Tronko
Well-known member
It’s been a while since I last posted a melee build. Honestly, with how things are right now I even tried playing a ranged …overwhelmed by boredom 
To be fair, in quests I still think melees can dominate (and are fun to play), but in the new raids there are quite a few obstacles.
For example, in Threats R10, the marilith slices me to pieces and if Karliath bypasses my dodge, he one-shots me. Relentless is going to be an issue when you move away from R1, and so on... I’m talking about R10. On R1, with a build like this, you can actually tank everything.
So.. back to the build. The build in question is a bear (which is why I’m posting it here in the druid section… being a bear is really its defining feature
) with a deep Dragon Lord splash.
Beasthide Shifter Barbarian 11 Dragon Lord 6 Druid 3, FotW (40) GMoF (22) SD (21)
Stats in Reaper (self-buffed).
Overall, it’s a very solid bear, like all bears...
7k+ HP, over 350 PRR, 140 MRR with Evasion, decent saves.
Doublestrike is exactly 100%,, high Strength and around 400 melee power (without Prowess boost).
Other stats:
Why this class split?
Because U76 changed quite a few feats, and some of them are now much more attractive. In my opinion, DL 6 as a splash for a bear is fantastic.
First of all, it gives 3 extra feat slots (which you can use for things like Great Cleave, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Stunning Blow, Hamstring, Slicing Blow, etc.).
On top of that, you get a good imbue that scales with 200% MP, 2x Second Wind, tactics aura with a nice bonus, +5 mp, Cha trance, Haste Boost, 3% doublestrike, and Dragon’s Roar, which I find extremely useful even without T5, especially when soloing. All of this for like 16 AP. Wow, just wow.
As for tier 5, FB has no rivals, there’s not much to say. If the goal is DPS, going T5 DL is a big mistake.
Druid gives access to two excellent trees at the early tiers: Nature’s Protector and Nature’s Warrior. Besides the 15% vs helpless and 10% fort bypass, NW also gives you the option of hitting 95% dodge when needed. To round things out, 6 points in Ravager for another +5 mp.
And what about race? There are basically three solid options here: Half-Orc, Wood Elf, and Shifter.
I’m a big fan of Shifter, specifically Beasthide Shifter for a bear build. It offers a ton of tankiness with +22 PRR, +30 Hamp, extra Con, +5% quality hp, and now that Magic Fang has finally been fixed, it’s playable again.
Having infinite rages is a huge plus because it lets you freely spam Blood Feast/self-heals whenever needed.
Enhancements
Epic Destinies
Now let’s talk destinies. Fury of the Wild is a mandatory choice for a bear, imo.
On a build like this I pick Adrenaline (even more so now that Cutter’s cooldown has been increased) and go all the way into the full T5. Leveler is amazing. Lag permitting, ideally you want to swap from falchion to greataxe for Adrenaline and Leveler.
I usually use Adrenalines with Fast and Furious. I know, Fast and Furious is very tricky to use. To avoid smashing yourself into a wall, you basically have to release every key immediately after clicking it and wait for the animation to finish.
Another mandatory tree is Shadowdancer… not much to say there. +7d6 sneak is too much value to ignore, and I tend to always take evasion on melee toons. With modern gear, even a bear can get fine Reflex saves.
The third tree is where the choice lies, between two very appealing options:
Feats
Here are the feats. Some of these choices are definitely debatable
1 Power Attack
3 NF
6 NF
9 NF
12 IC Slashing
15 Stunning Blow
18 Hamstring
BF Slicing Blow
BF Cleave
BF Great Cleave
21 OC
22D Perfect NF
24 Patience
25D Doublestrike
27 Epic DR
28D Harbinger of Chaos
30 Epic Reflexes
L Scion of Arborea
31D Legendary Toughness
33 Eerie Aim
34D Legendary Toughness
Gear
Now I’ll share the gear I’m using, but as I always write, everyone has to adapt to what they’ve got. Curses and reaper/mythic bonuses are too impactful to ignore. So some of my choices, which might look sub-optimal at first glance, actually make perfect sense for me.
For example, on my belt I have +2d6 sneak dice and melee power, on my helm I’ve got reaper stats and +6 STR boost, etc.
The cloak (heroic, of course) is definitely debatable, but either way my threat is negative, and in any content that isn’t an R10 raid (where, to be honest, as a bear you’re not taking aggro if there’s a tank anyway) getting the attention of red names isn’t a problem.
In the setup for this post I leaned a bit more toward extra tankiness, with 140 MRR and so on. Obviously you can make different choices, for example by slotting 3 extra imbue dice instead.
The new artifact ring is an alternative to the usual Equinox, where the trade-off is basically more CC (the proc isn’t amazing, but on a strikethrough build it can make sense) versus Alchemical Earth Attunement.
Notable swaps: boots for elemental absorption, trinkets for Raging Strength, and evil or force absorption. Madstone boots ofc. Divine Power clickies if needed (only if you pick GMoF).
The filigree sets are the usual ones, focusing on melee power and fort bypass. On a bear, and generally on THF builds, I normally don’t slot Shattered, especially if doublestrike is already capped. Same usual stuff for the swap sets: Blood Feast, Prowess, and of course full CHA for the trance. Weapons are the undying ones, I also keep a dino falchion for the ooze-without-oozes debuff.
For anyone feeling a bit lazy, here’s an alternative bear variant that loses a bit of offense but lets you keep Blood Feast up permanently without swapping, effectively making the bear lag-proof and almost immortal:
Sucker Punch/One Against Many Strength (x2), Dreadbringer Melee Power (x2), Treachery Melee Power (x2), Long Shadow Melee Power (x2), Blood Feast Melee Power (x2), Dreadbringer Tactics, Dreadbringer Strength, Blood Feast Constitution, Blood Feast Healing Amp, The Blood Feast/Frozen Wanderer: Physical Resistance Rating
And, as always, the pros and cons of the build.
Pros
Cons
To be fair, in quests I still think melees can dominate (and are fun to play), but in the new raids there are quite a few obstacles.
For example, in Threats R10, the marilith slices me to pieces and if Karliath bypasses my dodge, he one-shots me. Relentless is going to be an issue when you move away from R1, and so on... I’m talking about R10. On R1, with a build like this, you can actually tank everything.
So.. back to the build. The build in question is a bear (which is why I’m posting it here in the druid section… being a bear is really its defining feature
) with a deep Dragon Lord splash.Beasthide Shifter Barbarian 11 Dragon Lord 6 Druid 3, FotW (40) GMoF (22) SD (21)
Stats in Reaper (self-buffed).
Overall, it’s a very solid bear, like all bears...
7k+ HP, over 350 PRR, 140 MRR with Evasion, decent saves.
Doublestrike is exactly 100%,, high Strength and around 400 melee power (without Prowess boost).
Other stats:
Why this class split?
Because U76 changed quite a few feats, and some of them are now much more attractive. In my opinion, DL 6 as a splash for a bear is fantastic.
First of all, it gives 3 extra feat slots (which you can use for things like Great Cleave, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Stunning Blow, Hamstring, Slicing Blow, etc.).
On top of that, you get a good imbue that scales with 200% MP, 2x Second Wind, tactics aura with a nice bonus, +5 mp, Cha trance, Haste Boost, 3% doublestrike, and Dragon’s Roar, which I find extremely useful even without T5, especially when soloing. All of this for like 16 AP. Wow, just wow.
As for tier 5, FB has no rivals, there’s not much to say. If the goal is DPS, going T5 DL is a big mistake.
Druid gives access to two excellent trees at the early tiers: Nature’s Protector and Nature’s Warrior. Besides the 15% vs helpless and 10% fort bypass, NW also gives you the option of hitting 95% dodge when needed. To round things out, 6 points in Ravager for another +5 mp.
And what about race? There are basically three solid options here: Half-Orc, Wood Elf, and Shifter.
I’m a big fan of Shifter, specifically Beasthide Shifter for a bear build. It offers a ton of tankiness with +22 PRR, +30 Hamp, extra Con, +5% quality hp, and now that Magic Fang has finally been fixed, it’s playable again.
Having infinite rages is a huge plus because it lets you freely spam Blood Feast/self-heals whenever needed.
Enhancements
Epic Destinies
Now let’s talk destinies. Fury of the Wild is a mandatory choice for a bear, imo.
On a build like this I pick Adrenaline (even more so now that Cutter’s cooldown has been increased) and go all the way into the full T5. Leveler is amazing. Lag permitting, ideally you want to swap from falchion to greataxe for Adrenaline and Leveler.
I usually use Adrenalines with Fast and Furious. I know, Fast and Furious is very tricky to use. To avoid smashing yourself into a wall, you basically have to release every key immediately after clicking it and wait for the animation to finish.
Another mandatory tree is Shadowdancer… not much to say there. +7d6 sneak is too much value to ignore, and I tend to always take evasion on melee toons. With modern gear, even a bear can get fine Reflex saves.
The third tree is where the choice lies, between two very appealing options:
- Divine Crusader gives max BAB without having to rely on junk like Divine Power clickies, a juicy Improved Sunder, and Smite, which is basically the only heal this bear can access.
- Grandmaster of Flowers gives movement speed, +6 to stun DCs for Roar and Stunning Blow, Deflect Arrows, and some situational goodies like 25% fire absorption.
Feats
Here are the feats. Some of these choices are definitely debatable
1 Power Attack
3 NF
6 NF
9 NF
12 IC Slashing
15 Stunning Blow
18 Hamstring
BF Slicing Blow
BF Cleave
BF Great Cleave
21 OC
22D Perfect NF
24 Patience
25D Doublestrike
27 Epic DR
28D Harbinger of Chaos
30 Epic Reflexes
L Scion of Arborea
31D Legendary Toughness
33 Eerie Aim
34D Legendary Toughness
Gear
Now I’ll share the gear I’m using, but as I always write, everyone has to adapt to what they’ve got. Curses and reaper/mythic bonuses are too impactful to ignore. So some of my choices, which might look sub-optimal at first glance, actually make perfect sense for me.
For example, on my belt I have +2d6 sneak dice and melee power, on my helm I’ve got reaper stats and +6 STR boost, etc.
The cloak (heroic, of course) is definitely debatable, but either way my threat is negative, and in any content that isn’t an R10 raid (where, to be honest, as a bear you’re not taking aggro if there’s a tank anyway) getting the attention of red names isn’t a problem.
In the setup for this post I leaned a bit more toward extra tankiness, with 140 MRR and so on. Obviously you can make different choices, for example by slotting 3 extra imbue dice instead.
The new artifact ring is an alternative to the usual Equinox, where the trade-off is basically more CC (the proc isn’t amazing, but on a strikethrough build it can make sense) versus Alchemical Earth Attunement.
Notable swaps: boots for elemental absorption, trinkets for Raging Strength, and evil or force absorption. Madstone boots ofc. Divine Power clickies if needed (only if you pick GMoF).
The filigree sets are the usual ones, focusing on melee power and fort bypass. On a bear, and generally on THF builds, I normally don’t slot Shattered, especially if doublestrike is already capped. Same usual stuff for the swap sets: Blood Feast, Prowess, and of course full CHA for the trance. Weapons are the undying ones, I also keep a dino falchion for the ooze-without-oozes debuff.
For anyone feeling a bit lazy, here’s an alternative bear variant that loses a bit of offense but lets you keep Blood Feast up permanently without swapping, effectively making the bear lag-proof and almost immortal:
Sucker Punch/One Against Many Strength (x2), Dreadbringer Melee Power (x2), Treachery Melee Power (x2), Long Shadow Melee Power (x2), Blood Feast Melee Power (x2), Dreadbringer Tactics, Dreadbringer Strength, Blood Feast Constitution, Blood Feast Healing Amp, The Blood Feast/Frozen Wanderer: Physical Resistance Rating
And, as always, the pros and cons of the build.
Pros
- A four-legged furry tank, with tons of HP, solid PRR, 95% dodge when needed, and 140 MRR with evasion. Taking down a bear is no easy task.
- Self Healing: high mp + good hamp + endless rages + Unquenchable Rage + 1400 temp hp = op. And ...don’t forget Second Wind!
- Big BOOM. With lots of Strength, +W, melee power, and all the bear bonuses, Adrenalines can hit huge numbers, even in R10. On trash mobs, every Adrenaline is an instant kill in any content.
- Fast movement. If you want to go even faster, you can swap a Legendary Toughness with Wild Force, but if you’re in GMoF and have 3 points in Athletics, in my opinion that’s overkill.
- CC. Thanks to our Dragon Lord splash, this bear’s DCs are solid, and Stunning Blow plus Roar are fantastic.
Cons
- Def not an healer. You watch people die knowing you really don’t want to drop Rage, remove Madstone, change form, etc.
- People tend to look at you skeptically because you’re not holding a Repeater or Shuri
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