Viability of nature magic/spirit ranger in sPvP?
Unfortunately, even with the +50% health perk for spirits, AND the trait that lets them follow you… they die. All the time. Something to consider: point defense. Lay down your three spirits and elite spirit, without the following you trait, pull out a horn and sword/shortbow and lay waste to anyone that comes into your AO. Other than that, the spirits don’t make a good offensive choice atm.
Ditch the longbow and max survival. I use a similar build with great sucess as a roamer AND point defender.
I ran a build like yours originally, spirits are a two edged sword. Against someone who doesn’t bother with them, you’ll dominate in 1v1 or even 1v2 but if someone takes the 3 seconds it takes to kill all 4 of your spirits…well, you just wasted 4 skill slots and a bunch of traits. Point being, you can dominate entire teams with it and then run across a single person who realizes that your spirits are worth killing, then your entire build becomes crap. Oh and it takes a good portion of time to bring those things out and they die on their own every 60 seconds sooo…..
I changed my build to condition spam and haven’t looked back.
I certainly gave Spirits the old college try.
Honestly, I kinda’ think it’s straddling an awkward line between glass buffs and walking traps not managing to be especially satisfactory at either.
Spirits got nerfed hard right before release. With their low survivability, smart players just single target them down. It’s just not a strong build at all right now.