wacky druid build needs help in pvp

[setdog.1592]

Ive been playing some version of a short bow druid with sword/torch. generally skirmish, wilderness surv, and druid. I switch around between carrion or sage amulets, krait rune,. i play around with some other runes sometimes but generally carrion or sage w/ krait. agony / energy sigils and various on sword. It is a fun build, but its pretty pathetic in too many situations. It can be ok in roaming and some duels, like anything else it can help +1. Overall the class really doesn't shine unless allowed to shoot from behind, which can be very difficult to achieve, most of the time, to any great effect. Its not very common that you're able to shoot behind someone, and even then it can be a slow build up. The build is especially weak in team fights where everyone is running circles around each other, standing in aoe. You've lost half your damage from Short bow, so you swap to Sw/T and now you have to hope your enemy picks up some burning in your Bonfire.

It does have it moments tho, if u can line up the entangle, bonfire and jacaranda pet skill call lighting, to all go off. at the same time, and your targets have run out of immobilize cleansing traits, boons or utilities, this can be satisfying. And this does happen occasionally, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to control how to pull this off. U can keep pet in avoid combat state, but then you are losing damage. Which makes it very unreliable. Not to mention pet location and pathing which is bizarre. Imagine you see your enemy on a node and you are line of sighting behind the edge of a barricade. You press attack to send in pet. So the pet goes the longest way around the barricade to your target, who is now in your face. And what does your pet Jacaranda do, it goes back around the long way on its way back to you to help finally hit your target. The projectile from jacaranda gets blocked by terrain as often as it lands. If there is never going to be a way to make pets more reliable, then perhaps there should be some compensation for that.

What bothers me isn't so much damage, though there is nothing about this build that hits hard. Its pretty much just bleeds some poisons and some burning, basically its a condition build. But nowhere does it seem capable of packing a punch in those moments when it really needs to. It kinda just drools along until u get this random burst of evades and leaps and a surprise call lightning from a floating ball of roots, which makes it fun. Kills tend to be too slow in most team fights. Escaping 3v1 seems impossible. This would be great to be able to disengage better.

Everything about it feels like a 6.5-7/10.

[Eurantien.4632]

Seems like you summed it up pretty well yourself!

[setdog.1592]

yea its too bad, it almost feels like a thief out of stealth when caught in a team fight. The protection it gains sounds great, the evasion sounds great, certain condi builds blow it out of the water in terms of pressure and either sustain or defensives, idk. utility options like glyph of unity which is essentially an expensive version of retaliation are not worth the cost of a util slot. generally however its a fun build, so theres that. but it is very inconsistent. sometimes it performs (seems to anyway, maybe there are other factors involved) really well other times it completely falls flat.

[Kolisch.4691]

If using Krait runes, just drop torch, and pick up dagger. Attack -> Shortbow auto flank stack bleeds, and poison master trait to mess with regen, sbow5 when no stab/reflect/projectile wall proc ancient seeds. Sbow3 to keep up LoYF for evades/swift, stagger sbow3 with your dodges. Remember prot buff is for you to take hits and stay in fight. Sb2 n 4 use situanally. When you get focused, if CA not up, GTFO by swap sword2, about face/set up direction for sword3, you have two other evades right now sw2 first, reposition or straight into dagger4, sw2 leap away should be up, one dodge should be ready by now, don't blow them right after another... keep reposition/move away when no harm to manage your cooldowns because your prot will soak up some damage. If you don't blow them right after another you have enough surviving power to run away from divinity's reach to ascalonian catacombs. Nobody got time to chase you for dungeon daily. So, yeah. S/d is your GTFO set. Don't enter fight right after you swap to sbow if you think you'll be under heavy fire. This is so you can have s/d GTFO maneuvering ready.

Utilities can be lightning reflexes, protect me. I like smokescale for stealth from leap but pet pretty much your preference.

[Kolisch.4691]

One more: CA is mainly for you to keep in fight with Sbow.