Building a Bear, what i have and my plans.

[Colin Healey]

Good Evening Bears.

I am Mrknify, and would like to tell you about my build.

first the stats,

Level 21 (don't scoff just read)
STR 88
DEX 36
INT 2 (yes this will be fixed as when i started i saw a bump on an attribute from adding 1 int at the time)
hit% 73
Crit 9
Dodge 5
Health 654
Regen 7
Mana 401
regen 3 (with my current skills i never need a potion)
damage 71-87
DPS 79
Armor 35

Gear:
Crusaders Merc Helm
Redfangs Platinum Axe
Black Chain of Ahnold (had the red one found 2 blacks so far like the look of black, also had green blue.)
Crusaders Spiked Wooden Buckler
Iron Band of Life

now i've been looking at the builds and i like the BBB build (all dex) but i am not sure if I am willing to go that way at this time.

Skills;
STOMP 4 - 6 mana, 5 sec cooldown, 8m area, 82-93 damage + knock-back + stun
Taunt 5 - 0 mana, 6 sec cooldown, 12m area, taunt + 12 sec. buff (+6 dodge)
Super Mega Slash 6 - 8 mana, 4 sec cooldown, 4m range, 90-139 damage + 20-90% stun
Crushing Blow 5 - 4 mana, 4 sec. cooldown, 3m range, reduce damage -50%, dodge -25%


ordered on screen from top
taunt
Crushing blow
SMS
Stomp.

use in order from top. pulls them in, weakens stab and scatter. i try to target the range attackers first as they die in one round, by the second round taunt has just cleared the global timer and is good for a double up. if I have a healer, in any dungeon my level I am unstopable. i've run straight to bosses and cleared them (using heeal pots)

currently i am dumping all levels into str. as this allows for better gear. have a hard time finding groups that allow me to get aggro from mobs, alot just like to try to dps and i watch them run around alot. other bears get in my way, especially when i am trying to post to a corner for max aoe on groups.

ok enough that is a bit of a whiners excuse.

good bear tanking tips, get aggrom early and often. pull around corners were another bear is waiting, that bear stomps, you back out of corner, stomp, then both bears can work in tandem alternating who holds corner and who stomps, with a good healer, any boss room can be controlled this way with no deaths.

i will agree on the dex bear especially for stomp, as if your hit is maxed your not going to miss very easily and that keeps them in the corner.

sms then stomp combo awesom for sending the dead flying away.

more to follow.

[Colin Healey]

made it to level 22, had 2 platinum, respeced for 54 str 60 dex. oops all my gear is str 60... played to get some gear to boost str up, now gear is back on :P keeping up with the str on levels, at the moment i am going to continue to use str gear, yes i'd love that axe of legend, as i've seen axes are the best for tank bears, with a shield, too bad duel weild couldn't keep up with 2x handed weapons. there are great possibilitys for a dex duel weapon bear, but the game mechanics do not allow for it..... just be able to use one handed weapons in sheild slot would be cool.....

gear upgrades at this point.
Head- Redbone Helm of Blood I lose some crit and regen of health and mana, but dps and armour increase with hit % and str. its a fairly even trade off (even though the health regen is a must at this point) i just think its a awesome helm. i have the Redbone Plate of power, but its an all out loss compared to the black chain tunic of ahnold (replaced my red one with a 500 gold one found in auction) so they are fairly easy to get.
make sure you have your 60 str at level 19 for it, as its easy to get and some of the best armour no matter your build (str build)


Now i have updated my bear, level 23
with kit, str 71, dex 66 int 1
hit 80%
crit 8
dodge 5
health 646
regen 6
mana 400
regen 2
damage 77-93
dps 85
armour 40.

dex definatly is a good thing for a bear, i will continue to experiment with the build, but i am seeing a direction it is taking i just picked up the Jewel thief's avian helmet i'll lose on 2 pts of damage but gain dex hit crit h/s and m/s. one of my goals is to get a h/s of at least 15 by level 30. put 1 point into hellscream... a little disapointing at the moment will see how it goes after i swap out crushing blow for it.

[Colin Healey]

these are my charts, for level 25 stat comparison, without gear.

str 22 7 12 127 117 97
dex 107 122 117 2 12 32
int 1 -------------------------------------------------------
hit 82 85 84 65 67 70
crit 5 ---------------------------------------------------
dodge 3 3 3 4 4 4
health 611 604 606 664 658 648
regen 2 2 2 3 3 3
mana 400 --------------------------------------------------
regen 0 ---------------------------------------------------
damage 23-28 25-30 24-29 9-14 10-15 13-18
dps 37 40 39 17 19 23
armour 5 4 5 7 7 7


as you can see there is a little difference between the stats. once you add equipment it makes a difference.... there is a guide that lists the point per attribute, i found yesterday i'll have to add a link later to it, but it summed it up str is 0.4 dex 0.8 and int 0.6 point per. unfortunatly i dont remember the details at this time very busy, but its in the guide section.

now i have progressed to level 27
skills up are rage, beckon, hellscream, stomp, all at 6 and now iron blood at 2 it fills a bit of the gap and makes your survivability increase, but if you try for more then 10 mobs you will be mashing the heal pot's. at this time my stats are;
str 12
dex 155
int 1

this is with gear without gear dex is 127
notable stats are hit 107% crit 14 h's 7 m/s 5 damage 60-65 dps 92 armour 39
now i have some gear, that gives me a +0 to armour and it goes to 40, and some gear that gives a -0 to armour and it stays at 39, this is due to the modified stat being applied to your armour.

keep in mind that all your attributes work together to change your stats.

I hope this helps.

also current gear i have is;
sniper penguin snowcap
jewel thiefs avian talon
jewel thiefs leather armour
jewel thiefs avian wing
fine platinum band of life.

currently working on the 2nd level, sandstorm in hopes of getting the onyx dex set.
just cause the hat looks awesome. if i cant get it by 30, i'll figure somthing out.

ttfn.

[Conradin]

Right on man! Doing great. I presume u have rage maxed or 5? Also hell scream is deathly important. Great job man, you put in lots of effort! I like all the detail and tips.

On a side note, want a platnium axe of legend? Ive got an extra, and you can have for free. Plus its better than yours.

[Otukura]

If you dump half(dual spec) or 2/5ths into dex, your hit percent and damage will go up, allowing you to gain more aggro.

Things I'd say: 5 taunt isn't really that useful at your level, it would be more productive to put those into beckon(unlocked at level 22), stomp, rage, and hell scream.

Rage has a hidden +60 damage buff at level 6, which is amazing at lower levels.

Picture courtesy of Rangepwnsmeel:

Just a little picture of beckon at level 6, it'll pull everything towards you, and then once you stomp into the wall/ use HS to keep them stunned, your team will have a much easier time with their AOE spells.

[Sky../]

If i had to choose between hellscream and crushing blow, i'd choose hellscream just because it's aoe and crushing blow is not.

Edit: just realized you don't have rage either. That's another must max skill. I'd drop supermega slash down to 1 for rage.

[Nightarcher]

A bear becomes a freakin' killing machine once you max lv6 Beckon, Stomp, and Rage. And of course everything else makes you beastly too.

[Vivi]

I always recommend lvling aoe skills first. Rage>stomp>beckon>hellscream are must have max asap. Then add points in ur slashes, crushing, taunt. Crushing, SMS are worth maxing but later on when u actually have some decent bosses to kill and u want more damage, more stun/knockback. Taunt is pretty amazing as it gives tons of dodge basically perma if u spam it (2x +8 dodge on lvl6). The combo of 2x taunt buff, evade and hellscream makes the massive mobs of monsters miss ur all the time. Iron blood isnt really helpful against mobs if they hit u for their "minimum damage" (u can check that by looking at the damage they deal on u with and without iron blood, if u're hardcore u can estimate the minimum armor required to get mobs hit u for their minimum damage to maximize ur offensive capabilities etc etc). There's a lot to it. That's one of the reasons I consider fortified sword and shield set (massive armor, low hit, crit, dodge) a failure even bigger than fury fighter sword and shield set (good armor, dodge; low hit, crit) but that's lvl 55 stuff.

Ok rant mode off.

[csb]

I like "Fine Steel Ring of Life" for level 20s. It has 3H/s, 1M/s, 4 Armor.

Also, I use the board and nail club for all characters (bird/mage/bear) up to level 30 because it does so much damage. Doesn't looks cool, but has great damage.

Everyone will probably advise against this but, at low levels I put 6 in healing. It's actually useful at that level, since often low level mages seem to not even know they have a healing spell. (and, i never buy potions... wasting gold) I respec at around 40 and remove the healing points. I agree that most of the focus is on area spells at low levels. Then, after 40 the boss killing single target spells are useful.

I only have one point in super mega slash, just to get the stun part of the skill. It's nice to combine sms/beckon/stomp and keep a boss stunned. My 52 bear can actually solo a sewer mini boss and keep it stunned so much of the time that the H/s regen is all I need for healing (no healing pots, no heal skill).

[Register]

very good!
Only thing i wouldnt put points into the heal skill. If yo spend a week farming potions, you should have a great deal to go about and take as much damage as you want.

[csb]

...beckon at level 6, it'll pull everything towards you, and then once you stomp into the wall/ use HS to keep them stunned, your team will have a much easier time with their AOE spells.

Isn't HS (Hell Scream) a debuff? It makes the mobs weak so they don't hurt you so much, but I don't think it has a stun.

[Otukura]

Isn't HS (Hell Scream) a debuff? It makes the mobs weak so they don't hurt you so much, but I don't think it has a stun.

It does, a mini stun. Doesn't let them move, but they can still attack when you're in range.


Oh, and just saw that it gives a slight armor break.

[csb]

if u're hardcore u can estimate the minimum armor required to get mobs hit u for their minimum damage to maximize ur offensive capabilities etc etc

Wow. Thanks. I never thought of that. This is a top 10 tip.

[Colin Healey]

ok i've read through... i am going to swap out crushing blow for hellscream and see how that goes. as is the build is solid as long as you have heal pots, or a healer. the moment you put a healer in the mix, the lightning aoe / debuff, everything dies so much faster. at this time halfway to 23, and rockin the fathom crypts solo. will add on after the skill swap. (yes i am a big believer in maxing out asap, no 1 point skills unless its building after primarys are maxed.

[Colin Healey]

Right on man! Doing great. I presume u have rage maxed or 5? Also hell scream is deathly important. Great job man, you put in lots of effort! I like all the detail and tips.

On a side note, want a platnium axe of legend? Ive got an extra, and you can have for free. Plus its better than yours.

Thank you very munch. i would love the axe :P also, no just the 4 skills, i just put 1 point into hellscream, going to swap out crushing blow to max it and see how that rolls.

Mrknify.

swaped out crush blow for hellscream AWESOME works great as an aoe makes cruching blow redundant. also grabbed the 20 steel ring of life, very nice.

[Ellyidol]

It does, a mini stun. Doesn't let them move, but they can still attack when you're in range.


Oh, and just saw that it gives a slight armor break.

Yup, HS and SMS give an armour reduction of -10 each.

[Otukura]

Yup, HS and SMS give an armour reduction of -10 each.

Wow, minus 20 armor is quite a bit, actually.

[Ellyidol]

Wow, minus 20 armor is quite a bit, actually.

Yeah, not bad actually

As for the duration, not sure. I don't think its long enough to stack.

[Otukura]

Yeah, not bad actually

As for the duration, not sure. I don't think its long enough to stack.

HS was 5 seconds when I was testing it with noobmigo today.

[Ellyidol]

HS was 5 seconds when I was testing it with noobmigo today.

Ah, CD is 8 is it? Not sure, so doesn't sound stackable. Darn!

They should make CB -10 armour debuff too