radiant Flame Deflector: Does the same as the frost deflector, but instead gives flame resist as its static and blocks fire. You don't really see any fire-damage-dealing classes around these days (fire mage, destro lock) - maybe this will be more useful in the future? The Schematic for this is dropped off of Solakar Flamewreath, a boss in Upper Blackrock Spire. WoWHead says the drop rate is around 8%.
Ultra Flash Shadow Deflector: This does the same as the other two, but with shadow spells. I have not seen this, but I have heard accounts of this deflecting fear. I have yet to test this, but it may deflect mindbender/shadowfiend damage aswell. The schematic for this is dropped off of risen inquisitors, which are trash mobs in Stratholme. The drop rate is recorded to be close to 1% on WoWHead.


Other Useful Items

These items are situational at best, but will definitely turn the tide if used correctly

Goblin Rocket Helm: Has the same range as warrior charge, and saps the target for 10 seconds. You can use this as a blind to bait trinket, get a restealth, peel, or CC a healer to get the kill. If you use this, it will be to put it on, charge, then take it off. It's obviously not something you want to run around with constantly. You cannot use this in arena. You can learn to make this at your trainer. That mats are actually pretty cheap, though you'll need the help of an alchemist to make goblin rocket fuel.
Hyper Vision Goggles: It's important to note that you can use these in arena. These are extremely useful if you are fighting a double stealth team. I've been able to completely demolish double rogue team openers with this. This is also good for rogue boomkin teams. In addition to arena, you can also use this in duels if you're fighting another stealth (I don't use this in duels unless I see my opponent with a pair as well - otherwise it's obviously not a fair fight). Strangely enough, these goggles aren't too useful in BGs, since more often than not, you do not know if you are in the vicinity of another rogue. You can find the schematic for this off of Mo'arg Weaponsmiths, mobs in Shadowmoon Valley. WoWHead lists the drop rate as lower than it actually is, since only engineers can see the drop. I was able to score a schematic after 30 minutes of farming.

Closing Thoughts
I hope this helped. I don't really see people rocking bombs or the rocket launcher in BGs. If you choose to spend the money to level engineering, you might as well take the full benefit of the profession. This is basically what engineering is for, and I hope to see more people using this stuff in the future. Keep in mind, if you do not have the schematic for one of the items on this list, you can always ask a friend who has it to make the item for you. All of the items on this list (besides tinkers) are BoE or consumables. If you have the mats, don't be afraid to ask someone for help.:cool:

Feedback from the community is, as always, much appreciated. Feel free to offer critiques and/or suggestions, and I'll respond accordingly.

EDIT: I did my best to remove some of the things that have since been removed in WOD. It may delight you to know, however, that many of the items in this guide behave much like they did before - the only major difference in most cases are a minor stat difference. I've made some changed already, but I am planning on making a more comprehensive scan of all outdated material in the near future.



-Dimitre
 
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If anyone finds outdated material in this guide, feel free to say something in this thread or in a private message to me. I'm going to look it over to check for outdated material, but I may miss something. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

-McMurphy
 

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