So Amarathy put out a Shaman (human form only) version of the build on maxroll while there are also the more well known werebear versions (e.g. see Dr3adful or Luqas Moorhuhn). What do you guys think are the advantages and disadvantages of each version? I think both versions will do great, so this is not a battle of the build versions or “who did the build first” post. I am just interested and would like to have a constructive discussion.
Things I could think of with my limited knowledge and experience:
Shaman:
higher Maelstrom stacks (maybe even much higher?) and therefore more buffs etc. that you can get per stack. I think this might be the biggest advantage of this version.
Summon Spriggan buffs
Later shaman passives (elemental shrines branch + Lagon’s answer branch). Though I don’t understand why he specs passives which only provide bonuses with an active totem. As far as I can tell he never has a totem out (only lists summon Thorn totem as an alternative to Summon Spriggan, but that is not the main version of the build he is presenting).
Werebear:
easier mana management
strong druid passive class bonus
later druid passives are also very nice
damage scaling in werebear tree
of course there are also different versions of the werebear Tornado: speccing Swipe versus speccing Maelstrom. What does everyone think about those two options?
That’s it! He uses one Ornate Idol with 10% chance to summon a Thorn Totem. However this is mentioned nowhere in the written guide. So if you read this Amarathy: This should be clarified to explain the passives which are only active with a summoned totem.
Thank you very much Llama8! Would love to hear more of your thoughts on the two build versions.
Again: I am in no way doubting that the author is an expert and that the build is great. I am just interested in the differences between Shaman and Werebear version.
I am curious which direction you went with this build?
I’m also at the same crossroads. For now I’m leveling as a werebear with tornado per the Maxroll primalist guide. Not sure what the final build will be, druid vs shaman
I am level 98 shaman tornado , im having 41 mana regen/s . pretty neat map clearing , cast speed was like 5 tornado/s , BUT THEN i spec into bear form in level 98 , COSTING 900k fudging gold !!! just to turn out giving away my mobility , now i need to spam bear human once in 5 sec , damage wise its little bigger than my shaman tornado , but i would say shaman won my heart everytime , i dont need to change into bear every few sec , my mana never past 70% all the time , i can spam every here and there , now i cant respecting to shaman again because im runing out of gold , please dont be like me
Thanks for the answer. Sorry for your loss lol
I am using the bear version now while leveling and the shape shifting doesn’t feel necessary except to refill mana. I must have missed the point of it. I’ll plan tornado shaman
Werebear has a node that with all the points gives like 40% MORE lightning damage for 6 seconds. Aside from that, some folks like clearing with Rampage when their damage is high enough/farming low enough corruption
My biggest question regarding the Werebear build is really choosing Maelstrom vs Swipe as the last skill. I’ve seen both of these being utilized and am wondering what’s the biggest difference?
I was trying an idea last night, Swarmblade with the Tornafo on hit node, the Tornado gloves for more Tornados on hit (& this is any hit, so the storm bolts from the Tornados will proc more Tornados from the gloves), 2x Aftershock on melee hit idols & the Avalanche boulder on Aftershock, it was quite amusing with all the procs & it got expensive on Rage with 4 points in the Boulder on Aftershock node (20 Rage per proc).
No idea how it would actually fare, but it was amusing at least.
