Role of Enhancing Shaman in PvPFollow

Hello everyone,

I'm a bit new to Shaman (and WoW in general), but lately, I've been going to Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch battlegrounds and, well, been handed my *** over and over. I've been through about ten battle between both battlegrounds and I can't seem to figure out what my role is in the battlegrounds. I'm lvl 29 Enhancing Shaman, btw.

Warsong Gulch - I've tried healing, but the enemy turns in me in an instant and I die instantly. I've tried fighting with the same result. I've tried helping out the melees with Earthbind totem and Magma totem, but I don't seem to help much. I have had nominal success running the flag, but I end up being found and as shown above, I suck in a fight.

Arathi Basin - this one is harder. No flags to find, though I can get to the Lumber Mill faster than anyone else. Pretty much similar strategies as above, but without flags.

Please help me out. I want to be useful. ; ;

Your starting to see the weaknesses that shaman's face in PvP in general. Granted we find more success in BG's and cluster fighting than 1v1 conflicts. I'll state some pro's and con's first, then how to apply yourself in which BG.

Shaman's (enh or elem) are blitz fighters and HIGH burst dmg class. Think of yourself more akin to a glass cannon tho. Your goal is to kill something faster than they can notice you. Easier said than done obviously. Because of this 1 dimentional tactic, your gearing for melee stats NEEDED to be MAXED. In some regards "twink" needs to be the norm for Enh shaman's, just to find moderate success.

Big downside to Enh is the fact that even though you "have" ranged attacks like LB, you might as well be throwing 9volt batteries at your target :P So basically all your dmg comes from melee, which means you have no flexibility for dps. Big disadvantage in a world full of CC's and distance controlers. Thus, you best plan of attack is to stay with your teams cluster and pound on targets that are already engaged with your teammates or don't notice you yet. Going in weapon drawn and charging (there's already a class that specializes in that..and we're not it) in screams "free honor" to your enemys. Think "rogue" like, just without stealth :p

Another factor is that regardless of spec, your enemy see's you as a potential "healer"...HELL even your teammates see you JUST as a healer (regardless of spec!). While the answer is "yes" that you "should" heal situationally, the fact remains that a shaman (especially a Enh shaman) doesn't have the MP pool to support full time healing and dmg. Course Enh gearing doesn't/shouldn't support caster stats to begin with. I bring this point up mostly because, since you CAN heal, and your enemy knows this...your public enemy #1! And you will be singled out and taken down FIRST! More so enforcing the fact that, stick with cluster to max your kill rate as well as your surviability! Being a lone wolf (pun intended) is unhealthy!

Now on to BG roles;

WSG- Due to the fact that we're one of the few classes at your lv bracket that has a method of enhancing movement AND carry a flag, this becomes a mainstay for WSG! While Ghost Wolf has some BIG advantages in flag runner, keep in mind some obvious disadvantages.

#1- Going back to my cluster fighter mentality I mentioned, if your moving faster than your support team can keep up, you can get singled out faster.
#2- Its purgable!
#3- Shapeshifted form doesn't make you immune to impairing abilities
#4- Takes time to apply (unless you NS it, which is something I typically don't like blowing on)
#5- Can't cast/heal while transformed.

Understanding your weakness, helps you focus coordinating your strengths with your teammates. A well cooridinated GW run can get a flag from A-B faster than anyone, especially in that bracket and can blitz win WSG in just a few mins!

Combining blitzing dmg, occational heals and quick flag runs makes shaman's deadly in WSG!

AB- While GWing to flag points cool, as I already mentioned...singling yourself away from your teams cluster is a really BAD idea. This being said, due to the nature of a shaman's abilities (totems specifically), where better at "defensive" support, IMPO. Take a point with a team, setup shop (in the form of totems), and guard it! Course, in my experiance "guarding" stuff in AB can be difficult since everyone seems to like to "defend" things by constantly running around the map :P But, as many vets can attest to proper GUARDING is a key aspect of victory in AB! We do this well, as long as we're not the only ones staying to guard a spot :P

We're strongest once we have a full 4 element layout down. Defending something allows us the time to setup. When blitzing a point, it will take a full 4 secs to get out our tools, more than enough time for a enemy to drop us, espeically if they singled us out..and they tend to do that alot as I mentioned.

Setup shop, keep a good defense squad with you, and GUARD! Spot heal and kill as needed.

Some last helpful tips

You can use Ghost Wolf Offensively too. Even @ 70, I tend to move around in GW form more often than not. Reason being is 2 fold;
#1- its obviously faster (DUH!)
#2- its A LOT less obvious to my enemy moving around in a semi-transparent compact-DOG shape, rather than a Tauren atop a War Kodo!

If I know that the class tends to get singled out, then why would I intentionally wear a BIG NEON SIGN telling my enemy where I am!?!

Since Shaman's don't have a real movement enhancing abilitiy to help get us into melee range faster to be a proper "blitz" dmger, we're relient on just our typical "walking" pace. Your enemy will see you coming a mile away typically, and gives them more than enough time to counter your forward advance. About the only thing we have to close the gap faster is GW.

I use a macro something like this;
/dismount
/cancelaura Ghost Wolf
/targetenemy [target=mouseover,nodead,harm]
/startattack [harm]

This allows me to stay in GW/mounted right up to the point when I'm in their face, then I can start pounding on them immediately!

IF by chance your a Tauren, make a macro something like this;
/castsequence reset=War Stomp [Target=player,modifier:shift] War Stomp, Lesser Healing Wave
/use [target=mouseover,help,nodead] Lesser Healing Wave

This allows for quick cover heals to your team, by simply mousing over their picture, or their character, OR if you hold down SHIFT, its your "OS" button, allowing you to do a AoE stun, and get off a (hopefully) uncontested Lesser Heal on yourself. You "could" do a normal healing wave, but considering that the War Stomp blows the Global CD, that means that you actually only have 2 secs "usable" stun time, not 3 like the tooltip states. So, that means you only have enough time to squeeze in a LHW (1.5sec cast), where as IF you used a normal HL, your enemy has 1 sec to interupt it. Giving someone like me 1 sec, thats more than enough time for me to earth shock a heal, since I already had 2 secs prior that it was being telegraphed!

Hope that helps

hey. id just like to say that was really helpful information. i shall use ghost wolf a lot more from now on & shall try out those macros

thanks again for going to the trouble of writing all that

I personally loved the 30-39 bracket for my enhancement shaman. Ghost Wolf rocks. Once you get the defiler boots, which has a alight movement boost, you can outrun just about anything. Doing this, I was garunteed to be the first at the farm to capture that location and on ocassion had enough time to run to the blacksmith right after to capture that location before anyone else. The extra honor was always nice.
I used Coprsemaker (nice 2 H axe found in RFK) with WF on it. Between the DPS that would put out, lightning shield, and dropping nova totems, I beat most opponents in 1:1 battles. In a group fight, I would drop the WF, Str of Earth or earth bind, and mana spring totems. I would then earth to disrupt spell casters or frost shock enemies to slow them down. If the enemy happened to die in the process, all the better. Dropping nova totem was a good way to get burst damage on many opponents.
When fighting locks or priests, be sure to drop the tremmor totem to break the inevtibale fear they would cast.
When guarding, I would always drop a str of earth and mana spring totem. In addition, I would use rank 1 of magma totem. The aoe effect can break rogue and druid stealth abilities.
Also, when fighting rogues and druids, I would be sure to flame shock them, as the DOT will prevent them from re-stealthing.
Also, farsight and sentry totems are awesome! Let's say I'm guarding the lumber mill. I'll drop a sentry totem at one end of the hill and stand at the other end and be able to look switch my views. I'm never snuck up on, unless it is a stealthed toon.
I've just dinged lvl 42 and haven't tried this bracket yet. However, I'm loving DW with WF on both weapons! Anyway, good luck and happy hunting.

The role of Enhancement Shaman in PvP...

Actually, before we go any further, let's clarify "PvP", shall we? Whether any of us like it or not, arena matches at 70 are more or less synonymous with "PvP" these days. It's the "official" brand of PvP, and the only kind anyone is going to care about or take seriously when you talk about it.

To wit, what you can or can not do as a twink in any BG or dueling PvP bracket below 70 means precisely jack.