On the last episode of Points of Interest, host Rubi Bayer was joined by Game Designer Irenio Calmon-Huang to show off the skills, traits, and abilities of the engineer’s elite specialisation, the scrapper. “Scrapper” was originally a pejorative term for charr warbands assigned to grueling menial work as punishment. The stigma clung to those who labored under the name, branding them as troublemakers unworthy of respect despite their vital role in working for the legions. Some of them reclaimed the term, wearing it as a badge of honor and taking pride in their work, and this attracted downtrodden members of other races as well. Although working in scrapyards is unglamorous, one person’s trash is another’s treasure—and the resourceful and intelligent scrappers have learned to repurpose whatever they have at hand into both offensive and defensive tools.
By equipping the scrapper elite specialisation, engineers gain the ability to use hammers. Irenio describes them as melee bruisers who act as a steady source of lightning fields and defiance-bar destruction. A key element of the scrapper lies in improvisation, reacting to their enemies with quick thinking.
Scrappers have access to a new, unique profession mechanic in the form of the function gyro, which allows them to either resurrect allies or finish foes at range by targeting them and then using their interaction key (default F). A full range of gyros with various useful abilities is also available in the scrapper’s utility line. Gyros can be targeted and attacked, but they also have a large health pool and can be enhanced with boons. The amount of fuel a gyro has remaining represents the number of seconds they can be active in the world; after a set amount of time, they’ll deactivate, but they can also be detonated by the scrapper to daze enemies.
Scrappers aren’t locked into running with the hammer and gyros; many of their traits synergize well with existing engineer kits and abilities. Irenio said that a large part of the scrapper’s skill component is good timing, and that simply firing off abilities as they become available won’t be very effective.
Irenio is looking forward to hearing what players think of the scrapper, so keep the constructive feedback coming! We’ll be at TwitchCon on September 25 to share more Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ news and to reveal the final elite specialisation, so be sure to stop in and see us at the show or join us on the official Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel.
Check out a recording of this episode below!
