Reaper Endgame 18-2 Bear Tank

[Gilga1]

U49 update for the fun to play tank

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OUTDATED BUILD - ORIGINAL POST 07-21-2020

I'm currently playing a tank that is fun to play!
There is a well known antinomy involving "Tank" and "Fun to Play" so I decided to post it here.

I would like to make some essential introductory remarks: the primary goals of this build are to perform multiple tasks (tank, healer, cc) and to make r10 endgame quests easier and faster.
A fully specced tank can reach way more higher AC and PRR, being a better suitable option for high skulls raids where the tank role is to tank like a standing stone.
But imho there are no reasons to group with a pure tank when zerging R10 quests. And wandering around holding shift while watching a movie on a second monitor is not my favorite playstyle

Why did I choose the bear? Well, tanks have good synergies with the healer role and druid is an amazing healer. I like mass regeneration a lot. And second, fvs/cleric + pally splits are boring as **** to play since they basically can just tank and heal. Compared to them, druid offers more mobility, cc with strikethrough (and some no fail cc) and the interesting form features. And actually, it's fun to play! You have a ton of attacks, spells, abilities to click.

The build I’m playing is PDK Druid 18 Barbarian 2 in US.

Druid 17 is required to access Mass Regeneration, Big Bear (core 5 in NP) restores rages via Tremor and brings 5% attack speed, 16 hp and 3 MRR.
Barbarian 2 is 10% movement speed, 3% DR and some useful stuff in OS (Ear Smash above all) and Ravager (+3 CON).

Character Sheet
Here are my self buffed stats in reaper. I have all the PLs and full reaper trees.



Feats
Toughness (1), Toughness (BH), Completionist (3), Natural Fighting (6,9,12), Quicken (15), Enlarge (18), Empower Heal (21), Epic Toughness (24), Epic Spell Power Positive (26), Haste (27), Elusive Target (28), Deific Warding (29), Epic DR (30), Scion of Celestia (L)

Enhancements


Note on Falconry:
I Invested a ton of points (22) in Falconry to grab Expose Weakness (50% Fort bypass). Depending on the players you group with you can drop 10 points in Falconry. 12 are enough to take 5% Quality HP and Sprint Boost.

ED and twists


I change my twists very often. The most frequent setup (4-3-3-1-1) includes Stormrage (can be casted when raged) or Martial Hymn, Meld (must have), Empyrean Magic, Primal Scream, Legendary Tactics.

Equipment

My current U46 setup is:

Helm Legendary Standard Issue Faceplate (Incite +62, Intimidate +22, Insightful Physical Sheltering +26, Natural Armor +21, Blue Augment Slot)

Goggles LGS

Necklace Legendary Standard Issue Sigil (Magical Sheltering +54, Protection +17, Spell Save +17, Parrying +10, Green Augment Slot)

Trinket SL (Strength +17, Accuracy +28, Vertigo +20, Quality Constitution +4)

Armor Legendary Watch Captain's Platemail (+15 Enhancement Bonus, Fortification +214%, Physical Sheltering +54, Competence Healing Amplification +85, Hit Points +81,
Green Augment Slot)

Cloak LGS

Wrist Legendary Lore Fueled Packbanners (Insightful Constitution +9, Physical Sheltering +50, Insightful Doublestrike 10%, Druidic Stoneshape, Green Augment Slot)

Belt Legendary Silverthread Belt (Enhanced Devotion +202, Enhanced Nullification +202, Healing Lore +29%, Void Lore +29%, Blue Augment Slot)

Gloves LGS

Ring Stolen Signet of ir'Wynarn (Charisma +22, Exceptional Alluring Skills Bonus +11, Quality Potency +41, Electric Absorption 53%, Blue Augment Slot, Green Augment Slot, Yellow Augment Slot)

Ring Legendary Celestial Sapphire (Constitution +21, Improved Deception, Dodge 21%, Profane Well Rounded +2, Yellow Augment Slot)

Boots LGS

W Timeshard (+15 Enhancement Bonus, Doublestrike 23%, Identity Crisis, Legendary Paralysis, Freedom of Movement, Red Augment Slot, Orange Augment Slot)

Shield Legendary Crystalline Ward (+15 Enhancement Bonus, Arcane Casting Dexterity, Potency +154, Insightful Magical Sheltering +26, Quality Magical Sheltering +13, Blue Augment Slot)

As always, I consider super important reaper/mythic boosts on items. So i did choose my equiq according to the boosted items I have.

I'm using 2 different weapons mostly (each with 8 slots): Timeshard and The Labrythine Edge.
Filigrees are: Snake Bite/Grandfather's Shield (2), Nystul's Mystic Defense/Electrocution (1), Purity/Touch of Grace (1), Purity (1) Grandfather's Shield (1), Nystul's Mystic Defense (3), Beast's Mantle (2)
Other weapon swaps:
Epic Bejeweled Opener (8 slot) filled with healing amplification
LGS Affirmation, Salt, Ooze, Dust, Ash (that can proc on stormrage, call lightning storm, sleet storm etc)
5 slot Blood Feast weapon for Shield of Rage

Big Bear Tanking
Ok, since this bear is a tank let's talk about his defensive features.

HP - Good, thanks to bear's outstanding Constitution score. If you consider Shield of Rage and Affirmation I'm not far from 10.000.

Healing amplification - 300 standing. Good value imho. 405 equipping the Epic Bejeweled Opener.

AC - Having around 400 AC is viable, but sucks compared to a real tank 600+ AC. No access to 50% armor AC and the good stuff included in Stalwart Defender and Sacred Defender, so there is little to be done.

PRR - around 400. Not top tier, but the PRR is another bear's weak spot.

MRR - around 350 with Lightning strikes the mountain. Very good, even compared to a pure tank.

DR 3% on top of PRR/MRR. Nice feature.

Saves are ****. You are a bear, you have to live with it. +130 Fort is decent.

Unique features from Nature's Protector: immunity to energy drain and death effects, 20% resistance against Force damage.

You have to drop/recast rage to use displacement and discorporation clickies. Anyways, every rage brings 1000 temp hp.

Intimidate - 128, 138 with coffee. Potion of Alchemical Intimidate add more. Please note: Maul triggers Intimidate.

Big Bear Healing
I already said that the druid is a fantastic healer.
I keep Legendary Silverthread Belt always on for enhancement devotion and crit chance, Elyd Charm or Dethek Runestone are good swaps for insightful devotion.
In quest, I'm sitting at 900-950 postive spellpower.
I have +73% positive critical damage (Scion of Celestia, LGS material set, LGS +20% positive) and 45% positive critical chance (I usually twist Empyrean Magic).
Mass regeneration is god-like. I also have Greater Vigor mass, Heal, Regenerate, all the CW spells, Light the Dark... And For Cormyr from PDK.
I use bear stance and I have quicken/enlarge/empower heal.



Big Bear CCing
I usually make use of Legendary Tactics and Ancient Tactics. I have 140% strikethrough. My trip DCs ofc are not no-fail, but Tremor and Bear Charge (both area knock-down abilities) land quite enough.
Relentless Onslaught is no save (op).
Using Timeshard/Labrythine Edge means perma salt.
Ear smash is op vs casters.
Sleet storm can be handy sometimes.

As usual, feel free to ask for more informations

[Jaynen]

What does your hotbar look like? I have a bear at lvl 15 or so and I find it hard to prioritize what buttons to smash. Maul, Tremor, I see you skipped killer instinct and roar so you probably replace those with falconry attacks?

[Gilga1]

What does your hotbar look like? I have a bear at lvl 15 or so and I find it hard to prioritize what buttons to smash. Maul, Tremor, I see you skipped killer instinct and roar so you probably replace those with falconry attacks?

I took this screenshot with my laptop so hotkeys etc are slightly messed up, but you can see my current setup.

[Jaynen]

Lawd Jesus that's way more hotkeys than I use

[Sholvah]

What do you pick on you LGS items , havnt done much in that area of crafting.

Sholvah

[Gilga1]

What do you pick on you LGS items , havnt done much in that area of crafting.

Hey! I equip 4 items, so 12 slots.
All my slots are material opposition except 2: T1 positive ethereal dominion (+20% positive spell crit damage) and T2 positive ethereal escalation (+11 insight Cha Skills, for Intimidate).
I prefer material (more spell critical damage for heals) to ethereal (more incorporeal miss chance).

[mikarddo]

Hey! I equip 4 items, so 12 slots.
All my slots are material opposition except 2: T1 positive ethereal dominion (+20% positive spell crit damage) and T2 positive ethereal escalation (+11 insight Cha Skills, for Intimidate).
I prefer material (more spell critical damage for heals) to ethereal (more incorporeal miss chance).

Didnt it use to be that all the slots had to be opposition for the HP bonus to work? When was that fixed?

Also, the wiki states: "Opposition set, along with requiring Opposition to be dominant, requires an equal amount of Dominion and Escalation among your items (0 of each counts as equal)."
I note you have this. Can you confirm this rule to be correct? Possibly that is what made people believe it had to be all Opposition initially.

Maybe you could be kind enough to post the full configuration. LGS is still a bit foggy and mistakes are scary due to the cost in mats.

[Gilga1]

Didnt it use to be that all the slots had to be opposition for the HP bonus to work? When was that fixed?
Also, the wiki states: "Opposition set, along with requiring Opposition to be dominant, requires an equal amount of Dominion and Escalation among your items (0 of each counts as equal)."
I note you have this. Can you confirm this rule to be correct? Possibly that is what made people believe it had to be all Opposition initially.

No changes were made. Wiki is not always a reliable source but the period you quoted above is correct. Opposition needs to be dominant and Dominion and Escalation in equal numbers (0-0, 1-1, 2-2, etc)

Maybe you could be kind enough to post the full configuration. LGS is still a bit foggy and mistakes are scary due to the cost in mats.

Here's an example:

ITEM #1
1. P-E-D +20% Positive spell crit damage
2. F-M-O +25 Fire resistance
3. F-M-O +17 Fire resistance

ITEM #2
1. P-M-O +128 Unconsciousness range, 16 healing over time
2. P-M-O +64 Unconsciousness range, 8 healing over time
3. P-M-O +32 Unconsciousness range, 4 healing over time

ITEM #3
1. F-M-O +50 Fire resistance
2. P-E-E +11 Charisma Skills, +151 Spell Points
3. A-M-O +17 Electric resistance

ITEM #4
1. N-M-O Blindness immunity, +4 Fortitude Save Vs Disease
2. N-M-O Fear immunity, +4 Fortitude Save Vs Poison
3. W-M-O +17 Cold resistance

The 4x LGS material opposition configuration is amazing for sorcerers, maxing critical spell damage (with T1 and T2 dominion + material set) with the addition of some spellpower (INT skills with T1 and T2), spell points and a big amount of hp.

[JohnnyArkham]

Lawd Jesus that's way more hotkeys than I use

My eyes about popped! ****, I'm newb enough to have been surprised that there's a way to make hotbars vertical!

[Hobgoblin]

ok stupid question - i have a completionist with 9 divine and 4 martial pls - i think 10 racial ap..... is this build viable? fpr me

[Thrudh]

Why aren't you using Shred, Maul, then Roar?

That large AOE stun is the best thing about being a bear build. Better than Strikethrough Stunning Blow or Trip.

[Hobgoblin]

Why aren't you using Shred, Maul, then Roar?

That large AOE stun is the best thing about being a bear build. Better even than Strikethrough Stunning Blow.

for me - i have heard conflicting reports - some say that it only stuns and not helpless and other say helpless. without helpless its not worth it.... right?

[Gilga1]

Why aren't you using Shred, Maul, then Roar?
That large AOE stun is the best thing about being a bear build. Better than Strikethrough Stunning Blow or Trip.

Hey! The reason why I'm not using stuns with this build is that I couldn't get decent DCs (Roar stun is against Fortitude, and uses half druid levels). Str and Wis are dump stats, and I don't have trances.
Trip is way more reliable, and that's why I have Strength +17 and Vertigo +20 on my trinket. Relentless Onslaught is no fail, and can strikethrough. Tremor and Bear Charge are area attacks. On top, I have salt always on.

for me - i have heard conflicting reports - some say that it only stuns and not helpless and other say helpless. without helpless its not worth it.... right?

Yeah, that's why I didn't use roar even on bear dps builds. Stunning Blow, Maul and Grater Maul make mobs helpless.

[MasterAO]

Do you take Quicken Spell at level 1 or 15 (atm you list it twice at those levels)?

[Gilga1]

Do you take Quicken Spell at level 1 or 15 (atm you list it twice at those levels)?

Oh, my bad. I took Toughness twice. I will edit the original post to correct.

[Sholvah]

Mind posteing you LGS setup ?

Sholavh

[Gilga1]

Mind posteing you LGS setup ?

Hey! No, ofc... but I already answered in previous posts
In short, all my slots are material opposition except 2: T1 positive ethereal dominion (+20% positive spell crit damage) and T2 positive ethereal escalation (+11 insight Cha Skills, for Intimidate).

[Sholvah]

Ok , thxs

Just comfused bec to sad is was a good soc setup =))

Sholvah

[Sholvah]

Am curious what did you pick as starting stats

Sholvah

[Jaynen]

Most tanks are not solo friendly, is this the case with this one too?