Ursine Cub: Bear Druids for New Players (U45)

[unbongwah]

Since time immemorial (2012), bear druids have been relegated to the "tank-y" role for melee druids, watching enviously as our lupine brethren raced past us and racked up all the kills. Sure, we got some cool abilities like Tremor, but it hardly made up for our abysmal DPS. But no longer! Update 45's overhaul of 2H weapons - and replacing glancing blows with Strikethrough - finally buffs bears to the point where they are a credible alternative. The distinction between wolf vs bear druids is now on par with SWF vs THF builds.

• Winter wolf gets 1.5x damage mod with 2H weapons and +30% attack speed with Swift Hunter (tier-5 Nature's Warrior). Natural Fighting gives the same bonuses as before: +4 Melee Power, PRR, and Doublestrike per feat.
• Dire bear gets 20% Strikethrough and +60/30/30% Strikethrough with each Natural Fighting feat (in addition to MP/PRR/DS). With 2H weapons, your damage mod is 1.5x to start and goes up 0.5x with each Natural Fighting feat (i.e., maxes out at 3x damage mod like GTHF).

Since all DDO quests are free to everyone through April 30, this seemed like a good opportunity to revisit bear druids for newbies, who will be able to run adventures they wouldn't otherwise be able to access without paying. [You still need to unlock druids separately, though.] And yes, this build would work for a wolf druid too, but I've literally been waiting 8 years for bear druids to become a viable melee DPS / caster option (without relying on a bunch of multiclass shenanigans or not-WAI mechanics) and it's my build thread so I do what I want.

Ursine Cub (U45)
Druid 20
True Neutral Human


Stats
               28pt     Level Up
               ----     --------
Strength        17       4: STR
Dexterity        8       8: STR
Constitution    16      12: STR
Intelligence    10      16: STR
Wisdom          11      20: STR
Charisma         8      24: STR
                        28: STR

Skills
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Concent   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Heal      4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Spellcr   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Spot      4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Intim     4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         20  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5  5


Feats

 1        : Power Attack
 1 Human  : Martial Weapon: Falchion
 3        : Natural Fighting
 6        : Natural Fighting
 9        : Natural Fighting
12        : Improved Critical: Slashing
15        : Cleave OR Maximize Spell
18        : Great Cleave OR Quicken Spell
21 Epic   : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic   : Stunning Blow OR Intensify Spell
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic   : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: First Blood OR Elusive Target
29 Destiny: Dire Charge OR Deific Warding
30 Epic   : Epic Fortitude
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea OR Scion of: Ethereal Plane

 2 Druid  : Wild Shape 1: Bear
 5 Druid  : Wild Shape 1: Wolf
 8 Druid  : Wild Shape 2: Dire Bear
11 Druid  : Wild Shape 2: Winter Wolf
13 Druid  : Wild Shape 3: Water Elemental
17 Druid  : Wild Shape 3: Fire Elemental

A few words on build choices:

• Race: human is the obvious F2P choice for all the usual reasons, namely the extra feat, free skill points, and racial enhancements like Damage Boost. But any race would work. Among P2P races, one good option is half-elf with fighter dilettante feat (free martial weapons proficiencies); another would be half-orc for the various DPS bonuses like 2H Weapon Training; or wood elf for falchion bonuses like Rugged Upbringing (+5% doublestrike while Raged).
• Stats: STR primary, CON secondary. I'm focusing on STR to take advantage of all the STR bonuses available to bear druids: +2/4 size from Ram's Might / Animal Growth; up to +10 morale from Rising Fury; +6 from Rage of the Beast; and +2 in the Nature's Protector capstone. [Most of those also buff CON, an added perk.] I started with WIS 11 to make spellcasting a little easier early on, since this is intended for a twink-free first-lifer.
• Primary weapon: I've built for falchions because as a pure druid our only critical threat range bonus will be the +1x crit multiplier bonus from Nature's Warrior. So falchions become 15-20/x3 at level 12. Until April 30th, you can farm Borderlands for ML:2 silver and ethereal falchions and (if you level fast enough) claim a free ML:10 falchion from Ravenloft. Or farm for a Bloody Cleaver and upgrade it; like the Vampiric option.
• Optional feats: you can see at higher levels you need to decide if you want invest in more melee options or metamagics. While this is not a caster-DPS specced build, a number of ice spells don't have DCs, so they're a cool (badum bum) way of augmenting your melee DPS. Because the only thing better than being a giant bear mauling people is to be a giant bear mauling people in the middle of an Ice Storm. Also even if Concentration is good enough most of the time (and TBH I'm not sure it is), Quicken is still really useful for spells with long cast times like Sleet Storm and Heal.

Enhancements are a work-in-progress because you'll want to tweak them periodically while leveling. It also depends on whether you want to focus on Nature's Protector or Warrior tree. Protector has Rage of the Beast and bear-specific upgrades like Killer Instinct and Savage Roar. But Nature's Warrior has some pretty important enhancements too, like Essence of the Shrike, Fatal Harrier, and the aforementioned crit multiplier bonus.

Summoning: in the immortal words of Jay Sherman, "It stinks!" Most of the time it's a total waste of SPs; the rest of the time it's only mostly a waste of SPs. But if you really really want to add summoning to your repertoire - if only to find out how bad it is for yourself - then you can take the Augment Summoning feat instead of Power Attack at level 1, which you take at level 15 instead. Or, more likely, swap Augment Summoning for Power Attack well before then, because if you stick with summoning in DDO until level 15 or higher, you're even more of a masochist than I am.

[unbongwah]

I have an old alt account; the only thing I bought for it was the MotUnderdark SE during one of the holiday sales many many moons ago. So I thought it would be a good way of testing my own build to see if I still remember how to play without all the "crutches" which come from power creep. So: no twink gear, no free sacks of platinum, not even guild ship buffs.

After finishing the initial Korthos tutorial - and a quick pitstop in the Harbor to claim my free bags - I head straight to the Keep on the Borderlands, the first order of business for any adventurer: upgrade your gear! So I mosey over to the weapons vendor to look for a brand-new falchion.

...oh. Right. This is what being "poor" looks like, doesn't it?

No matter: armed with my trusty stick "Broomhandle" and my wolf named uhhh "wolf" I venture into the wilds! [Spells: Ram's Might, Shillelagh.] Depending on whether you choose to explore or run quests first, you should hit level 2 after 3-4 quests. Fortunately I luck out and pull an Ethereal ingot before leveling, which I cash in for my first falchion as soon as I return to the Keep. Mighty!

Of course, level 2 is when we grab bear form before going back into the wilds of the Borderlands. [Spells: Maul, Ram's Might, Lesser Vigor.] Enhancements: I grab Bloody Claws ("Every time you use Maul you gain one stack of Killer Instincts: +1 to damage for 15 seconds."), even though at this point everything dies fast enough I don't really need it. But I'm a bear and I only have one special attack, so Bloody Claws it is. I don't grab Rage of the Beast yet because it blocks regular spellcasting and I won't have enough APs for Beast Awakened ("You can now cast druidic magic while raging") until level 6. Granted, the only in-combat spell I'm using at this point is Lesser Vigor, so I could take Rage if I don't mind relying on Cure potions. But again: stuff dies pretty fast when you're stuck soloing on Normal so it's not a big deal.

For those who haven't run it yet: most of the Borderlands quests are pretty straight-forward run-n-kill affairs with a few twists. Violent Delights has some (very lite) out-of-combat dialog / negotiations before the inevitable end-fight. Treasure Hunt and Hobgoblin Horde will introduce you to puzzle-solving. Total Chaos has several optional objectives, one of which requires finding three charms from other quests. I had a copy of the original KotB module, so for me it's a trip down memory lane. Modern players might find it a little too old-school though. I mean: "The Temple of Evil Chaos?" It's amazing what we thought sounded cool and ominous 40 years ago...

Anyway, after finishing the quests the first time, it's up to you how long you want to spend farming for XP, Favor, a mount, or named loot before moving on. Ideally you have both an Ethereal and Silver falchion but random drop is random. One option is to do a quick runthru of Borderlands, then head back to Korthos to claim your first named set (I recommend Archivist just for the necklace), then come back to the Keep. Again: the journey is up to you.

[SirValentine]

Since all DDO content is free to everyone through April 30...

Um, no. Read it more carefully. All dungeons and raids, yes. All content, no.

You don't gain access to any classes or races that you didn't already have. So, no, newbies can't just get free access to Druid.

[unbongwah]

By "content" I meant quests - as in "now's a good time for newbies and F2Pers to go run adventures they don't own" - but I changed the wording so it's less ambiguous. Thanks.

[Pilgrim1]

epic 2hf does not work in bear form.

If you want to unlock racial atributes that give +20% strikethrough you need to take the 2hf feet.

Keep in mind for newer players many of the destiny feets require multiple shears of exp to be maxed - not feasable for a first run of epic destines (witch cost money to get).

I would keep this build to lvl 20.

Quicken is basically mandatory for heal spells.

I would suggest empower healing over maximize as your going to be wanting your heals to hit harder.

I think pure human druid with falchion proficiency is the best bet for a new druid.

Take a look at this bear druid to see a build more focused on cap: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ar-Doing-Stuff

Ps when using a 2h weapon, with a reasonable amount of damage, bear has higher single target dps then wolf.

[Quetzacoala]

Thanks for making this! I used to play a long time ago (5+ years maybe) so I'm incredibly rusty, plus I've always wanted to play a bear druid, so this build looks perfect.

Mention had been made of the possibility of going half-orc - definitely a fan of this for the bigger bear form if nothing else - so I tried my hand at planning out why my character would look like. Could someone maybe take a look to see if I'm missing some critical enhancements or such? My knowledge is definitely out of date. While he's going to be a 34 point build, my gear is nothing to speak of.

Bear Druid
Druid 20
True Neutral Half-Orc


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt. . .34pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 20. . . .20 . . . 20. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . .8: STR
Constitution. . 16. . . .16 . . . 16. . . 12: STR
Intelligence. . .8. . . . 9 . . . 10. . . 16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . .11 . . . 12. . . 20: STR
Charisma. . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . .6. . . 24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28: STR

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Heal. . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Spellcr . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Intim . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .16. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0
Max . . .16. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4


Feats

.1. . . . : Martial Weapon: Falchion
.3. . . . : Power Attack
.6. . . . : Natural Fighting
.9. . . . : Natural Fighting
12. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
15. . . . : Natural Fighting
18. . . . : Quicken Spell

.2 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Bear
.5 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Wolf
.8 Druid. : Wild Shape 2: Dire Bear
11 Druid. : Wild Shape 2: Winter Wolf
13 Druid. : Wild Shape 3: Fire Elemental
17 Druid. : Wild Shape 3: Water Elemental

Enhancements (80 AP)

Nature's Protector (41 AP)
Nature's Protector, Nature's Defense, Magical Beast, Big Claws, Big Bear, The Great Bear
Rage of the Beast II, Fierce Defense III, Fey's Blessing I, Animal Brutality III
Primal Beast II, Enchanted Defense III, Beast at Bay III
Enduring Beast II, Grizzled Defense III, Strength
Undying Beast, Beast Awakened, Strength
Beast Unleashed, Bear Charge, Lightning Strikes the Mountain, Force of Nature III
Nature's Warrior (25 AP)
Natural Adept, Nature's Senses, Nature's Bounty
Take Down III, Athletic Hunter I
Flight III, Improved Dodge III
Fight III, Prey on the Weak II, Essence of the Shrike II
Fatal Harrier III, Four Legs Good, Ferocity I
Half-Orc (14 AP)
Orcish Fury, Orcish Strength
Brute Force: Brutal Fighting III, Orcish Weapon Training
Orcish Weapon Training
Improved Power Attack II, Orcish Weapon Training

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[unbongwah]

I would go so far as to say front-loading the Natural Fighting feats is more important than Power Attack. Or at least the first one: getting 2x STR bonus and +60 Strikethrough at level 3 is a big boost. Since Power Attack scales with BAB, I'd wait until level 6 or 9 to take it. Also if you take THF, my testing indicates that Great Weapon Aptitude carries over to bear form, even though you don't otherwise benefit from THF feat.

Ideally you go for half-orc Brutality for the bonus damage vs helpless mobs. Savage Roar stuns; so will Dire Charge. The problem is the AP cost: 41 NP / 21 NW / 18 HO doesn't leave enough for, say, Fatal Harrier. Works better if you have at least a few extra racial APs. But doesn't every build?

[Bacab]

I need one more Druid life...I did the first 2 as a caster druid, so I want to give this a try.

Unsure of what race...

But what if someone used Quarterstaves because they had a ton of Quarterstaves from Thief-Acrobat and Henshin Monk lives?

Said named quarterstaves:

2 Pillar of Light (holy damage and some devotion stuff)

4 Chieftan's Spear (Bleeding and Maiming and Puncturting and a 18-20/2)

7 Elemental Bloom (paralyzing and bewildering and 19-20/3)

10 Barovian Quarterstaff (undead beater...can't crit them easily anyway)

13 Light Unending (banishing and solar)

15 Moonbeam (Holy 4, Felling the Oak, Doublestrike 9...Impact)

18 Rahl's Might

20 Stout Oak Walking Stick (Felling the Oak and 19-20/3)

23 Sireth (16-20/2)

27 Epic Elemental Bloom (I don't have this yet)

29 Legendary Moonbeam

By using Quarterstaves, I can go Haf-Orc for the Strikethrough and Strength mods and Brutality and Improved Power attack and I am not really "penalized" by a lack feats.

Also the spell "Shillelagh" would be be good. Also, would that spell make Pulverizer from Legendry Dreadnaught work with Sireth since it converts it to Bludgeoning?

I was thinking same feat layout as the Human one without Falchion Proficiency.

AP:

41 NP
21 NW
Leftover into Half-Orc (I have 4 or 5 Racial AP depending on when I would do this)

Would this work, or am I missing something?

[Bignnamdi]

Very nice work. I'm using this as a base of my Half-Orc Bear as well. I wonder I know I want to get the 3 Natural Fighting feats as fast as possible but I'm stuck between choosing Power Attack or Martial Weapon: Falchion.
If you had to not have one or the other, which one would you prefer?

[unbongwah]

I would take falchion proficiency first, otherwise you're stuck using staves. Power Attack can be delayed until level 9.

[dale_fleetfoot]

I am using the half-elf with dilettante-fighter for flexible access to martial two handed weapon. I am using Carnifex for lower levels and just feels great, but I can see shifting to falchion and named items as I level. I would also suggest starting with Augment Summoning to start. It helps your pet and hirelings survive early levels. Use free Fred to change to Power attack later mid level. Loss of some damage, but hires and summon survivability helps you survive 1st life toons.
Currently at level9 look forward to finish build. I have 9 past lives, no caster and first druid. Blowing through all quests so far.

[unhappymeal]

Am I missing something? I hit level 4 and I cannot prepare my Lvl 2 Druid spells. I feel like survivability isn't so great, even with Natural Defender stance. All I have is Lesser Invigorate and that doesn't keep up with burst spell damage. On top of that, Maul also takes spell points. This feels a lot squishier than a Barbarian with Blood Tribute .

[Fedora1]

Am I missing something? I hit level 4 and I cannot prepare my Lvl 2 Druid spells. I feel like survivability isn't so great, even with Natural Defender stance. All I have is Lesser Invigorate and that doesn't keep up with burst spell damage. On top of that, Maul also takes spell points. This feels a lot squishier than a Barbarian with Blood Tribute .

I am sorry, a L4 bear druid IS squishier than a Barbarian with Blood Tribute, since has has to be minimum L12.

[unhappymeal]

I am sorry, a L4 bear druid IS squishier than a Barbarian with Blood Tribute, since has has to be minimum L12.

Ugh, fair enough. I prefer the Bear aesthetic, so I'll tough it out. I grabbed a WIS item so I can scribe my spells. Any suggestions?

[Fedora1]

Ugh, fair enough. I prefer the Bear aesthetic, so I'll tough it out. I grabbed a WIS item so I can scribe my spells. Any suggestions?

Again sorry, I have never done a bear (or druid) build.

The OP, unbongwah, can probably help when he sees your post though.

[unhappymeal]

Again sorry, I have never done a bear (or druid) build.

The OP, unbongwah, can probably help when he sees your post though.

Thanks, I found out what the issue was, it's not survivability. I had taken someone's earlier advice on Augment Summons for a first life character instead of Power Attack. Um, +4 stats for summons and some extra HP for them has nothing on adding +10 damage to every hit with Power Attack. It's a breeze now.

[Soulfurnace]

Am I missing something? I hit level 4 and I cannot prepare my Lvl 2 Druid spells. I feel like survivability isn't so great, even with Natural Defender stance. All I have is Lesser Invigorate and that doesn't keep up with burst spell damage. On top of that, Maul also takes spell points. This feels a lot squishier than a Barbarian with Blood Tribute .

Every build feels squishier than a barb with blood tribute in early levels. Blood tribute is literally easy mode heroics.

[unhappymeal]

Every build feels squishier than a barb with blood tribute in early levels. Blood tribute is literally easy mode heroics.

Yeah, there's something kinda broken about 150 temporary hit points that you can just spam from one shrine to the next...

[Fedora1]

I am sorry, a L4 bear druid IS squishier than a Barbarian with Blood Tribute, since has has to be minimum L12.

Ugh, fair enough. I prefer the Bear aesthetic, so I'll tough it out. I grabbed a WIS item so I can scribe my spells. Any suggestions?

Yeah, there's something kinda broken about 150 temporary hit points that you can just spam from one shrine to the next...

I stand corrected here, I was thinking of the Ravager T5 "Blood Strength" when I mentioned L12, apologies.

[unhappymeal]

So far, it's still rougher going than a Barbarian, but I guess it's to be expected. This has me wondering with all the hand-and-a-half changes, if it might be worth playing it with a Bastard Sword instead of Falchion to take advantage of the Bear Sword and Shield bonuses.