Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Kitty's alternative healbuilds that actually BOON (for pugs)


Recommended Posts

So, as druid has gotten nerfed further and further, we've finally started seeing alternative healbuilds in raids. (Well, Kitty was already running most of them 1,5 years before they became popular but...) Kitty's noticed one serious problem about them, though. The healbuilds people are using seem to be focused on pure healing which is quite an issue, especially in pug raids. One of the main reasons why people (mostly pugs) have still been running double-druids in raids has been the boons they bring and double-druid ensuring that might is topped even if both druids are less than mediocre, as well as some utility. Not because of druids' heals (which are on the lower end of the scale if traiting Gotl).And therefore Kitty's personally always aimed to make sure her alternative heal-builds bring at least some fury, some might for their subsquad and preferably some other unique utilities that make them at least equal, if not better option than a 2nd druid. And as she's been testing them on various bosses, they've proved effective and the boon uptimes have been way better than average. They give slightly less heals than pure heal-alternatives but pure healers usually tend to output excessive heals anyway (and Kitty's builds still output more heals than GotL druids).And for comparison, Kitty's seen lots of squads with 60%ish fury uptime and 16-18 might uptime due to their 2nd healer bringing next to 0 boons and most druids can't keep both squads topped due to druid's fury sources mainly targeting 5 (and going almost exclusively to their sub) and part of druid's might output also targetting 5 (CotW) since only might output by GotL (aka. skills in CA) and Frost Spirit (has hugely nerfed might output after spirit revamp) are 10-target. The boon uptime problems have usually been worst with heal-scourges (which are very popular these days) due to their non-existential boon output.

So, to get into the main topic at hand...the properly booning alternative heal-builds for pugs. Kitty includes GW2skills-calc, Proc+Cons, what they bring, quick summary about how to play them and what other supports are well-compatible with them in raid comps (these can seem messy at times due to how boons can overlap). Almost all of these builds also also capable of tanking various bosses by using minstrel's gears instead and using some special trait or utility skill to block stuff like Mind Crush. Tanking requires very throughout knowledge about the bosses and class to deal with mechanics properly.(Note: if the build can bring full might for 5, it also works well as healer in fractals to replace druid, sans spirits and spotter) Also, when you're thinking about squad compositions, you'll need a druid or spirit soulbeast (without too big ego to take the spirits) if you want Frost+Sun Spirit (Stone Spirit and Storm Spirit provide protection and vulnerability which aren't unique to ranger).

Kitty's Boonsome Heal-ScourgeGW2skills-build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArfGnE9CV9it1As3gluBb6BsxCAUfgNQFQvneUTqA-jxRSQBiUJYC1HAg9Hs1pAgLq/8snAQHV+RKA/GsB-ePros:+Can work as full mightbot or fill the gaps left by primary mightbot for 5 as well as completing the subsquad's fury and swiftness uptime.+Can negate huge portion of incoming damage if timing the barriers properly+Provides decent amount of boons from range while kiting+Does lots of condi cleanse and boon corruption if needed+The Ressbot+Good amount of CC through fears, well-timed Oppressive Collapse and Flesh GolemCons:-Focuses on proactively negating damage and isn't as strong as some other builds on healing it if some gets through the barrier-Only provides half of sub's fury and thus requires some other support (for ex. chrono with pack runes) to provide the other half-Has very weak epi as magi's/harrier's build (Alternative condi/heal hybrid version linked below provides strong epi, too)-Lower health and weaker heals than the most popular version in exchange for providing full boon uptimes and thus higher squad dps in most cases-Requires knowing the mechanics and some lifeforce management for extreme carrying though mostly "spam the buttons off-CD" build.-Doesn't have any knockbacks or immobilizes, only fear.

-Outputs avg. 22 might from skills (and another 2,5 from pack runes), 100% regen, 50% and 50% fury uptimes for 5. Might output can be reduced by swapping Dessicate to some other supportive skill for encounter if 10-man-mightbot knows their stuff well. Might output can also be increased by swapping Serpent Siphon to Blood is Power if you need to ensure full might for your sub. (if you don't have 10-target-mightbot or squad needs to split, for ex. Largos)-Swap between weapons mostly off-CD. Try to be in scepter+torch when Oppressive Collapse comes out of cooldown to use it asap and thus keeping might high. When Oppressive Collapse is used and it goes on cooldown, you can swap to staff to output regen with Mark of Blood and generate lifeforce with staff skills.-Try to use Shadow Fiend's active skill Haunt sometime soon before Oppressive Collapse to maximize the condi count for more might.-If you don't need CC for the boss, you can take Ghastly Breach for even more might and boon corruption-This build uses Pack Runes instead of some others since they're the only rune set that allows heal-scourge to output fury. Majority of support chronos can only bring about 250-350% fury output (50-70% uptime for sub) so heal-scourge's fury output will be needed or subsquad suffers from low fury uptimes. Pack runes also passively bring some might and 50-60% swiftness uptime for the sub.-Though most guides advice on using dagger, Kitty has rarely found herself out of lifeforce with scepter+torch/staff and using scepter means that heal-scourge can be at range while still generating lifeforce and boons. This is especially important in kiting roles, like flak kiter at Sabetha. Staff also generating lots of lifeforce due to interaction with Soul Marks and Fear of Death giving extra 15% when using Reaper's Mark. Scepter+torch also outputs a number of condis which can be helpful for Oppressive Collapse's condi-count for might output if squad doesn't have many condi DPSers.-Kitty left 3rd utility slot empty in the calc to use a suitable utility skill, like Well of Power for stab/stunbreak, Blood Is Power for might, Corrosive Poison Cloud for projectile destruction, Shadow Fiend for more lifeforce or Sand Swell for scourge-portals, for example.

-Works best with following supports in same sub: Heal/DPS Quickbrand(if they can't keep up 100% fury for sub), Support chrono-Works best with following supports in the other sub: Heal/DPS-Quickbrand+Alac-Renegade, Boon/Heal-engineer/scrapper, Boonsome Heal-Scourge, Druid, Boon Herald (heal or dps version), Might/Furybot Deadeye/Tempest/Warrior (if the other sub's healer doesn't output offensive boons)-Doesn't work well with following supports in the other sub: Boon Warhorn Tempest (heal or dps-edition, especially with scepter+warhorn) or Boonthief (Matthias, KC, MO) (due to overlapping and thus wasted boons), Healers without at least 5-target-mightbot capability (Popular heal-scourge, Heal-FB without Empowering Might, Heal Staff Tempest, Lingering Light Druid, Heal Chronomancer, pure heal Scrapper, Alacrity-Healgade without Heal-FB)

Alternative condi/heal hybrid version: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQJArfnE9CV9il9Ce3As3gFjBTftWXvrR/sAwBYqHk0eBA-jBSSQB0UFEFdCAupSQZqHwiqfAg9Hspyvn9AAIFgf7qA-e

Kitty's Boonsome Heal-HeraldGW2skills-build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQJAWin3gmNSuQzJRboNlsP0oS4I6UJ4ENskFNFatJTJLtDIAPwOgH8hA-jxRGQB/7JAAgLBgUVCyI1faqyvcqLoI7PQKA/GsB-ePros:+Very strong regen and burst heals+2nd best might/furybot (inferior to warhorn tempest)+Best swiftness, protection and regen output+Provides Assassin's Presence+Also somewhat self-sufficient on quickness and provides some alacrity+Large boon output radius and thus good booner while kiting+Strong CC if utilized properly, also has 2 AoE-knockbacks built-inCons:-Requires 2 weapon sets for swapping to trigger Brutality (if you have only one weapon, use Assassin's Annihilation instead)-Relies mostly on regen for healing when in Dragon stance-Burst heals only available 50% of time through Ventari Stance-Lacks ressbot abilities-Can be boring since it hardly uses weaponskills at all.-Almost completely lacks immobilizes (only short duration on sword 4).-Has only 2 condicleanses which consume a lot of energy and likely interrupt healing and booning

-Outputs close to full might, 100% regen, fury, swiftness and protection for 10 as well as some alacrity for 5. (+66% quickness on self) Also brings Assassin's Presence for ferocity boost.-Usually uses 2 of the same weapon and swaps weapon off-CD to trigger Brutality for quickness-Double staff for healing purposes, double hammer for kiting (flak at Sab, Greens at VG, Oils/Blacks at Deimos etc.), double-swords or sword+shield (sword+empty/empty+sword or shield) if you can melee and don't need staff's auto-attack heals so you can output some vulnerability.-Essentially:

  1. Spam Natural Harmony in Centaur Stance, swap to Dragon Stance when stance-swap cooldown is over.
  2. Turn on Facets+F2 when entering Dragon Stance, active F2 for boon extension and turn on elite facet and auto-attack 'til around 7-10% energy and then active all facets except heal facet and swap to Centaur Stance.-Alternatively you can keep F2 on until you're around 7-10% energy and then activate F2+utility facets and not touch elite facet except for CC (or just double-tap it before swapping to Centaur Stance to retain it for another 6 seconds). This generates even higher might and fury uptimes at the cost of lower protection output. Works well if there's another healer with good protection output in squad.
  3. If you need to block some mech like Mind Crush, you can either activate heal-facet or use staff/shield block.
  4. If you need to do some knockbacks, place Ventari tablet next to the enemy, on the opposite side from direction where you want to push it and use Energy Expulsion or activate elite facet.
  5. Swap weapon off-CD to trigger Brutality (if you're using that trait). NOTE: Stance-swapping DOESN'T count as weapon swap for that trait.-Uses Sigil of Strength to get might on crits which triggers Shared Empowerment which is the main source of might for squadies.

-Works best with following supports in same sub: Support chronomancer, Quickbrand (requires Alacgade in the other sub)-Works best with following supports in the other sub: Quickbrand+Alac-Renegade, Heal Chronomancer, Bad Druid/Lingering Light Druid, Popular Heal Scourge, Heal Firebrand (without Empowering Might), Heal Staff Tempest, Pure Heal Scrapper-Doesn't work well with following supports in the other sub: Anything that provides lots of might and fury unless they're/you're too far to provide boons when kiting some mechanic(due to overlapping boons).

Kitty's Alacrity/Mightbot Heal-RenegadeGW2skills-build (Alacrity-version): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQJAWmnnNWMTyJvmRNlZzsoytZ4UZ3MIs8bmFNl6PIPymsdACgHYtJmisA-jxRSQBiUJYC1FYrLBwzeCATU9HAs/QHV+RKA/mZB-eGW2skills-build (Mightbot-version): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQJAWmnnNWMTyJvmRNlZzsoytZ4UZ3MIs8bmFNlqdACgHYtJmis4PIPylE-jxRSQB26SAISlgP7JA0RlfAY/hEqLYiq/QKA/mZB-e

Pros:(Alacrity-version)+Provides full alacrity for 10. Also brings some might, protection, retaliation, swiftness and fury as well as Assassin's Presence for 5 and 60% quickness uptime on self.(Mightbot-version)+Provides full might and alacrity for 5. Also brings some protection, retaliation, swiftness and fury as well as Assassin's Presence for 5 and 60% quickness uptime on self.+Good burst heals in Centaur stance and very strong continuous heal in Renegade Stance+Decent CC powerCons:-Lacks ressbot abilities-Requires 2 weapon sets for swapping to trigger Brutality (if you have only one weapon, use Assassin's Annihilation instead)-Requires somewhat specific squad compositions to be as effective as possible-Complicated energy management-Has only 2 condicleanses which consume a lot of energy and likely interrupt healing and booning.-Almost completely lacks immobilizes (only short duration on sword 4).-Can be boring since it hardly uses weaponskills at all.-Relies on evading for regen and retaliation output..

-Alacrity-version: outputs 100% alacrity for 10, 4 seconds of regen+retaliation on each dodge (3s ICD), 70%+ protection and avg. 15 stacks of might uptime for 5.-Mightbot-version: outputs 100% alacrity and 25 might uptime for 5, 4 seconds of regen+retaliation on each dodge (3s ICD) and 70%+ protection uptime for 5.-Both versions output 100% Assassin's Presence for 5 (or 80ish% for 7-8 if all in same sub/rene outside subs) and 60% quickness on self (if using Brutality-trait while swapping doubled weapons off-CD).-Essentially:

  1. Only uses weapon skills for emergency cleanse (Renewing Wave), blocking (Warding Rift) or CC (Surge of the Mists). Otherwise just auto-attacks to generate orbs.
  2. Spams Heroic Command and Orders from Above off-CD (they don't line up with stance swaps). Make sure you have energy for them unless you need to burst-heal.-If there's a good 10-target-mightbot in squad, you don't need to use Heroic Command for might generation and thus you can spend your energy on something more healsome.
  3. In Centaur stance: Spam Natural Harmony while making sure you have the energy for HC and OfA (unless you need extra heals more than boons). Swap to Renegade stance when cooldown is over. In Renegade stance: use Soulcleave's Summit when you enter the stance and Breakrazor's Bastion off-CD. If you need to CC or provide stability soon, you can delay Soulcleave's Summit to make sure you have the energy for Darkrazor's Daring (6 pulses of 2s stability and 1s daze).
  4. If you need to do some knockbacks, place Ventari tablet next to the enemy, on the opposite side from direction where you want to push it and use Energy Expulsion.
  5. Use Purifying Essence or Renewing Wave if you need to do some condicleansing.
  6. Swap weapon off-CD to trigger Brutality (if you're using that trait). NOTE: Stance-swapping DOESN'T count as weapon swap for that trait.

Alacrity Heal-Renegade:-Works best with following supports in same sub: Heal-Quickbrand with Empowering Might, Quickness-chronomancer with Pack Runes (if other sub has 10-target-mightbot), Quickness-Chronomancer with Firebrand runes (if other sub has 10-target-might+furybot, you also should use Monk/water runes in this case), some DPS-mightbot (if quickchrono or quickbrand can't produce full might and there's no 10-target-mightbots in squad)-Works best with following supports in the other sub: Quickbrand (without EM)+GotL Druid(/Boon Herald/Scepter+Warhorn Tempest/Might+Furybot Deadeye if you use Monk runes), Heal-Firebrand with EM + any pure healer/extra dps (if your sub has Heal-Firebrand with Empowering Might, too), DPS Quickbrand+Heal Chronomancer+5-target-mightbot/dps (if your sub has Heal-Firebrand with Empowering Might)-Doesn't work well with following supports in the other sub: any pure healer without Heal-Firebrand(with Empowering Might), Full Support Chronomancer (excessive alacrity, use Mightbot version). 10-target-furybots (excessive fury, use monk runes instead), Quickbrand+Heal-chrono without mightbotMightbot Heal-Renegade:-Works best with following supports in same sub: Heal-Quickbrand (without Empowering Might), Power/Condi Quickbrand, Quickness-chronomancer (with Pack runes)-Works best with following supports in the other sub: Heal-Quickbrand (with EM)+Pure Healer/Extra dps, Heal-Quickbrand (without EM)+5-man-Mightbot (Healer or dps), Quickness-Chronomancer+Heal Herald-Doesn't work well with following supports in the other sub: Any 10-target-mightbot (Way too excessive might.), pure healer without 5-man-might/furybot (No might or fury for other sub), combinations without quickbrand or quickness-chrono (No quickness.).

Kitty's Boonsome Heal-ChronomancerGW2skills-build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRArd7encfC9filfC2fCEgiFljCtyShI4MAWgJrORn0KF-jxRSQBdU5HA2fQkKBf2TAwWnEgEqfYiq/QKA/mZB-ePros:+Stable heal output with good burst+Fills any gaps in quickness and alacrity possibly left by support chronomancers+Brings most of same stuffs as support chronomancer and can take usual chrono jobs to let support chronos focus on booning and dpsing+Capable of tanking most bosses while having superb self-sustain+Can block mechanics with Distortion's Aegis-share and Well of PrecognitionCons:-Has very low might output and requires a good 10-man-mightbot in the other sub-Not as good as support chronomancer at evading mechanics due to lacking Blurred Frenzy-> can't tank completely standing still at Deimos-Boons can become wasted if the squad actually has 2 good chronomancers (not an usual case with pugs)-Doesn't give regen to allies.-Doesn't ressbot. (You can swap an utility well for Illusion of Life but it's not reliable ressbot and doesn't ress at all on bosses without adds.)

-Outputs 2,5 might, 100% swiftness, 50-60% fury, quickness and alacrity for 5.-Very good survivability for kiting duties and capable of throwing booning wells at long range.-Essentially spams illusion-spawning skills, wells and auto-attack (3rd attack spawns a clone if there's not 3 clones already) to heal and provide boons while using shatters whenever there's 3 clones to make room for more clones.-Is based on Illusionary Inspiration-trait which heals the nearby allies whenever you summon a phantasm or a clone. Heals a lot when using a scepter since every finished auto-attack chain summons a clone, phantasms heal a total of 3 times (2xphantasm+1clone) due to Chronophantasma and summons a clone when either blocking or insta-activating Illusionary Counter. All's Well That Ends Well-trait also makes wells heal about 3,5k health when they pop (after +outgoing heals-modifiers). Very strong AoE heal on Well of Eternity.-If the other sub has a 10-man-furybot, you can use Monk's runes instead for even better heals.

-Works best with following supports in same sub: Support chronomancer, DPS-Quickbrand, Heal-Quickbrand (with Empowering Might)-Works best with following supports in the other sub (if Heal-Qbrand with EM or a dps/5-man-might/furybot in your sub): Quickbrand+Alac-Renegade, Heal-Quickbrand (with EM), Heal-Renegade (with Lasting Legacy-trait), Boonsome Heal-Scourge, Boon/Heal-Engi/Scrapper, 5-man-might/furybot/dps hybrids.-Works best with following supports in the other sub (without a mightbot in your sub): Heal Herald, Scepter+Warhorn Tempest, Good GotL Druid, Might/Furybot Deadeye, Boonthief (MO, KC, Matthias)-Doesn't work well with following supports in the other sub: Anything that doesn't produce proper might for their sub. 5-man-mightbots if your sub doesn't have Heal-FB with Empowering Might.

Kitty's Sarcastic Staff Druid (proper boons with staff 1-spam!)(Kitty's obviously super-serious about this one. It does work decently, though.)GW2skills-build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQFAWn8ICtqg9qAOrAEtgFGBjJc9tCAOhugVMAOqeVzqlY3xA-jxxGQBA4CAEU1fI3DAwF7PcTdALV5HUVCSKA/mZB-ePros:+Gives proper boons without the hassle of weapon-swapping+So squadies get proper fury and swiftness uptimes even if druid literally presses 111111...+Druid is always in staff for staff utilities and heals.+To provide the might, druid just needs to press F5-4324-F5 whenever Celestial Avatar is available.+Provides all the important spirits+Can drop a spirit and change pets to meet the demands of the encounter without losing much+Can just buy the runes for 10g instead of bothering with farming the monk's runes (which only hardcore druids have anyway, right?)+Nature Spirit resses (if you don't need entangle for boss mechanic)Cons:~20% weaker heals than with monk runes-Druid still needs to keep on activating spirits off-CD to give some of their boons-Pet swap can be on cooldown at a bad moment since it needs to be used off-CD for boons-Super-boring build to play (unless you decide to play druid CM and avoid using any weapon skills just to make the rotation in the log look noob-y)

-Outputs close to full might and protection for 10, 50% regen for 10, 30% vigor for 10 and full vigor for 5 as well as excessive amounts of fury for the sub (or close to full fury for whole squad if druid is outside the subs or whole squad is one sub and fury pets are used). Full fury for sub if CC-pets are used.-People won't really notice the difference in heals since druid overheals anyway and 20% off from overheals can't be much below 100% from full required heals.-The playstyle is essentially:

  1. To keep up might properly, enter Celestial Avatar whenever it comes off from cooldown, cast 4324 and then exit the Celestial Avatar to preserve astral force. If you need to provide extra heals, spam CA2 and CA3, not CA1 (CA1 has super-small radius and it doesn't heal much so it's a waste of time and energy). Only use CA5 if you need to emergency immobilize something (mostly needed at Gorseval's spirits if Entangle misses or spirit somehow gets too close to it). Only delay CA a few seconds if you'll need lots of heals within 8-10 seconds but not yet. (for ex. when Gorseval's rampage is about to start or green is popping in 7 seconds at VG).-Since staff druid camps staff, it'll only trigger Quick-Draw when entering and exiting Celestial Avatar. Thus CA4 will insta-recharge after first use and there won't be a gap between CA2 and 2nd CA.
  2. Spam Astral Wisp off-CD, use Sublime Conversion to setup a water field and use Ancestral Grace to move into it and blast it for more heals. If you need to immobilize something, use Vine Surge.
  3. Summon spirits when combat starts and keep activating them as much as possible to give their boons.
  4. Use F2-skills off-CD (if you're using boon pets) and also pet swap as often as possible to provide fury and vigor.
  5. If encounter requires lots of CC, use Lightning Wyvern and Rock Gazelle/Pink Moa. If encounters immobilizes to stop stuff or to clear Sam's spears, use Entangle instead of Nature Spirit. If you need to knockback stuff or use some other special utility, replace Frost Spirit at condi-bosses, Sun Spirit at power-bosses or Stone Spirit if squad comp is balanced between power and condi and you can afford losing the protection.

-Works best with following supports in same sub: Support Chronomancer, Quickbrand (without EM, requires Alac-Renegade in the other sub)-Works best with following supports in the other sub: Quickbrand+Alac-Renegade, Heal-Chronomancer, Heal-Scourge, (Boon)/Heal Engi/Scrapper, Heal Staff Tempest, Heal-Renegade, Heal-Firebrand-Doesn't work well with the following supports (you can use Lingering Light instead of Grace of the Land if there's any of these in the other sub and they're/you're not kiting): Boon/Heal (Scepter+)Warhorn Tempest, Boon/Heal Herald, Might/Furybot Deadeye, Boonthief (MO, Matt, KC)

Heal-Firebrand ("There are multiple ways we can do this and the choice is yours.")GW2skills-build (Mace+Shield 100% fury version): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJApOnsADFBDeCBEEhlHCDLAMc+A7zz8ZAN79MfyAA-jxRSQBdU5ntOBAP7BAISlgJUPwEV/BA7PQKA/GsB-eGW2skills-build (Scepter+Shield 100% fury version): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJArOnsADFBDeCBEEhlHCbfemPDoZvn5TGALAMc+AA-jxhXQB66BA4P1fonegGqEEhK/Aw+Dh6EAQKA/GsB-eGW2skills-build (Axe/Mace+Shield 100% fury version): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAreHnsADFBDeCBEEhlHCDLAMc+AZvn5TGYfemPDoA-jxhXQBIU5HA2fge6DC1JAwfq/ornAQDVCSKA/GsB-e-Mace+Shield is the most defensive version with best heals and most blocks. Scepter+Shield has the highest might output, though weaker heals, and it works really well for kiting duties. Axe/Mace+Shield swaps weapons off-CD and allows using Monk runes while retaining 100% fury uptime for sub.-If the sub has another support with at least 250% fury output (50% fury uptime for sub), you can swap Pack Runes to Monk runes for better heal output.-If the sub already gets high might uptime (17 or higher) from another support, you can swap Empowering Might to Pure of Heart for better heal output.-For the empty utility slot, you can take Mantra of Lore if sub doesn't get any regen from other sources. Or "Stand Your Ground!" to share stability/stun-break the whole squad and provide retaliation for DHs and to give 4s of quickness for 10 (if you haven't given any other stability or quickness within last 7 seconds). Or Bow of Truth for a strong AoE-heal every 20ish seconds.To be continuad...

Heal-Engineer/ScrapperGW2skills-build (Core Engineer): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqelsThqqYNVwdLQ7FLGGVYA8X5n4+FCbwYP8CLIA-jBiXQBAY/hGqEUXPAA/p6B90DgQlfHRNkQdCAIFgfzsA-eGW2skills-build (Scrapper): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqelsThqqYNVwdLQ7FLGGVYA8X5n4+FCbAdj/4bOA-jBiXQB+T1jjoGCCV+prHAA90DAg9HaoSwQdCAIFgfzsA-eTo be continuad...

Heal Scepter+Warhorn TempestGW2skills-build (Water+Earth): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBLhdSfJ0fJWhJ4gJwhJW2AshHQA4CSsCSBVA38afdwC-jxxGQBQVJYQV/BAnAgbqHgcPAghs/wSV+RKA/mZB-eGW2skills-build (Water+Fire): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBLhdSfJ0fJWhJ4gJwhJWEAsgAQB4AQ8E2CZS3V7rt2C-jxxGQB3UPwQ2fAAnAggq+DUVCSuHAwSV+RKA/mZB-eGW2skills-build (True Water+Earth Auramancer): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBLhdSfJ0fJWhJ4gJwhJW2AM386f9wO8ACAFQiOQKoCA-jBSSQBAY/Bb9AA6oyPRqEkLqgMR1Pe2JAIh6BIFQgD2A-e-Water+Fire is the easiest way to provide complete might+fury uptimes for whole squad as it gets the starter-fury for sharing from fire fields and might from shouts, Fire Overload and blasting.-Water+Earth requires either pack runes or an external source of fury to share it further. It might also be unable to provide complete fury uptime without help from support chronomancers or firebrands. (which you'll need anyway to keep up quickness). It also has longer cooldown on fire skills which means less frequent Heat Sync and high chance of might dropping considerably before reapplying. This version outputs full protection on top of might and fury without compromising might uptimes.-True Water+Earth Auramancer is the most defensive option and it most likely needs external fury source for spreading it since it also doesn't have double-Sand Squall (Earth wh4 + Health below 90% with Imbued Melodies) to extend it . It also depends on might from crits (with Fried Golden Dumpling) to keep self-might high enough to share full stacks and the might stacks very likely fall between the Heat Syncs. It does have superior superior vigor and regen output as well as heals compared to other options.Kitty's rotation is mostly...

  1. Spam shouts off-CD unless you need the heals or Rebound! for dangerous hit soon.
  2. Rotate in attunements in Fire -> Earth (just Sand Squall) -> Water -> Repeat-order to first build up might and share it with Heat Sync, then extend it with Sand Squall and camp water for heals until Fire Attunement comes off from cooldown and start blasting the Wildfire again.
  3. The fire attunement rotation is usually something like Dragon's Tooth -> Wildfire -> Phoenix -> Dragon's Tooth -> Fire Overload -> Dragon's Tooth (to blast fire field from Fire Overload) -> Heat Sync. This rotation alone creates 21 stacks of might by the time you use Heat Sync (assuming all blasts trigger a fire field which is quite likely, surprisingly) and you get last 4 stacks (and some extra) from spamming shouts. Just target those blasts accurately to increase the chances of triggering fire fields.To be continuad...(After some sleep since all this text took a long day of writing.)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently my static runs a water/earth auramancer + a standard might druid on the bosses that we want 2 healers, and then on easier bosses the auramancer build template swaps to a more offensive build. This is a nice compromise so that we don't have to wait for extra load screens. It is true that the auramancer is lacking fury, however by running the 10 man shouts trait, your protection output is good enough that the druid can run lighting/frost/sun spirits (since the glyph is dead now anyways). Those spirits take care of squad wide fury/vigor, so it all works out with 2 chronos extending those boons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Linken.6345 said:

@Compleo.3182 said:Would be nice to have a link to a source written by person named Kitty you are talking about xd. It's not nice to plagiarize works of other people.

Incase you dont know that poster refer to themselfs in third person.

I guess u missed 'xd' part.Would be a shame to take that kind of writing seriously. So for now it seems like a plagiarism xd .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Compleo.3182 said:

@Compleo.3182 said:Would be nice to have a link to a source written by person named Kitty you are talking about xd. It's not nice to plagiarize works of other people.

Incase you dont know that poster refer to themselfs in third person.

I guess u missed 'xd' part.Would be a shame to take that kind of writing seriously. So for now it seems like a plagiarism xd .

No idea what xd means thought it was a typo

@Kelieto.6375 said:Very nice post! Previously, I would get kicked from groups because everyone kept downing and they thought it was the lack of healing but now I provide boons too so the other healer got kicked instead! Thank you for sharing!

Why would you run 2 healers in the first place?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Linken.6345 said:

@Compleo.3182 said:Would be nice to have a link to a source written by person named Kitty you are talking about xd. It's not nice to plagiarize works of other people.

Incase you dont know that poster refer to themselfs in third person.

I guess u missed 'xd' part.Would be a shame to take that kind of writing seriously. So for now it seems like a plagiarism xd .

No idea what xd means thought it was a typo

@Kelieto.6375 said:Very nice post! Previously, I would get kicked from groups because everyone kept downing and they thought it was the lack of healing but now I provide boons too so the other healer got kicked instead! Thank you for sharing!

Why would you run 2 healers in the first place?

People usually run 2 healers if people aren't totally smooth with mechs (which is the case in 98% of pug squads) and majority of healers aren't up to solo-healing raid bosses. (most of the heal-builds can do that, Kitty has done it occasionally, but that also requires that people don't get ported at VG, APS themselves to death at Gorseval etc.)

@lare.5129 said:no thief heal build yet ?

Nope. Kitty's tried to create a heal-thief a few times, but it simply doesn't heal enough as pretty much the only sources of outgoing healing are regen, Shadow Refuge and Skelk Venom. She's also tried doing some meme stuff like Cairn with 10 p+p teefs and it didn't quite work.

@thrag.9740 said:Currently my static runs a water/earth auramancer + a standard might druid on the bosses that we want 2 healers, and then on easier bosses the auramancer build template swaps to a more offensive build. This is a nice compromise so that we don't have to wait for extra load screens. It is true that the auramancer is lacking fury, however by running the 10 man shouts trait, your protection output is good enough that the druid can run lighting/frost/sun spirits (since the glyph is dead now anyways). Those spirits take care of squad wide fury/vigor, so it all works out with 2 chronos extending those boons.

That also kinda works, yush, as long as you're copying that fury around with auramancer's Heat Sync. With perfect alacrity uptime druid can cover 60% fury uptime for 10 (and 200% for 5) now that spirits' boon interval got nerfed to 20s , and the druid also needs to keep the Storm Spirit alive (easier said than done at bosses like no-greens VG).

Apologies for having still not finished writing, Kitty will try to write rest of heal-firebrand, heal-engi and heal-tempest sometime soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Linken.6345 said:

@Kelieto.6375 said:Very nice post! Previously, I would get kicked from groups because everyone kept downing and they thought it was the lack of healing but now I provide boons too so the other healer got kicked instead! Thank you for sharing!

Why would you run 2 healers in the first place?

This ENTIRE THREAD is about running 2 healers buddy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm confused. There's an optimal composition for Fractals, Alacrene, Firebrand, BS and 2 DGHs. If you look into the LFG, most groups are playing fractals like that right now. Why'd you gear for some fringe build, especially since all of those 4 builds can be played by a drunk, blind monkey with one hand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@yusayu.3629 said:I'm confused. There's an optimal composition for Fractals, Alacrene, Firebrand, BS and 2 DGHs. If you look into the LFG, most groups are playing fractals like that right now. Why'd you gear for some fringe build, especially since all of those 4 builds can be played by a drunk, blind monkey with one hand.

Apparently this is only for raid squads and not fractals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Linken.6345 said:

@yusayu.3629 said:I'm confused. There's an optimal composition for Fractals, Alacrene, Firebrand, BS and 2 DGHs. If you look into the LFG, most groups are playing fractals like that right now. Why'd you gear for some fringe build, especially since all of those 4 builds can be played by a drunk, blind monkey with one hand.

Apparently this is only for raid squads and not fractals.

No, that's the optimal fractal composition. Alacrene can heal 'bout as good as a druid, Quickbrand can dish out about 25-30k dps (overall much more than a support chrono ever could), DGH has about 40-50k dps for the first 10-15 seconds of a fight (almost all fights in fractals heavily favor burst, all fights in 99/100CM do) and the BS for good measure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@yusayu.3629 said:

@yusayu.3629 said:I'm confused. There's an optimal composition for Fractals, Alacrene, Firebrand, BS and 2 DGHs. If you look into the LFG, most groups are playing fractals like that right now. Why'd you gear for some fringe build, especially since all of those 4 builds can be played by a drunk, blind monkey with one hand.

Apparently this is only for raid squads and not fractals.

No, that's the optimal fractal composition. Alacrene can heal 'bout as good as a druid, Quickbrand can dish out about 25-30k dps (overall much more than a support chrono ever could), DGH has about 40-50k dps for the first 10-15 seconds of a fight (almost all fights in fractals heavily favor burst, all fights in 99/100CM do) and the BS for good measure.

Did you even read the thread?Just above your post there is a guy berating me for asking why you would need 2 healers as I thought this was about fractals. ( Even tho said poster said group and not squad there are diffrent names for 5 man and 10 man for a reason)

@Kelieto.6375 said:

@Kelieto.6375 said:Very nice post! Previously, I would get kicked from groups because everyone kept downing and they thought it was the lack of healing but now I provide boons too so the other healer got kicked instead! Thank you for sharing!

Why would you run 2 healers in the first place?

This ENTIRE THREAD is about running 2 healers buddy.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Linken.6345 said:

@yusayu.3629 said:I'm confused. There's an optimal composition for Fractals, Alacrene, Firebrand, BS and 2 DGHs. If you look into the LFG, most groups are playing fractals like that right now. Why'd you gear for some fringe build, especially since all of those 4 builds can be played by a drunk, blind monkey with one hand.

Apparently this is only for raid squads and not fractals.

No, that's the optimal fractal composition. Alacrene can heal 'bout as good as a druid, Quickbrand can dish out about 25-30k dps (overall much more than a support chrono ever could), DGH has about 40-50k dps for the first 10-15 seconds of a fight (almost all fights in fractals heavily favor burst, all fights in 99/100CM do) and the BS for good measure.

Did you even read the thread?Just above your post there is a guy berating me for asking why you would need 2 healers as I thought this was about fractals. ( Even tho said poster said group and not squad there are diffrent names for 5 man and 10 man for a reason)

@Kelieto.6375 said:Very nice post! Previously, I would get kicked from groups because everyone kept downing and they thought it was the lack of healing but now I provide boons too so the other healer got kicked instead! Thank you for sharing!

Why would you run 2 healers in the first place?

This ENTIRE THREAD is about running 2 healers buddy.

Alright then, but the same basically goes for Raids. 1 Alacren gives alacrity to 10 players and heals, 1 DPS Quickbrand, 1 Heal Quickbrand, 1 BS and 6 DPS depending on the boss. If you don't need two healers, just run two DPS Quickbrands.

Again, why gear up suboptimal characters?! I'd say that's terrible advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@yusayu.3629 said:

@yusayu.3629 said:I'm confused. There's an optimal composition for Fractals, Alacrene, Firebrand, BS and 2 DGHs. If you look into the LFG, most groups are playing fractals like that right now. Why'd you gear for some fringe build, especially since all of those 4 builds can be played by a drunk, blind monkey with one hand.

Apparently this is only for raid squads and not fractals.

No, that's the optimal fractal composition. Alacrene can heal 'bout as good as a druid, Quickbrand can dish out about 25-30k dps (overall much more than a support chrono ever could), DGH has about 40-50k dps for the first 10-15 seconds of a fight (almost all fights in fractals heavily favor burst, all fights in 99/100CM do) and the BS for good measure.

Did you even read the thread?Just above your post there is a guy berating me for asking why you would need 2 healers as I thought this was about fractals. ( Even tho said poster said group and not squad there are diffrent names for 5 man and 10 man for a reason)

@Kelieto.6375 said:Very nice post! Previously, I would get kicked from groups because everyone kept downing and they thought it was the lack of healing but now I provide boons too so the other healer got kicked instead! Thank you for sharing!

Why would you run 2 healers in the first place?

This ENTIRE THREAD is about running 2 healers buddy.

Alright then, but the same basically goes for Raids. 1 Alacren gives alacrity to 10 players and heals, 1 DPS Quickbrand, 1 Heal Quickbrand, 1 BS and 6 DPS depending on the boss. If you don't need two healers, just run two DPS Quickbrands.

Again, why gear up suboptimal characters?! I'd say that's terrible advice.

Kitty's writing mostly about raid builds here. And...

  1. Not everyone wants to play the most meta comp of them metacomps and alternative supports have become very capable these days (just if they boosted heal-engi's might output a bit, like 20-25%). To the point that even Snowcrows has written some guides about them, though optimized for use with skilled druid as main healer.
  2. And as such, Kitty's here presenting builds that work in various pugsome comps effectively. She's even included which builds can be used in which comps so that people wouldn't either bring ineffectively much support (to the point that they'd be better off traiting for more heals instead of max boons since boons are so covered) or use a comp that severely lacks some important boon.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@LadyKitty.6120 said:The healbuilds people are using seem to be focused on pure healing which is quite an issue, especially in pug raids.Is this really an issue though? The reason there are people who play full healer builds like Staff Tempest and Heal Scourge is to hard carry groups. Sure, I could hard carry a group with your Scourge build that uses a bunch of Harrier gear or I could just buy a bunch of Exotic Magi Weapons and Armour from the TP for less than 10g (maybe even less than 5g) with easy access to Ascended Magi Trinkets (like 2 Magi Rings for 10 Pristine Relics each) and then proceed to hard carry just as much.

To give you a real case scenario, there are groups that struggle to outheal greens on VG with 2 Druids. Now, in this particular scenario, I'd recommend they give replacing 1 Druid with a Full Healer Staff Tempest or Heal Scourge a try. Staff Tempest in particular is extremely easy to play and heal with. Suddenly, downs, deaths and other chaos get mitigated and the run becomes smoother. The job gets done. A lack of offensive boons weren't necessarily the roadblocks to success so adding more wouldn't help by much. Don't get me wrong though. Taking that 60% Fury uptime to 100% Fury uptime is a great thing but it honestly isn't the missing puzzle piece in the vast majority of cases where groups struggle to kill a boss. The extra required sustain due to inexperienced players facetanking avoidable damage is or, in this case, inexperienced Druids finding difficulty in timing their heals with the greens. This is because enrage timers for most bosses are extremely generous which results in the DPS requirements being low.

Despite this, Magi over Harrier for Heal Scourge could provide other advantages too. Let's use Matthias as an example. An inexperienced group at Matthias is pretty damn chaotic. You've basically got a bunch of people that end up killing themselves as well as each other with mechanics. Having Magi gear gives me quite a large health buffer (and allows me to have significantly more max barrier on myself too) which reduces the chance I'll get killed by my own team mates mistakes which allows me to keep healing and keep ressing. Things that I can't do if I get killed myself. If I wanted to play Heal Tempest instead of Heal Scourge on Matthias, I'd prefer to use my Minstrel set over my Harrier set and, while I can carry as a Harrier Staff Tempest, it's safer for me to run the Minstrel set even though it has lower boon duration. My Harrier set is for when I want to have fun with the Sceptre/Warhorn boon build or if its a boss where toughness will get in the way of tanking (even though a full Minstrel Staff Heal Tempest can easily tank).

Just to be clear, I have nothing against your builds at all. The only thing I'm arguing against here is you stating that pure healing builds were an issue.

I definitely have a lot more to comment on but this post is already getting long!

@"Linken.6345" said:Did you even read the thread?Just above your post there is a guy berating me for asking why you would need 2 healers as I thought this was about fractals. ( Even tho said poster said group and not squad there are diffrent names for 5 man and 10 man for a reason)The correct terms you're looking for are Squad vs Party. Right click on someone from your friends list and it will say "Invite to Party". Now tag up and try it again and it will say "Invite to Squad". A group is a group regardless of it being a Squad or Party. After all, both Squads and Parties use the Looking for Group feature.

The original post only briefly mentions Fractals with the rest clearly referencing Raids but if you genuinely misunderstood and thought it was about Fractals then I apologise for my previous post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@yusayu.3629 said:

@yusayu.3629 said:I'm confused. There's an optimal composition for Fractals, Alacrene, Firebrand, BS and 2 DGHs. If you look into the LFG, most groups are playing fractals like that right now. Why'd you gear for some fringe build, especially since all of those 4 builds can be played by a drunk, blind monkey with one hand.

Apparently this is only for raid squads and not fractals.

No, that's the optimal fractal composition. Alacrene can heal 'bout as good as a druid, Quickbrand can dish out about 25-30k dps (overall much more than a support chrono ever could), DGH has about 40-50k dps for the first 10-15 seconds of a fight (almost all fights in fractals heavily favor burst, all fights in 99/100CM do) and the BS for good measure.

Did you even read the thread?Just above your post there is a guy berating me for asking why you would need 2 healers as I thought this was about fractals. ( Even tho said poster said group and not squad there are diffrent names for 5 man and 10 man for a reason)

@Kelieto.6375 said:Very nice post! Previously, I would get kicked from groups because everyone kept downing and they thought it was the lack of healing but now I provide boons too so the other healer got kicked instead! Thank you for sharing!

Why would you run 2 healers in the first place?

This ENTIRE THREAD is about running 2 healers buddy.

Alright then, but the same basically goes for Raids. 1 Alacren gives alacrity to 10 players and heals, 1 DPS Quickbrand, 1 Heal Quickbrand, 1 BS and 6 DPS depending on the boss. If you don't need two healers, just run two DPS Quickbrands.

Again, why gear up suboptimal characters?! I'd say that's terrible advice.

Well, if you are looking for most optimal comp this certainly isnt one.No spotter and probably no spirits to start with. Fury can be problematic. No imobilize for gorseval for example and so on. One druid and dps alacrity renegade is decent healing. Also if onefirebrand is chrono you dont need ashigh BD on other clases

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thread has some interesting ideas for dumbed down versions of builds, if you can ignore the formatting.

I don't think anyone who wants or needs a build like this is looking for theoretical optimisation; they need a simpler build because the standard one is too hard for whatever reason (ping, reflexes, disability or encounter). This is why I usually take the time to at least read through their suggestions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...