Fire Claw Build

[Winta]

Hi Guys

Well, i have this fireclaw build, and was wandering if someone could help me make it even better? :) Ofc the stats on some of my items could be better, i know this, but that will come along the way. What i want to know is if theres better igems that i have not overseen.

lvl: 87

My skills without items:
1 in each of those that is required by fire claw = 4
20 fireclaw

20 Firestorm
20 Molten Boulder
20 Fissure
15 Volcano

the next 5 lvls i will take Volcano, after that i think i will use the rest in Wearbear?

My stats without items:
str: 135
dex: 141
vit: 224
Energy: 20

Think im gonna take vit from now on? Maybe dex to get more att. r.

Items:
ShaelShaelShaelShaelShaelShael 6 sock phase blade
Enigma
Jalals Mane with a 5/5 fire die jool
Mara's 24 .. Maybe a + drood skill amu?
2x BK 5%
Phoenix (15 - 375) .. Give much more damage with +2 skil shield, but the - in fire res is good.
Sandstorm Trek (eth) .. here must be something better?
Arachnid
Magefist .. Maybe some + shapeshifting gloves?
18/15 anni
5*451 psn sc
11/14 T
9 Shape skillers (all together + 204 life, 7% faster r/w)

Stats with items and bearform:
str: 268
dex: 175
vit: 275
Energy: 74

Life: 1539
Mana: 309

Damage: 19k - 20k
Att. r. : 7013
Defence: 5355

And res on hell is:
Fire: 13
Cold: 13
Light: 13
Poison 81

Still miss a fewquests.

[Eilo Rytyj]

Well, your str is a bit high for one. The only high str req item is the Phoenix, and that's only 156 not 268. That's 112 points that could have gone to Vit or something. Your life is WAAAY too low for a Shifter. I have a Tal's Sorceress with as much life as that without BO.

Your base Dex is a bit high too, you wont be getting 75% block with Phoenix with that kind of Dex, and a Bear is better off with as low blocking as possible. Bears have horrible block speeds, they're actually better off not blocking at all. Still keeping with the requirements of the Phase Blade, you could have saved at least another 39 stat points.

The bad thing about Phoenix is that the +damage% is almost useless to you since your main damage is Fire and a Phase Blade has very low damage. It's also got that nasty Firestorm which messes with your attack speed. A Spirit comes to mind as an alternative, because it has low block (which is good for a bear), +2 skills, nice res, awesome FHR and FCR helps your Shockwave casting speed. Another is a normal everyday Monarch socketed with 4 Fire Facets. +20% FC damage and -20% enemy fire res. Don't bother with a JMoD, the extra block isn't a good thing.

I don't know why you'd need 5*451 poison dmg sc's. They're pretty much useless to you, they waste valuable inventory space and they'll probably poof because they're dupezorz.

Get rid of BOTH of those BK rings, they're useless. Replace one with a Ravenfrost at least, so you at least have Cannot Be Frozen, then the other ring may as well be another Ravenfrost, the AR bonus from those things can't be beaten. That also means you could save up to another 40 stat points from Dex to spend in Vit.


Where is Shockwave? Why haven't you put a skill point in the godliest skill in the Shapeshifting tree, if not the godliest Druid skill ever?

Oak Sage is also at least a 1 point wonder. It can be prebuffed, and the extra life boost you get from just 1 litle skill point is awesome.

A PB only needs 110% IAS, so two of those Shaels could be replaced with IAS jewels with good second mods. +100 AR/15% IAS Jewels are good, as are 15% res all/15% IAS Jewels.

[Winta]

@ the str.
Yer,your are very right here, forgot that when i got my items i would get huge amounts of str :/

@ At block
Damn, never thought about this, and you are so right, i loose like 3 hits everytime i block..


@ Fire storm
Just got the phoenix the other day, and DAMN that firestorm is a pain.. Never thought about this before it got it..

@ psn sc
Wount they stack at every hit? Could add up i thougth :D

@ Rings ans shield
Actually used a spirit before, but i give much more damage with phoenix, but the firestorm are a pain, thats right.. The aura helps this tho! it heals me a LOT i pvm..

You are so rigth about the rings, will get those replaced.

@ phase blade
Oh, had no idea they could only go to 110%, thanks a lot!

@ Oak
You are very right about that, forgot it..

@ Shockwave
Yer, you are so right about this one too..

think i might have conentrated too much on fireclaw to remember anything else :D

[Jary]

I think that stormshield is too good to pass up, otherwise you'd have Zero damage reduction on that build... really no need for more damage in pvm. Saying you should just not block, that's silly to me. Hell witches and mobs would just eat your life alive, unless you just run around shockwaving everything. Any block, even a slow block, is better than not having it, it's just a lot safer and your bear will be much more tankable... u dont have to get like dead-on 75% but anywhere between 62-75% is fine.

Get rid of the 5x400 poison sc's, they do nothing in pvm. Add another 100 raw life and get a cta to get your life up to 4k+. Throw 1 point into oak sage, it'll boost your life considerably.

[Winta]

Actually jary, hell wiches die in one hit, even in a 8 player game, so no worries really.. And belive me, hes so rigth about the block, if something et me killed thats it.. I can easyly kill 3 hell wiches in the time i take me to block one attack..

yer, thought about cta too, should get this, and you might be right about the charms too..

[Verashiden]

The poison damage won't stack. If anyuthing it'll just reset the timer, being useless on your build.

Don't use Enigma. CoH is so much better especially given that you have such low life. The res will help you more than the FRW of Enigma.

Jary, SS would block too much for this build. If he get's his hands on SW then the only thing he'll really have trouble with will be Frenzytaur ambush.

[Winta]

Actually i have thought about CoH, and you saying it might be enough reason to change :) Just like to have tele, couse im so lazy :/

Maybe i should make myself a new one, and take more life, dosent take more than 3 days to get lvl 88 anyway..

And nice you tube linK :D

[superjayson]

Is this PvP ?
if it is: http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=548850

Even if its PvM my guide will help you with some gear selection, stats etc.

You're points seem uneven, way too much in strength and very little in dex. No max block ?

Phoenix is NOT a druid shield. The only builds Phoenix works best for is a zealer/concentrate barb or anyone else whos attack can't be interupted.


What are shapeshifting gloves ?

[Verashiden]

Dracs :o

And yes, I know my link is smexy ;)

I was assuming PvM in my suggestions.

[superjayson]

same, but my guide will still give him better info on gear/stats/skill placement.

Ps. ditch the poison small charms. You're doing 20k damage, everything dies in a few hits anyways. Whats the poison damage going to do ? Slowly kill fire immunes ? (and by slow i mean 30 minutes to an hour)

[Winta]

Actually they do help on fire immunes ahah, but i got the point, i will trade em..

You are talkinga bout block too :O? Really dont need that.. Phoenix actually helps a lot, but think i will change it back to my spirit to loose that god damn firestorm..

[superjayson]

If you are PvM use what ever shield you want. Except Phoenix. Unless the ctc firestorm doesn't bother you.

If you are PvP, use phoenix only if you want to die.

For fire immunes your best using a merc with some good physical damage.

ps Don't use infinity on the merc in hopes the conviction will break all fire immunes, because it wont.

[Winta]

Oh, im using infinity pt, then what should i use instead?

[superjayson]

Anything that can deal the most physical damage.
If you have shockwave it will help your merc (and your self) alot too.

[Winta]

Ok thx, well, readin your pvp guide, very nice.

[Jary]

That's fine if you decide to go spirit, but the 35% dr on ss will be missed :[
You've prolly read Jayson's guide either way, but I'd consider maxing Boulder last. At least then u can complete your fissure synergy and use that as a backup skill. Since youre using arach + mage + spirit (I assume?), your fcr should be pretty quick for teleporting and dropping fissures before entering battle.. it comes in handy being able to shift and cast quickly without delay.

[SSoG]

I think that stormshield is too good to pass up, otherwise you'd have Zero damage reduction on that build... really no need for more damage in pvm. Saying you should just not block, that's silly to me. Hell witches and mobs would just eat your life alive, unless you just run around shockwaving everything. Any block, even a slow block, is better than not having it, it's just a lot safer and your bear will be much more tankable... u dont have to get like dead-on 75% but anywhere between 62-75% is fine.


I have gotten to Guardian with 5 different Werebears, and not one of them maxed block, or ever wished he had. In fact, a lot of times I've run around with a 1-handed weapon and NO SHIELD AT ALL just because I was plenty safe and because the blocking was slowing me down a lot (although I always put the shield back on in Hell because I needed the resists).

A slow block is more likely to get you killed than it is to save your life. Look at it this way- if it takes you half a second to block, and only 1/6th of a second to attack, then you could have attacked three times in the time it takes you to block once. If you can one-hit-kill all monsters, then you could kill three monsters in the time it took you to block one attack... so if you'd just taken the damage, then all three monsters would be dead, but since you blocked, all three monsters had an extra half-second to attack you and deal what damage they could. Blocking Bears are not Killing Bears, Blocking Bears are not Leeching Bears. Frequently, Blocking Bears are Dead Bears (or at the very least, they're Annoyed Bears).

Heck, people in this thread are talking about how annoying the ctc Firestorm on Pheonix is, and that won't interrupt your attack for NEARLY as long as blocking will.

[Winta]

Very well spoken SSoG, just as i said erlyer :)