Nature's Warrior - Explain these abilities to me please.

[FranOhmsford]

Druid is a strange class.

Spells and Enhancements are limited to certain types of Druid {Bear, Wolf, Elemental} and certain playstyles - Some are seemingly a waste of time, Lvl 16 Pure Druid I have multiple Spell Slots I literally don't need because of the lack of spells useful for ALL Druids.

I've tried Elemental Form Druids before and this time I've gone Pure Bear Druid on my Warforged Molineux {5th Life, Past Lives: Bard, Sorc, FvS, Paladin} - I used an Otto's Stone I won and only need to get from Rank 82 {Lvl 16 holding 17} to Lvl 20 before TRing again.
BUT yesterday after TRing him I ran VoN 1-4 on Elite for the House K Favour and I'm sensing there's no way he'll be able to contribute meaningfully in at lvl Elites {I may even skip Orchard entirely}.
No I didn't die or have any particular issues running VoN 1-4 - It's just my DPS was low enough that I can already tell it's not going to be enough at level {well maybe for Lords of Dust or Rit Sac.}.

Yes I realise Wolf would be better, Yes I realise Multiclass would be better but I'm strictly asking about Pure Druid Bear.








Gear isn't great but I think I've got all of the requirements except for PRR/Dodge.
Supreme Tyrant GS Goggles of Existential Stalemate
Helm - Resistance 5
Silver Flame Talisman
Elite Shamanic Fetish {Vitality slotted}
Giantcraft Docent
Cloak of Ice {Dex 5 and Conju Focus slotted}
Sage's Cuffs {Kinetic Lore works on Earthquake right?}.
Belt - Str 6, SR 17
Ring of Greater False Life
Elite Ring of Shadows {Spellcraft 9 slotted}
Boots - Con 6
Gloves - Speed VI
+5 Smoldering Quarterstaff of Tendon Slice

Feats:
Power Attack
Cleave
Great Cleave
2x Natural Fighting
Augment Summoning

Now to my specific questions:

I have Bestial Nature, Fatal Harrier and Reaving Roar stances but they are of course exclusive - Are any of them droppable?

Hide of the Crocodile {8 seconds} - Is there any point to having this for anything other than maybe getting through a nasty Acid or Blade trap from time to time?

Unstoppable {15 seconds}, Celerity {15 seconds}, Rising Fury {30 seconds}, Flight {36 seconds} - My Lord that's a lot of very short term buffs on different cooldown timers - How do you use them all to the best advantage?

Cleave, Great Cleave, Alpha Strike, Shred, Tremor, Relentless Onslaught, Maul - OMG! Should I just outright have not bothered taking Maul as I'm never ever going to use it!?!

Oh and at Lvl 18 do I take the 3rd Natural Fighting or Imp Crit? And which Imp Crit?

[unbongwah]

No I didn't die or have any particular issues running VoN 1-4 - It's just my DPS was low enough that I can already tell it's not going to be enough at level {well maybe for Lords of Dust or Rit Sac.}.

Yes I realise Wolf would be better, Yes I realise Multiclass would be better but I'm strictly asking about Pure Druid Bear.

I'm honestly not sure what you're expecting anyone to say here. You know that pure bear druid is poor DPS but you're sticking with it anyway? Okay, that's totally your call. But it's not like we've been secretly hording all the high-DPS bear builds to ourselves; they really are that bad. And you're making it extra-hard on yourself by being WF, which means you can't take a body feat but you say you don't want a MC (which means no monk splash) and you lose WF immunities by being in animal form which was the main thing they have going for them as divines.

I see you have Cleave/GC/Alpha Strike, so that's a good first step; by now you obviously know how slow the regular atks are in bear form. I would've skipped Augment Summons for either IC:Blunt or third Natural Fighting.

I have Bestial Nature, Fatal Harrier and Reaving Roar stances but they are of course exclusive - Are any of them droppable?

Yes: none are pre-reqs for anything.

Unstoppable {15 seconds}, Celerity {15 seconds}, Rising Fury {30 seconds}, Flight {36 seconds} - My Lord that's a lot of very short term buffs on different cooldown timers - How do you use them all to the best advantage?

Gather mobs, drop your AoE spells, drop your short-term buffs in descending order of duration (Rising Fury -> doublestrike boost -> Celerity), hit your AoE atks (Alpha Strike et al), hit Flight if things get dicey for +10% Dodge. Oh, and hope you don't regret not having Quicken yet when you need to pop off a heal.

FWIW, we're also been discussing bear builds here.

[Khatzhas]

I have Bestial Nature, Fatal Harrier and Reaving Roar stances but they are of course exclusive - Are any of them droppable?

Hide of the Crocodile {8 seconds} - Is there any point to having this for anything other than maybe getting through a nasty Acid or Blade trap from time to time?

Unstoppable {15 seconds}, Celerity {15 seconds}, Rising Fury {30 seconds}, Flight {36 seconds} - My Lord that's a lot of very short term buffs on different cooldown timers - How do you use them all to the best advantage?

Cleave, Great Cleave, Alpha Strike, Shred, Tremor, Relentless Onslaught, Maul - OMG! Should I just outright have not bothered taking Maul as I'm never ever going to use it!?!

Oh and at Lvl 18 do I take the 3rd Natural Fighting or Imp Crit? And which Imp Crit?

Bestial Nature is eminently droppable. Reaving roar is reasonable damage at the point that you get it, but you'll probably want to swap to Fatal Harrier as mob HP increase and your attack damage increases.

Hide of the Crocodile, Flight and occasionally Unstoppable I use as emergency "In over my head" buttons." Unstoppable is very situational since it prevents healing so I don't generally use it unless I need to push through traps etc. I don't tend to use it in normal fights because it prevents healing.

Rising fury is a nice combat buff I use when I'm about to get into a fight and its off cooldown. Celerity is more an emergency/occasional use effect.

Use the appropriate abilities at the appropriate time. Leading into a group with a tremor reduces incoming damage. Use Great Cleave/Cleave whenever you can because they don't have an SP cost. Alpha strike is good damage for its cost. Relentless onslaught is only useful when you want to keep a single target CCed. Maul is eminently droppable: you don't need it for the damage usually, the bleed isn't much. Its mostly used to activate your Aggravate DR.

Generally Imp Crit will be better than Natural Fighting: its less damage, but some of your abilities proc on crits. You need the Imp Crit: Bludgeoning because your attacks count as unarmed.