Starting raiding as a druid?

[leandrolimarm.1542]

I've always enjoyed playing support in other games, but I've never played raids or fractals.

Some guild friends told me that it would not be good to start raiding the druid because there would be a lot of mechanics the druid does that I could not do, and that somehow discouraged me from trying to raid, but you would like opinions, Is this a good idea, or were my friends right and should I try to go with a DPS?

[phs.6089]

start with dps, to learn the mech, druid isn't hard, more of responsible. Well as any other healing class in any other game. Power/Condi Soulbeast are strong dps for now.

[zombyturtle.5980]

nothing wrong with starting with druid. Just expect to have to spend more time training on bosses before you get the kill. it could take up to 2x longer while you learn unique mechanics than if you started as dps. This might frustrate some less patient or understanding members of your team.

 

The positive is you wont be 'carried' through mechanics and will learn much more than if you stuck to dps, as well as basically guaranteeing yourself a spot in pug raids in the future as everyone wants supports in their team, but few people want to play them.

[Talindra.4958]

I would suggest starting druid in T4 fractal first.

 

to start raid, if you are talking about w1 to 4, I would say, start BS. there is no specific role you need to learn for that profession in those wings.

[Hex.2579]

 

i agree with @"Talindra.4958" , start with a bannerslave, it's more of an outcast kinda role but every squad needs one. so it's easier to join in and fill it up as long as you bring banners and specific traits that buff them, everyone is happy.

i wouldn't recommend playing druid as a starter for raids. since druids don't particularly have a rotation. like after you press this, what's next, and what else has left to press? i used to run druid exclusively for raids and gosh it's actually hard. there are a lot of mechanics druids have to do, if you fail it, the group won't be happy.

since you'd have to know mechanics pretty well in order to predict when the big attacks happen and you should drop big heals, or when to do what. it's a lot of work to keep everyone above 90% health. start with dps, or bs is good, better on a bs since you'll have more time to observe mechanics rather than be too focused on pumping out big numbers on your dps.

if you want to play support, try fractals first, lower tiers for starting out. then go to higher ones when you're comfy with what you know.

[Henry.5713]

Depends on the groups you are going to roll with. Nothing speaks against starting as a Druid if we are talking about training runs or beginner raids. Everyone is going to be new and everyone will most certainly mess up a lot but you will also be able to learn far quicker having been given certain responsibilities from the start.

It's of course a different story if you intend to jump into experienced groups for some reason as those would indeed expect you to perform at their level. Something which usually doesn't make anyone involved too happy.

[Ryan.9387]

Nothing is hard with druid for w1-w4. Watch kill videos for the raid boss from the druid pov and you'll pick up on what you are supposed to do.

 

Druid does mechanics but doesn't care about its dps so it kind of evens out.

[yLoon.5289]

Yes, you should.

Druid is the cheapest to gear up, full exotic is fine as the coefficient Healing Power is low.

And easier to get into a party.

But you got to learn the mechanics from dulfy, youtube or whatever source xD There are plenty of guides nowadays.

[Clyan.1593]

Hey there OP

 

I started raiding with Druid, and it indeed comes with a few special responsibilities. Here's a list (might not be complete).

 

Vale Guardian - healing, cc and pushing / rooting seeker orbs

Gorseval - healing, cc and rooting ghosts

Sabetha - healing, cc and kiting the napalm strike

 

Slothasor - healing, cc and pulling slublings (chronos can do that aswell)

Trio - healing, cc if needed

Matthias - healing, cleansing conditions, cc and blocking "shards of rage"

 

Escort - healing, rooting dogs, escorting glenna

Keep Construct - healing, cc, pushing the ball

Xera - healing, cc, standing on buttons and pushing balls

 

Cairn - healing, blocking crystals, taking shared agony

Mursaat - healing, commanding your pet to attack pawns, (i usually take protec, but I think this is not necessarily for druid)

Samarog - healing, cc, rooting human

Deimos - healing, cc, kiting blacks

 

These are W1-W4.

It might be a bit overwhelming at the start, but honestly I didn't care and learned most of it quite fast.

For W5-W6 I cannot help much since I haven't done them yet.

[Yasi.9065]

> @"leandrolimarm.1542" said:

> I've always enjoyed playing support in other games, but I've never played raids or fractals.

> Some guild friends told me that it would not be good to start raiding the druid because there would be a lot of mechanics the druid does that I could not do, and that somehow discouraged me from trying to raid, but you would like opinions, Is this a good idea, or were my friends right and should I try to go with a DPS?

 

If you want to start raiding on druid, make sure to always have a second healer in your squad to cover for any mistakes. A non-druid preferably, so you can focus on mechanics and might. Also watch raid guide videos (newest ones are the ones put up on youtube by mightyteapot) and dont forget to shatter your spirits when moving out of range of them.

 

When gearing your druid, you should aim for around 80% boon duration and 1k healing power. Exotic is fine. Monk runes are best in slot, but water runes work as well. Water sigil isnt set in stone, you can also bring a concentration sigil, but then you have to camp on staff more to fill up your avatar.

 

Have fun, druid in current meta is tons of fun... as long as you get to be the only one in your squad :)

 

/edit:

Be open about not having done a mechanic before (like pushing orbs on kc, golems on sh etc., you will see the special jobs in guide videos) but always offer to do them so you get training. At least on EU lfg squads are usually quite lenient with you, as long as you arent trying to hide anything or duck responsibilties. Well, not on mondays, but the rest of the week ;)

[zoomborg.9462]

> @"leandrolimarm.1542" said:

> I've always enjoyed playing support in other games, but I've never played raids or fractals.

> Some guild friends told me that it would not be good to start raiding the druid because there would be a lot of mechanics the druid does that I could not do, and that somehow discouraged me from trying to raid, but you would like opinions, Is this a good idea, or were my friends right and should I try to go with a DPS?

 

Starting with support classes is always rough. U have to give boons/healing + being responsible for specific mechanics. The upside is a support role will always be more welcomed and needed in groups than dps. You will also (whether u want to or not) learn the fights inside out and at that point u will be able to stroll through the content.

Playing dps is easier cause your role is basically avoid taking a lot of dmg/dying and do rotation.

 

But in a sense u never learn how to play support unless u play support even if u played raids as dps for a long time. It's a completely different playstyle. But once u mastered support, playing dps will be a walk in the park. The reverse however is not true.

 

 

[Deadvillager.1956]

Another one who started raiding as druid. As long as you dont play solo heal, you are definitely fine starting off as druid. A mediocre druid barely does anything else as staff camping until celestial avatar is ready and occasionally put new spirits up. Druids/heals tend to get some mechanics forced onto them by now but most of the time your only job is to spam heals and spirits without dying. This actually gives you the breathing room to understand what happens during the encounter IMO. You can then slowly start to look out for what the other (hopefully more experienced) healer is doing and try to help him out.

[Tzarakiel.7490]

When you play a heal support you have to carry more than your own weight. You have to cover for everyone else's mistakes and if you die the everyone else usually dies too. I'm not saying you should not play healers, but you have to practice a while before doing any of the more high level content. If you don't know how to properly buff and heal enough players at the same time, while keeping yourself alive and paying attention to mechanics, then you're not going to be very helpful. So practice with groups of players to learn what works before going into t4 fractals and raids.