Cold Dot Werebear Druid Guide

Skills

Alternative Skills & Tips

• If you are running out of Rage, you can unspec Swipe and spec Spriggan Form instead. Utilize the Garden of Rage Node to turn your Summon Vines into Rage generators. Generate Vines by using Entangling Roots's Poisonous Seeds and Rampant Growth Nodes.
• Consider investing Points into Poisonous Seeds in Entangling Roots if you have Eterra's Path and Tears of the Forest to sustain Rage with ease.
• If you struggle with Rage sustain, take points out of Warcry's Whirlpool Node to spend less Rage by casting fewer Maelstroms when using it.
• You can spec Points into Warcry's Frost Claw Node if you are not fully utilizing Fury Strikes for single target DPS.
• Put more Points into Ursine Heart in Werebear Form to cap your Endurance if necessary.

Passives

Passives provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives on the first half of all Masteries regardless of the one you chose.

1. Take all the Attunement, Strength, Melee Attack Speed and Cold Penetration.
2. Rancour is crucial to avoid running out of Rage while in Werebear Form.
3. Berserker, Ursine Strength, Boar Heart and Impervious provide insane Damage Reduction.
4. Investing points into Natural Attunement helps cap Elemental Resistances.
5. Thicket of Thorns allows you to proc Thorn Shield while in Werebear Form.
6. Hideskin can turn any Druid into a tanky juggernaut.
7. Harmonious Wisdom is great to cap Critical Strike Avoidance, especially for a build with 60+ Attunement.
8. You can invest into Chitinous Plating if you need more Endurance to reach the 60% cap.

Gameplay

This Druid wants to Roar on Cooldown, Rampage through the battlefield and group up big enemy packs before releasing Entangling Roots's giant AoE. Make sure you are familiar with enemy mechanics to know when to use your Support Skills to stay alive. Pay attention to their telegraphed attacks!

Skill Usage/Rotation

• Cast Roar for its buffs and to proc 4 Maelstroms.
• Rampage towards enemy packs.
• Use Maul to cast Entangling Roots.
• Cast Roar when it's available again.
• Maintain 6 stacks of Maelstrom to get Haste from Windswept and Frenzy from Windfury.
• Attack with Swipe to proc additional Maelstroms with Ursine Storm and to stack the Aspect of the Panther buff.

Mapping

• Rush to the objective with Rampage.
• Group mobs before using Maul to maximize the AoE from Entangling Roots.
• Attack big groups of enemies with Maul or Swipe to proc Primal Strength.

Bossing

• Spam Swipe while you wait for Cooldowns to proc additional Maelstroms with Ursine Storm.
• Fully stack the Berserker buff from Roar/Warcry to gain high Attack Speed.
• Take advantage of all your defensive buffs and keep them active.
• Roar can save you from incoming Damage. Time it against dangerous telegraphed Boss attacks.

Advanced Skill Tips

• If you are close to being out of Rage and out of danger, get out of your Werebear Form and cast it again while it goes off Cooldown.
• Cast Warcry before shapeshifting into Werebear Form and immediately follow with Roar to get 8 stacks of Maelstrom and benefit from Windswept and Windfury instantly when entering a new zone.
• Casting Entangling Roots through Woodland Bear bypasses the Overgrown Garden Cooldown.
• Maul is a leap and can be used to go over tiny walls and terrain gaps.
• Use Roar before using Maul for the Damage Immunity before engaging dangerous enemies.

Gear

Gearing in Last Epoch revolves around finding Items and then using the powerful Crafting System to enhance them. As long as an Item has Forging Potential left, players can upgrade or modify their Affixes up to Tier 5. However, the powerful Exalted Tier Affixes are drop only and can't be modified by players.

Using the correct Item Bases allows you to make use of their amazing Implicits, this is fundamental for gearing efficiently. Combine Implicits, Passives, Idols and Blessings to cap your Resistances and other defensive layers, while fitting as much Health related Affixes or Endurance Threshold into your gear as possible. Plan ahead for your next upgrades and consider the final Blessings of your build while gearing. Finish up by farming Uniques with Legendary Potential and Sealing Affixes into Exalted Items to unleash all of your build's power!

Here are the Stat Goals for this build:

Gear Progression

Blessings

Idols

Idols grant your character bonuses when equipped in the dedicated Idol Container. Unlock all the slots of your Idol Container by completing the Campaign and some of its Side Quests. Remember that some Idols are Class specific and you won't be able to equip them with other non-compatible Classes.

Other useful Idol Affixes

• Health
• %Health
• Vitality
• Armour
• Elemental Resistance
• Fire Resistance
• Lightning Resistance

• Void Resistance
• Physical Resistance
• Poison Resistance
• Increased Aspect Of The Boar Effect
• Cold and Lightning Damage
• Damage Over Time While Transformed

Build Scaling

This Druid uses permanent Werebear Form to unleash Entangling Roots and Maelstroms for Damage. Both abilities are Cold Damage Over Time Spells that scale with the same stats. This build also has great survivability thanks to the multiple defensive layers it can take advantage of.

Loot Filter

Loot Filters are critical in Last Epoch. Making sure you highlight all the related valuable Item Bases, Affixes, Uniques and Idols is crucial to ensure your character's progression. As your gear gets better, remember to hide the rules that are no longer useful to avoid screen clutter.

Here is the Endgame Loot Filter for this build:

Download HERE!

Video Guide

Summary

This unstoppable Werebear Form build brutally charges across the battlefield with Rampage and uses Maul to cast Entangling Roots. Overall this Druid is an amazing setup capable of completing all the content in the game. It has insane AoE, great survivability and is one of the fastest mappers in the game.

• Use Maul to cast Entangling Roots.
• Cast Roar and attack with Swipe to cast additional Maelstroms while in Werebear Form.
• Maintain 6 stacks of Maelstrom to get Haste from Windswept and Frenzy from Windfury.
• Get at least 60 Attunement to double the Damage from Maelstrom's Turbulence Node.
• Weaponize Strength stacking thanks to the Wisened Claws Node inside Werebear Form.
• Berserker, Ursine Strength, Boar Heart and Impervious provide insane Damage Reduction.
• While they are not mandatory, Throne of Ambition, Aurora's Time Glass and Eterra's Path are great Uniques that you want to get to scale the build to its full potential.

Credits

Written by Lizard_IRL.
Reviewed by McFluffin.