Help me out, Fireclaw Bear with Phoenix.

[LorveN]

Help me out, Fireclaw Bear with Phoenix.

So, I was planning to make a FireClaw bear.
The whole build is going to be built up around the wonderful runeword Phoenix.

Runeword is as follows:
100% Chance To Cast level 40 Blaze When You Level-up
40% Chance To Cast Level 22 Firestorm On Striking
Level 13 Redemption Aura When Equipped
+350-400% Enhanced Damage (varies)
-28% To Enemy Fire Resistance
+350-400 Defense Vs. Missile (varies)
+50 To Life
+5% To Maximum Lightning Resist
+10% To Maximum Fire Resist
+15-21 Fire Absorb (varies)

So, why this phoenix-thing?
Well, first of all. Fire Claws get synergies from Firestorm, Moulten Boulder, Fissure and Volcano.
Phoenix has 40 (!)% chance to cast lvl22 firestorm on striking.
Firestorm is synergized by Molten Boulder and Fissure.

Thus, with a 6shael pb giving an insane attackspeed, that fissure would pretty much trigger all the time, with a nice effect as result. Also, fully synergized means it would actually hurt.

This Bear is meant for PvM btw.

Now, what I was thinking to do was to max out FireClaws, Molten Boulder, Fissure and one of the remaining two synergies to Fireclaws.
I would put at least one point in Werebear (else i will never look like one). Not sure if i should put more, since it adds def and damage, and damage isnt really what i need.
One point in Werewolf as prereq for Lycantrophy, and then eventually max Lycantrophy.
I suppose one point in Oak would be smart too.

What I first wonder is, how would this skill allocation be? Firedamage will probably be high enough, life will be high too.
And my opinion is that Cyclone armor wouldnt be any useful if no major investment in synergies...


Equipment that i plan to use is:
Jalal's (skills, resists, stats, simply great)
CoH (resists, skills...)
6shael PB (speed)
Phoenix (...)


And equipment needed opinions on:

Magefist (for +fireskills?! unsure on this one)

Trang's belt? Dungos? Tgods? I must get Cannot be frozen from something, and trangs add life/mana too. Dungos gives life/dr, Tgods stats/light absorb

Boots?! Maybe waterwalks for life? treks for vita? help!

amu/ring: was thinking about angelic amu/ring + raven, for dex/ar and cannot be frozen (if not trangs belt), else maybe dual angelics?

Planning to use shapeshift skillers, for fireclaws bonus, and bonus to lycantrophy.

Note:
Lifesteal is not an issue, since phoenix grants redemption aura

Please give your opinions, and motivate answers Keep in mind, pure PvM!
And besides, how do deal with FI's? Hope for good merc?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Chimaira]

Magefists sound good to me, or maybe Draculs for the nice Lifetap. I'd take either Verdungos or Thundergods, probably Verdungos since you have Chains Of Honor For boots, IK boots are pretty sweet, +44 life and +110 AR and 40% R/W is very nice, rather high strength requirements though Otherwise a good rare boot, with nice resists and maybe some MF. Maybe even Gore Riders for some Crushing Blow against FI, since you're attacking insanely fast with that Phase Blade...

I'd definitely take a Ravenfrost, it's just so useful there's no way around it. Helps with blocking, gives good AR and some cold absorb, gotta love it.

Your skill selection looks fine, and with Phoenix you're going to pump out quite a lot of fire damage...Very cool with the % chance to cast Firestorm
There's only 1 thing that I'm slightly worried about...I think the casting delay on Firestorm will screw up your attack rhythm...I've experienced it a couple of times with the Chance to cast Fist Of The Heavens on T-gods and it was very annoying, but I don't know if it applies with Fissure on Phoenix...

 

[LorveN]

Hm, good point about that casting delay. Would ruin the fun quite a bit if its true. Must check it out somehow.

The str. req on IK boots is no problem at all, since the phoenix needs to be in a monarch anyway (156str), and i honestly start to wonder if i should pick IK gloves too. 20str/dex gives better block, along with a boost closer to 156str, and IAS wont be needed anyway.
Draculs with lifetap won't be neccessary if I'm right, since redemption should cover quite a bit of it. Besides, the raw damage output will not be high, a weapon with 31-35 damage isnt the greatest yield of damage even with 156str

But thanks for opinions though, must check that castingdelay!!

 

[Chimaira]

If you go with IK gloves+boots then why not go all the way and add the belt too. The belt itself is pretty neat with some nice resists, and the partial bonusses are also okay. Also pretty much all your str problems will be taken care of

Yeah forget Dracul's..Redemption aura is sweet.

 

[Voice]

I got a pvp fury druid that uses synergized firestorm and he does very well. If I were you I would change a good bit on your setup both skills and gear-wise.

Skill
Since your going wb ( I have no idea what lvl you want to get this guy) I would max:
lycan, maul,mb, fissure, rest in fc .. i really wouldnt bother w/ a sage you should get decent life w/ maxed lyan, might consider 1 in grizzly.

Gear
um'ed guilliums

I would (If I were you) not do 6 shael pb ... you could prob. get 2 x 15 ias + 20+ one resist or ar jewels for 5-10 p gems ... well worth the wait for those singe resist /ias jewels. BUT w/ my build i would go 5 frames and use 105 ias caddy (3 x ias/resist-ed-whatever + shael, for physical damage)


um'ed ga Will help you block since you got crap block

raven + carrion rings

metal grid ammy

gore riders

if you can get a good + resist belt that would be ideal

dracs or crafted cb gloves or rends or bloodfists


Okay the main thing I changed was I made you a maul/fc hybrid for fire damage ... i mean you should be pumping out a good amount of fire damage w/ firestorm might as well get some physical in there (firestorm goes off a lot)
Also w/ my set up you have potential for 90 all resist but you will have to stick some resist sc's on so i hope you saved some +10 one resist sc's.

Reason for max cb is i think you will find out it helps a ton in pvm, thus guilliums over jalals.

Using phoenix pvm is so fun just to let you know, after i played w/ it going off, i feel like i can never use ss again :lol: . Good Luck.

btw the gear i said isnt what i use on my pvper, just what i would use in your situation.

 

[LorveN]

I got a pvp fury druid that uses synergized firestorm and he does very well. If I were you I would change a good bit on your setup both skills and gear-wise.

Skill
Since your going wb ( I have no idea what lvl you want to get this guy) I would max:
lycan, maul,mb, fissure, rest in fc .. i really wouldnt bother w/ a sage you should get decent life w/ maxed lyan, might consider 1 in grizzly.

Gear
um'ed guilliums

I would (If I were you) not do 6 shael pb ... you could prob. get 2 x 15 ias + 20+ one resist or ar jewels for 5-10 p gems ... well worth the wait for those singe resist /ias jewels. BUT w/ my build i would go 5 frames and use 105 ias caddy (3 x ias/resist-ed-whatever + shael, for physical damage)


um'ed ga Will help you block since you got crap block

raven + carrion rings

metal grid ammy

gore riders

if you can get a good + resist belt that would be ideal

dracs or crafted cb gloves or rends or bloodfists


Okay the main thing I changed was I made you a maul/fc hybrid for fire damage ... i mean you should be pumping out a good amount of fire damage w/ firestorm might as well get some physical in there (firestorm goes off a lot)
Also w/ my set up you have potential for 90 all resist but you will have to stick some resist sc's on so i hope you saved some +10 one resist sc's.

Reason for max cb is i think you will find out it helps a ton in pvm, thus guilliums over jalals.

Using phoenix pvm is so fun just to let you know, after i played w/ it going off, i feel like i can never use ss again :lol: . Good Luck.

btw the gear i said isnt what i use on my pvper, just what i would use in your situation.

whoo, that was a whole lot of tips Its quite nice that most of the gear you mention is pretty cheap too, so in fact, i can always try both ways, and see what suits me best.
Maul is still a question i must think about. not sure how to do with it, but some phys damage would be nice too.

But most important. Are you saying the firestorm triggering will not affect your attackspeed, that is, you will not pause when it triggers?

And as above, yes, if i go with IK boots+gloves, belt isnt too bad either. It has nice fhr too iirc, along with resists and massive strength

 

[Dportwrestling]

Wats a Caddy?

 

[Voice]

caddy is a set item, grizwolds cadacues (have no idea if i spelled correctly).

IIRC i dont remember it pausing my fury to cast, but i would have to look into that some more.

 

[LorveN]

caddy is a set item, grizwolds cadacues (have no idea if i spelled correctly).

IIRC i dont remember it pausing my fury to cast, but i would have to look into that some more.

caddy is the item class (cadacueueucs or something, never learned that one either), but when talking about "the caddy" its most often Griswolds Caddy.

Could you please check if the fury pauses when firestorm goes off? Its crucial

But the thing with the build is that its strictly pvm, so i wont really need all the extra damage from other items. What im actually after is to spam firestorms like crazy along with nice FC damage

 

[Tor]

it interupts my fury when i cast fire storm (hell mouths)

or was it just meteor..

 

[Voice]

Okay this is what I did. I killed every monster but 1 around me (quill rat in hell (fire resist). Then I took off my weapon and pushed on him once then let go. Assuming I got of 5 hits I could get up to five firestorms off in one fury. Sometimes however I got put into block motion and my fury was interrupted before I got off more than one hit. This of course is normal since fury is interruptible.

So in conclusion know it does not interrupt my fury.

 

[LorveN]

Okay this is what I did. I killed every monster but 1 around me (quill rat in hell (fire resist). Then I took off my weapon and pushed on him once then let go. Assuming I got of 5 hits I could get up to five firestorms off in one fury. Sometimes however I got put into block motion and my fury was interrupted before I got off more than one hit. This of course is normal since fury is interruptible.

So in conclusion know it does not interrupt my fury.

horray, thanks for testing

 

[batuchka]

Hey cool idea! Hmm i understand why GA for armor to increase %blocking as monarch for druid has 42% chance block. My question would a Twitchthrow upped armor help as it has some fhr too? Would a crafted ammy with some %icb be worth slapping on the ammy slot in your opinion as well? Looks like a really fun build that would rock and kudos for coming up with it

p.s A belt to shore up resists : could credendum/nightsmoke be useful?

 

[Weltkriegpally]

Hey cool idea! Hmm i understand why GA for armor to increase %blocking as monarch for druid has 42% chance block. My question would a Twitchthrow upped armor help as it has some fhr too? Would a crafted ammy with some %icb be worth slapping on the ammy slot in your opinion as well? Looks like a really fun build that would rock and kudos for coming up with it

p.s A belt to shore up resists : could credendum/nightsmoke be useful?

the point for increased blocking is a good one, as it increases the points you could place in vit. However, the primary reason for using angel over the others is the faster block rate. block rate stinks on bears, so its a good idea to figure out how to make it a little bit better.

--welt