Axe + Torch + Shortbow Condition Druid[edit]
Build Rating (Subjective)
| Criterion |
Rating
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| Burst Damage |
5/5
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| Sustained Damage |
5/5
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| Utility Options |
4/5
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| Survivability |
5/5
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| Difficulty |
2/5
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Condition 
Druid is a very strong and relatively bursty Condition damage build for instanced content, even with a simplified rotation with like the one I use. It's also a great pick for solo gameplay, as it can provide itself with good amounts of the most essential offensive boons: 
Quickness, 
Protection, 
Fury and 
Might. It is inherently resilient, provides good self- and ally-healing, area 
Stability, permanent 
Immobile and many Dazes.
Link to the Build on the Editor
Playstyle & Skills[edit]
| Skill Type |
Skills
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| Celestial Avatar Skills |
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| Pet Jacaranda Skills |
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| Axe + Torch Skills |
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| Shortbow Skills |
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| Utility Skills |
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Rotation Concept[edit]
You can find my most recent rotation showcase here.
Link to Damage Log
General Concept[edit]
- The rotation involves using your weapon and utility skills on cooldown and entering
Celestial Avatar as often as possible. That way, you maintain 
Natural Balance for higher damage and survivability.
- While the Celestial Avatar skills do not have native offensive power,
Eclipse will give them damaging conditions. Given that they retain their defensive support, it makes them very powerful.
- In this build, we are stacking Dazes and source of Immobile to trigger
Blood Moon as often as possible. That is also the reason why the Jacaranda is the strongest pet, as 
Jacaranda's Embrace applies several small hits, with every hit applying Immobile.
- To be able to go into Celestial Avatar on cooldown, you need to heal yourself or allies AND deal damage, as that will grant you Astral force via
Celestial Being.
- To do this, it is important to turn on the mildly threatening arena damage in the Special Forces Training Area. In actual content, using area healing abilities like
Healing Spring can help increase Astral force inflow.
- Inside Celestial Avatar, use
Natural Convergence, 
Seed of Life and 
Lunar Impact on cooldown. Note that Seed of Life does not have a cast time and can be used during other skill casts.
- The rotation anchors on your respective second weapon skill,
Poison Volley and 
Splitblade.
Rotation Flow[edit]
| Section |
Notes
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| Celestial Avatar Combo |
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| Opener |
- You should always precast
 Sharpening Stone to increase your burst damage, it is not stripped when combat starts.
- Start on Axe + Torch and use all skills available to you. Wait with another cast of Sharpening Stone until all stacks of the previous cast have been used.
- Do the Celestial Avatar combo.
- Use all skills available after exiting and then swap to Shortbow.
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| Section 1: Shortbow |
- Always start shortbow with Poison Volley. You want to use it three times in the rotation.
- After the second cast of it, do the Celestial Avatar combo.
- After exiting, use all skills available and swap to Axe + Torch after you used Poison Volley the third time.
- For starters, you can just camp shortbow and do the Celestial Avatar combo on cooldown. This costs dps, but makes the rotation more laid-back.
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| Section 2: Axe + Torch |
- Always start shortbow with Splitblade. You want to use it three times in the rotation.
- After the second cast of it, do the Celestial Avatar combo.
- After exiting, use all skills available and swap to Shortbow after you used Splitblade the third time.
- Repeat from Section 1.
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| CC Skills for Breakbar Damage |
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Gear & Traits[edit]
Important Stats in Hero Panel (descending in Importance):
- 70% Condition Duration in the hero panel:
Superior Sigil of Agony together with Natural Balance give the remaining 30% for 
Bleeding.
- Maximize Condition damage
- Maximize Critical chance to trigger
Sharpened Edges reliably.
Traits
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- For a budget variant, simply replace all ascended armor pieces of Viper's with rare/exotic Ritualist's.
- You can use an Axe or a Shortbow on the secondary bar to have access to a ranged weapon on demand. Shortbow is a great weapon for Open World too; more on that below.
Open World Build[edit]
You can find my most recent open world build showcase here.
Link to the Build on the Editor
For OW, it can make sense to make a build more forgiving, so that you can sustain on your own.
Increasing General Survivability[edit]
- The first step for increased survivability is to put a Shortbow on the secondary bar and swap to
Light on your Feet in 
Skirmishing. That way, you can stay at range whenever it is too dangerous to be in melee range.
- Second, change gear pieces to the following:
- Rabid retains the Precision to trigger
Sharpened Edges, but gives you Toughness at little cost and a very small damage loss. Paired with 
Superior Rune of the Afflicted, you retain the 100% duration on Bleeding.
- If you want easy Exotic stat-selectable armor for additional pieces of Celestial, take a look at TEID-07 Unified Vendor System in WvW and Bladed armor in PvE.
- In terms of gameplay, remember that going into and exiting Celestial Avatar decreases incoming damage by 10% via Natural Balance, so make sure to do that frequently.
- Use the survivability food and utility item listed above for another -10% damage taken and 150 Toughness!
- If you can, make use of jade protocols!
Jade Tech Offensive Overcharge and 
Jade Tech Defensive Overcharge give 150 additional Toughness, Vitality, Condition Damage and Power as well as all boons aside from Stability, 
Resistance and 
Resolution on entering combat. These effects can be pre-stacked by using an Enchanted Snow Diamond Tonic repeatedly when out of combat. The Protection from this is another free gain to survivability!
- In story instances (or if you don't want the hassle of reapplying protocols), you can abuse the synergy between
Relic of the Cavalier and 
Blast from the Skyscale to apply lots of 
Aegis, Resistance, Might and Quickness to yourself. It has an internal cooldown of 1 second and thus applies the boons on every hit of Blast.
Boon Coverage[edit]
- That allows you to cover essential boons quite easily:
-
Quickening Zephyr and 
Instinctive Engage can provide a decent uptime on Quickness!
- Natural Convergence,
Sun Spirit, 
Rejuvenating Tides and 
Relic of the Midnight King provide Might
Tail Wind and 
Furious Grip apply 
Swiftness and Fury whenever you swap weapons.-
Stone Spirit will apply area Aegis once and pulsing Protection, allowing you to maintain a good uptime on it. This is especially important due to 
Rugged Growth, which heals you while you have Protection.
- Using the Siege Turtle pet can aid Protection uptime through
Hunker Down.
- Alternatively, you can also make use of
"Protect Me!" instead of Quickening Zephyr.
- Make sure to use
"We Heal As One!" on cooldown to extend the boons you have on you and copy the boons from your pet to you and vice-versa.
Head
Superior Rune of the Trapper
Shoulders
Chest
Gloves
Legs
Boots
Amulet
Ring 1
Ring 2
Accessory 1
Accessory 2
Backpack
Dagger (Main Hand)
Torch (Off Hand)
Superior Sigil of Earth
Cilantro and Cured Meat Flatbread
Plate of Beef Rendang
Peppered Cured Meat Flatbread
Oysters Gnashblade
Toxic Tuning Crystal
Potion Of Karka Toughness
Relic of the Fractal
