Guild Wars 2

I currently run full Viper’s armor, weapons and trinkets. I am looking to make a second set of armor for healing and I am stuck on choosing a stat to focus on. I would like to stay with a condition damage based stat since I can keep my Viper’s trinkets and provide some bonus damage, but I’m willing to give that up if another stat distribution is superior.
1. How much healing power do I need in order to be effective for raids, I will probably run mostly with pugs.
2. I was thinking of choosing:
A. Apothecary armor (high healing, still uses conditions, but it also has toughness)
B. Shamans armor (high vitality, but will it give me enough healing power?)
C. Magi ( I would provide very little DPs, and since it isn’t condition based damage I would need new trinkets and weapons as well).
D. Is there a different set up I should consider instead?

Thanks

Toadheart made a really comprehensive gearing guide for Druid’s which might be of interest.

Most relevant to your question she suggests a Shaman’s hybrid healer build which offers slightly higher damage than power based heal sets (Magi’s/Zealot’s). Unfortunately you’re stuck with the extra Vitality as there’s not an ideal stat set out there currently for condition healers.

Overall, the main disadvantage of going for a condition based healer set over a power based one is that you lose the +10% Outgoing healing modifiers from your rice balls food and monk runes on the armour (You can still take transference on a staff). You’ll still be able to heal fine, but it might be tricky if you’re the solo druid in an inexperienced group.

Interesting guide Anarii, thanks!

I had a great success with Clerics.
You should never go for too much toughness as I believe you are already aware, though.

You have to think for yourself when comes to gearing. Because for every single kind of squad/party you need something different.

Zealot: Elitist Healing setup (expansive)
Magi: Casual Healing setup (cheap)
Cleric: Most efficient for babysitting but might cause aggro management problems

I was fine in almost any raid with Cleric gear only, paired with Zerk jewellery. I also used Zealot Staff.
Don’t worry about healing power that much. If people die – they die to instant kills or cannot dodge stuff – meaning they’ll later again even if you heal them once.
I don’t remember going anywhere near 1000. Ever.
I usually ended up around 700. With food and modifiers that should be just enough.