Initial Shaman Report!

[Emizael]

I have some early observations about the shaman class, and I guess this is the right place to put them.

First off, my experience with the Shaman class is not entirely based on the new races presented with the expansion, I've actually played with just about all the Horde side stuff that I can do, I just...don't like the Horde so much.

Anyways...

Early on, the Shaman is a mace-weilding, shield carrying pain in the butt. Early dps is low as far as hand-to-hand goes, but, then again, the major benefit of having a shammy about is the totems. Get a shield, get a nice hammer, and use the Firebolt totem, and you should be all right. Also, the damage reducing totem seems to be about the best friend a shaman ever had.

Until you hit level 20.

Oh, yes, things change at level 20. If you are going along the Enhancement tree, level 20 grants you the ability to use 2-handed maces and axes. You *can* learn one-handed axes, at the beginning of your career, but, with low level axes generally being too slow to truely be affective in combat, and most of the low level maces seemingly being geared towards shamans and priests, it just seems like maces are a done deal.

But, then you hit level 20. Oh yeah. Big giant 2-hander axes. Hack and smash, backed up by Flame-biter weapon, Frost-shock...

Also, one of the friendliest and best talents ever seen in a player tree...Ancestral Knowledge. It might not seem like a big thing, but, with five ranks in that sucker, you get +5% mana? Talk about watching yer mana grow.

Also, the school of thought that thinks that Shaman are just Horde side paladins with less armor...

With the ability to taunt with a totem, and then, run off...hah. Shamans just outclass the paladin, in the early levels. Initial weapon choice seems a bit limited, and of course, you don't get heavier armor with the shaman until 40...

But if you look, all the leather gear is excellent for shamans. Shamans really are one of the best hybrid classes ever. Tanking? Sure, I can handle that. Lemme grab my shield. You want DPS? Got that handled. Want me to main heal? Lemme respec to Resto, and start dropping mana-and-heal regen totems.

Yeah.

Early opinion? Shamans are tough. They can take a beating, and dish it out. Longevity and playability? Well, that will have to wait for the next installment, around the time I hit 30.

[Emizael]

SO....30th level for shamans, huh?

Broken, broken, broken, I tells you. Let me tell you all about the shamans.

At this point, I have Ghost Wolf travel form, gained at level 20. 40% faster movement rate, and boy does the ground fly by. Useful as all heck, especially for those great Southshore-to-Scarlet Mobastery runs. Oh, yeah. Frostshock. Meh. Not so great, really, by 30th level. I still like Flameshock and Earthshock more, Flameshock because it packs a nice whallop and does a bit of damage over time, Earthshock because not only does it do a grand bit of damage, but it also interrupts spells and prevents a spell of that same school from being cast for 2 seconds.

Also, I now have a 15 minute cool-down hearthstone spell, called Ancestral Recall. Yep. Its a spell, that lets me warp to my homepoint, every 15 mins. Plus, I have a hearthstone. Mwhahaha. You can't set them to different places, though, so, you can only warp to where your hearth is set, but, oh well, still nice. Also, self-rez. Its a passive talent called Reincarnation. It has a 15 min cooldown, also, but the neatest thing is ...all you have to have to cast it is an item called an ankh. Its a reagent found at any arcane vendor, costs me about 15 silver each, comes in stacks of 5, and...hehehe...allows me to rez myself, right now, with 20 % each health and mana. If that isn't cheating...

Totems totems totems. Damn, I have totems for everything...I have a totem that increases the defense of my entire party, I have a totem that decreases the damage the party takes, I have a totem that shoots a fireball ( which is kinda weak, but still very useful for additional damage), oh, Magma totem. Hits everything in a 20 yard radius for 33 damage a second...yeah. I've got a totem that heals ya for 8hp a second, and one that restores 6 mana per...uhhm...I've got a totem that grants 20 strength, one that gives instant poison cleanse, one that dispells stun and sleep effects, ...hoo boy. I've even got elemental resistance totems, and that isn't even counting the Elemental Weapon buffs!

Shamans have a butt-load of totems, and the list is just growing. Figuring out the right mix for the right situation...

See, shaman totems come in four basic food groups. Earth, Fire, Water, and Air, earned in that order. You can have one of each totem type out on the ground with you at any given time. This is the Shaman version of buffs. They all right now have about the 20 yard range effect, which is nifty, cause that means, I *can* stand in the back of the fight, and heal, if I need to. Cause, I have some big heals. Right now, about 400 damage per cast of my big heal, which is about the same as a pally of equal level. Thing is, unlike pally, in order to buff you, you have to be near one of my totems. At higher levels, I am definately going to have to look into expanding thier ranges with various talents, but, being able to wear mail, use a shield, AND dump various heals and buffs on the party while still bashing something in the head with a big axe? Priceless.

So far, as of Level 30, I think Shaman is a big, big win.

[Polrena]

*rethinks her Draenei mage*

[Emizael]

Okay. I will be the first to admit that I indeed had a lot of misconcieved notions of exactly what a shaman is, and what the shamans' role in a group should be.

I gotta admit, that I was wrong.

Graile hit level 40. That was ...pretty. First, on the list, Mail. Oh, Mail armor. Going from something like, oh, 800 armor class in the late 30's, or around 1600 or so with a shield...well, now, with Mail armor, I have around 2700 armor, with a shield. Okay, drop the shield. Yes, the damage reduction is nice, but...solo'ing, you really need to go with the damage. Let the lesson of Stranglethorn be learned, Damage First.

So, I also got dual wield. Now, warriors, hunters, rogues, they've all had dual wield for a long time, and are pretty happy with it for the most part. Up until now, the Shaman has had staves, one-handed maces, or if you are enhancement, like me, you get the big 2 handers. Maces, meh. Axes. Heck yeah. Go for the Damage. I threw away my axe, and picked up some fist weapons.

Then I learned that the shaman can enchant his elemental damage on both weapons..independantly. Its a bit buggy at the moment...but, hey, it works, once you figure it out. Rockbiter weapon, which is at rank 6 ( I think) at this time, turns any weapon you got into a DPS machine. Think this. My big axe, does 38.9 dps. ( thank you, scarlet mobastery!) Rockbiter rank 6 gives any weapon I have an additional 16 dps. So, I have a 16.6 dps fist weapon, and then I add 16 more dps, for a total of 32.6, plus my strength mods and alla that good crap. Then, I add my off hand to that also. Swing speed is 1.3 or so....

Yeah. So, right now, Graile is Kung-Fu'ing his way across the world. Then, I figure out that I can cast flametounge rank 4 on both my weapons. This, adds about 36 damage per hit, per hand. A little less DPS overall versus the rockbiter weapon, but, its more reliable, cause, I can miss with a swing, and still hit with the fire. Fire ...always hits. Fantastic.

What else does the shaman have at this point? Well, group totems, which really is the primary focus of the shaman...heheheeh...

I have said that totems can do anything. Add damage, that's nice. Heal the group? Got that. Lessen damage? BONUS!! Whoo...I got wake up totems, I got grab aggro from me totems, I got cure disease and cure poison totems, I got mana regen totems. The list goes on.

Self rez, can't say that enough, every 15 mins...Rez others with Ancestral spirit...

Oh, Elemental Resistance totems, and ...enchant party weapons with either Flametounge, or Windfury. Windfury is nice. It gives my whole party the 20% chance to score additional damage on a target to the total of 2 additional attacks' damage, PLUS 200. SO, if you hit, and Windfury procs, and you normally do 100 d per hit, Windfury does 500 d. Sweet? No? The faster you swing, the better Windfury is.

By level 40, I am a solo machine. I can take on 3 level 40 targets simultaneously, with no worries. Level 42 mobs, are a bit tougher, I can only take on 2 at a time. Anything higher, up to the level 45 mobs I was hunting last night in Tanaris, and I need potions.

The real joy here is, I am an enhancement shaman. I do lots of additional damage, and, I took some points in the talent that lessens all my instant cost talents by 6%. I am...Mana Intensive. Very mana intensive. If I run out of juice, I am dead. That, my friends, is a sad fact. Without the Paladin ablility to wear plate, or with out a shield, the Shaman must rely on his mana pool. Draenei get to cheat a bit, with Gift of the Naaru, and that little heal over time is my best friend. Adds lots, I say, LOTS of longevity to the shaman. Also, the fast heal, 1.5 cast time lesser healing wave? Oh boy. That's teh awesome.

Shaman has been great fun, so far. I really start to understand the popularity of the class. It helps that Shaman are really buff, and I am all about the strength, Stamina, and spirit. My intell is a bit low, but, I have some mana buffs, what with Ancestral Knowledge. As I level the class up, I am going to have to focus more on getting Mana Gear, or , I may have to consider looking more at the Elemental Combat tree, for the purpose of lowering more of the casting costs involved with the Shock Spells.

OOoooh...Shock spells. I need to take a minute to talk about shock spells. These four food groups of tastiness are the primary arsenal of any good shaman. First, Earthshock. STOP CASTING! Earthshock. Have some good damage too. Three seconds later, though, I can cast again. All shock spells are on the same cooldown. Flameshock. Nice little blast of damage, with a little bit of DOT action. I usually cast this first, unless I am facing a caster. Frostshock. Save it for when they wanna run, I'm telling you. Trust me here, don't open the combat with Frostshock, no matter how much you wanna yell FROOOOSTSHOOOCK, and then use it. Don't. Do. That. There's a fourth one here...but, I don't have that one yet.

That, my friends, will have to wait till I hit 50th...

[Annalira Delshannon]

Adding to Graile's initial report on the Shaman.

One of the beautiful things about a shaman is... there are different kinds. Graile is an Enhancement shaman. Graile smashes things. Norah is an Elemental shaman. She nukes things, while smashing them with a really big axe. I'm working my way down and, among other things, when my offensive spells and totems crit, they now do 200% rather than 100% extra damage for... get this... one talent point. it's the 21 point talent in Elemental. Currently have 6% mana regen all the time even when casting, working on shortening the cast times on Chain Lightning and etc.

Now - what this means is... I stack different stats than Graile. Or rather, that I have more of them to keep track of. I have a healthy dose of STR, a frigging crapton of STA, and a not inconsequential amount of INT. A few good SPI pieces on occasion too. I also (I 'm not telling you this >.> ) have a set of caster/healer gear for instances where I nuke and offheal, but its a mishmash of cloth/leather/mail. It ends up working pretty well, but I wouldn't wear it for soloing.

Now - Shocks...

Shocks are gorgeous. Shocks are tasty. Shocks are like ... dude... there will be no shooting that shadowbolt at me EARTHSHOOOOCK!!! blam. It's great. Only one problem. My current rank of Lightning does more damage at half the mana. Ok. <saves Shocks for when fighting spiders 3 levels higher than me in Searing Gorge>. Also - I do a lot of damage... but about half of it is nature damage. Fighting in Un'Goro is gonna suck, hardcore, since everything there is immune to it. I feel like a fire mage in the Molten Core.

Healing, however, is another issue altogether. My current "big heal" takes 3 seconds to cast, costs 350 mana... and heals for about 800. Yeah. just a wee bit better than 2HP/mana. my "flash heal" - 1.5 second cast - costs 245 mana and heals for around 450. Some of the least mana efficient heal spells to exist. Lemme tell you, after playing a healbot priest... I dun wanna heal with my Shammy. Maybe if I lose my sanity and spec all my points into Restoration, but... nuh uh. Not so much. I'll be throwing a few points in there soon enough (to get some better mana efficiency... so I can nuke more in instances and not have to hold back so I have mana to offheal), but if you want an uberhealer, bring something else.

However, if you want a veritable arsenal of playability in a group, bring two shaman. You doubt? How's this - Each shaman can have down 4 totems at one time. One from each element. That means that you can have healing AND mana going at the same time. It means that you can have TWO AOE fire totems (<3 magma totem! set heads on fire!) at the same time (that's total about 80 fire damage every 2 seconds for 30 seconds at level 40 to EVERYTHING within 10 yards). It means you can have Earthgrab down for runners and still have either 36 STR or reduced incoming damage. And... it means you can have windfury AND 46 AGI. That's right - 46. One totem... everyone in 20 yards has 46 extra AGI and a 20% chance of getting 2 extra attacks +150 AP. And with two different kind of Shaman, Graile could hit things with axes, and Norah could fling chain lightning bolts at people, and stuff died.

That said, as with all classes, Shaman hit a bit of a lull around 45. Maybe Graile won't have this trouble, but Norah is a food/water sink like nobody's business. I go through between 40 and 60 morning glory dew and level 45 food in one hard afternoon/evening of questing. That's not to say that I have trouble against mobs my own level... I just... well... the mid 40's suck, and so I'm fighting level 49ish mobs a lot, in order to quest and not have to PUG Mara.

[Emizael]

I have to agree with pretty much everything that Anna posted thus far. I'm still only a short way into 40, 43, to be exact, and I still have a long way to go..

And a lot to learn and figure out.

One thing I have to re-iterate on. Man...shamans are excellent in a group...they can off-heal, for the most part, or...I can help heal a little bit, but...they really rely on secondary effects and buffs for the biggest bit.


Yes, I can throw some nifty enhancements down, and most of my defensive buffs are pretty tough, but...after that, its all about the axes and hitting.

Shamans are mana intensive. If you aren't a Resto Healer, or some form of combo-hybrid, you fire off two big heals, and...empty. Hope and pray you killed your mob. I would not reccomend Shaman as a main healer, unless they were really really good at it, and had some really nice +heal + intel gear. Even then, it would be a tough ride for the shaman.

Near as I can figure, they are basically relegated to a support role, able to fill in for a variety of spots. Fighter goes down? Shaman *can* tank for a couple seconds. Healer down? Ut oh. Mage goes toes up? Okay, dance back, drop another stoneskin, and let the chain lightning fly. Shocks too, as Anna reports, are a shammy's best friend.

For solo?

Many shaman may experience an intitial inability to solo mobs that aren't right within thier level range, you know, that whole, " I'm 42 so I shouldn't fight anything more then a 43 or so..." kinda deal. I really don't see at this point how a resto shaman could solo even that. Yes, shammies get mail at 40, and access to a nice variety of weaponry...but, without the enhancement talents that let you get big 2 handers....

Well. Shaman may not be for everyone, but, its nice to have that ability to drop a heal here and there. Its also nice to be able to drop just about any kind of totem I want. It will be great when I am adventuring in a group for the most part. I'm worried, though.

Outland is not far, and the game changes drastically when you hit 60. I wonder, if my own shaman has what it takes with the current Enhancement build. I may need to rethink my strategy, a bit, and dip into the Elemental Combat tree...

[Emizael]

Finally in the big 50's. OH man, oh man. Enhancement, is still the bomb.

Learn this trick right now, as an enhancement shaman. Fast weapon, primary hand. Slow weapon, off hand. Windfury on both weapons. I don't know the "why" of this one, why it works, or whatever, but...DANG! With the fast main hand, and the slow off hand, windfury procs for me about every other swing. Windfury, what it does, of course, is give you the damage of if you hit 2 extra times, with plus 100 damage per hit. With something like fist weapon mojo...

I'm still rampaging across the world. Getting from 40 to 50 was a bit of a labor of love, especially what with having to muck across the desert of Tanaris on my like, 10th toon, but, now...

Better gear, moving into higher instances, like, BRD and such, I am a DPS machine. With two Paladins, both about my level, I became almost immortal in ZF. If the pallies used thier blessing of light and blessing of wisdom on the targets, every time I hit those punks, I was regen'ing mana and life with every swing. With the speed at which I was swinging, and the Windfury proc happening as much as it was, gawd. I was tanking four mobs at a time...and ...didn't need to heal myself. Or be healed. Or care that there was four mobs on me.

By level 50, I am still a dual-wielding monster, and occaisionally I will throw some spells. The only one that I really use religiously, though...

Stormstrike. The Enhancement Shammy's current destroyer of choice. Instantly attack with all weapons you got in your hands. Some other stuff it does too, but, who cares about the fine print!? Bring on the sick D! Stormstrike+Windfury+ Fisty Weapon= dead monsters and phat lewtz. Or IWIN, depending on how you do math. Graile is currently like a wind-up toy, that doesn't stop killing until the mobs are gone.

Now, a word of caution. Graile is pretty tough, and can take on mobs right now that are several levels higher then him. But, in LBRS, when you aggro the whole troll room instance, you die. Sometimes, it don't matter how tough you are, you still get pwned by Elites. Also, those Dragons in front of the Caverns of Time. You should not try to fight one of them, at level 51. You should also not call Teremus the Devourer a " Mamby-Pamby Momma's Boy" While he is sitting right behind you, and you haven't seen him yet. You should, however, go pwn every freaking Devilsaur that you see in Un'Goro, because, now, now, at level 51 with the Enhancement Shaman, thems are punks.

[Emizael]

THE BIG 70!!!

Hokay, I did it.. I made it. 70 levels of shaman, all enhancement. The big things that I am looking forward to now, as I gear up and key up for Kara and beyond with this guy...

Well. + to hit gear is very nice. Very nice indeed. +attack power, of course, and +stam gear, also wonderous. Changes the way you look at things.

My main attack combo is still the same, although I'm currently dual-wielding maces. Dig this. Fast maces, + windfury+ strength of the earth totem+ grace of air totem( the one what gives you + agi)? = Rampage of Death and Destruction!!!

Shammervate. Enhance shammies get a talent power called shamanistic rage? that procs giving you mana every time you hit your target. + hit gear means less missing. Oh man, I haven't seen a miss since I started this crazy build...

Oh! Crazy build. Pallies have a similar ability, but for the shammy, its RESTO, a talent called Nature's Guildance...3% to hit with spells and melee....costs you 13 talents to get in there, but a faster lesser heal and lower healing spell costs are actually pretty freaking useful, if you ask me.

In the enhancement tree, I have forsaken such things as the improved shield talent, the improved lightning shield talent, the improved cast time on ghostwolf, and the improved stoneskin totem talent. Neccessary sacrifices to make me the DPS machine that I want to be.

Gearwise, I'm still searching for the right mix, but the one thing that I really seem to need, is Strength. I may have to get more strength gems, and some more enchants, when my gear stablizes, but ...that's the one thing that holds me back. My current build and my current gear has tonnes of +attack power, but, still, strength increases both attack power and damage at a startling rate.

Take for example, with no Strength of Earth totem down, I usually do about 300-400 damage on a normal, non-crit swing. With the strength increase of my improved SoE totem...heheh...400-500...heheh, and the crits are PHENOMINAL!

Heroism, awesome, awesome power. Yes. Can't say enough about that. Makes you hit harder, cast stronger, makes you big, giant shaman. Mhmm. Save for boss-fights, or when it looks like things are grim.

Fire and Stone elementals! Summon the fury of fire and earth to do your bidding! 20 min cooldown on the one you summon, 2 mins till you can call the other. Save for boss fights, mostly, or when you're soloing mobs that you really shouldn't be able to solo, but you do anyways because you have heroism, you are a shaman, and you dual-wield with the power of the gods. Oh yeah, because you are a shaman, and shamans are awesome.

Group roles...earlier I had to worry, especially about the Outlands instances, because, well, lets face it, stuff in the Oulands is tough! Shamans, just, well, they just win now. As far as a DPS role goes, they are the frontline. Put them next to your tank, or behind the mob, and let them loose!!! Stormstrike, Windfury, Earth Shock, chain lightning if your tank holds multiple mobs...BWEEE!!!

And totems totems totems!!! In a melee heavy group, you throw down Windfury, and watch all your melee'rs do what you do, only not as cool, 'cause they aren't shamans. Wrath of Air in a caster heavy group, adding +101 spelldamage. I like Strength of Earth, of course, Searing Totem for effect, and usually something Buffy like the mana spring totem. (( note-- mana spring is not as good for enhance as it is for the loverly Resto guys, but hey, something is better then nothing. if you have pallies in the party, drop Healing Stream, they get mana back from it if they're hurt.))

I've seen the power of the Elemental Shaman, I've known the blessings of having a Restoration Shaman, and I have partied now with a raid that had like, six shamans in it...whoooo...talk about totem overload!!

I still like the enhancement tree. It's ..visceral. Power to do damage right in the face of the enemy, to interrupt his spells, to impede his retreat, to drop a totem that banishes his wards, fears, and poisons...this is the strength of my shaman. Where Rogues and Fury warriors depend entirely on the merits of thier weapons, the Shaman only needs to carry some mana pots, and he never, ever stops. Put a dagger or a fist weapon on him, and she smashes into her enemies, leaving them in tiny bits and pieces...with a good healer, the enhancement shaman is Unstoppable.

PVP notes. BWAHAHAHAHA!! RUN, RUN BEFORE ME MORTALS!! Oh, you've managed to kill me....SELF-REZ, FROSTSHOCK!!! YOU'RE DEAD, AND I HAVE WON THIS ARENA MATCH!!! BWAHAHAHAHAH....

When the Shammy gets wound up, he can't be stopped!!! The right trinkets and equipment make this class obviously the best-loved of blizzard. Gimme three healers, and I'll tank Prince, dammit.

Did I leave anything out? Well, if I did, I'll come back to that in the ultimate review, next week!!!!

Until then, love your local shammy, kk?