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Q: Advice on a Druid meta build for T1 fractal


Grampybone.3716

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Hello,I'd like to make a Druid build for T1 Fractal. I used to love healing in WoW (Priest/Shaman/Druid) but I was hestitant to try it in GW2 because healing is way different here than in other MMO's. tbh I never did a dungeon, or fractal or raid in the 6 years I play GW2, because I'm worried about not having the traditional tank/heal/3dps.

But after some friendly advices and encouraging on forum I'd really love to create a healer and start on easiest T1 after I get accustomed to the Druid in open world bossfights.

I checked a meta build on Metabattle: https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Druid_-_Boon_Support_Healer_(Fractal)The page advises ascended of course, but I'll have to choose between it's exotic versions: Harrier or Minstrel.My preference would be minstrel, it looks the most healy gear, plus it's less expensive than Harrier/Zehtuka. [unfortunately getting a griffon mount took alot of my gold :) ]

My question to Druid players is:Should I go for Minstrel gear for a T1 fractal, or would a similar rare quality gear version suffice?The initial reason I wanted to do a fractal is because I need an item to create 'Mawdry II', an item that converts Bloodstone Dust into another itemSo it will be unlikely I'll ever try T2 of higher. Is rare gear good enough for T1 if I equip it with the proper runes/gems?

If not I'll go for Minstrel, most important to me is that I don't join a T1 undergeared.

  • Grampybone
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Since it's T1 and you are short on gold, i'd get Magi gear and roll with it. Won't make much of a difference since T1 mobs have low health so they die really fast. And then grind some gold to get ascended harriers, which you'll need for T4 eventually because of the agony resistance and the extra boon duration, because there the mobs have a higher health pool.

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@Lynnie.7213 said:Since it's T1 and you are short on gold, i'd get Magi gear and roll with it. Won't make much of a difference since T1 mobs have low health so they die really fast. And then grind some gold to get ascended harriers, which you'll need for T4 eventually because of the agony resistance and the extra boon duration, because there the mobs have a higher health pool.

Ty for the info! :) So Minstrel is not a good choice for druid? I don't think I'll do any higher fractal than T1. For me it's more like having something else to do than just open world, I'm not looking to climb higher into the fractal tiers. But I'd rather be overgeared than undergeared.

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@Grampybone.3716 said:

@Lynnie.7213 said:Since it's T1 and you are short on gold, i'd get Magi gear and roll with it. Won't make much of a difference since T1 mobs have low health so they die really fast. And then grind some gold to get ascended harriers, which you'll need for T4 eventually because of the agony resistance and the extra boon duration, because there the mobs have a higher health pool.

Ty for the info! :) So Minstrel is not a good choice for druid? I don't think I'll do any higher fractal than T1. For me it's more like having something else to do than just open world, I'm not looking to climb higher into the fractal tiers. But I'd rather be overgeared than undergeared.

To chose right gear for druid you need to understand his role and what stats do for him. Druid is taken mostly for spirits, might (and other boons) and healing.That leaves 3 giod stat combos. Minstrel harrier and magi. Magi is best healing and hp but no boons. Harrier is best boons and minstrel brings defense all 3 but least damage. For fractals minstrel is ok but if you ever want to go to raids it can be problem there (some bosses are agroed by highest toughness).

For example I am using harrier Armor, weapons and backpack with rest of trinkets magi. Rubes of monk and sigils of transference, renewal on warhorn and water on Staff

To start you can do ascalonian catacombs and get exotic magi armor with monk runes.

And if you want to do only t1 mix of garrier for boon duration abd berserker will probably be the best

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@ButcherofMalakir.4067 said:

@Lynnie.7213 said:Since it's T1 and you are short on gold, i'd get Magi gear and roll with it. Won't make much of a difference since T1 mobs have low health so they die really fast. And then grind some gold to get ascended harriers, which you'll need for T4 eventually because of the agony resistance and the extra boon duration, because there the mobs have a higher health pool.

Ty for the info! :) So Minstrel is not a good choice for druid? I don't think I'll do any higher fractal than T1. For me it's more like having something else to do than just open world, I'm not looking to climb higher into the fractal tiers. But I'd rather be overgeared than undergeared.

To chose right gear for druid you need to understand his role and what stats do for him. Druid is taken mostly for spirits, might (and other boons) and healing.That leaves 3 giod stat combos. Minstrel harrier and magi. Magi is best healing and hp but no boons. Harrier is best boons and minstrel brings defense all 3 but least damage. For fractals minstrel is ok but if you ever want to go to raids it can be problem there (some bosses are agroed by highest toughness).

For example I am using harrier Armor, weapons and backpack with rest of trinkets magi. Rubes of monk and sigils of transference, renewal on warhorn and water on Staff

To start you can do ascalonian catacombs and get exotic magi armor with monk runes.

And if you want to do only t1 mix of garrier for boon duration abd berserker will probably be the best

TY! :) No raids for me, it's way too chaotic for me to focus.I like the idea of being a Druid with (Minstrel) gear that might protect me just that little extra few seconds to cast that one spell that avoids a wipe. Having defense gives me a feeling there's some surviving flexibility in case I mess up.But it's not about what I like, most important is what is best for the group. So I'll start with a few Harrier gear items and replace more of the Magi once I have enough gold to purchase more of the Harrier recipes. Or maybe I'll just buy some gold, I'd rather spend some money on it than join a group and feel guilty because my gear is not optimized for my task.I'll think about it, first I need alot of practice the Druid skills in world boss events before I even think of joining a fractal.

  • Grampybone
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@Grampybone.3716 said:

@"Lynnie.7213" said:Since it's T1 and you are short on gold, i'd get Magi gear and roll with it. Won't make much of a difference since T1 mobs have low health so they die really fast. And then grind some gold to get ascended harriers, which you'll need for T4 eventually because of the agony resistance and the extra boon duration, because there the mobs have a higher health pool.

Ty for the info! :) So Minstrel is not a good choice for druid? I don't think I'll do any higher fractal than T1. For me it's more like having something else to do than just open world, I'm not looking to climb higher into the fractal tiers. But I'd rather be overgeared than undergeared.

To chose right gear for druid you need to understand his role and what stats do for him. Druid is taken mostly for spirits, might (and other boons) and healing.That leaves 3 giod stat combos. Minstrel harrier and magi. Magi is best healing and hp but no boons. Harrier is best boons and minstrel brings defense all 3 but least damage. For fractals minstrel is ok but if you ever want to go to raids it can be problem there (some bosses are agroed by highest toughness).

For example I am using harrier Armor, weapons and backpack with rest of trinkets magi. Rubes of monk and sigils of transference, renewal on warhorn and water on Staff

To start you can do ascalonian catacombs and get exotic magi armor with monk runes.

And if you want to do only t1 mix of garrier for boon duration abd berserker will probably be the best

TY! :) No raids for me, it's way too chaotic for me to focus.I like the idea of being a Druid with (Minstrel) gear that might protect me just that little extra few seconds to cast that one spell that avoids a wipe. Having defense gives me a feeling there's some surviving flexibility in case I mess up.But it's not about what I like, most important is what is best for the group. So I'll start with a few Harrier gear items and replace more of the Magi once I have enough gold to purchase more of the Harrier recipes. Or maybe I'll just buy some gold, I'd rather spend some money on it than join a group and feel guilty because my gear is not optimized for my task.I'll think about it, first I need alot of practice the Druid skills in world boss events before I even think of joining a fractal.
  • Grampybone

The extra toughness on minstrel is likely to make you the target of mobs, the added pressure to you makes the extra toughness you get from it moot, and makes it difficult to focus on keeping others alive since the rest of the mobs will still be on your group, or have aoes. Additionally, some mechanics won't care about your hp, if you fail it you wipe. Key to druid is to know when to go into ca, when to exit ca, and how to recharge it as fast as possible, while keeping perma might, regen, fury, vigor on your group.

My build: (feel free to swap sword for axe)http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBMhZakRFaWxWVwnFIaxCjgB/UvqZVmCw3KA4M6KdxgS8+DA-jhyGQB97EAsUlBBVtibqPAAHCAoqEsWK9Gy+DKSVFy9EAIFgfzsA-e

Take stone over sun if your group has difficulty surviving, swap search and rescue or for glyph of tides if you need the cc, or glyph of empowerment if you don't need the cc and find your group isn't downing alot. Or if your group is downing alot and needs cc, swap sun for an extra cc. Spam f2 on fern hound for extra heals and regens, swap to gazelle for ccs. If even more ccs are needed, swap fern for moa. As a druid you'll be responsible for the 10% of the break bar that the mesmer didn't get (unless there's a war in the party) so your group can focus on dpsing so mechanics can be skipped.

editforgot to mention, take verdant etching if you're taking a glyph. Healing spring is just a personal preference since its a condi cleanse with pulsing healing and gives regen, glyph of rejuv and water spirit are also valid choices, the former especially if the group is running around alot.

edit 2please remember to blast your fields

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@Sephylon.4938 said:

@"Lynnie.7213" said:Since it's T1 and you are short on gold, i'd get Magi gear and roll with it. Won't make much of a difference since T1 mobs have low health so they die really fast. And then grind some gold to get ascended harriers, which you'll need for T4 eventually because of the agony resistance and the extra boon duration, because there the mobs have a higher health pool.

Ty for the info! :) So Minstrel is not a good choice for druid? I don't think I'll do any higher fractal than T1. For me it's more like having something else to do than just open world, I'm not looking to climb higher into the fractal tiers. But I'd rather be overgeared than undergeared.

To chose right gear for druid you need to understand his role and what stats do for him. Druid is taken mostly for spirits, might (and other boons) and healing.That leaves 3 giod stat combos. Minstrel harrier and magi. Magi is best healing and hp but no boons. Harrier is best boons and minstrel brings defense all 3 but least damage. For fractals minstrel is ok but if you ever want to go to raids it can be problem there (some bosses are agroed by highest toughness).

For example I am using harrier Armor, weapons and backpack with rest of trinkets magi. Rubes of monk and sigils of transference, renewal on warhorn and water on Staff

To start you can do ascalonian catacombs and get exotic magi armor with monk runes.

And if you want to do only t1 mix of garrier for boon duration abd berserker will probably be the best

TY! :) No raids for me, it's way too chaotic for me to focus.I like the idea of being a Druid with (Minstrel) gear that might protect me just that little extra few seconds to cast that one spell that avoids a wipe. Having defense gives me a feeling there's some surviving flexibility in case I mess up.But it's not about what I like, most important is what is best for the group. So I'll start with a few Harrier gear items and replace more of the Magi once I have enough gold to purchase more of the Harrier recipes. Or maybe I'll just buy some gold, I'd rather spend some money on it than join a group and feel guilty because my gear is not optimized for my task.I'll think about it, first I need alot of practice the Druid skills in world boss events before I even think of joining a fractal.
  • Grampybone

The extra toughness on minstrel is likely to make you the target of mobs, the added pressure to you makes the extra toughness you get from it moot, and makes it difficult to focus on keeping others alive since the rest of the mobs will still be on your group, or have aoes. Additionally, some mechanics won't care about your hp, if you fail it you wipe. Key to druid is to know when to go into ca, when to exit ca, and how to recharge it as fast as possible, while keeping perma might, regen, fury, vigor on your group.

My build: (feel free to swap sword for axe)

Take stone over sun if your group has difficulty surviving, swap search and rescue or for glyph of tides if you need the cc, or glyph of empowerment if you don't need the cc and find your group isn't downing alot. Or if your group is downing alot and needs cc, swap sun for an extra cc. Spam f2 on fern hound for extra heals and regens, swap to gazelle for ccs. If even more ccs are needed, swap fern for moa. As a druid you'll be responsible for the 10% of the break bar that the mesmer didn't get (unless there's a war in the party) so your group can focus on dpsing so mechanics can be skipped.

editforgot to mention, take verdant etching if you're taking a glyph. Healing spring is just a personal preference since its a condi cleanse with pulsing healing and gives regen, glyph of rejuv and water spirit are also valid choices, the former especially if the group is running around alot.

edit 2please remember to blast your fields

TY for the info and your build! :) I'll stick to Magi--->Harrier upgrading then to avoid getting aggro because of Minstrel gear. It's seems I'll have alot to learn before getting used to the mechanics, but I'm motivated. There's open world boss events to practice :)

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As for pets. You should have iboga, rock gazzele and lighting Wyvern. Iboga is basic dps pet, and lw + rz are for cc. Rz is also needed if you want to swap to Soulbeast to burst something quicker (advanced strategies).You always want to have frost spirit. If your party members are mostly power specs (as they should be in fractals) you should run glyph if empowerment.If your party lack vurnability then storm Spirit is most important.Sun spirit is worth taking if you want more dps and have a spot left. If you gave mostly condi party then it is better then glyph of empowerment.If your party needs defense then stone spitit is way to go (remember more dps -> shorter fight-> less damage taken). You should never drop frost and almost never glyph of empowerment.

Good druid never camp staff. That is your "oh shit" weapon. Try to stay on axe+warhorn set. If you have quickdrav trait you can use something like ca-4 or warhorn-5 2 times. Regeneration from warhorn will help you recharge ca faster. Also try to use warhorn 4 on cd since it recharge ca very fast (95 percent sure there). Offhand axe is good for puling mobs tofether but that should be done by chrono.

And you never know. Maybe you will see after a while that t1 is too easy for you. And if you dont like chaos, support classes like druid and chrono are great to avoid it :D

Edit: the build above definitly works but 100% boon duration is not needed so i woukdnt run the concentration sigil and used water or renewal there.Search and rescue is good with inexperianced players for sure but it becomes less useful when they are experianced.And sword is slightly better damage then axe but axe can apply weakness that is quite rare to get and increese dps of your elementalists extremly.

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T1 is fairly easy to start out. Make some magi or buy it. It should be fairly cheap in comparison to other gear you mentioned.After that you can gradually get ascended stuff of your liking. The goal is to be harrier at t3 level. And enough agony res ofc.Support in Gw2 is mainly focussed on buffing and healing as second choice.Tanking can be done by anyone. Its toughness based so you can even cover that when gearing minstrel.Gw2 is more or less dps focussed.

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@Grampybone.3716 said:I like the idea of being a Druid with (Minstrel) gear that might protect me just that little extra few seconds to cast that one spell that avoids a wipe. Having defense gives me a feeling there's some surviving flexibility in case I mess up.

As others have pointed out, extra toughness can have nasty side effects at PvE side(*). Minstrel armor is mostly used by (1) PvE tanks (e.g. Chrono tank), and (2) WvW support (e.g. Firebrand). PvE support most probably aim towards harrier. I have played lower tier fractals in my druid's old WvW roaming setup (commander pieces and such), but I noticed that blood sage necro is more suitable for lower tier (hybrid) support. Druid playing is more about entering and exiting CA. Heals are mostly just nice-to-have side effects when keeping buffs up. You don't need to worry too much about your lower tier gears: if lower tier group can't make it with support Druid in berserker gears, it most probably can't make it with support Druid in harrier gears: at lower tiers you mostly help your group best by dishing out enough DPS.

(*) I have criticized earlier this toughness tanking mechanism this game has. It artificially divides support gears between PvE and WvW, as at WvW side you usually need some toughness + vitality, because you can't decide if the enemy concentrates its fire to you or not.

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Ty for the info everyone and sharing your build :) , very appreciated!I found out I can easily farm daily trade contracts in the Tomb of Kings. I thought it was forbidden because of the PoF story quest, where the ghosts accuse you of being a supporter of Joko to steal their treasures. With my 9 profession toons I can farm about 200+ trade contracts a day, by only visiting these tombs, so getting the Harrier recipes will be easy :).

@ ButcherofMalakir.4067 : I'll have a look for these pets, I don't have all pets yet but I have the wiki to help me find them. And ty for the info about the sigils :)

  • Grampybone
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