So I was bored, so I decided to play my ranger again, that I don’t really play anymore. Then I decided to look at the core specialization changes, and it made me excited!
Now keep in mind this is all extremely preliminary, as the only thing we really know about the druid is that it gets a staff, but I still have some ideas. I want a support based druid, a support based druid that isn’t reliant on spirits.
We don’t know what kind of weapon staff will be, but I expect it to have some form of ranged or AoE support built in, and maybe damage as well, but for my build ideas so far, I’m assuming that the staff will offer some group support skills.
So right now, and proabably for a good part of the future, celestial specs are great because they offer the best mix of damage and sustain to those that have those tools. Celestial ranger builds haven’t really taken off though because purer condition setups have been much more popular for their defensive builds. If staff/druidery provides more extra healing and condition removal, I feel like a celestial set up could be more viable with druid. Ideally, I’d like it to play like a mix of cele staff ele and shoutbow warrior, in which lots of group healing and condition removal are available, along with a mix of damage and generally tankiness, to be able to hold capture points well and help rez people.
So with that in mind, what existing trait lines offer a lot of potential for a support spec?
1. The biggest one by far is nature magic. The biggest things I noticed are windborne notes and protective ward. They offer a support niche for the warhorn and a great amount of survivability in general.
2. Beastmastery looks like it has potential as well. Besides the already established synergy with nature magic’s fortifying bond, it provides a source of DPS in 1v1s through the pet, and the reworked axe trait has potential. AoE winters bite could be a great area based soft CC.
3. Wilderness Survival gives rangers a lot of extra protection and evades. It offers more personal rather than group survivability, but it may still be necessary.
So when we know what Druid offers, we’d have to decide which 2 of these 3 core specs to take with it to compliment it. Nature Magic looks mandatory for support in my opinion, and there are great things about both beastmastery and wildnerness survival. Ultimately it will depend on what druid offers specifically, if it offers a good amount of condition removal, then maybe wilderness survival will be unecessary. If it doesn’t then maybe we can drop beastmastery and take sword over axe for more evades.
Anyway these were some ideas I had, mostly I just want to see the ranger/druid be able to fulfill a greater sustain and support based role for a team.
We shall see what the staff/traits are like.