Critique this Kodiak build please.

[Xena1985]

Hi, so after being disappointed with D3, nostalgia set in and I'm back for another build or 3. Since I've never tried a Kodiak I want to try it now.

Skills:

Lycantropy - 20
HoW - 20
Armageddon - 20
Fissure - 5
Hunger - 3 to 5 to hit level 7-8 or about 150% dual leech after + skills
Summon Grizzly - 1 point
Volcano - rest 20 at level 95 or so

Equipment:

Azurewrath - Recommended in the guide but I also have Grief and Stormlash.
Guillan's
Treachery
Stormshield
Gore Riders? or goblin toe?
Gloves - Draculs's needed with such massive leech? LOH?
Ravenfrost
Other ring - no idea because leech seems not to be critical in this build
Highlord's wrath
Belt - I'd go with a string but I already have 50% DR and the extra few % LL don't seem to matter. T-gods?

Stats:

To block or not to block? Nothing creative here Str for equipment rest in vita unless going the max block route.

Merc: Holy freeze wielding a reapers toll.

[Pyrotechnician]

Kodiak builds have the luxury of having a very flexible skill point allocation. So pretty much any combination of skills is viable. That being said armageddon, although interesting, isn't really a very reliable source of damage as the meteors hit very inconsistently. Then again lots of spare skill points why not.

The question of block or not to block, I actually highly recommend NOT going with max block, bears are notorious for a very terrible block rate so you might be stuck in the block animation more then you are attacking. Blackcloak Luna, although not a common shield choice is actually excellent for this build as it has low blocking rate, high faster blocking % and has life and dex boosts to boot which is great when using a phase blade type weapon.

Dracul's is not necessary as you are using azurewrath. The lifetap is only really necessary for unleachables and the sanctuary aura from azurewrath makes unleachables (undead) leachable again. LOH is a good choice as the 350% dmg to demons will help with your leaching against a majority of enemies. Other gloves obviously are viable for different reasons.

[Xena1985]

Alright, you've convinced me to go with no blocking. What would you recommend maxing if not armageddon? The grizzly won't be viable with kodiak equipment, it needs many + skills to do any real damage and even then attacks only 1 target at a time. The only other place to sink points would be maul and wearbear. with -75% physical damage on top of a weapon with poor base physical damage I can't see the point unless I'm missing something.

Does the -75% affect grand total physical weapon damage (This is my impression) or is it simply a penalty to your overall + damage %: e.g if I have a might aura + wearbear that give me + 300% damage will my damage then be 300% - 75% = 225%? If it's the latter case then points in maul and wearbear would certainly be a consideration.

Hmm, I ran the 2 shields blackoak and stormshield through a block calculator. at level 90 Stormshield has a block rate of 41% vs 24% for the blackoak luna. I think you raised a valid point here the block on the stormshield is high but the mods so much better especially the -35% damage reduction...... What if I shaeled the SS?

[Pyrotechnician]

I would run the shaeled SS through a calculator and see what block rate you come up with, if its something fast enough that you won't get stuck in the block lock animation then it may be viable. I really don't have much experience with high blocking on a bear druid as I had tried it a couple times but became frustrated constantly being unable to do anything.

I don't really know the mechanics of the -75% reduction unfortunately. You would need to ask someone that is more knowledgeable in the order of the damage calculation as I never really looked into using hunger as a main attack still but rather as a back up when I got into trouble spots and needed leach fast.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

[hubb]

Yep, I tried helping someone not too long ago and he reported back that using a shield was terrible. 41% is more than enough to be hugely annoying when you're up against archers and can easily put you in block-lock.

• At certain attack rate breakpoints only every other attack is actually executed: this is always true for a Werebear, so despite a 4 frame maximum attack animation a Kodiak's maximum attack rate is actually 8 frames. [1]
• Damage penalty only applies to final physical attack damage, so it cannot be countered by +% Damage: with 100 physical weapon damage and +400% Damage, 125 (100*(100+400)/100 = 500; 500-(500*75/100)) physical attack damage is applied.
• Weapon speed and weapon Increased Attack Speed are normally most significant factors in determining attack rate.

[Xena1985]

Only 8 frames max? Boy that sucks. :( The guide said the kodiak is hell-viable..... with an 8 frame attack I'm seriously questioning this.

Regarding the shield I really want to use the stormy because of the sick DR. Is there any other Shield/Armor combo I can use instead of treachery and SS to get high resists and 50% DR? i.e we're talking about shaftstop + something else with low block.

Given how + damage % works with hunger I'm not going to invest in wearbear or maul. not worth it imho. In fact I'm quite convinced now that armageddon is the best place for a point sink after the core skills done.

What about Grief and hunger mechanics? is the + 400 damage applied before or after the penalty?

Also if I used a stormlash I would only need 77 dex and my block rate with stormshield would drop from 41% to 23% I guess time will tell.

Level 35 and counting :-) I really prefer the wearbear look to werewolf.

Thanks for all the feedback

[pulli]

Well following the links above led me to some tests where only at powers of 2 the attack speed was halved. (16, 8, 4 showed this behaviour according to the test). - Possibly 5 frames is possible?

[hubb]

...maximum attack rate is actually 8 frames

Yes, I'm not sure why it's worded like that, from the tests it seems clear that 5 FPA works fine.

Stormlashe's ctc Static should be effective, especially if you have Infi on the merc. Otherwise I think Grief's damage can still be decent even with the 1/4 nerf (which applies to final physical damage as the quoted bit above says).

23% block would be a lot more manageable

[onderduiker]

Well following the links above led me to some tests where only at powers of 2 the attack speed was halved. (16, 8, 4 showed this behaviour according to the test). - Possibly 5 frames is possible?

Those tests were for a Werewolf using Hunger, which is not always bugged. A Kodiak is a Werebear, for which Hunger is always bugged.

Note that the Werewolf equipping the Thunder Maul with 91 weapon IAS had an expected 5 frame attack rate but an effective 10 frame attack rate, so the bug isn't restricted to powers of 2. Download ledrug's calculator to find out which breakpoints aren't bugged for Werewolves.


Something I overlooked:

The lifetap is only really necessary for unleachables and the sanctuary aura from azurewrath makes unleachables (undead) leachable again.

Sanctuary ignores the damage resistance and immunity of undead, but it does not allow Life or Mana Stolen per hit to leech from undead with 0 drain effectiveness. So while it ignores the physical immunity of Wraiths in Hell, allowing you to apply physical damage as though they had DR 0% (not 100%), you can only leech from those in Acts 1-3 with 33% drain effectiveness (those in Act 5 have 0 drain effectiveness, like Skeletons and Willowisps).

[Jary]

Sorry to hear bout D3. I've somewhat felt the same way, just finished NM, then just sorta lost the will to keep playing. Understandably, Blizz had to do the best they could making the game from scratch with diff developers, but I guess the game just didn't have the same feel for me across the board that the originals did in design and gameplay. Anyways.

Sanctuary ignores the damage resistance and immunity of undead, but it does not allow Life or Mana Stolen per hit to leech from undead with 0 drain effectiveness. So while it ignores the physical immunity of Wraiths in Hell, allowing you to apply physical damage as though they had DR 0% (not 100%), you can only leech from those in Acts 1-3 with 33% drain effectiveness (those in Act 5 have 0 drain effectiveness, like Skeletons and Willowisps).

^This

Some suggestions:

HoW as well as Hunger are similar, in that they both become exponentially more effective the higher the damage. So this goes for running big damage 2-Handers like eBotd, eth/Windhammer, IK Crusher, etc. If your avg weapon damage is <300, you'll get more returns running Maul with some dual leech, the only use for Hunger with weaps like Azurewrath would maybe be mana leech against mana draining packs.

From experience I can tell you the 20 points in HoW and points up to Grizzly won't be worthwhile. If you insist go grizzly, but 1 pt Oak instead. This brings me to my next suggestion...

I suggest more investment in Geddon; the hit-box is just plain frustrating/bad, you basically pretty much want to ensure that when it does hit, it kills instantly. Every point goes a long ways with enough +skills, so 20 points could be difference between 2k and 7k geddon.