Bear Form

Bear Form
Bear Form 3.7% of base mana Instant cast Shapeshift into Bear Form, increasing armor contribution from cloth and leather items by 120% and Stamina by 20%. Significantly increases threat generation, causes Agility to increase attack power, increases haste and critical strike from items by 50%, and also protects the caster from Polymorph effects and allows the use of various bear abilities. Rage is set to 10 upon shifting into Bear Form. The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of movement impairing effects.
Usable by
Class	Druid
Properties
Type	Utility
School	Physical
Cooldown	(GCD 1.5 sec)
Level required	10
Related buff
Bear Form Immune to Polymorph effects. Increases armor contribution from cloth and leather items by 65% and Health by 20%. The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of movement impairing effects.
TCG image

• Bear Form
• 3.7% of base mana
• Instant cast
• Shapeshift into Bear Form, increasing armor contribution from cloth and leather items by 120% and Stamina by 20%.
  
  Significantly increases threat generation, causes Agility to increase attack power, increases haste and critical strike from items by 50%, and also protects the caster from Polymorph effects and allows the use of various bear abilities.
  
  Rage is set to 10 upon shifting into Bear Form.
  
  The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of movement impairing effects.

Bear Form is the first shapeshift ability learned by druids at level ten. Before level 40, it emulates a mail armor and after that emulates plate armor. This form has tank-like abilities, similar to a warrior.

While in bear form, the druid's mana bar is replaced by a rage bar. It is the most damage resistant form a druid has. While using [Frenzied Regeneration] and having enough Rage to fulfill the effect, this gives tremendous survivability.

Tips and tactics

Main article: Druid tactics

• As a druid, you really need to get a feel for when to change forms. Early on in the game, you may find it useful to cast a few long range spells, such as Wrath or Moonfire, then change to bear form when an enemy gets close.
• Bear form is generally good to use against non-casters or those with higher armor, since you do higher melee damage, but at a slower attack speed.
• If you're not sure if you can handle your (melee) enemy(s) (i.e. higher level, may be adds), use bear form until you get a feel for the fight.
• Also, as a tank, bear form has a pretty reliable taunt to draw aggro away from more squishy party members.
• For details on tanking as a druid in raids, see the druids as tanks page.
• In Bear Form, or as a Druid in general, you cannot block or parry, so your only method of ignoring damage is through dodging. However keep in mind that you do not gain rage from dodging an attack. However, druid tanks receive ways to absorb damage equal to or superior to blocking or parrying.

Notes

• You are considered a beast, so abilities that target beasts can be used on you. For example Hibernate and Scare Beast.
• Shapeshifting breaks snare, root, and Polymorph effects.
• Your caster form will start regaining mana immediately after you change to bear form.

Media

Night Elf and Tauren old bear forms.

Tauren bear forms.

Night elf bear forms.

Troll bear forms.

Worgen bear form.

Night elf art (TCG)

Tauren art (TCG)

Troll art (TCG)

Animations

• Bear form shares many animations with the common bear enemy in World of Warcraft, such as clawing, running, biting and roaring.
• Bear form has no /laugh or /cry animations, not surprisingly!
• When speaking, Bear form druids shake their head around and shift their jaws in an odd fashion.
• The Bear Form /dance animation consists of jumping onto their hind legs, waving their front paws around, and hopping from foot to foot, before going onto the ground and bounding up again.
• The Bear Form eating animation causes the druid to land on their behind and chew away, and the interaction animation (looting, etc) consists of the druid clawing and sniffing at the ground.
• Upon death, the druid cries out a roar similar to normal bear mobs before morphing back into their original form.

Pre-Cataclysm

• The Bear Form ability was upgraded to Dire Bear Form at level 40. You received an increased armor bonus while in dire bear form, to match the introduction of plate armor to warriors and paladins at the same level.
• The quest chain no longer exists. Previously, to gain the Bear Form ability you had to complete the Bear Form quest chain, starting with the quest Heeding the Call. Once completed, you needed to speak to the druid trainer that initially sent you on the quest, to learn the ability.

Patch changes

Patch 1.6.0 (patch date:2005-07-12): 

• • Shapeshifting will now counteract the slowing effects of frost-based spells (Frostbolt, Frost Shock, Cone of Cold, etc.).
  • Druid shapeshift form buttons are no longer dimmed while under the effects of Polymorph. 
    

Patch 1.4.0 (patch date:2005-05-05): Shapeshifting into an animal form will now remove Polymorph effects. 
Patch 1.2.0 (patch date:2004-12-18): Armor bonus increased from 65% to 180%. 

External links

• Wowhead
• Thottbot
• DB MMO-Champion

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