Druid - Power CC Druid

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Strike damage, Control and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on December 20, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Power Druid build for PvP which makes use of the new Maces along with a bunch of control oriented traits to dish out high damage while keeping targets CC'd.

Skill Bar

Mace/Mace

Sword/Warhorn

Utility

Skill Variants

Weapons

• Hammer over Sword/Warhorn - Hammer is an equally viable option. These sets have similar damage, but Hammer offers more CC (and thus Marksmanship synergy) while Sword is more defensive with 3 combo finishers and better mobility. If you opt for this then take sigil of Intelligence/Savagery on Hammer and Cleansing/Energy on the Mace set.

Utility

• Signet of Renewal over Signet of Stone - for games where you feel like defense against conditions and an extra stunbreak are more important than a way to counter direct damage bursts.

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Equipment

Mace

Mace

Sigil

Sigil

Sword

Warhorn

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Changes

Rune

• Rune of Dolyak - more tanky option.

• Rune of Mesmer - offensive rune with good stats and a huge Daze duration boost.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Rangers with the Druid specialization gain access to Celestial Avatar (CA) which uses a resource called Astral Force (AF).

• You build AF mostly through healing yourself and allies. The amount healed doesn't matter. Consistent sources of healing like Regeneration and Signet of Renewal are great at building Astral Force.

General

• Celestial Avatar skill #5 Natural Convergence is a channeled ability that has Stability on it. When you're trying to heal under pressure you should interrupt Natural Convergence right away by moving or by weapon stowing, that way you get to use the Stability to cover other skills.

• Smokescale's F2 ability is Smoke Cloud which could be used to combo Stealth with skills like Oaken Cudgel, Thump (untamed) (Hammer variant), Sword 2-3, Lunar Impact or even pet swapping to proc Clarion Bond.
  • Clarion Bond has the benefit of being instant. Since you're able to swap pets even while stunned, you could use this to stealth yourself even while CC'd.

• Mobility: Sky-Chak Striker's F2 is also a combo field, this one can be blasted for Swiftness! That's the only reliable source of Swiftness in the build, so you should make your pet use Ley Energy Pulse and blast it with Oaken Cudgel + Thump (untamed) (in this order, as Thump covers a larger distance and should be taking you towards your destination when used) when you're ready to leave a capture point. With Sword/Warhorn the order is Call of the Wild ⇒ Oaken Cudgel.

• Glyph of the Stars (Celestial Avatar) (your elite skill) can be used to rez allies when used in Celestial Avatar, this is a major group support tool you have. Drop the elite underneath the downed ally to begin reviving them, then either start rezing them manually too to make things faster or try to peel for them with CC while the elite does its thing.
  • You could spam Seed of Life for cleansing/Blind while rezing allies inside the Glyph's AoE field or choose to drop out of CA after using the elite - dropping out of CA will Stealth allies, making it harder for enemies to damage them or interrupt you. Applying stealth at the right moment could even save the downed ally from a stomp attempt.

Damage

• Mace/Mace is much more spammy than Hammer, you can use your skills in almost no particular order and still do fine.

• There are 2 things which play a key role in boosting your damage, especially on Sword and Hammer: CC and/or Fury application. Your goal is the reapply Fury before using harder hitting skills.

• With the combination of Remorseless and Precise Strike, gaining Fury refreshes Opening Strike and Opening Strike has a 100% crit chance as well as a 25% damage bonus.

• Whenever you disable an enemy with Daze or any other form of hard-CC you gain Fury from Relic of the Midnight King and a Moment of Clarity proc, which further increases your damage.

• Aside from using CC skills you can also obtain Fury instantly by swapping pets.

• Glyph of Equality can be used offensively as an instant trigger for MoC, even in the middle of casting other skills.

• Overbearing Smash basically sets itself up, dazing targets and then following up with a 2nd attack that deals extra damage via trait synergy. It's also the hardest hitting skill on Hammer.

• On Sword/Warhorn both Pounce and Serpent's Strike hit hard. Be careful with Hunter's Call on this set though, while it's a good skill and the vulnerability stacking could increase your damage, the rapid attacks could quickly eat the damage modifiers you get from CC skills like Call of the Wild. You might want to hold off on using Hunter's Call a bit if you intend to boost the skill 2-3 damage with dazes.

• CC effects don't stack in duration and Daze durations are quite long in the build, try not to override already applied dazes with other control effects.

• Celestial Avatar is mostly defensive, but if you want to use it to deal damage then cast Lunar Impact for the daze and immob followed by Natural Convergence.
  • Drop a Seed of Life too as soon as you can since it's instant and applies Poison for healing reduction via Eclipse.
  • Enemies being in range of Natural Convergence when it ends are immobilized, you could use this as a setup for harder hitting weapon skills.

• The final pulse of Natural Convergence does a lot of damage, you can boost this further by pet swapping for Fury and Marksmanship synergy right as the last pulse is about to go off.

Burst combo examples

Mace into Sword

1. Oaken Cudgel for CC and to buff your next attack.
2. Serpent's Strike for damage and Immob.
3. Pounce
4. Glyph of Equality BEFORE Pounce hits.

Hammer

1. Thump (untamed) for CC and a gap closer.
2. Wild Swing for damage, capitalizing on the damage modifiers applied by the CC.
3. Savage Shock Wave to root the target in place as the CC from Thump is running out.
4. Overbearing Smash for daze and strong followup damage while they're Immobilized.

Celestial Avatar rotation

While you don't have to follow this all the time, it's a good sequence for both damage and sustain.

1. Cast Lunar Impact and try to maximize the targets in its radius, both friend and foe. Enemies will be dazed while allies will be healed.
2. Place Seed of Life below your character near the end of the Lunar Impact cast, BEFORE Lunar goes off. This is an instant skill with a very brief combo field duration, you want this to be blasted by Lunar Impact for extra condi cleansing. If you don't need cleansing AND the enemy you're fighting isn't in melee range, place this under them instead for the Blind.
3. Natural Convergence - here you have a choice. If you want to pressure the enemy, continue channeling the skill. If you're low HP and healing is more important, interrupt the skill immediately and cast Rejuvenating Tides. You'll protect the cast with the Stability from Natural Convergence.
   1. Swapping pets for a Clarion Bond proc could add value to both Natural Convergence and Rejuvenating Tides. The Fury from the proc will boost the damage of NC (try to swap right before the last strike of NC) while the blast finisher from the same proc could give you and your allies extra healing when used inside RT.
4. Both skills listed under step 3 have long cast times, Natural Convergence even roots you in place. If you're taking a lot of damage consider using some of your utility skills like Signet of Stone or "Protect Me!", or simply cut the skill short and drop out of Celestial Avatar so you can disengage safely.
5. Seed of Life once more then drop out of Celestial Avatar. Disengage with stealth and superspeed if you're still pressured.

Sustain

• Both your healing skill and your elite are Water fields. Try to use blast/leap finishers in them for extra healing whenever possible.

• Seed of Life in Celestial Avatar (somewhat spammable instant skill) and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing provide a steady stream of condi removal, use these to keep conditions at bay.
  • If you drop Seed of Life halfway through casting Lunar Impact you can combo an extra condition removal.

• Glyph of the Stars is an answer to just about any situation - heals, removes conditions, protects against CC, and you can combo extra healing with leap/blast finishers.

• Entering Celestial Avatar dazes nearby enemies. This is an instant way of lifting some pressure off of you that could be done even while you're stunned.

• Exiting Celestial Avatar gives you and nearby allies Stealth and Superspeed. This is a powerful escape tool, if you're being focused by the enemy team sometimes it's best to just enter CA, do Lunar Impact ⇒ Seed of Life and then exit the form. This provides a decent amount of healing/cleansing while also creating some breathing room for you before bailing from a fight.

• Mobility in general can be quite important for your survival. Hammer and Sword/Warhorn could help you disengage from fights.

• Lunar Impact should be the first skill you use while in CA, ideally try to get 2 casts of this skill off before leaving the avatar form.

• Signet of Renewal should be kept for its passive for as long as possible. While it doesn't heal much on this build it's A) still better than nothing and B) helps with Astral Force generation, although with 20s CD on Celestial Avatar it's less important in this gamemode. Use it only if you're out of options and need to break stun or do a mass cleanse.
  • Note: your pet must be within 600 range for the condition transfer to happen. The damage from the transfer itself can actually kill the pet rather quickly so you might want to swap pets shortly after using this signet.

• You're free to use "Protect Me!" for simple damage mitigation while the other utilities are not on CD, but if those are recharging then hold onto this in case you need to break a stun in the future.

Top Streamers

• Twitch: Boyce

Related Builds

• Druid - Power Daze Roamer - WvW version of the build.