Guild Wars 2

LB/Staff /// Staff/s/wh Might Stacking

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWjUqQJL2yCOsAXLWyEM4ZaOdo+UDicTsmkVA4AUy0CD-TpBFABFcEAE4BAIeZAHOEAts/AAXAAA

The staff/s/wh variant has more survivability. overall, it’s the more balanced build. you have the second blast finisher, evades and the escape with sword. with this one, you would use staff as your primary damage dealer. staff/lb leaves you quite vulnerable to persistent melee harassment. there have been situations when I didn’t have avatar, I used up astral grace, QZ, and LR, and i just couldn’t get out. usually during the more drawn out fights.

since Lingering Light got gutted, it now makes the mots sense to run Grace of Land with staff/s/wh and perhaps Ancient Seeds with staff/lb.

regarding might stacking, without SoTP: open with CoTW, Smoke Assault and a few sword swings —> WHaO --> switch pets. this should get you 16-20 stacks reliably. with SoTP, it’s basically a lot easier. just casting Hunter’s Call will get you around 10, depending on if opponent blocks or dodge rolls.

BAH. I just cant keep up with the nerfs. trapper runes got gutted because of dragon hunters, and minstrel got removed. I’m keeping this discussion just about the marauder might stacking build from here on.

I admit I like the first build you posted. I haven’t got much time to test builds out yet, so I’ll definitely give it a try and see how it goes.

I don’t feel warhorn is needed tho, it’s already easy enough to get 25 stacks of might without it.

Skullface.7293:

I admit I like the first build you posted. I haven’t got much time to test builds out yet, so I’ll definitely give it a try and see how it goes.

give it a shot. I think you’ll be able to take it places with your skill level.

I want celestial to also get expertise now… well for us not for elementalists lol.

The first build reminds me of why the original WHaO change would’ve caused a situation.

Mcrocha.3891:

The first build reminds me of why the original WHaO change would’ve caused a situation.

it would have been more difficult. we would have been too dependent on fortifying bond to stack might.

First build is interesting. Will have to look into it.

mistsim.2748:

Mcrocha.3891:

The first build reminds me of why the original WHaO change would’ve caused a situation.

it would have been more difficult. we would have been too dependent on fortifying bond to stack might.

Was talking about quickness.

Mcrocha.3891:

mistsim.2748:

Mcrocha.3891:

The first build reminds me of why the original WHaO change would’ve caused a situation.

it would have been more difficult. we would have been too dependent on fortifying bond to stack might.

Was talking about quickness.

ah yes, with the perma quickness. indeed. I ran the WHaO before the nerf and it was fun. with the first build, zephyr’s speed + QZ gives you so much quickness…I wouldn’t know what to do with more anyways.

Ryan.9387:

First build is interesting. Will have to look into it.

you usually played traps. have you tried running with trapper runes? I found the condi pressure huge, and survivability more than decent with stealh/SS spam.

Played around with the first build a little. It was good and pretty fun.

Edit: hesitant about trying out the trap build until condi damage is looked into for AF, because there is some crazy cc flying around atm, but I do want to give it a go.

It’s really funny, I melted every Dragonhunter I encountered with the 1st build, at least the more bunkerish builds don’t have enough damage to take you down.

I replaced signet of the stone with signed of the wild – people would usually ignore me, so why not add some extra damage.

I’ve seen a lot of people taking the wyverns. It seems to me that their attack is a bit clunky, any reason for taking them?

The f2 of the electro wyvern is pretty good. Unfortunately the more I play it it is a slightly weaker wolf. And since you now have smokescale + x (even after the nerf) the wyvern seems meh. Fire wyvern is trash tier with that animation and meh damage imo.

we need to put in our feedback that fire wyvern’s fire field animates way, way too slowly.

regarding the electric wyvern, I use it only for the on-demand knockdown, which is amazing by the way. my trapper likes it especially. my one tip is to line up the wyvern in the direction you want him to go, before hitting f2. ive tackled multiple players with it…it’s devastating and can turn the fight in your favour.

wing buffet is a nice bonus against careless players. it’s totally out of our control, but it’s nice when it happens…it can mess people up on the point.

Sardath.8524:

It’s really funny, I melted every Dragonhunter I encountered with the 1st build, at least the more bunkerish builds don’t have enough damage to take you down.

yes. dragonhunters are totally kittening obnoxious right now, but this build pretty much hard counters them. there’s nothing they can do against the zap zaps. dodge the maw, don’t run into their traps, and youre good. True Shot can hit for 6k but that’s why we have AG and Sublime Conversion. there’s no way they can win the ranged battle.

mistsim.2748:

yes. dragonhunters are totally kittening obnoxious right now, but this build pretty much hard counters them. there’s nothing they can do against the zap zaps. dodge the maw, don’t run into their traps, and youre good. True Shot can hit for 6k but that’s why we have AG and Sublime Conversion. there’s no way they can win the ranged battle.

Ye, that build is a pretty hard counter to dh. Can range dps, trivialize True Shot, and maintain distance to not get trap bombed.

I made that exact same trapper build and had a lot of fun with it. DH, Reaper and Chrono seem really really overtuned right now so take losses to them with a grain of salt. Hopefully by the time seasons start back up they’ll have toned them down a bit.

The first build I haven’t tried in pvp yet but i can see where you’re going with it. It looks like you could use something like that in pve too just swapping WS with Skirm for spotter and QD.

that full glyph build looks interesting, I depend on SoS so much that I would hate to lose it, I might give that a try though.

^you’re so, so, so tough with minstrel, all the blinds, heals, and dazes that you just don’t need SoS. at least from my experience. another stun breaker maybe, but not SoS. that being said, I did not test this one in a high mmr environment.

mistsim.2748:

^you’re so, so, so tough with minstrel, all the blinds, heals, and dazes that you just don’t need SoS. at least from my experience. another stun breaker maybe, but not SoS. that being said, I did not test this one in a high mmr environment.

Minstrel may make a huge difference, i’m so used to the old stat combos that I usually slot Marauder without even thinking about it i’ll definitely be trying it out.

One major flaw (or inefficiency) in your First build.

Celestial.

You are using Celestial on a build with 0 Access to conditions. Condition Damage is wasted even with Might Stacking.

I’m hearing that minstrel amulet is broken arm, as it does not correctly apply the boon duration (as in you are not getting it). Can anyone confirm this? If not true I may switch back. The upkeep a Druid provides with that level of sustain and heal is certainly note worthy.

I started playing around with a build I call the “Trapperdruid” – very nice and fast for roaming and yet a good supportive build centered around “Runes of the trapper” and “Shamans” Equip and “Ancient Seeds” for immobilize and bleed on knockdown/daze/etc.:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNMQJAVWjMqQ7K2tCmrAXLWcEM4m6UNr+k6+VlOmAwkryVyySD-ThBOABAoJ4Llgto8j29HEQHQCq/EAABgZOzZOzZOzA-e

I love it, though it has poor condi cleanse. For more condi cleanse I prefer survival over beast mastery.

well, I’m still testing it. (And yes Chronos are tough…)

StickerHappy.8052:

One major flaw (or inefficiency) in your First build.

Celestial.

You are using Celestial on a build with 0 Access to conditions. Condition Damage is wasted even with Might Stacking.

hi guys, I made a huge error in the first build lol, the amulet is supposed to be marauder. I fixed it now. agh. that being said, celestial will give you similar results, make you tankier and make your heals stronger. but you just wont have that insane staff #1 pressure.

Skullface.7293:

I don’t feel warhorn is needed tho, it’s already easy enough to get 25 stacks of might without it.

to also address Hiro’s point about WH. the first build was supposed to go with marauder ammy. but if we went celestial now, sword/torch would be a much better option! so that’s definitely an interesting alternative to the build. it’s just too bad we cant make traps work with cele…we need those stun breakers and the invuln so badly, and traps just don’t offer that.

herzeleid.3719:

I started playing around with a build I call the “Trapperdruid” – very nice and fast for roaming and yet a good supportive build centered around “Runes of the trapper” and “Shamans” Equip and “Ancient Seeds” for immobilize and bleed on knockdown/daze/etc.:

looks great for wvw for sure. in conquest, you’ll need a stunbreaker and more evades. I would also try sword/torch over SB. I want to love SB for its synergy with AS, but its damage is just so weak.

Odyssey.6523:

I’m hearing that minstrel amulet is broken arm, as it does not correctly apply the boon duration (as in you are not getting it). Can anyone confirm this? If not true I may switch back. The upkeep a Druid provides with that level of sustain and heal is certainly note worthy.

i just confirmed, concentration is indeed broken on it. the amulet is gonna be bloody amazing when it’s fixed. i’ll make a little post in pvp forums.

I’m also experimenting with celestial/glyphs/MoC bunkery support type.

Misty,..

Can you make me a SB/Staff build?

I know SB sucks atm but really love it. and love is unconditional.

rabid bleed druid sb/staff

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWVn0rClrglsCWsCEtiFDBDOrGWTrNvrUXJgJAM6KdlsrzA-TpRFABA8AA69QAEVZAEuAAps/QyHBAA

your post made me curious about what could be done with sb and staff

mistsim.2748:

Odyssey.6523:

I’m hearing that minstrel amulet is broken atm, as it does not correctly apply the boon duration (as in you are not getting it). Can anyone confirm this? If not true I may switch back. The upkeep a Druid provides with that level of sustain and heal is certainly note worthy.

i just confirmed, concentration is indeed broken on it. the amulet is gonna be bloody amazing when it’s fixed. i’ll make a little post in pvp forums.

I’m also experimenting with celestial/glyphs/MoC bunkery support type.

Thanks for confirming. Havent had time to play with all the new features since HOT release. The potential to boon stack with Nature Magic 20% passive and basically another 30% from Minstrel will be amazing. Plus rune and in WvW you get food as well. It may be possible in WvW to obtain 100% boon duration without specializing in a boon, or at least very close.

I have a build similar to the trapper druid I’m using for sPvP as well. When the CA form regeneration gets fixed I think druid will be very competitive in PvP. Right now the only thing holding it back is access to CA to get some of those higher level skills and procs when you need them.

How do you maintain 25 Stacks?

Echos.5893:

How do you maintain 25 Stacks?

This is my question too, dont you need a firefield?

I’ve been using another build very similar to the first one but imo stronger.

I’ll post it in a few days here.

Also wyverns are awful for dps.

Elxdark.9702:

I’ve been using another build very similar to the first one but imo stronger.

I’ll post it in a few days here.

Also wyverns are awful for dps.

The reason wyvern is here:

1.) AoE CCs 2 of em actually

2.) f2 AoE CC is instant cast, very helpful for interrupting, especially resses and stomps

StickerHappy.8052:

Elxdark.9702:

I’ve been using another build very similar to the first one but imo stronger.

I’ll post it in a few days here.

Also wyverns are awful for dps.

The reason wyvern is here:

1.) AoE CCs 2 of em actually

2.) f2 AoE CC is instant cast, very helpful for interrupting, especially resses and stomps

Ah I see, well with my build I don’t need them because I’ve already the enough CC so I can take dps pets.

don’t wanna bump this up too many times, but after seeing a couple of rangers running Lb/staff, I was impressed. I changed the first build, switching s/wh for LB, and it’s incredible. the damage is really high, survivability is decent, great for 1v1’s. I still prefer LL over AS for the extra utility and survivability it gives the team. the blinds make a huge difference.

on average I’m able to maintain 15-ish stacks of might, and easily 25 with SoTP. Lb hits so hard. I thought survivability would be an issue, but it’s not really especially with latest CAF changes.

I also wanna encourage people to try out the tiger for fun, he lands the f2 almost every time. it’s easy to stack might on him, and the leap hits for like 4-5k.

Hmmmmm, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to have to swap to a mightstacking build myself in order to deal enough competitive damage. Is staff really a good offswap for LB? The two builds I’ve been playing around with are LB/GS for damage roaming or Staff/GS for teamfighting presence (lingering light is amazing) and backcapping mobility (Marauder of course, been running WS/NM/Druid before realizing I need the might stacking).

Is staff a great choice over Greatsword (I know the original build was Sword/Warhorn)? I suppose a ton of sustain is lost by not taking staff, but isn’t a ton of damage lost by not taking GS?

I would swap blood sigil into the first build over fire by the way. I’d test it on a golem.

Also been seeing a lot of players (that I don’t recognize) praise Celestial Druid up and down, and I’m just not feeling it. It just seems like a worse Scrapper to me, unless anybody has a positive experience otherwise.

LB/staff with might stacking is probably the most damage we can output right now. because staff is so well-rounded, and because we have celestial shadow, multiple stunbreakers, and LL, survivability is great. I find LL necessary to give us some more tank, if going marauder. I didn’t have good results with AS at all.

I ran GS/staff in beta, it was ok. but the sustained damage is poor. the combo is too defensive. staff is so good defensively that we don’t actually need GS for defensive purposes imo. which is why LB works so well. and yes, staff is absolutely necessary for filling your bar. more avatar means more LI, more NC, more heals.

I’m also not feeling celestial, the damage simply isn’t there but it can bunk well. if I wanna support and bunk for my team, I’m going minstrel. if I wanna kill stuff, I’m gonna go marauder might stacking.

Yeah, I guess especially with sacrificing my Protective Ward crutch (I’d run it over WS if the glyph trait provided more on demand cleanse, would also really help on a might build with how WHaO works), Staff brings the needed utility and the might stacking helps carry the loss of the initial GS burst damage.

Thanks for the quick response, it’s been bugging me for a few days now lol.

no problem, enjoy. as I was telling Sol, it’s really nice that for once to have multiple viable builds available to us. mind you, theyre all druid builds =\

If we had a 4-stat version of a zealots amulet that gave healing, power, precision, and viatlity, I’d use that in a heart beat over celestial. I’m running sw/torch because the burn deal some damage, while focusing mostly on healing and mightstacking. Theres just not enough offensive options for healing power amulets. Settlers sucks because with no HP you’ll melt in teamfights, and cleric/magi/minstrel have crappy offensive pressure, so I just feel forced into celestial to have enough health to survive DH trap bursts while still being able to heal people and do okay damage.

Even then I feel like most of damage comes from the pets instead of me, which I guess is fair.

Overall I’d say that tempest (my other post-HoT main) fulfills a better temfight carry role on a team than druid. Druid has way higher healing over the course of the game and better mobility, but tempest just outdamages it with overload air spam.

honestly so far, tempests have just been free kills. but we don’t have to discuss prof vs. prof garbage here.

while we don’t do the most damage with healing power amulets, minstrel is super strong for bunking. and cele works for bunking and offensively to an extent. not to mention u can support your team just fine even wearing marauder.

the reason I didn’t include cele in my fav build list is that it’s just middle of the pack mostly because we simply lack good condi options. s/t to me is just bad. it’s outshined by marauder for damage.

I was just comparing what they offer in terms of supporting and dealing damage in a teamfight, and cele tempest just works better than a druid if you build it right, and I’ll be free to explain more seperately so we don’t go too offtopic. Personally I think that marauder’s support would be too low with the numbers you’d get on staff, making it an infeccient weapon choice with that stat spread. Longbow damage is great as always, especially with the mightstacking, but I just don’t see the point of running druid if you aren’t going to focus at least partially on healing power, which as I’ve stated is hard to do due to crappy amulet choices. Note I’m not praising celestial druid either, but I just feel like its too hard to focus on both damage and healing at the same time, so I don’t really know what to make of it.

nearlight.3064:

I was just comparing what they offer in terms of supporting and dealing damage in a teamfight, and cele tempest just works better than a druid if you build it right, and I’ll be free to explain more seperately so we don’t go too offtopic. Personally I think that marauder’s support would be too low with the numbers you’d get on staff, making it an infeccient weapon choice with that stat spread. Longbow damage is great as always, especially with the mightstacking, but I just don’t see the point of running druid if you aren’t going to focus at least partially on healing power, which as I’ve stated is hard to do due to crappy amulet choices.

It’s free heals why not run it? Gives a roamer the outs it needed to be competitive with thief/Mesmer. Also Druidic Clarity+Celestial Shadow is absolutely god mode.

Mcrocha.3891:

nearlight.3064:

I was just comparing what they offer in terms of supporting and dealing damage in a teamfight, and cele tempest just works better than a druid if you build it right, and I’ll be free to explain more seperately so we don’t go too offtopic. Personally I think that marauder’s support would be too low with the numbers you’d get on staff, making it an infeccient weapon choice with that stat spread. Longbow damage is great as always, especially with the mightstacking, but I just don’t see the point of running druid if you aren’t going to focus at least partially on healing power, which as I’ve stated is hard to do due to crappy amulet choices.

It’s free heals why not run it? Gives a roamer the outs it needed to be competitive with thief/Mesmer. Also Druidic Clarity+Celestial Shadow is absolutely god mode.

Well I mean, thats what I ran in the beta and it worked almost too well. Just now, I don’t think it would be worth it since they changed the healing values and scaling, and It honestly feels like you’d just be using staff as a mobility stick instead of for healing people in teamfights since you’d probably be on longbow most of the time.

nearlight.3064:

Mcrocha.3891:

nearlight.3064:

I was just comparing what they offer in terms of supporting and dealing damage in a teamfight, and cele tempest just works better than a druid if you build it right, and I’ll be free to explain more seperately so we don’t go too offtopic. Personally I think that marauder’s support would be too low with the numbers you’d get on staff, making it an infeccient weapon choice with that stat spread. Longbow damage is great as always, especially with the mightstacking, but I just don’t see the point of running druid if you aren’t going to focus at least partially on healing power, which as I’ve stated is hard to do due to crappy amulet choices.

It’s free heals why not run it? Gives a roamer the outs it needed to be competitive with thief/Mesmer. Also Druidic Clarity+Celestial Shadow is absolutely god mode.

Well I mean, thats what I ran in the beta and it worked almost too well. Just now, I don’t think it would be worth it since they changed the healing values and scaling, and It honestly feels like you’d just be using staff as a mobility stick instead of for healing people in teamfights since you’d probably be on longbow most of the time.

Lunar Impact is a ranged ~2.5k heal with daze, running Marauder, that’s pretty good for an off healer.

nearlight.3064:

I was just comparing what they offer in terms of supporting and dealing damage in a teamfight, and cele tempest just works better than a druid if you build it right, and I’ll be free to explain more seperately so we don’t go too offtopic. Personally I think that marauder’s support would be too low with the numbers you’d get on staff, making it an infeccient weapon choice with that stat spread. Longbow damage is great as always, especially with the mightstacking, but I just don’t see the point of running druid if you aren’t going to focus at least partially on healing power, which as I’ve stated is hard to do due to crappy amulet choices. Note I’m not praising celestial druid either, but I just feel like its too hard to focus on both damage and healing at the same time, so I don’t really know what to make of it.

Near light mind telling me what kind of build you run on tempest? its been pretty hard finding the right balance of survival and dmg for me and I could really use some tips or a good template.

How are you guy stacking might with the first build?

mistsim.2748:

I just wanted to share my favourite druid builds so far. ive had a lot of success with these three. I ran a couple of cele builds, and while they were quite strong, they just couldn’t match the damage output and utility of the builds below.

LB/Staff Might Stacking

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWjUqQJL2yCOsAXLWyEM4ZaONo+UDicTsmkVA4AUy0CD-TpBFABFcEAE4BAIeZAHOEAts/AAXAAA

The Roaming Trap Bomber

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAnY8fjMqQ5K2uCusAVLWYEM4m6Vdr2MuqVhAmCwlLAUy0GD-TZhHwACOBAU2fAwDBAZZgAHBAA

this is with Trapper Runes (not in skill editor yet). it’s a pure trapper build, the way trapper is meant to be played. do yourself a favour and try it out if you haven’t already…you might be surprised. it’s fast and it hits hard. playstyle is frantic fun. I don’t see traps being played any other way. nothing revolutionary in the build at all, other than Natural Stride.

don’t worry too much about building AF, CF isn’t really needed. you will get enough force when fighting on point and going a lot of aoe damage, so it’s nice to have that extra stun breaker. but we go druid mostly for Natural Stride. if you’re ok with having no mobility, you can definitely go BM or NM for the taunt or protection. I didn’t need extra survivability, or more cc, so I traded for mobility so I could roam.

The Minstrel Support Bunker
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYD7keVogVsiVwmVgrFsgJYw10e6Q1Zx14ecNLrBQAokpNG-TpAQgAA7PoWGAA

I spent the least time with this one, but it was really effective. Nothing too interesting at all – it just works. It’s also the most flexible regarding its third utility, sigils, and elite. you can grab another stun breaker, SoS, or Unity. I haven’t played around with glyphs and runes too much, so I just used Grove Runes for the perma prot. the stats are Minstrel (not in editor yet).

you can also go BM or even skirmishing instead of wilderness. but wilderness would give you the most survivability by far.

you’re supporting with your glyphs and building AF constantly. ive bunked a point against 3-4 scrubs at times. with your team there, you cant really die. it’s weakness is obviously getting locked down, but if your team is peeling for you a bit, it’s basically god mode.

I’m not sure about the future of pure support builds. but like any bunker, the minstrel build is entirely useless if you have a bad team. however, it enhances a good team in every way. this is the bunk guardian of the ranger profession.

I hope this is helpful to some of you, and feel free to post feedback/questions below.

Any particular reason you have Rabid Amulet for the Trapper build?
What part of that build uses precision?

Carrion or Settler is better.

yep any of those would work.

I also wrote a little blurb on might stacking.

I continue to test the celestial glyph builds that some people are running. I’m just too hooked on that marauder damage, and I’m not sold on celestial at all. not yet anyway.

“Any of those” BUT Rabid would work.

Carrion works, Settler works. Rabid is not optimal unless you run a build that takes advantage of precision(crit) and Most ranger condi builds don’t.

Unless your ranger is actually a Necromancer or a Mesmer

Somebody posted up a celestial glyph build to metabattle recently: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Druid_-_Celestial_Avatar

I guess that would be my starting point as well, but I don’t agree with all of the choices.

jcbroe.4329:

Somebody posted up a celestial glyph build to metabattle recently: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Druid_-_Celestial_Avatar

I guess that would be my starting point as well, but I don’t agree with all of the choices.

What would you change in that build? I’ve been running a very similar version of this build (differing with sigils and one trait) and I like it a lot, but I’m not entirely sure that the mightstacking is worth it when you could make your build slightly more healing and control focused. In general I miss the taunt the most, but the extra might seems to necessary. I also feel like I have trouble dealing high damage even with a lot of might, unless I’m catching people in the torch fire field, but the pet makes up for that. I totally need to test out more variations, by I’m interested to see how you’d want to change it.

nearlight.3064:

jcbroe.4329:

Somebody posted up a celestial glyph build to metabattle recently: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Druid_-_Celestial_Avatar

I guess that would be my starting point as well, but I don’t agree with all of the choices.

What would you change in that build? I’ve been running a very similar version of this build (differing with sigils and one trait) and I like it a lot, but I’m not entirely sure that the mightstacking is worth it when you could make your build slightly more healing and control focused. In general I miss the taunt the most, but the extra might seems to necessary. I also feel like I have trouble dealing high damage even with a lot of might, unless I’m catching people in the torch fire field, but the pet makes up for that. I totally need to test out more variations, by I’m interested to see how you’d want to change it.

My minor tweak is to replace the energy sigil with doom on staff, and maybe replace the bristleback pet with tiger.

My major tweak is the choice of sword, but it would need some testing. I can see all of the positives of choosing sword, but I think that Axe might be the way to go for killing power. Those are just thoughts right now though, I’d have to confirm whether or not axe is actually more damage (both in total and against meta builds).

The other thing I’m potentially thinking, with the sword set in particular, would be to drop Nature Magic for Skirmishing (bleed on crit, bleed does more damage, quickdraw). You’d lose some boon copying potential from the loss of fortifying bond, but you’d pick up some condition application and damage (remember, celestial shortbow was a thing with bleed on crits, same concept with staff) and more importantly, the ability to have 2 uses of things like staff 3, sword 3, torch skills, etc.

All of that outside of the first tidbit would require testing though; it’s mostly theorycraft that I haven’t gotten to try in game yet.

I’m going to start updating the build sticky tonight with Druid builds, now that it is a semi stable traitline and mechanic. These will be the 1st three I add.