Wereraven is the caster half of the Berserker mastery added in Fangs of Asterkarn, and it plays nothing like its Werewolf sibling. It deals cold and piercing damage, carries no weapon-damage component, and leans on heavy self-healing to survive. The whole build hinges on two choices: which second mastery you pair it with, and how you deal with the fact that your own attacks are cold while the Eldritch Raven pet does lightning.
Quick answer: Take Berserker first for the Wereraven transformation, Ice Talons, and Cold Snap, then pair it with Occultist for chaos shred and single-target damage, Shaman for a full elemental caster, or Nightblade for survivability. Use conversion gear like the Call of the Brotherhood ring to unify the raven’s lightning with your cold.
Best second mastery for a Wereraven build
Berserker supplies the transformation and both native raven attacks, so the second mastery is where the build actually takes shape. Four combinations come up again and again, and each one answers a different weakness. Pick based on whether you want more single-target damage, a full elemental caster, or a defensive backbone.
| Combo | Second mastery | What it fixes |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic | Occultist | Chaos resistance shred and Doombolt for single-target burst |
| Primalist | Shaman | Wind Devils and Storm Totem for a cold/lightning hybrid |
| Reaver | Nightblade | Strong survivability tools alongside cold and piercing damage |
| Evoker | Arcanist | Energy regeneration, casting speed, and cold support |
Occultist (Mystic): the default pick
Occultist is the most popular choice. The raven’s own output is cold and piercing, but you can augment it with chaos, and Occultist’s Doombolt plugs the single-target gap the form struggles with on its own. Its chaos resistance shred and supporting gear make it the safest all-round pairing, and it turns the character into a real attack build rather than pure raven-spam.
Shaman (Primalist): the elemental hybrid
Shaman is the pick for a full elemental caster. Wind Devils give you a second pet to stack alongside the raven, and Storm Totem layers lightning on top of your cold to build a two-element package. Winds of Asterkarn is not required here since the raven’s default attacks already clear well, but the channeled area damage is useful in dense packs and holds up against bosses.
Nightblade (Reaver): the defensive pick
Reaver exists for players who kept dying on a squishier setup. Nightblade brings genuinely strong survivability tools, and most of its kit lines up with Wereraven’s cold and piercing damage. If an Occultist raven felt too fragile in the mid campaign, this is the fix.
The cold vs. lightning pet damage split
Here is the trap nobody warns you about. When you shift into Wereraven, the transformation grants two skills, Ice Talon and Cold Snap, and both deal cold damage. The Raven pet tied to the Eldritch set line, however, does lightning. That means every point of bonus cold damage on your gear buffs your own attacks and does nothing for the pet, so the build ends up fighting itself.
The answer is conversion gear. The Call of the Brotherhood ring converts a portion of lightning damage to cold, though you should read the ring’s own tooltip rather than trusting stray percentages people quote. There is also an offhand that converts the Raven’s damage to cold, but it only works once you have the Eldritch 4-piece bonus. Stack enough conversion and you push the whole build toward a single damage type instead of splitting stats across two.
Gear priorities for Wereraven
The single biggest goal is the Eldritch tier set. Even part of it makes the Raven pet scale off your own player stats instead of its flat base numbers, which is the difference between a raven that tickles enemies and one that chews through their health. You do not need the full four pieces to feel the build come online; two or three noticeably improve the raven’s damage.
- Cap resistances first. Aether and chaos resistance lag behind because most cold-focused gear does not roll them naturally.
- Value defensive ability and armor. The form’s healing is strong, but only if you survive long enough for it to proc.
- Hunt for legendary pieces with built-in lightning-to-cold or cold-to-lightning conversion to close the damage-type split.
When you compare weapons, the form’s rules change what matters. Wereraven has its own basic attack and cannot trigger weapon-pool skills, and Ice Talons and Cold Snap do not use a normal weapon-damage component. Prioritize global cold and frostburn bonuses, casting speed, offensive ability, skill ranks, energy regeneration, resistances, and useful granted skills over the weapon’s displayed DPS. A lower sheet-DPS weapon can be the clear upgrade when it adds global cold damage, casting speed, and skill ranks.
Note: Energy sustain is the raven’s main early weakness. Keeping Ectoplasm components in your gear helps until your equipment catches up, and by around level 40 a pure Berserker foundation stops running dry. Arcanist smooths this out earlier through passives like Elemental Exchange, Inner Focus, and Mental Alacrity.
Best devotions for Wereraven
Devotions do three jobs on this build. They add an early damage proc, boost cold damage against tougher enemies, and provide recovery once incoming damage becomes the wall. Tsunami is the first offensive constellation to take because it triggers off Ice Talons, the attack you are already pressing on every map. Bind it to Ice Talons rather than a utility skill that might sit idle for several packs.
| Devotion | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Tsunami | Reliable early cold and frostburn proc, bound to Ice Talons |
| Viper | Reduces enemy elemental resistance for tougher targets |
| Giant’s Blood | Health, armor, and a large heal chance when hit |
| Tree of Life | Big flat health regen if you are already stacking green points |
| Ghoul | Converts a slice of attack damage into health |
| Blizzard | Cold and frostburn area damage, but requires critical hits to trigger |
Move toward Viper when Heroes and bosses take far longer than normal packs, since cutting their elemental resistance improves the damage you already have. A later route can run Viper into Sailor’s Guide, Scholar’s Light, and then Blizzard. Do not abandon a reliable Tsunami setup just because Blizzard is on the map; if Blizzard rarely fires, check your offensive ability and its skill binding first. Giant’s Blood is the pickup that solves most of the “why do I keep dying” complaints once bosses hit harder than expected, but it supplements capped resistances rather than replacing them.
Core skills and combat loop
Wereraven unlocks by advancing the Berserker mastery bar to its 10-point threshold. That is a mastery-bar requirement, not a character-level one, so you can take the form well before level 10. Character level 10 only matters for selecting your second mastery.
Ice Talons is the repeatable attack for single targets and spread-out enemies, and it doubles as your main devotion trigger. Cold Snap is the close-range answer when several enemies gather on you, not a replacement for every Ice Talons cast. Rallying Cry is an active buff and heal, so it needs a hotbar slot; even one point restores health and adds movement speed and offensive ability for a long duration. Fire it before bosses and Heroes, before entering a dense room, and whenever the previous buff expires.
The rotation stays simple. Enter Wereraven before engaging, activate Rallying Cry, open with Ice Talons on the priority target, then reposition while frostburn and devotion damage keep ticking. Drop Cold Snap when enemies reach melee range, and use Evade to leave ground effects instead of squeezing in one more cast.
If normal packs melt but a boss barely moves, the missing piece is usually energy, offensive ability, devotion bindings, or resistance reduction rather than more area damage. If packs die fast but you keep getting burst down, stop adding damage and repair whichever defensive layer is failing. Delay a full Summon Familiar investment until you have the endgame gear for that hybrid, since splitting early points between Wereraven and a pet leaves both underdeveloped.
Common questions about Wereraven
Is there a hidden third shapeshift form?
No. A rumor about a hidden werewolf/raven hybrid tied to Fangs of Asterkarn has floated around, but nothing is confirmed and datamines have not turned up anything, so treat it as a troll comment.
Does Wereraven deal cold or lightning damage?
Neither by default across the whole build. Your own skills, Ice Talon and Cold Snap, deal cold, while the Eldritch Raven pet deals lightning. You need conversion gear such as the Call of the Brotherhood ring to bring them onto the same damage type.
Locked in, a Wereraven is one of the strongest additions in Fangs of Asterkarn, with sharp single-target damage and heavy self-healing once the pieces line up. Get the second mastery right, close the cold-lightning split with conversion gear, and chase even a few pieces of the Eldritch set, and the rest of the build largely takes care of itself.
