Guild Wars 2

Looking for a GS/Druid Hybrid feel that feels like a Beastmaster from Rift.

So far I’ve been leveling a Ranger and I love using the Great Sword, I’m hoping that at lvl 80 I can find a build that allows me to still use a Great Sword, offers me survivability, some passive healing and buffing.

For PvE, PvP or WvW?

PVE open World, casual Fractals, if useful in raids why not.

Shout GS Longbow (perma buffs, survivability, dmg is okay)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJARTnUqA1Ci9CCWsActgh9g6jjj4p3bPAGd+CC4RoEpfG-TxRBABUq+De6aA4JF8wlU4KlfPt/gZKBBA-e

For open world and casual fractals this is an easy to use and fun to play build in my opinion.

schmu.4630:

Shout GS Longbow (perma buffs, survivability, dmg is okay)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJARTnUqA1Ci9CCWsActgh9g6jjj4p3bPAGd+CC4RoEpfG-TxRBABUq+De6aA4JF8wlU4KlfPt/gZKBBA-e

For open world and casual fractals this is an easy to use and fun to play build in my opinion.

I dig it, does it offer any utility to other players?

Oldirtbeard.9834:

schmu.4630:

Shout GS Longbow (perma buffs, survivability, dmg is okay)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJARTnUqA1Ci9CCWsActgh9g6jjj4p3bPAGd+CC4RoEpfG-TxRBABUq+De6aA4JF8wlU4KlfPt/gZKBBA-e

For open world and casual fractals this is an easy to use and fun to play build in my opinion.

I dig it, does it offer any utility to other players?

• High Regen and Swiftness Uptime (pretty much permanent)
• High Might, Fury uptime
• AoE Team-Wide Stun Break
• 50% DMG Reduction on allies with “Guard!”
• 150+ Precision thanks to Spotter trait
• Smoke field for combo’able Stealth aswell
  I’d probably switch bristleback to either Jungle Stalker (5 stacks of might 15s) or Tiger (10s Fury)

Couple opinions:

• There is really no reason to ever not take frost or sun spirit for even casual group PvE.
• Smokescale is not a good PvE pet unless you’re using it for group stealth. Bristeback (highest DPS) and jungle stalker for might or tiger for fury are good choices.
• Protect Me might be pretty hefty overkill for any sort of PvE; PvE is all about maximizing damage. I’d take 3 damage enhancing utilities, with at least 1 being a spirit.

You have a good question, but I have to say it matters what you are trying to do. I find the kind of builds that are highly effective for solo open world content a little weak in group content.

The problem I see with GS and Druid, is that you really need Marksmanship, Skirmishing or Nature Magic, and Beastmastery to get the most out of GS in PvE. That doesn’t leave room for the Druid trait line. As soon as we add Druid, we weaken our ability to use GS in favor of having team support. At this point, it makes more sense to maximize our support role as we’ll end up creating more damage by buffing allies than we will do trying to be a hybrid GS/support damage dealer.

For solo open world roaming I pick the highest burst build I can imagine, so I can kill things in the time it takes to run to them. Using GS and Longbow. Nothing fancy, just max personal Burst, ignoring allies. Most things will be dead by the time you get to them.

For group content I use the following, but you could use GS if you like. Your weapons are more for looks. Damage comes mostly from allies and pets. The A/W could be replaced with GS, I suppose. It is mostly for call of the wild and winters bite. Use the auto attack to maintain pet’s might.

There are some fine suggestions already. So you can technically pick one of them.

I’d go with something like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqAVsgtCCmsActgh9gav9AY0/44IeaegD4R4knVCJA-TJBFwAA3foaZAAPBABXCAA

It’s a build that has easy time tagging NPCs with longbow (sigil of fire does the magic of tagging AoE) and has AoE cleave, has extreme burst and has technically permanent swiftness just like all the other suggested builds. You don’t need druid traitline for open world or casual daily fractals.

If you step into Fractals or team content, I’d swap Zephyr for Frost Spirit for sure.