There aren't a lot of great bears out there.* That's bad for all bears.* A well-run bear-tank is a pleasure to group with.* We need to show the 'squishies' that we are valuable, even vital, team-mates.* If you like playing a bear because it's safe, GO AWAY!* My focus here is on the bear-tank.* I keep enough str to wear great armour.* All other points go into dex.* I prefer the sword/harpoon with shield combo.* Dex bears using talons/bows have their uses, but this guide is for the lost art of tanking.
Basic Rules:
1. Be first in the fight
2. Control the fight
3. Rule the boss
4. Learn the map
5. Communicate
1. Bears live longest, so be the first into the brawl.* Get agro so the 'squishies' survive.* You can't out-damage a bird or mage, so use your skills to get the mobs attention.* Taunt and Beckon constantly.
2. Control the Fight.* When you are first in the fight you have the opportunity to define how the battle will be fought.* You want the mobs near you, so your up-close skills work best AND the mages' get the best results as well.* DON'T SCATTER THE ENEMIES!* Too many bears over-use stomp.* Stomp pushes mobs away from you; this is bad.* But stomp is vital to use.* The beckon-stomp combo is your best weapon and taunt-beckon-stomp combo is even better.* Here is how to use it:
A. Taunt asap, as a you enter the room, head toward a wall and taunt on the way.
B. At the wall, hit beckon.* Watch the mobs collect around you.
C. STEP AWAY FROM THE WALL then let loose with stomp.* Only use stomp when the clump of enemies are trapped between you and the wall.* The wall will keep them clustered so the mages' group-damage spells will have maximum effect.* (Stomp seems to work best when you have selected a mob, beckon seems to work best when no mobs have been selected.)
More on Control the Fight:* Watch your team-mates.* If a mage is getting picked on, or if a bird is doing too much damage, help them out.* You need to use beckon to pull mobs away from the 'squishies' or use stomp to push them away.* This may cause scattering, but you may give your team-mates enough time to grab a potion or cast heal.* If you only use one of the two spells, less scattering occurs.
More on Control the Fight:* Use the corners and walls.* See next section.
3. Rule the Boss:* The ideal fight goes like this: Bear locks onto the biggest beast in the room and keeps it busy, while the squishies clear out the smaller mobs.* Once things are under control, everyone kills the boss.
I begin with the taunt, run-to-wall, beckon, step-away-from-wall, stomp combo.* This sets up the fight.* Now I go after the boss.* Lock onto him and repeat the taunt-beckon-stomp combo on him -- this may cause some scattering, but I need to get the boss against a wall or into a corner.* At this point, I'm less interested in damaging him,* I need to keep him on me.* Taunt and debuff him.* Once he's against a wall, I'll use beckon-stomp to help to clear the room and to keep him from hammering on a squishy.* Taunt not only keeps him on me, but it adds to my dodge; I'll also be using evade and iron blood to buff myself.* (Rage is vital - it's always on.)* Once the room is clear of small fry, the group focus's on the boss.* Now I use all my damage spells, but, as long as a squishy isn't getting singled out, I use stomp without beckon, so the group doesn't have to waste time running after the boss.
4. Learn the Map:* You can't be first in the fight if you are following others around.* Once you've done a few run-throughs, you'll learn where to clump enemies, where the bottle-necks are, and, where the environmental hazards are.* Try to use the battle ground to your advantage.
5. Communicate!* I use the pre-set chats to tell my team-mates what's up.* Here are some good ones to have ready:
A. Let me go in first. We'll all live longer.
B. Let me hold the boss while you guys clear the room.
C. Mages, please keep me buffed - and a heal or two would be cool.
D. Mages, I'll be pulling bad guys to me... time your nukes!
E. Wait for the others... it's a rough room.
X. A Word on skills:
A. Max out skills: rage, taunt, beckon, stomp, mega-slash
B. Ignored skills: restore, crippling slash
C. Nearly-maxed: iron blood, evade, hell scream
D. Some points: crushing blow, veng' slash
(I'm only lvl 50; I expect to Max the 'nearly maxed' skills soon.)
Thoughts?
