Guild Wars 2

Hello Rangers and Druids! I have finished gearing my condi ranger for T4s but I have some questions. My questions result from the fact that I have to pug (and please keep this in mind while answering) T4 almost always, and are mostly build related.

So, my first question: is taking Druid for condi worth it in fractals? I can theoretically increase group dps with Grace of the Land, but how has been your experiences in pugs with buffing? Also, is taking Nature Magic worth it in pugs? Stone Spirit seems to give a lot of Protection on range when traited but is it really that necessary? If I wanted to take Druid or Nature Magic, what traitline do you think I should drop for them? Lastly, if I have Druid should I chase around allies and heal them or heal only those near me?

My advice is depend on what is the greatest need in group, if ur group need support ( eg, heal, need more cc, or more protection) , u need to keep an eye on these situation while dealing damage(as a druid , of cause ); but if all members are experienced , u can just be a dps member.

Been really getting into ranger/druid recently and have 3 sets of fotm/raid gear for my Ranger/Druid: Berserker, Zealot and Viper. I swap between them depending on what I feel like that day, the team and the daily fractals themselves. Drop beastmaster from the condi ranger for a condi druid. Never found nature magic worth it outside of healing for raid runs (or PvP) and still requires druid first.

In t4 fotm, Druid is worth it for the traited glyphs alone. They are aoe blinds, heals, condi clears and 1 is an aoe stun. For trash mobs they are amazing utility before factoring in any group buffs they also provide. Especially with the instabilities like poison trails and random conditions, it’s super important to hold enemies still to prevent the poison trails, keep enemies grouped for easier cleave, prevent allies from taking damage to begin with (blind and CC) and clearing the painful conditions the instabilities can apply (condi clear).

The buffs are nice but if you are chasing ppl down to buff them, it’s not worth because they aren’t worth the buffs, you are wasting too much of your time, the mobs are now moving a lot more and CA1/2 are too small of an AOE to heal moving targets. The only CA heals that are really worth it are 3/4. CA-3 is the only one I use to ranged heal then they are out of luck if they don’t stay near me.

When I get teammates that don’t dodge and love to kite, I actually swap to ancient seeds regardless of which gear I currently have equipped. (CA5 and entangle can further help here.) My teammates won’t be getting gotl stacks from glyphs and CA4 anyways so I might as well hold enemies still. Gotl is still better for bosses with breakbars. Spotter, glyph of empowerment and spirits have a large enough radius that they are still worth it even if your teammates move too much.

I like condi druid in fotm but I tend to prefer power druid. That’s not the say viper druid is bad or low support but I find power to be even better support although slightly less damage. Off-hand axe is a really nice pull. Combined with longbow 4, when used correctly, you can really control trash mob placement. Furthermore, I can swap longbow to staff to gain healing, and more projectile defense. Make sure to quick draw axe 5 and staff 5 for max projectile defense. Technically a condi druid can do this too but staff and off-hand axe don’t do condi damage. If you have a guardian, condi druid is better but power druid can sub in for a guard.

I’ve just been using the full Viper’s gear build and doing great. I pug T4 with my boyfriend always. Your main goal is to keep Grace of the Land up as much as possible. You also need to pay attention to the group and know when people are low health. Even as DPS, Druids can full heal a group still.

My overall experience as Druid is that I stay alive great, and keep my party healed, and buff their damage as much as I can. I usually blaze through T4 Dailies.

The above post has great info. I’m mainly just stating my experience with Druid. It’s my favorite Profession in game, and everyone loves them!

Thanks for the responses. I tried for condi ranger for the first time in fractal last night, and of course my friend chose the ones with afflicted and toxic trail to troll. Although I died a lot (even SB #3 myself off a cliff) I had a lot of fun. However, I realized that I simply can’t do much to contribute the party aside from dps and that bothered me. So I think I will get Druid next time.

Personally I prefer a power druid for pugging fotm t4. The sword/axe + staff tie in nicely with both full zerker or zerker/zealot gear. That said, I absolutely love playing condi ranger/druid. The amount of damage you can drop in an instant is phenomenal and the rotations are usually quite easy.

The traits I run as a condi druid are skirmishing(3,1,1), wilderness survival(2/3,1,2/3) take 2 if you need more survivability or 3 for more dps, and druid(2/3,2,1) 2 for party support or 3 for a very nice aoe stun. I use axe/torch and staff for my weapons and healing spring, GoEquality, GoEmpowerment, frost spirit or sun spirit if a majority of the party is power or condi based respectively , then Entangle. With the right rotation you can upkeep 2/3 GotLm you provide massive support from your glyphs and your heal skill, and you can still lay down a fair amount of damage.

Mobs melt when you run viper gear, ranger stacks a ton of burns and it’s mostly aoe damage. I can also quickly stack up to 20 bleeds on a target and maintain them. If you have even 1 condi druid in the party to Epidemic it makes a world of difference.

I wanted to make a condi class as I have enough power classes. Choice came down to ranger vs warr (necro is just bland) and I liked ranger theme and skills better than warr in the end.

That being said I have a zerker ascended set for ranger as well so I might try it off in future.