Hybrid Fire/physical bear advice

[wooginator]

So ever since 1.13 when they boosted the damage on werebear I've been trying to work out a good werebear build that does both physical and fire damage.

Skill layout would be like so:

10 points in lycanthropy
20 points in werebear
20 points in fire claws
rest in fire claws synergies and prereqs also 1 point in oak sage

Gear was like this:

Grief pb
Jalals socketed with 15 ias jewel
Stormshield
Chains of Honor
Dungos
Angelic/raven
Aldurs or maybe IK boots
Bloodfists
CTA/spirit

Anni, torch, 9x shapeshifting grand charms

This gives me something in the neighborhood of 10k fireclaws and 5k physical, I think, but at only 7 frames. Is this too slow? My bearzon hits at 6 frames but she has all sorts of dodge awesomeness. Suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Skullbash]

If you want a 5 frame but lower damage weapon try a griswold's caddy with 3x 40ed/15ias 1x Shael, and I'd definitely use fort and highlords to bump the physical damage.

Is this for pvp or pvm?

[wooginator]

This is for pvp, and I reconsidered and definitely agree with you about fort. Highlords I'm not such a fan of though because it compromises my attack rating. And that griz caddy is a bit out of my price range.

If my estimations are right (and I'm not sure they are because my usual damage calculator I use is down) I should be doing about 9k physical and 8k fire damage, which is a good deal more than I could ever do with just fire or physical alone.

[Verashiden]

7 Frames is pushing the boundary on being too slow. You'll have to test and see if you like it at that speed.

I'd keep angelic in stash and use Ravenx2 Highlord base jewelry set. Would also consider Gores for DS silliness.

Personally, I'd Ber the SS (if you're worried about the DR) and drop Dungo for Arach.

[wooginator]

I'm not terribly worried about DR. What good would arach do me, other than +1 skills? I'm not casting anything. At all. I use a bearzon who attacks at 7 frames and does pretty well, but she also has massive dodge as well as max block. I'll probably only end up doing about 4.5k physical and 9k fireclaws, which while significant, is not that much more than plain fireclaws which attacks so much faster. I might just forget this build entirely and stick with my fuzzy dodger who I love.

[Verashiden]

Arach does several things:

Damage
AR
Defense
Life
Reset speed for Sage

[Hartside]

Arach does several things:

Damage
AR
Defense
Life
Reset speed for Sage

And slows target venom charges aswell I think ;)

[hau]

hey i was thinking about making this build, but i havent played in awhile, does non-weapon IAS work for druids now?

[nurman]

For bears, I think it does. For wolves it didn't. Correct me if I'm wrong ^_^.

[Skullbash]

hey i was thinking about making this build, but i havent played in awhile, does non-weapon IAS work for druids now?

It does work partially, and for some weapons like a range 5 110ias Grim Scythe you actually need to have 10 off weapon ias to hit 4 fpa fireclaws/maul. Its weird, but the wereform calc is a huge help when trying to figure it all out.

[wooginator]

Yeah, skull is right. Also, if you're thinking about making this build, eth tomb reaver with 2x shaels for a 6 frame attack or ebotd giant thresher for 7 frames is a nice weapon when you don't need a shield.

[minuses]

hey i was thinking about making this build, but i havent played in awhile, does non-weapon IAS work for druids now?

It does help obtain extra ias but ias on weap is what determins max ias the shifter druid can have. But extra ias does help vs slow.