Bear Form: Endurance Charges are useless at campaign start

Could we get some reason to use Endurance Charges on early-game Druid?

One of the Bear Form's innate passives is generating an Endurance Charge after spending 15 Rage. There are zero uses for Endurance Charges native to the Druid until Skill Gem Level 18/Tier V (Arctic Howl for Wolf Form) and zero native to Bear Form until Level 22/Tier VII (Ferocious Roar for Bear Form and Spell Totem).

The earliest you can cut a Support Gem to consume Endurance Charges is Tier 2 (Act 3).

Additionally the Grit cluster--9 points away from Druid start, which enhances the use of Endurance Charges--is effectively useless until any of the aforementioned skills/supports are cut.

I recognize in the current glass-cannon meta these nodes are bad, but one of the few mechanics a class has available to it have no function for the first 17 levels.


Since Furious Slam is the only skill that natively spends Rage (to generate Endurance Charges), and the first Slam that can trigger Volcanos, maybe let Volcano consume Endurance charges to either bypass Channeling and grant full stacks, or increase the area of effect?