The attack bear vs. the tank

[Doubletime]

Wheeee first post, to thank Doubletime for the nice words.
I've been all strength until level 50, changed to dex mostly because i was jealous of a bird soloing Gurgox with a bow. :-/
It think it was a good decision, cause i can still tank like before (just need more health pots though) and gained the freedom to play damage dealer with a bow.
In my high armor loadout i have 140 armor, which be be way less than a real tank, but still enough to run into some fire traps.
And most important: A panda with a bow just looks cute! ;-)

lol. Welcome to the forums MrWallace. Good to have you on board and the words about how well you tank, may be kind, but are also very true.

[Tengotengo]

All right MrWallace! nice to see you on here! You can use the quote I suggested as your sig

[Sweetwilliam]

Hello,
Being a so called Tank bear, you may be somewhat limited in your role for the party. Other characters have their own opinion as to what your role should be, what items you should be using, and what Elixers you should imbibe to make up for their own characters shortcomings. I grew a bit frustrated with my character, and his limitations, so I did a respec.
So now I am a Damage Bear? Well, kind of. Currently I run 4 equipment setups.
1- Bellows Set(boss kills, high crits and DPS)
2- Royal Set(waiting for Devs to add set bonus)
3- Royal/Bellows mix(Highest DPS/Queen kill with a weak party)
4- Partial Fortified set(my highest armor/Tank somewhat)

I like the flexibility that my character now has. Mainly like to be the Tazzie Devil approach, which is being out in front of the group doing the crush combo, absorbing some damage, drink a few pots, stay alive till it's time to move on and repeat crush at the next spot. This works best in a 3-4 minute Roach, or GobKing farming run. But can fill other roles, if there are multiple bears in the group.
Cheers
Bagwaan

[Sa1nT]

I am a pure mage. Level 52. Not much for quests, but I live to grind. I tend to use my wand (level 50, pink, blizzard stick of fate... High dps, .5 speed) I like to get in close quarters and deal out lots of damage while using weakness and nightmare to the party's advantage. I dance around a lot, and like at least one other mage casting a rainbow wall of damage, buffs, debuffs, and healing with me. For these reasons I play well with most bears. I dart out in front for most henchmen battles to use fear, blessing of might, and nightmare ahead of all attacks by everyone to tilt the battle heavily (sometimes) in our favor and then dart behind whatever bear is there. I stay on the offense the whole time casting as many damage spells as possible while paying attention to my stats and casting lots of heals and revives when needed. At that point it doesn't tend to matter which bear type is there. Battle ensues. I love picking fights.

[Ellyidol]

Hello,
Being a so called Tank bear, you may be somewhat limited in your role for the party. Other characters have their own opinion as to what your role should be, what items you should be using, and what Elixers you should imbibe to make up for their own characters shortcomings. I grew a bit frustrated with my character, and his limitations, so I did a respec.
So now I am a Damage Bear? Well, kind of. Currently I run 4 equipment setups.
1- Bellows Set(boss kills, high crits and DPS)
2- Royal Set(waiting for Devs to add set bonus)
3- Royal/Bellows mix(Highest DPS/Queen kill with a weak party)
4- Partial Fortified set(my highest armor/Tank somewhat)

I like the flexibility that my character now has. Mainly like to be the Tazzie Devil approach, which is being out in front of the group doing the crush combo, absorbing some damage, drink a few pots, stay alive till it's time to move on and repeat crush at the next spot. This works best in a 3-4 minute Roach, or GobKing farming run. But can fill other roles, if there are multiple bears in the group.
Cheers
Bagwaan

If your going for DPS, a Gurgox Hammer would beat a Royal Hammer.

Despite the RH (Royal Hammer) having more DPS, the GH (Gurgox Hammer) has tremendous base damage that more than compensates for its lower DPS.

A GH can probably do 2 swings of 200 damage when your RH can do 3 swings of 100 damage - due to base attack differences, hence making GH better even with a lower DPS value.

Furthermore, IMO, a bear gains most of its damage from its spammable slashes which constitutes to skill damage, which again GH gives more of.

Other than that, since you don't PvP I'm assuming, I like your loadouts

[Laviticus]

I like enough str for gear then the rest dex. Tanking with an attitude.