Bear Shaman or Barbarian

Hey folks ! Recently upgraded my account after playing with my f2p toons for a long time. After all the experience I have been through with classes I can confirm that I like melee classes and I love my barbarian and bear shaman most. Fast play of barbarian feels amazing but bear shamans overpower position makes me feel very good also. I am looking for your experiences to make a decision. I like to do pvp minis, open world pvps and pve contents.

Bs carry hard in mini games and are really fun in pvp. I personnally find them boring in pve.

I personally like both the classes but it’s really up to what you like. If you want to top the kills in minis and feel faster than everyone else then choose the barb. If you want to win more minigames and support your group while killing off some useless necro every now and then then choose the bs.
For the pve i’d choose the bs because most groups lack healers and most groups try to get one tos/pom and one bs so you’re only competing against other bses for the spot. The barb in the other hand often compete with other rogues or all the dps classes for the spot so it’s harder to get into groups. But again, if you want to top the parse and that’s where you get your dopamine then play the barb.

Hope this helped you a bit. have a nice day.
/The Ubermileys

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Thanks for the all the fast replies ! Especially Ubermiley’s post hit me very hard :grin: From pve aspect I do not choose barb for hitting the max damage in dps charts, I am just picking it for lore aspect and its speed. But you are right, there are lots of end gear experienced dps to pick up in group rather than new lowbie dps. But in the other hand bear shaman is really good for finding spot in pve adventures but feels too slow during the gameplay. I am having hard times to choose main because everything character bound in the game. Thats why I am asking too much questions and opinions. Please forgive me :pleading_face:

I can only speak on a pvp perspective.

I think BS can be frustrating if your team doesn’t have good dps players (usually the easiest role to play) but getting clutch big heals, saving teammates with CCs, and other supportive tasks are really satisfying and the single target dps is great for punishing classes like assassins; as well as being the best class to synergize with other melee physical damage classes. BS is also overpowered in duels, but it’s a hard class to learn in my opinion. Big learning curve.

Barb has simple mechanics and it’s really exciting. If you face a demo or necro in pvp you’ll be able to demolish them quickly and speed off to your next target (if you have similar gear). It’s a terrible class for supporting your teammates because it lacks good defensive CCs and CC diversity. You do damage and run around fast that’s pretty much it. With all the T6 mages in minis on crom you’ll be absolutely melted until you get some RF rings or some T3 gear, but once you get some nice gear barb feels amazing, and there’s a lot of viable specs to play around with and find your favorite way to play.

Playing a bear shaman once you have the T3.5 set and above is like having the power of god in your hands.

Protections, Debuffs, Dps, Vision for group melee buff, bears if you want to solo heal anything in the game or pick up chicks, a tree to prevent deforestation which is the great overlooked problem facing Hyboria today… did I mention you get a big two-handed blunt to compensate for other areas you find lacking in your life? No…oh…ok…

Anyway, BS carry hard. I have been your host. ITS COMING HOME.