Druid - Decap Druid

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Bunkering and Decap

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on January 19, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A tanky Druid build for sPvP that's meant to win capture points over time by spamming knockbacks.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Greatsword

Utility

Slot Changes

Utility

• Signet of Stone over Signet of Renewal - a good pick if direct damage is a bigger problem in the matchup than condition damage, but you do give up a stun break and some passive healing for it.

Pets

• Template:Gw2wiki over Template:Gw2wiki - the Template:Gw2wiki on Wolf's F2 ability adds another skill to the build that could remove enemies from capture points.

Template Code

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Equipment

Longbow

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Usage

General

Your role is simple: look for 1v1s, keep knocking people off the capture point and root them while outside, then repeat. Win the cap over time without having to kill your opponent. Focus on knockbacks and survival.

Quick Draw is a very versatile trait beyond just reducing the CD of your knockbacks:

• This trait procs even when swapping into Celestial Avatar and can be used to get some extra healing out of the build, mostly via Lunar Impact.
• With Swoop you can squeeze out some extra mobility from Greatsword while leaving a fight.

Set your pet to avoid combat and manage it manually. This is especially important for Jacaranda, because the first attack it does is an AoE lightning strike that does damage in set intervals. You want the pet to begin attacking once the target is immobilized from one of your skills to get maximum value out of this skill.

Decap

As a decap build, there are plenty of knockback skills in your arsenal to help push enemies off the point and slowly capture it:

• Point Blank Shot on Longbow.
• Counterattack on Greatsword (chain sequence of skill #4).
• Glyph of the Tides which is a utility skill. Note: normally this skill pushes foes away (which is what we want), but when used in Celestial Avatar it'll instead pull them in. Don't use this skill in Celestial Avatar unless you either desperately need to interrupt something or you're not standing on the point.
• The aforementioned skills should often be used right after swapping weapons in order to reduce their CD via Quick Draw.

Once the target is outside the capture point you should use your many sources of Template:Gw2skill to keep them out as long as possible:

• Ancient Seeds which is a trait proc. The target is rooted when it's hit by either you or your pet while CC'd. Try landing hits after a knockback as soon as possible.
• Entangle, your elite skill.
• Jacaranda's Embrace, the Jacaranda pet's F2 ability.

Sustain

Aside from major cooldowns, condition cleansing in this build is limited mostly to staying inside Healing Spring.

• Being a Water Field, you can combo Healing Spring with skills like Swoop or Lunar Impact for more healing.

On the other hand there are plenty of passive ways of mitigating condition pressure: Rune of Melandru, Empathic Bond and Natural Stride.

Out of the 2 stun breaks in the build, use "Protect Me!" first unless conditions are killing you. Try to keep Signet of Renewal's passive bonus going as long as possible. This signet provides both passive healing and (by extension) Astral Force building while not on CD.

Usually survival is a bigger priority than holding a point - you can come back and neutralize it in seconds anyway. While Template:Gw2wiki does prevent capture point contribution, it can save your life in emergency situations.

• Hunter's Shot is the most straightforward way of getting Stealth.
• Smoke Cloud is a combo field created by Smokescale's F2 that you could utilize even in Celestial Avatar while healing yourself by making the pet drop it under you. With Lunar Impact you could even stack AoE Template:Gw2wiki for allies

Dodge rolling applies Template:Gw2wiki, and Protection regenerates health via Rugged Growth.

Celestial Avatar

Becomes available once you fill your Astral Force bar, which can be done mostly through healing, and to a lesser extent damage dealing.

Entering Celestial Avatar removes all conditions via Druidic Clarity. Even if you're not going to spend much time in thsi form, just entering for a brief moment is already a powerful sustain tool.

Seed of Life should usually be used on cooldown. There's a bit of a delay between placing the seed and the cleanse going off, be sure to stand in it when it blossoms.

Lunar Impact is a quick and huge heal which also CCs enemies. As a Blast Finisher this has many other applications, for example blasting Seed of Life's Light Field results in AoE cleansing 1 condition.

Rejuvenating Tides is very straightforward, just use it to heal yourself and allies if you're not taking too much damage during the channeling.

Natural Convergence is excellent for cleaving downed enemies. Note: this skill can be used defensively just for the Template:Gw2wiki alone. The channeling can be interrupted by moving or weapon stowing, but the Template:Gw2skill will still remain - you can use that to safely cast another skill if need be.

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