Static Discharge

Discharge a bolt of lightning whenever you use a tool belt skill. — In-game description

Static Discharge

Specialization

Tools (trait list)

Tier

Adept

Type

Major

Training cost

3 Hero points

Game link

API

API

“

Static Discharge

Discharge a bolt of lightning whenever you use a tool belt skill.

— In-game description

Trait skill

Skill			Description
Static Discharge (PvE)			Hit multiple foes with arcs of chain lightning. Critical hits with this ability deal increased damage.
Static Discharge (WvW, PvP)			Hit multiple foes with arcs of chain lightning. Critical hits with this ability deal increased damage.

Mechanics

• The bolt of lightning will not trigger until the animations, activation time, and aftercast delay of the toolbelt skill triggering it have been completed, so it will trigger instantly with toolbelt skills with no activation time.
• A bolt of lightning is released directly to the selected target, when using skills with a targeting system such as Surprise Shot or Throw Wrench.
• A bolt of lightning is released to the direction the character is currently looking at, when using skills without a targeting system such as Reconstruction Field or Detection Pulse. To prevent shooting a bolt into the ground, stand still and start using an auto attack before using such a tool belt skill. This causes the engineer to face the target directly.
• A bolt of lightning is released to the targeted location, when using skills with a ground targeting system such as Grenade Barrage or Med Pack Drop.
• Works as expected with sequence skills such as Mine Field; each activation of a tool belt skill will trigger the trait.

Trivia

• Since the Heart of Thorns expansion, this trait no longer causes queue interrupts after using a tool belt skill.
• Since the Heart of Thorns expansion, this trait no longer has two different Static Discharges, one stronger than the other, for different tool belt skill under special circumstances.

Version history

For a detailed trait history, see here.

Patch	Changes
February 25, 2020	Competitive content update: (Competitive split) Reduced power coefficient from 0.33 to 0.2.
December 11, 2018	The critical damage of this trait has been increased by 100%. Its base damage has been reduced by 50%.
February 22, 2017	The damage dealt by this trait has been increased by 20%.
June 23, 2015	Specialization update: Updated this trait to reflect the introduction of the specialization mechanic.
May 20, 2014	Fixed a bug that caused the damage skill fact for this trait to be inaccurate.
August 28, 2012	Game release: Static Discharge has been added to the game.