Is a ShockBear viable?

[melange]

OK. First post. I've read loads and played a few characters up to mid levels (nothing getting too far through hell)... OK, I'm a noob ;)

I'm thinking that from a safety point of view a shock bear could be viable - massive life, summons chosen as situations require...

I am fairly convinced that this would not have the killing power of the Windwalker, or pure Were-form... Possibly in fact being one of the slowest killers out there...

I know there are Meteorb's, Bone Necros (which I've tried and - to a certain degree enjoyed) and Hammerdins (which I've found to be vastly overpowered) but I fancied something that would be something of a challenge.

The main problem I could see would be the lack of PMH (almost considering Poison Creeper to simulate this - that's how desperate I am!).

Projected skills would be:

20 Lycanthropy
20 Grizzly
20 Heart of Wolverine
20 Shockwave

Can't really see me getting too much further than this as far as skills go - and I'm SP so I don't have access to massive amounts of gear (mainly Tarnhelm, Manald Heal, Fleshrender and a few other low-end uniques)

So what do you think? Worth spending the time on or not?

[VictusMetuo]

You will kill things, but very slowly. You'd probably want to invest more Life into your Grizzly, as he will be taking a beating more than anything. You definitely need to have some sort of Merc in there to help your Grizzly out, 1 to take away some hits, and 2 for another damage dealer. You'd also have some problems with Bosses and Superuniques tearing your Grizzly appart, and Shockwave will not stun them.

You should obviously invest into some FCR for this build because your whole purpose is to Stun things, and to keep your Grizzly/Merc alive, you need to get them out there fast. It's not good when they get swarmed because they die very easily. You will likely be using a lot of Mana, so watch out for that.

[Voice]

a better varient of this would be geddon + shockwave. you wont really need a tank since nothing really moves much w/ shockwave anyways. I posted a thought on this awhile ago on anther forum and my friend actually made one ... and he does very well in pvm and pvp. Basically like a fc bear i guess.

1 in were form skills
max geddon and synergies.

If you max a wereform skill max lycan for life + duration benefits.

[melange]

Thanks for the input guys.

Although I understand the fire-based approach would be very powerful i have recurring nightmares about immunities...

As for fcr I have a spectral shard and am seriously considering toughing it out with my fire rogue (as a source of elemental damage) although this doesn't add any extra targets to take the pressure off my bear...

[Voice]

or you could raise a good physical damage merc.

[ƒenris]

Well with godly gear.
You use
Beast for fanat
Might merc uses doom and bramble.
Get poison creeper for pmh, probably want natures peace.
Heart of Wolverine
Call to Arms
You would need more points in the wolves for the synergy, a lot of summoning skill gear.
Should help take a lot of heat off your bear.

[VictusMetuo]

Can't really see me getting too much further than this as far as skills go - and I'm SP so I don't have access to massive amounts of gear (mainly Tarnhelm, Manald Heal, Fleshrender and a few other low-end uniques)
He doesn't have godly gear.

[ƒenris]

I'm just saying it would own with the right gear.

[Voice]

I'm just saying it would own with the right gear.

this can be appliied to just about any build ....

[melange]

Not sure how you get the cool 'f' but - fenris - have to assume that you are referring to the dire wolf bonus.

Seem to remember a similar idea before the 'prune' (or maybe after) something about an aura based druid... Optimistically I'd like to think this would be doable, practically Voice sums up my situation.

Any advice on a reasonably easy build to start b.net career on a 56k connection?

Please guys - I know it hasn't started in earnest yet and I am quite happy to admit you are both far more accomplished than I re: DII (at the least) but I wouldn't like to feel responsible for the start of another thread such as fenris' wind-druid guide I read recently. Don't get me wrong - you guys both had good points (so far as I could tell), you weren't the main protagonists and tried to stop it, but still...

On the other hand - thanks for taking the time to reply to my first post. Don't think I don't appreciate the input.

[Voice]

On the other hand - thanks for taking the time to reply to my first post. Don't think I don't appreciate the input.

np anytime

Also i dont think anyone has said this .. but i know i havent WELCOME TO THE DRUID FORUM !!!!!!! :lol: :lol:

as for easy build you will want a caster of some sort to be honest, they are less item dependent. If you have to have a druid go wind druid ... basic wind druid build.

If you want something that you can build in order to find items so you can get good gear .. make a sorc (they come w/ teleport skill :clap: ).

Also a lot of people play on 56k so dont feel bad about it .. i would say over 50% of the players play on that .. prob. more like 80%.

If you dont want to make a caster i can help you make a melee character from scratch ... all characters are duable untwinked just takes a lil more planning.