- Natural Mender will be useless to you but theres nothing you can do about that
- Glyph of Rejuvination is terrible compared to even untraited Troll Ungeunt, especially if you aren’t focusing on healing other people
Yeah, you are correct. The heal choice was left over from when I was eyeing the Glyph cooldown trait. Will fix in original post. I’m suspicious Natural Mender could be used in conjunction with our regens or proc off of Natural Healing as long as it’s the pet that gets a heal. Troll Ungent might be very good with Natural Mender…
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
Hey Nike, thanks for hearing me out on Axe/Dagger combo it helps out in Condi specs don’t get me wrong sword is great too but it mostly gap closer or poison which there is one on dagger anyway.
It’ll be interesting to get off the whiteboard and into the jungle to find out if you can solidly maintain range with that much CC (and SBs’ extra escape on #3). In which case being able to swap between two 900 range sets makes perfect sense.
I think the Sigil of Corruption will work better on the axe as its ricochet seems more likely to pick up random kills and build condi-damage stacks. With the sigil of Incapacitation more useful on the bow earlier in the engagement procing extra cripples. Just remember to swap early and often for the benefits from the Skirmish line minor traits .
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
I can see how Doom sigil for some poison might give some depth of conditions.
I am itching to pop the Entangle+Ravens/Glyph/5xAncient Seed after Zerg diving under Signet of Stone. Having skill order matter is one of the things I most complained about in the Ranger CDI and finally the order you cast in MATTERS.
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
Change Mad Kings Runes with Krait runes. you get so much more Bleeding/Poison/Torment on Elite + more Condi instead of Power
It’s an good option, but I’m hesitant. I feel the power/condition damage swap is mostly a wash due to the hybrid nature of both the SB and Axe. Its 45% bleeding duration on Krait (plus bleed on being hit proc) vs 40% on Mad King with 5% to all other condis which feeds the cripple/immobilize slightly.
It’s not well documented, but I feel like the Mad King on-Elite ravens have a much higher range than the Krait on-Elite proc.
If you do go Krait, I’d swap the stacking condi-damage sigil for a stacking power sigil, again to ensure your direct damage for bow and axe remains a tangible threat.
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
Its almost like a Cripshot but with less Poison, the CC makes up for it though. Could put a Doom Sigil on the dagger for Crippling Talon.
Nice one! Need to try this NOW! I’d go with Rabid weapons, Sinister Armor and Celestial Trinkets for the gear, I like those stats for SB S/D so they should work great with this.
I have to recommend the giver’s weapons over rabid. I think the stat point loss will be worth it for the extra duration on all conditions.
And prickly pear pie… +40% condition duration and lifesteal on crit? May I? May I really?
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
Change Mad Kings Runes with Krait runes. you get so much more Bleeding/Poison/Torment on Elite + more Condi instead of Power
It’s an good option, but I’m hesitant. I feel the power/condition damage swap is mostly a wash due to the hybrid nature of both the SB and Axe. Its 45% bleeding duration on Krait (plus bleed on being hit proc) vs 40% on Mad King with 5% to all other condis which feeds the cripple/immobilize slightly.
It’s not well documented, but I feel like the Mad King on-Elite ravens have a much higher range than the Krait on-Elite proc.
If you do go Krait, I’d swap the stacking condi-damage sigil for a stacking power sigil, again to ensure your direct damage for bow and axe remains a tangible threat.
Ooooh nice, I have been theory crafting Ancient Seed builds since Irenio introduced the traits, I was going for a similar but less selfish build (same marksman traits but BM and GS/staff instead of Skirm and SB/axe/dagger, glyph of tides rather than alignment) but this seems so fun!
Natural mender could still see use when you transform, too.
Indeed. Some people keep talking like the druid can ONLY be played as a healer. They will weep when they meet a Remorseless Druid or Mad Seeder. Druids are all about life, and a big part of life is ending it!
With that set-up I’d definitely got Krait. The poison will give you more depth of condition, but you are losing some direct damage. Moment of Clarity is really powerful with the SB #5 Concussion shot and should doubly benefit Glyph of Equality. Chaining up a big hit to use after getting your attack of opportunity should be lively (e.g. Glyph of Equality or Concussion Shot to stun/interrupt & set AoO, Glyph of Alignment to spend it)
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
With that set-up I’d definitely got Krait. The poison will give you more depth of condition, but you are losing some direct damage. Moment of Clarity is really powerful with the SB #5 Concussion shot and should doubly benefit Glyph of Equality. Chaining up a big hit to use after getting your attack of opportunity should be lively (e.g. Glyph of Equality or Concussion Shot to stun/interrupt & set AoO, Glyph of Alignment to spend it)
Man!!!! its kitten hard to give up on Wilderness Survival for Marksmanship for Condi build…. argh anyone have advice for me?
Update: I take that back Markmanship is useless in my build since Moment of Clarity only adds +1 sec of daze/stun duration which is nothing in PvE since mine is open world build not WvW.
Already have kittenous regent/Condi build for soloing, seems as though a couple trait changes and swapping to staff will make it viable for organized large group play.
The Skirmish/Wilderness/Druid mix is gonna give you bunker-y-ness so Settlers makes sense… but losing moment of clarity is really gonna cut into your window to trigger ancient seeds. It’s condi-bunker is a different playstyle with more active defenses than the Marksman/Skirmish/Druid whose survival is going to depend more on hard/soft CC.
I play condi-bunker on Thief and love it, but at least for BWE3 I’ll be trying out the more aggressive, trollish CC set-up.
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
The Skirmish/Wilderness/Druid mix is gonna give you bunker-y-ness so Settlers makes sense… but losing moment of clarity is really gonna cut into your window to trigger ancient seeds. It’s condi-bunker is a different playstyle with more active defenses than the Marksman/Skirmish/Druid whose survival is going to depend more on hard/soft CC.
I play condi-bunker on Thief and love it, but at least for BWE3 I’ll be trying out the more aggressive, trollish CC set-up.
what you talking about? :^) who needs Moment of Clarity
i’d also like to have a druid build that uses a greatsword but so far i cant come up with one, i always come back to conditions with this one…
I like your set up, thinking if wilderness survival could be an interesting alternative to marksmanship
most power stuff don’t go well with druid since it doesn’t provide boon applications and damage modifiers. Thats why CC/Condi builds work best with druid
Greatsword+Staff would be great I think. It’s one of the few builds that can make the Primal Echoes trait (daze on staff swap) work reliably and therefore also the Ancient Seeds trait (immobilize). Notice how the build posted doesn’t use this trait, but a greatsword/sword+staff build could. Traited staff can daze every 10 seconds, but shortbow can only daze every 25 seconds.
Some might say you have to go condi because the Ancient Seeds trait has bleeding, but its real power is the immobilize. Hilt Bash can also trigger it, so not only on staff swap. You should probably go with Marksmanship for the +100% daze and +50% damage on interrupt. Also, Maul will be much easier to land on an immobilized target.
All Glyps also only have 300 range so perfectly suited for melee weapons like Greatsword. Glyph of the Tides (knockback+ power damage) and Glyph of Alignment (cripple+weakness+power damage) could be great. Let’s also not forget Glyph of Unity (retaliation). Glyph of Equality (daze+power damage) will do a 4s daze traited, but the cooldown may be too long. You can also make all these Glyphs remove 2 conditions on use, but you’d need to get your movement speed from elsewhere. Glyphs also have a low cooldown so they can be used often. Don’t forget Glyphs deal damage.
I think you should be able to come up with a Greatsword build that works.
I didn’t say it wouldn’t be fun, because that’s too subjective.
Effective, however, as opposed to what? I wouldn’t bring it in my high level fractals…. because damage needs to be front-loaded. Sure, pugs it probably wouldn’t be too bad though.
Are you saying you’d bring every other build to fractals? I’m not getting the level of expectation here. Every build is more or less good in the different environments. There are several environments where Druid is going to offer new (and I hope highly successful) approaches that have nothing to do with being a dedicated healer.
That’s a good thing. Because a lot of people are watching the video rather than reading the actually abilities and feeling like druid is a one-trick pony.
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
Nike, this build, as well as the others discussed within the thread, has given me a good sense of the non-group-healing-focused possibilities for the druid.
Thank you for putting the time and effort into configuring such builds. It is reassuring to see that there are several options for OWPvE solo players to use druid in an enjoyable and effective manner.
I will certainly continue keeping an eye on this and other druid build threads.
Greatsword+Staff would be great I think. It’s one of the few builds that can make the Primal Echoes trait (daze on staff swap) work reliably and therefore also the Ancient Seeds trait (immobilize). Notice how the build posted doesn’t use this trait, but a greatsword/sword+staff build could. Traited staff can daze every 10 seconds, but shortbow can only daze every 25 seconds.
Some might say you have to go condi because the Ancient Seeds trait has bleeding, but its real power is the immobilize. Hilt Bash can also trigger it, so not only on staff swap. You should probably go with Marksmanship for the +100% daze and +50% damage on interrupt. Also, Maul will be much easier to land on an immobilized target.
All Glyps also only have 300 range so perfectly suited for melee weapons like Greatsword. Glyph of the Tides (knockback+ power damage) and Glyph of Alignment (cripple+weakness+power damage) could be great. Let’s also not forget Glyph of Unity (retaliation). Glyph of Equality (daze+power damage) will do a 4s daze traited, but the cooldown may be too long. You can also make all these Glyphs remove 2 conditions on use, but you’d need to get your movement speed from elsewhere. Glyphs also have a low cooldown so they can be used often. Don’t forget Glyphs deal damage.
I think you should be able to come up with a Greatsword build that works.
Been working on it and you are correct, a GS/Staff build will be very possible. The only thing I’m wrestling with atm is, Range vs Melee. Staff seems to be designed to function better with some range, you’re a support so it kind of makes more sense to hang back with maybe a bow. Personally I am not a fan of either LB or SB but for staff to be used to its full potential I think giving yourself some range might be better.
With that said, I’m still working on a GS build, once the build editors are updated it will be a bit easier.
@ Nike
I would like to see how your build plays out but how are you going to deal without having a stun breaker and little condi removal?
It’s a notable weakness but I’m hopping the multitude of cripples and the several options for long stuns and immobilizes give us maybe the first ranged build that can actually maintain range, limiting most professions opportunities to apply those conditions. Core Necro will still be a lively match up. Axe and piercing Shortbow both give you pretty good tools against condi-mesmer.
Ands while the Mad-Seed does go in on a very offensive footing you still have that ALL-CLEAR on punching f5 (Avatar State )and can hopefully keep that in reserve for a mix of condi-clear and a quick reset on your health before dropping it early to get back to attacking and building the next celestial transformation.
“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.
Oh, I took the time and read dulfy quite a few times on the Druid reveal…
And no, I wouldn’t bring any Ranger or Druid build into Fractals… or dungeons. Raids? Only if it’s required.
well then that’s your problem then not druids which is fine
Oh, it’s not my problem, bruh. Don’t don’t get mad at me when you get insta-kicked from Fractals because you have a staff or short bow equipped. It’s burning that’s where the condi DPS is at, not bleeds.
Oh, I took the time and read dulfy quite a few times on the Druid reveal…
And no, I wouldn’t bring any Ranger or Druid build into Fractals… or dungeons. Raids? Only if it’s required.
well then that’s your problem then not druids which is fine
Oh, it’s not my problem, bruh. Don’t don’t get mad at me when you get insta-kicked from Fractals because you have a staff or short bow equipped. It’s burning that’s where the condi DPS is at, not bleeds.
This is not made for fractals and even if it did I’m only doing it with guildies not kittens like you who kick people.
Oh, I took the time and read dulfy quite a few times on the Druid reveal…
And no, I wouldn’t bring any Ranger or Druid build into Fractals… or dungeons. Raids? Only if it’s required.
well then that’s your problem then not druids which is fine
Oh, it’s not my problem, bruh. Don’t don’t get mad at me when you get insta-kicked from Fractals because you have a staff or short bow equipped. It’s burning that’s where the condi DPS is at, not bleeds.
This is not made for fractals and even if it did I’m only doing it with guildies not kittens like you who kick people.
This is not made for a kitten thing in PvE (maybe raids)
so you prefer to make your guildies suffer because you decided to “have fun” with some of the worst DPS weapons in the entire game? Glad I’m not your guildmate
)
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