Druid Imp Crit, post-U38

[Andu_Indorin]

So far, I haven't been able to track down any information on the issue of the proper Improved Critical for Druids, Animal form, post-U38? Is it still Improved Critical: Bludgeon for all weapons in animal form. Or, as "Animal forms now use the stats of the player's main hand weapon for melee attack purposes", is the Improved Critical now dependent upon the type main-hand weapon. The U38 release notes make no mention of Improved Critical.

Thanks for any input! :)

[Gabrael]

from my limited testing, I am using bear form and doing crits on 15-20 with a scimitar, no keen on it, and I have Improved critical slashing.
The notes mention that anythign affecting your weapon profile works, so I guess it was inferred that you need the appropriated IC feat. also of note ya can't use thrown weapons (or at least not the bavorian throwing axe) to melee in animal form, have not tested bow/crossbows.

edit: and yes, that mean I am doing glancing blows with a scimitar :), on the downside oozed and rusties are not fond of eating my claws >:(

[unbongwah]

Animal form DPS is now based on the weapon you have equipped, which means you take the Crit/Focus/Spec feats which correspond to that weapon. I.e., equip a sword, take Slashing feats; equip a maul, take Blunt feats; etc.

However, the combat style feats do not apply while in animal form; i.e., no more TWF/SWF exploits. Instead you take Natural Fighting rather than SWF/TWF/THF feats. Bear form now gets glancing blows (regardless of weapon type), which are boosted by NF. Passive / defensive benefits of shields still work, AFAICT; but offensive benefits like shield bashing or doublestrike from Shield Mastery feats do not. Need to do some more testing to be sure, though.

Just to complicate things further, certain weapon-specific abilities do not apply in animal forms even if you have right weapon equipped. E.g., I know Acrobatics (+15% attack speed) and Quick Strike do not work in animal forms. I'm sure there's other examples like that.

[Andu_Indorin]

Thanks for that clarification! I can level up confident that the Imp.Crit: Slashing is the way to go!

SSG should have specified the Improved Critical ramifications of this update in the release notes. (Hint.)

[Gabrael]

it seems I can;t block while being a bear, so shield block icon, and I am sure I recall blocking being a thing.

[chrissybunny]

Just FYI, the weapon focus: bludgeon still states animal form, but this could mean the unarmed attacks in animal form? It still could be confusing for people when deciding what focus to select. Or is confusing since I was confused and came here to check. Some clarification text would be nice in the feat. I'm not sure of weapon specialization text, just focus.