Runes of Magic US / AU

Personal Prefrence, however, mage/warden gets some pretty nice elite skills

It depends on your play style. D/W focuses more on damage and being an upfront player. D/S and D/WD are both more ranged than the D/W. The only healing power a D/W gets is a second group heal that takes rage to activate. If you want to play a strong, long-range healer roll D/S. For midrange and slight damage capability go D/WD. For upclose combat with slight healing, roll D/W. I don't know that one is better than the others. I'm crrently playing 'round with a D/W and loving it, but as far as healing goes... it's sub-standard.

Quoted from "X3ZON;444595"

D/W focuses more on damage and being an upfront player.

Most of the elites of D/W are phy attack in nature but as of ch4 they have modifiers based on ur wis (have + .1* wis) so that would inc the dmg depending on the wis u have. But i hardly ever use them anyway even when i'm soloing. I only use heart piercing to get rage when in party and fighting bosses. So basically the only dmg i rely on is the same as any other druid primary has and thus would like to disaggree on u saying that D/W focuses more on dmg but its completely true that d/w is an upfront player or more like a player that ususally stays at a range of 90 from boss to build rage from heart piercing.

Quoted from "X3ZON;444595"

I'm crrently playing 'round with a D/W and loving it

Completely aggree with it being a lovey class combo

Quoted from "X3ZON;444595"

but as far as healing goes... it's sub-standard.

HEY!?! the healing is NOT sub-standard. It might be for u if u dont have much wisdom stacked on u :p.

Quoted from "chris11141996;443918"

i also hear d/w is pretty good any1 know the pros and cons of them

It is. One of it's main pros is the second group heal u get (lvl 40 elite). It heals about the same as the Mother Earth's Fountain. The only restriction is that u have to stay in range of atleast 90 (to use another elite skill that gives rage) to build up rage for it if ur not tanking the boss/elite.
btw has any1 else noticed that most of any of the boss aoes does not build up rage as it's supposed to when a mob hits us?
anyway... the short range u have to stay is offset a bit by the Glory wand elite we have (lvl 20 i think) but that currently absorbs a fixed amount of dmg and u have to be hit first to trigger the shield which only lasts for 8 sec and then have to wait another 20 sec to get the shield again. But the main part of the glory wand isn't teh shield it provides but the inc in attack speed and healing recieved. with those increased u can possibly get off white strikes on the boss inbetween ur healing if u have a healing addon on so u dont have to target a person first to heal him and stay in striking range. Also since the ch4 u can now do defensive formation whenever ur in a pinch (and not effect the group) to inc ur pdef at the cost of phy and mag attk power but those dont effect ur healing power so u can go on healing effectively.
I have never played a d/wd so i cant tell u about it and i have also not taken my scout side high enough to start taking it to instances so i cant tell u about that either .
Hope this helps in ur decision making.

For lazy folks who just want the short version read the bold. ^_^

Ok, I think I'm one of the senior D/War's in the game. For any DPSer the reason they love D/War is your patk/dmg buff. This buff is unparalleled in the game and lasts for 30 minutes. It is much better than priests' amp attack buff and it is one truly great benefit that can get you into parties once a server learns about it.

The ironic thing, yes I said server, is that nobody knows about it because there are so few druid/warriors in the game. Currently the main reason to choose the D/War combo is their ability to cast two group heals instantly. It's not just that d/war has two group heals, but that they can be cast in motion, while you are running and one of them is a raid heal -that is it can hit 12 people not just 6. If geared properly, the D/War is the best group healer in the game -it's not even close.

That said, there are A LOT of reasons why you might not want to play the best group healer in the game. Just think back to the days of the Sega Saturn (the what???)... This was a FAR SUPERIOR piece of hardware to the Sony Playstation, but what the Saturn had on paper never really mattered because the games produced for it were not that good. That is a good way to think of the D/War.

D/War is a great class on paper, but there are a lot of problems when gearing it. Currently in the state of RoM there are absolutely no cloth sets for DPS. This means that you cannot play D/War for endgame DPS -that is lvl 55 and up (probably earlier than that honestly)- and expect people not to laugh at you and kick you from party. While most of the D/War elites focus on melee attacks, the druid main class does not allow ALMOST any gear to make this possible. While D/War is able to wield axes, there are practically no axes with healing bonuses that would allow you to DPS and heal. There is one in Varanas Nightmare, but that is very hard to get and I don't know about you, but I'm not designing an entire build around a weapon I may not even be able to get. If you do some experimenting, you will see pretty quickly that the cap you hit for patk based on stats alone, unbuffed, will be around 50k. (No flaming required if I'm wrong, this is just an estimate). This is because you can't wear leather, and you want a weapon that will not totally nerf your heals. While it is possible to make a D/war that can hit fairly hard, your crit rate will be GARBAGE compared to EVERY OTHER DPSer in the game. Seriously. No leather = no crit. I know, you're saying "But I have accessories and an arena cape!" No man, just no, don't waste your time.

Currently I am a level 66/52/?? Druid/Warrior/Scout. I really enjoy playing the D/War and the rebalancing in Ch 4 may have benefited D/War more than any other class in game. The reason I say that is that we are now able to cast a group heal every 2 seconds. This allows for a totally different strategy to healing than has ever been possible with a druid. Previously the cool downs for each heal was 5 seconds and you need a lot more NP (if you're reading the druid forum you better know what NP is =p). Now, if you are geared well enough, you don't need NP at all. Previously the HoT spells were the bread and butter of every druid healer, but now the d/war is able to effectively heal using only group heal. BUT! Don't be a priest! If you do roll D/War learn how and when to use your other healing spells in combination with the double group heals.

I think I'll let this go for now. I am thinking hard about writing an updated druid/warrior guide, but it will take some time and I want to learn more of the strategies for Temple/Tomb/Grafu/Sardo before I come shooting my mouth off. It has been said before, but I'll say it one more time: PLEASE do not try to make your D/War a melee class. I know it is deceiving, but it is just an illusion. Your druid will never do DPS and that is ok, because within your powers are the best group heal combo spells and the best patk/dmg buff in the game. Even without NP problems it is still a very hard combo to play. Read Xerise's encyclopedia -it's close to the druid bible. Good luck to all you young druids out there and make sure you have fun along the way.

lol... u can't find a better endorsement for a d/w anywhere
But yes Eliashin is correct in saying that it won't be worth ur time to stat ur d/w as a dps and while Eliashin sounded like u shouldn't bother using ur elites, its not the case in atleast some of there cases, like the Heart Piercing and Natural Attack; both of them gives rage and NP respectively so inbetween ur healing u should use them whenever u can to recover rage and NP during boss fights to effectively heal ur group.
But in the end it is up to u how u want to play ur class and i would think stating for dps isnt to bad, if u can get ur group heals to hit for 20k average... that would mean ur recover/restore life would be doing burst heals of 30k+ atleast.
oh and Eliashin there is a guide going in the instances guide section of the forms about the strategies of Grafu/Sardo instances u might wanna persue.

Quoted from "chris11141996;443918"

i like posting questions about druid while i try to fix my computer :3

anyway i hear d/wd is gear healer and d/s is gear healer but i cant get into the scout side idk y and i also hear d/w is pretty good any1 know the pros and cons of them and my third class is gnna be mage btw :3

D/Wd is much easier to play than D/W for 1 reason: Mana is easier to manage than Rage.

If you notice, even D/Wd elite look more pleasant....easier to understadn and deal with than D/W elite.

BUT D/W has 2 AOE Heals which is priceless, IF you can manage your Rage.

Nevertheless, if you are D/Wd pick Mage for 3rd class, then you will be like me

Quoted from "adf11;443926"

Personal Prefrence, however, mage/warden gets some pretty nice elite skills

Not really, some are useless, some are bugged, and some are good...

d/w d/wd and d/s are all strong healers for different reasons. d/w is more reactive, d/wd and d/s use more blanket healing as xerise refers to it. HoTing up the party and rotating around heals.


D/s is the easiest to play, 5 extra NP means resource management is really easy. Its more ranged so you don't need to get into the fight. The group clense is nice but hasn't been relevant(afaik) since ZS.


D/wd has a nice raid hot, doesn't tick for a lot,but it lasts 40s. Nice party buff for mages. Great buff to throw on the tank(briar repel).


d/w has probably the steepest learning curve of any class. Managing 3 resources is tricky(i deal with rage management daily anyway so thats nothing new to me :p). But if you can manage, this is an excellent party healer. Rage management for this combo really isn't as hard as it sounds. Its definitely a more defensive build, wand/shield combo will be a must, along with getting accuracy on so you can white strike and use your skills that gain rage/np. Its clearly not intended to be a melee dps build, there's just no way that would work outside of solo play(don't stat for it tho, maybe share jewelry with ur warrior side). The melee skills are put in there to utilize the rage mechanics of your warrior side, allowing you to regain NP and white strike. Just remember, Energy Restore, Enraged, Potion of Rage and Strength of battle.

Oh and this combo has the best party buff ever imo, patk and phy damage ftw.


I've recently started a new alt to keep me busy during slow days, went with d/w/wd for the awesome party buffs and more dynamic healing that priest.

Its simple d/w wins for those who ever says its hard to manage 3 pools its not that hard. I don't even use any addons to heal its just so easy to heal. You just need to know what you are doing. I got d/w/wd and yes i played d/m too. D/w with 2 GH's its just so easy to heal entire party its the only class that can solo heal grafu normal or sardo castle but when it comes to cleanse part no skills to cleanse.. Its the only druid combo that got solo heal capability compared any druid combo

It seem D/W got very popular lately after everyone found out that "epic buff"

D/Wd buff is imba as well, its adds 2 tiers+ to the mage staff. A mage with a T10 puppet queen with the buff has more mdmg than a guy with a T12 puppet queen without it =P Buff is great for healers as well. And briar shield is priceless! for the tank, dps, everyone!

Even tho`i see d/wd and d/w more as buff chars left outside the instance. Not that they are not good, but group cleanse by d/s is too powerful =(

D/Wd = buff alt. They have a Nerfed Recover and the Spirit of Life has a 4min cooldown and doesnt heal for much. Healing Ripple only hits 3 people and is only worth something on the 2 first person affected. Roll Scout third and switch to D/Wd to buff your party then back to D/S to heal.

No clue about d/w, never played it.

I'm main D/wd and i must say that i don't get you guy's saying "alt buf and that's it". D/wd is a great class to heal and definatly to soloheal a 12 man party. Ofcourse a D/s will have it easier to soloheal 12man, but can he also dps like a mage in samethime? Well i can...

D/wd is the most favo healer for mages (because of Mdmg buf)
D/w is the most favo healer for melee/scout (because of Pdmg buf)
D/s is just the easiest on to heal and can cleanse, thats it

FYI:
D/wd with 15k matt (5kMdmg) does the same crit as a M/p with 29k matt (4.8k Mdmg) and this with both 2sec cast spell (skill lvl 55).
Just to give you an idea
I'm wearing priest gear statted like mage, and my heals are olmost the same as a 7k wis druid while i got 4.5k wis. For example he had 13k MEF while mine was 12k but because i use mage staff my HOT's are higher and very high increase of crit rate => his MEF critted ~4/12people while mine crit ~7/12people.
So if you do the maths you know what (and he was fully statted with stam/wis).