Fireclaws Weapon Speed

[renegademaster]

HI there, i am building a Fireclaws shape shifter that can be go bear or wolf.
skills
20 Lycanthropy
20 FireClaws
All Shapeshifting skills 1 point
Raven 1 point
Oak Sage 1 point
Rest Fireclaws synergies

Shields:
Firstly i heard you cant block whilst shapeshifted is this true?
Weapons
I plan to have a physical damage weapon and a fire damage switch.
Unfortunately i cant find the Dragoons weapon speed calculator all the links seem to be broken.

Physical Primary:
Ribcracker upped, for its great Crushing Blow.
I am relying on Crushing Blow and fast attacks more than huge physical damage (but still the more the better).
To reach 4 FPA as a Bear i need allot of off-weapon IAS right?
As a Wolf with around 15 +skils and Fury - will i reach 4 FPA?

Fire Switch:
Phoenix shield - for -28 fire resist and chance to cast Firestorm on striking (i should get a bonus from my synergies).
with
A 6 Socket PB:
I have read people socket these with Shaels and Eths, but want to go Shael and Fire Facets.

How many Shaels do i need on a PB to hit max speed as a Bear (is it 4) if i have no other IAS from off weapon sources?
How many Shaels do i need to hit max speed with a Wolf? How many FPA is max speed for wolf and bear both using fireclaws?

Thank you for your patience!

[Skullbash]

Dragoons Wereform Calc (http://home.comcast.net/~thedragoon/wereformadvanced.html)

You can block in any Shapeshifted form, including bear, wolf, and necro vampire, but the blocking rate is diferent on all (there is a sidebar for this in the calculator).

An upped ribcracker does good damage, but actually has about 10ias less than a non upped version, I don't think it's possible to reach a 4 frame fury with any amount of ias with it, let alone fireclaws or maul. I believe the speed cap for fury is 5 or 6 fpa.

Phoenix shield looks great on paper, but the ctc firestorm interrupts your attacks all the time, it really isn't worth it.

For the 4/5 fpa fireclaw (which is max) in werbear/werewolf form you need 110ias on your phase blade. Most people either go with 6 shaels or 4 shaels and 2 ias/res or 2 ias/ar jewels. With 4 shaels and 2 fire facets, you're looking at about 6/7 fpa fireclaws.

Hope that helped some.:pancake:

[Everett]

Yes you can block while shapeshifted. I'm assuming that this is for pvm, and that you are using ribby against all, and when you come across PI, then you use fireclaws?

Why do you have one point in whole ss tree? If you are a pure fc, then you would only use fc, and you wouldn't need to put the points into hunger,fury or rabies. You can put a point into shockwave because it is useful against mobs.

As for all of your attack speed and fpa questions, google d2 weapon speed calc or something and use the german one, it works.

You need 110% ias in a phase blade to reach max attack speed.

Edit: Skullbash is right, the ctc firestorm will interrupt your attack constantly, which is irritating.

[superjayson]

is this pvm or pvp ? theres some guides in the stickied thread at the top of this forum.

[renegademaster]

Thanx allot guys!

Interesting about the Phoenix interrupt - so i suppose 4 soc Monarch with some Fire Facets, if i really want that - fire resist hey?

I wanted Fury for a fast Physical attack for the Crushing Blow on the Ribcracker.

This is my first Druid, so wanted to try out all the skills, but will see whether i can make do with just Fireclaws and Shockwave. thats why i chose a build that could go Bear or Wolf.

[renegademaster]

PVM by the way.