In honor of leveling my Engineer all the way to 100 on Elite hardcore, I present to you my short primer of all Engineer skills in Torchlight II.

I've put well over 600 hours into Torchlight II and leveled multiple Elite characters through various NG+ tiers, both on softcore and hardcore, so I know a bit about how the game works. Hopefully this guide will help you in picking skills for your build and whatnot.


Filling the Engineer's charge bar grants the character charges which can be used to power up certain skills. Note that most Engineer skills do not generate any charge, including all the main DPS-skills (Flame Hammer, Blast Cannon, Emberquake, etc.) The only real charge-building skill (aside from a few passives) is Dynamo Field.

For an excellent Engineer skill calculator, click HERE[www.tidbi.ru]

Flame Hammer

Your weapon crushes foes it strikes, creating four flaming splinters that seek out enemies within five meters. If available, a charge is consumed to generate two additional blasts.


The splinters are separate from the main hit and account for most of the Flame Hammer’s damage. Each splinter does half of the skill’s listed DPS % as fire damage, so any +% fire damage bonuses – as well as the damage bonus from Focus – apply in their case. Each splinter could end up dealing way more damage than the actual hammer swing itself.

Seismic Slam

Your mechanically-assisted stomp stuns and burns all enemies in a four-meter radius around you.


Pure elemental damage skill, only improved by Focus and +% fire damage bonuses, not by Strength. Quite useful as crowd control when leveled up to a decent AOE and stun chance, but nothing special in late game when you’re clearing whole rooms with Flame Hammer or Emberquake, both of which easily surpass the damage of Seismic Slam.

Ember Hammer

You deliver a powerful sidelong swing which channels ember energy into a wide, 270 degree arc, destroying shields. Ember Hammer does not gain charge.


The weaker cousin of the Flame Hammer. Although the ability to break shields is nice, there is no real contest when it comes down to picking the better DPS skill between the two "Hammers". The damage of a maxed-out Flame Hammer far surpasses a maxed-out Ember Hammer, even with the Ember Hammer’s full charge damage bonus.

Onslaught

You leap forward, slamming your melee weapon into the ground. Foes at the point of impact are damaged and slowed significantly. Onslaught gains half of normal charge.


The main mobility skill of Engineers, basically a leap attack. The rank 5/15 Onslaught actually costs less mana than the rank 1/15 skill, and its debuffs last for a decent amount of time, so I’d definitely put at least 5 points into it. While it’s a nice skill to initiate combat with, it’s also not really a skill I’d bother maxing.

Ember Reach

A focused surge of energy draws a foe into striking range. You gain a 20% chance to stun for three seconds for every charge you have, but the skill itself neither gains nor expends charge.

Essentially a grappling hook that allows you to yoink enemies closer. In reality, there is hardly ever a use for this skill because enemies are more than happy to get up in your face. Note that the 100% stun chance of a fully-charged Ember Reach does not guarantee a stun every time, because each enemy has at least some level of stun resistance.

Storm Burst

A blast from your pack rockets you swiftly forward, knocking back foes. Three bolts of energy discharge from your suit on impact, striking remote enemies. Every enemy hit also recharges your mana by 5%, for up to five targets.

The second mobility skill of Engineers. Helps you quickly escape enemy mobs, although the short dash distance and 2-second cooldown can be a real hindrance. It’s usually better to stick to Onslaught, unless you’re playing a cannoneer and lack a melee weapon to use Onslaught with.

Heavy Lifting (Passive)

Your skill with giant weaponry allows you to attack faster and adds a chance to stun your foes.


Engineers are naturally disposed towards using two-handed weapons, which of course makes Heavy Lifting a very useful passive, because it not only increases the attack speed for auto-attacks, but also the damage output of DPS-based skills like Blast Cannon, Emberquake, etc. Although the tooltip does not specifically mention staffs, Heavy Lifting also works with those.

Supercharge (Passive)

When you hit foes with a melee weapon, you have a chance to direct excess energy into your weapon and then discharge it during your attacks over the next ten seconds. While supercharged, you gain additional charge.

Supercharge can only trigger off auto-attacks and any melee skill that deals damage as "% of DPS". Supercharge is probably one of the most misleading skills in the game. Although it can proc off many skills, the actual damage bonus is only applied to auto-attacks. Unless you plan on making an auto-attack build, stay away from Supercharge.

Coup de Grace (Passive)

When you hit a stunned target, an electrical surge helps you finish the foe off. This ability cannot trigger more than one time per second.


Coup de Grace is a skill that looks great in theory, but really isn't. First off, it only triggers off stunned targets, making it completely pointless against champions and bosses, who are virtually immune to stun effects. It does nothing to help your initial attack, only becoming effective after – and if – you manage to stun the enemy. Sadly, the only weapons in the game that have a remotely decent chance of stunning enemies are cannons, which heavily restricts the use of Coup de Grace. Plus, the damage of the skill heavily depends both on Strength and Focus, which means you need very high stats to make Coup de Grace viable.

Emberquake

A huge overhand strike sends eight ember-charged fissures radiating out towards enemies.


One of the most damaging AOE skills in the game. Unlike Flame Hammer, there is no main "hit" for Emberquake, so all fissures deal equal damage. Sadly, this also means that you can’t bind Emberquake to the left mouse button.

Flame Hammer vs. Emberquake

So which of these two is the better DPS skill? This question has been asked ad nauseam on the official Runic forums and resulted in dozens of pages of arguing and spreadsheets. I’ll try to keep this simple, so here goes.

Let’s assume an Engineer who has both skills maxed at rank 15/15. The Engineer has 1000 Strength (+500% weapon damage), 200 Focus (+100% elemental damage), maxed Fire and Spark (+75% fire damage) and no other damage bonuses. He has a pure physical damage two-handed weapon with 1000 damage and attack speed of 1.0, so the weapon’s listed DPS is 6000.


Initial hit: 124% of 6000 = 7440
Splinters: 62% of (1000 + 500% + 100% + 75%) / 1.0 = 4805
Total damage: 7440 + 7 * 4805 = 41,390 (51,000 if a charge is used for two extra splinters)


Fissures (DPS-damage): 63% of 6000 = 3780
Fissures (fire damage): 1518 + 100% + 75% = 4175
Total damage: (3780 + 4175) * 8 = 63,640

Overall, Emberquake certainly looks far better on paper. It does have the drawback of becoming available only at level 42, so you’d pretty much need to play through the entire game with auto-attacks until you can start using Emberquake. Also, unlike Flame Hammer, Emberquake benefits a lot more from Focus rather than Strength, so you’d need to juggle both stats in order to get the most damage out of Emberquake and still have enough Strength for a high crit bonus.

Bottom line, pick Flame Hammer if you don’t intend to progress to new game plus, and pick Emberquake if you want a cookie-cutter late game build.

Healing Bot


You deploy a small drone that generates energy pulses, healing both you and your allies.


One of the best Engineer abilities and a staple of essentially every build. It is a permanent minion, meaning that it cannot be attacked or damaged by enemies and will only disappear as you move between game areas (dungeon floors, towns, etc.). When maxed, the Healing Bot will restore about 400 health and 14 mana per second when used by a level 100 character (effectiveness scales with both skill rank and player level). The healing pulse also affects pets and other players.

Blast Cannon

You fire a long-range, piercing projectile from your cannon. At higher ranks, the blast leaves foes more susceptible to further fire and physical damage.


The basic attack for all cannoneer builds. It far surpasses the auto-attack range of cannons, pierces all enemies in a line, conveys most weapon effects, etc. If you're playing a cannonneer, you'll be using this skill.

Spider Mines

You deploy a trio of spider drones that charge the nearest foes and explode in a three-meter radius. Upgraded mines do 20% more damage with a five-meter radius, a two-second stun, and electric damage over time.

Spider Mines are tiny robots that follow you around and suicide-attack nearby enemies. Each cast summons three Spider Mines and up to ten can be active at any time. Great for summoners, useless for every other build.

Gun Bot

You deploy a small drone that assaults your enemies with a hail of gunfire, firing 5 rounds per second.


Gun Bot is basically like a tiny minigun on legs. The tier bonuses (doubled firing range, piercing shots, triple-spread) are absolutely mandatory for making the Gun Bot an effective minion. The default cooldown is also a real hindrance. Summoner builds in general are not especially viable because of the short duration of most summoned minions. If possible, use a mod that extends the duration of all summons to 5 minutes, as it makes using minions much more bearable.

Shock Grenade

You lob a grenade, which shocks and stuns enemies in a four-meter radius. Consumes one charge for two additional grenades.


The damage of Shock Grenades is horribly underwhelming. The skill also wastes charges and the stun/interrupt effects are less-than-useful in higher difficulties. Feel free to skip this skill.

Fusillade


You unleash a continuous barrage of long-range homing rockets from your cannon.


Fusillade is highly inaccurate mortar-type channeled attack that's essentially useless before the Tier II bonus when it gets the AOE damage. Even then, it will likely be unable to hit the broad side of the barn in most cases. Its only real advantage over the Blast Cannon is the fact that it also benefits from your Focus stat and Fire and Spark, while Blast Cannon doesn't. Still not exactly a skill I'd ever pick over Blast Cannon.

Sledgebot


You construct a powerful Sledgebot to pulverize your foes.


Suffers heavily from the short summon duration, but otherwise a useful tank for summoners. I should probably mention that the damage of all summoned minions – Spider Mines, Gun Bot and Sledgebot – is only increased by "+% minion damage" from equipment and socketables, not by Focus, Strength or any other "+% damage" bonuses.

Bulwark (Passive)

Your expertise with armor lets you get the most out of it, increasing its effectiveness, and reducing any damage that actually gets through.


While this skill may look useful, it's really one of the worst passives for any Engineer. Armor is generally pretty useless in late game and the extra 30% armor bonus from maxed Bulwark is equivalent to only 120 Vitality – without the added benefit of increased elemental armor, health and block chance that Vitality provides. The bonus physical damage reduction also becomes moot in late game, where you will likely have equipment and socketables that reduce all incoming damage, not just physical.

Fire and Spark (Passive)


The spark to make things work... and fire to make things die.


Boosts any fire and electric damage on your weapon, as well as for numerous skills (Fire Bash, Overload, Dynamo Field, Shock Grenade, Fusillade, Coup de Grace, Emberquake, Storm Burst, Seismic Slam, Ember Hammer, Onslaught, Flame Hammer). If you're actively using any of these skills, it might be worth maxing Fire and Spark. In terms of damage, having a rank 15/15 Fire and Spark (+75% damage) is equivalent to having an extra 150 Focus.

Charge Domination (Passive)

When you slay an enemy, you have a chance to absorb enough energy to fill your charge bar. This ability cannot trigger more often than once every three seconds.


Has a chance to instantly fill your charge bar whenever you kill an enemy with any attack or skill. While it's basically a one-point-wonder, it's also the best skill choice for dumping any excess points into, because extra charge always comes in handy.

Shield Bash

You smash enemies in front of you, stunning them, slowing their attacks and knocking them back. Damage is equal to five times your shield's armor value. Each charge you currently have provides an additional 10% damage bonus.

Shield Bash only uses the physical armor on the shield for calculating damage (any elemental armor on the shield doesn't count). Damage is improved only by Focus, not Strength, and the charge damage bonus stacks with other percentage-based bonuses. The Engineer's shield-based skills are frankly quite pitiful and not worth any points, as you most likely won't be using a shield anyway (see Forcefield).

Forcefield

Your armor projects ember energy, creating a forcefield around you, and a half-strength forcefield around allies. Once the forcefield absorbs its maximum damage, it dissipates. Forcefield uses all available charges to increase damage absorption by 50% per charge.

When maxed, with a full five-charge bonus, Forcefield will absorb over 60k damage when used by a level 100 character (damage absorption scales with both skill rank and player level). Forcefield will also shield your pet and other players, but does not protect any summoned minions. Forcefield will negate ALL incoming damage except damage-over-time effects (such as burning) and the deadly scythe traps in Act II. This skill is a staple for any Engineer build, especially on hardcore.

IMPORTANT: Forcefield's damage absorption applies before block, making shields essentially pointless for any Forcefield-using Engineer.

Overload

You overload your armor's circuits to project a nova of ember energy, electrocuting up to five foes in a six-meter radius around you. Overload uses all available charges to increase its damage by 50% per charge.

Overload doesn't really stand out at all, because the Engineer has other much better AOE skills. The electric damage of Overload scales with player level, weapon DPS damage % scales with skill rank. The electric damage is also improved by Focus and +% electric damage bonuses.

Dynamo Field

You tap into your armor's energy to project an electrical burst in a five-meter radius. This electrical surge generates charge for each enemy that's struck, up to five per field.


Dynamo Field is an excellent skill for any Engineer who's constantly relying on charges (either for Flame Hammer, Forcefield, etc.). Dynamo Field's damage is improved by Focus and +% electric damage bonuses. The damage also stacks with itself, so if you have a Dynamo Field that deals 2000 damage over 2 seconds and you hit an enemy with two rapid consecutive casts, you will deal a total of 4000 damage (damage-over-time ignores enemy armor). The range of the skill is also quite large, especially at max rank. Note that any "charge rate increased" bonuses don't affect Dynamo Field's charge gain speed.

Tremor

Discharging the energy from your suit into the earth causes a massive shockwave to expand outward, knocking back and weakening foes within 24 meters.


Tremor deals no damage unless a charge is used to cast it. Tremor is useful as a crowd-control skill for summoners and cannoneers, but its prohibitively long cooldown can be a major drawback.

Fire Bash

You channel a potent blast of energy through your shield up to six meters away. Damage is derived from your shield's armor value. Initial physical damage is tripled and the blast range is increased to nine meters with one charge.

The physical damage of Fire Bash is equal to the physical armor on your shield and the burn damage is equal to 12 times the physical armor on your shield. Both the physical and burn damage scale with skill rank and are improved by Focus (burn damage is also improved by +% fire damage bonuses). Like Shield Bash, it's a pretty useless skill overall.

Immobilization Copter


You deploy an immobilization drone which slows enemies within range of its beam.


The Copter is a permanent minion, meaning that it cannot be attacked or damaged by enemies and will only disappear if you move between game areas (dungeon floors, towns, etc.). When upgraded to Tier II, it will also deal damage to enemies, although a fairly insignificant amount. Mainly a one-point-wonder, although the Tier I bonus isn't all that bad.

Sword and Board (Passive)

Your skill with a shield goes beyond defense and straight into offense, adding some of your shield's armor value directly to your melee attacks as physical damage.


The skill's listed percentage of your shield's physical armor is added to total damage, unmodified, similar to how flat damage bonuses from armor work. So even if you have a shield with a high armor value, for example 200, it will still only ever add at most 180 damage, regardless of your Strength, Focus, DPS, etc. Sword and Board is quite possibly the most useless skill in the entire game.

Aegis of Fate (Passive)

When foes attack you, your armor has a chance to generate a defensive "bubble" around you that prevents further damage. The amount of damage this shield can absorb is equal to 200% of your armor plus 100. When Aegis is active, you also get 50% knockback resistance.

The Aegis is a permanent layer of protection, similar to having extra armor. The Aegis can trigger only if you get hit, which means it has no synergy with Forcefield because an active Forcefield absorbs all damage before the Aegis can trigger, and an active Aegis has no effect while Forcefield is up. Unlike the Forcefield, however, the Aegis doesn't weaken as you take damage. You are completely impervious to any attacks that don't surpass the damage cap of the Aegis (after calculating armor and damage reduction). It also has unlimited duration and will remain active even as you move between towns, dungeon floors, etc. The skill might be worth a point, but it's usually outshined by Forcefield.

Example: You have 400 physical armor, so the Aegis will absorb 400 * 2 + 100 = 900 damage. So if a monster normally deals 5000 physical damage and you also have 75% damage reduction, that damage is first reduced to 4600-4800 by your armor, then further reduced to 1150-1200 by your damage reduction, and then 900 damage is absorbed, meaning that you only take 250-300 damage. The Aegis will remain active and keep reducing damage by 900 per hit.

Charge Reconstitution (Passive)


When you use charge for skills, you regain some of your health.


Worthless even as a one-point-wonder, because a max-level Healing Bot already heals you for more than a rank 6/15 Charge Reconstitution would. Healing in general is also quite pointless for any Forcefield-using Engineer, because the Forcefield absorbs all damage anyway.

Hopefully this guide has been of some help.

If you want to check out other class-specific skill guides, the links are below:

Outlander Skill Guide
Embermage Skill Guide
Berserker Skill Guide

I've also written two other guides for Torchlight II, found here:

Ultimate Torchlight II Guide
Achievement Guide

Good luck and have fun playing!