Boss Totems can be tricky to deal with, but the nice thing is that they’re predictable and only take effect on four battles.
Head: Canine
Body: Guardian, Hefty, Loose Tail, Mighty Leap, Rampager, Sharp Quills, Stinky, Waterborne
Takes effect on Coyotes, Wolf Cubs, and Wolves in phase 1, depending on the map number. Also affects his Bloodhound in phase 2.
Hope for Hefty/Rampager (can block his own cards from coming on the board) or Guardian (replaces his Bloodhound's innate Guardian, so it doesn't get an extra sigil.) Pray you have a good deck if you get Stinky or Waterborne.
Head: Avian
Body: Hefty, Rampager, Sprinter, Stinky, Blood Lust
Takes effect on Kingfishers and Ravens in phase 1, depending on the map number. Affects Ravens in phase 2.
Hope for Hefty/Rampager/Sprinter (can block his own cards from coming on the board) or Blood Lust (doesn’t help Airborne cards unless they can kill a card with Mighty Leap.) Stinky is honestly the only really painful option.
Head: Reptile
Body: Airborne, Fledgling, Guardian, Rampager, Sharp Quills, Sprinter, Stinky
Takes effect on Strange Frogs and Bullfrogs in phase 1, depending on the map number. May affect some of the Trader cards in phase 2.
Guardian, Sprinter, and Rampager are generally the only helpful ones. Honestly, most of Trapper/Trader's Totem options suck. Pray you get them on Map 1 so they're easier, or on Map 3 where you should have your deck mostly set up. Kill him as fast as possible. Movement sigils can actually be useful here, as they can avoid the Leaping Traps.
Head: Insect
Body: Blood Lust, Fledgling, Loose Tail, Sharp Quills, Stinky
Takes effect on Mantises, Mantis Gods, and Amalgams in phase 1. Can sometimes affect Trader cards when the Trader mask gimmick activates.
If you get Blood Lust or Fledgling, kill him as fast as humanly possible.
Head: Avian
Body: Sharp Quills, Sprinter (WIP, INVESTIGATING)
Takes effect on the Zombie Parrot.
Doesn't really do much to the fight since it only affects one card.
Changes
Bifurcate, Touch of Death, and Double-Strike removed from Leshy's Totem options. New Totem options added.
Previously:
Body: Bifurcate, Touch of Death, and Double-Strike
First phase will usually be the hardest, as you usually have to deal with one of the following:
Touch of Death Mantis Gods
Bifurcated Amalgams
Double-Strike Amalgams
DStrike Amalgams are objectively the worst very painful to fight, because DStrike calculates each strike separately. Thus, if you’re trying to block the Amalgams with cheap, low-health cards, the first strike will kill the creature and the second strike will hit you.
Basically, you cannot use Squirrels for chump blocking. Also makes Corpse-Eater-on-Squirrel-death strategies mostly impossible. Depending on your play style, this can be a very easy challenge, or a very difficult one.
The safest and “easiest” ways to beat bears center on 1) opening a single lane, and 2) immediately dealing lethal damage.
While you can run a defensive strategy, like with recycling card combos, you run the risk of decking out and having to deal with Starvation.
These are some examples of ways to beat bears.
Hook and Pliers
Steal a bear, use the Pliers, then deal 4 bear damage for lethal. Will not work for Oops-All-Challenges.
Hook and 1+ Bifur/Trifur damage
Steal a bear, then place your Bifur/Trifur card in the adjacent lane so you can deal 4 bear damage + 1 damage for lethal. Mantis deck is a reliable way to achieve this. Will not work for Oops-All-Challenges.
Scissors and 5+ damage
Cut up a bear and deal lethal.
Skinning Knife and 5+ damage
Cut up a bear and deal lethal.
Hourglass and 6+ damage
Kill a bear in 1 turn, then deal lethal.
Wiseclock and 5+ damage
Open the leftmost lane and deal lethal.
Magickal Bleach and 5+ Airborne damage
Bleach Mighty Leap off the bears, then deal lethal.
Magickal Bleach and Fan with several damaging cards
Bleach Mighty Leap off the bears, place cards, use Fan, then deal lethal. Good because it can work with a variety of cards, but is more reliant on item RNG. More difficult when playing with Oops-All-Challenges, since it uses both of your item slots.
Double Strike with 6+ damage
Kill a bear with first strike, then deal lethal with second.
Double Strike + Death Touch with 5+ damage
Kill a bear with first strike, then deal lethal with second. Very niche version of the strategy above.
Bifur + Trifur with 6+ damage
Kill a bear with first L/R strike, then deal lethal on second L/R strike.
Bifur/Trifur with 6+ damage, second hitter with 5+ damage
Open an adjacent lane, have second hitter in that lane deal lethal.
Bifur/Trifur + Death Touch, second hitter with 5+ damage
Open an adjacent lane, have second hitter in that lane deal lethal.
All of these are also applicable to Oops-All-Challenges, except the Hook ones, as Tipped Scales only applies to phase 1 of bosses, and bears are phase 2.
Having more than one of the above usually ensures that at least one of them will work, and gives you a safety net in case the first option doesn’t pan out.
If you want to or need to run a defensive strategy, recycling card combos, such as ones using Unkillable or Bees Within, are generally a safe bet, as long as you have enough damage to kill the bears before Starvation sets in. This is also one of the few times a fat deck comes in handy - the more cards you have, the longer you can afford to take to kill the bears.
Starvation strategy
An interesting tactic is to save your Airborne cards and/or Fan and stall until Starvation appears, then use the Airborne cards to attack over Starvation, since unlike the bears, Starvation will not have Mighty Leap. This is not a recommended strategy, as it's quite slow and requires a lot of stalling, which means more time to make mistakes. However, it can be very reliable if you practice it, and it's something to keep in mind as a last resort.
Here's a fantastic video of this strategy in action, by Slash#8261.
All decks can win against bears, but these are the most commonly winning decks to the least commonly winning decks.
Blood Deck
Works well with hand manipulation, as always. A good way to get high damage in a single lane without needing as much investment in a specific card.
Mantis Deck
Buff the Mantis God to ridiculous heights, or use it in combination with other cards to sneak more damage into a lane. Also works well with hand manipulation.
(Blood Deck and Mantis Deck are on about equal footing.)
Water Deck
The strong Myco potential of the Kingfishers and the fact that they synergize well with Bleach makes the Water deck a fairly consistent winner.
Vanilla Deck
The Wolf is a decently effective card when given a multi-strike sigil and a couple buffs.
Bone Deck
The Dire Wolf Pup is very useful with a few buffs, as you can set it up to evolve during phase 1. Lammergeier can also be good with bone generation and Bleach, if you get it.
Free Deck
Suffers from a lack of damage early on, but can be useful for defensive strategies, such as with Unkillable/Fecundity for infinite blockers. Can also be buffed into decent bear killers. Its main problem is that it needs a fair amount of investment to be strong enough to survive the first boss.
Egg Deck
Strong Myco potential, and if you somehow manage to hatch the Hydras, multi-strike sigils are always good. However, it takes a lot of investment, whether you buff the Eggs or hatch the Hydras. Best strategy is usually just to abandon the Eggs altogether.
Ant Deck
The safest way to beat bears is to focus damage on a single lane, and Ants only reach their full potential with a full board. Also, with a cap of 4 attack per lane without Leader or multi-strike sigils, Ants have more difficulty killing bears versus other decks. An Insect Totem with Ant Spawner can help with defense; however, you still need sacrifices to keep placing Ants on the board. In general, while Ants can beat bears, on average, they require the most investment for the lowest potential reward.