I've been having a blast solo levelling a warden recently, and I thought I'd write up how I'm doing it so others can try it. It involves little to no downtime, leading to a delightfully frantic pace.
When asked how to level a warden, people typically say to max nurture. Solo levelling is all about how quickly you kill things, and maxing nurture takes a low damage class and makes it even less damaging. Nurture is fantastic for groups, but maxing it doesn't help you kill mobs fast enough to offset your reduced weapon damage. I also see people suggesting only splash of regrowth, which leads to using horribly inefficient base heals and then having to rest to get power back.
Instead, I'm keeping nurture and weapon close together, with regrowth at about half that. I'm not following that blindly; if regrowth or nurture doesn't get me anything for a few levels, I'll bump up weapon earlier and add regrowth/nurture later on, and a few times I've bumped regrowth early to get the next buff or heal. At level 38, I'm at 15 regrowth , 30 nurture, and 31 blunt. That gets me the 14 health regen buff and 15 spec heal from regrowth, second best damage chant and combat speed buff from nurture, while still getting near my level in weapon after equipment bonuses.
Here is my routine:
1. Beat a mob to death
2. Activate Attack Unending immediately after the mob dies (or when I don't need damage chant for the next blow to kill them) to regen stam
3. Heal up with spec heal
4. Get ready to pull, either by running towards the next mob or drawing a shortbow
5. When end tops up, activate damage chant
6. Pull
7. Repeat
I'm pulling high yellows without ever having to sit and rest. By the time I kill the mob, the mana lost to heals and attack unending regens. Low oranges are riskier and lead to a little more time waiting for end to top up, but are still doable at a pretty quick pace. It's rare for my power to drop below 80%, and when it does it's usually because I just refreshed buffs. I'm doing this with Tireless, but if I was having power issues I could easily swap to Serenity 1.
It's worth noting that these fights feel much more dangerous than they actually are. Fights with oranges that start out with the mob having more health than I do and feeling like I'm about to die end with me at 25+% health, and I think that's largely because of the health regen. It's really important to make sure the stam reduction, health regen, and attack speed buffs are up; the odds shift dramatically when they drop.
So that's how I'm levelling a Warden. Hopefully, this makes it a little more fun for anybody else thinking of doing so.
When asked how to level a warden, people typically say to max nurture. Solo levelling is all about how quickly you kill things, and maxing nurture takes a low damage class and makes it even less damaging. Nurture is fantastic for groups, but maxing it doesn't help you kill mobs fast enough to offset your reduced weapon damage. I also see people suggesting only splash of regrowth, which leads to using horribly inefficient base heals and then having to rest to get power back.
Instead, I'm keeping nurture and weapon close together, with regrowth at about half that. I'm not following that blindly; if regrowth or nurture doesn't get me anything for a few levels, I'll bump up weapon earlier and add regrowth/nurture later on, and a few times I've bumped regrowth early to get the next buff or heal. At level 38, I'm at 15 regrowth , 30 nurture, and 31 blunt. That gets me the 14 health regen buff and 15 spec heal from regrowth, second best damage chant and combat speed buff from nurture, while still getting near my level in weapon after equipment bonuses.
Here is my routine:
1. Beat a mob to death
2. Activate Attack Unending immediately after the mob dies (or when I don't need damage chant for the next blow to kill them) to regen stam
3. Heal up with spec heal
4. Get ready to pull, either by running towards the next mob or drawing a shortbow
5. When end tops up, activate damage chant
6. Pull
7. Repeat
I'm pulling high yellows without ever having to sit and rest. By the time I kill the mob, the mana lost to heals and attack unending regens. Low oranges are riskier and lead to a little more time waiting for end to top up, but are still doable at a pretty quick pace. It's rare for my power to drop below 80%, and when it does it's usually because I just refreshed buffs. I'm doing this with Tireless, but if I was having power issues I could easily swap to Serenity 1.
It's worth noting that these fights feel much more dangerous than they actually are. Fights with oranges that start out with the mob having more health than I do and feeling like I'm about to die end with me at 25+% health, and I think that's largely because of the health regen. It's really important to make sure the stam reduction, health regen, and attack speed buffs are up; the odds shift dramatically when they drop.
So that's how I'm levelling a Warden. Hopefully, this makes it a little more fun for anybody else thinking of doing so.