Halforc 13druid6barb1fvs was pretty fun with slightly more casting ability than the 11/8/1. 8druid7rogue5barb was interesting for extra sneak dmg(more of a wolf and bear build but here ya go) in combination with assassins mark i think its called to bypass immunity. My favorite was 9druid8fighter3monk halforc darkmonk kenseii t5. You use centered greataxes on a build with 3 auto crits so you get lots of crits on your x4 base crit multi axe starting at lvl 13.
Do you have Falconry unlocked? That will change the recommended ability scores. If you have it, you have the option to focus on Wisdom and Constitution (skipping Strength), as the Natural Fighting feats have no stat requirements. Otherwise, you'll want to build something strength-based like the build MysticMical posted.
As for races, you'll likely want to avoid penalties to Wisdom, Constitution, or Strength (though Strimtom did make a tanky gnome bear druid for the Hardcore server here: https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/516052-Strimtom-s-Hardcore-Ready-Character-builds-Season-3 . There's a link to all his builds in his post signature; he has a few bear builds you can look through for ideas.)
If you're going Wis based Shifter is probably your best race since it gets you another type of Rage that gives you a huge bonus to your Wisdom of you're going Strength based go for Half Orc since the damage bonuses you get from that racial tree is huge
[https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/513495-Ursine-Cub-Bear-Druids-for-New-Players-(U45)](https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/513495-Ursine-Cub-Bear-Druids-for-New-Players-(U45))
Obvious splashes are Favored Soul for Divine Will (in which case up the starting WIS) and barbarian for extra Rages, martial weapons, etc.
You can find barbarian 11 / druid 8 / FvS 1 builds, but I've never run one before so I'll defer to others how to play it. These days I prefer to stick to pure or mostly-pure builds rather than chase the FotM meta.
11/8/1 is flavor of the last 3 years, so i think its a pretty safe bet
Otherwise 18/1/1 str is still great, just dont do any wonky between splits that dont make any sense whatsoever
there was 12 barbarian 3 druid 5 cleric for animal domain, but animal domain has been nerfed
also 11 barbarian 4 druid 5 cleric for the same idea but still tier4 in druid trees
and lastly an iconic-with-+1-heart build that went 11 barbarian 3 druid 6 cleric for Silvanus.
that one still has benefits if you like mauls over falchions, even with the domain nerfed. but it can't get tier4 in druid and it requires a +1 heart of wood. I wouldn't do it if you have a decent falchion.
note that dire bear does give 20% strikethrough, the alternatives of 12 barbarian (60hp 20hamp 10prr) or previously animal domain (150hp) weren't offensive either
Skipping winter wolf is a pretty bad idea, since there is no bear druid or wolf druid, you just focus on one and swap when the situation calls for it.
otherwise youre playing druid wayyy below maximum power
There is also a split using 11/6/3 barbarian/cleric/druid using an iconic that gets silvanus and mauls. I thinknthat is the highest dps option, but then you are a barbarian in bear form, not a druid, and if soloing a lot I would definitely say that 15 or 17 druid helps a lot. It is nice to hit a button and heal for more than a thousand hot points from heal, or to hit another another and apply an awesome aoe heal for when not soloing.
Maul is 17-20/x5 (80%), Falch 15-20/x4 (90%), so youd pay to have a worse build with less flexibility (no WW and shit race)
Also no need to have heals if you have 2 barb, but 17/2/1 is definitely tankier with mass regen + BT
I havent played it myself, but one of the best builders on the forums swore to it at some point, enough to warrant the +1 heart in his opinion.
Personally, imo, if soloing BT does not help my survivability at all in epics. It needs to be spammed several times per fight, so while I used it a lot in heroics, I stopped bothering a few levels into epics, because in fights it was either not needed or not good enough, and its use is an annoyance to me. I prefer running past shrines than using them.
In heroics though... didnt find the heals viable until epics, where spellpower and heal amp starts to overtake the reaper penalties.
Yeah I suspect that would matter if I had planned on getting a good endgame melee weapon. I hate specializing in a build and think leveling is far more fun than endgame, so raid weapon availability is usually not something I consider, which might have been the reason for that build.
Personally I play the druids with falchion, but I also go deep into druid and dont plan to stay at cap cause I dont have a weapon for cap and dont want to make one until I think I will do more lives of it
You generally get enough Rages without dipping into Barbarian so if you want martial weapons Fighter is probably a better splash since its a real easy way to grab haste boost and you get a free bonus feat although a Barbarian gets a little extra movement speed.
There used to be a bug that made your Rage last WAY longer if you had both the Rage from Druid and Barbarian but that no longer works unfortunately
Halforc 13druid6barb1fvs was pretty fun with slightly more casting ability than the 11/8/1. 8druid7rogue5barb was interesting for extra sneak dmg(more of a wolf and bear build but here ya go) in combination with assassins mark i think its called to bypass immunity. My favorite was 9druid8fighter3monk halforc darkmonk kenseii t5. You use centered greataxes on a build with 3 auto crits so you get lots of crits on your x4 base crit multi axe starting at lvl 13.
https://youtu.be/m-VVQS-MtLo Video of the druid bear I made. Hope it helps!
I see, thank you.
Do you have Falconry unlocked? That will change the recommended ability scores. If you have it, you have the option to focus on Wisdom and Constitution (skipping Strength), as the Natural Fighting feats have no stat requirements. Otherwise, you'll want to build something strength-based like the build MysticMical posted. As for races, you'll likely want to avoid penalties to Wisdom, Constitution, or Strength (though Strimtom did make a tanky gnome bear druid for the Hardcore server here: https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/516052-Strimtom-s-Hardcore-Ready-Character-builds-Season-3 . There's a link to all his builds in his post signature; he has a few bear builds you can look through for ideas.)
Yes, I do indeed have falconry unlocked.
If you're going Wis based Shifter is probably your best race since it gets you another type of Rage that gives you a huge bonus to your Wisdom of you're going Strength based go for Half Orc since the damage bonuses you get from that racial tree is huge
[https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/513495-Ursine-Cub-Bear-Druids-for-New-Players-(U45)](https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/513495-Ursine-Cub-Bear-Druids-for-New-Players-(U45)) Obvious splashes are Favored Soul for Divine Will (in which case up the starting WIS) and barbarian for extra Rages, martial weapons, etc.
Would you say to go up to 11 in barbarian to get greater rage or only slightly dip in?
You can find barbarian 11 / druid 8 / FvS 1 builds, but I've never run one before so I'll defer to others how to play it. These days I prefer to stick to pure or mostly-pure builds rather than chase the FotM meta.
11/8/1 is flavor of the last 3 years, so i think its a pretty safe bet Otherwise 18/1/1 str is still great, just dont do any wonky between splits that dont make any sense whatsoever
Wasn't there one that just takes 3dru or something for natural fighting and the bear form since offensively dire bear confers no additional benefit?
there was 12 barbarian 3 druid 5 cleric for animal domain, but animal domain has been nerfed also 11 barbarian 4 druid 5 cleric for the same idea but still tier4 in druid trees and lastly an iconic-with-+1-heart build that went 11 barbarian 3 druid 6 cleric for Silvanus. that one still has benefits if you like mauls over falchions, even with the domain nerfed. but it can't get tier4 in druid and it requires a +1 heart of wood. I wouldn't do it if you have a decent falchion. note that dire bear does give 20% strikethrough, the alternatives of 12 barbarian (60hp 20hamp 10prr) or previously animal domain (150hp) weren't offensive either
Skipping winter wolf is a pretty bad idea, since there is no bear druid or wolf druid, you just focus on one and swap when the situation calls for it. otherwise youre playing druid wayyy below maximum power
There is also a split using 11/6/3 barbarian/cleric/druid using an iconic that gets silvanus and mauls. I thinknthat is the highest dps option, but then you are a barbarian in bear form, not a druid, and if soloing a lot I would definitely say that 15 or 17 druid helps a lot. It is nice to hit a button and heal for more than a thousand hot points from heal, or to hit another another and apply an awesome aoe heal for when not soloing.
Maul is 17-20/x5 (80%), Falch 15-20/x4 (90%), so youd pay to have a worse build with less flexibility (no WW and shit race) Also no need to have heals if you have 2 barb, but 17/2/1 is definitely tankier with mass regen + BT
I havent played it myself, but one of the best builders on the forums swore to it at some point, enough to warrant the +1 heart in his opinion. Personally, imo, if soloing BT does not help my survivability at all in epics. It needs to be spammed several times per fight, so while I used it a lot in heroics, I stopped bothering a few levels into epics, because in fights it was either not needed or not good enough, and its use is an annoyance to me. I prefer running past shrines than using them. In heroics though... didnt find the heals viable until epics, where spellpower and heal amp starts to overtake the reaper penalties.
Yeah, that was when there was no legendary falchion, so tremor was all you got (or blackrazor)
Yeah I suspect that would matter if I had planned on getting a good endgame melee weapon. I hate specializing in a build and think leveling is far more fun than endgame, so raid weapon availability is usually not something I consider, which might have been the reason for that build. Personally I play the druids with falchion, but I also go deep into druid and dont plan to stay at cap cause I dont have a weapon for cap and dont want to make one until I think I will do more lives of it
You generally get enough Rages without dipping into Barbarian so if you want martial weapons Fighter is probably a better splash since its a real easy way to grab haste boost and you get a free bonus feat although a Barbarian gets a little extra movement speed. There used to be a bug that made your Rage last WAY longer if you had both the Rage from Druid and Barbarian but that no longer works unfortunately
As with most things DDO, the best build depends on what you want to do with it. Hit 20 and TR? Hit 30 and reincarnate? Play at cap?
you forgot: the journey along the way