Note: this guide is targeted towards higher level druids who can max at least 4-5 skills. Much of this is applicable to any level druid though.
Druids are already the most OP PVP class. With the new patch I expect even more so. Anyone who disagrees with this will shortly be proved wrong. Here is why druids are so OP:
- All damage skills are cut in half in PVP except for damage over time (swarm / vines)
- Only druids have wards which effectively cut your opponents DPS in half
- Druids have lots of buffs/debuffs
1.) Rebirth to full Vit build (HP is your primary stat to be concerned with in PVP as a druid)
2.) Every opponent is different. If you are fighting a melee class with a spear, bow, or dagger max ward of assasins. If you are fighting an ice mage, max ward of ice, if a fire mage ward of fire. If you are fighting a sword wielder ward of soldiers, etc. etc. Depending on who you are fighting you should max out wards to cut their dps in half.
3.) Max vines and swarm. All direct damage in pvp is cut in half except for damage over time. This means that with a ward they are doing half to one quarter damage while you are doing full damage. You don't need to bother with lightning or storm touch. All you need are bees and vines.
4.) get as much HP gear as possible. It is possible to be at over 20k hp as a level 215+ druid.
5.) Every opponent is different. Some you may choose to cast swarm, vines, root, and then stand back and heal. Some you may choose to swarm, vines, wind. Some you may choose to swarm, vines and then heal yourself a bit.
The key is to use an alt book for each opponent and make sure you have the wards to reduce their damage. A level 210+ druid with 50 points in vines and swarms will do 4-5k per tick. That means most rogues and rangers will go down in under 10 seconds. They are buffing both of those spells in this upcoming event so you may even drop rogues and rangers in 5 seconds.
The best armor is dragonlord or EDL armor. Jewels should be focused on maximizing your health.
Druids are very powerful against rogues, rangers, and mages (watch out for mages who use both fire and ice. Make sure to max both wards if they play that way).
Most warriors will be burned down quickly, but clever warriors will switch between blade, blunt, and piercing weapons and skills. It is difficult to have 3 wards and swarm/vines but it can be done. Know your opponent, know what weapons he uses, know what skills he has points in. If you know he has blade blunt and piercing weapons and skills to do damage in them then ward blunt and blade first. There are few skills he can use for piercing. In a worst case you can always root, wind, bark up and just power through it. Warriors are the only moderately difficult opponent. I can't stress enough though that it doesn't matter. You will likely not be facing a PVP warrior with more than 10k HP anyways. Most warriors go full STR for PVP. you just need to survive 10-15 seconds while swarm/vines shreds them up.
The most difficult class to PVP against is another druid : )
The downside to druid PVP is how expensive it is.
To go into PVP mode you need a rebirth book. Then you need an alteration book for pretty much every opponent. Then I need a rebirth & alteration to go back to my PVE spec. A PVP druid is useless in a boss fight.
A typical PVP session on my druid:
I don't usually bother with equipping or collecting HP gear. Rebirth full vit, suit up full EDL, cast abundance (part of my normal spec), then choose my opponent, use an alt book to max swarm and vines. After those are maxxed I can choose 3.5 skills to max that are opponent specific. I usually choose wards to eliminate their dmg, then choose either: wind, root, bark, or abundance. I can't recall an opponent I couldn't beat. I sometimes need to try a couple of combinations of spells to get it just right for an opponent but I have yet to find someone I could not beat.
About the author: I have 200+ toons of every class, and have done PVP in every class. Druids are by far the most over powered, but I see so few druids destroying opponents in PVP so I thought I would share my tactics.