A Bear that can kill Ubers?

[kinsawnational]

A Bear that can kill Ubers?

Hey All Bear lovers,

Well i've been trying to make a Bear that can kill the ubers because well, i think it would be awesome for a non-conventional build to do it. I decided a while back that I was going to make a HUNGRY-Mauler bear that relys on those two skills to take down the Tristam baddies. Tell me what you think, any areas of improvement, whether you think its possible, etc.

Skills: 20 Hunger, 20 Maul, 20 lycanthropy. I have about 30 extra skills saved right now at level 85. I was thinking of two possible ways to go at this point: one is to Max a spirit which in itself presents problems in choosing which one (probably choose HoW), and two is to max Werebear (not a popular choice but hey is a spirit really gonna survive even near the Ubers). Any ideas would be great.

Stats: Well Stat wise I have put 0 into strength and used some careful craftiness to get my gear on. I've got about 30 points pumped into Dex inorder to use my preferred end-game wep. Rest in Vit i think about 400 after mods added on.

Gear:
Helm: Guils Face (haven't socketed yet, still deciding)
Wep: Azureswrath (shael socketed)
Armor: Duress (in low str , high Def armor)
Shield: Sanctuary Runeword in Trolls Nest (for resists, plus to Dex for Azures, and for the "Sanctuary" theme)
Gloves: Laying of Hands (350 percent damage to Demons, hoping i don't need Dracs as i want to be more original than that using Hunger)
Belt: IK Belt (for nice plus to Strength and some lite resist)
Boots: Gores (Duh)
Rings: Ravenfrost and Rare ring with Dex, Mana, and lots of resists
Amulet: Atma's Scarab (so i do get a Curse, in this case Amplify Damage so i can up my leeching considerably)
Inventory: Druid Torch (need resists and other stuff, gonna switch out to pick up new one), Anni, 4 SS Gc's, assortment of str and resist charms (i ain't rich)
Pre-Buff: Treachery for Fade, Demon limb for added AR, BO, Shout, BC (From a buddy who will run in with Barb chant and then leave)

Alrighty so thats what I have going so far. At this point i've got about 2800 HP before any BO (haven't test after yet), 180 resists or so after buffing with Treachery, and about 5000 AR before buffing with Demon Limb ( i know Ar is low, don't wanna use Angie combo unless have to though). My damage output listed for Hunger is 700-1300, however i think most of that is the added damage types (magic etc.) from the Azures. I've got 65 CB from 3 items, 30 Deadly Strike, and 48 Open Wounds.

So, enough ranting (sorry bout the long post, don't wanna mess this up) how do you think my Bear will do. Any ideas for change for the better, any suggestions? Thanks for any help!

 

[superjayson]

sorry to burst your bubble, but you're going to need drac's. hunger is awesome, but what are you going to do with those unleechables ? drac's is made for ubers.

 

[kinsawnational]

Doesn't Azureswrath allow me to leech from unleechables? Just wondering i'm not actually totally sure, guess i should have thought this out more (ouch!)

 

[Skull Bash]

You really may want to consider angelics too, I just don't know about demon limb alone giving you enough attack rating. If you're worried about resists you could um Guillaume's. Also, if you don't already, you want at least one point in shockwave, it+sanctuary aura in trist makes the going MUCH easier.

 

[JME]

The life leech from hunger is great but you have to remember that leech is based off of damage and hunger pushes that down 75%. In addition, you need to take into account damage resistance of the enemy being attack, hell leech penalties, and drain effectiveness.

Concerning azurewrath, life leech, and leechable monsters the discussion is a bit complicated. First of all, leech is based off of your physical damage and different monsters have a different drain effectiveness and damage resist. A drain effectiveness of 100 means they are completely leechable while a drain effectiveness of 0 means they are unleechable. Uber baal has a drain effectivenss of 20, Uber Mephisto has a drain effectiveness of 0, and Pandeomonium Diablo (the actual name for the uber tristram version) has a drain effectivenss of 15.

Essentially, this means that if you hit for 2,000 damage, hunger will reduce your damage to 500. Baal has 50% DR further reducing this damage number to 250. With your 176% LL from hunger you would be leeching 440 life per hit. However, you then have to realize that leech is cut by 2/3 in hell reducing this to 146 ,and the drain effectivenss of uber baal will drop the amount of life leeched to 22. Truly sad, indeed. Remember that Uber Mephisto's drain effectiveness is zero.

The sanctuary from azurewrath, however, is a different matter altogether.

The only effect that works (for sanctuary) is the knockback and the magic damage "pulse". There's also a secret "bonus" effect- when you have Sanctuary turned on, you ignore all physical resist on undead monsters. In other words, if you deal 100 physical damage and you turn on Sanctuary, you can attack a physically immune wraith and you'll still deal 100 physical damage (because you ignore their resists). Very handy against wraith packs.

If you want a more technical explanation... the +% Damage to Undead works, but it doesn't apply to you, it applies to the monsters. In other words, when you turn on Sanctuary, every monster within range gets several thousand points of ED% vs. Undead. Just be glad you're not undead

As for your question, since sanctuary only negates the physical immunities of undead, the only leeching benefit would be that you would be able to leech from undead PIs and leech more than previously allowed by undead with a positive physical resistance. This may help to leech against some of mephisto's minions, but it won't help against the ubers or any other demons. However, you also need to keep in mind that a lot of undead cannot be leeched or leeched effectively due to low drain effectiveness which is completely separate from damage resistance (and previously explained). The knockback from azurewrath is quite handy though against mephisto's mobs.

As a result, the only reasonable source of life in Uber Tristram is life tap and the best places to get that are dracul's grasp, last wish, exile or a life tap wand. Considering you're looking at a werebear exile is out of the question and last wish wouldn't be a great idea due to weapon speed. I'd say your only real options are dracs or a lifetap wand. Life tap isn't nerfed in the same way that life leech is because it relies solely on the amount of damage you do and isn't subject to all the penalties.

By the way, I'd sub the IK belt for a tgods and in light of this information (you want to use life tap) I wouldn't go with atmas for the amulet. Perhaps a highlords would better suit you.

 

[saudili]

i would change the belt to the mavinas one, prevent monster heal will help a lot. get a metalgrid as amulet, since bears can benefit from defense and the attack rating + resists will help a lot. also change that guillaumes for a jalals mane and increase the crushing blow by using goblin toes... as for rings, go raven + dwarf combo, mdr + fire absorb helps a lot. dont know, thats just how i would do it ...

 

[kinsawnational]

Thank you so much for your help guys, especially the explanation of how hunger would work against ubers.

Well as for a quick update I did fight the Ubers the other night with my guy and tried my first set up with no lifetap just to see if it was viable. Well the answer is NO unfortunately. I noticed that when amp was cast from atma's i was leaching from meph however not enough to keep me from using healing pots every so once and a while. Eventually he got me and nerfed my guy so I had to rejoin game and run him again. I tried a few more times messing with my no lifetap setup to see if it would work (i put on angelic combo for absurd AR boost hoping that would help, etc.) however no dice. The only thing left I think i could try is perhaps put on a huge damage two hand wep like Eth Tomb Reaver with a zod and two shaels, or a EBotD in a Eth Polearm and then see if i can leech enough from there. I think this MAY have a chance for a few reasons. One, the leech will be much more considerable considering that my damage will be RIDICULOUSly higher with an over 1000 damage polearm than a 140 damage sword; two i will probably put on Fort (if i can ever get, ha!) in that case so that my hunger damage is multipied over once again 3 fold. In that case I think it may be just possible to beat ubers without life tap because my leech will be consierably higher from hunger. Only problem there though is no SANCTUARy aura so meph's minioins present a bit of a problem with FHR so we'll have to see how that works.

Just for a quick update, I did eventually switch over to the dracs setup with angelics combo on and wooped the ubers butts. Got a 17,10 druid torch for my work, so all and all i'm still working on the idea of a no life-tap uber killing bear, however I was able to accomplish one thing: kill the ubers with a non-smiter-ridiculous kicksin setup (that setup just requires WAY too much gear).

Thanks for the help again!

 

[Guardian Dragon]

i thought prevent monster heal was completely useless against ubers?

 

[Jary]

prevent monster heal is useless.

OW however, prevents monster heal. So if you carry Dracs + Gores, that's a good 40% chance OW, that'll keep 'em bleeding the whole time.

I don't think azurewrath is the way to go... Sanctuary's ok. but it's too slow and damage isn't enough. Better off using Highlords + Ebotd, go for some massive physical damage for better life tap returns when doing uber trist, etc.

Otherwise, I think Jeweled Griz Caddy would be far faster and more smooth, consistent damage using life tap.

Your build has no damage reduction and I think that's a big nono, since you can use SW against many minions, but not the bosses when you're close combat you're gonna need the dr. I think Stormshield 'Um' would be far more "pertinent". IK belt is ok, since you're buffing Treachery, that'll give you exactly 50% DR then. Just food for thought, to each his own ^.^

Rest I think is pretty good, I hope you have enough AR.

 

[Verashiden]

... Azure's faster than BotD >.>.

Pretty sure it hits 7 frames

*goes to look*

Actually, it can hit 6 frame with 15 OIAS where the fastest EBotDZ can hit is 8 frames. So there

Don't be dissing my pimp stick, nublet XD

 

[inanefedaykin]

DR is a waste in Uber Trist IME.