WvW Druid Heal

[Ibiadan.9613]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone besides me is actively playing healing druid in WvW small scale 4-5 man groups.

If so I would really appreciate if that person would share their build for maybe some kind of inspiration in improving mine.

[Fish.2769]

> @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> Hi, I was wondering if anyone besides me is actively playing healing druid in WvW small scale 4-5 man groups.

> If so I would really appreciate if that person would share their build for maybe some kind of inspiration in improving mine.

 

In before someone else says it - play Firebrand.

 

On a more serious note, fair play.

[Ibiadan.9613]

I'm playing every healer, but having way more fun on druid and tempest and it's not really answering the question ..

[Dawdler.8521]

Sure you *could* play a druid healer... or you could play an immo druid and win the fights instead.

[Ibiadan.9613]

I'm really wondering why people always think they have to tell others what to play instead of simply replying to the question .. why even bother typing something that noone wanted to know? Not everyone likes playing meta ..

[Taobella.6597]

if you doing anything under 10v10 play whatever you like. but answer your questino my friend who main druid for many years just played full cleric druid. it work pretty well.

[Ibiadan.9613]

The gear is not the problem .. I'm more interested in traits and utility skills other people are using to compare and maybe find something that works better which I didn't think of so far ..

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

> @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> Hi, I was wondering if anyone besides me is actively playing healing druid in WvW small scale 4-5 man groups.

> If so I would really appreciate if that person would share their build for maybe some kind of inspiration in improving mine.

 

Wild: top mid mid

Beast: bot bot bot

Druid: top top mid

 

All Gear: Marshal stats / Dolyak Runes / +5 Toughness infusions

Axe/Axe: Energy & Air "Energy/Courage if brought to spvp"

Staff: Energy & Cleansing "Energy/Escape if brought to spvp"

 

6 - Troll

7 - Quick Zeph

8 - Protect Me "or Stone Signet as an alternative if you're trying to stay tight on a PIN in the midst of very large zerg vs zerg numbers"

9 - Light Reflexes

0 - Entangle

 

Pet 1 - Tiger

Pet 2 - Bristleback

Pets do not matter at all in zerging. Don't attempt to go for sustain pets. Just go for DPS options for 1v1s or 1v2s 1v3s while roaming.

 

Food: Holographic Supercake

Utility: Writ of Masterful Accuracy

 

This build is pretty optimal for general solo roam, small group or zerging. There are different Druid builds that are designed for very organized GvG styled play, but those builds don't operate so hot when disjointed from their numbers protection.

 

~ Enjoy

[L A T I O N.8923]

> @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> The gear is not the problem .. I'm more interested in traits and utility skills other people are using to compare and maybe find something that works better which I didn't think of so far ..

 

Because the big bottleneck in their thinking process >the Brain< wont let Them do that

 

Ban incoming again! Seeya next week 0/

[Strider.7849]

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:

> > @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> > Hi, I was wondering if anyone besides me is actively playing healing druid in WvW small scale 4-5 man groups.

> > If so I would really appreciate if that person would share their build for maybe some kind of inspiration in improving mine.

>

> Wild: top mid mid

> Beast: bot bot bot

> Druid: top top mid

>

> All Gear: Marshal stats / Dolyak Runes / +5 Toughness infusions

> Axe/Axe: Energy & Air "Energy/Courage if brought to spvp"

> Staff: Energy & Cleansing "Energy/Escape if brought to spvp"

>

> 6 - Troll

> 7 - Quick Zeph

> 8 - Protect Me "or Stone Signet as an alternative if you're trying to stay tight on a PIN in the midst of very large zerg vs zerg numbers"

> 9 - Light Reflexes

> 0 - Entangle

>

> Pet 1 - Tiger

> Pet 2 - Bristleback

> Pets do not matter at all in zerging. Don't attempt to go for sustain pets. Just go for DPS options for 1v1s or 1v2s 1v3s while roaming.

>

> Food: Holographic Supercake

> Utility: Writ of Masterful Accuracy

>

> This build is pretty optimal for general solo roam, small group or zerging. There are different Druid builds that are designed for very organized GvG styled play, but those builds don't operate so hot when disjointed from their numbers protection.

>

> ~ Enjoy

 

Not discrediting the build or anything, but is it worth running marshals gear with only a few bleeds from axe and the stack of poison from wilderness survival? There's also entangle in there but I found without duration, in WvW the players can just walk out of it which even when set up with a CC only gets on about 2-3 ticks tops.

 

I've always had a hard time building good condi builds on ranger (for WvW) because of the lack of reliable condi application for the ranger itself. (shortbows requirements, axe's low application, having to run traps which make you vulnerable to CC).

 

Again this is without testing the stat spread (I run the same build, slightly different utilities/weapon sets, and a mix of crusader), which is why I'm trying to determine why you chose marshal and if it's worth it to make the switch from power druid to hybrid given the same build.

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

> @"Strider.7849" said:

> > @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:

> > > @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> > > Hi, I was wondering if anyone besides me is actively playing healing druid in WvW small scale 4-5 man groups.

> > > If so I would really appreciate if that person would share their build for maybe some kind of inspiration in improving mine.

> >

> > Wild: top mid mid

> > Beast: bot bot bot

> > Druid: top top mid

> >

> > All Gear: Marshal stats / Dolyak Runes / +5 Toughness infusions

> > Axe/Axe: Energy & Air "Energy/Courage if brought to spvp"

> > Staff: Energy & Cleansing "Energy/Escape if brought to spvp"

> >

> > 6 - Troll

> > 7 - Quick Zeph

> > 8 - Protect Me "or Stone Signet as an alternative if you're trying to stay tight on a PIN in the midst of very large zerg vs zerg numbers"

> > 9 - Light Reflexes

> > 0 - Entangle

> >

> > Pet 1 - Tiger

> > Pet 2 - Bristleback

> > Pets do not matter at all in zerging. Don't attempt to go for sustain pets. Just go for DPS options for 1v1s or 1v2s 1v3s while roaming.

> >

> > Food: Holographic Supercake

> > Utility: Writ of Masterful Accuracy

> >

> > This build is pretty optimal for general solo roam, small group or zerging. There are different Druid builds that are designed for very organized GvG styled play, but those builds don't operate so hot when disjointed from their numbers protection.

> >

> > ~ Enjoy

>

> Not discrediting the build or anything, but is it worth running marshals gear with only a few bleeds from axe and the stack of poison from wilderness survival? There's also entangle in there but I found without duration, in WvW the players can just walk out of it which even when set up with a CC only gets on about 2-3 ticks tops.

>

> I've always had a hard time building good condi builds on ranger (for WvW) because of the lack of reliable condi application for the ranger itself. (shortbows requirements, axe's low application, having to run traps which make you vulnerable to CC).

>

> Again this is without testing the stat spread (I run the same build, slightly different utilities/weapon sets, and a mix of crusader), which is why I'm trying to determine why you chose marshal and if it's worth it to make the switch from power druid to hybrid given the same build.

 

Unfortunately there is no short way of fully explaining what I wanted to say to answer your question. But I will state "why" you want to use power + condi hybrid on Druid right now, to try and answer your main question directly. Sorry for the length, there is no easy way to explain it:

 

1. Power based Druids either have adequate sustain but bad damage output, or mediocre damage output and only mediocre sustain. There isn't really a sweet spot between offense/defense for Power Druids in this current patching.

2. Condi based Druids either have bad damage and adequate sustain that doesn't work because they lack mobility to make it work, or good damage that is too impractical to land that sacrificed way too much sustain for that damage to be worth it.

3. However, running hybrid power/condi stats can get around this. The only way to get away with it is the use of Axe/Axe and Staff very specifically. The other weapons are not options for this because they are either designed for power play or condi play, not both. Axe/Axe is the only way to hybrid it up. Then the Staff will give you the disengage/reset power that you need to survive. All of your hard damage is going to be coming off of Axe/Axe with good CC play incorporated into pet bursting with Entangle lock downs. When you learn to do it right, this build can land 15k-20k bursts in about 2s of a lock down, while maintaining all of the sustain that the usual power based Druid builds would have. This is in addition to very dangerous long term attrition damage that this build outputs.

4. Why does power + condi hybrid work? Well, first let me explain something that not a lot of people notice. Take a skill like Contemplation Of Purity on Guardian: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Contemplation_of_Purity It is a full bar condi clear and a stun break. If that Guardian were against someone who only had power damage, he can save that skill and only use it when he needs a stun break. If the Guardian were against someone running only condi damage, even if he were stunned, if there isn't currently a big condi burst on him, he doesn't need to use it as a stun breaker because the power damage output is low and no condi burst is on him, so he can save that skill primarily only for cleansing mass amounts of condis. However, if someone comes at him with mid grade power damage and mid grade condi damage on the same build, it isn't so easy to preserve his Contemplation of Purity for just stun breaks or just condi cleanse. In the case of this Druid build, the power damage is dangerous enough that if the Guardian were CC'd, let's say he gets Axe 4 pulled into an Axe 5 spin, if he doesn't use a stun break, he's going to take 7k+ damage. And the constant bleeds & poisons from both the Druid and its Pets, are dangerous enough that he can't ignore those bleeds stacking from 5 to10 to 15 to 20. So this puts a lot of pressure on the cool down cycles of an opponent's skill bar, because they have to use skills like Contemplation of Purity twice as often to avoid bad situations from both the power and condi side of the Druid build. This often leads to the opponent mismanaging the usage of their skills like Contemplation of Purity, because they aren't sure if they should be more concerned with Splitblade/Winter's Bite/Entangle or Axe 5 + power pet bursting. In a nutshell, these hybrid builds like this, may look like there is a lack of damage when you view the stats or even when you test on a golem dummy, but during actual practical application vs. human opponents, these types of builds force players to burn through CDs a lot faster than they normally would against just power based or just condi based builds. So hybrid power + condi builds end up having surprisingly strong kill damage values due to this.

5. How do you land this damage and kill the opponent? The idea is pretty simple. 1) You play the attrition game initially. You approach someone carefully with priority on kiting for survival first, and you pummel them with Axe 1 spam, which grants + might stacks. You land Splitblades which lands both good power and condi stacks. You land Winter's Bite which is more good power + condi stacks. And of course you try to position with light CCs for pets to burst and land their power + condi stacks. PAY ATTENTION to the skills the opponent is using. After you've SEEN that you've baited most of or maybe all of their important CDs "skills like contemplation of purity" you go in for the kill burst that I mentioned, that 15k-20k In about 2-3s. After this stance you've taken with them where you're dancing around kiting and appearing as if you had only mid to low grade attrition damage only and that you are a fat tank and nothing more, you do this: Rush at them - Quick Zephyr - Push your pet F2 burst - Entangle on top of them - Axe 5 - Swap to 2nd pet push its F2 burst = Someone dies in 2s - 3s = GG Marshal stats. And the reason why that burst is so reliable is because of that attrition vs. their CDs that is only really possible with good hybrid power + condi builds to bait CDs a lot faster than normal, to make someone vulnerable for a sudden bunker burst like that.

6. Oh and also, during that recent big nerf patch that effected every class, condi wasn't hit like power coefficients were at all. Those random bleed stacks are dealing significant damage if you actually go in game and take a look at it.

 

Anyway, hope that mostly answered your question. I tried not to type too much there.

 

 

 

 

[Ibiadan.9613]

What I'm wondering here is in what way you are playing this as a healer in a party? All I see here to support your party is a bit of healing power and 1 trait in Druid to increase outgoing healing. My intention is to focus only on supporting through healing, cleanse and cc. Not interested in doing damage.

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

> @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> What I'm wondering here is in what way you are playing this as a healer in a party? All I see here to support your party is a bit of healing power and 1 trait in Druid to increase outgoing healing. My intention is to focus only on supporting through healing, cleanse and cc. Not interested in doing damage.

 

That amount of party support is optimal for a Druid build. If you try to invest anymore into team support healing, you start getting diminished returns for the quality of the output.

 

Druid was supposed to be a hard team support but it didn't end up working out that way for competitive modes, due to some misgivings in its design, as well as too much nerfing. If you want to see quite exactly why it is not a good support competitively, click the link in my signature, which in great detail explains what is wrong with Druid's mechanics and why it does not work well as a support in competitive modes. For literally "every reason" you should be running Firebrand or Tempest if you want a pure team support role.

 

If you insist on a Druid pure support for wvw, this what you're looking at to optimize:

 

Wild:

* top - Child of Earth - Best healing/condi remove with Wilderness Survival.

* bottom - Shared Anguish - This is best seeing as your pet's damage output is sort of irrelevant in large wvw skirmish.

* middle - Wilderness Knowledge - Absolutely mandatory for survival in large skirmish.

 

Nature:

* bottom - Allies Aid - Keep your pet set to retreat and basically make sure it's alive so it can utilize this revive trait.

* bottom - Windborne Notes - An important team buff.

* bottom - Invigorating Bond - Take a tanky pet with a 20s CD or greater F2, so its F2 becomes an additional heal.

 

Druid:

* top - Druid Clarity - Absolutely Mandatory or your build won't perform well in competitive modes.

* top - Celestial Shadow - Absolutely Mandatory or the build just won't perform well.

* top or middle - Here you're choosing between bigger heals for the party/squad or 10 target might buffing. I would highly suggest taking top "Grace of the Land" over middle "Lingering Light". The Grace of the Land buffing might on 10 targets per CA skill used is the most powerful thing you can do for a small to mid skirmish team an definitely for a zerg. That might buffing is the one thing a Druid does better than anything else in the game. But Lingering Light is a viable option if your team already is producing a lot of might stacks for themselves.

 

GEAR:

* Full Minstrel's gear is by far the best option for full support -> https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Minstrel%27s

* Use Superior Runes Of Leadership -> +25% boon duration and the #6 ability makes for a 3 condi clear for your team upon use with only a 45s CD. While using Entangle with Wilderness Survival on a 48s CD, it'll make it so it is actually a 5 condi clear for yourself. Alternatively you could use Superior Runes Of The Monk, which will obviously bolster heal output for your team. Just depends if you want more hard cleansing or more hard healing. Keep in mind that the heal bonus from Monk only effects allies, not yourself. To me, I find that the damage mitigation that comes from 3 clears for your team, is worth higher numbers than the additional heal you get from Monk Runes. But both are certainly viable options.

* Axe/Warhorn - Superior Sigil Of Energy/Superior Sigil Of Momentum "Toughness Stacks". Don't worry about +heal output or +boon duration here. The toughness stacks to add to your personal face tanking sustain factor is going to be a lot more important for staying tight on a pin or being able to do your support role while under heavy pressure. <- This is more true than you may realize for a competitive support based Druid. Oh and also, you want the Axe because the #4 skill is rather long range and you can pull multiple opponents back into your zerg if they try to run.

* Staff - Superior Sigil Of Energy/Superior Sigil of Cleansing - Again, you just want to ensure maximum personal sustain factor where it is optimal to do so. The cleansing sigil is important so that when you need to swap to Staff for a fast disengage with #3, the cleansing removes 3 condis which helps to quickly remove movement impairing effects like immob, so you can escape and not die. I cannot stress enough, that this is much more important than trying to optimize for a bit more conc or heal output to allies. Druid struggles in front lines, you'll need bolstered personal sustain options like this that can allow you to avoid damage before needing to take it.

* +5 heal wvw infusions

 

SKILLS:

* 6 - Troll Unguent

* 7 - Quick Zephyr

* 8 - Signet of Stone

* 9 - Lightning Reflexes

* 0 - Entangle - Don't use Strength of The Pack. If you aren't rolling DPS it's useless outside of the stab buff, which you'll get plenty of from following around Firebrands. Furthermore, the Entangle has the short CD and synergy with Wilderness Survival to provide you more condi cleanse. Entangle is also a very powerful skill in wvw small and large skirmish, for immobing opponents during pushes. Like if you want to run a true Support Druid for small to large skirmish, this is actually a meta expectation of the Druid, running Entangle.

 

Pets:

* Pet 1 - Juvenile Fern Hound -> https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Regenerate_(fern_hound) 1000 heal + regen for team, and that will stack with Invigorating Bond, which will add an additional 2508 heal, for a total 3508 heal for the team upon use of its F2.

* Pet 2 - Jacaranda or Ibolga for more offensive options. Jacaranda's F2 is a ranged ROOT that pulses immob at their feet. And then Ibolga's F2 is a straight up long range pull like a DH F1 spear. Either pet is good for catching players who over extend near your team.

 

Food - Delicious Rice Bell

Utility - Bountiful Maintenance Oil

 

[Infusion.7149]

> @"Fish.2769" said:

> > @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> > Hi, I was wondering if anyone besides me is actively playing healing druid in WvW small scale 4-5 man groups.

> > If so I would really appreciate if that person would share their build for maybe some kind of inspiration in improving mine.

>

> In before someone else says it - play Firebrand.

>

> On a more serious note, fair play.

If it's for smallscale without any stealth plays (from engineer , thief, mesmer) then druid can work but needs to build astral force.

If it's for anything 10+ then you are better off with aegis from firebrand along with battle presence, aura tempest / minstrel scrapper (esp. with boon output from heralds) + no astral force reliance or pets ruining stealth gyro pushes. You have to work harder on druid and if you are CCed or dodging you will have no heal output unlike tempest or firebrand.

Quality of life issues are abound with druid just like with heal renegade (tablet micromanagement).

For group environments the pet really needs to be able to be permanently stowed.

 

edit: surprised bristleback pet wasn't mentioned nor "Protect Me" (it breaks allies out of stun as well)

 

[Ibiadan.9613]

The group I'm mostly running around with consists of 1 core sword/dagger thief, 1 staff daredevil, 1 power mirage shatter, 1 meditrapper dragonhunter, so there are no other supports around. Since that group is almost never stacked a standart heal such as firebrand or scrapper won't work really well since their support is almost exclusively centered around them and they have no real support they can throw on range or a skill like staff 3 to quickly get to a low health ally.

 

My current build looks like this:

 

Full minstrel + monk rune

Axe/warhorn + transference/energy

Staff + transference/energy

 

Wilderness survival: mid mid(since shared anguish has a 300sec cd in wvw) top

Nature magic: mid bot mid

Druid: mid mid mid (thinking about trying out top top mid)

 

6 Glyph of Rejuvenation

7 Glyph of Equality

8 Glyph of Alignment

9 Glyph of Unity

0 Glyph of the Stars

 

Pets I'm swapping around with Fern Hound, Jacaranda, Iboga and Smoke Scale.

 

Support for the group works really well like this, just having problems when I'm getting heavily focussed.

[ArlAlt.1630]

Support Druid and Support Rev seem like the two sides of the same coin, Rev provides more defensive utility on top of burst healing, whereas Druid is more offensive utility on top of burst healing (tho do they still have burst healing?)

[Stand The Wall.6987]

> @"ArlAlt.1630" said:

> Support Druid and Support Rev seem like the two sides of the same coin, Rev provides more defensive utility on top of burst healing, whereas Druid is more offensive utility on top of burst healing (tho do they still have burst healing?)

 

after the nerf I think druid might have better burst heal while rev has better sustained heals. both have good utility.

[Burnfall.9573]

> @"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:

> > @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> > Hi, I was wondering if anyone besides me is actively playing healing druid in WvW small scale 4-5 man groups.

> > If so I would really appreciate if that person would share their build for maybe some kind of inspiration in improving mine.

>

> Wild: top mid mid

> Beast: bot bot bot

> Druid: top top mid

>

> All Gear: Marshal stats / Dolyak Runes / +5 Toughness infusions

> Axe/Axe: Energy & Air "Energy/Courage if brought to spvp"

> Staff: Energy & Cleansing "Energy/Escape if brought to spvp"

>

> 6 - Troll

> 7 - Quick Zeph

> 8 - Protect Me "or Stone Signet as an alternative if you're trying to stay tight on a PIN in the midst of very large zerg vs zerg numbers"

> 9 - Light Reflexes

> 0 - Entangle

>

> Pet 1 - Tiger

> Pet 2 - Bristleback

> Pets do not matter at all in zerging. Don't attempt to go for sustain pets. Just go for DPS options for 1v1s or 1v2s 1v3s while roaming.

>

> Food: Holographic Supercake

> Utility: Writ of Masterful Accuracy

>

> This build is pretty optimal for general solo roam, small group or zerging. There are different Druid builds that are designed for very organized GvG styled play, but those builds don't operate so hot when disjointed from their numbers protection.

>

> ~ Enjoy

 

**+1**

 

Kudos for posting the build in that fashion

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

> @"Ibiadan.9613" said:

> The group I'm mostly running around with consists of 1 core sword/dagger thief, 1 staff daredevil, 1 power mirage shatter, 1 meditrapper dragonhunter, so there are no other supports around. Since that group is almost never stacked a standart heal such as firebrand or scrapper won't work really well since their support is almost exclusively centered around them and they have no real support they can throw on range or a skill like staff 3 to quickly get to a low health ally.

>

> Support for the group works really well like this, just having problems when I'm getting heavily focussed.

 

Yeah see, that group isn't really primed for a support to be following them around to begin with, especially a Druid which has to aim grounded targeted heals & blast finishers on water heals.

 

The best you can do for them is toss them supplemental boons, focus on strong power revives, and be tanky enough to accomplish that while also assisting in actual kill power value. Those guys in your group I'm sure are zipping around too fast to adequately support, and those builds aren't exactly sustain enough to be stacking together to benefit from any burst healing per 20s reliably.

 

Telling you, that 1st build I mentioned would suit your needs better than something designed like the 2nd I mentioned. Full Support builds are more for zerg play or at the least, small groups designed to stack together, such as:

 

* Firebrand

* Tempest

* Scourge

* Scourge

* Reaper

 

^ Now a group like that, you could follow around and adequately support. The group you're in right now is composed more of 1v1 duelist styled builds. If you're the only support in the middle of that, you'll definitely be focused and you won't be getting much done if the personal sustain on your build isn't seriously jacked up due to that focus. And since your numbers are low, it is important that YOU have good damage output and kill power as well. It matters.

 

Also, you should probably do away with the glyph build. Not sure to the extent of which you have tested Druid builds, but you are missing out on A LOT of raw power value in offense/sustain from other utilities that are better in every way.

[Aeolus.3615]

@Ibiadan.9613, just a side note response.

 

if u want to try somethign else but harder to play, u can check herald support on clerics plus dwayna or monk runes (one for regen boost and monk for increase direct outgoing heals).

 

1.1k regen over 5 to 10 player per sec, condi cleanses some come with big heals forstacked players, perma prot fury regen might, dome to avoid range spikes, KB with blaster that cleanses condition and can be somewhat spammed with orbs that increase dodge regen.

Self small gain on barrier as well, if u play ministrel with it can be somewhat strong, note that even if u play ventari jalis ur tema has 50% damage reducer stability while figthing on jalis carpet and heals/condi cleanses from herald shield staff and tablet and herald F2.

 

(its what i play being in small scale or large scale tried it in pvp as well people got mad cause need to put effort to kill others but pressure on u will put u on danger).

It isnt like a spammer suport build like most builds work in this game.

its a well round balanced way to play, u cant do that all at the same time due high energy managemt but if u choose wich boon to give or wich legend to use will give a good suport.