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Shaman FAQ 1.20
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Shaman Playstyle Questions
2.1 What are the most important statistics for a shaman?
Short answer: INT, STA, and SPI.
Long answer: it is really based on your build. If you wish to make a more melee based shaman, then strength, agility, and stamina are probably things you wish to maximize. Some shamans find a agility based build to be more to their taste (see: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=23517&p=1&tmp=1#post23517 ). Given that we are an hybrid class with decent melee, there is no really wrong answer. And given that all statistic maximizing is done with equipment, you can keep all your bases covered with a varied selection of choice equipment stored in your vault.
Iistaur made a good post here
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=36420&tmp=1#post36420 with the following information:
Your level in agility will increase your chance to crit on a melee hit by about 1.03%.
Half your level in agility will increase your chance to dodge or parry by about 1.03%.
1 Strength* = 0.142 DPS so its basically 7 Strength = 1 DPS 1 Strength = 2 Melee Attack Power
Strength also increases the amount of damage you block with a shield (but not your chance to block which is based on Agility)
A standard caster build emphasizes INT, STA, and SPI.Intellect adds 15 mana per point, and 1% chance to cast a crit spell every 100 INT. Stamina adds 10 HP per point. Spirit increases mana regen by 1 mana per tick (2 seconds) every 5 SPI, and 1 health per tick every 9 spirit.
Additional threads covering this question are available at:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=23490 http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=23972
2.2 How does block work?
Aryxymaraki answers that question in this thread http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=17517 which I'm quoting for posterity:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q u o t e:
This is how block works.
Every time you get hit, you have your % chance to block. If you don't, nothing happens; if you do, continue reading.
When you block an attack, you deduct some amount of damage. This is equal to your shield's block stat + some modifier from your Str (I don't know exactly what, but higher str means more damage blocked). This shows in your combat log as "You take x damage (y blocked)". This means that had you not blocked, you would have taken x+y damage.
The only time you will see the "block" animation and get the combat message "They attack. You block." is if your block reduces the damage you take to zero. That's how it works. I block all the time, and it's working fine.
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2.3 How does mana regeneration work?
Your mana regenerates all of the time, except for a period of five seconds after you start casting a spell (thanks to Sherman for the correction here). In this five seconds, you have no regeneration. This is commonly called the five second rule. A spell here is defined as anything that costs mana to cast.
One interesting note is when spells *don't* cost mana, they will not start this timer, and you will continue to regen mana. Nature's Swiftness costs no mana, and will not invoke the five second rule. Spells casted with the clearcasting state from the Elemental Focus talent also will not start the five second timer.
Totems, on the other hand, will start the five second timer.
Mana regenerates according to how much spirit you have. Take the amount of spirit you have, and divide it by five. Then add 17 to this value. That is around how much mana you should regenerate ever tick ( 2 seconds). You do not mana regen faster if you are sitting down or standing up. You do not mana regen faster in battle or out of battle.
2.4 Which is better: one hand + shield or two hand?
Short answer: this really depends on play style and situation. There has been no good analysis that concludes with one or the other being superior.
Long answer: A good thread on this subject is here
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=24784 . Gruul and Viz do a really good analysis, and ultimately, the choice is 20% increase of DPS or doubling your defense from 20% DR to 40% DR.
2.5 Which weapons should I train/use?
This is another personal preference. A shaman *can* use every melee weapon in the game except swords and polearms. The only note is that the more weapons you wish to be proficient at, the more time you will have to spend maintaining the skills in those weapons.
2.6 How do I play a shaman well?
Two big suggestions:
Learn your spells and totems. Versatility is your greatest assest and you should know in any situation which spells to use to be able to best aid yourself and your group.
Learn mana conservation. A shaman has some of the most mana-inefficient spells in the game, as well as having a lot of different spells to cast IE: healing vs damage vs totems. As well, given that shamans are a hybrid, some may choose equipment builds that lean away from the caster-favoured INT/SPI builds.
2.7 What's the basic tactics for a shaman soloing?
Verify your weapon buff and lightning shield are up. Lay out a couple totems depending on personal preference and mob pulled. Pull with lightning bolt. Follow up with an earth shock if the mobs starts to cast. Purge if necessary. You want the mob to be near your totems so that you get the benefits from the totems. If the mob runs, use earthbind or frost shock to snare him and finish him off. Use the stoneclaw totem to deal with adds.
Chukok has a much better and more detailed description here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=27572&tmp=1#post27572 .
2.8 What's the basic tactics for a shaman in an instance group being a secondary healer/tank? In this thread http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-shaman&t=38967 , I give the following answer:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q u o t e:
In BRD and BRS, I do the following:
1) Backup healing. I am always watching the main healer's mana and everyone's health.
2) Runner killer. I am keeping an eye on mobs that can run to frost-shock / earthbind / melee them. There are so many places where a runner can and will get adds and wipe your group.
3) Totem herder. I am always re-assessing the situation and the battle location to make sure totems are up, the correct totems are up, and near the fight.
4) Anti-caster. I am using earth-shock to pull in casters and grounding totems to take spells for the team. I'm learning in BRS that grounding totem can and will save your life, and I'm getting to the point where checking the grounding totem cooldown is just another part of playing smart.
5) Off-tanking. Sometimes an extra elite mob needs my special attention while the DPS squad cleans up.
6) AOE. In groups with a large amount of non-elites, I toss out magma totems and chain lightnings to help back up the cloth when they AOEs.
7) Dying well. I have to keep an eye out for where the mobs spawn and don't so if I die, I can die somewhere I can self-res without re-aggroing and dying again.
8) Bodyguard. I keep an eye open for mobs making a break for the main healer or other caster and earth shock them to pull them off the caster onto me. The real tanks should do this, but sometimes, one slips through.
And, I'm doing all of the above while I'm in the thick of the battle laying down some baseline melee DPS on whatever mob the /assist command points me at.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.9 Hi! I'm a new shaman that has mainly been soloing. I got into my first instance (Ragefire or Wailing Caverns) as a healer and kept getting aggro and dying. What am I doing wrong? First, warriors and druids do not get aggro management abilities into the mid-teens (Mocking Blow at level 16 for warriors) or later.
Secondly, as most players are new to grouping in the first instances, their ability to manage aggro is quite weak.
Thirdly, there are several things a good low-level shaman does while soloing that he *shouldn't* do while grouped as the group's healer:
Don't cast any self-weapon buffs, *especially* rockbiter. The more damage you do, the more aggro you get, and then rockbiter gives more aggro on top of that.
Don't cast lightning shield. When a mob is aggroed on you, it will take more damage from you from the shield, and therefore aggro on you more.
Limit earth Shock usage to spell interruption and killing runners. Earth Shock generates a lot of aggro additional to the aggro it would cause by damage alone.
Hang back from skirmishes. As main healer, it isn't your primary job to deal damage -- it is to heal. So, hang back and let everyone else fight, and jump in after everyone has got a good amount of aggro.
As you see, each of these suggestions are not something a soloing shaman would normally do. And, from that, it isn't unusual for most shamans to enter their first instance and have problems with aggro management.
2.10 What are the best professions to take as a shaman? Here are some of my picks:
Leatherworking/Skinning. This is a good profession as you can make mail for your later levels as well as leather beforehand. As well, a lot of the later armour is designed with shamans in mind, like turtle scale armour and voodoo armour. Lastly, I think this profession generates more money than it costs, which is always a plus for the cash-strapped class.
Alchemy/Herbalism. I took this for my shaman. I consider the buffs and mana potions indispensible.
Engineering. This is good for shamans that embrace the "versatility" mentality of the class. A lot of the engineer items shore up the shaman's class deficiencies. The point against engineering is that it is an expensive profession, and most of the items created cannot be used by non-engineers which limits the marketability.
You could take smithing, but I find it isn't a good fit for shaman. There isn't much of the armour that is useful, and only a couple weapons stand out for shamans.
I'd recommend against enchanting as a shaman, because enchanting can get very expensive.
2.11 I have all of the abilities and not enough room on my quickbar! What do I do?
Most shamans use custom UIs to give them additional buttons. My personal pick is Cosmos ( http://www.cosmosui.org/ ), but a wide variety of them are available. See http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-interface-customization&t=2626&p=1&tmp=1#post2626 for more information.
2.12 Can a shaman be a primary healer for an instance? Short answer: no. A shaman, on his own, cannot be a primary healer for an instance.
Long answer: yes. However, a shaman cannot be a primary healer without the following:
Heavily invested in restoration talent tree.
Equipment that is chosen for INT/STA/SPI.
Intelligent groupmates that understand a shaman is not as powerful a healer as druids or priests and alter their tactics accordingly.
One thing to point out is that shamans are more powerful as secondary healers and support characters, so while it may be possible to play your character as a healer, it is not an efficent usage of your spells and abilities.
The following thread discusses this: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-shaman&T=35271&P=1
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