Last Updated: June 25th, 2021
Moze’s Action Skill. At the launch of the game, it started out strong but quickly petered off
in effectiveness as you delved into the higher levels. Nowadays it is a pretty solid Action Skill instead of just a means to activating anointments or getting out of a sticky situation. But Iron Bear has many nuances you can make use of to make the mech utterly terrifying to your foes.
Tables of Contents
- Armor
- Iron Bear Weapons
- Action Skill Cooldown
- Iron Cub and Skill Tree Interactions
- Tactics
- Gear
- Builds/Skills
“Putting the ‘Iron’ in Iron Bear.”
Iron Bear can take some punishment without bolstering it further, but we can make the mech nigh un-killable to anything other than itself. At level 72 on Mayhem 10, Iron Bear’s armor is 1,674,410. So, just how far can we push the big guy’s armor? Over 12 million:
Iron Bear’s armor is largely based off of your maximum health at the time of activating your Action Skill. Things like the Deathless relic and Thin Red Line don’t affect this, but things like the “Turtle” parts on shields or the Loaded Dice artifact do as they lower your total maximum health. Any health boosts to you apply to Iron Bear as well:
- Base armor - 1,674,410
- One passive health boost - 2,093,012
- King Arthur’s Holy Grail or five total points in Stainless Steel Bear - 2,176,733
- Two passive health boosts or one triple-health-part shield - 2,511,615
- Ten total points in Stainless Steel Bear - 2,679,056
- 75% Bonus Health/Shields Anointment active when activating Iron Bear (achievable with Topped Off) - 2,930,218
- Plus Ultra - 3,348,820
- Multivitamin Plus Ultra - 4,186,025
- All of the above excluding the anointment - 8,974,838
- All of the above including the anointment - 12,993,425
You can further make Iron Bear indestructible by using the Bubble Bear skill or picking up some points in Feature Creep (with a Heat Exchanger class mod that has four points in Feature Creep, you could gain up to 225% damage resistance from the skill at the cost of a few points of Stainless Steel Bear’s damage and armor that other class mods could provide.)
“Big. Grizzly. Claws!”
Before the Maliwan Takedown hit, Iron Bear was seldom more than an annoyance without heavily building around it. Iron Bear can dole out some considerable pain, but not all armaments are created equally. In this section I’ll breakdown Iron Bear’s weapons based on a few criteria. The rating will be out of ten 
's.
Damage - How much damage per individual bullet, projectile, or attack deals at level 65 on a flesh target without damage boosts from skills or gear. Expect increased incendiary damage and reduced shock/corrosive damage.
Fire Rate - How often the weapon attacks in a second without any fire rate boosts.
Magazine/Heat Rate - How often you can use the weapon before you need to reload or cool off the weapon without any boosts to ammo consumption or heat gain.
Fuel Efficiency - How much you can use the weapon before your Action Skill ends, with no boosts to total fuel or fuel consumption.
Practicality - How useful is it actually in combat.
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Making a Splash - The Iron Bear's Damage Formula thread shows that most splash damage bonuses actually do apply while in Iron Bear (Class Mod, Artifact, Skill Bonuses). The Iron Bear weapons that can deal splash damage include all armaments in the Demolition Woman tree, as well as the Exploding Minigun, Molten Roar Salamander, Corrosive Sabot Railgun, and Wild Swing Bear Fist. If you’ve got the appropriate gear for it, you can get quite a bit more milage out of these weapons compared to their non-splash counterparts. However, increasing the splash damage of Iron Bear also increases self-damage with splash weapons (excluding the Corrosive Sabots, Hammerdown Protocol, or Wild Swing), which at Mayhem 10 can outright kill Iron Bear in a single shot.
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On Mayhem and Bears - Since the Bounty of Blood DLC released, Iron Bear now gains increased damage the higher the Mayhem Level is set to. On the higher Mayhem levels in particular, provided you invested decently into Iron Bear’s offensive capabilities, most weapons can work to some degree. It may be worth choosing a less-damaging but more practical option in said cases.
MINIGUNS
Minigun
Damage -
—149k damage per bullet.
Fire Rate -
—16 rounds per second at maximum rotation speed.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—7.5 seconds of continuous fire before needing to cool off.
Fuel Efficiency -
—17.5 seconds of total firing time.
Practicality -
—No particular advantages or disadvantages. Suitable for most combat situations, other than long range.
Overall -
—About what one would expect from the first weapon in a skill tree. DPS is decent, but it isn’t very friendly on fuel.
“Let Off Some Steam” Minigun
Damage -
—267k damage per bullet at maximum heat.
Fire Rate -
—16 rounds per second at maximum rotation speed.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—9.5 seconds of continuous fire before needing to cool off.
Fuel Efficiency -
—17.5 seconds of total firing time.
Practicality -
—Same usability as the standard minigun. Fairs well at close to mid range.
Overall -
—A flat upgrade from the standard minigun. More damage and better fuel efficiency. Use this one if you aren’t a fan of the Explosive Minigun or don’t want to use the Cryo Minigun in an area with many shielded targets.
“General Winter” Minigun
Damage -
—149k damage per bullet. (Says it has less damage on the skill card, but shooting the target dummy without any boosts suggests otherwise.)
Fire Rate -
—16 rounds per second at maximum rotation speed.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—8 seconds of continuous fire before needing to cool off.
Fuel Efficiency -
—25.5 seconds of total firing time.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to mid range. Cryo comes in handy for freezing enemies and dealing extra damage on armored targets. Suffers against shields however.
Overall -
—This weapon would be rated a star higher if there weren’t so many shielded enemies in most areas of the game. Being able to freeze a Badass in place is very handy. Can still function quite well if you use it alongside another weapon to get around shields.
“Exploding. Bullets.” Minigun
Damage -
—496k damage per bullet.
Fire Rate -
—4 rounds per second at maximum rotation speed.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—8.5 seconds of continuous fire before needing to cool off.
Fuel Efficiency -
—37.5 seconds of total firing time.
Practicality -
—Works well at most ranges due to the large splash radius, but be careful not to hit yourself. Isn’t a hog when it comes to fuel consumption. The large splash radius also takes out groups of baddies well.
Overall -
—Solid all-around weapon. Can easily become an 10-star weapon if you’ve got the right skills and some gear with splash/area-of-effect damage buffs. Not the best for a playstyle revolving around quick bursts of Iron Bear, but excellent for extended encounters in the mech.
FLAMETHROWERS
Salamander
Damage -
—140k per tick.
Fire Rate -
—4 ticks per second.
Fuel Efficiency -
—31 seconds of total firing time.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to medium range. Hampered heavily by shields.
Overall -
—Not a stand-out by any means, but not terrible. Stoke the Embers can give it a nice boost, but the presence of shields on most enemies really cuts down on the usefulness of this weapon.
“Fuel Economy” Salamander
Damage -
—140k per tick.
Fire Rate -
—4 ticks per second.
Fuel Efficiency -
—42 seconds of total firing time.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to medium range, and the speed boost can help close the distance. Hampered heavily by shields.
Overall -
—Slightly better than the standard Salamander, but still suffers from the same issues. Low base damage, high shield presence.
“Chemical Warfare” Salamander
Damage -
—52k per tick.
Fire Rate -
—4 ticks per second.
Fuel Efficiency -
—31 seconds of total firing time.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to medium range. Most enemies in the game are resistant to Corrosive damage.
Overall -
— This is a corrosive variant of an average weapon, with 95% of enemies resisting Corrosive in some form. Pass up on this weapon unless you’re in an area with tons of armor (such as the Handsome Jackpot DLC) and don’t want to use miniguns or railguns.
“Molten Roar” Salamander
Damage -
—281k per projectile. 128k per tick in the lava pool.
Fire Rate -
—2.55 mortars per second.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—Able to launch 10 volleys continuously before it needs to pause for a few seconds.
Fuel Efficiency -
—27 volleys of 3 projectiles each.
Practicality -
—Works well at most ranges. Hampered heavily by shields.
Overall -
— The best of the flamethrower weapons. With investment in Stoke the Embers and some splash-oriented skills and gear boosts, it can perform adequately.
GRENADE LAUNCHERS
V-35 Grenade Launcher
Damage -
—574k per grenade.
Fire Rate -
—1.66 grenades per second.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—15 grenades.
Fuel Efficiency -
—36 grenades able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to mid range. Has some arc to it, and doesn’t immediately detonate if it doesn’t hit an enemy. Can be difficult to hit airborne enemies sometimes.
Overall -
— Decent enough to start off a skill tree with. Can have some issues hitting mobile targets since it doesn’t immediately detonate unless it hits an enemy.
“Shaped Charge” V-35 Grenade Launcher
Damage -
—775k per grenade.
Fire Rate -
—1.66 grenades per second.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—15 grenades.
Fuel Efficiency -
—36 grenades able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to mid range. Has some arc to it, and doesn’t immediately detonate if it doesn’t hit an enemy. Can be difficult to hit airborne enemies sometimes.
Overall -
— It’s the V-35, but with a 35% damage boost on decently-aimed shots. No complaints here.
“Musical Chairs” V-35 Grenade Launcher
Damage -
—574k per grenade. 324k on singularity detonation.
Fire Rate -
—1.66 grenades per second.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—15 grenades.
Fuel Efficiency -
—36 grenades able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to mid range. Has some arc to it, and doesn’t immediately detonate if it doesn’t hit an enemy. Can be difficult to hit airborne enemies sometimes.
Overall -
—Singularities are handy in bunching up groups of enemies for you to blow them all up at once. Not a game changer, but can be nice as a support arm for something beefier.
“Lock and Speedload” V-35 Grenade Launcher
Damage -
—468k per grenade.
Fire Rate -
—5 grenades per second.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—15 grenades.
Fuel Efficiency -
—91 grenades able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Works well at close to mid range. Has some arc to it, and doesn’t immediately detonate if it doesn’t hit an enemy. Can be difficult to hit airborne enemies sometimes. Requires reloading often.
Overall -
— Best of the grenade launchers. Fire rate and fuel efficiency go way up, though you will spend some time reloading due to how fast you burn through your grenade stocks.
MISSILE LAUNCHERS
Vanquisher Rocket Pods
Damage -
—505k per individual rocket.
Fire Rate -
—7.2 rockets per second.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—36 rockets.
Fuel Efficiency -
—117 rockets able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Works well at most ranges. Projectiles move at a moderate speed.
Overall -
— The Vanquishers will seldom disappoint. Above-average damage, high fire rate, big ammo capacity, and fantastic fuel efficiency. And if you slap some splash damage/area-of-effect damage boosts from gear as well as Moze’s splash-focused skills, this easily becomes a 10/10 weapon. Very well-suited to unloading some serious boom on enemies and hopping out of the mech, and fares well in extended combat.
“Active Tracking” Vanquisher Rocket Pods
Damage -
—505k per individual rocket.
Fire Rate -
—12 rockets per second after locking on.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—18 rockets.
Fuel Efficiency -
—110 rockets able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Works well at just about any range, but it might not fair quite as well in close range as some of the other “fire-and-forget” options. Can hardly miss a locked-on target, but requires frequent reloading due to emptying out your entire stockpile often. Due to the homing, it becomes difficult to land critical hits sometimes.
Overall -
— Trade roughly half of the Vanquisher Rocket’s ammo capacity for almost double the fire rate (with a lock-on requirement for firing) and homing capabilities. Can make hitting critical hits easier or harder depending on the enemy since the rockets tend to strike from above, but Splash weapons are usually fairly easy to hit your enemies with anyway. Still, excellent for chasing particularly mobile or airborne enemies.
“Target Softening” Vanquisher Rocket Pods
Damage -
—113k per individual rocket.
Fire Rate -
—6 rockets per second. Fires six rockets for the cost of three.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—18 rockets.
Fuel Efficiency -
—48 clusters able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Works well at close range, starts to drop in effectiveness at mid-range. 15% extra damage from all sources is a decent boost.
Overall -
—The raw stats are lesser than the unaugmented Vanquisher pods, but if you want something to make your other weapons a bit stronger, this isn’t a bad choice.
“Hammerdown Protocol” Vanquisher Rocket Pods
Damage -
—3.03 million per rocket.
Fire Rate -
—1 rocket every 3.5 seconds.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—1 rocket.
Fuel Efficiency -
—7 rockets able to be fired (barely).
Practicality -
—Works at most ranges due to the massive splash radius. Projectiles pause briefly before swiftly accelerating. Does not damage the user. Radiation works well against most foes.
Overall -
—While it does have six times the damage of the Vanquisher rockets, it is unable to deal critical hits (normally). It’ll almost assuredly hit more than one enemy per rocket though, so it can pull some weight when it comes to groups of foes. Crank your damage up high enough and gibs will rain.
RAILGUNS
Railgun
Damage -
—1.82 million per laser.
Fire Rate -
—Once every three seconds.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—1 round.
Fuel Efficiency -
—11 rounds able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Excels at sniping. Maims shields. Somewhat difficult to use in close-quarters.
Overall -
— If you’re aiming to pick off enemies at range or nail heads, Railguns are a solid choice. For other playstyles, you would be better off going for other armament types.
“Hell on Rails” Railgun
Damage -
—4.9 million per laser.
Fire Rate -
—Once every three seconds.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—1 round.
Fuel Efficiency -
—11 rounds able to be fired (Skill card says it has worse efficiency, but testing suggests otherwise.)
Practicality -
—Excels at sniping. Wrecks flesh enemies, but more often than not said enemies have shields. Somewhat difficult to use in close-quarters.
Overall -
— By itself, it struggles with shielded enemies. If you pair it with a Shock railgun though, you get a nice one-two combo that can put the pain on enemies from afar. It also gains a nice damage boost from Stoke the Embers.
“Capacitive Armature” Railgun
Damage -
—1.82 million per laser. 1.36 million per tesla.
Fire Rate -
—Once every three seconds.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—1 round.
Fuel Efficiency -
—11 rounds able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Excels at sniping. Utterly destroys groups of shields. Somewhat difficult to use in close-quarters.
Overall -
— It’s the standard railgun, but with an ability to damage nearby enemies as well. It’ll strip a crowd of their shields faster than just about anything. The lightning chains four times (including off of yourself for no damage), so it ends up doing considerable damage. The only thing it lacks is splash damage for healing Iron Bear; otherwise it is considered the best Iron Bear weapon in the game by many.
“Corrosive Sabot Round” Railgun
Damage -
—243k on initial laser hit, 1.215 million on detonation.
Fire Rate -
—Twice a second.
Magazine/Heat Rate -
—3 rounds.
Fuel Efficiency -
—Able to fire 3-round volleys a total of 8 times.
Practicality -
—Despite the penalty on flesh, it is still able to deal decent damage. The fact that it has 3 rounds instead of 1 is considerably more useful.
Overall -
— Like the incendiary Railgun, it struggles with shielded enemies. Pair it with a shock railgun to fix that issue. As for the Sabot railer itself, it is more forgiving to use since it has more than one shot to spare. It’s also the only railgun to get splash damage boosts, meaning you can crank the damage considerably higher.
BEAR FISTS
Bear Fist
Damage -
—1.37 million per punch.
Fire Rate -
—Once every two seconds.
Fuel Efficiency -
—13 punches able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Close-Quarters only. Expect to receive lots of damage in the process.
Overall -
— There are far better options that you could use for a close range build. Bear Fist weapons /augments can’t crit in most cases, so you aren’t even getting better damage overall usually. If you’re insistent on Punch-Bear, go with one of the Bear Fist augments.
“Wild Swing” Bear Fist
Damage -
—1.37 million per punch. With a neutral element, the explosion deals 482k damage.
Fire Rate -
—Once every two seconds.
Fuel Efficiency -
—15 punches able to be fired.
Practicality -
—Still close-quarters only, but depending on your luck you can deal a lot more damage per punch, or minimally more.
Overall -
— This is one of the better options for Punch Bear, since the splash effect can be boosted by skills and gear. Beyond that though, it still has the drawbacks of lacking in all areas other than damage.
“Close the Distance” Bear Fist
Damage -
—896k per punch.
Fire Rate -
—Once every four seconds.
Fuel Efficiency -
—6 punches able to be fired.
Practicality -
—It addresses the issue of having no range, but it is costly and slow.
Overall -
— You can grab foes from quite a range and drag them to you, but you trade basically every other stat in order to do that. Probably not worth grabbing this one currently.
“Shockhammer” Bear Fist
Damage -
—827k per punch. Bonus shock damage deals 322k damage.
Fire Rate -
—2.6 times per second.
Fuel Efficiency -
—14 seconds of continuous punching.
Practicality -
—You finally get a DPS that is more than once every two seconds. The shock damage also helps take out shields.
Overall -
— Best fist in terms of damage-per-second. Wild Swing has better synergy with skill and gear splash boosts though.
OTHER DAMAGE SOURCES
Iron Bear Melee Stomp - 470k
Iron Bear’s Self-Destruction - 881k
Dakka Bear - 215k per bullet.
“No time for hibernating.”
Maximum unboosted duration without firing weapons: 100 seconds.
Maximum unboosted Action Skill cooldown duration: 100 seconds.
Covered by HurdyGurdy’s “Efficiently Increasing Moze’s Cooldown Rate” thread. It goes in-depth on basically everything you would want to know about getting back into Iron Bear as fast as possible.
On a different note, the “Topped Off” Guardian Perk can chop that cooldown from 100 seconds to 33 seconds, and it makes it possible to use the “After exiting Iron Bear, gain 75% increased shields and health for 25 seconds.” anointment for boosting Iron Bear’s armor. Enter Iron Bear, immediately exit, keep your shield full for around 12 ~ 15 seconds, and then you can hop back in Iron Bear with a lot more armor to work with. If you’re against using Guardian Ranks, you can minimize the impact it has on you by investing tokens into Luck instead of stats related to combat.
Teddy!
Iron Cub Base Stats
- Base Damage - 70% Of Iron Bear’s.
- Fuel Efficiency while using weapons - Consumes only 80% as much fuel as Iron Bear does.
- Duration and Cooldown when not using weapons - Same as Iron Bear, 100 seconds for duration and cooldown.
“My Little Friend” Iron Cub augment
- Damage - 131,347 per bullet (on flesh, Level 65 Mayhem 10/11.)
- Fire Rate - Fires in bursts of four bullets every two seconds (or longer).
- Fuel Efficiency - Does not seem to consume fuel.
- Can trigger Short Fuse and presumably other bullet-related effects.
Gear Bonuses and Iron Cub
- Health Boosts, Action Skill Damage, and Area-of-Effect/Splash Damage from gear do affect Iron Cub.
- Elemental Damage, Weapon-Type Damage, Manufacturer Damage, Critical Damage (including things like using the Unforgiven), and the Old God do not affect Iron Cub.
Anointments and Iron Cub
- Bonus Damage for (Iron Bear Weapon) while Iron Bear is Active - Does affect Iron Cub, even if you switch away from your weapon with the anointment and switch back.
- Splash Damage Anointments - Activate when Iron Cub’s duration is up, does affect Iron Cub if you manage to re-activate Iron Cub in time.
- Bonus Damage while Action Skill/Iron Cub is Active - Works as expected for Moze.
- Consecutive Hits - Does not affect Iron Cub, but Iron Cub can help build up Consecutive Hits for you.
- Anointments that activate at the end of Iron Cub’s Duration and do not affect Iron Cub - Next Two Mags, No Ammo Consumption for 5 seconds, 100% Weapon Damage, Auto Bear anointments (if the skill is invested in), 50% Bonus Elemental Damage.
- Anointments that do not affect Iron Cub - 300% Damage/90% Enemy Health, 150% Bonus Radiation Damage while under 50% Health.
- 30% Increased Iron Bear Cooldown - Works while Iron Cub is on cooldown.
- 75% Increased Health/Shields - Can be applied to Iron Cub if it is reactivated in time.
- Action Skill Active Nova - Works as expected.
- Enter/Exit Iron Bear Nova - Activates upon activation and running out of fuel.
- 20% Chance to produce a Grenade - Grenade is ejected from you instead of Iron Cub.
- 25% increased damage after throwing a grenade - Does not affect Iron Cub.
Legendary Class Mods and Iron Cub
- Blast Master - Bonus Splash affects Iron Cub.
- Mind Sweeper - Iron Cub can produce micro-grenades if it scores a critical hit.
- Rocketeer - Does not extend Iron Cub’s Auto Bear duration.
- Bear Trooper - Works as expected.
- Raging Bear - Does not appear to work with Iron Cub.
- Green Monster - Pseudo-Blast Master effect works with Iron Cub, does not recieve bonus Corrosive damage.
- Flare - Moze and Iron Cub both receive bonus damage.
- Sapper - You do not receive health from damage Iron Cub deals. Vampyr also does not heal you from damage dealt by Iron Cub.
- Heat Exchanger - Iron Cub receives increased Minigun damage.
Artifacts that can be triggered by Iron Cub
- Otto Idol (heals Moze)
- Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge (builds stacks for Moze)
- Victory Rush (applies to Moze)
- Knife Drain (heals Moze), Static Touch, Unleash the Dragon, and White Elephant can all activate when Iron Cub stomps an enemy.
- Grave (Splash damage bonus applies to Moze and Iron Cub.)
Elemental Projector, Flesh Melter, Ice Breaker, and Electric Banjo do not affect Iron Cub.
Skill Trees and Iron Cub/Iron Bear and Bear Mother Skill Tree
Iron Cub and the original three skill trees
- Cloud of Lead - Yes.
- Stoke the Embers - Yes.
- Rushin’ Offensive - No.
- Scorching RPM’s - Yes.
- Specialist Bear - Yes.
- Fire in the Skag Den - Yes.
- Deadlines - Yes.
- Torgue Cross-Promotion - Yes.
- Stainless Steel Bear - Yes.
- Vampyr - Yes.
- Drowning in Brass - Yes.
- Full Can of Whoop-Ass - Yes
- Experimental Munitions - Yes.
- Desperate Measures - Yes.
- Phalanx Doctrine - Yes (only if stacks are gained while Cub is active.)
Iron Bear and the Bear Mother skill tree
- Biofuel - Yes.
- Big Surplus - Does not affect anything other than Moze including Auto Bear.
- Really Big Guns - Yes.
- Double Time - Yes.
- Fired Up - Not while piloting, Auto Bear can stack it.
- Nitrotrinadium Engines - Yes.
- Never Going To Give You Up - Yes.
- Feature Creep - Yes.
- Limit Break - Works with Auto Bear.
- Superior Firepower - Only seems to affect Moze, regardless of Iron Bear or Iron Cub.
- Running on Fumes - Only works for passive fuel consumption (Iron Bear and Iron Cub).
Other
Augments in the “Bear Mother” tree cannot be equipped on Iron Bear, only Iron Cub.
At higher Mayhem difficulties, Iron Cub will almost assuredly kill itself if you’re using an iron Bear weapon with splash. Iron Cub has a tendency to disregard objects between itself and the target, and mayhem-boosted splash damage will destroy Cub in a heartbeat. Recommended to use the Railguns or a weapon without self-harming splash like the Hammerdown Protocol to avoid sudden Cub death.
“Smarter than the average bear.”
There’s a few pointers to keep in mind while in Iron Bear. We’ll cover them one by one.
Offense - Most of Iron Bear’s weapons should be used in close to mid range in order to increase your odds of hitting criticals. If your enemy does not have a crit zone that can be easily reached, it isn’t a bad idea to pelt them from further away, as Iron Bear’s weapons are usually fairly accurate. You can also use Auto Bear as a distraction while you run around and hurt enemies from behind.
Defense - It depends on how you’ve built Iron Bear. If you’ve gone super tanky with Iron Bear or don’t plan on using it long, you can ignore weaker attacks and close the distance for most armaments. Otherwise, you can consider pulling out of combat for a few seconds to let the Bubble shield recharge. Try to keep an eye out for cover to prevent getting focus-fired down by crowds if you can, Iron Bear is a big target after all. While out of Iron Bear, you can hop into Iron Bear as a means to escape if you’re in a rough situation, since Iron Bear does not take damage for the first few seconds after activating it. You can also hop in and back out to have a nice meat shield (or Iron shield in this case) if you’ve got Auto Bear. While the Bubble Shield is up, you’re pretty much safe inside the shield from most sources of damage. Be warned that Iron bear’s splash weapons can damage itself and the Bubble Shield if they explode too close, so keep enemies a bit further outside the range of the Bubble shield if you’re using splash weapons to help preserve your safety bubble.
Movement - Iron Bear moves fastest when jumping. Unless there is a ceiling blocking you, or you need to be more precise with your shots, always jump around. If you press jump while in the air while in Iron Bear, you instantly accelerate to top speed. You can even change directions mid-air if you jump off the ground in one direction and then press your jump button while holding a different direction. This can be handy for throwing off the aim of enemies. Lastly, activating Iron Bear in the air is roughly twice as fast as activating it on the ground.
“Bear games on unicycles!”
Weapons
Recommended Weapons
- Dark Army - Drones remain active while piloting Iron Bear, can be boosted with the “150% radiation damage while under 50% health” anointment and SMG Damage.
- Boogeyman - The on-kill skulls can activate while piloting Iron Bear. Use in conjunction with the 150/90 anointment for best results.
- Zheitsev’s Eruption/S3RV-80S-EXECUTE - Can be used to debuff an enemy before you enter Iron Bear or while partnering up with Iron Cub.
- Lucky 7 - Lucky 7 has some interesting interactions with Dakka Bear.
- Stauros’ Burn - Not exactly a “recommended” weapon, but the self-inflicted dot can be removed while maintaining the critical effect by entering and exiting Iron Bear.
Weapon anointments for use while piloting Iron Bear
- While Iron Bear is active, (Iron Bear Weapon Type) Damage is increased by x%.
- Element crit hits can cause status effects of that element to explode, creating a nova that deals 500% of the Status effect’s damage.
- While an Action Skill is active, constantly produce novas.
Weapon anointments for use after exiting Iron Bear
- After exiting Iron Bear, the next 2 magazines will have 125% bonus incendiary damage.
- After exiting Iron Bear, gain 160% increased Splash damage for 18 seconds.
- On Action Skill End, The next 2 magazines will have 100% additional bonus (Element) damage.
- On Action Skill End, Splash Damage is increased by 125% for a short time. (Does not increase shield capacity temporarily like Moze’s Splash anointment does)
- After exiting Iron Bear, do not consume ammo for 5 seconds (only if you do not have the skill “Some For The Road”.)
- While Auto Bear is active, deals 130% bonus incendiary damage (Only if using the “Rocketeer” Class Mod for greatly increased Auto Bear duration.)
- While Auto Bear is active, constantly regenerate 8% of magazine size per second (Only if using the “Rocketeer” Class Mod for greatly increased Auto Bear duration.)
Shields - There are a few shields that mesh well with Iron Bear. It depends largely on how you plan on using Iron Bear.
Recommended Shields
- Plus Ultra - King of armor boosting, also helps with cooldown.
- Old God/Gas Mask (with triple “Healthy” roll) - Handy for a Moze damage boost or extra Fight-For-Your-Life time.
- Mendel’s Multivitamin Shield - Easily obtainable 50% health shield, always comes with fixed shield parts.
- Band of Sitorak (with double “Healthy” roll) - Low capacity and high-recharge rate means “Topped Off” can be active more often.
- T.H.I.C.C Shield - 50% health shield that can come in either Anshin or Pangolin flavor.
- Frozen Heart/Snowshoe shields. If you find one of those two shields with the “When entering and exiting Iron Bear, create a nova that deals damage” anointment, the Iron Bear novas inherit the Frozen Heart’s nova properties.
- Messy Breakup - The shield drone remains active while in Iron Bear, can provide some modest fire support.
- Red Suit/ Ember’s Blaze. The respective elemental auras of these two shields remain active while piloting Iron Bear.
Grenades - First of all, you’re going to want to find a grenade with the “While Iron Bear is active, taking damage has 20% chance to spawn a grenade.” anointment if you aren’t using Iron Cub. Being able to use grenade mods while in Iron Bear is quite handy.
Recommended Grenades
- Cloning Maddening Tracker - Handy for applying DoTs with Skag Den, bread-and-butter Moze grenade for Vampyr.
- Fish Slap - Deals loads of damage through melee mayhem scaling.
- It’s Piss - Easy free damage boost.
- Quasar - Singularities for bunching up enemies.
- Epicenter - Easily apply DoTs to foes, decent grenade for damage as well.
- Hunter-Seeker/Hex - Deals gun damage instead of grenade damage, can proc Short Fuse. Radiation versions can be used for applying rad dots if you aren’t using Hammerdown Nukes.
- Whispering Ice - Easily freeze foes.
Artifacts - The effect of the artifact yourself is whatever you prefer, we’re more concerned about the passive bonuses. Splash Damage/Area-of-Effect Damage, Max Health, Action Skill Damage, and Action Skill Cooldown are the passive bonuses you want to keep an eye out for.
Artifacts and Artifact Effects that work in Iron Bear
- White Elephant/Static Touch/Unleash the Dragon/Knife Drain - Can activate when stomping in Iron Bear (Knife Drain heals Moze). Not especially potent, but if you want every available option, they’re here.
- Berserker Rush - Doesn’t affect Iron Bear, but if you stomp and exit Iron Bear, Moze gets the bonuses for a few seconds.
Class Mods - There are several choices of class mod for using with Iron Bear. It depends largely on how you plan on using Iron Bear.
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Eternal Flame/Bear Trooper/Tank Gal - For maximizing Iron Bear uptime. Eternal Flame means you can hop back into Iron Bear in mere seconds with the right setup, while Bear Trooper aims to make your fuel go as far as possible. Tank Gal is an acceptable substitute if you’re unable to get ahold of a Bear Trooper.
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Raging Bear/Commander - For those who want to be a “Bear-serker”. Take bullets and lives to increase your duration and damage. The Commander is a substitute to the Raging Bear, as it boosts Vampyr and Deadlines while also giving you access to Some for the Road to raise hell after you get out of Iron Bear.
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Blast Master - The splash bonus works whether on foot or piloting/accompanying a mech, so grab your favorite splash gear and augments and do Mr. Torgue proud.
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Green Monster - Take the Blast Master, but change the condition for accumulating splash damage from not reloading to not re-pressing the fire button. Since it boosts Scorching RPM’s, it has considerable potential for Iron Bear damage.
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Bloodletter/Low Life - For Gunners invested heavily into the Shield of Retribution tree. Desperate Measures and Phalanx Doctrine both affect Iron Bear, so your mech of choice can reap some benefits. The Low-Life is an alternative for those who don’t want to go the 1-Hp route, as Drowning in Brass affects Iron Bear too.
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Rocketeer - For the Gunner who wants less of a bear and more of a turret. Auto Bear has increased fire rates with some of the slower firing weapons like the railguns or nukes, so plop Iron Bear (not Cub) in an ideal vantage point and watch it clear the area. It also doesn’t hurt that the Rocketeer boosts one of Moze’s most absurd skills, Fire in the Skag Den.
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Flare/Heat Exchanger - For maximizing your mech’s damage, the Flare is the way to go. It outright doubles your mech’s damage when your fuel is full, leading to the highest damage achievable with a mech. It is also suited for builds that simply want to hop into Iron Bear, blast something real quick, then get out to reap Anointment bonuses. If you’re using Iron Cub, it boosts the damage of Moze and Iron Cub. The Heat Exchanger is another option worth considering since it currently can spawn with up to four points in Feature Creep. If you plan on using Miniguns when piloting Iron Bear it is best-in-slot for damage, as the damage is superior than Flare and isn’t tied to your fuel percentage. Even if you aren’t using Miniguns, +4 Feature Creep is a big boost to damage for other weapons and beats the Flare for damage if you’re under 50% fuel.
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Mind Sweeper - The Mind Sweeper’s mini-grenades can proc from your mech if it crits. Bonus points in Skag Den and Redistribution are heavily appreciated as well, just try not to blow up your mech with the mini-grenades.
SKILLS
“Bear Necessities.”
Regardless of which side you go after, you always want investment in the middle tree for Iron Bear. There are too many good skills in there to pass up on, so adjust your skills based on your class mods and needs. In general though, you’ll want to get Vampyr and Specialist Bear (or Desperate Measures) for survival and damage respectively.
- Bugs - Scorching RPM’s fire rate boost only applies to the left arm as well. Damage boosts from skills do not work on the Bear Fist weapons at all. Explosive Punctuation also seems to have some issues with cooldown, so be wary of it for now.
Deadlines - Obvious choice for extending Iron Bear’s duration.
Grizzled - It’s worth grabbing if you’re going to put four or more points in it. It plays better with the Topped Off Guardian Perk than most sources of cooldown do. Even having just one point in it can allow Big Surplus to activate early.
Fire in the Skag Den - Extra damage from splash never hurts. This skill gets an enormous bonus in Mayhem Mode (up to 495% incendiary damage at Mayhem 10 with five poitns invested). It also happens to get boosted by sources of Iron Bear damage increases, making it a near instant pick for investing it.
Means of Destruction - A must have on any splash-focused build. Extend the time you’re blowing crap up and not reloading.
Torgue Cross-Promotion - Extra splash damage helps bring the hurt…to both your foes and yourself. If you’re primarily going to be firing from mid-range, consider grabbing this skill, but you’ll be prone to killing yourself at close range. If you’ve got plenty of splash or area-of-effect bonuses on your gear, you can skip this one if you aren’t comfy with bigger splash radius.
Stainless Steel Bear - More armor, more fuel, more, damage, more Bear. You want as many points as you can afford to cram into this skill for an Iron Bear-centric build.
Pull the Holy Pin - It mostly boosts Moze, but it can boost anointed grenades from Iron Bear as well, assuming you have the anointment that gives Iron Bear a chance to launch grenades when struck.
Auto Bear - An easy one point investment. Auto Bear can be a real powerhouse with the Rocketeer com, but 15 seconds of a bear turret is worth it even without it.
Vampyr - One of Moze’s most reliable recovery skills provided you have a good grenade for the job. It also makes Iron Bear nigh un-killable to anything other than One-Hit KO attacks or your own splash damage.
Why Can’t I Carry All These Grenades? - A completely useless investment for Moze. Unti it does something other than add more grenades, never get this skill.
To The Last -Doesn’t help out Iron Bear in the least, but it can sometimes come in handy for a downed Gunner.
Explosive Punctuation. - Seldom worth investing into as long as you have Topped Off, Grizzled, and some cooldown from your gear.
Short Fuse - Solid all-around skill. It used to be boosted by anything that boosts Iron Bear damage, but now it just gets boosted in Mayhem Mode. Moze certainly gets use out of it.
Cloud of Lead - Bonus damage and 25% more shots before reloading for both Moze and Iron Bear. Easy choice.
Dakka Bear - It only really shows its mettle if you’re using the Rocketeer class mod, but Iron Cub appreciates some extra damage.
Matched Set - If you’re running an allegiance build, feel free to invest in this skill by all means. Otherwise, ignore it.
Stoke the Embers - Boost the strength of Cloud of Lead and Fire in the Skag Den. It can also boost Hell on Rail, Molten Roar, and Wild Swing if you’re feeling spicy.
Redistribution - One of Moze’s best skills easily. One point here gives so many benefits.
Scrappy (or Matched Set/Dakka Bear) - Handy for taming guns with higher recoil while on the go or switching between firing modes. The damage bonus doesn’t hurt (us) either.
Scorching RPM’s - Increases Moze’s Fire Rate, Iron Bear’s Damage, and critical hit damage for both of them. Easy pick.
Rushin’ Offensive - Helps to give Moze some extra survival if she’s trying to wait out the timer between Bear activations. Worth the point.
Specialist Bear - Directly increases Iron Bear’s damage as long as you’re using two weapons of the same type. Two miniguns, two grenade launchers, two missile launchers, two flamethrowers, two railguns, or two fists. If you need more skill points for other skills, set this as the last skill you invest in for the Bottomless Mags tree, the damage boost is that significant for iron Bear.
Iron Bank - We need four more points to hit “Some For The Road”, and Moze’s ammo regeneration appreciates bigger magazines.
Some For The Road - Five seconds of infinite ammo can go quite the distance if you’re using it with a good Heavy weapon or other select weapons. Especially potent if you’re going to hop in and out of Iron Bear often.
Click, Click - If you’re far enough down the tree to get this and don’t mind not being able to mindlessly hold down the fire button, it isn’t a terrible pick. Still, not a fantastic pick either.
Forge - If we’re this far down the tree, you may as well grab it. It doesn’t benefit Iron Bear, but it is a cornerstone of Bottomless Mags builds.
Selfless Vengeance - If your Moze actually reloads more than once a minute, it might be worth grabbing. Armored Infantry is the preferred Tier 1 skill in this tree though.
Bubble Bear - It’s a one point investment for a lot more tank-ability for Iron Bear. A big boost that can recharge itself if you hop out of the fray for a few seconds and let it recharge. It rises in usefulness proportionately to your maximum armor.
Armored Infantry - More usable than Selfless Vengeance for most Moze builds. Doesn’t affect Iron Bear though.
Thin Red Line - This turns health-heavy shields like Plus Ultra and any other health boosts you may have into something quite palpable for the Shield of Retribution tree. This does not affect Iron Bear’s total health.
Drowning in Brass - Despite not saying it on the card, Drowning in Brass works while in Iron Bear too. A top-notch skill for increasing damage while fighting mobs.
Desperate Measures - One of the largest reasons we want to go this far down the Shield of Retribution tree (the other being Corrosive Sabots.) With the right class mod, you can gain up to 100% damage for both Moze and Iron Bear. Well suited to using the Deathless relic to always have maximum damage if you don’t have five points in Thin Red Line. If you need some extra skill points to use in other skill trees, set this skill as the last one you invest in for the Shield of Retribution tree.
Phalanx Doctrine - The damage-boosting portion of this skill works for both Moze and Iron Bear. If you’re going full-blown Shield of Retribution, this is a must-have skill.
Force Feedback - For a one-point investment, it isn’t bad for use while on-foot. Doesn’t do diddly for Iron Bear though.
Tenacious Defense - Another Moze-only capstone. If you’re running a 1-HP build it is largely negligible, but otherwise an ok skill to grab if you can reach it.
Biofuel - As long as you’re using one of Moze’s many skills to add bonus fire damage, this is basically free health regen all the time during a firefight. It is also one of the few means of restoring your mech’s armor.
Big Surplus - As long as your Action Skill is on cooldown, you can gain up to nearly 500% bonus fire damage just by having three points in this skill. If you’re running Iron Cub, Grizzled can trigger the cooldown to happen while Iron Cub is active.
Really Big Guns - A short and simple boost to Iron Bear’s damage. Worth tossing some points in if you have them around.
Double Time - The only skill in Moze’s repertoire that boosts movement speed. It works whether on foot or piloting, so it has a bit more worth if you’re piloting frequently.
Harmonious Havocl - It’s Matched Set, but for gun damage. Again, if you’re going for an allegiance build then invest in this skill, otherwise you can pass it over.
Explosive Fury - Considering how easy it is for Moze to set things on fire or otherwise status them, this isn’t a required skill to have, but it can come in handy sometimes.
Fired Up - Gain up to 25% extra fire rate just by lighting things up. A good use of a skill point unless you are very conscientious about keeping ammo regeneration rates better balanced to consumption.
Nitrotrinadium Engines - The cooldown would be more appreciated if there weren’t several better means of cooling off your Action Skill (mentioned in the Cooldown Section earlier.) More fuel is decently aprpeciated, but unfortunately it has to contend with Never Gonna Give You Up as a 4th tier skill.
Never Gonna Give You Up - One of the few means of restoring fuel to your mech. An easy choice to pick as long as you’re this far down the tree. Couple it with Deadlines and the Raging Bear class mod to have a silly amount of fuel recovery.
Feature Creep - One point to make your mech a little stronger and even more difficult to kill? A sure deal.
Limit Break - If you are this far down the tree and you don’t have anywhere better to put the points, throw them here. It can help mitigate the loss of Topped Off while you aren’t at full shield capacity.
Superior Firepower - While few people rely on status effects to actually kill things, being able to double it for one point is a worthy enough investment. Incidentally it also boosts cryo damage instead of efficiency, so that’s a cool 100% bonus to cryo damage.
Running on Fumes - It is unknown whether or not the skill is not functioning correctly, but in practice it seems to have far weaker effects than what you would expect from the description.
“Banjo Bear” by LazyData
Summary - Optimized Iron Bear build, adjustable for either near-perpetual up-time or extreme damage.
“Minigun Moze” by RamenDeliveryTruck and Prismatic
Summary - High damage dakka.
No-Purple-Tree Iron Bear by Prismatic and Rampant
If you think you can contribute towards “Build-a-(Better) Bear”, feel free to speak up or otherwise brainstorm ideas. We can always look for more ways to improve Iron Bear.