Shaman FAQFollow

A good start I think. Needs a lot more information, but as you said it's a rough draft. I really can't add anything else to it, since I haven't played a shaman all that high.

Btw, just a note, I believe the plural of Shaman is Shaman.

Awesome! Great addition, and I'm sure many of us can add to it. Rate up from me as well.

I'll edit in your mana/5 parts but note that the Talent Builds in the FAQ are only examples, not the "best" or "most popular", just examples.


EDIT: added Aracelt's post, changed it to fit, gave credit.
EDIT2: added the WoWWiki.com explination for "Plural form of Shaman".


Edited, Aug 24th 2006 at 4:13pm EDT by Galanda

Edit: Deleted post due to it being outdated pre expansion info.

Edited, Sep 26th 2007 6:52am by Zornov

Actually, you know what would be fricking awsome if you added it?

The Class quests for Shaman Armor upgrades from factions, what is needed, and who gives the quests (Zandalar Tribe/Cenurion/Brood) all in one convenient look up. Also, what drops which pieces of Elemental Armor etc, so that shamans that are hitting 60ish and just starting the end instances/beginning to raid can have an easy to look up guide of their class specific set armors.

I apparently subconsciously chose to ignore that part of the post...

Nevermind then!

What's there to explain?
You get it at 20 and when you use it you change into a ghost wolf with 40% speed increase.

I'm not going to be listing all of Shaman's spells/abilities on the FAQ when there is a list linked on the main Shaman page on these very boards.

Edited, Aug 25th 2006 at 4:26pm EDT by Galanda

Need to add the parts in bold. Glossing over facts in an FAQ isn't a good idea.

I see the Shaman as an all-rounder. I can't say that a Shaman excells in any aspect ( it doesn't have as much armour as a warrior or paladin, neither does it have the melee damage of a rogue for example ) but most certainly it doesn't have the weaknesses that other classes have.

SHman's are alsoe known as witch doctors. The role in group back when I was in eq was enhancement Like a bard. And in wow they have that talent.
Best race is any kind. I like to do tihng's defferent and play thing's that are rare to see. And in wsg I put my point in the talent that people don't usuall put in to pvp. And still own =D

Maybe it would make sense to explain some of the little tricks that Shamans get as well. Things like Ghost Wolf, and how much that helps if you've picked a gathering profession, and being able to cover so much more ground to get to the nodes to gather. Plus the fact that you can cast ghost wolf while you're in combat, in the event that you have to head for high ground. Far Sight; helpful if you're scanning the landscape looking for a particular mob or the alliance. Water Walking; helpful for when you have to cover any kind of distance over water, sure beats swimming the whole way. Water Breathing; good for when you have to do quests underwater, the shellfish quest in Desolace, the quests off the coast of STV, the relic quest outside the Sunken Temple. Tremor Totem; how that can break sleep spells, etc.

Obviously, none of these are huge things, but I never found them to be explained overly well anywhere, but in the instances where you need them, they come in very handy.

Very good guide. Thanks for putting it together.

if you can't figure how totems help in PvP/PvE you shouldn't be playing WoW

Stoneskin Totem:
This totem is not particularly useful in PvP nor that much in PvE situations, but it does have some spots that it works very well in. For raiding, there is no very beneficial earth totem for a caster group, and dropping this will protect the squishies from a stray mob or something. It doesn't do much, but it is added security for your group. I mean what caster group is going to want Strength of Earth totem.

Strength of Earth Totem:
Oh boy, this totem is one of our best. It increases the strength of the party, and with this totem, a shaman is usually in the main tank group of a raid. Strength not only increases damage output for the melee classes, but also allows the tank to block more damage. Hence this totem is just priceless in groups.

Earthbind Totem:
Wow. This totem is what makes shaman a beast to duel or anything. The low mana cost, and the fact that it affects everything in its area, not just up to 5 or anything, means that this totem is invaluable in PvP situations. It is also very handy for certain PvE encounters (Razorgore) and up until you get Frostshock, this will be a shamans snare effect on running mobs. It's just a great totem, and it's one of the things that alliance hate.

Stoneclaw Totem:
If you get an add or something when you are grinding, you can drop this to take the add off you. I personally use this if I am running and I wish not to be interupted by a mob and become dazed. I drop it so they attack it and I just go on my merry way. It is also useful if you have a pet attacking you, as they will attack the totem if you have not damaged or taunted them in any way, lightning shield included.

Searing Totem:
A good solid totem to use while grinding, as it provides a steady extra boost in DPS for you. It's a turret totem, but the bad thing is, you do not have controll of it. It's very nice, and a good thing to have in your ********

Fire Nova Totem:
This is an AOE totem, much like a mages blast wave spell. When dropped it will not go off right away, and it will wait for 4 seconds, so position the totem where you know the mob will be and it will do a huge amount of damage. The drawback is that the totem costs an arm and a leg to cast mana wise. Very good vs rogues or druids in stealth, as the nova will hit them and knock them out of stealth.

Tremor Totem:
This totem knocks off fear, charm, and sleep effects of nearby party members. Not something you will use every day, but when you fight a mob that has one of those skills, it really helps to drop it. Also, this totem is very good when fighting warlocks. In fact, warlocks hate this totem more than they hated themselves before they got buffed up to the PvP gods they are today.

Poison Cleansing Totem:
This stays up for 2 minutes and clears any poison effect that goes on your party. Very handy in mass poison situations, like Zul'Gurub (can't think of a lower instance or situation where mass poisoning occurs.) Also, when fighting a rogue, in a duel or something, cause you probably won't get this off if you don't know the rogue's coming, but in a duel drop it and it will take off cripiling poison effects and the like. Very nice.

Healing Stream Totem:
It's the shaman classes only Heal over time spell, and it's rather useless. It does not heal enough, even with the talents, to merit using it. I mean, until you get mana spring, drop this in a group, but other than that, your main heals are way better.

Magma Totem:
An AoE fire totem that pulses its damage instead of a nova. It's handy, becuase the fire nova totem has a high aggro towards it, and magma has less of one, so you can get it off in a PvE situation. Very nice totem to have.

Mana Spring Totem:
This totem regens mana for your party. While it may not seem like a lot, and to be honest it isn't, it still helps. Let's just say, in raid situations, casters want to see this all the time in their buff bar. Even with talents, it does not increase the regen enough to really be worthwhile, but always use it if theres a caster in your group.

Flametounge Totem:
Ahh your first weapon totem, and a fire one at that! What a good thing to have in a main tank group, or hunter group with a melee. It gives the tank aggro since he is inflicting more damage, and it gives more damage for the melee in the hunter group as well. It's good in those situations since a shaman will be dropping Grace of Air Totem instead of Windfury Totem.

Grace of Air Totem:
This totem raises the Agility of your party and should always be down on a boss fight if you are in the main tank group. Also, use this totem with rogues in the group or hunters, as Windfury will not help as much for a rogue with poisons, or a hunter who doesn't melee. Pretty obvious actually. Yeah, but it's a great totem for PvE purposes.

Grounding Totem:
Another very good totem for PvP. This totem will absorb one direct damage spell, and mulitple DoT's that do not inflict damage when applied. When hit with a direct damage spell, the totem will disappere, but saving you a lot of health. It will "turn off" for a bit if it absorbs a DoT and then will come back on for the next DoT. Very hand verses casters, and great in PvP.

Windfury Totem:
Amazing. Yes, very very amazing. This totem gives a lesser version of our personal windfury buff to our whole group. They gain a 20% chance to proc one extra attack, not two like ours, with increased AP. Two handed sword wielding warriors love us. Yep. I can think of great times in AB when I get put into a group of all warriors, and I just run with them to heal and drop Windfury totem and Strength of Earth. Call us team windfury, things die fast... very fast.

Sentry Totem:
This totem is like a second eye for you, and it lasts for 5 minutes. It puts an icon in your buff bar that you click to switch from your character to the totem. It's like a security camera for the shaman, but you have to be looking at it in order to know somethings coming. It doesnt warn you. Nice for defending stuff with more than one place for and enemy to come in a Battle ground.

Windwall Totem:
Utter crap. It reduces the damage you take from projectiles. Only used for fighting hunters in PvP. And even then, it's not enough. Practically a waste of a slot in your hot bar.

Disease Cleansing Totem:
Does the same as Poison Cleansing Totem, but for diseases O_o

Mana Tide Totem:
Ok, this is why we're allowed to raid. Mainly why anyways. It gives a good amount of mana back to your party. 290 a tick, so it is really worth it, and makes raiding life a lot easier. The only problem is that is a Talent, and not a trainable spell. Hence we have to be pure resto to get it.

All the resists totems:
They do what they say, summons a totem to give +resist to given element. Very handy in Molten Core and Ahn Quirage, or any resist fight, but not something to use verses mages like my friend thought when he played my shaman.

Hmm... Well, I am speccing into Elemental today to test out the Burning Crusade Elemental talent totem. So I will give a preview of that before the expansion is released, and I will also have a grasp on the new totems implemented in the expansion to write about. But for now, this can go in the tutorial, as i saw the request for it and I'm here in my schools library doing nothing. I know i forgot to add cooldowns on the totems, but come one its pretty obvious since it says it in the tool tip. Well I hope its good enough and it gets added to the FAQ so I can have had my part in helping fellow shamans.

Edit-
So seeing as I got flamed for this, I changed two words in my description of Strength of Earth Totem.

and I am going to add Totem of Wrath as I have been playing around with it for a day now.

Totem of Wrath:
This is a fire totem that helps oh so much in a caster group for raids. With this, your group gets a healthy buff to their crit chance and can in turn dish out more damage. It last for 2 minutes with no cooldown. The +3 crit works wonders, and is worth dropping for pure grinding purposes, over searing totem.

Edited, Oct 22nd 2006 at 1:13pm PDT by Folanthas

Edited, Oct 23rd 2006 at 7:10am PDT by Folanthas