Shaman versus ?Follow

Shamans aren't built for dueling, generally- their most powerful and unique abilities (totems, bloodlust) scale according to party size. So don't count on being a great duelist. If you want to duel, play a warlock

Beware of posters who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.


This is really the best way to sum up a Shaman in PvP. If you want to fit into a 5v5 or support a mob of allies in a BG, Shaman is for you. If you want to duel, run 2v2's or 3v3's, or be capable of accomplishing focused objectives like single-handed defending and capping nodes in BG's, then you literally could not pick a worse class than Shaman. The smaller the scale of the PvP gets, the exponentially worse Shaman get.

There is not a single dueling-spec of any given class that I would give the upper hand to Shaman against. Against equally geared, equally skilled opponents, Shaman should lose every time.

Edited, Jan 28th 2008 6:44pm by Gaudion

Druids if they're balance, but definitely not Ferals, Arms Warriors, or any kind of Rogue. Not sure about Fury Warriors... I can't remember the last time I fought one. If ever there was a cookiecutter class in PvP... it's Warriors.


No.


Since we lost the ability to purge Ret seals I'd call this a toss-up unless you're Resto. Holy can't kill us either way but neither can we kill them.


Holy is not a PvP build at all and Disc is not a dueling build. For the record though, they're just as impossible to kill as any Paladin or Resto Druid. If we Earth Shock their heals, they'll Mana Burn us into obscurity. If we Earth Shock Mana Burn, they can heal for an eternity. They are also a royal !#$% to Purge. It's ridiculous how many buffs Disc Priests have and can generate, and always with 20-80% dispell resistance.


As well they should. All solid losses.

Not saying you're wrong in this post, GWynand, just adding the way I weigh the match-ups as an Elemental Shaman next to your experiences as a Resto Shaman.

I would only spec Elemental for 5v5/3v3 Arena; and only if I had a fantastic comp. Or just for farming, as gear is easier to mix w/ the +Healing gear I have.

Wow, thanks everyone, I didnt expect this many posts.
Thanks so much really!

LOL huh?

Grounding totem is gone after 1 spell and cool down on it is too long to avoid dying even with earth shocking between. We may be an irritation to casters, but a warlock or mage will have no problem tearing you apart if they are at all good.

If the caster targeted the totem? As long as it's not an aoe, it'll destroy the totem.

Oh, I thought it would destroy the universe or something...

I did a 5v5 with my warlock and for some reason, all four of my teammates were locked out (server lag issue). Needless to say, we lost that one. (I did do the most damage though (3 instant dots on each enemy while running away :)

I play my shammy enhance, I dont really fear anything in cloth.

maybe s-priests. As mentioned (and i think every shammy should learn this) using gcd's on purge in 1v1 situations is just plain.. stupid. On my mage, when i duel shammies, I know its an instant ez win when i get purged. like.. OMG i just lost molten armor and AI (neither of wich gives me armor!) while doing 4k dmg to my opponent, and im still full health!

I have the hardest time against 1 rogues, 2 hunters, 3 druids, and with warriors I find it to be about 50/50, just depends on if i can burst down the warrior fast enough.

Pallies, I dont really seem to have a problem with, they bubble so fast to heal, I use that time to toss myself a heal too, as well as drop a totem or two.