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Axe/Axe and Staff Druid, need recommendation


phandaria.4891

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Returning ranger here. I haven't followed nerfs/buffs in a long time so I do not know what works.

 

I am planning to play Celestial (theme not stat) Druid and building Astralaria, but I feel Ranger and Druid traits/utilities are all over the place. Please recommend me a synergistic build for Axe/Axe and Staff Druid. I know it won't be viable for fractals/raids as I have researched the popular websites. As long as it can sustain itself in general PvE and WvW, that would be great.

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The only advice I can give is to read up on what each trait does, and experiment with them.

 

Like the whole fun of making a thematic build is experimenting with trait choices, skills etc. yourself.

 

Quote

dmg of druis is crap with the pet dmg reduce by 15%

 

so firstly, it's pet stats reduction by 20%

secondly, that loss on pet dps hardly matters in "general PvE" and for WvW it's utility over dps when it comes to pet choices most of the time anyway. 

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Yes, it is crap. I have tried both power and condi with different traits, but it doesn't gel together.

 

Honestly, feels like druid is pigeonholed to raid build, glyphs are subpar and Soulbeast is a lot more effective in most scenarios. Was hoping if anybody have a successful build to share, but thanks for the feedback.

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I mean I may be working atm at somewhat similar build on theme side (tho mine uses sword/wh instead of axe/axe) and it seems to be doing fine, but I am a firm believer that when themecrafting builds, experimentation and iteration is 90% of the fun 🙂 (yes I know I am repeating myself here, just cannot stress this one hard enough)

 

If I may slip in another bit of advice - when themecrafting - don't compare to the soulbeast or any other class/espec, that kills alot of fun.

 

For example for my recent themecrafted firebrand, one of the first comment I've heard on it was "it looks like weaker condibrand" and I didn't let it ruin the fun.

 

I am also not letting the fact that this firebrand pumps out casually burning ticks on same damage per tick as whole condi "burst" of my current themecrafted druid stack of bleeds, ruin the fun with the druid either.

 

3 minutes ago, Rukasu.3097 said:

Druid's staff is probably the worst weapon in the game. 

 

Guardian/Warrior hammer would like to have a word with you. (and a couple other weapons that are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse than Druid's staff).

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Noted on that. Thanks for the positive words. I think what's bugging me right now is the lack of synergy with druid outside the healing for instanced content. Even tempest, the other support spec, can be build differently outside of raid/fractal.

 

I agree it's bad to compare with other spec and I am not looking to dps benchmark either, but there is a level synergy needed to make playing fun, you know. At the moment, I haven't found that yet with this themed druid.

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On 8/22/2021 at 1:32 AM, phandaria.4891 said:

Returning ranger here. I haven't followed nerfs/buffs in a long time so I do not know what works.

 

I am planning to play Celestial (theme not stat) Druid and building Astralaria, but I feel Ranger and Druid traits/utilities are all over the place. Please recommend me a synergistic build for Axe/Axe and Staff Druid. I know it won't be viable for fractals/raids as I have researched the popular websites. As long as it can sustain itself in general PvE and WvW, that would be great.

Without 24/7 Regen you can't realistically build Astral Force and use Celestial Avatar.

 

That's why Axe/Axe isn't optimal, as Axe/WH is needed for its group buffs, particular Regeneration, to generate Astral Force. Your only other options are to take Healing Spring+high boon duration, or Spirit of Water.

 

Some players get around this in raids by taking the Fern Wolf, which frees up for your off-hand for Axe. This is what I'd recommend too, but keep in mind that on top of existing Druid pet damage nerf, it basically hits like a wittle puppy dog, and the CC goes off at random so isn't particularly useful for breakbars.

 

What traits you take will vary alot because Druid can be built to DPS or support in many different ways. For example they have two completely different support builds that focus on max healing with Glyphs or max boon output with Spirits, and in WvW even a build with extremely high stealth uptime (at Thief-like levels), using Smokescale, CA stealth trait, Trapper runes and Trap utilities.

 

Since you said you'd like to play Celestial themed, I'd assume that would mean supportive, but in this case going for boons instead of heals lets you have a higher DPS output e.g you can wear Diviner's instead of Harrier's.

 

There's not much more to say without knowing exactly what it is you want to accomplish, but for general PvE I'd stay start with Axe/Axe/Staff, Lynx, full Diviner's, Water/Sun/Frost/Air/Nature Spirits (Astral Force-DPS-Stab), Beastmastery/Nature Magic/Druid trait lines and fully trait pet, Axe and Staff, Spirits and CA Might generation.

 

The other build is like.. Fern Wolf, full Harrier's, Glyphs+Frost Spirit. Old raid meta, but not optimal anymore.

 

See how that feels to you, then get back to me later.

Edited by Hannelore.8153
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27 minutes ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

Without 24/7 Regen you can't realistically build Astral Force and use Celestial Avatar.

 

That's why Axe/Axe isn't optimal, as Axe/WH is needed for its group buffs, particular Regeneration, to generate Astral Force. Your only other options are to take Healing Spring+high boon duration, or Spirit of Water.

 

This is my frustration in general. In my mind there's dps and healing rotation, but building Astral Force is so clunky.

 

27 minutes ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

There's not much more to say without knowing exactly what it is you want to accomplish, but for general PvE I'd stay start with Axe/Axe/Staff, Lynx, full Diviner's, Water/Sun/Frost/Air/Nature Spirits (Astral Force-DPS-Stab), Beastmastery/Nature Magic/Druid trait lines and fully trait pet, Axe and Staff, Spirits and CA Might generation.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, will try it out. What do you suggest on runes for more dps? 

Edited by phandaria.4891
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1 hour ago, phandaria.4891 said:

This is my frustration in general. In my mind there's dps and healing rotation, but building Astral Force is so clunky.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, will try it out. What do you suggest on runes for more dps? 

This build isn't big on %damage bonuses so focusing into that is usually a waste of time since its quasi-supportive.

 

Instead the Axe and the traits available are really good at stacking Might--If you take the Pack runes, Sigil of Strength and the Jungle Stalker instead of the Lynx you can stay at 25 Might 24/7 without even using the CA abilities.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAceZlJwUYIsDGJm2W+tvJcC-zRJYwKdPcZ0UCEYBo2sExMA-e

 

You can combine this with Sigil of Bloodlust and food to fully lean into Diviner's Power main stat.

 

Between the runes, pet and Spirit you also have lots of Might stacking on allies as well, though not enough to keep them maxed without entering into CA sometimes and channeling skill #4.

 

This is quick and dirty, there's probably alot better options.

Edited by Hannelore.8153
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3 hours ago, phandaria.4891 said:

Yes, it is crap. I have tried both power and condi with different traits, but it doesn't gel together.

 

Honestly, feels like druid is pigeonholed to raid build, glyphs are subpar and Soulbeast is a lot more effective in most scenarios. Was hoping if anybody have a successful build to share, but thanks for the feedback.

 

Coming from a WvW perspective, as someone who has put a ton of time into Druid...I wouldn't get too discouraged by the replies in this topic.

 

Now, I've not messed too much with Celestial Druid, although I imagine what I'm about to write will work similarly with it because of the toughness / expertise celestial provides.

 

Anyway, I run trailblazer--Shortbow + Staff, WS/Sk/Druid.  Essentially with troll ungent, regen, and staff #1 you will always have CA practically on demand.  You also have extreme toughness (3k+), massive bleed damage (ancient seeds, entangle, SB auto, etc. etc.) and survivability (dazes, stealth, movement with staff #3, projectile block on staff #5, etc.).  

 

For pets, I run stuff with CC---but not smokescale because stealth doesn't do much for this build.  I'd think rock gazelle, wyvern (electric), or off-wall stuff like iboga or jacranda.  

 

So you can take that and adapt it to A/A instead of SB--may work better on a celestial setup anyway because of MH axe's might generation.  Not sure, but do know the situation is far from hopeless and Druid is far from useless.  

 

For example ref, here is a 2v1 with the above build:

 

 

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19 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

This build isn't big on %damage bonuses so focusing into that is usually a waste of time since its quasi-supportive.

 

Instead the Axe and the traits available are really good at stacking Might--If you take the Pack runes, Sigil of Strength and the Jungle Stalker instead of the Lynx you can stay at 25 Might 24/7 without even using the CA abilities.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAceZlJwUYIsDGJm2W+tvJcC-zRJYwKdPcZ0UCEYBo2sExMA-e

 

You can combine this with Sigil of Bloodlust and food to fully lean into Diviner's Power main stat.

 

Between the runes, pet and Spirit you also have lots of Might stacking on allies as well, though not enough to keep them maxed without entering into CA sometimes and channeling skill #4.

 

This is quick and dirty, there's probably alot better options.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I decided Warhorn flows so much better with druid, offhand axe doesn't really add much to justify using it. CA might stacking feels the most fun way to play druid. Still irks me how glyphs, which are the spec utilities, don't add anything to the gameplay Their usage are too niche. Water spirit, even troll unguent work better with CA generation than the glyph ever would. Diviner stat feels like a good stat, CA still heals respectably even without healing power.

 

18 hours ago, Gotejjeken.1267 said:

 

Coming from a WvW perspective, as someone who has put a ton of time into Druid...I wouldn't get too discouraged by the replies in this topic.

 

Now, I've not messed too much with Celestial Druid, although I imagine what I'm about to write will work similarly with it because of the toughness / expertise celestial provides.

 

Anyway, I run trailblazer--Shortbow + Staff, WS/Sk/Druid.  Essentially with troll ungent, regen, and staff #1 you will always have CA practically on demand.  You also have extreme toughness (3k+), massive bleed damage (ancient seeds, entangle, SB auto, etc. etc.) and survivability (dazes, stealth, movement with staff #3, projectile block on staff #5, etc.).  

 

For pets, I run stuff with CC---but not smokescale because stealth doesn't do much for this build.  I'd think rock gazelle, wyvern (electric), or off-wall stuff like iboga or jacranda.  

 

So you can take that and adapt it to A/A instead of SB--may work better on a celestial setup anyway because of MH axe's might generation.  Not sure, but do know the situation is far from hopeless and Druid is far from useless.  

 

For example ref, here is a 2v1 with the above build:

 

 

Thanks for this. Seems like SB and Staff do pair well for kiting gameplay. Gonna try it out.

Edited by phandaria.4891
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1 hour ago, phandaria.4891 said:

CA might stacking feels the most fun way to play druid. Still irks me how glyphs, which are the spec utilities, don't add anything to the gameplay Their usage are too niche.

when you trait for them, they allow for some might generation from grace of the land outside of CA form 🙂

Used to be raid meta to do so at some point btw.

 

But outside of that I agree I have some trouble squishing any glyph into my general pve druid build as well. (partially because I prefer natural stride over verdant etching.... ^-^' )

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4 hours ago, phandaria.4891 said:

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I decided Warhorn flows so much better with druid, offhand axe doesn't really add much to justify using it. CA might stacking feels the most fun way to play druid. Still irks me how glyphs, which are the spec utilities, don't add anything to the gameplay Their usage are too niche. Water spirit, even troll unguent work better with CA generation than the glyph ever would. Diviner stat feels like a good stat, CA still heals respectably even without healing power.

 

Thanks for this. Seems like SB and Staff do pair well for kiting gameplay. Gonna try it out.

Glyphs are actually super useful, but they're only really viable to take on full support builds, because they have essentially no offensive utility whatsoever, just a single Glyph that does some conditions (which isn't bad with Axe/Torch).

 

One of the Glyphs shares healing with allies in CA, and another fully heals you. Combined with the healing (#6) Glyph and the trait to Heal extra on the use of a heal skill, you can fully restore the entire group's health with a few button presses, and it works quite often. This allows you to immediately exit CA and always save some AF.

 

There's also some CC in there, which is useful for breakbars and in WvW, and the elite Glyph is perhaps the most powerful because it can not only make your entire party immune to conditions for a short time in competitive but also swap into CA and channel a super strong revive to all those same allies, completely reverseing a bad situation.

 

On top of this all Glyphs can spawn Lesser Seed of Life so they're good for healing and cleansing in general.

 

So the bad? Is that the elite Glyph doesn't allow movement, which is where it falls flat in competitive. Its only for special situations where you have a bit of breathing room like after a good push.

 

But regardless these are the kinds of tools you might take on full Celestial or something like Harrier's or Minstrel's. There's virtually no value to them on any kind of DPS-centric gear because they have no power damage. You need to be able to really lean into the healing aspect of the skillset to make the most use of them.

 

And there's just only so many places in the game where full support is viable (competitive, metas, raids etc.).

 

Typically a "DPS booner" build works better on every class in PvE, especially since the base healing you get from skills is usually enough especially if you have allies around. Overhealing doesn't accomplish much compared to the value of boons like Protection and the use of fast revives if players do get downed.

 

Rediculous healing builds that do like 1k Regen ticks are mostly used for situations where only one healer is present and has to support an entire party, or when doing "pocket healer" approaches to duoing content where one friend is a min/maxed DPS and the other is a full support (which is super fun btw).

Edited by Hannelore.8153
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On 8/22/2021 at 8:32 AM, phandaria.4891 said:

I am planning to play Celestial (theme not stat)

 

Well, celestial stats is probably your best bet for an axe/axe-staff build in "general pve and wvw".

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAceZW6PAtBA-zxIY1o7HA-e

 

Very rough baseline, I don't know if you wanna play with survival skills or glyphs or traps. In WvW you can run full survival with 1-2-2 in WS and 1 (or 3)-1-3 in druid.

Edited by Lazze.9870
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13 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

And there's just only so many places in the game where full support is viable (competitive, metas, raids etc.).

 

The only area where you want to run multiple glyphs on druid is when you you're trying to force druid to work in wvw zergs where those glyphs are some of your best support options. But that's off-meta, to put it nicely. In PvP you simply don't play druid to support and in PvE it is all about spirits.

 

Rejuvenation and Equality are the only glyphs that "just works". Alignement is good on a immob druid in wvw because both CA and non-CA offers valueable utility. Unity is trash, Tides was nerfed after appearing in one PvP meta build and the elite is too clunky.

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On 8/25/2021 at 3:37 PM, Lazze.9870 said:

 

Well, celestial stats is probably your best bet for an axe/axe-staff build in "general pve and wvw".

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAceZW6PAtBA-zxIY1o7HA-e

 

Very rough baseline, I don't know if you wanna play with survival skills or glyphs or traps. In WvW you can run full survival with 1-2-2 in WS and 1 (or 3)-1-3 in druid.

 

On 8/25/2021 at 3:49 PM, Lazze.9870 said:

 

The only area where you want to run multiple glyphs on druid is when you you're trying to force druid to work in wvw zergs where those glyphs are some of your best support options. But that's off-meta, to put it nicely. In PvP you simply don't play druid to support and in PvE it is all about spirits.

 

Rejuvenation and Equality are the only glyphs that "just works". Alignement is good on a immob druid in wvw because both CA and non-CA offers valueable utility. Unity is trash, Tides was nerfed after appearing in one PvP meta build and the elite is too clunky.

Possibly I am not clear, what I meant by Celestial is theme based with Astralaria and Celestial Avatar, not stat. The only working rotation I find working is CA might stacking with spirits.

I would like to incorporate glyphs to fit the theme, but as you said, it is not working. Equality is okay for WvW. Rejuvenation pales in comparison to Water Spirit/Troll Unguent simply for Astral Force generation.

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2 hours ago, phandaria.4891 said:

Possibly I am not clear, what I meant by Celestial is theme based with Astralaria and Celestial Avatar, not stat.

 

You were. I'm telling you that celestial stats just happens to be the all-around best and most synergystic stat set for an axe/axe-staff druid build, especially if you want to bring it into WvW.

 

You get surviveability, healing power for yourself and for healing others, power and condi damage which goes very well with mainhand axe. Boon duration if you wanna run Grace of the Land, higher protection uptime (which also gives you AF ticks with Wilderness Survival). Etc etc etc.

 

You don't wanna run full condi with off-hand axe, and playing full power axe/axe druid is just underwhelming.

 

You can of course ignore all of this and go full power with a full set of glyphs for casual PvE and do just fine, but I wouldn't bring it into WvW..

Edited by Lazze.9870
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5 hours ago, Lazze.9870 said:

 

You were. I'm telling you that celestial stats just happens to be the all-around best and most synergystic stat set for an axe/axe-staff druid build, especially if you want to bring it into WvW.

 

You get surviveability, healing power for yourself and for healing others, power and condi damage which goes very well with mainhand axe. Boon duration if you wanna run Grace of the Land, higher protection uptime (which also gives you AF ticks with Wilderness Survival). Etc etc etc.

 

You don't wanna run full condi with off-hand axe, and playing full power axe/axe druid is just underwhelming.

 

You can of course ignore all of this and go full power with a full set of glyphs for casual PvE and do just fine, but I wouldn't bring it into WvW..

Ah yes, I have given up using Axe/axe in WvW, feels like mobility from SB is necessary to last there.

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On 8/27/2021 at 10:45 AM, phandaria.4891 said:

Ah yes, I have given up using Axe/axe in WvW, feels like mobility from SB is necessary to last there.

Not sure if you meant Soulbeast or Shortbow here, so I'll address both.

 

Druid actually has higher mobility than Soulbeast. Permanent 33% passive movement speed if not Crippled, GS leap+Staff teleport and you're gone from any situation. And Lesser Seed of Life mean plenty of cleanses making it almost impossible to pin you down, while plenty of rooting makes it easy to pin others down.

 

A properly played Druid cannot be caught, I swear its worse than Thief sometimes. And that's assuming you don't take all the stealth options (CA stealth, Trapper runes, Smokescale)..

 

Shortbow definitely has higher mobility than Longbow, but you can't combine it with Warhorn, so unless you're running the Druid movement speed trait, you're basically losing permaswift. This is important as combat slows your movement speed significantly.

 

The highest mobility in combat is offered by Sword+Warhorn, or you can combine it with Shortbow on weaponswap for both an engage and two retreats. On top of this the engage on Sword can be used twice if you use your skills in the right order (2-2-3-2-2), and has follow-up evade frames.

 

You can also use Speed runes to stay at the movement speed cap any time you have Swiftness. They're Vitality based, so they combine well with Valkyrie or Marauder gear.

Edited by Hannelore.8153
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OP I was in a similar position with Druid - I love playing druid and shaman type classes in all games so I was determined to create a Druid build that was fun to play and viable (IMO) that used staff - sure there are stronger builds out there but I feel like this build has tons of synergy and has a fun gameplay loop. I decided to go for a Seraph gear build - to take advantage of on crit effects and bleeds and other synergies between some traits - this build has a lot of bleeds, roots, and dazes taking advantage of Druids ancient seeds trait.

Here is a quicklink: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PO1EcEmpMB2BbhxwOxSXqttD-zRRYQREgGN8lSchQgFQkRQ2Jg4DA-e

Some of the highlights of the build for me that make it fun to play in Open world:

  • Daze for Days - You have a daze on glyph of equality, daze on call lightning, daze on weapon swap to staff, daze on call of the wild, daze on CA Luna Impact. To me it is very fun to constantly daze enemies - constant interrupts and lots of learning to interrupt enemies at the best times and lots of chance to play with the build using different on interrupt effect sigils. Not to mention no problems ever triggering ancient seeds.
  • Quick Draw - This trait allows tons of flexibility in how you play - when you swap reduce recharge on weapon skills which includes CA - allows you to tailor you gameplay and change your style very quickly - if you need more bleed hit Axe 2 - more Stun hit Warhorn 5 or CA Luna Impact - More heals hit staff blast finisher.
  • Speaking of Blast Finishers - You got one on every weapon skill bar in this build - You have Warhorn 5 - Staff 3 - and CA Lunar Impact - bring a pet with combo fields and have some fun - or bring a friend and see what combos you can come up with. If you want to play with a friend I suggest any body who stacks torment - The synergy between all the roots and daze available on this build and Torment will melt everything in sight with its bonus damage against static targets. 
  • Staff doesn't feel as disruptive - For me my biggest issue with Druid staff was that it felt so disruptive to the flow of gameplay when I would switch to it as a weapon - but with this build and the daze on staff swap with the sigil effects makes it more fun IMO to use. Also it is useful for stacking bleeds using Sigil of Earth with the high precision this build provides. 
  • Very easy to switch it up - The traits are also very flexible - you can swap out natures magic and try some other trait lines - there are some other opportunities for synergy in marksmanship line for increase daze duration, or beast mastery for some other effects. Not to mention you can easily go full support/heal build with just a couple trait changes - maybe bring a couple other weapons for some new sigils or change up the runes for something more effective but it is flexible. 
  • Tons of survivability - You have tons of regen and condi cleanse with Lesser seed of life on glyph cast it helps make a lot of PvE Open World content trivial - not to mention the extra healing power with staff. 
  • Edit: I forgot to mention my favourite part but probably most meme-y part of the build - rune of mad king with Entagle elite - hit the elite and watch everything around you get rooted, hit with tons of vulnerability, and with your high precision and  sharpened edges trait watch the bleeds stack like crazy. Plus the extra theme synergy between being a druid with nevermore and having tons of ravens attack everything in sight. 

 

I've used this build for pretty much in all open world content and have solo'd some fractals with it - I am still a relatively new Druid player and my other mains are  Quickness Scrapper, Alacren, and Firebrand and I have just as fun with this build as I do with those. I see myself consistently in the top 10 of DPS during big meta events while bringing lots of heals and utility - though it's anectodical evidence it is the only thing relatively I have to go by when trying to gauge how the build performs when I compare it to the other classes I play that are traditionally considered way stronger like Condi Renegade - not saying this is the best build but it is very viable to me and I would encourage you to try because I'm sure there is tons of room for improvement and would love to see what others could do with it.

Edited by Ferret.3087
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On 8/31/2021 at 9:56 AM, Hannelore.8153 said:

Not sure if you meant Soulbeast or Shortbow here, so I'll address both.

 

Druid actually has higher mobility than Soulbeast. Permanent 33% passive movement speed if not Crippled, GS leap+Staff teleport and you're gone from any situation. And Lesser Seed of Life mean plenty of cleanses making it almost impossible to pin you down, while plenty of rooting makes it easy to pin others down.

 

A properly played Druid cannot be caught, I swear its worse than Thief sometimes. And that's assuming you don't take all the stealth options (CA stealth, Trapper runes, Smokescale)..

 

Shortbow definitely has higher mobility than Longbow, but you can't combine it with Warhorn, so unless you're running the Druid movement speed trait, you're basically losing permaswift. This is important as combat slows your movement speed significantly.

 

The highest mobility in combat is offered by Sword+Warhorn, or you can combine it with Shortbow on weaponswap for both an engage and two retreats. On top of this the engage on Sword can be used twice if you use your skills in the right order (2-2-3-2-2), and has follow-up evade frames.

 

You can also use Speed runes to stay at the movement speed cap any time you have Swiftness. They're Vitality based, so they combine well with Valkyrie or Marauder gear.

Yes, I've been enjoying SB/Staff Druid on WvW, feels just nice for it to still use some of the Druid moveset. Smokescale + Staff gives stealth on demand plus mobility from SB is rather nice.

 

On 9/2/2021 at 1:11 AM, Ferret.3087 said:

OP I was in a similar position with Druid - I love playing druid and shaman type classes in all games so I was determined to create a Druid build that was fun to play and viable (IMO) that used staff - sure there are stronger builds out there but I feel like this build has tons of synergy and has a fun gameplay loop. I decided to go for a Seraph gear build - to take advantage of on crit effects and bleeds and other synergies between some traits - this build has a lot of bleeds, roots, and dazes taking advantage of Druids ancient seeds trait.

Here is a quicklink: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PO1EcEmpMB2BbhxwOxSXqttD-zRRYQREgGN8lSchQgFQkRQ2Jg4DA-e

Some of the highlights of the build for me that make it fun to play in Open world:

  • Daze for Days - You have a daze on glyph of equality, daze on call lightning, daze on weapon swap to staff, daze on call of the wild, daze on CA Luna Impact. To me it is very fun to constantly daze enemies - constant interrupts and lots of learning to interrupt enemies at the best times and lots of chance to play with the build using different on interrupt effect sigils. Not to mention no problems ever triggering ancient seeds.
  • Quick Draw - This trait allows tons of flexibility in how you play - when you swap reduce recharge on weapon skills which includes CA - allows you to tailor you gameplay and change your style very quickly - if you need more bleed hit Axe 2 - more Stun hit Warhorn 5 or CA Luna Impact - More heals hit staff blast finisher.
  • Speaking of Blast Finishers - You got one on every weapon skill bar in this build - You have Warhorn 5 - Staff 3 - and CA Lunar Impact - bring a pet with combo fields and have some fun - or bring a friend and see what combos you can come up with. If you want to play with a friend I suggest any body who stacks torment - The synergy between all the roots and daze available on this build and Torment will melt everything in sight with its bonus damage against static targets. 
  • Staff doesn't feel as disruptive - For me my biggest issue with Druid staff was that it felt so disruptive to the flow of gameplay when I would switch to it as a weapon - but with this build and the daze on staff swap with the sigil effects makes it more fun IMO to use. Also it is useful for stacking bleeds using Sigil of Earth with the high precision this build provides. 
  • Very easy to switch it up - The traits are also very flexible - you can swap out natures magic and try some other trait lines - there are some other opportunities for synergy in marksmanship line for increase daze duration, or beast mastery for some other effects. Not to mention you can easily go full support/heal build with just a couple trait changes - maybe bring a couple other weapons for some new sigils or change up the runes for something more effective but it is flexible. 
  • Tons of survivability - You have tons of regen and condi cleanse with Lesser seed of life on glyph cast it helps make a lot of PvE Open World content trivial - not to mention the extra healing power with staff. 
  • Edit: I forgot to mention my favourite part but probably most meme-y part of the build - rune of mad king with Entagle elite - hit the elite and watch everything around you get rooted, hit with tons of vulnerability, and with your high precision and  sharpened edges trait watch the bleeds stack like crazy. Plus the extra theme synergy between being a druid with nevermore and having tons of ravens attack everything in sight. 

 

I've used this build for pretty much in all open world content and have solo'd some fractals with it - I am still a relatively new Druid player and my other mains are  Quickness Scrapper, Alacren, and Firebrand and I have just as fun with this build as I do with those. I see myself consistently in the top 10 of DPS during big meta events while bringing lots of heals and utility - though it's anectodical evidence it is the only thing relatively I have to go by when trying to gauge how the build performs when I compare it to the other classes I play that are traditionally considered way stronger like Condi Renegade - not saying this is the best build but it is very viable to me and I would encourage you to try because I'm sure there is tons of room for improvement and would love to see what others could do with it.

This is very interesting build, stacking bleed with mad king rune. Haven't thought of it before. Will try this out, thanks a lot.

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7 hours ago, phandaria.4891 said:

This is very interesting build, stacking bleed with mad king rune. Haven't thought of it before. Will try this out, thanks a lot.

Yeah it's been pretty fun I honestly feel its the most synergetic Druid build I've played in terms of taking advantage of druids actual traits and skills for damage - I've switch it up a bit changed Nature magic for Wilderness survival to take advantage of the on hit poison and extra poison damage and more fun with staff - with a Marshals Staff with Sigil of Celerity and Sigil of Doom - taking advantage of the on swap Daze with the staff you can trigger sigil of celerity and sigil of doom at the same time with the quickness and high precision from the gear the staff auto attack stacks a surprising amount of conditions with Refined toxins and sharpened edges makes the staff pretty fun to use. And thinking about going full DPS gear to see how strong this could be

Edited by Ferret.3087
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http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAYdflNwYYfMK2JW6PttdA-zRJYmRN/hEnIoSFQLTBxNA-e

 

Thats probably one of the most effective oPvE builds i evet made.

 

Your stats are pure offensive but because you are a druid and you have decent CC you have tons of QoL that lets you survive. This build is especially effective against many enemies at once.

 

So the playstyle is simple, draw as many enemies as possible towards you and CC them and use whirling defenses, your Trap or entangle against them. This should proc your ancient seeds on your enemies and applied good amounts of bleeding. The trap will provide additional Cc and damage and entangle additional bleeds and roots. Additionally the elite ill proc ravens through the rune that will also apply bleeding and even more bleeding through sharpening stone.

 

Sharpening stone is a bit of a flex spot, if you want to experiment with your build for specifoc needs i would recommend switchong this one out.

 

Your staff will stun enemies if you switch to staff due to the sigil on it. Its a great escape and repositioning tool when in a pickle. Swap to staff and root enemies to escape with astral wisp.

 

If your low on health use your druid juice for rehealing and more CC. Also if you go into CAF while wielding staff you proc ancient echos as soon as you drop out of CAF if ancient echos is off cooldown so you root your nemies already again to shredder with whirling axes.

 

Its a bit subpar to hybrid soulbeast but has more sustain and more CC. For Raids or fractals (especially fractals) you may switch to soulbeast. Gear wise its the same build only skills, pets and traits differ.

Edited by InsaneQR.7412
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