Bear Sorceress Introduction & Overview

The Bear Sorceress is a little known, but quite fun build which is still viable in D2R. It utilizes a Dream Shield and a Dream Helm to deliver up to 60k lightning damage per hit. The Bear Sorc has great survivability compared to other sorceress builds, thanks to the +120% life bonus when transforming into Werebear form. While the build’s attacking speed is quite slow, it one-hits almost any monster. However if you want to do Magic Finding, this is not a build to farm with.

 

Bear Sorceress Pros and Cons

Pros

  • The build is a lot of fun
  • Huge Single Target damage
  • Good Survivability
Cons

  • Not an effective magic finder
  • Not viable for Uber Tristram
  • Not viable for Hardcore

Bear Sorceress Gameplay

Playing solo: Gameplay is very unique with this build. Firstly you should cast a Frozen Armor, Battle Orders, Battle Command and Enchant on yourself. Then you should switch weapons and put on a Beast Runeword weapon, allowing you to transform into a werebear. Then you should switch to your weapon of choice for attacking. Unfortunately %increased attack speed no longer boosts attack speed like it used to, so having IAS on your items is unnecessary. You should just run around and one-hit monsters. Make sure to wear a Lightning Sunder charm to deal with lightning immunes.

 

Playing in a party: Your party members will be grateful if you buff them and their mercenaries with Enchant. Otherwise gameplay is the same as in solo.


Playing Hardcore: 
Unfortunately the build is not HC viable


Bear Sorceress Skills

Cold Spells

  • 1 point to Frozen Armor

Lightning Spells

  • 20 points to Lightning Mastery

Fire Spells

  • 20 points to Warmth
  • 20 points to Enchant
  • 20 points to Fire Mastery

Bear Sorceress Stat Points

Strength

Allocate enough Strength points to be able to wear your gear.

Dexterity

Allocate enough Dexterity points to be able to wear your gear.

Vitality

Put all your points on Vitality.

Energy

Don’t put any points on it.

 

You can re-stat your character by the quest reward of Akara’s Act1 Den of Evil Quest, or by using Token of Absolution.


Bear Sorceress Mercenary

You should have an Act2 Holy Freeze Aura mercenary equipped with an Infinity runeword weapon for resistance reduction and crowd control.


Bear Sorceress Item setups

Helm: Dream runeword Bone Visage/Diadem

Amulet: Metalgrid / Mara’s Kaleidoscope

Weapon:  Last Wish runeword / Phoenix runeword / any weapon of your choice

Switch Weapon: Call to Arms + Beast runeword

Shield:  Dream Troll Nest

Switch Shield: Spirit Monarch

Body Armor: Chains of Honor runeword

Belt: Arachnid Mesh

Rings: 2*Raven Frost / 2*Stone of Jordan

Gloves:  Magefist / Dracul’s Grasp
Boots: Gore Rider

 

Charms: Lightning Sunder Charm, Any charm with +skill, life, resist or FHR will help. 

Notes: Aim for 75% all resistances. You can use magic and rare items in any of your gear slots, and can also use them for your Mercenary.

 

Mercenary Gear

Helm: Ethereal Andariel’s Visage socketed with Ral rune
Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude Archon Plate
Weapon:  Infinity runeword (preferably in Ethereal Thresher)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *