Hey guys! We are healers! I am LOVING the new update that the druid got! We are no longer just bunkers but we are now full blown healers! I am loving it! Check out the build!
Interesting to say the least. Then again in hot join / rated I always thought Clerics worked well with the Druid and found the supporting role playable. I honestly can’t saw how it would work above Ruby or with those running pre-made.
I’ll probably give your build a try since it is similar. More so probably because that play style (healing) works in confined spaces that sPvP provide. I can’t see this working no matter how much they buff it in WvW which is where I mostly play.
Thanks for sharing. Also totally unrelated, what type of bird do you have. And no, I’m not a stalker. Just a thing for situational awareness due to a previous line of work.
Main – Laaz Rocket – Guardian (Ehmry Bay)
Johnny Johnny – Ranger (Ehmry Bay)
Hárvey Wallbanger – Alt Warrior (Ehmry Bay)
Hey guys I appreciate all the replies on this build. This is the thing this build would be considered OP if it had +500/1000 toughness. I understand it will die fast if focused fire…But remember Druid is not a tanky class because of it’s shield and sword. It is tanky because it can evade like a boss. So if you stack 1225 heals with this build and 16 sec of protection the only thing that will kill you is heavy melee cleave….As long as u do a good job on evading you will be OK…..Remember you are not a bunker you are now a healer…If you could heal 700k a game and still bunker on point without moving well it would be OP and no counter play to it. The counter play to this is that u have to evade and sometimes get off point. The problem with old bunkers back in the day was that if your teammate died you would have to watch them die and nothing you could do about it. Now you can take your time from 1 to 100 in 4 heals or less.
If you have to evade/kite – you can’t heal (your allies). If you get cc’ed – you can’t heal. It is too easy to stop/prevent a druid’s healing by focusing him. And even prepatch a druid wasn’t that great against focus from multiple players. Less defensive stats from amulet and dmg buffs (mainly to thieves) will make it even harder to survive in teamfights. You need defensive stats/traits/skills as a healer, because healing alone doesn’t save you from burst. As a bunker/bruiser druid might work well, but not as a pure healer.
“Old bunkers” (chrono, tempest, guard) had less healing than druid, true, but they had great team support through boons, aoe condi removal (better than those tiny fields with delayed cleanse from druid), better dmg mitigation/avoidance, and more instant abilities (shatter, auras, shouts, …), so they could deal better with focus fire and keep up their role as healer/supporter.
If you have to evade/kite – you can’t heal (your allies). If you get cc’ed – you can’t heal. It is too easy to stop/prevent a druid’s healing by focusing him. And even prepatch a druid wasn’t that great against focus from multiple players. Less defensive stats from amulet and dmg buffs (mainly to thieves) will make it even harder to survive in teamfights. You need defensive stats/traits/skills as a healer, because healing alone doesn’t save you from burst. As a bunker/bruiser druid might work well, but not as a pure healer.
“Old bunkers” (chrono, tempest, guard) had less healing than druid, true, but they had great team support through boons, aoe condi removal (better than those tiny fields with delayed cleanse from druid), better dmg mitigation/avoidance, and more instant abilities (shatter, auras, shouts, …), so they could deal better with focus fire and keep up their role as healer/supporter.
Have you played druid? The entire class is mobility and evasion.
You coun’t evade on GS autoattack as viable defensive option in PvP? Really? Hilt Bash hasn’t much defensive value and the block has it’s downsides too, especially against multiple targets.
Staff 3+5 are nice and help with survability, sure, but that’s pretty much it. Of course Staff/GS druid is great at kiting/running as long you can avoid getting locked down by cc/immob, but while you are doing so, you aren’t helping your team much. Your main healing/support skills – glyphes and CA skills – work better with a more stationary gameplay. The enemy team has to let you heal your allies and if they are good, they won’t.
Of course it is too early to tell, how the meta will evolve and maybe i’m wrong. But since druid hasn’t changed much, i doubt it’s role as a dueler/side point fighter will change.
You coun’t evade on GS autoattack as viable defensive option in PvP? Really? Hilt Bash hasn’t much defensive value and the block has it’s downsides too, especially against multiple targets.
Staff 3+5 are nice and help with survability, sure, but that’s pretty much it. Of course Staff/GS druid is great at kiting/running as long you can avoid getting locked down by cc/immob, but while you are doing so, you aren’t helping your team much. Your main healing/support skills – glyphes and CA skills – work better with a more stationary gameplay. The enemy team has to let you heal your allies and if they are good, they won’t.
Of course it is too early to tell, how the meta will evolve and maybe i’m wrong. But since druid hasn’t changed much, i doubt it’s role as a dueler/side point fighter will change.
I play my Druid to its full potential…Yes my auto attack is used as my evade and it works very very well especially on multiple targets. I main and only play druid/ranger….Why would they put auto attack 3 evade for it not to be used?…>DRUID=Evade Healer….If it is used right on team fights and or solo play it will work…I have done over 50 games with it and i have the same result…
If you have time to spam GS autoattack, you are not pressured. Sure it is nice to avoid some random aoe dmg, but i’m talking about defense against focus from multiple players. They won’t wait till you have completed the first two parts of the autoattack chain before they burst you. All you can do in such a situation is to try to get away with GS or Staff 3. And hope it is not a thief or rev who’s chasing you. Good luck kiting those …
Btw, 50 games say nothing. I have hundreds of games with suboptimal ranger/druid builds and some of them worked quite well too. Doesn’t change the fact, that those builds were not optimal and worked mainly because my opponents were not the best, uncoordinated or simply didn’t know about the weaknesses of my builds.
Even more evades if you stow your gs on the third autoattack, you get 3 evades in a row that way. But i have to get some concentration pills to pull that off under heavy focus
If you have time to spam GS autoattack, you are not pressured. Sure it is nice to avoid some random aoe dmg, but i’m talking about defense against focus from multiple players. They won’t wait till you have completed the first two parts of the autoattack chain before they burst you. All you can do in such a situation is to try to get away with GS or Staff 3. And hope it is not a thief or rev who’s chasing you. Good luck kiting those …
Btw, 50 games say nothing. I have hundreds of games with suboptimal ranger/druid builds and some of them worked quite well too. Doesn’t change the fact, that those builds were not optimal and worked mainly because my opponents were not the best, uncoordinated or simply didn’t know about the weaknesses of my builds.
Almost all my games I play look like Ranked Legendary ques….Look at the past broadcast and see for yourself. Also 50 games played to test a build out is plenty when all your opponents are also in the same bracket. The players I play against and have test this build for me are all known in the community. I wouldnt have posted this build unless i knew it was going to help the community out. It does as it say..It heals, and bursts. Anything that does a 1vs5 would be considered OP and get the nerf stick like the mesmer did. Also as u will see for yourself., once you try it. 1vs2 / 3 you can easily stay alive on point before having to look for a way out.
I also picked up the Mender’s amulet and fell in love with it. Lost a lot of tankiness from Celestial but I got a fair bit of damage back. Now I can feel the weight of my greatsword when I use it. Both my druid and my pet are considered threats. I was using the Nature Magic variant.
I went with an all shout build with soldier runes myself. I just couldn’t help but try them out! Loved them. Guard helps with the Mender’s lack of toughness and Protect Me is a good peel. I also took Sic ’Em for a 40% damage boost on Smoke Assault. Completely shreds thieves if the rotation lands.
I did feel a bit vulnerable to burst myself, though. But it’s probably because every game I was fighting like, 2-4 thieves on the enemy team. Once the thief population stabilizes I feel the build will be able to shine even brighter.
Nah, it will die down eventually. Everyone is testing builds and a lot of them haven’t tuned themselves to deal with thieves, so it’s a thief player’s wet dream. Tons of untested builds with no defensive amulets left to prevent massive damage spikes.
But in time people will react to the influx of thieves and start to build to trash every thief they see. Then the thief population will drop to more reasonable levels.
I can typically deal with a lone thief with this build. It’s just when I get ganked by a duo or trio of thieves and go down instantly that it becomes a problem.
This build would get destroyed, wait until the scene gets more competitive and ranked comes back out. you simply cant survive without toughness, and any ranger running ancient seeds with a paladin amulet would destroy this build.
