It's not a question of underestimating them, it's just that some of us don't want to heal.
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Shammies ?
- Thread starter Pitbull
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It's not a question of underestimating them, it's just that some of us don't want to heal.
Necuno
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...healing; standing in the back of the crowd with girly voice "heal...heal...heal...heal..."
[warhammeronline should at least see the return of a proper cleric class type character... or so they say]
Darthmoose
Well-Known Member
yeah yeah, say what you want about us healers, just remember we are the ones keeping you alive in raids! 8)
TheYak
Senior Member
I noticed a few people mentioning here that shammies are useless for PvP. I'm not sure I agree. I PvP a lot and I don't do too badly. Every class has it's strong points.
I REALLY enjoy playing my shammy. He's enhancement and he was the first character I got to 70 and still kicks @$$.
They're difficult to play properly though, so make sure you read up as much as you can about spell rotations, stats etc. It'll make a HUGE difference to your DPS output.
As for resto shammies - our main healer in Kara is a resto shammy and NOONE dies on her watch...
Give it a shot... you have nothing to lose but some levelling time.
I REALLY enjoy playing my shammy. He's enhancement and he was the first character I got to 70 and still kicks @$$.
They're difficult to play properly though, so make sure you read up as much as you can about spell rotations, stats etc. It'll make a HUGE difference to your DPS output.
As for resto shammies - our main healer in Kara is a resto shammy and NOONE dies on her watch...
Give it a shot... you have nothing to lose but some levelling time.
Enhance in PvP has a few fundamental weaknesses that are the problem.
2.4 lessened that a bit but in Arena they're a lot less viable then a Rogue in the same Spot.
It really depends on the level of pvp you play at, and shammies are also very spec dependant - a pvp resto spec is for eg completely different to a pve resto spec, unlike, say holy paladins or resto druids. And a well geared and played Elemental spec is still devastating in 5v5.
High rated enhancement shamans are just incredibly rare though. I think they can do well but have to multitask like maniacs (earthshock this guy, purge that guy, kite this guy all the while dpsing another guy).
I switched my UI around a bit and i noticed one thing, you simply cannot afford to miss (m)any earthshocks on enemy casters. After positioning my enemy castbar a bit more prominently and visibly and running some practice sessions I noted how much of a difference being on the ball with that is. Keeping those interrupts going vs an opposing healer or caster is imperative to the class but does require excellent timing on the shamans part. And theres the trouble - people do well with druids and warriors because the playstyle is so much simpler, neither having to worry to much besides keeping hots up/debuffs down and staying within/out of range. You can't play a resto sham like you'd play a pally or druid. Shaman is *all* about expert timing , interrupting and dropping the right totem at the right time. When you've seen Gclol time a Tremor drop to coincide with the first pulse eating the fear, that's when you realise the level of skill required to play this class to it's full potential. Mastering the use of your Earthshock, Grounding Totem, Tremor Totem and Earthbind Totem is key. Just running around and pressing your heal spell like a durid is a ticket to fail.
High rated enhancement shamans are just incredibly rare though. I think they can do well but have to multitask like maniacs (earthshock this guy, purge that guy, kite this guy all the while dpsing another guy).
I switched my UI around a bit and i noticed one thing, you simply cannot afford to miss (m)any earthshocks on enemy casters. After positioning my enemy castbar a bit more prominently and visibly and running some practice sessions I noted how much of a difference being on the ball with that is. Keeping those interrupts going vs an opposing healer or caster is imperative to the class but does require excellent timing on the shamans part. And theres the trouble - people do well with druids and warriors because the playstyle is so much simpler, neither having to worry to much besides keeping hots up/debuffs down and staying within/out of range. You can't play a resto sham like you'd play a pally or druid. Shaman is *all* about expert timing , interrupting and dropping the right totem at the right time. When you've seen Gclol time a Tremor drop to coincide with the first pulse eating the fear, that's when you realise the level of skill required to play this class to it's full potential. Mastering the use of your Earthshock, Grounding Totem, Tremor Totem and Earthbind Totem is key. Just running around and pressing your heal spell like a durid is a ticket to fail.
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Agree with you kHayne! I couldn't be bovvered with PvP because of this level of skill required, not to mention being hampered by latency. The adrenalin rush is something though! Also, could never seem to get regular 3v3 or 5v5 teams going...
Theshogun, what weaps do you recommend getting at 70 for an enhance shammy? (i cba to grind 20k honor for glad weaps)
And lastly, axes/maces/fists? (The badges fists look nice, ill aim at those)
If you're an Orc, go Axes. That extra Expertise is win.
For any other Race it makes no difference really.
For a non-Orc Blacksmith go Master Hammersmith for Dragonstrike. That Haste Proc is insanely awesome and it stacks with Flurry, DST and Haste Pots.
With the new Patch you will be able to Dual Wield em which is IMBA.
There was some thought at one stage that certain Haste levels actually decreased your DPS but it's been shown to be false so ignore people who tell you otherwise.
I was using Dragonstrike and S1 offhand on my Shammy.
The Badge Fists are not the optimal speed but because they 100 DPS and they have nice stats they make up for it.
Also if you need a cheap Enchant, Crusader is awesome for Enhance. It's better then +20 Strength and only slightly worse then Mongoose. Executioner is very iffy no matter what people say. You really need to itemise heavily with Ignore for it to be good, although in PvP it is really nice.
For any other Race it makes no difference really.
For a non-Orc Blacksmith go Master Hammersmith for Dragonstrike. That Haste Proc is insanely awesome and it stacks with Flurry, DST and Haste Pots.
With the new Patch you will be able to Dual Wield em which is IMBA.
There was some thought at one stage that certain Haste levels actually decreased your DPS but it's been shown to be false so ignore people who tell you otherwise.
I was using Dragonstrike and S1 offhand on my Shammy.
The Badge Fists are not the optimal speed but because they 100 DPS and they have nice stats they make up for it.
Also if you need a cheap Enchant, Crusader is awesome for Enhance. It's better then +20 Strength and only slightly worse then Mongoose. Executioner is very iffy no matter what people say. You really need to itemise heavily with Ignore for it to be good, although in PvP it is really nice.
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Ty for the response,
I'm a goat shammy, so no axe racial
After reading EJ,
Mongoose = best till mid ssc/mid tk
Crusader = cheap enchant if you cant afford mongoose
Executioner apparently only becomes viable in mh/bt
What sort of hit rating should i aim at (EJ says theres no 'hit cap' for shammies as the "you need to hit to crit" doesnt apply to WF, only your auto attacks).
I'm a goat shammy, so no axe racial
After reading EJ,
Mongoose = best till mid ssc/mid tk
Crusader = cheap enchant if you cant afford mongoose
Executioner apparently only becomes viable in mh/bt
What sort of hit rating should i aim at (EJ says theres no 'hit cap' for shammies as the "you need to hit to crit" doesnt apply to WF, only your auto attacks).
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WF will be capped at 9% which you'll get from Talents so pretty much any +Hit you can get is nice because White Damage remains the largest part of your Damage.
You'll want to push for 25% unbuffed Crit (GoA doesn't count since in a Raid you'll drop WF 9/10)
You'll want to grab Hit but not to the detriment of your Crit.
Aim for 200 Hit (untalented) but if you're a bit shy of that it's no biggy.
Also remember that often you'll find better stats on Leather. It means you a bit squishy (coz u can't Dodge like a Rogue) but you're not supposed to be getting hit.
There's a lot of pre-Raid leather with nice Hit on it. Things like Stealther's Helm of Second Sight and Socrethar's Girdle are awesome quest rewards that will last you a long time.
You'll want to push for 25% unbuffed Crit (GoA doesn't count since in a Raid you'll drop WF 9/10)
You'll want to grab Hit but not to the detriment of your Crit.
Aim for 200 Hit (untalented) but if you're a bit shy of that it's no biggy.
Also remember that often you'll find better stats on Leather. It means you a bit squishy (coz u can't Dodge like a Rogue) but you're not supposed to be getting hit.
There's a lot of pre-Raid leather with nice Hit on it. Things like Stealther's Helm of Second Sight and Socrethar's Girdle are awesome quest rewards that will last you a long time.