Beating Spellbreakers on Point in sPvP as Druid [Serious Tag]

[Puunji.3109]

**This thread is not about whether you think Druids, SBs, (insert XXX spec), is overpowered and I am not claiming to be someone who is extremely talented at this game; I am simply looking for information. Please, do not post inflammatory responses in this thread. If you don't have anything constructive to contribute, please refrain from posting (I'm asking nicely out of respect for the community). I will also be posting this in the PvP section for increased visibility.**

 

**Question (sort of):** I haven't played in a couple of days but the last time I logged in I was 1600+ and ranked in the top 100. I, however, am having issues beating Spellbreakers on point. I know that I could always just rotate off but I was wondering if there was any way that other know of for beating good Spellbreaker players while not completely leaving the point. I included my league and rank so you could have a better idea of what I would consider good.

 

**A bit more background:** I currently play Staff + Longbow with what most people would consider to be the current meta of Druid talents/amulet/runes (minor variations at times) and run Lightning Reflex, Renewal, and Stone for my abilities with Bristleback/Smokescale as pets. I would like to keep this as my primary set up since I find it fun and it gives me decent killing power against non-bunkers but would be open to changing things if I notice a matchup that is SB heavy or lacks soft targets. I have tried Sword Warhorn but not GS and also tried using Lightning Wyvern for the knockdowns it provides in place of Bristleback (neither worked very well). Additionally, I tried to switch out Nature Magic for Marksmanship to see if Call of the Wild in T1 would give me a bit more killing power to get through blocks on pet swap w/o having to bring a warhorn but I didn't feel like it made the matchup any better (It didn't affect my survivability as much as I though it would though since regen and protection get corrupted pretty frequently anyway).

 

**TLDR: How do I beat Spellbreakers on point as a Druid?**

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance provided.

[Fluffball.8307]

Got to get in an opposite weapon swap routine so when they have shield up you have staff up and when they have whatever else up you've got LB up.

 

I know a lot of people hate on staff 2, but it's kind of the equivalent of putting heal sig on yourself, so I use it on recharge. Can't be stripped, either.

 

Just get happy if you wear them down and they don't force you off the point. If they own the point, it's _absolutely_ not worth it unless you can get a quick KB and immob, or use your pets to blast them off long enough for a neut.

 

Ideally you just need to last long enough for a thief or something to show up, but always be prepared to bail. That's a tough, tough fight.

 

Edit: You have like 100 MMR points on me, but I rarely play PvP and play a lot of WvW. If I see a SB I usually don't even bother.

 

Edit 2: I had to come back to this because I feel my post sounds not helpful. Basically what I am suggesting is "_don't fuck up_". A druid, especially a staff druid is best at wasting the other teams time. You've got a few tools to keep a warrior off point, and if you can 1v1 with it neuted, that's a win in my book. If you can 1v2, that's the ideal scenario and hold onto CA as much as possible for when it's time to fake run and then go back to the point. Yesterday I spent literally the entire match on far wasting the other team's time, including a scourge and SB. Just running circles and keeping the point neuted. I hope that's not the case in legendary, but that's kind of what you're aiming for.

[kiritsugu emeya.3962]

vs good spellbreakers, u cant, end of story, however u can tie with them on a decapped point.

[shadowpass.4236]

**Beating a Spellbreaker is about applying enough pressure constantly to outdamage their passive healing while pretty much completely avoiding all of their attacks (to the best of your ability).**

 

* In order to lower the threshold of dps you have to apply, putting permanent poison on them from Refined Toxins is extremely important. With this, for example, it would make a 1000 dps threshold only 667.

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**A Spellbreaker has more than enough damage and cc to completely 100-0 you if you mess up or get hit by a cc. In order to prevent this, you're going to need: a lot of evasion, super speed, cc, and boon removal.**

 

* When a Spellbreaker is in Dagger/Shield, you want to be kiting extremely hard to stay out of range of their autoattacks while dodging or super speeding away from Aura Slicer, Disrupting Stab, Shield Bash, and Breaching Strike.

 

* When a Spellbreaker is in Greatsword, dodge the Whirlwind Attack and Arcing Slice.

 

* The entire duration of the fight, pay extreme attention towards Full Counter. When a Spellbreaker activates it, stow your weapon and call your pet back insantly to avoid proccing it. Only resume attacking when Full Counter wears off.

 

* Do not spam your autoattacks when a Spellbreaker is using Shield Stance. It gives the Spellbreaker 1 stack of Might for every attack blocked. You're basically giving them extra damage.

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**I use this build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAT8YjUqQLLWyC+rAXLWmEM4faRdp2EAecTgngQt6jVi0PD-jZxHAByXGw/HAgP7PAwFB47jAAA**

 

* I do not like Nature Magic as many of my attack rotations over the years have gotten used to the timing and feel of Beastmastery's cooldown reductions for your pet. The build I linked has adequate condition clear for the majority of Meta builds while dealing increased damage from a higher uptime of Quickness and through your pet. Nature Magic's damage comes through the form of boons, both on yourself and your pet, to gain the benefit of Fortifying Bond. However, with so much boon hate in the current meta, I feel like Beastmastery offers a lot of damage without the risks of corruption/boon strip.

 

* This build also has a lot more Super Speed and Evasion compared to its Nature Magic counterpart, making it a lot easier to avoid a Spellbreaker's attacks.

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**I would recommend checking this thread out:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Questions-Ask-here**

 

I made this in the hopes of passing on a lot of my knowledge to anyone who wanted to improve and learn more. There is a lot of good information there in regards to playing Ranger in general. If you're interested, I'd definitely recommend taking a look.

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If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

Best of luck!

[jcbroe.4329]

You'd have to be able to do enough damage to them while denying their ability to proc adrenal health to actually kill them.

 

The likelihood of being able to simultaneously do both things is so incredibly low, since GS and Full Counter are both AoE that can be proc'd off the pet and if they're really smart the Spellbreaker can even use their Dagger F1 on the pet, which can't dodge it, that it isn't even worth the mental effort in an even skill fight to try to push the kill.

 

Now, if you're just looking to stall, that's entirely different. With the staff sw/wh you can F3 your pet and then dodge big skills and heal any damage taken almost indefinitely. Just play 100% passive. Don't autoattack at all, use staff 2 sparingly, and focus on avoiding damage and healing.

 

On a LB sw/wh setup you can do this as well, you just have to be even more careful since you're relying on less tools to do the same job, which can make you susceptible to being CC'd and killed if you don't execute perfectly, or at least better than whoever you're against.

 

At best, you're going to end up on a neutralized point stalling, at worst, all you'll do is buy some time before you can leave. But beating a Spellbreaker, and more importantly, beating a Spellbreaker in a reasonable timeframe, that's a fantasy and if you do manage it, you've entirely outskilled and outplayed them and you shouldn't expect it to go that way with other Spellbreakers you come across (aka it's an exception/outlier).

[Prophet.1584]

I agree with @"jcbroe.4329" and @"Fluffball.8307" , it's less about winning the 1v1 and more about stalling til you get a +1. Unfortunately in Gold/SIlver players just don't rotate to a contested point often enough. I usually play lb+sw/wh but i've been thinking of switching up to staff+sw/wh.

[Fluffball.8307]

> @"Prophet.1584" said:

> I agree with @"jcbroe.4329" and @"Fluffball.8307" , it's less about winning the 1v1 and more about stalling til you get a +1. Unfortunately in Gold/SIlver players just don't rotate to a contested point often enough. I usually play lb+sw/wh but i've been thinking of switching up to staff+sw/wh.

 

A little off topic, but it's good to give your thief or equivalent reason to help you. If you (not you specifically) go far and die, no one is going to have any confidence in you and will need to compensate at the other points anyway. If you go and keep the point neuted until mid and home are secure, thief is absolutely going to come spike things for you, and for the rest of the game he'll be your muscle since he knows you'll be alive when he gets there.

[EnderzShadow.2506]

> @"jcbroe.4329" said:

> Beating a Spellbreaker, and more importantly, beating a Spellbreaker in a reasonable timeframe, that's a fantasy.

 

qft