Fun/RP Druid Build
no one knows anything about the druid yet.
Bad Elementalist
I run a pet-based build with 0-0-4-4-6.
6 Beastmastery is a given for any pet build. 3 in Nature magic gets you Fortifying Bond, which is amazing for pet buffing (every self-buff applies to your pet as well, and all AoE buffs basically double), and I threw in the extra 1 so I get another major trait for spirits. 4 in Wilderness is mostly for Offhand Training (which works great with Warhorn for more pet buffs). But you could also forgo Wilderness and go into Skirmishing or Marksmanship as there are some nice pet traits there like Malicious Training and Pet Prowess as well as Spotter which affects your pet as well. Or go full 6 in Nature magic as basically all the Grandmaster traits there would be nice for this type of build.
Personally, I play it pretty tanky, so for gear I run full Clerics weapons and trinkets, Zealot’s armor (I’d do Zealot’s trinkets too, but they’re too expensive) with Signet of the Wild, Healing Spring, and Natural Healing (or occasionally Nature’s Bond) for my Grandmaster Beastmastery trait for maximum self and pet sustain. With a decently defensive pet like a Drake, my pets can tank almost anything less than a champ (and even some champs). And while squishier pets can’t “tank” harder hitting enemies per se, they stay alive pretty well even during most boss encounters.
The other part of my build is buff-based. Altruism Runes for more buffs when I use Healing Spring, which itself is buff-related and heals pretty well with all the Healing Power I’ve got. Typically Warhorn for buffs, sometimes Battle Roar (Charr racial utility) as well (or instead of, when I don’t want to use horn). Axe with Fortifying Bond is amazing for giving your pet tons of might when fighting more than one enemy. I’d like to use Battle Sigils for more might buffs, but also too expensive at the moment. I also run Buff Duration food and even Platinum Dubloons as the upgrades in my trinkets for maximum buff duration bonuses, even though my stats take a hit from that.
I usually run Rampage as One for my elite since its synergizes so well with pets and gives me some handy stability, especially since I have crap condition damage, but its not like any of the elites are absolutely vital, so using Entangle would be fine.
And you could always go more offensive with the build anyway, run more condition damage and offensive gear. Which would make Entangle more appealing, and let you use traps if that’s the direction you want to go. I basically never use traps except for very rarely Frost Trap (mostly for the field), since as said I’ve got very little condition damage. I typically run either Shouts or Spirits for my utilities. Heck, you could probably go Apothecary / Settlers and combine both healing and condition damage.
Definitely not a “good” build for stuff like dungeons or the like, but I enjoy it a lot personally and it seems to match up with what you’re looking for quite a bit.
You could try a full Rabid trapper build with bleed runes, bleed traits, condition duration weapons…
Short: Full Rabid bleed build with traps.
I used such a build in PvE for a while because I didn’t have to patience to change from my WvW build. It’s fun to see hundreds of numbers pop up
Druids in Diablo use Bows right. So how you going to avoid the bow?
Yeah I run a similar build that solrik mentioned in PvP, and sometimes in PvE (it’s quite frustrating to run a condi build in group because of the condi cap)
And my weapons are Shortbow/Sword+Dagger, with sigil of geomancy on the dagger, poison duration on the sword and sigil of earth on the shortbow.
Pretty versatile against anything, until you do group content (dungeons and fractals are fine as long as you’re the only one that’s focused on conditions, else its pretty useless)
Thank you for the comments guys!
@Electro.4173 Thank you for the detailed reply! I may very well be looking into running something like that. Wouldn’t mind a pet/player combo like that. Good buffs, strong pet, and some good tanking ability in general PvE. Though, I noticed you didn’t talk too much about weapons. which is fine, you gave great detail on Gear and traits, thank you again
@solrik.6028 A Rabid Trapper sounds pretty gnarly, imo. As I’ve never used traps or spirits, your idea also sounds quite intriguing. Would you mind sharing a bit more detail? Obviously the Gear is Rabid based, but how about traits? Weapon Choice? Pet choice?
@Djahlat.9610 I can see your point with the condition cap, thus my only real reason for shying away from Cond build. Though, I like the weapon choice, sounds like it would be pretty mobile.
@FrownyClown.8402 Thus theory crafting exists and I can still take into consideration how Druids would play in other games, as well as use the knowledge that they will use a Staff in this game.
@Knighthonor.4061 I can avoid using a bow by saying I do not wish to use a bow. That simple.
I’d likely end up with a Staff instead. Though, depending on what their (Druids) skills may be, and how the staff works, I may consider something a bit more ranged/support with a Bow and staff. IF it feels right, but only time will tell.