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With a weapon chosen, the next step is to determine the rest of his equipment. Here is another area where the Werebear is quite flexible. There are many types of armors and jewelry available in the world of Diablo II and quite a lot of it is useful, depending upon the situation. However, some combinations are more useful than others and I hope to lay out some guidelines here that can help you piece together the right combination of gear, for your Werebear. Basically, there are six things that a Werebear should take into account when choosing gear: 1. Having enough OIAS to reach the desired attack rate for your weapon of choice (see the Weapons Section and look it up on the tables if you're not sure how much you need) 2. Maintaining a good Attack Rating and Hit Percentage 3. Having at least one piece of equipment with the "Cannot be Frozen" modifier 4. Maintaining a good amount of Defense and/or Damage Reduction as well as decent Resistances 5. Life Leech/Mana Leech 6. And lastly, Deadly Strike and/or +Skills Gear Obviously, there are many different items that fit into these categories. The secret is to find a combination of items that will take all of these categories into account. To help in this, I will list items that fit into these classes, as well as point out some especially notable items which often fit into multiple categories. The first thing that I take care of when planning the rest of my equipment is OIAS gear. I always like to get my attack rate as fast as is possible for the weapon that I choose. After all, a faster weapon means more damage dealt as well as more flexibility to changing situations. Since the required OIAS changes for every weapon, it will be different for different builds. Thus, I will just list my favorite sources of OIAS. Basically, this is an area that you should hope to cover without too much difficulty. There are a couple great sources of Attack Rating to be found out there and hopefully it shouldn't be too hard to come by. The goal is to obtain enough Attack Rating equipment to put your AR into the range of 2400 to 3000 or more by the time you reach the Hell difficulty. This may sound like a lot, but it is actually not that bad when you factor in the +% attack rating by Maul and Heart of the Wolverine (if you choose that spirit). In a pinch, a newer player to Diablo might not have these items and he can compensate by raising his dexterity and using the Heart of the Wolverine spirit as well as a high level Maul (for the Attack Rating % bonus). For a very in-depth analysis of Werebear Attack Rating choices, see Jurt's Attack Rating Guide. Note: Lots of math WILL be thrown at you in that guide. But it DOES make some excellent points! In my opinion, this is an essential modifier for a Werebear. Chilled Werebears are painful to watch because they are so unbelievably SLOW! Thus, to avoid being chilled, use at least one "Cannot be Frozen" item at all times. This modifier can be found on the following pieces of equipment:
Let's face it, despite the powerful Shockwave skill, a Werebear is going to take some hits at some point, be it a boss which is not affected by Shockwave, a ranged magical attacker, or simply monsters that you don't particularly feel like using Shockwave against. While most of the damage that you face will not be a problem due to the Werebear's life bonuses, it is a good idea to have at least a small amount of Damage Reduction, Resistance, a good Defense, as well as a good amount of Faster Hit Recovery Equipment. Here is a list of breakpoints for Faster Hit Recovery and Faster Block Rate (for those Shield users) for a Werebear:
Often, these types of abilities can be picked up on items that fit into other categories. After all, a good body armor might combine a good Defense, Resistance, Faster Hit Recovery and can be socketed to make up for any deficiencies. Thus, a good Rare or Magical armor can often suffice to fill many of these roles. However, there are some items that are particularly good at taking care of these categories. Life and mana leech can be found on a wide range of equipment. Thus, the goal for this section is to find equipment with leeching abilities that falls into multiple categories. Gloves can be found with leech AND IAS, and resistances if you're lucky. Such cross-category equipment is what I look for when thinking about leech. However, in a pinch one can resort to using just generic life/mana leech rings (hopefully with resistances or AR bonuses). I have found that a Werebear only needs one mana leech item to leech back enough mana to keep attacking with Maul and occasionally using Shockwave due to the large damage that each swing of a Werebear deals. However, the amount of life leech that a Werebear needs is more complicated, depending upon how defensive your character is, how much you are willing to resort to using Shockwave, and how quickly you swing. Generally, if you swing slowly, you'll want more leech so that if you miss a couple times in a row, it's not going to be devastating to you. I generally use at least 14% life leech and never really have too much trouble (unless my resistances are bad and I run into an LEB). Other useful abilities to Druids are Deadly Strike and +Skills. If you can find any items with these that fall into any of the other categories (or have already filled the other categories and have an equipment spot available) these types of items are quite useful. Harlequin Crest, Tarnhelm, Eye of Etlich, Highlord's Wrath, Arkaine's Valor, Spirit Shroud, Skins of the Vipermagi and Jalal's Mane. Items that give Deadly Strike include: Highlord's Wrath and Gore Rider Now, even broken down into categories, it might seem a bit overwhelming. Well, it is. It's quite hard to balance all of the equipment's abilities. Thus, I will now give an example of what I use so that you can see an example of it all coming together. High Level Equipment Weapon: Shaeled Stormspire Armor: Duriel's Shell socketed with an Um Rune Helmet: Jalal's Mane socketed with a Shael Belt: String of Ears Gloves: Magnus' Skin Boots: Gore Rider Amulet: Crescent Moon/Highlord's Wrath Ring #1: Raven Frost Ring #2: Bul Kathos' Wedding Band Weapon Switch: Baranar's Star + Tiamat's Rebuke (for Physical Immune Monsters) Charms: I would use lots of +life charms to make up for all of the points spent in strength and dexterity to use Stormspire. Lower Level Equipment Weapon: Shaeled Ribcracker/Shaeled Buriza Armor: Iron Pelt Socketed with a Perfect Ruby Helmet: Rockstopper/Stealskull Belt: Rare belt with +Life, Mana, Hit Recovery and Resistances Gloves: Sigon's Gage Boots: Sigon's Sabot Amulet: Good Rare Amulet/Eye of Etlich Ring #1: Cathan's Seal/Raven Frost Ring #1: Manald Heal Really Low Level Equipment Weapon: Khalim's Will/The General's Tan Do Li Ga Armor: Greyform/Twitchthroe Helmet: Tarnhelm Belt: Rare/Magical/Nightsmoke Gloves: Bloodfist Boots: Gorefoot Amulet: Angelic Wings Ring #1: Cathan's Seal Ring #2: Angelic Halo Basically, each grouping has enough IAS to boost its weapon up to its maximum speed, has some items to increase AR, has one mana leech item, has a decent amount of life leech, uses high defense armors to take advantage of the +% Defense of the Werebear skill, and has other good modifications, too. All three sets are configured for speed to grant the absolute maximum flexibility when fighting as well as enough defense to keep the Werebear alive. Once you have determined what types of equipment you want to be able to use, it is time to figure out how to spend your stat points. I would recommend using the minimum number of points that you can on Dexterity and Strength for the equipment that you can, conceivably, see yourself using. Also, if you think that you will find something better, give yourself some breathing room by perhaps adding a bit more into the category that you might need it. Just remember that every point you spend in strength and dexterity is a point that could have been spent in vitality, getting you more life. :-) The one exception to this rule that I follow is that I always raise my base dexterity to 50 or 60, even if I'm going for a Maul-class weapon. I've found that 50 or 60 dexterity helps to decrease my reliance upon AR equipment just enough to allow myself flexibility in creating my character. Other people may advocate leaving the dexterity at a bare minimum if you won't need it for your weapon, but I would respond that those people are painting themselves into a corner, making it so that they can't change their character part-way through the game if they so desire. Once you've figured out how much strength and dexterity you will be needing, (Giant Threshers are 188 strength, 140 dexterity, Ogre Mauls are 225 Strength, Thunder Mauls 253 Strength, Champion Axes 167 Strength and 59 Dexterity, Buriza is 110 Strength and 88 Dexterity) then the rest of the points can go into Vitality, hopefully raising your life to insane levels! As for how to go about assigning these points as you level, I would suggest a moderate approach. Place as many points into vitality as you can, while still having enough strength and dexterity to use your next "step-up" weapon. To clarify, I'll give the example of how I place my stat points. Initially I put the first two levels into vitality. I've found that this makes it easier to stay alive in the early levels as well as increasing my stamina so that I can run father distances without having to stand around waiting for it to recharge. Next, I pump strength up so that I can equip Sigon's Gage and Sabot. I do this because the extra run/walk speed of the Sabot is quite useful early on and the life leech/IAS of the Gage (as well as the +10 strength) makes the early going a piece of cake. Having reached 60 strength I spend some time placing points into dexterity and vitality until I feel that both are doing well. Usually, this means 50 of each. Upon reaching what I consider to be my minimum for vitality points in normal difficulty, I continue to pump strength/dexterity up so that I can use my next weapon at as low a level as possible (ie 95 strength at level 28 for Hwanin's Bill and then more strength/dex if I have a good exceptional or elite rare to switch to from Ribcracker/Steeldriver.... Currently, my next step is a 240 damage, 40% IAS, level 45 Ogre Axe... 195 strength and 75 dexterity). When I get a chance, I continue to improve my vitality so that I have at least 80 or 100 vitality at the end of nightmare difficulty. Finally, I finish off my strength/dexterity so that I can reach the requirements for my end-game weapon. After this, it is all vitality. There is only one more thing that must be looked at when choosing your equipment: your choice of mercenary. If chosen wisely, a mercenary can make a big difference in how easily you move through the game. There are basically two trains of thought for this subject:
Both of these ideas are valid. It is useful to be able to increase your power by non-equipment means. Likewise, it can be just as useful to eliminate any weaknesses you might have. At this point, it really comes down to personal preference so rather than state one end-all, be-all selection for mercenary, I will merely look at the available possibilities and give my advice for how they can fit into these groups.
Now with equipment information taken care of, it's time to move on to the Strategies for Werebear Combat. |
