While a bugbear will fight head-on if cornered, or if it’s absolutely sure it’s going to win. They would do all sorts of intimidation tactics, from scraping their claws along stone walls to taunting the adventurers, not to mention filling their lairs with grisly trophies honoring one of their two grim gods. Older editions note that bugbears can squeeze themselves into spaces smaller than their bodies (like under beds or in closets) for a truly folk horror experience, which also makes them especially lethal when it comes to getting around dungeons to strike from unexpected places. They would try to lure weaker party members away, isolating them so they could be dragged off into the darkness. They would toy with their prey, first stealing supplies from camp, breaking tools while the party rested, startling them awake with strange sounds from beyond the firelight, and generally putting everyone on edge (hopefully with a few levels of exhaustion to boot).
In earlier editions ( and in one of the original playtests for 5e, which set them up as “slasher movie villains”) bugbears were much better at playing to their strengths – not to mention their enemies’ weaknesses. It’s a style of play that I try to reintroduce into my 5e games, as I think bugbears often get dismissed as big grizzly bears with clubs. I think that, particularly in earlier editions of D&D (as well as Pathfinder 1e) bugbears were sheer nightmare fuel. They are natural ambush predators, laying ambushes for unsuspecting parties of adventurers, and trading on their padded feet and darkvision to give them the edge when fighting in the dark. Taking inspiration from the classic idea of the boogeyman, bugbears move with surprising stealth and speed for creatures of their size and build. While their imposing statures tend to see them characterized as brutes – some do end up serving as elite bodyguards or low-level leaders in larger armies – bugbears aren’t naturally wired for a head-on approach. Standing a full seven feet tall and covered in thick, matted fur, bugbears ( according to the Monster Manual) are terrifying ambush predators “born for battle and mayhem.”
While they belong to the same category of creature as goblins and hobgoblins, taxonomy is more or less the beginning and end of the similarities between bugbears and their goblinoid kin. In fact, I’d wager there’s a not-insignificant number of players out there whose first TPK involved that very same bugbear. Given how common it is for the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure to serve as a lot of people’s introduction to D&D 5e, there are a lot of players out there whose first “boss fight” was against a bugbear.
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