Stun Bear?

[malphigian]

Caveat: I'm *way* out of the loop, I haven't played D2 regularily since 2000 (you might remember me from my hammerdin guide, but probably not :D) , so take my feeble strategy thoughts with a grain of salt.

Since I'm new to the expansion, I'm experimenting with druids, and settled on a werebear. Most bears seems to be going the fireclaw + synergy fire elemental skill + armaggeddon route w/ 1.10.

I don' t much like straight character recipes, so I decided to try my own path, and I'm hoping to get some critiques from the LL folks.

The Plan:
Werebear focused on tanking (maximizing damage) and incapicitating groups of enemies.

Vital Skills:
(LVL 30 / 60 / 90)
Lycanthropy: 6/10/10
WereBear: 8/15/20
Summon Ravens: 5/5/10
Maul: 8/10/20
Shockwave: 2/10/15
Heart of Wolverine: 1/5/10
Hunger: 0/5/5
(Prereq pts: 4)

I'm still not sure about the exact numbers (he's currently level 20 and still pretty flexible).

The idea is probably pretty obvious, use ravens and shockwave to blind and stun groups, then maul and wolverine spirit to focus major damage on single targets.

Okay build? Stupid? Am I ignoring any important skills? Spread too thin?

[LavCat]

I am playing a level 70 werebear who is somewhat similar, except that don't use Maul, and have Lycanthropy, Hunger, and Shockware maxed.

Two nights ago when he was 63, I was playing in a large basin game off by myself in act 1, while the others were doing a meph run. They told me I was playing ten levels above where I should have been, but my bear went up a level and three quarters in a few minutes, while sadly most of the others died.

I'm also playing an Armaggeddon wolf, and it will be interesting to compare the two.

You did not say what kind of mercenary you have, if any. My bear has an act 3 cold merc who can be quite effective, but it is difficult keeping him alive. I am torn - I am tempted to trade him in for a rogue or an act 2 might merc. I chose the cold merc with thoughts of lister.

Other ideas and suggestions welcome!

[malphigian]

I've played him a bit more and decided to give up on going for hunger, I got a lucky drop (manald heal), which is keeping me plentifully supplied with mana. And even before that I wasn't burning mana potions much if at all.

I'm directing my points at shockwave, maul, ravens, and wolverine spirit. The ravens thing feel like a bit of a gamble (I might be wasting 5 points), but the blindness effect combined with them not being tagetted is really appealing. Besides, it's just fun.

So far, I'm definitely liking him and haven't got into much trouble, I just desperately need some IAS items.

I haven't settled on a merc yet (probably a bad thing).

[LavCat]

Don't forget, Hunger gives faster attack speed and significantly increased AR -- not just life and mana steal. I've never heard of anyone else going with Hunger as their main attack, but so far it is working well.

One problem is that there are an awful lot of mana burn monsters in 1.10. Sometimes if is difficult just getting the couple drops of mana necessary to attack with Hunger. I'm thinking of going with an Ith or a vulpine jewel, but currently I have no place to put it. Maybe a bit of mana steal on a ring would help?

While we are sort of on the subject, does anyone know if fast cast helps to spam Shockwave?

[Baajikiil]

I've played a shockbear that relied on grizzly and merc for all damage output. He maxed grizzly, lycanthropy, oak and shockwave. The might merc and grizzly had a high enough damage out put for hell, and if they got into trouble, I would tank for them(almost all stat points in vit gave me sveral thousand hp).

Shockwave alone is quite enough to handle large packs, the only problem I forsee you having is champs/ act bosses and phys immunes. My bear usually skipped phys immunes in hell, it was not worth the time to kill them with my elemental weapon switch. Shockbears are wonderful party players as well; your party members will be nearly unopposed as they slaughter the stunned.

Your build seems effective, but yes, lacking some focus. What merc?(might may be good choice, to help with damage output) You may want to max shockwave early if you intend to do the attacking yourself. The duration is long, but you will often need to cast in several directions, then attack a few times and cast again. Longer duraction = more attacks before recasting.


EDIT: added part about phys immunes

[LavCat]

My bear is currently using AD to break PI.

[malphigian]

Thanks for the advice Baajikiil (as well as the proper name for this build, shows how out of it I am).

I hadn't actually considered might for my merc, as I thought HoW and Maul will give me sufficient damage dealing, I was leaning towards either Defiance for extra defense or blessed aim.

I'm thinking I'll go for this now (an early shockwave max as you suggest).
Lycanthropy: 6/10/15
WereBear: 8/10/15
Summon Ravens: 2/5/10
Maul: 8/10/15
Shockwave: 4/20/20
Heart of Wolverine: 2/5/15
(Prereq pts: 2)

[Baajikiil]

@Lavcat

My bear is currently using AD to break PI.

Good idea. That works as well, but I found that it took to long to kill the huge hp monsters in multiplayer hell games to be worth my while. YMMV. If you really want to do full clears, either an amp wand, or high elemental weapon on both you and your merc can handle the job.

@malphigian

I hadn't actually considered might for my merc, as I thought HoW and Maul will give me sufficient damage dealing, I was leaning towards either Defiance for extra defense or blessed aim.

Defiance isn't a bad idea, the boost from werebear and it can provide a high defense indeed. But, I've found that the only monsters that are not stunned all the time(from shockwave) are those that have little difficulty hitting me even with high defense(act bosses/champs/uniques). Even when fighting, say, minions of destruction, Lister is the only one who actually gets to land a blow. And he seems to hit even if you have *very* high defense.

I only suggest might to maximize your offense, and because the merc itself becomes a great source of damage with the might aura+HOW. It may be more effective to have defiance, especially if you want to spend more time attacking than spamming shockwave.