Seraph's or Marshal's Druid?

[Nimrud.5642]

Do these stat combinations fit in well for a full condi (viper) druid to toss in some extra healing? How come only Minstrel and Magi made it to the meta? Well ok... Marshal (and for that sake Harrier) was only introduced recently, but Seraph? Seraph seems quite nice to me. Anyways, whats your opinion guys?

[Zenith.7301]

No. Hybrids usually suck at both jobs.

 

You either go full magi to maximize your healing or viper for the dedicated damage and incidental healing. Minstrel is only relevant for the boon duration for regen builds, but it's disliked anyways because it forces chrono to regear to match your toughness.

[Cyninja.2954]

If you are running minstrel druid, you are forcing your mesmer to run minstrel(or commander) as well on bosses that have a thoughness mechanic. Combine that with the fact that mesmer will be running SoC and will likely beat your druid on boon duration, your regen will get overwriten by your mesmer making minstrel not a strong pick for druid.

 

Magi is used for maximised healing throughput without affecting your tank.

 

Viper is used for for those fights where only 1 dedicated healing druid is needed.

 

Harrier is a new stat combo with PoF. Works quite well on druid but again, the concentration is wasted for regen with mesmers running 100% boon duration setups.

 

Marshal is straight up just worse than going full heal or full damage because it's a 3 way hybrid (power, condi and healing).

 

EDIT: none of the stat combos are per se bad, they just all come with drawbacks.

[savacli.8172]

Seraph's

 

* **Precision:** Not too bad, and you get bleed procs if you take Sharpened Edges. But without a boost in power stat (or ferocity secondarily) your critical strikes won't get much mileage.

* **Condition Damage:** Pretty self explanatory, and you want as much of this as possible for condition damage, but without condition duration the damage is short-lived

* Healing Power: Unnecessary in a majority of fights.

* Concentration: great if you run spirits with Nature's Vengence's, but a condi druid will generally want to take Wilderness over Nature for better damage.

 

Marshall

 

* **Power:** Never a bad stat to take, but Ranger's have bad power scaling to begin with so you get limited mileage here. Requires Precision and Ferocity to Maximize this stat

* **Condition Damage:** Pretty self explanatory, and you want as much of this as possible for condition damage, but without condition duration the damage is short-lived

* Healing Power: Unnecessary in a majority of fights.

* Precision: Not too bad, and you get bleed procs if you take Sharpened Edges. But without a boost in power stat (or ferocity secondarily) your critical strikes won't get much mileage.

 

The problem ultimately being that your stats aren't focused which, as a result, means that your druid wouldn't excel in anything.

 

The reason Magi is so popular is because you get a ton of healing power and vitality for the fights that are high-pressured. On top of that Magi has no toughness which makes it easier for your tank to gear up. Minstrel is great for running spirits or a regen build, but you run into tanking issues in those encounters that make use of that mechanic.

 

Personally, I use Harrier as you get Healing Power and Concentration, but rather than having Vitality or toughness you get Power instead as a primary stat. Not that that power will make too terrible a difference, but I'd rather not waste it on a stat I won't use.

 

And with Vipers? Well, that has nothing to do with healing; you just take a Condi druid for buffs. the fact that a condi druid can dish out some respectable damage is icing on the cake.

[ZerotheFang.5890]

full magi/cleric seems to have the highest base heal, minstrel 2nd but because i think ranger healing is more regen i would go with that from a select-a-stat box or something. i seen some build use like 1-2 cleric but i think full magi is better for healing. as condi seems viper is better i usually run with some trailblazer accessory is i just roaming if i feel i am too squishy. just remember its not the duration its how much the duration on the condi you are doing is what needs to be maxed so if a trait gives 20 only need 80% max on gear and food, less if have right runes and sigils.

[savacli.8172]

Magi/Cleric

 

* 1657 Healing Power

* +61.2% Outgoing Healing

* +31% Boon Duration

 

Minstrel

 

* 1447 Healing Power

* +64.8% Outgoing Healing

* +73.2% Boon Duration

 

Harrier

 

* 1454 Healing Power

* +68% Outgoing Healing

* +95% Boon Duration

 

Magi and Cleric gets you the most raw healing while Harrier gets you the best boon duration. Minstrel is a good middle ground, but you run into aggro issues; Cleric also runs into aggro issues. I didn't run the number on Seraph nor Marshall but, long story short there, they lack the outgoing healing mods to be effective healers and lack the necessary condition duration to do competitive damage. Thus, you can only be half good at healing or half good at condi damage.