Balefort Sewers Bear Play Guide (detailed with screenshots).
Hello all!
Bears seem to be the least useless, sometimes even most unwanted, class in Baelfort Sewers. I've also read some VERY kind comments from other players who are as good about my bear, and there's really no secret to it.
So I thought I'd post a play guide on the BS maps, to try and show what I do with my bear. I'll try to make it as detailed as possible with screenshots as well.
Balefort Sewers Bear Play Guide
Preparation
Before actually going into the maps, these are a few things that a bear should remember:
1. You are a TANK.
The last thing any group member would want is the bear (you) lingering behind them because you are afraid of dying. When getting used to tanking, you definitely will die a few times, but once you know what your doing, I guarantee you that you will live.
2. Let the rest of the group (mages/birds) kill.
Following from being a tank, you are not there to kill. Your job is to take aggro, reduce overall mob damage, and pile them up. Once you've done that, the job of killing them is left to the birds/mages.
3. Don't be THAT stingy on pots.
It's definitely better if you have to use less and less HP/mana pots. But most of the time, it can't be helped. Use them when you need to, and don't expect any heals just to keep you alive. If your birds/mages are doing their job, you wouldn't even need to take a second round of damage from the mobs.
Your tanking bestfriends.
Now that you know what you are expected of, these, IMO, are your bestfriends for tanking. They keep you alive, keep your party alive, and do all the work needed.
Buffs :
Iron Blood and Evade WILL keep you alive. Use these before you enter a "tanking cycle" (more on this later) and don't waste them on idle or no damage times such as walking to the next group of monsters.
Debuffs :
Hell Scream is all that you'll need. Using this in the midst of mobs does two things, 1. it mini stuns them and 2. it does a Damage and Hit debuff on them (complementing your Iron Blood and Evade buffs) which keep you alive.
Since Crushing Blow is a single target, its importance lies mostly in spamming it as much as you can in boss fights.
Mob Control / Aggro :
Taunt works well in both mob control and keeping you alive. It allows a small dodge buff (which when compounded twice is better than the Evade buff) and it attracts monsters to you. I find this useful just before I'm about to Beckon, as to make the mobs come to me as much as possible.
Beckon is what defines a slow bear from a fast bear. ALWAYS use these by a wall, unless circumstances don't allow you to (that big circular room in Stronghold). Beckon not only pulls the mobs towards you, but also has the chance of stunning them.
"New: After much observation and trying to figure out why beckon just "fails" to work (yes fail, not just dodge, but just not work entirely), I've noticed one thing that works particularly well with beckon. ALL my beckons have worked because I DON'T have a target.
I don't know why, it just seems to work better without having a target (no dotted line to a mob whatsoever). Mobs still dodge the beckon of course (mini-boss rooms), but I haven't had a beckon just fail anymore."
Stomp is your main damage dealer. Since the new Beckon + Stomp combo was introduced, it made bears especially faster in clearing mobs. Like Beckon, after using it against a wall, ALWAYS step back first before stomp (pictures will show). Also, although it seems like a good spammable skill, spamming stomp actually hinders you from being able to mob control well, since it just scatters all of the mobs.
Play Guide
Now for the actual play guide. To make it easier to understand what I do, let me use these terms :
"Tank Cycle" : This is when I buff my 3 self buffs (Iron Blood, Evade, and Rage). I usually do this before diving into a mob.
"Hell Scream + Taunt" : This is when I cast Hell Scream and Taunt before I do mob control.
"Beckon + Stomp" : This is when I Beckon mobs in walls, WALK THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, and Stomp them into the wall for the combo.
Also, I took these pictures from Bandits Hideout since it seems to be the most common map done, and is a generally longer map than most, which adds more opportunity for practice.
Please don't mind me using a Trash Can pot, just used it to allow me to go through mobs faster :)
For Birds/Mages, PLEASE allow us to set them up first, aggro + beckon them. Single targets are fine, since you can pick those off easy. But unleashing all your AoE spells and pushing them back/switching aggro to you just messes up our ability to beckon.
Bandit Hideout
Tank Cycle 1 - I don't cast Taunt here because the barrels are in range for them to blow up.
Hell Scream + Taunt 1
Gather them here.
Beckon - X marks the spot where I casted Beckon, and the arrow indicates that I move in that direction while the mobs are being pulled to me. This sets up the combo and keeping them pinned on the wall.
Stomp - Even if there's no "COMBO" word (since my device can't take 2 screenshots fast enough within combo time), I am using Stomp in this picture. The curved area shows where the mobs are being pushed back to when I use Stomp, in this case, towards the wall to be pinned and finished off.
Those are the main things to do for the Beckon + Stomp combo and at the same time, pinning them to a wall to allow the birds/mages to finish them off easy.
Tank Cycle 2
Hell Scream + Taunt
Beckon and Combo. - Walk back and go the other way from entrance.
Tank Cycle 3 + Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - This is the corridor after turning left from entrance (instead of right to Blanky spot).
Tank Cycle 4 + Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - This is the first RIGHT after the corridor. Turning LEFT (where there are grates in the corridor) lead you to the Bank Vault portal, and is not necessary to clear for the boss spawn.
Tank Cycle 5 + Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - This is the corridor on the way to Catspaw's area. Don't mind her being in the screenshot here, I just accidentally lured her when I was running around.
Tank Cycle 6 + Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - This is Catspaw's area.
Tank Cycle 7 + Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - The corridor after clearing and killing Catspaw, right before the 3 fire grates in that narrow corridor.
Tank Cycle 8 + Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - In these type of bridges, I tend to just walk past the mobs I encounter until I get to the middle of the bridge where I use my skills. This allows me to get the mobs from both ends of the bridge.
Tank Cycle 9 + Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo. - This is after you turn LEFT from the bridge. This is also the last time I use my Tank Cycle until the boss, since if you use it after, its not ready by the time you do the boss (assuming your going through quick). These mobs are also ONLY the FIRST cave-in to the right.
Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - This is the SECOND cave-in to the right (the right cave-in has more mobs than the left cave-in).
Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - The same "bridge" method applies here from the previous one.
Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - After the last bridge, this is the FIRST cave-in to the RIGHT.
Last Hell Scream - Taunt + Beckon Stomp Combo - And last but not least, this is the SECOND cave-in by the LEFT (the left cave-in has more mobs than the right).
At this part, the mobs en route to the boss should now be cleared. I'll be adding a boss killing section later on. :)
The time you get to do these will depend on how fast you are going as a group. This flow is for a group that only needs ONE of each cycle and mob control. It may take you more than one (take for example mini-boss rooms) if your group is slower. I also tend to move on to the next area even before all the mobs are completely dead, to save time.
Video
This is the video I was able to do (thanks Physiologic for the idea).
It was a random group, and luckily was able to be the only bear.
Please excuse the audio, if ever. Was just in living room and TV with siblings around.
I played and took the video from an iPhone, when I usually play on an iPad. Ping wasn't the best, so you can see some lagging. Also don't mind the speed of the run, since this was again a random group and I just wanted to show an actual video. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l12D2pL--0
END
I hope this guide somehow helps and shows what my tanking process and flow. I know its only Hideout, but I believe that the spots where you do the Hell Screams, Taunts, and Beckon Stomp combos vary on the player. These are just my spots.
Let me know if you have any confusion and/or comments and/or suggestions! :)
Thanks!
