Riverside. Marcus Yami [Gold]
How to play druid in Raid/Fractals?
I stuck to Berserker Healer (glyph buffer with a Healing Spring instead of Glyph).
You can distribute the most Grace of the Land boost like this while sill going on with the Quickdraw damage spikes.
Condi might get better at lvl 50 and higher. For raids – it doesn’t matter. The DPS is frankly the same assuming a non-professional boss management and it’s mobility.
I prefer Being a Berserker Healer (even though I was thrown down a bit more cleric-y for progression with the new wing).
And the best runes would be … That’s a lot of Math. Scholar is fine. Ranger is like 0,3% behind. If you’re going for conditions – you’d probably want to go for Balthazar. But if it’s a mobile fight …
Well, the point is there’s no such thing as “the best build”.
I don’t remember myself playing the same build, not even on a same day. I swap 3-4 times according to what I do.
But I always carry 1 full berserker and 1 full cleric setup and mix them according to needs. I made an Engineer for Viper DPS.
“Observe, learn and counter.”
About healing:
You can choose from various options.
~Staff alone should fill your astral bar on cooldown assuming your positioning is right (without regen, Signet of Wild, etc)
~If you want to maximize the DPS (without staff like s/a+lb) – you have to go for Healing Spring (Perma AoE Regen) and glyphs. You will usually fill the astral bar a tiny moment after the CD refreshed
~Your heals might be: Enter CAF > if QuickDraw procced – use #4 > #3 > #2 > #4
If QuickDraw didn’t activate > use #4, #3 and leave the form if everyone is healed
What I noticed that a lot of druids are doing braindead – they stay needlessly long in CAF. They heal everyone to full and sleep like morons in the form doing nothing. Leave the form as soon as you don’t need it, and don’t enter the form if it’s not needed.
P.S: my advice is to give yourself those few hours and test what works for you. The best weapon setup I found are Staff + LB. Just because of that amazing utility and bonus heal when CAF is on cooldown. It’s not the highest DPS setup but the one most flexible – it does everything.
“Observe, learn and counter.”
(edited by Tragic Positive.9356)
Berserker Healer on Raids is only viable if you are with a very experienced group than can avoid most damage, but I wouldn’t recommend it on most PUG groups. Your damage output won’t be very good even with Berzerker gear if you are using Staff anyway.
I’m using Magi Gear and Zealot Trinkets and so far is working fine. I also have my ascended zerker gear if any groups wants me to use it, and Cleric trinkets in case I need to tank too.
Marcus Ironforge ~ Norn Ranger
Alianza Argentina [ARG] @ Sorrow’s Furnace
Alianza Argentina [ARG] @ Sorrow’s Furnace
Honestly, you got better responses to this on reddit.
Some general ideas though:
- Unless you are playing with a group that wants you to optimize your DPS through a condition build, most groups are going to find that the damage buffs and healing you bring to a group are the most important part
- Don’t stack toughness too high, or at all, because toughness draws aggro and you don’t want the aggro as a Druid
- Staff and sword/axe is the commonly accepted weapon combination, but the reality is that most groups will notice you only for good/effective staff play, and that only you yourself will even notice if you swap weapons or not; not that it isn’t important, but groups tend to only notice things that value/affect the group, and in the grand scheme of things, your DPS is not one of those things
I mean, a lot of other people have responded to you on reddit, and combined here and some of the “usage/rotation” of skill descriptions on metabattle, you should be pretty good to go.
Here’s a general priority though: Buffs>healing>damage. Frost Spirit and/or Sun Spirit, Grace of the Land, and the damage glyph take top priority at all times. Every class can self heal, and tempests crap out healing, but the thing that makes you the most irreplaceable is your damage buffs. The healing happens on half of those things anyhow, and staff is constantly pumping out some semblance of healing, so really, the main time healing is concerned is learning when you want to drop big heals versus just the regular passive heals and grace of the land output, which is more of a “learn the encounters” thing combined with how your group handles those encounters.
Ideally, in the most perfect, optimal situation, you’d want to maximize your DPS, but nobody is taking a Druid for its personal DPS specifically, and those “perfect, optimal” groups aren’t exactly groups that you just happen into, so the main concern for starting should be to learn the encounters and your main role (damage buffs primarily, healing secondary) regardless of which build you use.
Jroh | Former SOAC Ranger Podcaster | Platinum Division Top 100 Player
www.twitch.tv/itsJROH For stream, stream schedule, other streamers, builds, etc
https://www.youtube.com/user/JRoeboat
www.twitch.tv/itsJROH For stream, stream schedule, other streamers, builds, etc
https://www.youtube.com/user/JRoeboat
Agree with julian and jcbroe specifically.
The raid healer build on metabattle is your safest option. Healing and then buffing is most important imo, especially in PUG groups. DPS is not important to get you through the raids, the other 9 people should do that, DPS is their responsability, not yours.. I’ve cleared it a lot this way with both PUG groups and regular raid group.
If your in a group you raid with regularly, and your comfy with the mechanics and feel like you can add some damage because your team is also familiar with the raid and don’t need so much healing, then you can, but don’t need, to swap to a more dmg build. Swapping out some cleric or magi trinkets for zealot for example. Keep adding more dmg and see how it goes. This isn’t needed though to get through the raid. Just takes less time.
(edited by Bast Bow.2958)
agree with everything said prior. I run zealots gear with zerker trinkets, I tried the condihealer route and it is really not pug friendly at all. For max healing slot in as much magi as you can. I would stay away from clerics as much as possible so that you’re not pulling aggro from the tank.
Tank healing in full clerics or cleric/magi mix is also very viable and it allows for one more dps role but don’t try this until you know the fights well.
edit: Just to clarify. I chose zealots gear despite the price so that i could use it in other content. to me crafting a full ascended set of magi just to raid in occasionally wasn’t worth it and stat switching daily isn’t worth it either.
I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.
(edited by Prophet.1584)
Thank you for the answers. Many people here and on reddit said that its easier and better to run magi armor, but I am thinking if somebody even wanted a magi druid only for heal for fractal? Because I would like to do both contents raid and fractal, of course I could buy 2 sets, but the problem is the price + the bag slots.
@Prophet which runes are u running? Some people said that healing yourself with zealot gear is hard + thinking about the group.
Riverside. Marcus Yami [Gold]
Thank you for the answers. Many people here and on reddit said that its easier and better to run magi armor, but I am thinking if somebody even wanted a magi druid only for heal for fractal? Because I would like to do both contents raid and fractal, of course I could buy 2 sets, but the problem is the price + the bag slots.
@Prophet which runes are u running? Some people said that healing yourself with zealot gear is hard + thinking about the group.
Don’t know about Prophet, but this would be my raid healing setup, and the gear itself is all purpose (it was crafted specifically for WvW but has other applications), which is Zealots Weapons/Armor and Celestial Trinkets/Back.
No, it isn’t the maximum amount of healing power you can build for by far, but it has 50% outgoing healing stacked on it, which makes your big heals easily go above 5k, and for really crazy moments, you pop the elite glyph while in celestial form and within the range you need to be in before you drop your heals, it adds all of the healing you do to yourself directly to your allies (so essentially doubling the healing outputs).
A druid alone isn’t going to carry a team through the raid though, the group still needs to play the mechanics and encounters correctly, and while I’m sure there are groups that would welcome a fully invested healing Druid as necessary, the majority of the players in the game probably fall in between needing full heals to advance or not needing and healing invested players at all.
Jroh | Former SOAC Ranger Podcaster | Platinum Division Top 100 Player
www.twitch.tv/itsJROH For stream, stream schedule, other streamers, builds, etc
https://www.youtube.com/user/JRoeboat
www.twitch.tv/itsJROH For stream, stream schedule, other streamers, builds, etc
https://www.youtube.com/user/JRoeboat
(edited by jcbroe.4329)
Thank you for the answers. Many people here and on reddit said that its easier and better to run magi armor, but I am thinking if somebody even wanted a magi druid only for heal for fractal? Because I would like to do both contents raid and fractal, of course I could buy 2 sets, but the problem is the price + the bag slots.
No one needs a healer for daily fractals. Full DPS buffer works there best.
If you want to do fractals up to lvl 100 – Cleric is the best stuff you can find.
Cleric, however, may pose a problem in raids with aggro management.
“Observe, learn and counter.”
No one needs a healer for daily fractals. Full DPS buffer works there best.
If you want to do fractals up to lvl 100 – Cleric is the best stuff you can find.
Cleric, however, may pose a problem in raids with aggro management.
Is there even a reason to do level 100’s? Not to familiar on how the rewards scale based on level (other than getting more relics). I’ve always just done the three swamps and called it a day.
Dont know how you guys but I am always happy to have a druid on lvl 50+ , its more easier and relaxing to play then.
Riverside. Marcus Yami [Gold]
- which build to use?
- which runes are best for raid?
- which weapons should I choose (Thought staff/LB/Sword, but on meta staff isnt even mentioned?)
- which stats are preferred?
- how to heal? I dont really understand how the glyph works. How the F5 is charged? Which skill should I use when I am in F5 mode?
- what is difference playing druid in raid and fractals?
The staff healer is the best all around general purpose raid healer. It works in all scenarios
Monk runes are generally the best.
Magi’s or Cleric’s stats are preferred. Zealots can work too if you have it. Toughness is actually quite good for survival, and doesn’t cause aggro issues in most of the current raid fight. It’s honestly only an issue on Vale Guardian, every other boss it’s fine to have toughness on your gear.
Your main heals are your Staff 3, CA3 and CA4 skills. Prioritize those. Can’t really teach people how to heal as there are both predictive and reactive components to that. It best helps if you understand basic druid mechanics such as https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Verdant_Etching and try to prioritize skills accordingly.
I just use my same raid healer build of magi or zealots gear for my daily swamp of the mists and it works just fine. Sometimes I swap to Zerker/Viper if I feel like it. The dps you don’t do is made up for by your group buffs, assuming a proper group composition.
Is there even a reason to do level 100’s? Not to familiar on how the rewards scale based on level (other than getting more relics). I’ve always just done the three swamps and called it a day.
There’s no real reason besides the challenge and the bonus Fractal Weapon skin you get for the achievement (doing all scales from 50 – 100).
If you don’t intend to do that – berserker with monk runes should be just fine. You can throw that staff into your bag and just change your playstyle to more healing / more DPS.
If you intend to do raids – you should definitely find a stable group which will tell you which direction they need you to go anyway. Staff Healer would most probably be the answer but you never know.
“Observe, learn and counter.”