Support Druid

August 2023

Druid is the elite specialization for ranger and has recently become an option to play as a support. Due to the changes made in the october balance patch ranger is a possible option but is not recommended playing over scrapper.

Build Fundamentals

The build is best described as a bursty condition cleanser with defensive and offensive capabilities. Druid is able to provide moderate heals and boons, however where it really shines is in it’s ability to spam cleanses and stun break allies within a large radius. Healing and damaging the enemies will grant you life force, you passively gain life force thanks to natural mender so more than likely you will have a full bar before the fight starts. Once the bar is full you can then consume it to gain access to the Celestial Avatar form which lasts for 15 seconds. This profession mechanic will then change all of your weapon and glyph skills, giving you access to very powerful tools to help support your party.

Main Priorities

As a support class staying alive should be prioritized above all else, after all, you can’t provide much support if you’re dead. You can help to keep your HP above zero through tactful use of dodging and positioning. Your positioning is particularly important as many skills are both directional and channelled. As a Druid you’ll want to stay slightly behind the commander tag, this allows you to more reliably land your support skills on either the main group or players in the tail.
Maintaining a proper rotation of skills is very important when playing druid, so you always have cleanse and heals for your party. Outside of the celestial avatar form you will want to rotate using your staff skills, beast skills Shake It Off and Fern Hound, your heal skill Healing Spring and Elite Glyph of the Stars. During Celestial Avatar form your priorities are , , , Cosmic Ray, Glyph of Alignment and Glyph of Equality.

Weapon Skills

Some of your weapon skills have strong support utility and have relatively short cool downs. Timing is key when to use them and understanding how to use them effectively will help your groups sustain.

Solar Beam Fire a concentrated beam of light at the target enemy or ally, damaging foes and healing allies struck by the beam. Any time you are not hitting other skills, you should be using Solar beam to keep allies topped off. Fun fact this skill heals allies through walls.

Astral Wisp Send a wisp to attach to your target. While attached, it will circle the target, healing nearby allies. You may want to use this as a targeted heal for an ally or place it on your commander.

Ancestral Grace This is a one of your main burst heals, Become a wisp traversing 1200 range to the targeted location . When you reach the target, heal nearby. The recharge is reduced by 5 seconds if you heal another ally. Ancestral Grace is a blast finisher and can be used on Healing Spring, Sublime Conversion or Glyph of the Stars to combo an area of healing.

Vine Surge Send forth vines that immobilize enemies and cleanse conditions from allies. Try to hit enemies and allies during clashes to maximize value due to its chill, cripple and immobilize cleanse for you and allies! This skill is buggy on uneven terrain so make sure to use it wisely or close to allies if you need to use it on stairs for example.

Sublime Conversion Summon an energy barrier that causes enemy projectiles to heal upon impact. Allies that pass through the wall gain boons. Fun Fact this skill has no target cap for allies, use it to give your entire group regen.

Thanks to the trait Quick Draw it is possible to reduce the next weapon skill you use after weapon swapping by 66%, if you need burst healing weapon swap into double Ancestral Grace or you may want to use Vine Surge after every time you weapon swap for more utility/soft CC.

Celestial Avatar

As explained previously Celestial Avatar is the druid’s profession mechanic, changing the player’s weapon and glyph skills while in the form. Thanks to the trait Druidic Clarity you will cleanse 3 conditions from yourself and allies when you enter . Another very powerful Trait is Grace of the Land its easily possible to give your allies 25 Might during the celestial avatar phase, an rotation of skill usage can be found opposite. Finally due to the trait Celestial Shadow this grants superspeed and stealth to nearby allies when leaving celestial avatar form.

(TIP) At the start of the fight you could enter Celestial Avatar and instantly end it for 3 seconds of Superspeed and 2 seconds of stealth.

Cosmic Ray Call down energy onto the targeted area to heal allies. Use this skill as a filler to heal during other skill’s CD’s.

Summon a seed that provides a small heal is a light field and cleanses nearby allies of 2 conditions when it blossoms. Due to being now instant cast you can use this while casting other skills.

Call down a massive lunar beam to heal allies and daze foes. This is another one of your burst heals which is used prior to seed of life due to the cast time, this will enable you to blast a light field comboing an area of cleanse.

Gather tidal force to rapidly heal nearby allies. Great Pulsing heal and is also a water field. This skill will proc a lot of might also thanks to the trait Grace of the Land.

Natural Convergence Channel your celestial powers, pulsing cripple and slow. Once the channel ends, any foes still within its radius will be trapped by a black hole, immobilizing them. Not a priority skill but if used can lock down enemies for 8 seconds!

(TIP) You can use and cancel the cast to gain some stability if needed.

 

Healing Cleansing & Utility

Your main sources of healing and cleansing outside of Celestial Avatar other than your staff skills are the following;

Healing Spring Heals you and your pet. Place this trap when clashing with the opponent or pre-emptively before an enemy spike/push. Once tripped it grants regeneration, is a water field and cures 2 conditions. It then pulses 2 condition cleanses every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. A total of 6 applications of cleanse is gained and due to the trait trappers expertise increases the radius of the trap to 340!

(TIP) The trap begins its cooldown as soon as its dropped, not when it triggers. Due to it lasting over 1 minute 30 seconds this means you can precast it in a location you may think the fight will be to maximize its use.

Glyph of the Stars (Elite) is now a 360 radius 1200 ranged casted water field that pulses 6 times, it heals allies and cleanses 2 conditions per pulse and grants stability. Use this wisely and rotate it with your other skills, try not to overlap the cleanse though as thats your priority.

Glyph of Alignment is one of your burst heals and cleanses 3 conditions . This should only be used during celestial avatar form. With only a small radius of 300 ensure you are close to your allies that need your support.

Glyph of Equality is another cleanse, however you use this is for its 600 range break stun to nearby allies. This also again should only be used during celestial avatar form. Use wisely as it has a 30 second CD.

"Protect Me!" Is an instant cast 600 range command that grants you protection and barrier while breaking allies out of stuns!. Save this for when you personally need it and you receive no support from allies

Pets Beast skills provide some condition cleanse and heals, due to the trait invigorating bond they also heal around the caster. Regenerate Fern Hound is your fern hounds beast skill, use this skill just before the fight starts to stack some regen (fun fact the boon duration scales with your boon duration), you may use just after a range spike for some small heal but depends on your pets position as it can die fast. Chances are that your pets will die fast (even if they are set on avoid combat) so its best to use the weaker of the two beast skills first and asap.  Your bear’s beast skill shake it off Shake It Off Cures 2 conditions on yourself and all nearby allies within 600 range. Ideally Use this skill just after you pet swap to remove the chance the pet is dead and therefore the skill is not accessible. Thanks to spirited arrival trait you will also give boons to allies.
(TIP) stow your pet before the fight if needed and set it on avoid combat

 

Alternatives

Traits: You can use Glyph of Rejuvenationinstead of Healing Spring if you prefer to forfeit cleanse for even more burst heals. If you do swap heals, don’t forget to swap out the trap trait Trapper's Expertise in favour of Primal Reflexes. The only other trait that is viable is Verdant Etching which gives protection on glyphs, you will lose stealth and superspeed when leaving celestial avatar so something to consider.

Runes : Water rune for more boon duration or Druid for more healing power.