~Table of Contents~
1. What is a Shaman?
2. But what is a Shaman, really?
3. What is our role in groups?
4. What is the best race to choose?
a. Tauren b. Troll c. Orc d. Draenei
5. What are the talent trees?
a. Elemental b. Enhancement c. Restoration
6. What stats should I look for?
7. What weapons should I use?
8. What is a good spec?
9. Are Shaman good at PvP?
10. What totems do I give my party?
11. What spec should I level with?
12. Anything else I should know?
13. What do I need to carry with me?
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1.What is a Shaman?
Blizzards definition: Shaman are the spiritual leaders of their tribes and clans. They are masters of the elements, using spells and totems that heal or enhance their allies in battle while unleashing the fury of the elements upon their foes. Shamans can wear medium armor, and even wield massive two-handed weapons in combat. They are a versatile class that can wade into battle, restoring their allies while hurling elemental bolts of lightning at their enemies.
2. But what is a Shaman, really?
The Shaman class is arguably one of, if not the most complex and challenging class in the game. With a wide-array of healing, support and damage spells and abilities they can bring a lot to a party or raid. They are rare however, and only occupy about 7%-9% of the active playerbase. When the game was released, Shaman was a Horde only class and was a melee and spell hybrid, mostly feared and highly revered. The First expansion introduced the Alliance to the Shaman class, but unfortunately, as of the TBC expansion pack, Shamans were no longer what many of us consider a combat hybrid and is more or less forced to spec into a specific play-type, rather than be an asset on all fronts.
** Now that Wrath of the Lich King (WOTLK - The 2nd Expansion) is nigh upon is, it seems Blizzard has been attempting to reverse this back to combat hybrid by including and changing several talents and abilities in the most recent few patches. Most noticeable is the ample amount of mana regeneration and spell power bonuses now easily available to Enhancement spec Shaman.
3. What is our role in groups?
Quite possibly our best and worst class trait is the same thing, our totems. Totems provide passive yet powerful and often unique buffs and support to us and our party for a somewhat limited amount of time, and have a short but effective range. No matter what our spec, make sure to lay your totems for the group benefit, either to buff the melee or give spellcasters some extra oomph, we are there to assist where we can. Our primary purpose is to support our party no matter what our spec.
4. What is the best race to choose?
The one you would rather look at for all those levels.. But lets take a look at each of the different racial strenths as they partain to the Shaman class;
Taurens - 5% HP, Warstomp - One of what most believe to be the better choices, mostly due to this race compensating for a large weakness in the pvp aspect of the class with an aoe stun move in Warstomp. Allowing for a quick escape or a much needed breather to cast a heal, etc, and you can't go wrong with 5% extra HP.
Trolls - Berserking, HP Regeneration, Beast-slaying - While Beast-slaying really only applies to PvP vs pets or druids at max level, it can be an effective talent while leveling and should not be quickly overlooked. The HP regen while effective, is mostly minimal but grows over time. Berserking is an interesting talent, that provides a good haste bonus depending on your HP level and is great for helping with Burst potential, both healing and dps.
Orcs - Blood Fury, Hardiness, Axe Specialization - Probably the best of the 4 available races in PvP due to the Hardiness Trait, a passive 15% stun resistance. Very invaluable against any class that stuns often. Blood Fury also acts much like a trinket, with a small but sometimes deadly counter-effect. Axe specialization can also be useful for the melee Shamans, both leveling and endgame.
Draenei - Gift of the Naaru, Inspiring Presence - The only Shaman with an available Heal over Time spell learned early vis a racial talent that does scale with your +healing stat. Also boosts you & your entire parties spell hit% by +1. And is currently the only race available to alliance Shaman.
5. What are the talent trees?
Shamans have 3 talent trees, Elemental (Ranged, magic dps), Enhancement (Combat, Melee dps), and Restoration (Healing and support).
Elemental offers an array of damage producing and enhancing abilities as well as several buffs to your most important damage spells. Lightning bolt and Chain Lightning. This tree is effective at pumping out max amounts of burst damage but is pretty mana-intensive if you're casting anything other than lightning bolts. A solid PvE and PvP tree for ranged dps.
** WOTLK expansion has now included new and useful spells to a Shaman's ******* for increased overall effectiveness. ** Although it seems as of now some of them are not well recieved. Lava Burst has been added as an 'alternative' to Lightning bolt spam, several talents have been overhauled or moved to increase ability and Flametongue weapon buff now also increases your spell power.
Enhancement is a Melee oriented tree that focuses primarily on close combat and enhancing totems and group buffs. A solid addition to any raid melee dps group, enhancement Shamans can be very very effective and efficient damage dealers. Shamanistic Rage (the 41 pt talent) helps to keep any raiding Enhancement shaman full on mana for long grueling fights and helps reduce incoming damage in PvP.
** WOTLK expansion and some previous TBC patches have reapplied spell damage and additional mana related assets to an Enhancement Shaman dps rotation. No longer only just a melee spec, healing and damage spells gain a significant boost from talents and gear now as well if specced for it.
For people interested in reading more about Enhancement, the math behind the numbers, the mechanics and the other stuff, go ahead and check out The collected works of theorycraft on Elitist Jerks website. Contains everything you'd ever want to know including the Windfury cooldown, Totem twisting and other tips & tricks to max out your DPS.
Restoration, or the healing tree is often looked at as the raiding tree, and gives incredible buffs to mana longevity and support throughout. Almost every single talent in the tree is helpful or useful in some way either PvE or PvP. Resto Shamans also get several buffs to the best aoe heal in the game, Chain Heal. A very good healing class with great mana efficiency.
** Exceptional looking healing spells have been added to the Restoration tree in the upcoming expansion, including heal over time spells and healing procs and more buffs available to my favorite ability, Earth Shield.
6. What stats should I look for?
Given your spec, the gear you should look for is for the stats that most benefit that playstyle. Elemental Shamans should focus on primarily Spell power & critical strike rating then Hit rating, Intellect and mp/5. Restoration Shamans should focus on +Healing and spell power, mp/5 and Intellect, but keep a good mix of all 3. Enhancement Shamans should focus on Agility/Attack Power, Critical strike rating and Hit rating to max their effectiveness, Strength also gives 1 AP per point so it's useful also, but don't neglect too much Intellect or Stamina either as they are always important.
7. What weapons should I use?
Its generally recommended to use a 2H weapon while leveling up your Enhancement Shaman. Especially with the early addition of the Windfury weapon buff at 30. Additionally Shaman now have the ability to wield 2H weapons no matter what spec they choose. After enhancement Shamans reach 40, they have the opportunity through talents to learn to dual-wield 1H weapons, which is also a powerful option. Restoration and Elemental Shamans should use a 1H+Shield in most situations.
8. What's a good spec for my shaman?
*** **** UNDER REVIEW **** ***
Patch 3.0.2 was release, Talent trees were all reset and changed. Waiting for play and feedback before reposting suggestions.
9. Are Shaman good at PvP?
Short answer - Yes.
Long answer - Each player is ultimately responsible for how 'good' his or her class will be in a PvP environment. As most Shaman realize, we have some rather obvious deficets in a PvP aspect in respect to other classes, however it is not uncommon for many Shaman to succeed nonetheless. Remember that we are a group oriented class and will almost always do better in a group PvP setting rather than one on one encounters.
** WOTLK has me dusting off my Alliance Insignia
10. What totems do I give my party?
It depends on the makeup, and the tank. Realize that buffing your own dps may not be the best benefit for the group and compensate for it. If you have 2 Warriors in your group, windfury is probably the best option, but if you end up with 3 mages, a wrath of air totem would be more suited. Make sure you plan out your totems ahead of time and make use of totems such as grounding and tremor totems when needed. Be careful with your fire totems, they can sometimes target cc'd enemies and cause them to break early. Do not sacrifice the groups benefit for your own.
11. What spec should I level with?
It's generally agreed that it's easiest to level as Enhancement spec, but if a different playstyle suits you, no one is going to stop you from leveling that way. Reason being is that Enhancement offers a virtually mana-free combat spec, using your mana mostly for heals or shocks, saving you lots of downtime while leveling. It's also easier to obtain melee oriented gear at lower levels.
** This has been partially changed with some recent patches prior to WOTLK, dungeon blues have been upgraded and spell power gear is now far more readily avialable than previous.
12. Anything else I should know?
Each of your totems uses a spot in your bags, make sure you always have 4 slots to keep them in and do not throw them away or destroy them. Also be aware that you can only have one totem of each type - Air, Earth, Water, Fire - down at a time up to four total. Most totems are on a 2 minute timer and are immobile. Most totems have only 5 hp, making them easy targets. And as with any class keep up on your gear and enchantments and make sure to repair when necessary.
13. What do I need to carry with me?
Ankhs. You need these to be able to self resurrect after you die and are a great help to all shamans. They stack in 10s, recommend that you always carry some in your bags. Also be aware that Water Walking and Water breathing also cost reagents to cast, so carry Fish Oil and Shiny Fish scales to be able to cast those buffs as well.
This is a current work in progess, and is made as an addition to the current FAQs and Guides that are currently available. All changes will be read, noted and reviewed for accuracy to promote the best option available.
Thanks for being part of the Shaman community!
Edited, Oct 16th 2008 5:13am by Paracleets
Edited, Nov 2nd 2008 10:04am by Paracleets
Edited, Nov 2nd 2008 10:08am by Paracleets
Edited, Nov 2nd 2008 10:14am by Paracleets
Edited, Jan 14th 2009 8:45pm by Paracleets
Edited, Jul 18th 2009 11:17pm by Wordaen
