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Is this Nature Build still valid?
Please, can someone tell me if this build is still valid? If not, does someone know of a good nature build? I'm interested only in PVE btw 
Post edited by fmulti on
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I would guess it is better with Pathfinder than with Stormwarden (especially because of Hunter's Teamwork/Careful attack). With that at-will power you should try to target the enemies which are short before dying so they drop the support package (which gives heal/AP/Stamina to everybody). This means more usage for the complete party of using Daily powers.
Even the Daily Power of Pathfinder can sometimes be great value for GF (filling up their Guard meter) and/or for anybody if much hit/run is required.
Currently I don't see any value in the encounters or class features of the Pathfinder and hence, with the mentioned build I just replaced "Rapid Shot" with "Hunter's Teamwork"-at-will power, which is already a great value.
The build is quite flexible in switching between "doing good support" or "focusing on damage", even though it does not have several feats that support more damage.
I experienced the following support as an immense impact:
- Hunter's Teamwork (damage debuff)
- Aspect of the Pack (grants combat advantage to all which are in your radius)
- Commanding shot (does damage and defense debuff)
- Thorn ward (stacking defense debuff)
- plague fire enchantment (stacking defense debuff)
For example killing a dryder with a party in ToS, I am not totally sure but think I never have seen a dryder dying so fast as before (I also played GWF and did ToS runs with GWFs/CWs only. Maybe I should compare the speed of burning down enemies again...).
You can imagine what this can mean for any boss
Hope this gives you an insight!
The most amusing thing is that I've heard multiple Nature HR claim that they carry groups; yet when I group up with them they are at the bottom in every stat, usually this includes healing done somehow. I have seen a Nature HR take top healing one time and one time only, and they barely beat out the CW's Lifesteal. (And the Nature HR was at 16k GS, a full 4k higher than the CW in question. 8k power as well. Just sad.)
Nature must be carried. Must. It brings nothing to the table as far as useful abilities. You bring a couple of unreliable mitigation buffs, a dodge that can't be timed well, some heals that barely work, some single-target debuffs that lag far behind anything a DC brings, no crowd control, and no damage.
The only good thing about the Nature spec is that it's so bad even NPC's do not feel threatened by you or your healing and you are incapable of pulling aggro. So if you like watching other people clear dungeons without helping one iota, Nature might be for you.
I played the spec. and wanted to love it. It is still not viable as anything other than a +5 when your group can clear the dungeon with only 4. I say this as a warning to you; if you play Nature have the AD for a respec handy. It's seriously for your own good to do so as it will break your character.
That's a real shame =( As you said yourself, I really wanted to fall in love with the build. I always like looking for non-mainstream builds, even if they are not "top-notch", but they gotta be reasonably effective at least. Real real shame.
But since we are at it, could you give me some pointers towards good HR builds?
http://nwcalc.com/hr?b=p92:20f1e4:20do24,13n0iii:100000:1u55z1:1u0000&h=0&p=swd
I used Electric Shot / Rapid Shot for At-Wills; Split The Sky / Rain of Arrows / Marauder's for Encounters; Forest Ghost / Seismic Shot for Dailies; and Twin-Blade Storm / Blade Storm as class skills.
Archery for Pathfinder (Focusing on full DPS)
http://nwcalc.com/hr?b=pa7:20f19t:1dsd9s,13n6i2i:15u55v:100000:1u0000&h=0&p=pfr
I use Split Shot / Aimed Shot for At-Wills; Marauder's / Rain of Arrows / Hawk Shot for Encounters; Forest Ghost / Seismic Shot as Dailies; and Aspect of the Serpent / Aspect of the Pack as class skills.
The feats you would want to take are pretty self evident for the most part with some minor differences.
There are some non-ideal power choices but now that you can get more points through leveling past 60 it doesn't much matter anyway as you will have them all eventually. I use Bloodthirsty just because I like to crit on Marauder's Rush but Quarry isn't bad either. I've switched between the two several times and can't really decide which one I like more.
The only things HR can do well are survive, DPS, and disappear on occasion. The Nature tree is to taunt us with promises of being a primary healer/buffer.
It really doesn't boost your survivability dramatically anyway. Lose out on 10% deflect/10% crit or the nice damage buffs of archery.
You'd think that having the whole party getting from 10% to 30% dmg resistance from Boar Hide and Stag Heart (plus its extra HP) just about all the time (I'm pretty sure that with the Royal Guard set, storm step and high recovery you'd be able to rotate powers just about non-stop). Plus healing ticks of nearly 600 (with the rework of power and the boost of Oak Skin, I got to that easily) all the time would make a big difference in the party's survivability. Obviously that set of powers would deal very little damage, and you'd be relying on split shot and dailies for most of the damage. I wouldn't mind running a char like that IF (and only if) people appreciated the buffs. But since it's a consensus people don't, I have already given up on it.
Sadly a DC can do all of that from a nature HR with a single encounter, astral shield.
Well, you can't argue with facts
Please also note that the build I have tried out is not exactly the same like the build asked by the thread opener. I have adepted it to still go more on damage focus.
Furthermore I also want to emphasize the following things:
- I've chosen Pathfinder + Nature build to try it out
- I do not want to substitute DC (even with DC, it is getting better)
- I do not aim for highest DPS Rank
- I mostly do not feel carried even with a party with mates that have higher GS
- I do not have the feeling like I do too few damage (when using Commanding Shot/Rain of Arrows/Thorn ward, especially with Royal Guard Set)
- If more assist is needed, I adept my encounters otherwise I focus on damage/debuff (I am still not comparing to a DC)
- Also in PvP I have noticed to be able to support for the group well (except if the GS difference is too high it does not matter anymore of course).
The most important I also want to tell you: I want to have fun.
Empirically, people find out "the optimal" setups for Dungeons (like for CN one setup would be: GWF, DC, 3xCW) to be more time efficient in farming.
Well, thats neat and I also do want to be optimal mostly but I have the constraint called "fun" which punishes the optimality but increases my mood. In any way it depends on each person, how much fun he has with his build and everybody needs to figure out. And if it is more fun to you in only beeing optimal that is your choice.
Hence to come back to the thread opener:
Try it out the build you have asked for and wager your own decisions during picking powers/feats/items/enchantments. What can you regret other than spending some AD/Zen which do not make you poorer?