So, just the other day I was looking at this runeword brand after learning procs are synergyzed. I however was moreso considering keeping things ranged. Less IAS, little less damage, but with a good merc, maybe a golem or skellys it might be more survivable. Here's what I was thinking. I noticed a similar build already up. According to Sara, it works in bear form. When I'm rolling in riches I hope to try this.
While this is not based off of this guide, I did check it out and she's clearly done more research than I have. Seems unlikely that most people here don't already know her work, but here's a link.
http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=40470979&f=87&o=110wep 1: Brand, demon crossbow-obvious
Armor: Maybe treachery? Ias is overkill, but the venom and fade would be nice. With the uber bone armor I don't think I'll need that much defense. Otherwise I'm feeling Fort. Also possible, trangs. CoH may be necessary.
Helm: Guilamer's perhaps, maybe a kira's as there's not a lot in the way of resists here. Maybe a dream?
Ammy:Maybe highlords, if I'm not wearing treachery I think this covers all the IAS I need and then some, and double strike is nice. But Seraph's hym is another possibility for some AR, but I'm not sure I'll need any, more later.
Belt: Razortail or Trangs (Razortail gives a near 33% chance to hit two enemies at once, two bone spears per shot yeah?)
Gloves: Trangs is a possiblity, otherwise something with life leach, maybe Enhanced damage.
Ring 1: Probably a Raven
Ring 2: Maybe an SoJ to help those summons, otherwise something with life leach and faster cast
Boots: Gores, Or whatever, maybe something with some resists.
Weapon 2: A white wand with a base +3 to bone spirit, some bonus in bone armor would be nice too.
Shield on switch: Trangs or a spirit
Prebuff Item swap: Demon Limb
So why the obsession with Trangs? Well, it doesn't really do phys damage that well, but it gives you a level 10 fire mastery when fully equiped. Switching back to your weapon, clearly this is going to go away, but it does let yourself get enchanted for a considerable extra amount of damage. The AR bonus from enchant Might allow you to hit some things without the ITD as well. The explosive bolts will be doing a hefty amount more damage. I am not a huge fan of tetras though, and charges are expensive, so staying away from demon limb and the trang set might not be a bad idea. The FCR from trangs gloves aren't bad, and if I decide to go with treachery I might keep those.
Game plan with this guy is to keep options open during the fights. Amp damage stays on and as soon as things start hitting the floor you can choose to swap to corpse explode. This should take care of anyone whose defense you can't ignore, well, this and any bonespears that hopefully hit them. When the bodies are cleared if there's still something standing it's a simple swap of weapons to start firing some spirits. If things get real nasty it's easy enough to swap over to curses like dim vision, attract, or confuse.
With this character you lose defense life, and damage compared to the bear, but the ability to cast anything anytime is nice, especially since it's not to hard to toss out another bone armor. I would say the chance at piercing, and those explosive bolts makes it worth it.
Skills would call for fully synergizing bone spear (1 pt into spear itself). So 20 in teeth, spirit, wall, and prison. You need amp damage, and probably want to get to decrep for curses, perhaps choose one or two AI curses of your choice. Probably not a terrible idea to throw some points in summons. If treachery and dream are being used, LR may not be a terrible idea.
This doesn't look much like a guide, but that's ok since it's not. This is just throwing an idea down for feedback. I do plan on attempting this build. Brand is expensive (though I already have the rest) so I don't want to go into this half cocked. Feed back would be lovely.