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Question - Druid Healer anyone..?

Joined
Jan 12, 2024
RedCents
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I'm considering using my Dru as the healer and battle rezzer and an Enchanter for CC, this would mean giving up my 130 Bard. Can druid do this job reliably or should i just drop Enchanter for Shaman and keep BARD. Went SK for tank and i have a Mage for dps.
 
Anyone can rez with a stack of "Tokens of Resurrection", even during battle. Love it when someone says, hey who rezzed me? And I, the ranger wave my bow at them.
 
Shammy and Bard would be the better option. But if you don't want to play the Druid healer with a Chanter you should. If that's more fun for you personally.
 
With the SK, I would also lean toward a shaman and bard, but a druid would also get the job done. Cleric is hands down the best healer and rezzer, but druid and shaman have nice adps. Druid being caster focus and shaman better for melee. Enc or bard can make a big difference too. Whatever you go with, have fun with it!
 
Druid can reliably heal yes, they also get the added benefit of giving really big damage shields, decent nukes, good buffs and group teleports / instant succor.
However since you already have SK, Bard and Mage I would drop enchanter for Shaman. They are great healers & battle rezzers, do moderate dps with DoT rotations.
Most importantly the Shaman is almost never going to run out of mana, or even get low really during regular encounters. Of course they also offer great buffs and some serious group adps with roars and 2.0 click.
Having the bard means you'll be super fast and double invis'd anyhow, that and PoK negate much of the need for teleports offered by druid. Plus the bard CC is really strong with the proper aa's focused and Rk. II songs.

Anyhow, hope this helps in your decision. Like others have said as well, gotta play whatever is the most fun for you ultimately.
 
I used a druid for healing for years, and it works fine. However, I ended up adding a paladin as a combat rezzer during NOS, still with warrior as tank, because I can't be bothered to do the rez stick progression. I want to do it, just can't make myself do it. Seems tedious

The only caveat with a druid healer is if you are under geared or under-AA for the expansion, the druid can and will struggle in that scenario.
 
All my caster groups use a Druid as the healer and i have 0 issues. My group make ups are , Sk/Pal for tank, Bard because i will not make a group without one =) Chanter yes i know 2 CC but i like it, Druid, Mag, Wiz or Nec. I preferer the Wiz Dps but Having a few Nec on raids is nice as well. I will tell you my caster groups are very hard to kill and a heck of a lot of fun to play.

RBF3
 
Give it a try In my opinion. It really comes down to what content you want to do. If your group is decently geared it shouldn't be a problem.
 
@cintile Druids are great…at sucking nowadays. Weak healers…meh dps…meh support. I mained one for my first 15 yrs and loved it in the old content…but current game dynamica they’ve been obsolete for some time now. Dig up the synergy table and epics to see the best build for your tanking/healing strategy.

End of day…what they said above rings true play what’s fun for you…not every team has to melt shit in 5 seconds…somethings staying up reliably > than killing shit fast…and sometimes melting shit is the only way to stay up…

the wolf of wall street GIF


Play what you love
the wolf of wall street idgaf GIF

What other people say
 
@cintile Druids are great…at sucking nowadays. Weak healers…meh dps…meh support. I mained one for my first 15 yrs and loved it in the old content…but current game dynamica they’ve been obsolete for some time now. Dig up the synergy table and epics to see the best build for your tanking/healing strategy.

End of day…what they said above rings true play what’s fun for you…not every team has to melt shit in 5 seconds…somethings staying up reliably > than killing shit fast…and sometimes melting shit is the only way to stay up…

the wolf of wall street GIF


Play what you love
the wolf of wall street idgaf GIF

What other people say
While I whole heartedly agree with this, I have dabbled in different combinations.

I found that a druid healer wasn't able to keep up like a shaman healer, however........
When I ran a Paly-Druid-Chanter-Mage-Necro-Rng, I was able to do most anything without any real issues.
The Paly pretty much kept itself healed and the druid more took care of AE dmg to everyone else and the occasional time the Paly got hurt.
 
I started fresh on a new server and i have a Druid as main healer. I use a Bst that will take care of the slow.
So far i dont have any issues.
I heard that they are mana sinks, but when I look at the latest 5 levels they have some nice new spells:
old spell at lvl125:
Emberquartz Blessing (skin buff), 123 mana/tick
Mask if the Ferntender, 95 mana/tick
new spell at 127:
Grovewood Blessing (skin buff), 455 mana/tick
new spell at 130:
Mask of the Grovetender, 435 mana/tick
Thats a huge mana/tick increase!
So I hope they will do fine at max level :)
 
I run a SHM and BRD and it is my go to combo with any other class combo. Some people don't like SHM. I get it. It is a comfort level for me. If you like DRU find a way to make it work. I am going to start experimenting with a new team soon, but I will probably go with WAR and CLE myself because I need to learn those classes for my own sanity.
 
All my caster groups use a Druid as the healer and i have 0 issues. My group make ups are , Sk/Pal for tank, Bard because i will not make a group without one =) Chanter yes i know 2 CC but i like it, Druid, Mag, Wiz or Nec. I preferer the Wiz Dps but Having a few Nec on raids is nice as well. I will tell you my caster groups are very hard to kill and a heck of a lot of fun to play.

RBF3
I field an almost identical roster for my caster group. PAL, BRD, DRU, ENC, MAG, WIZ
 
druid can absolutely function as your healer and battle-rez in a small box team, but it won’t feel as safe or as forgiving as a shaman or cleric once things get ugly. Druids are great at keeping a group alive when pulls are clean: fast heals, good HoTs, evac, ports, and they bring real DPS. Where they fall down is sustained spike damage on a plate tank like an SK, especially if CC slips for a moment.


Your Bard + Enchanter combo is actually incredibly strong for control and safety. If you drop the Bard, you lose a lot of passive mitigation, pulls, resists, and overhaste, and suddenly the enchanter has to work much harder. SK + Mage also love Bard support.


Between your two options, SK + Mage + Bard + Shaman is generally the more stable, low-stress setup. You get slow, buffs, real heals, and keep all the Bard utility. The Enchanter is amazing, but in a boxed team the Shaman often brings more overall reliability.


So yes, a Druid can do the job, but if you’re giving up a 130 Bard for it, that’s a big downgrade in how smooth the team feels.

I could just keep sk/brd/enc/mage + cleric and dps mercs, just loose that battle rez
 
If the SK goes down they all go down has been my observation. I honestly don't bother with battle rez. I will rez after mob is dead. But if that is a true worry - someone else mentioned Rez Tokens that you can purchase for Loyalty currency. Also, I think they added them to the Tetradrachm merchant?
 
Depends how you wanna slice your cake and eat it.

Mained an SK(tlp) up to live, and never used CC. The SK is the CC. Tank it all in a pile, just DPS harder. I rolled with a druid and a shaman, and up until roughly RoF/CoTF era (100? 105? ish?) the druid beat the brakes off of every cleric and shaman in my group and raids for heal output. it wasn't even close. After shaman splash became a thing and shamans started stacking reckless heals and clerics had their faster renewals? The druid was dead last for healing in groups and raids.

More often than not, the SK tank was outhealing the druid just from lifetaps. Druids are good at DPS now, but not great. And mana hungry without a good way to regenerate it. I'd go Sk Shm Bard, then whatever else you have on tap. The shaman can heal through nearly anything, while slinging dots and act casual about it.
 
Do you have Bard and Enchanter both set to CC?
All my caster groups use a Druid as the healer and i have 0 issues. My group make ups are , Sk/Pal for tank, Bard because i will not make a group without one =) Chanter yes i know 2 CC but i like it, Druid, Mag, Wiz or Nec. I preferer the Wiz Dps but Having a few Nec on raids is nice as well. I will tell you my caster groups are very hard to kill and a heck of a lot of fun to play.

RBF3
I am planning on running SK, Clr, Enc, Brd, Dru (dps), Wiz on the new tlp. But if Druid can handle the healing, I can drop the Cleric and add another dps which might be nice.
 
I love a good druid - enchanter combo. I used to setup mine and charm kite mobs a lot during the early years. The crowd control options are incredible for an enchanter and typically a druid does great with healing toons.
 
I appreciate all the feedback. I've decided to choose fun and doable, over what works best. I'm going to work on my SK as my main, and tank. My druid (level 117) is actually my oldest character and she has lots of goodies, mounts and stuff I've collected over 20 years and I want her in the line up. This does mean giving up my 130 bard (they share an account) which is hard to do, but it's time for something new. I've been working on a new Mag, who has the cool new Bee saddle, which I love and is now 115. On my 4th account, I just boosted a 100 Ench who will now be incharge of CC and slows once she's caught up to that 115 range. This gives me the following COMP. 116 SK /115 Mag/117 Dru/100 Ench/CLRMERC/DPSMerc. As long as everything goes ok over the next couple months, I'll pay to boost 2 more characters. Which I suspect will be a Wiz and maybe even a Pally for extra battle rez, cures and heals. Might not be the most ideal COMP, but sounds fun and the survivability should be solid.

The SK and DRU will be gold players. The rest will be F2P in group gear. I already have CWTN on SK, but I'm guessing using my DRU as a healer will get me A LOT further along if she also has the CWTN? Right now they are all on RGMERCS. Other then SK of course.
 
I appreciate all the feedback. I've decided to choose fun and doable, over what works best. I'm going to work on my SK as my main, and tank. My druid (level 117) is actually my oldest character and she has lots of goodies, mounts and stuff I've collected over 20 years and I want her in the line up. This does mean giving up my 130 bard (they share an account) which is hard to do, but it's time for something new. I've been working on a new Mag, who has the cool new Bee saddle, which I love and is now 115. On my 4th account, I just boosted a 100 Ench who will now be incharge of CC and slows once she's caught up to that 115 range. This gives me the following COMP. 116 SK /115 Mag/117 Dru/100 Ench/CLRMERC/DPSMerc. As long as everything goes ok over the next couple months, I'll pay to boost 2 more characters. Which I suspect will be a Wiz and maybe even a Pally for extra battle rez, cures and heals. Might not be the most ideal COMP, but sounds fun and the survivability should be solid.

The SK and DRU will be gold players. The rest will be F2P in group gear. I already have CWTN on SK, but I'm guessing using my DRU as a healer will get me A LOT further along if she also has the CWTN? Right now they are all on RGMERCS. Other then SK of course.
use what you like - at the root of it, no automation can make toons do anything that isn't possible, so if you're happy with what you're using, use it, if you're not, use something else
 
It really just depends on your group make up. For a caster group Druid/Enchanter combo is king and are far more beneficial from an ADPS standpoint. If you’re melee heavy Shaman/Bard is the way to go.

Druids have nice debuffs allowing casters to reign supreme! With maxed AA’s Druids are just as good at healing as any healer and the DPS is mind blowing!

Anyone who says otherwise just needs to focus on building the Druid a bit more, adding the right gear, and the proper DPS (caster not melee). Build him as if he were a pure caster. Focus on providing him Spell damage and high Heal amount stats.
 
It really just depends on your group make up. For a caster group Druid/Enchanter combo is king and are far more beneficial from an ADPS standpoint. If you’re melee heavy Shaman/Bard is the way to go.

Druids have nice debuffs allowing casters to reign supreme! With maxed AA’s Druids are just as good at healing as any healer and the DPS is mind blowing!

Makes me wonder if i should swap out rogue merc for the caster dps merc?
 
I've got a pal / enc / dru / clr / wiz / wiz team at 115 at the moment. probably going to persona the cleric to a bard. This team has been very durable, and dps hasn't been too bad either.

played this group with both an SK and paladin tank, knights pair pretty good with druids as they both can cover the healing. I personally prefer the paladin over the sk in this combo.

I've been doing about 1.25 mil sustained dps over long grinds. By contrast my sk/brd/sham/zerk/rog/bst group does about 2.2 mil dps. but aside from nameds, its 10-12 second kills versus 7-9.
 
I don't know how it is in endgame but my sk, druid, enchanter, ber 110ish team has been more than fine, and is fun to play, albeit probably not "optimal". Druid heals more than fine and their dps is still pretty good when half your other boxes are support and a tank. For a 3 or 4 box team they seem perfect.
Ports are slept on but save a lot of time in subtle ways. I'm constantly scouting, binding and teleport binding my team around to grind spots, it cuts down a lot of tedium out of zoning around with boxes (zoning into Grand guild halls on 4 boxes can be a nightmare with crashing somtimes, etc imo).
They are also good for leveling with paladin or warrior cuz not having a snare really sucks in some zones.

I would say if you like your druid to funnel gear into after your tank cuz they benefit a lot from a lot of focuses, more mana, and spell ranks.
 
I don't know how it is in endgame but my sk, druid, enchanter, ber 110ish team has been more than fine, and is fun to play, albeit probably not "optimal". Druid heals more than fine and their dps is still pretty good when half your other boxes are support and a tank. For a 3 or 4 box team they seem perfect.
Ports are slept on but save a lot of time in subtle ways. I'm constantly scouting, binding and teleport binding my team around to grind spots, it cuts down a lot of tedium out of zoning around with boxes (zoning into Grand guild halls on 4 boxes can be a nightmare with crashing somtimes, etc imo).
They are also good for leveling with paladin or warrior cuz not having a snare really sucks in some zones.

I would say if you like your druid to funnel gear into after your tank cuz they benefit a lot from a lot of focuses, more mana, and spell ranks.

I agree so much about the porting, especially the porting to bind points. I also have Mag, so I can summon group to a spot, so that's nice.
 
Question - Druid Healer anyone..?

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