Pair Hulking Bear with Brass Knuckles for double unarmed damage and Drive It Home to make embedded weapons deal melee damage twice. Choose Hulking Bear at character selection, then look for Drive It Home at the Trainer and Brass Knuckles at the Merchant. If you're searching for a Chained Beasts best build to work toward, this setup turns thrown weapons into fuel for your punches.
What makes Hulking Bear strong for an unarmed build?
Hulking Bear gains brief invulnerability and fury when taking damage, giving your punching build a way to keep fighting at close range. You also have more health, at the cost of slower movement.
That trade suits a build which needs to get close enough to punch. The damage trigger helps when you get clipped, but the invulnerability is brief. Treat it as a recovery window rather than a reason to stand still and trade every hit. For other beast choices, see Chained Beasts characters.
Which equipment and skills should you prioritize?
Look for Brass Knuckles to increase your unarmed damage and Drive It Home to add damage from weapons embedded in your target.
| Build piece | Effect | Why you want it |
|---|---|---|
| Hulking Bear | Brief invulnerability and fury on taking damage | Helps you fight at punching range |
| Brass Knuckles | Double unarmed damage | Improves the punches you build around |
| Drive It Home | Punching makes all embedded weapons deal melee damage twice | Adds a payoff for embedding weapons first |
At the Merchant, look for Brass Knuckles under Equipment. Its card reads Double unarmed damage. Buy it for the punching setup; a weapon you keep swinging will pull you away from the unarmed attacks this equipment boosts.
At the Trainer, choose Drive It Home when it appears. Its Learn button sits below the skill's embedded-weapon effect.
For supporting upgrades, prioritize more punch damage and ways to gain fury through punching. One player built around a third-punch fury upgrade, described as lasting 5 seconds in that run, alongside punch knockdowns and fury from attacking tripped enemies. Those upgrades give you a way to gain fury through offense as well as through the bear's damage trigger.
The same player described a punch specialization granting +100% punch damage alongside Brass Knuckles. Treat that as an additional upgrade to chase, without assuming a combined damage multiplier. For more equipment context, see Chained Beasts weapons.
How do you use Drive It Home with embedded weapons?
Throw a weapon into an enemy first, then punch that enemy to trigger the embedded weapons' melee damage twice.
- Find a weapon you can embed. A spear is one option used with this build.
- Throw it into your target. The weapon needs to be embedded in the enemy you intend to punch.
- Move in and punch. Your unarmed attack triggers Drive It Home's embedded-weapon effect.
- Work fury into the follow-up. If you have the third-punch fury upgrade or fury from hitting tripped enemies, keep those triggers in mind as you attack.
Drive It Home uses the embedded weapons' melee damage. Build your attack sequence around landing the throw and following it with punches; a missed throw leaves that target without the embedded weapon you wanted to trigger.
Can the Hulking Bear punching build beat bosses?
This combination can deliver heavy boss damage: one player reported boss kills in three to four hits after the build came together. That is a result from their run, rather than a fixed hit count to expect from every boss.
In the Senate fight, the player planned to throw a spear, move behind the target, and punch. The run brought Machinatrix's health bar to empty with the bear still fighting in the arena.
Don't let the burst damage tempt you into an endless punching string. That player also ran into a trap and struggled with stamina during the final fight. Get your embedded weapon in, take your punching opportunity, and leave yourself room to move.
Once the pieces come together, you have doubled unarmed damage, damage-triggered fury and invulnerability, and an embedded-weapon payoff for punching. Take that setup into your next fight with Chained Beasts bosses for encounter planning.