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[WoW] [Shaman], Enhancing your PVPs like crazy
Kai_San
Commonly known as Klineshrike!Registered User regular
Commonly known as Klineshrike!Registered User regular
It's Time to SHAMAN time!
Shamelessly quoted from Shryke's post on the chat thread-
Sweet merciful crap, its about time.
[/spoiler][/left]
Live WOTLK Infos
Latest News:
Shamelessly quoted from Shryke's post on the chat thread-
Speaking of Totems:
We're fine with totem health given how easy totems are to replace. We also think it's fine to have to (sometimes) choose between a buff totem and a non-buff totem given how many different things a shaman can do.
However, we are going to increase buff totem range (and possibly other totem range) and we have figured out a way to make Searing Totem attack your target, instead of a random and probably inappropriate target.
Sweet merciful crap, its about time.
[/spoiler][/left]
Live WOTLK Infos
Specs:
Elemental
Builds
57 / 14 / 0 - with Convection (good for mana)
57 / 14 / 0 - no Convection, Imp Fire Nova / Elemental Warding
57 / 14 / 0 - without Convection (good for movement via 3sec Frost shock CD) My own silly concoction
Recommended Gems
Red Slot - [Runed Cardinal Ruby]
Blue Slot - [Glowing Dreadstone]Only if slot bonus is good SP or to make the Metagem Req, otherwise [Runed Cardinal Ruby]
Yellow Slot - [Reckless Ametrine] If over hit cap, [Veiled Ametrine] if not.
Meta - [Chaotic Skyflare Diamond]
Top 5 Major Glyphs
Glyph of Lightning Bolt
*Glyph of Totem of Wrath
*Glyph of Lava
*Glyph of Flametongue
Glyph of Flame Shock
* These 3 are situational, however any combination of two of the three are considered better than Flame Shock. TOW for lower SP, Lava for high SP and heavy movement, FT for low movement fights
57 / 14 / 0 - with Convection (good for mana)
57 / 14 / 0 - no Convection, Imp Fire Nova / Elemental Warding
57 / 14 / 0 - without Convection (good for movement via 3sec Frost shock CD) My own silly concoction
Recommended Gems
Red Slot - [Runed Cardinal Ruby]
Blue Slot - [Glowing Dreadstone]Only if slot bonus is good SP or to make the Metagem Req, otherwise [Runed Cardinal Ruby]
Yellow Slot - [Reckless Ametrine] If over hit cap, [Veiled Ametrine] if not.
Meta - [Chaotic Skyflare Diamond]
Top 5 Major Glyphs
Glyph of Lightning Bolt
*Glyph of Totem of Wrath
*Glyph of Lava
*Glyph of Flametongue
Glyph of Flame Shock
* These 3 are situational, however any combination of two of the three are considered better than Flame Shock. TOW for lower SP, Lava for high SP and heavy movement, FT for low movement fights
Enhancement (edited 7/15/10, added hit/expertise info and new blue gem)
Builds
18 / 53 / 0 PVE Build
Typically the only changes would be if you are assured someone else to provide the full WF totem buff, then you can freely choose somewhere to put those 2 points. Most likely into some kind of mana conservation tool such as Imp SS or Elemental Focus.
Gems
Red Slot - [Deft Ametrine]
Blue Slot - [Nightmare Tear] You should only need one
Yellow Slot - [Quick King's Amber], or any type of hit / expertise gem till capped
Meta - [Relentless Earthsiege Diamond]
Top 5 Major Glyphs
Glyph of Stormstrike
Glyph of Feral Spirit
Glyph of Flame Shock
*Glyph of Lightning Shield
*Glyph of Fire Nova
* Glyph of Lightning Shield is an adequate replacement for Flame shock if you have 2pc T9 and do not wish to delve into the complicated Priority system. Glyph of Fire Nova is ok as well, and would be a good alternative to Lightning Shield if you don't have the 2pc T9
- The hit cap for specials is 8% in PVE. Correctly talented this means you need 2% (or 66 rating) and 1% (33 rating) if you are alliance (Blueberry racial). This is a requirement before any other stat. If you don't get it from gear (doubtful) you need to gem for it.
- For boss-level mobs (which are calculated as your level + 3) the soft cap is 6.5% dodge or 26 expertise (214 expertise rating). Enh should get 9 Expertise through talents leaving you with a need for 17 expertise (140 rating) for alliance and 12 expertise (99 rating) for orcs using a fist or axe weapon. If you don't get this from gear, gem for it first. [Accurate Ametrine] can help you cover both of these quickly.
Restoration
Builds
0 / 16 / 55 PVE centric build, no Healing Focus
0 / 13 / 58 PVE build replacing elemental weapons, or trading 45 healing spellpower for 75% pushback protection.
Gems
Red Slot - [Reckless Ametrine]
Blue Slot - [Energized Eye of Zul] to meet Meta Req, otherwise [Quick King's Amber]
Yellow Slot -[Quick King's Amber]
Meta - [Insightful Earthsiege Diamond] or [Revitalizing Skyflare Diamond], with the former getting the nod sans overflowing mana regen on trinkets.
Top 5 Glyphs
Glyph of Chain Heal
Glyph of Earth Shield
Glyph of Earthliving Weapon
*Glyph of Riptide
*Glyph of Lesser Healing Wave / Healing Wave
* Typically you wouldnt take these, but they have situational uses. LHW is good when you have a ton of crit, for instance, to help manually raid heal when people aren't together enough for chain. HW is good for fights where you take lots of damage yourself so you can maintain your own health while spamming on others. Riptide is good with 2pc T9 or 4pc T10, with the former bonus making it the better choice over Riptide.
Current Cataclysm Info
Includes new skills, new trained levels for old skills, and Blizzard's Preview for Shaman changes due for Cataclysm.
Dev Q & A (updated 7/17/10)
Q. Do you consider Primal Wisdom or Shamanistic Rage "required" so Enhancement shaman won't run out of mana? Is running out of mana intended to be a danger?
A. Yes, once high-level Enhancement shaman have all their abilities and are using them in sequence, Primal Wisdom will be required to sustain a rotation. We’d like to let shaman use Shamanistic Rage for survival or emergency situations, rather than assuming rotational use for mana.
Q. With the new implemented Lava Surge, will Chain Lightning become useful for multiple mobs only?
A. It always has had, and will continue to have, some niche use as a gap-filler against single targets when Lava Burst has around a second left on its cooldown. Lava Surge won’t always proc, but it’s likely to be more of a multi-target ability, yes.
Q. Will Spirit Link make a return after all? Ghostcrawler mentioned he'd like to bring it back, but no sighting of it yet.
A. Anything’s possible, but at this point it isn’t looking good for our beloved talent…. If we changed it to be an absorb or a different sort of mechanic, then it wouldn’t be the iconic Spirit Link that we all remember from Warcraft III. But that core damage-sharing mechanic poses major design and balance challenges (e.g. does a rogue really want to start taking damage suddenly because the shaman in his group decided to link him to the tank?).
Q. With Elemental Fury becoming a passive for Elemental shaman, will Enhancement be seeing more physical based damage?
A. Spells like Lava Burst and shocks will always be a big part of Enhancement’s damage, but yes, we’d like weapon attacks like Stormstrike and Lava Lash to be a larger part of Enhancement Shamans’ damage in Cataclysm. N.B.: Mental Quickness is getting a boost to help compensate for the loss of Elemental Fury.
Q. Are there any plans of making totems utility only (e.g. Earthbind, Grounding) and turning buff totems into auras or cast buffs?
A. Not at this time. We’re aware of the concerns regarding the use of buff totems among some shaman, but the positional aspect is something that we consider inherent to the nature of totems. By increasing totem durations, consolidating some buff totems, and introducing the multi-drop totem spells in Wrath of the Lich King, we’ve attempted to mitigate as much of the inconvenience as possible, while preserving the core gameplay of paying attention to where totems are being dropped.
Q. How does Deep Healing work? Will it heal severely less at high health that it is difficult to keep a target at a safe level of health?
A. No, view it as a perk that boosts your heals when that extra healing is most needed. It’s a class-specific bonus, so healing overall won’t be balanced around the expectation that Deep Healing applies.
A. Yes, once high-level Enhancement shaman have all their abilities and are using them in sequence, Primal Wisdom will be required to sustain a rotation. We’d like to let shaman use Shamanistic Rage for survival or emergency situations, rather than assuming rotational use for mana.
Q. With the new implemented Lava Surge, will Chain Lightning become useful for multiple mobs only?
A. It always has had, and will continue to have, some niche use as a gap-filler against single targets when Lava Burst has around a second left on its cooldown. Lava Surge won’t always proc, but it’s likely to be more of a multi-target ability, yes.
Q. Will Spirit Link make a return after all? Ghostcrawler mentioned he'd like to bring it back, but no sighting of it yet.
A. Anything’s possible, but at this point it isn’t looking good for our beloved talent…. If we changed it to be an absorb or a different sort of mechanic, then it wouldn’t be the iconic Spirit Link that we all remember from Warcraft III. But that core damage-sharing mechanic poses major design and balance challenges (e.g. does a rogue really want to start taking damage suddenly because the shaman in his group decided to link him to the tank?).
Q. With Elemental Fury becoming a passive for Elemental shaman, will Enhancement be seeing more physical based damage?
A. Spells like Lava Burst and shocks will always be a big part of Enhancement’s damage, but yes, we’d like weapon attacks like Stormstrike and Lava Lash to be a larger part of Enhancement Shamans’ damage in Cataclysm. N.B.: Mental Quickness is getting a boost to help compensate for the loss of Elemental Fury.
Q. Are there any plans of making totems utility only (e.g. Earthbind, Grounding) and turning buff totems into auras or cast buffs?
A. Not at this time. We’re aware of the concerns regarding the use of buff totems among some shaman, but the positional aspect is something that we consider inherent to the nature of totems. By increasing totem durations, consolidating some buff totems, and introducing the multi-drop totem spells in Wrath of the Lich King, we’ve attempted to mitigate as much of the inconvenience as possible, while preserving the core gameplay of paying attention to where totems are being dropped.
Q. How does Deep Healing work? Will it heal severely less at high health that it is difficult to keep a target at a safe level of health?
A. No, view it as a perk that boosts your heals when that extra healing is most needed. It’s a class-specific bonus, so healing overall won’t be balanced around the expectation that Deep Healing applies.
Shaman FAQ
(Thanks to Henroid for some of these)
Q: What should I spec for leveling?
A: Enhancement is a favorite and easiest to gear for (pre-Cataclysm; this is bound to change), but elemental is doable and especially so with TBC / WotLK gear.
Q: Why should I play a shaman?
A: They're fun, and each spec is rather straight forward and unique in gameplay while still leaving you available to do the others at least mediocrely. Plus shaman are great for support in groups. The best, if you ask me!
Q: What roles to Shaman fill for groups / raids?
A: Shamans are a Hybrid and fulfill ranged and melee DPS, as well as the healer role. I would call them a 3/4 Hybrid along with Paladins, with Druids being a 4/4 Hybrid (melee and ranged dps, healing and tanking)
Q: Which spec is best? I don't want to suck.
A: Then learn to play. No seriously, many people like Resto Shamans due to two things. One, they are a healer and everyone likes that. Two, they bring Heroism / Bloodlust. Enhancement apparently performs well on the charts, but the difference between an average player and good player is very little gain for very much effort. Elemental suffers from poor scaling and drastic DPS loss due to movement in fights, therefore is considered low on the DPS potential. However, they still put out sweet numbers and the better you are at finding ways to not move and survive, the more you will outperform the expectations.
Q: What about PVP? Where are my PVP builds and love?
A: I could use some advice on this myself. Any suggested PVP builds are welcome, however my minimal knowledge knows that shaman can be a force to be reckoned with in PVP. Elemental can absolutely destroy people that can't hide behind pillars and has enough defensive abilities to cause mass frusteration. Enhancement was popular due to Beastcleave. Resto is a healer in Mail with a Shield. The only weakness is people seem to almost always go after the shaman first. I wonder why.
Recommended Addons
Shock and Awe - Great Shaman addon for making the class a lot more manageable.
Healbot I don't use this, but all healers swear by it. Takes time to set up, but apparently worth it.
More to come....
Kai_San on
0
Posts
Oh. I guess Shaman Time is cool too.
I'm trying to decide between Enhance or Elemental for my off spec in Cata. Neither seems to have gotten very many exciting changes. Searing Flames (and the new Imp LL) look pretty cool, but that's about it. I've never played Elemental.
I agree though it needs some serious changes. Its basically pidegonholed as the PVP weapon buff, but I think its damage component needs to hit much harder to make it a kind of bursty option for high armor targets.
Erm, no.
It might be a bunch of silly numbers, but someone proved it to be a viable glyph. I haven't delved deep into the kinds of numbers they have, so feel free to argue with them about it. However, seeing what they do to come up with this shit, I'm going to go with whatever info they give that isnt horribly out of date.
And the resto thread was the most up to date of them all. Enh was basically useless.
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I like AS and tying it into Imp. Ghost Wolf too. Wish it'd come in sooner then Lv20 if the point-every-other-level deal is right.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
LoL: failboattootoot
get your own starcraft 2 signature at sc2sig.com
You PM a mod.
Also good work on the thread. Btw the EJ threads on shaman are useless (because they are only for discussion), you have to look in the ThinkTank. The Earthliving glyph is a distant #4 there.
/edit: Oh wait, they finally fixed the Earthliving glyph. Anyway, people using this thread for shaman advice will probably not have T10 4 piece, so Riptide ist still one of the top glyphs.
The resto thread was updated less than a week ago, and apparently those HEP values were changed based on some thinktank work. So it seems like thats the up to date option, but it seemed to me that any of the glyphs from spot 3 down are valid based on playstyle.
Probably worth adding that the Riptide glyph outperforms Earthliving with 2PT9.
Also I love chain heal and I don't understand when resto shamans don't use it in 5 mans.
I abuse the spell, cause even with two targets its incredible and the multiple chance at crits for multiple smart heals off those is just mindboggling. Its actally good practice to heal tanks with Chain heal, get jumps to heal melee dps and get crits to reach out and heal ranged, since Ancestral Awakening has a 40 yard range, and is smart. This has always kept my healing totals high and my overhealing incredibly low.
BTW I added your change Grund. I missed that in my extra info as they do list it considerably high.
My problem is that I don't use Healing Wave often enough. In regular heroics it's mostly not needed, but this makes for some frantic healing in hHoR etc.
Sometimes Chain Heal is crazy inefficient, and while it's true that a big part of learning how to be an effective Resto Shaman is learning how to properly utilize Chain Heal to its fullest potential, another big part is understanding when it isn't the best tool for the job.
How much does your Healing Stream tick for? I don't use the glyph, mine probably ticks for 400-500. Which is fine for a little incidental AoE, but I find I really need chain heal to keep up in ICC 5 mans (mostly for the FoS trash packs/the ghosts, PoS ramp packs, and all of HoR).
Generally speaking I keep ES/Riptide up on the tank, and will Chain Heal the group as long as more than one person needs healing. Otherwise a LHW takes care of a single person. HW on the tank if he takes a big hit.
Strange: While tanking on my druid and paladin I have encountered several shaman that didn't manage to keep up ES on me (or even WS on themselves). I guess that should really be second nature. I'm compulsively refreshing both of them while running between trash packs.
I have ES set to auto target focus > target > me, and the tank is always my focus. So that's easy.
PowerAuras are great, and are really the only way I know when my shield has worn off (water or lightning, spec dependent). I'm just not sure I'd notice whether or not a still had a blue orb flying around me in the heat of combat. A big blue circle around my character is much more noticeable.
Yeah Ill get on that, thanks for the info. Enh is one of my weak points personally.
I just compulsively refresh it at this point. You never know when you'll go 10 minutes without being able to use a GCD for it!
Sometimes I wonder how I managed to raid for so long without Power Auras. It's one of those addons that you never think you need until you install it, then you over abuse it and set up auras for everything.
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Feral Spirits have a stun, don't they?
Don't expect any other stuns than the dogstun.
EDIT: Oh Enhancement. Well, Elemental has that unless it gets changed in the beta some more.
Eh, that stun is fairly bleh when you compare to other melee stuns. I was hoping we might get something that wasn't on a three minute timer.
And then most other melee don't have a 6-second cooldown spell interrupt or offensive dispels. I just wouldn't count on Blizzard giving shamans even more ways to lock down a caster.
Especially with all their recent postings about PvP CC philosophy.
Personally, with dispels interrupts slows and even a long range root, I don't think enh is lacking in any kind of control.
Or maybe totem up.
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