BuriBear

[Olon97]

3 fpa is bugged or may be capped, that is you can not do dmg, i tried this once and ended in no dmg, no hitting sounds, no stuns etc.. (i could reach 3 fpa fury with some experimental gear).

Good to know.

A few observations from playing my bear:

- Hunger with a shael Buriza feels FAST. Either I'm dropping from a 7 frame maul to a 5 frame hunger, or shael Buriza + 20 OIAS doesn't really reach the 7 frame breakpoint to begin with and I'm observing 8maul/6hunger (I suspect it's the former, because I have no reason to doubt Dragoon's tables). This is subjective, and I probably don't have as good of a nose for such things as when I was playing a CD2 smite paladin (when smite min/max was really close I would just time how long it took to take down a lightning spire in the arcane sanctuary with different IAS setups). I just wouldn't expect a 7/6 difference to be so drastic.

- I love going back to NM or Normal to help people, because the 'freezes target' modifier from Buriza kicks in much more often in melee than it does ranged, and with mlevels lower than mine I'm freezing and shattering everything but bosses (CD2 iceblink flashbacks anyone?). Of course freezing is a little redundant with maul's stun (and shockwave's), but the slow effect on bosses is always welcome. I love the way a monster looks when it becomes an icecube, and the shatter graphic and sound are delicious too. :)

- Each point in dex packs a nice punch. I get better damage, better AR, and my defense keeps creeping up, especially with the bonus from maxed werebear. Considering druids only get 2 life per vit (compared to 4 per vit for a barb), pumping dex (or strength for a standard weapon build) and relying on item/charms for life seems like a no-brainer. Less % chance of getting extra healing from a red, but that doesn't matter when you fill your belt with purples. I did put some points into vit early on, because I play through all the acts in all the difficulties and I felt I needed more life to avoid pointless deaths.

- Despite having a fair level of 'cheeze' quotient, this character is far from Uber. Somewhat weak in cows, which is OK because I didn't really expect cows to be a strength. Non-cold immune monsters who are immune to physical go down quickly (I'm finding Hunger does take them down faster due to the lower frame per attack). My switch is still a socketed axe from normal diff with 2 chips in it, because I don't have the shaels or the weapon (or the knockback gloves) I'll need for my LEB disabling mode. Haven't decided between a 6 shael champion like my old bear or a 6 shael phase blade with some shield (haven't been finding/ shopping for much in the way of shields). Isolated bosses don't stand a chance of course.

- I like warcry better than shockwave for keeping a mercenary safe in big packs. Chock that up to laziness / lack of aiming skill on my side. If the shockwave duration gets upped in 1.10 to the amounts stated in the skill description... oh my. (ok - that has nothing to do with this bear in particular)

- I'm thinking about getting my hands on a koku for cold/phys immunes. Backoff, unshift, and fire normal arrows (which become fire arrows). I've already had a few instances where firing normal bolts from the Buriza was the best thing to do (like in flayer jungle when I saw the opposite side of the river was flooded with might enhanced flayers, blowdart guys, and birds - may as well thin things out a bit before wading into that mess).

On the whole, I'm having fun with my bear. Subjectively it seems like a middle ground between a cookie cutter, Cruel X of Quickness with 2 shaels bear (not speaking from experience - never had a cruel X of quickness with 2 sockets), and some druid builds that struggle beyond nightmare. Viable (what isn't), but still a fair amount of work and a lot of fun.