Is the Bear Smash guide from the old forums still accurate?

Leveling my bear shaman right now, and it seems everyone still likes the spec that guide uses.

I’m just curious if the rotation is still accurate?

For instance, he seems to heavily favor IB2 over IB3+, is there a reason for that? I see the combo damage isn’t much different but not sure how the bleed damage is calculated.

Thanks in advance

It should still be accurate. Nothing has changed in-game.

You use IB2 because it’s the fastest and getting the manifestation up is more important than the extra combo/bleed dmg.

The build is actually a bit off. Since Bewilder has been changed to affect raid bosses it is a mandatory feat.
Also, in my opinion, i would not skip Ursine Spirit. Damage reduction for your tanks and mana for
yourself. You can skip the miniscule damage from Brutal Walker for it. ( build )

Also make sure you use the “challenging” rotation with Ursine Brawl, another debuff which reduces damage
on tanks.

Thanks fellas!

I have been using the “challenging” rotation as well as that build linked while leveling for practice, it’s pretty effective. Appreciate the help

Choice of IB combo is weapon dependent, IB4 has higher base damage, IB2 has higher calculations and it’s faster. Basically that means if you’re using a low DPS weapon like T1, IB4 will outperform IB2. But when you have a T4 weapon, IB2 kills IB4.

So you should pick the combo based on your weapon (I don’t remember where the changeover is, maybe T3, it’s been a good 6 years since I tested it). But if you want to be lazy, just go with IB2 and forget about 4.