Level 30 Beorning Review - Red Line

I've been levelling my little Beorning lately and she has just reached level 30. She is mostly questing solo, with occasional skirmishes for variety, using the red ("The Claw") trait tree. These are some of my thoughts about the class so far.

My Beorning

First Impressions

The introduction in the Vales of Anduin was too short. The zone was practically deserted and I don't think it gave much background lore on what it means to be a Beorning.

So many times I wish I had a proper gap-closer to get into combat without face-pulling. I wish Rush was either targeted so you charge directly at a mob, or that Bee Swarm had no wrath requirement so it could be used to start combat (I know you can use Ferocious Roar to generate wrath even out of combat, but it has a long cooldown). Even having Vigilant Roar taunt mobs in man form would be useful. Using the bow auto-attack helps, but it's not really ideal - I'd prefer to have a specific skill rather than an auto-attack. I'd like to see them make entering combat a better experience.

AOE could be a little frustrating at times. In man form, we had Biting Edge as an AOE move (although it didn't do much damage and the cooldown seems too long), but mostly it was burn them down one by one. Having Hearten to heal and Cleanse to remove debuffs was a life-saver. In bear form, they died pretty quick with Thrash but it required having a lot of wrath built up to get all the mobs down before the wrath ran out. I also seemed to take a lot of damage in bear form and couldn't use Hearten so had to rely on potions. I got Relentless Maul at level 30, which is a bear form AOE, so it might get better.

I spend most of my time in man form because it takes a while to build enough wrath and usually by the time I have, the mob is almost dead so it's not worth changing to bear form. I mostly only change to bear if it's a longer fight against an elite, or I have lots of wrath and several mobs to kill close together. I believe it gets easier to build and maintain wrath later, so this is fine for now.

Bear Form
(demonstrating Relentless Maul)

I spent most of the first 30 levels dual-wielding clubs but recently changed to a two-handed axe. At first, combat felt so much slower with the two-handed axe, like I was waiting longer between abilities, but I was hitting much harder and when I get a crit mobs die fast. I've seen some discussion on the forums about dual-wielding being better for man form and two-hand weapons being better for bear form. I think I'll stick with two-handed weapons for now, but maybe compare weapons again at a higher level.

Gear hasn't been too much of an issue, with quest rewards (the boxes of might-based medium armour are great), crafted jewellery and occasional pieces from the skirmish vendors. I need better weapons though. I also need to work on increasing the right virtues to boost stats and hopefully make her a little less squishy.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm finding the class enjoyable enough that I want to stick with it. I think it will get better at higher levels as we get more abilities and traits.

Pros

• Interesting class with ability to change forms
• Good self-healing in man form
• ST damage is good

Cons

• Takes a lot of damage, particularly in bear form
• AOE damage is not great
• Initiating combat can be frustrating, especially with no wrath