open world build for druid

[paulina.4695]

Hi everyone!I was playing soulbeast for a long time and I wanna swtich him for druid, because I got so bored with it. I'm looking for some tips about traits, weapons, utility skills, pets and gear. Just please don't tell me that soulbeast is meta, because I will not play it anyway. I'm not that metaslave kind of person and I play for fun mostly and chill content :) Like story, map completion, open world bosses, sometimes dungeons and low tier fractals.

[Zushada.6108]

Hey there,

You could try a condi-trapper build that runs short-bow and staff. It is Skirmishing, Wilderness Survival and Druid. There is a variation of the one I used for a long time in open world on metabattle that you can check out: https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Druid_-_Condi_Trapper

Unfortunately the API is broken right now so their recommended traits aren't appearing properly. The good part about druid, even if you go for a condi-trapper build, is you will have access to Celestial Avatar to help keep yourself and others alive and cleansed. :smile:

The other option is running Axe/Torch and Short-bow as well. Pets are always circumstantial as the Wyvern gives great CC for bounties and meta bosses but I like Jacaranda and Iboga myself.

[paulina.4695]

Thank you so much for your response! :) I will definitely try out that build, but I have another question - when I will be working on viper set which stats should I use it? Rabid or carrion? I know build says carrion but I wanna ask anyway.

[Zushada.6108]

This is a very good question and I had to do some thinking and reading before answering. As I mentioned, I ran my druid in open world for a long time in condi-gear. I main a heal druid but that can be darn boring in open world. :-) You have a couple of options and I had to do some thinking and reading before answering. As I mentioned, I ran my druid in open world for a long time in condi-gear. I main a heal druid but that can be darn boring in open world. :-)

The challenge of Condition is gear is that it can be a pain to acquire and I tend to discourage ppl from crafting Vipers at the exotic level because it is costly especially if you want an Ascended set later. Generally I tell ppl to craft a cheaper ascended set like Dire and the stat swap it in the Forge using an exotic Vipers Insignia. If you have never stat swapped in the forge you can find the recipe here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stat_changing

You have a couple of options as you have noted, the cheapest/fastest is to actually go with Dire gear and put Superior runes of the Tempest (especially if you run Lightning Reflexes) or Superior Runes of the Trapper. I suggest Rune of the Tempest if you are going exotic because it increases all stats, plus gives you the highest condition duration of the Runes available (to help replace the missing stat you get from Vipers); at the same time, Runes of Nightmare require a dungeon currency and that can take a while to get. The tricky part about these Runes is that I believe you need a tempest in order to gain the recipe. If you want these Runes and you are on the NA servers just message me in game and I will craft and send them to you. The Runes of the Trapper are a great option for any Ranger profession as they work nicely with your utilities, they also offer increased condition duration (15% overall) and are the easiest to get.

When I crafted my exotic set, I went Sinister gear with Superior Runes of the Trapper and Dire trinkets and farmed the LW3 maps for currency to buy the ascended trinkets (I was too cheap to craft the Sinister trinkets) but, Rabid, Carrion or Dire gear stats work perfectly fine as well. Most you ask will deter you from Dire but I have a logic that I think is an important consideration: I have had numerous friends who have asked me the same question about Condi builds and open world just to give it a try and I always say Dire with appropriate profession specific runes. My thought is that you want to survive long enough to know if you even like the type of build and damage type and it is really cheap to craft or buy on the TP. The other thing to consider is if you like WvW. Should you go the Dire route with Runes of the Trapper or Tempest, you will have a set that will work fine in open world as well as a good starter set for WvW. In WvW you can run the Triumphant armour reward track 6 times (it doesn't take long with Guild Hall boosts and XP boosts etc) and then you get a stat selectable set of exotic as well that will allow you to choose Vipers if you own HoT. This also allows you to upgrade using various currencies to ascended in the future if you enjoy WvW and want to avoid crafting full ascended. So by going Dire with profession appropriate Runes, you get a bit more universal build that you can use to test out different game modes.

If you do not care for WvW and are not concerned about survivability Rabid will likely give you higher damage numbers with the toughness for mitigation. At the same time, I think more vitality is better for open world because it takes longer to down you (especially in HoT maps). Overall, Dire will likely produce the lowest overall DPS output with the highest survivability; Carrion will likely be slightly higher DPS output than Dire with less survivability because you lose the mitigation of toughness; Rabid will have the highest DPS output with the least amount of vitality and although there is toughness for mitigation, your overall health pool will be much lower than your other two options. All of this said, you can go with a mix of trinkets in one stat and gear in another e.g. Rabid gear with Carrion trinkets.

If you have access to Sinisters - go with Sinisters and Runes of the Trapper or Tempest and Carrion Trinkets. Sinister's can be a pain to craft as well because it requires Charged Ambrite which has a daily timegate. So if you do not charge Quartz crystals daily, then it will take 6 days to craft it. If you do not have access to Sinisters than consider my logic above. :smile:

Sorry for the length! I just wanted to make sure I clarified the options. :smile: :blush:

[paulina.4695]

Thank you very much for your effort! :) I really appreciate that.It's a good idea to swap stats form dire to vipers and I will totally do that. Getting superior rune of the nightmare will not be a problem at all for me because I like twilight arbor dungeon very much :) But which runes will be better for condi druid (I will use build you posted before)? I'm not interested in WvW at all, maybe in future, but only maybe. And I have another question. Thougness is really that important in condi build? Because it will give me more aggro to mobs.