Druid for OW

[Adversed.2897]

Hey,

I'm a new player trying to understand professions better to pick a main. I'm more  PvE player that appreciates the challenge of group content while also being able to solo when I'm simply not feeling social.

 

I like the attrition playstyle for harder solo content, like champions and don't mind if it takes a little longer than the meta to down a boss. Eventually I'd like to have the option to solo dungeons.

 

I know Ranger has other specs that do better damage, but how is Druid? Is it capable of fulfilling what I'm looking for? How challenging would it be for rotation and gear acquisition?

 

Yes, I know mesmer would be the top choice for what I'm asking, but I'm really trying to understand all professions better.

[Zyreva.1078]

Can druid solo stuff? Yes. Is it very good at soloing stuff?. Not really.

In general it's fairly easy to solo with a selfish condi/cele druid build, but the dmg is still significantly lower than that of pretty much any other elite spec in the game. Which doesn't only mean it takes longer to kill stuff, but it also might make certain encounters more difficult - because there will be more incoming pressure (especially in dungeons/vs packs of trash mobs that other specs can burst down much faster).

I also don't think that soloing on druid helps a lot at understanding it's role and playstyle in grp content, and you'd have to swap builds anyway, so why not swap to another spec for solo play? Swapping traits and skills is just a matter of a single button press (with templates set up) and if you use cele gear, you can use it for both support and solo. Might just have to swap weapons.

[Gibson.4036]

Metabattle has a nice section on builds designed to survive soloing OW group content.

Their community suggests Soulbeast out of the Ranger specs.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Soulbeast_-_Condition_Skirmisher

[Joncal.9623]

It’s viable but I wouldn’t call it anything fun or groundbreaking. I use it myself on certain fights. 
 

do note that if you want to play as Druid to wield/dps with the staff you’ll be let down. The short bow is your go to weapon. And because of your traps you’ll be playing in melee a lot. 
 

https://guildjen.com/druid-open-world-build/

I’d recommend going for sharpened edges over the trappers expertise traits to be fair. The CDs on snekk and fire trap are low enough already. 

Edited Sunday at 09:28 PM by Joncal.9623