Hi ! My main support is druid, and I'd like to tell you I appreciate your guide ! I do have some points to add, if you'll have me - I heard you saying ancestrall grace is a dodge, I think. Beware that it is not ! The dodge was removed from the skill in 2019. Also, if it heals an ally other than you, you can have a reducted cooldown on it. Unless you want to double it, keep the quick draw for lunar impact or vine surge. - there are 2 reason "double staff" is the choice most guilds go with : it's still better to charge up you celestial energy, and you don't really have healing downtime (which you have when you play sword or axe MH on your swap). - even when playing two staves you still take the "1-1" trait on the druid line, it's just too powerfull compared to the other two, even if they are interesting choices. - CA is recharged as well for each hit you make. This is the main reason people will play axe over sword (which is more used when you have difficulties for positionning). - the skill 2/4 on the axe/WH can help you build up CA if used at melee or mid range (but then again, 2x staff is better for that), and so reduce healing downtime. - all three great masters of the druid line are pickable, but it highly depends on the people you are running with. Most guilds I know actually take the upper one (grace of the land) to have might generation during the fight - the boons you give are : fury, protection, regen, stability, vigor (with the 'spirited arrival' trait) and might (if you take grace of the land). concentration is not at all wasted. You can even use the runes of durability (they are less powerful than rune of the monk, but still a valid choice) to give some more boons. - about your gear : even without boons, minstrel is still superior for supports, pro-active or reactive. With your statistic combination, you actually lose about 500 toughness (which is a lot of sustain) and 90 vitality to gain 90 healing power and 500 power (which is useless on supports). - playing glyph of unity and lingering light at the same time is way overkill when you can have more group breakstun + condition cleanse with glyph of equality or might with GotL. You can maybe justify taking one of them, but not both at the same time. - you can tap+interrupt the natural convergence, to gain the stability it provides when you start channeling it - it's actually not "recommanded" to keep your pet next to you. It's mandatory. your pet must be kept at your feet at all times. - if you run slightly organized groups, it's recommanded to use the smokescale instead of the bear, to be able to blast stealth. Even when the commander does not call for it, it can break ennemy targetting (which makes it more difficult for scourges to use their focus 5 for example) - I didn't hear you talk about it, but when in CA, the second skill *must* be used off-cd. It has no cast time, so it can be used during the cast of any other skill. There's even a light explosion combo (which condi cleanse) if you time it correctly with your third skill. - speaking of pet and stealth, commanders that are used to have druid in their squad can still do the old "stealth bomb" strategy (the other option is to have scrappers use their bomb kit, or chaining mesmer veils). If your commander does that, you have to stash you pet as soon as the smoke field is created, or directly if you don't have the smokescale equipped. - the CA version of the GotS can save your downed allies big time. It also gives vigor, and has higher healing coeficient than the normal version. its cd is also very low for an elite, so you can be expected to use 2 or 3 times during a single fight. Which one you will use depends more on the situation. - it is good practice to call out the moment you're getting out of CA, so people know they will get 2s of stealth and superspeed. - don't be afraid to cancel CA early. It's actually more common than not to just enter CA to use only lunar impact and seed of life. - if your allies play their dodges well and you are winning the fight, using glyph of alignement out of CA is actually more added values (not much, but it's micro-optimisation). Well that's all I had to say from the top of my head :D great guide nonetheless, you always love to see your heart spec getting some attention :D
Well said, currently druid is my pick for cleansing followed by ventari vindi. Both offer fun and unique playstyles. I like the mass stunbreaks that druid can provide between Protect me and the CA mode glyph stunbreak with good cleanse to top it off. Between heal trap and blasting water and CA 4 I don't feel like alignment is needed, tho I do not play grace of the land cause you can never have too small healing. Protect me I have been changing between Search and Rescue and Renewal Signet, tho if illusions/battle standard is present I still prefer Protect me for the stunbreak . Renewal signet is nice but I don't feel like I lack cleanses unless we get in a spot where we die anyway. Elite I prefer to use on non-CA mode cause the pulse cleanse and stab is excellent cover for the party. Overall druid is very fun and can offer unique playstyles so I love it!
I appreciate this advice, as well as the advice given in the video. Made a Druid a while back and then took a break, thinking it wasn't good for WvW. Going to give it another go. As a side note, how should a new player go about obtaining a full set of Minstrel gear? I currently have helmet, shoulders and a single staff, the rest is Celestial.
@@thatsclassified6701n the verdant brink (HoT) there's a vendor you unlock with itzel language mastery and you can buy stat selectable exotic armor with airship parts and 1 - 2 gold per piece which you can choose minstrels Stat on after buying
MISTAKE ALERT : In the video i say healing spring triggers when an enemy walks on it; it is false. This is the true activation condition, as from the wiki : This trap is triggered when an ally with less than their maximum health (yourself included) walks over the trap. Having non-damaging conditions alone will not cause the trap to trigger.
ty for this guide, i only played minnestrial till yet, but i think your build is also very good, so that also new players with no ascended gear can play because you can easily buy this cleric + magi stats armor/assec in the trading post /exotic). ty for the video
They are both really fine, and yes, cleric+magi is easy to acquire for newer players. However, i still would prioritize healing power than boon duration, so i think minstrel might be a little worse.
Cool guide! I suggest to test out the Sigil of Life instead of Benevolence. When we look at the numbers, we can see that the biggest source of Druid's healing is regeneration boon and Life increases its power. Staff 5 skill has no target limit, so as Driud we are able to give Regeneration boon to our entire zerg (to any allies who touch the flower wall). This is a reason why I prefer Minstreal's gear as well. Cheers!
While i think sigil of life might be worth it, i don't think trading a nice chunk of healing power for boon duration is worth it, since druid has huge burst healing skills which don't benefire from the boon duration. However, the difference is probably not that big, both work perfectly.
It's finally going to be more worth it as support builds finally gets as much loot bags & kill credits that dps builds get! This is great news. good build as well btw. maybe make an updated version when the big Druid/Ranger change comes soon?
Hello, i recently made an updated video on druid, i would recommend to check it out. However, celestial avatar priority are skill 3 and 4, skill 2 is another heal which is instant cast, and then you can spam skill 1 untile you have 3-4 ready again
I am currently using half harriers and half minstrels and it seems to be a nice balance, but I get why minstrel would be default for tankiness I just like having the concentration and extra damage. Will watch the rest of the video later, but yeah this build has been so effective for my guild’s zergs. I personally try to stay right behind the commander and target the heals so it hits the mob behind me
Hi !
My main support is druid, and I'd like to tell you I appreciate your guide ! I do have some points to add, if you'll have me
- I heard you saying ancestrall grace is a dodge, I think. Beware that it is not ! The dodge was removed from the skill in 2019. Also, if it heals an ally other than you, you can have a reducted cooldown on it. Unless you want to double it, keep the quick draw for lunar impact or vine surge.
- there are 2 reason "double staff" is the choice most guilds go with : it's still better to charge up you celestial energy, and you don't really have healing downtime (which you have when you play sword or axe MH on your swap).
- even when playing two staves you still take the "1-1" trait on the druid line, it's just too powerfull compared to the other two, even if they are interesting choices.
- CA is recharged as well for each hit you make. This is the main reason people will play axe over sword (which is more used when you have difficulties for positionning).
- the skill 2/4 on the axe/WH can help you build up CA if used at melee or mid range (but then again, 2x staff is better for that), and so reduce healing downtime.
- all three great masters of the druid line are pickable, but it highly depends on the people you are running with. Most guilds I know actually take the upper one (grace of the land) to have might generation during the fight
- the boons you give are : fury, protection, regen, stability, vigor (with the 'spirited arrival' trait) and might (if you take grace of the land). concentration is not at all wasted. You can even use the runes of durability (they are less powerful than rune of the monk, but still a valid choice) to give some more boons.
- about your gear : even without boons, minstrel is still superior for supports, pro-active or reactive. With your statistic combination, you actually lose about 500 toughness (which is a lot of sustain) and 90 vitality to gain 90 healing power and 500 power (which is useless on supports).
- playing glyph of unity and lingering light at the same time is way overkill when you can have more group breakstun + condition cleanse with glyph of equality or might with GotL. You can maybe justify taking one of them, but not both at the same time.
- you can tap+interrupt the natural convergence, to gain the stability it provides when you start channeling it
- it's actually not "recommanded" to keep your pet next to you. It's mandatory. your pet must be kept at your feet at all times.
- if you run slightly organized groups, it's recommanded to use the smokescale instead of the bear, to be able to blast stealth. Even when the commander does not call for it, it can break ennemy targetting (which makes it more difficult for scourges to use their focus 5 for example)
- I didn't hear you talk about it, but when in CA, the second skill *must* be used off-cd. It has no cast time, so it can be used during the cast of any other skill. There's even a light explosion combo (which condi cleanse) if you time it correctly with your third skill.
- speaking of pet and stealth, commanders that are used to have druid in their squad can still do the old "stealth bomb" strategy (the other option is to have scrappers use their bomb kit, or chaining mesmer veils). If your commander does that, you have to stash you pet as soon as the smoke field is created, or directly if you don't have the smokescale equipped.
- the CA version of the GotS can save your downed allies big time. It also gives vigor, and has higher healing coeficient than the normal version. its cd is also very low for an elite, so you can be expected to use 2 or 3 times during a single fight. Which one you will use depends more on the situation.
- it is good practice to call out the moment you're getting out of CA, so people know they will get 2s of stealth and superspeed.
- don't be afraid to cancel CA early. It's actually more common than not to just enter CA to use only lunar impact and seed of life.
- if your allies play their dodges well and you are winning the fight, using glyph of alignement out of CA is actually more added values (not much, but it's micro-optimisation).
Well that's all I had to say from the top of my head :D great guide nonetheless, you always love to see your heart spec getting some attention :D
Woah that's a true druid player right there! Thanks for your detailed comment, i pin it so everyone sees it
Well said, currently druid is my pick for cleansing followed by ventari vindi. Both offer fun and unique playstyles.
I like the mass stunbreaks that druid can provide between Protect me and the CA mode glyph stunbreak with good cleanse to top it off. Between heal trap and blasting water and CA 4 I don't feel like alignment is needed, tho I do not play grace of the land cause you can never have too small healing.
Protect me I have been changing between Search and Rescue and Renewal Signet, tho if illusions/battle standard is present I still prefer Protect me for the stunbreak . Renewal signet is nice but I don't feel like I lack cleanses unless we get in a spot where we die anyway.
Elite I prefer to use on non-CA mode cause the pulse cleanse and stab is excellent cover for the party.
Overall druid is very fun and can offer unique playstyles so I love it!
I appreciate this advice, as well as the advice given in the video. Made a Druid a while back and then took a break, thinking it wasn't good for WvW. Going to give it another go. As a side note, how should a new player go about obtaining a full set of Minstrel gear? I currently have helmet, shoulders and a single staff, the rest is Celestial.
@@thatsclassified6701 The most efficient way is to convert other ascended gears stats from X to minstrel, via the forge, or buy them with pvp shards.
@@thatsclassified6701n the verdant brink (HoT) there's a vendor you unlock with itzel language mastery and you can buy stat selectable exotic armor with airship parts and 1 - 2 gold per piece which you can choose minstrels Stat on after buying
MISTAKE ALERT :
In the video i say healing spring triggers when an enemy walks on it; it is false.
This is the true activation condition, as from the wiki :
This trap is triggered when an ally with less than their maximum health (yourself included) walks over the trap. Having non-damaging conditions alone will not cause the trap to trigger.
ty for this guide, i only played minnestrial till yet, but i think your build is also very good, so that also new players with no ascended gear can play because you can easily buy this cleric + magi stats armor/assec in the trading post /exotic). ty for the video
They are both really fine, and yes, cleric+magi is easy to acquire for newer players. However, i still would prioritize healing power than boon duration, so i think minstrel might be a little worse.
Cool guide!
I suggest to test out the Sigil of Life instead of Benevolence. When we look at the numbers, we can see that the biggest source of Druid's healing is regeneration boon and Life increases its power. Staff 5 skill has no target limit, so as Driud we are able to give Regeneration boon to our entire zerg (to any allies who touch the flower wall). This is a reason why I prefer Minstreal's gear as well. Cheers!
While i think sigil of life might be worth it, i don't think trading a nice chunk of healing power for boon duration is worth it, since druid has huge burst healing skills which don't benefire from the boon duration. However, the difference is probably not that big, both work perfectly.
It's finally going to be more worth it as support builds finally gets as much loot bags & kill credits that dps builds get! This is great news. good build as well btw. maybe make an updated version when the big Druid/Ranger change comes soon?
I will totally do it, druid is probably the biggest wvw winner for that patch!
should i use the skill 4 on celestial or just spam skill 1?
Hello, i recently made an updated video on druid, i would recommend to check it out.
However, celestial avatar priority are skill 3 and 4, skill 2 is another heal which is instant cast, and then you can spam skill 1 untile you have 3-4 ready again
I am currently using half harriers and half minstrels and it seems to be a nice balance, but I get why minstrel would be default for tankiness I just like having the concentration and extra damage. Will watch the rest of the video later, but yeah this build has been so effective for my guild’s zergs. I personally try to stay right behind the commander and target the heals so it hits the mob behind me
Yeah harriers should work too, just be a bit more careful :D
Robbie Falls