Enhancement vs Arms warriorFollow

Appears i was wrong, sorry and excuse this post :/

Edited, Oct 5th 2007 4:33pm by NeroSeekerOfSouls

Shaman dps is pretty much right up there with a Rogue, Warrior, or any other 1 dimentional dps class. I'm generally in the top 3 myself (spend alot of time in the #1 spot) in Kara runs, and typically 1-2 in pugs, granted my intentional goal ISN'T to be #1 on dps meters...its to be top 3 in dps AND healing (which I do consistantly too)!

The only problem is that Shaman dps (enh more so than elem) has nearly NO ways to manage there hate production! SO unlike a Rogue's fade, Lock's shatter, Mage(block), Warrior's armor, etc...that help with either hate management or methods to deal with the issue when aggro is taken, Shaman's are completely dependant on the hate keeping skills of their tank, as far as how much dps they can pour on. Without a good tank, said shaman is going to be dead shaman, and being dead kinda hinders your dps :p Keep a shaman on there feet, and let the beating ensue!

This being said, the on 2 seperate occations running a heroic run in SV, the pug'd dps war (arm's both times), both did 47%-53% of the TOTAL DMG DONE in thoughs runs!!! WOW!!! I ended up being #2 by a LARGE margin (I was like in the low 20%), and despite the wars' overwhelming %, I was actually doing my usual good #'s! The war's in question were EXPECTIONALLY geared (tier 5, BT, MGlad sets caliber stuff), and previously no dps warrior really put #'s up that impressed me as these guys did! Now, in my (a enh sham's) defense, the wars' in question, in this situation had the liberty to cleave and whilwind all they wanted! AoE dmg is something a enh sham doesn't do very well, thus when factoring if/when situation gets to happen for the dps classes that can expliot it...then ya...sham's are always going to be beaten. Regardless, thats some pretty INSANE dmg!!

All that dps, and the ability to go all out and not worry about pulling hate.....DAYUM! I was inspired to start my own dps warrior (he's @ 47 now :D), after witnessing that sexy display of brutality, and compairing it to my frustartions of dying each time I yanked hate :P!

So I'm inclined to say, if pure melee dps is your intention...then I'd be partial to suggesting warrior over sham. Course, understand that dps is a dime a dozen! Sham's life (regardless of spec) revolves around healing, kinda like a warrior lot in life revolves around tanking (regardless of spec). So that being said, in the majority of situations that your NOT getting to dps...are you "ok" with the other aspect that comes with the classes in question :P?

Only really useable if you're not in the tanks group.

Which, more often then not, is going to have a shaman in it.

though i would still say that if you just want to deal damage, play a rogue (/mage/lock) because those classes are more meant for dps then shamans and will if geared and skilled equally always outdamage a shaman.

That doesnt mean shaman dps sucks, just that they arent as good dps as the pure dps clases.

You all have to stop focusing on just your own DPS stats. It's absolutely ridiculous to overlook all of the other things that an enhancement Shaman brings to a raid. Unleashed Rage procs and totems add to the raid's overall performance by quite a bit. My guild regularly brings an Enhancement Shaman to put into the melee DPS group to bring the whole group's DPS up. What does a DPS Warrior actually bring to the Raid other than just it's own damage? The buffs/debuffs it uses can already be provided by a Protection speced Warrior. I'd take an Enhancement Shaman over a DPS Warrior any day.

Good point Greenroom, I forgot all about Battleshout! So, I take back what I said about DPS Warriors not contributing more than just their own DPS :) That being said, I still like what the Enhancement Shamans bring to a raid. I think the buff to their threat reduction talent will help them out as well. The tough part is that in a 25 man raid there really is only room for one Enhancement Shaman. There can be tough competition and sometimes hurt feelings when there are more than one Enhancement Shaman that want in. Of course the same could be said of a DPS Warrior. Thankfully my main is a Warlock :)

My friend recently lvl'd an enhancement shaman and he's lvl 69 atm. Although he's only beaten me due to my lack of targeting him in a duel, he can get me down pretty quick. He's not epic'd and I'm a 33/28 pve spec, but either way, if you know how to play the class you can do some pretty good damage. I've seen him beat lvl 70's at the mid 60's lvl. There are times when we duel that I end with more than half my hp's but more often than not he's tearin in to me for having quested greens and blues. That just goes to show you that if you play the class right, you can do some massive damage. Or maybe i'm just the sux.