Ive heard it all from EBOTD T mauls...eth death decap and glorious axe...upped ribcracker as well as eth EBOTD archon staff...eth zodded reapers toll...eth 3 socket tomb reavers...what is BIS for PVM or PVE? TIA! P.S. - Budget is not a problem...just want the best overall avg dmg with speed and best mods on an item for AOE....etc....Please name merc gear if that matters to enhance the maximum output of said weapon. I appreciate your time fellas!

This post was edited by Gecco38 on Oct 2 2025 05:42pm

Assuming you'll use metamorphosis and activate mark of the bear...

eBotD TM = highest dps vs everything except diablo, baal, dclone, ubers
wolf lvl 31 and just 60ias on TM = enough to reach 3fpa middle hits 5+(3)+6
wolf lvl 38 and 80ias (you get 40 from LoH + HL) = enough to reach next bp 4+(3)+6
you would need 120ias to reach last bp at 4+(3)+5 but then you lose dps

Great Poleaxe is next best base for eBotD, due to +4 range, still good avg dmg, faster speed.
It can reach max speed with lvl 38 wolf and just the 60ias on weapon, leaving room for gear like atmas, dracs/steelrend

eDeath decap (or glorious for 1 less avg dmg but +1 range) = highest dps against diablo, baal, dclone, ubers
again, with lvl 31+ wolf
can reach 3fpa middle hits with 40ias from LoH + HL 5+(3)+6
could alternatively use hustle armor + LoH for 60ias 4+(3)+6 -> amy slot can be used for atmas

Self-wield eth zod'ed reaper is a popular option, as it offer more QoL than relying on merc to proc decrep.
But you get so much bonus life and leech on fury wolf, you don't need cta at all on swap. You can easily just have a reaper on swap to more reliably self-trigger decrep vs immunes.
Using a might pride merc will just give you way more dmg on average than a reaper merc, because you will most likely run ahead of merc and finishing killing most stuff before he could proc decrep.
If however you opt for a reaper merc, here's the best way to build it :
eth andy cham
eth hustle AP
eth reaper 15ias/30fire
This is gives him high mobility, reaching the 75ias for faster decrep procs, 15/30fire must be in reaper to have cham in andy for cbf and this is fixing the -30fire from andy.

If I had to chose one single setup, I'd go with something like that :
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/kzpj40cu
pure titan build, 3k life is more than enough when you go back to full hp with a single fury
you get lvl 38 wolf, reaching max fury speed on both ebotd TM and reaper on swap (edit, I meant the penultimate bp on TM side)
26 skill points left, can go in summons (max dire wolf so they can tank), but I don't like the way they scatter mobs around instead of letting them come at you...
you could put those skills, in hurri/armaggeddon, but without synergies they do no dmg at all
in the end, my favorite thing to do with those points is just to dump them in maul/bear, cuz then whenever you quickly use that form to trigger MotB you still feel pretty strong

enigma ain't a bad option either, only loosing ~7% dps, you get tele while unshifted and higher frw when shifted, can replace 2x SS skillers by max/ar gcs

This post was edited by SinsOfTheSun on Oct 2 2025 09:19pm

Archon staff BoTD for the best min damage in game also and pretty cool sound.
The main annoying thing with BotD - nova procs all the way.
But yes, top Choices is Death Decap, Bodt and Reapers.
If you go titan build you didn’t see any difference in p1-p4, After that Death is the king. Still I like Reapers very much and have it on swap all the way.

what about ribcracker

My understanding is that ribcracker was made obsolete by the IAS change.

I’m not a fan of the concept of Meta. I just used Eth Reaper’s Zod with Jalaals 40/15 and everything melted.

You can play without meta, sure.
But this helm is completely busted.

25% Eias
30% ar
20% DR
40% life
25% CB
CbF
10@ res
20 stats
Up to +8 SS skills

That’s like equipping at the same time CoA + jalal + guillaume + cham + 3-4x 15ias jewels + 8 jah
Even with all the above you still miss 10% ar, 5% dr, 3 skills (but you have a bit more of some useless fhr/res)

It’s just not an option if you gm pvp without prebuffs.
But for pvm? bm pvp?
You’d be a fool to refuse to use it just to avoid going into bearform 2-3 seconds per 3 mins.
You can now shift directly from wolf to bear and vice versa, way less delay than before.

Eth 290+% Ribby is strong choice.
50%cb and other useful mods.
Stylish weapon.

Ty so much for the input and taking time to explain it to me. looks like i might need at least 3 different weps. Can you elaborate as to why or why not staffs are not a better option? Ribcracker....archon staff ebotd... Also how would an act 1 faith wielding merc do for a fury druid?

Rangeadder is very important on a fury druid, both for pvm and pvp.

For pvp, if you outrange someone in a situation of up to +4 to +1, you’ll have time to land a few hits and apply things like slows before the other even starts his attack sequence. You could even use knockback to keep the range advantage or literally kite by repositioning.

For pvm, more range means you require to move less between dispersed mobs. You could miss attacks if mobs move out of your reach also.

Staves (archon botd and ribcracker) have only +1 range.

Bases with both higher average dmg and higher rangeadder (like TM, GPA, decap, glorious) totally outclass staves now that the ias tables are easily reached with any non-spear class weapons.

Faith merc?
Bad idea… the aura range is small, without tele to constantly reposition her you’ll always be out of range. Snd fana lvl 15 is way less dmg than might lvl 24 + conc lvl 20

I really appreciate your input!!! I think almost all of this is attainable for me except for 3//20//20's and that troll belt...man....that thing is insane!!! I do have a rare 24fhr//30str//30life belt but with no res....i have to figure out where i will get my res from. Also i think i need to start the build with searching for a a very good META helm like what you posted....that may take some time. Also, whats ur input on act 5 mercs with certain weps?

This post was edited by Gecco38 on Oct 3 2025 06:11pm