Meet the Druid: Ranger’s Elite Specialization

[Karizee]

Meet the Druid: Ranger’s
Elite Specialization

by Irenio Calmon-Huang on September 25, 2015





Welcome, friends, to the reveal of the ranger elite specialization, the druid! As a longtime ally of nature, the ranger can now channel the strength of Tyria itself after tapping into the primal forces of the Maguuma jungle.


Speak Softly

Carrying their staff into battle, the druid bears the duty of sustaining their allies through overwhelming danger. To achieve this aim, each staff skill can be beneficially used to bolster the druid’s allies.

• Solar Beam: Fire a concentrated beam of light, damaging the targeted foe and healing allies inside of the beam.
• Astral Wisp: Send a wisp to attach to your foe. While attached it will circle the foe, healing allies it passes through.
• Ancestral Grace: Become a wisp of natural energy, traversing to the target location. When you reach the target, heal nearby allies.
• Vine Surge: Send forth vines that immobilize enemies and cleanse conditions from allies.
• Sublime Conversion: Summon an energy barrier that causes enemy projectiles to heal upon impact.

The druid’s staff offers solid support through smart positioning and grants the tools to be in the right place at the right time.





Closer to the Stars

The druid elite specialization grants a ranger the capacity to draw astral force to themselves. Once it’s fully charged, they can release that force and become a celestial avatar. While in this empowered form, the avatar gains access to a new set of weapon skills while retaining access to their heal skill, utilities, and elite skill. Avatar skills are on very short cooldowns and transform the ranger into a healing powerhouse, pushing the upper bounds of sustainability and recovery; in celestial avatar form, a druid becomes capable of bringing a party on the brink of death back to pristine condition.

• Cosmic Ray: Call down energy onto the target area to heal allies.
• Seed of Life: Summon a seed that heals and cleanses nearby allies of conditions when it blossoms.
• Lunar Impact: Call down a massive lunar beam to heal allies and daze foes.
• Rejuvenating Tides: Gather tidal force to rapidly heal nearby allies.
• 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.

Signs of Ancient Times

Those following the path of the druid will uncover ancient glyphs. These utility skills have different effects based on whether you are in celestial avatar form.
Glyph of Rejuvenation: Apply significant healing to yourself and minor healing to your allies.

• In Celestial Avatar: Apply significant healing to your allies and minor healing to yourself.

Glyph of Alignment: Damage and apply conditions to nearby foes.

• In Celestial Avatar: Heal and remove conditions from nearby allies.

Glyph of Equality: Daze nearby foes.

• In Celestial Avatar: Break stun for nearby allies.

Glyph of Empowerment: Increase outgoing damage of nearby allies.

• In Celestial Avatar: Increase outgoing healing of nearby allies.

Glyph of the Tides: Push nearby enemies away from you.

• In Celestial Avatar: Pulls enemies toward you.

Glyph of Unity: Tether yourself to nearby foes. Whenever you receive damage, deal damage to the foes tethered to you.

• In Celestial Avatar: Tether yourself to nearby allies. Whenever you’re healed, heal the tethered allies as well.

Attune to the Land

Trudging with heroic determination into the wild lands of the Maguuma jungle, the druid comprehends that the beauty of the wilderness conceals great danger. As they gain greater experience in Mordremoth’s domain, from the sprawling depths to the soaring canopy, they’ll be able to enhance their celestial form, glyphs, and staff skills to better take the battle to the heart of the jungle.

• (Minor) Celestial Being: You can equip staves and gain access to glyphs. You can become a celestial avatar once you gain enough astral force. Generate astral force by healing allies and damaging foes.
• (Minor) Live Vicariously: When you heal an ally, you are also healed.
• (Minor) Natural Mender: Increase your outgoing healing whenever you heal another ally.
• Druidic Clarity: Becoming a celestial avatar removes conditions from you.
• Cultivated Synergy: Using a healing skill heals around you and your pet.
• Primal Echoes: Reduces recharge of staff skills. Daze nearby foes when you swap to staff.
• Celestial Shadow: Grant superspeed and stealth to nearby allies when leaving celestial avatar form.
• Verdant Etching: Reduces recharge of glyphs. Activating a glyph skill plants a seed.
• Seed of Life: Summon a seed that heals and cleanses nearby allies of conditions when it blossoms.
• Natural Stride: Reduce duration of movement-impairing conditions. Your movement speed is increased as long as you have none of these conditions.
• Grace of the Land: While you are a celestial avatar, your allies gain reduced incoming condition damage.
• Lingering Light: Healing an ally creates a wisp that orbits you and heals allies it touches.
• Ancient Seeds: Striking a stunned, dazed, knocked down, or launched foe summons roots to entangle them.

Dinosaurs, Tigers, and Wyverns, Oh My!

Upon entering the lush Maguuma jungle, you’ll encounter many new creatures. Some are fierce, some are friendly, a few are both…and among them are new potential pets for all rangers! If you find them, these are a few possible allies you may befriend:

• Smokescale: This feral saurian can create a field of smoke to hide in to evade enemies.
• Bristleback: This spine-covered beast has grown talented at rending foes in the brutal jungle.
• Tiger: This former ruler of the wilds inspires allies with its graceful pounce.
• Electric Wyvern: This deadly beast knows how to use its head, charging headlong into the fray.
• Fire Wyvern: This fiery winged ally enjoys its meat well charred.

I will be eagerly listening for your constructive feedback regarding the druid and its role in challenging group content and beyond. See you in the jungle!


https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/m...pecialization/

[Deleted]

"" First !! "" Karizee, probably

So the trinity is finally back and confirmed, now.

[Fencers]

Seems so.. un-druid like to me. These specializations are a really mixed bag in HoT.

[Deleted]

Seems so.. un-druid like to me. These specializations are a really mixed bag in HoT.

Want a druid like Rift ? There is too much healing everywhere IMHO.

And pets... meh

[zito]

"" First !! "" Karizee, probably

So the trinity is finally back and confirmed, now.

Not really. Support healing and tanking already existed in small quantities. Making more of the same doesn't change that.

[Valeron]

Well at least my poison based characters will have a purpose now.

[zito]

Gonna make a revenant ventari/glint healer and druid. So exciting

[Deleted]

Not really. Support healing and tanking already existed in small quantities.

Tanking and healing in small quantities.... ?
You mean on one 55 hp character

[zito]

Tanking and healing in small quantities.... ?
You mean on one 55 hp character

I'm not sure what the reference is but the tools are there. People choose not to use or pretend they don't exist because of the zerker meta.

[Deleted]

LE reference : Monk 55 HP. Zito pliz.

[Valeron]

I don't know if zito played GW1

[Usagi Senshi]

Seems so.. un-druid like to me. These specializations are a really mixed bag in HoT.

I think it has too much healing focus really. Not really liking these types of things becoming more prevalent in a game that initially shrugged them off. Seems they're only doing this to make raiding work which is kind of shitty IMO.

That being said I still like the Daredevil and Reaper a lot. Bezerker (my main, for now) is kinda meh but I'll still play with it.

[Maarius]

Do the people who think that increasing healing potential = introducing the holy trinity know the game at all?


There is still no strict aggro-management, enemies still attack players whoever they like

Everyone has a powerful selfheal, it isn't going away

Tanky characters still can't just stand there and soak up all the damage, this will get them killed pretty fast



GW2 is still the way it was at release. The only thing that changes is the variety of healing options. Waterfields and blasts are still an effective way of healing, so I doubt that there will be lf-healer-only szenarios.

Either you have players with water fields and blast finishers, the ventari legend, Mantra Mesmer, other viable healing builds OR you have a druid.

[Notshauna]

I have to agree I seriously question what a dedicated healer can do that a water field can not. And group worth their salt can blast finish their way through any amount of damage with either an Elementalist or a Ranger. The only way I can think a healer would work is if you solved the core problem with vitality/toughness, where they are inferior at their own jobs compared to active evades. When a class can have close to 70% evade/invuln up time and not having a player to punish that, you seriously have to wonder how they make tanking work.

Honestly Guild Wars 2 needs supports not tanks or healers, and they do already exist but healing is an irrelevant aspect of their kits. Even a full healing power elementalist is only marginally better than zerker ele at effective healing and provides a fraction of the damage. Instead you need reflects/time warp and other forms of active mitigation in order to the Guild Wars 2 combat to work. I do believe it has just as much, if not more potential, than the standard MMO content but you can't port over a standard MMO role and expect it to work.

[Maarius]

Nike (one of the known elite-pve players) on why you should consider something else than Druid when looking for support:

Why take anything else? Because raw healing on a fully committed Mantra Mesmer isinsane and a fully committed Guardian healer is mixing decent HoTs with mass Aegis, blinds, and reflects.

Druid pushes raw numbers. Like a boss (though I’m still not convinced I can’t out green them on a Mesmer). A commited Ele is also no slouch at healing and brings 3 other on-demand modes to the table. Devs have already come on to say that 40 heals/400(!!) attacks to charge celestial form makes it more of a burst heal option and I’m seeing a lot of defensive layering is MISSING from the Druid. The absence of stability is going to be keenly felt.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/foru...ose-of-balance

[Svifnymr]

I think it has too much healing focus really. Not really liking these types of things becoming more prevalent in a game that initially shrugged them off. Seems they're only doing this to make raiding work which is kind of shitty IMO.

I guess it depends on the numbers, but I'd assume since your pet is still doing damage that the druids attack/heal numbers won't be as high as petless folks. So it may not be as "focused" as it seems.

But then, I haven't really looked at it since I don't care until all this stuff is actually live. (Well, Live+3days of patching.)

[Deleted]

Can't wait to check it out

[Maarius]

what I really like about this addition is the fact that they've changed heal as one. New heal as one functionality: All boons your pet receives will get transferred to the Ranger and vice versa...

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Annnd we've come full circle! We got "new, challenging cooperative PvE content" (Raids) that even Anet themselves describe as requiring certain specs and roles to complete. Control is more important than ever, and now we're getting a dedicated 6th spec. Sounds familiar...

There goes another one of the famous promises on the manifesto.

[Maarius]

Annnd we've come full circle! We got "new, challenging cooperative PvE content" (Raids) that even Anet themselves describe as requiring certain specs and roles to complete. Control is more important than ever, and now we're getting a dedicated 6th spec. Sounds familiar...

There goes another one of the famous promises on the manifesto.

wat? lol seriously?

nothing changes other than the fact that we're getting one role that burst-heals better than others. We already have a few healing roles in the game that work as effective, but it's only used in PvP so far. With HoT we'll get more challenging group content which turns the faceroll environment almost into a PvP environment.

You still can't manage aggro
You still don't lose your powerful selfheal
As druid you still do damage

Almost every profession (besides Thief) can switch in-combat from a damage into a healing role, so there is still no waiting for that one profession.

And PLEASE cite me that sentence in the Manifesto, that "promised" us what you think they did.

What also will change, and this is awesome, is the need to use these roles we already have in PvE.