Level 55 Dual Bear Pvping Help.

[Formora]

I recently started pvping with my bear. I use custom recurve set for dex. Royal helm & body, plunger's sword and cleaner's shield for str.

Against birds I just beckon and stomp using dex set. That usually leaves them dead, but my beckon gets dodged a lot unfortunately :/

However, I'm not so good against bears and especially mages. Can I get some tips?

[Ellyidol]

I've had some experience, not the best at it, but hopefully it can help.

Your dex set seems good, I'm gunning for a Custom Set too (just recurve left).

Your str set, are you after all out tanking or prefer a small mix? That setup leaves 0 m/s (1 with ring and 2 if you have enough int) if I'm not mistaken. You can swap your Plunger's for a Rooter sword and Cleaner Shield for a Bodyguard Shield to make up for the lost tank stats, if you want m/s though.

If you're looking at 0 m/s but still all-out tank, I'd suggest swapping your Cleaner Shield with a Bodyguard one. Less crit, but more of the tank stats.

After the GCD, I recently went 1:1 against a bear on full fortified, the match didn't end until I decided to swap to dex gear midway and was able to catch him off-buffs, fight was about 8 minutes before that. So I don't think killing a bear alone would be an option, but to avoid dying to them, always keep your buffs up as much as you can and make sure your debuffs hit him (Hell Scream, Crushing Blow), they reduce a lot of damage.

Mages are the trickiest ones, IMO. Since GCD, I'm happy they don't just chain crit nuke me to death from a distance anymore, and that I can actually stand a chance.

When shielded, it usually takes a bit more than a combo to get them down, sometimes even two. I like to pin them up as much as possible, so they can keep taking damage from my normal attacks and slashes, if they're shielded there goes their mana. If they aren't a well timed (and Rage buffed) combo, as well as a slash or two would usually kill them. These are pure int though, pally's at times have the same case as bears, there's almost no killing in a str:str fight.

Debuffs are more crucial now than ever, especially with GCD, so make sure they land. Never forget to spam your taunt buff as much as possible too (+8 dodge buff x2 at level 6).

Last but not least, KITE if you must. We have awesome HS, especially if you get 1 Restore. Kiting well and being able to regen your health to a decent amount or have skills cooldown could turn the tables.

Just my opinions, hope you can relate :)

[Formora]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I like to be able to tank some damage, but want to dish some out as well. Against bears I use my recurve set, but I haven't gone against a tank bear though just dex ones. I win some and lose some against them.

Mages are pretty hard for me though. I usually do Smash > Debuff > Slashes but most mages can still kill me. Would it be better if I started with debuffs? When I'm using recurve set, I can't survive long enough to kill and with the str set I don't seem to do a lot of damage. What do you suggest I do against mages when shielded? I tried smash combo-ing them away until shield is down but when I go in for the kill they unleash a combo and I'm the one dead.

Mostly what I'm looking for are tactics against them, I'll try the ones you suggested (pinning, kiting). By the way, who do you use str set against? Looks as if dex set is the best for all classes except mages.

[Ellyidol]

Going dex is definitely a glass canon. Dex bear is the hardest to keep alive, IMO, since we don't have the ability to fight from a distance and most our skills require us to be near. Not saying they're bad, not at all, just hard to keep alive, without a tank that is.

I would suggest to definitely try and squeeze a debuff in there somewhere. My understanding is that Hell Scream, Crushing Blow, and SMS have an armour debuff of 10 each (Taken from Fluff). Moreover, Crushing Blow also debuffs dodge, which would allow you to damage them in the first place.

My PvP combo is now usually Beckon > Crushing Blow / Hell Scream (Depending if I want to go for a kill or just to disable them) > Stomp. When you Beckon, there's still enough time for 1 skill to be used on target before Stomp for the combo to work, I doubt 2 would be in time. This is in the situation that you both run into each other and only each other though, 1v1. If I could have my skills perfectly, I would go :

Run in > Hell Scream (from a small distance, it mini stuns them too) > Crushing Blow > SMS > Beckon > Stomp. Hopefully by that time (mage/bird), your target is dead. If not, he'll probably be flying off a distance because of your Stomp and it'd give you a chance to regen some HP. From then on, I'd say it'll be players intuition on what to do next, chase or kite for buffs/skills to cooldown and do it over.

For mages with a shield up, I usually keep in mind that their shield also hurts them more than it protects them. That said, I usually just try and do as much damage as possible when I can (combo above), or keep them as disabled as I can, stuns, stomping to distance, etc. From what I've noticed, mages hurt when they have their crit buff on. Without it you can pretty much tank them decently.

Even after all that though, I still play mostly on intuition, whether to rush in and fight or keep a distance. Whether to keep on attacking the mage because you know he'll die soon or to stomp him away and regen. Hopefully practice will give you enough experience to judge right :)

PS: Kiting also gives you an advantage of having the first move. Beckon stuns and has a decent range, so if he's chasing you while you kite, you can actually dictate when you want to start the fight and catch him off guard, or whether to keep the regen on and wait for buffs.

[MITSUISUN]

ohhhhhhhh Elar you are playing again???!!! Let me bomb you at fever again :p

[Formora]

Thanks a lot for your advice Elly. I'll try your combo, but I would say my main problem is staying alive long enough to finish off that combo (as a dex bear). Today is my first day playing bear though, and I gotta say in loving it although I still have lots to learn. Hopefully it will come with experience. Maybe I can see you in game sometime and pvp :)

MITSUI! Yeah I've been back for like two days now. I said hi to you on my mage ;) But bear will probably be my main now.

[Ellyidol]

Not a problem. It's not even the best combo out there, there are a lot of much better bears. It just seems to be working well for me :)

Staying alive with a dex bear is definitely really difficult. You're normal attacks are as much of a killer than your skills though. Watch the other team die if you have a tank taking the damage, and you walking in with Raged buffed up and you combo them :)

[StompArtist]

Not a problem. It's not even the best combo out there, there are a lot of much better bears. It just seems to be working well for me :)

Staying alive with a dex bear is definitely really difficult. You're normal attacks are as much of a killer than your skills though. Watch the other team die if you have a tank taking the damage, and you walking in with Raged buffed up and you combo them :)

Hello Elly. Are you using taunt with the bow bear. I am finding that with the GDC that skill is pretty much useless (used to work well when running point just before a pull/stomp to corner or wall combo).

[Ellyidol]

Hello Elly. Are you using taunt with the bow bear. I am finding that with the GDC that skill is pretty much useless (used to work well when running point just before a pull/stomp to corner or wall combo).

I keep the same skills when I switch between Str/Bow Bear, so I have 6 Taunt. But do you mean in PvP or PvE?

In PvP, dodge is dodge anyway so I still spam it as much as I can, bow or str bear.

In PvE, I agree that it's less effective now since you'd want to keep using it along with other skills, but it seems to still get the job done. I don't use Hell Scream until after I Beckon anymore, so when I'm running it's usually only Taunt that I use to get aggro. :)

I could be wrong though, I've PvP'd more than I have PvE'd since the update. Might also be because it takes too long to join friends. :P

[StompArtist]

I keep the same skills when I switch between Str/Bow Bear, so I have 6 Taunt. But do you mean in PvP or PvE?

In PvP, dodge is dodge anyway so I still spam it as much as I can, bow or str bear.

In PvE, I agree that it's less effective now since you'd want to keep using it along with other skills, but it seems to still get the job done. I don't use Hell Scream until after I Beckon anymore, so when I'm running it's usually only Taunt that I use to get aggro. :)

I could be wrong though, I've PvP'd more than I have PvE'd since the update. Might also be because it takes too long to join friends. :P

I was asking because it currently seems useless to me (full dex bear) but I could be missing something. Thank you for your answer!

[Ellyidol]

I was asking because it currently seems useless to me (full dex bear) but I could be missing something. Thank you for your answer!

I would agree that you shouldn't taunt on a dex bear though.

You can't really tank, so you wouldn't want to attract aggro at all.

I suggest just keeping it at 1, just for aggros sake when you need it :P

[Formora]

That was fun, you are quite the pvper :)