1H VS 2H Vs 2W Vs Shield

[Akisohida]

I'm a bit baffled on how animal forms work with weapons.
I know having a shield imparts it's AC in animal form. And I know my weapon is my damage in animal form.
But..Is there any bonus to having a 2 handed weapon (I think it makes the bear form hit harder?)?
Or can I attack even faster as a wolf if I do 2 weapon fighting? I mean, the animal is me biting and clawing, not swinging 2 weapons..

For the record, I am pretty much being a wolf, and I have 32 AC at level 6, using a shield.

[elvesunited]

I'm a bit baffled on how animal forms work with weapons.
I know having a shield imparts it's AC in animal form. And I know my weapon is my damage in animal form.
But..Is there any bonus to having a 2 handed weapon (I think it makes the bear form hit harder?)?
Or can I attack even faster as a wolf if I do 2 weapon fighting? I mean, the animal is me biting and clawing, not swinging 2 weapons..

For the record, I am pretty much being a wolf, and I have 32 AC at level 6, using a shield.

While in animal form the only fighting feats that work are natural fighting

Two-Handed weapons give +50% damage attribute bonus to damage / +5 additional damage if using power attack
If bear form the bonus to damage attribute bonus is increased an additional 50% per natural fighting feat if using two handed weapon.

As far as I know two weapon fighting is useless in animal form. Only the primary is used to determine damage.

Shield provides the shield AC and a whole shield worth of item effects.
For Bear the +6 Con and +25% hp enhancements in nature protector require bear form with shield.

[Tsutti]

I'm a bit baffled on how animal forms work with weapons.
I know having a shield imparts it's AC in animal form. And I know my weapon is my damage in animal form.
But..Is there any bonus to having a 2 handed weapon (I think it makes the bear form hit harder?)?
Or can I attack even faster as a wolf if I do 2 weapon fighting? I mean, the animal is me biting and clawing, not swinging 2 weapons..

For the record, I am pretty much being a wolf, and I have 32 AC at level 6, using a shield.

2H weap makes bear hit harder but not because of any specific interaction between the two. 2H weaps have much higher base dmgs, in general, which is why they will do more, and your attack speed in animal form is the same no matter what weapons you are using. In wolf form, 2H is by far the best right now and was recently abused by ppl multiclassing druid with other classes to get the winter wolf 30% attack speed (with literally no dps penalty in exchange) and some other classes since some other classes have nice dps boosts like expanded crit profile and more melee power. The wolf attack speed was partially moved to their enhancement tree so that multiclassing wouldn't be so OP, but 2H is still the best weapon type for wolf because shields just don't give enough useful defensive stat to be worthwhile and the only things that change with weapon type, dps-wise, are how much dmg you do per hit and what specific named weapons are available to you.

Not sure what difficulty you're running but even just in hard the AC from a shield most likely won't do much of anything for you if you aren't somewhat tank focused, at which point going bear would just be better and probably more interesting to play.

*Just noticed that you are lvl 6, idk what AC values you need throughout heroics to get them to work but the shield AC may do something for you atm. Probably won't in a couple lvls tho, and the dps boost from 2H may actually cause you to take less dmg than the defenses from a shield because enemies can't get as much dmg off before dying.


Two-Handed weapons give +50% damage attribute bonus to damage / +5 additional damage if using power attack

Don't the THF feats now give +200% bonus attribute once you have greater? If so, the Natural Fighting feats should apply this I think since they give bear form more strikethrough. Also with a 2H weap power attack gives +10 dmg instead of +5.

[A-O]

Don't the THF feats now give +200% bonus attribute once you have greater? If so, the Natural Fighting feats should apply this I think since they give bear form more strikethrough. Also with a 2H weap power attack gives +10 dmg instead of +5.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Natural_Fighting

[unbongwah]

But..Is there any bonus to having a 2 handed weapon (I think it makes the bear form hit harder?)?
Your base damage modifier depends on your mainhand weapon: 1x STR modifier is it's a 1H weapon, 1.5x STR if it's a 2H weapon. The Natural Fighting (https://ddowiki.com/page/Natural_Fighting) feats boost the doublestrike and Melee Power of animal forms; in bear form they also boost the Strikethrough (https://ddowiki.com/page/Strikethrough) and damage modifier of 2H weapons (1H weapons get no additional benefit). The main reason to consider S&B for a bear druid is the Ursa's Protector line of enhancements (+HPs/CON/MRR), but your DPS takes a big hit.

Wolf form has higher attack speed: +10% to start, another +10% from switching to Winter Wolf, and a third +10% from Swift Hunter (Nature's Warrior) for +30% total. So with 2H weapons, bears hit harder, wolves hit more often.

Or can I attack even faster as a wolf if I do 2 weapon fighting?
No, dual-wielding does nothing in animal forms so ignore that option.

I tried to cover bear druid basics in my thread: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/513495-Ursine-Cub-Bear-Druids-for-New-Players-(U45)

[Akisohida]

Dang. Thanks everyone! I'll probably have to take a weapon prof when I can, then. Druid's don't have any 2-handed weapon profs by default.

[elvesunited]

Don't the THF feats now give +200% bonus attribute once you have greater? If so, the Natural Fighting feats should apply this I think ince they give bear form more strikethrough. Also with a 2H weap power attack gives +10 dmg instead of +5.

Yeah I meant +5 additional for two-handed on top of the +5 granted for any melee weapon.

Strikethrough from natural fighting and bear form works regardless of the weapon equipped. Bears get strikethrough even when using a shield.

From what I understand when in animal form you are not considered to be two handed fighting. If any part of the Two handed Fighting feat works in animal form it is not working as intended.

One-handed: 100% attribute damage bonus
Two-handed: 150% attribute damage bonus
Two-handed + 1NF feat + bear form: 200% attribute damage bonus
Two-handed + 2NF feat + bear form: 250% attribute damage bonus
Two-handed + 3NF feat + bear form: 300% attribute damage bonus

[SirValentine]

I'll probably have to take a weapon prof when I can, then. Druid's don't have any 2-handed weapon profs by default.

Yes, they do. They even get a special bonus (+1W) (https://ddowiki.com/page/Shillelagh) with it!

[Lonnbeimnech]

Dang. Thanks everyone! I'll probably have to take a weapon prof when I can, then. Druid's don't have any 2-handed weapon profs by default.

they get staff
get this one, it has a good crit profile
https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Elemental_Bloom

[unbongwah]

Druid's don't have any 2-handed weapon profs by default.
You can use staves (https://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Quarterstaffs), however their base DPS stats are usually bad (d6 20/x2). Shillelagh is a good buff (+1[W] to staves) but it only works on wooden weapons and many of the best staves aren't wood: e.g., Sireth is steel, Bone Crusher is stone. You can take the Swords to Plowshares (https://ddowiki.com/page/Swords_to_Plowshares) feat for +1 crit range to staves, but if you're willing to spend a feat, why not take a suitable martial proficiency instead? That's what I did on my pure human druid build.

Alternatively, you can play a half-elf with fighter dilettante feat (free martial weapons proficiency); or splash a martial class. Druid 18 / barbarian 2 or druid 18 / barb 1 / Favored Soul 1 are suitable alternatives to druid 20 since the barb Enhancements to Rage will also apply to Rage of the Beast.