After more than 2 years having a level 29 shaman parked away, my rampant altitis rekindled my interest with the class, mostly because I actually want to play a different PvP healer than my current main, a paladin.
Now while I will take the lazy road and continue down enhancement for several levels, chances are that I could get called to join an instance as a healer. I actually look forward to that.
Only thing is... how, in practice, does the effective shaman heal? Paladin is easy, mostly spam one single button early and often, and hope there isn't too much splash damage.
For the time being I have two heals (and a totem), how do I rotate them for most efficiency? Should I downrank Healing Waves? How much mana and +healing should I assemble for a healing set around level 40 (assuming a second set becomes more and more important to heal for some effectiveness)?
Am I right in assuming LHW is going to be my panic button, the totem my overall foundation and HW my bread and butter?
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Stupid noob question of the day: How does the shaman heal?Follow
COrrect me if im wrong (gwynand).
at that level spam rank 1 heal 3x for healing grace and use healing wave to main heal or lesser in sticky situations.
at that level spam rank 1 heal 3x for healing grace and use healing wave to main heal or lesser in sticky situations.
This has been covered nicely here
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t19181-shaman_how_heal_like_pro/
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t19181-shaman_how_heal_like_pro/
Once you get Chain Heal, that's one of the best...three targets at once. Until then I mainly used Healing wave for MT and lesser for other dps. +healing is hard to come by around lvl 40 without sacrificing stamina and intellect.
Nature's swiftness + Healing wave on the MT will save some wipes when things go bad. Usually need that when you get spell locked and the tank goes down under 20% health.
I wouldn't consider myself an expert though, but I have had some good success main healing instances. I've saved more wipes than I've caused so that's good.
Nature's swiftness + Healing wave on the MT will save some wipes when things go bad. Usually need that when you get spell locked and the tank goes down under 20% health.
I wouldn't consider myself an expert though, but I have had some good success main healing instances. I've saved more wipes than I've caused so that's good.
Quote:
Once you get Chain Heal, that's one of the best...three targets at once. Until then I mainly used Healing wave for MT and lesser for other dps. +healing is hard to come by around lvl 40 without sacrificing stamina and intellect.
Nature's swiftness + Healing wave on the MT will save some wipes when things go bad. Usually need that when you get spell locked and the tank goes down under 20% health.
Nature's swiftness + Healing wave on the MT will save some wipes when things go bad. Usually need that when you get spell locked and the tank goes down under 20% health.
This is basically it - Keep it simple.
Use healing wave as much as you can, and use lesser for the times when someone needs a little boost in health.
Healing should be easy for you at this point, and you should never have a problem main healing.
Once you get chain heal, it becomes much much much easier. Just bear through these lower levels, they go quickly. :)
it's the same as being a pally; make sure everyone is topped off, but you get the most amazing multiperson heal in existence :D Chain heal ( this is how alot of guilds get thru Illidan's 8.5k shadowbolts that hit the entire raid)
10 posts
It will be more difficult to heal then on your pally. The heals aren't as mana efficient and as enh you won't really be picking up gear with int, so you'll need a completely different set for healing to increase your mana pool. That said you should still be able to heal low instances as long as you are smart and the group you are with pays attention. You shouldn't need to be healing anything other than the tank really and that'll be fine, the problem i have (33 enh shaman- no int/healing set) is that people like to pull aggro and destroy my mana. When chain heal comes around it'll be a lot better. But you said you'll be grabbing some healing gear so it shouldn't be too bad for you, just a matter of getting in there and getting a feel for when to heal and what heals to use.
I don't imagine it's much different from Paladin healing, except for the buffs used and having slightly more heal spell variety.
Healing Wave = primary mana efficient heal
L. Healing Wave = fast emergency heal
Chain Heal = AOE heal, effective when you need to heal multiple targets
Healing Stream Totem = weak heal over time totem that won't amaze you but which is often worth dropping (particularly after you get a trinket, or if you play an Orc.)
Apart from that, keep totem buffs up for the group, avoid overhealing, and watch your mana. Mana/overhealing issues should feel pretty similar to paladin healing, I'd imagine.
And have a set of healing gear. You can mainheal any pre-65 instance as DPS spec, but still accumulate the best healing gear you can while leveling.
Healing Wave = primary mana efficient heal
L. Healing Wave = fast emergency heal
Chain Heal = AOE heal, effective when you need to heal multiple targets
Healing Stream Totem = weak heal over time totem that won't amaze you but which is often worth dropping (particularly after you get a trinket, or if you play an Orc.)
Apart from that, keep totem buffs up for the group, avoid overhealing, and watch your mana. Mana/overhealing issues should feel pretty similar to paladin healing, I'd imagine.
And have a set of healing gear. You can mainheal any pre-65 instance as DPS spec, but still accumulate the best healing gear you can while leveling.
Axehilt wrote:
I don't imagine it's much different from Paladin healing, except for the buffs used and having slightly more heal spell variety.
Healing Wave = primary mana efficient heal
L. Healing Wave = fast emergency heal
Chain Heal = AOE heal, effective when you need to heal multiple targets
Healing Stream Totem = weak heal over time totem that won't amaze you but which is often worth dropping (particularly after you get a trinket, or if you play an Orc.)
Apart from that, keep totem buffs up for the group, avoid overhealing, and watch your mana. Mana/overhealing issues should feel pretty similar to paladin healing, I'd imagine.
And have a set of healing gear. You can mainheal any pre-65 instance as DPS spec, but still accumulate the best healing gear you can while leveling.
Healing Wave = primary mana efficient heal
L. Healing Wave = fast emergency heal
Chain Heal = AOE heal, effective when you need to heal multiple targets
Healing Stream Totem = weak heal over time totem that won't amaze you but which is often worth dropping (particularly after you get a trinket, or if you play an Orc.)
Apart from that, keep totem buffs up for the group, avoid overhealing, and watch your mana. Mana/overhealing issues should feel pretty similar to paladin healing, I'd imagine.
And have a set of healing gear. You can mainheal any pre-65 instance as DPS spec, but still accumulate the best healing gear you can while leveling.
This is pretty spot-on for keeping it simple and easy. Rate up!
Thanks for the advice everyone, it's much clearer now (and actually different from pallie healing, they tend to spam the fast heal instead of the slow one).
Assembline a healing set is something I'm used to doing, and I have absolutely no shame to play an orc in cloth in an instance if it means the group lives :)
Anyway, practice makes perfect, and if the occasion presents itself, all your advice will prove extremely valuable.
Assembline a healing set is something I'm used to doing, and I have absolutely no shame to play an orc in cloth in an instance if it means the group lives :)
Anyway, practice makes perfect, and if the occasion presents itself, all your advice will prove extremely valuable.
Also, in boss fights, start healing wave on the tank before he might need it. You can always cancel it. Sometimes they get hit really hard and other times they don't.
Why do I see no mention of Earth Shield in this thread? You can pre-cast it on the tank before battle, it receives 10 charges of 30% of your healing at the time of cast. Drop that wrath of air, pop a trinket and then drop earth shield.
With 1400 healing (over geared, I know) in Black Morass, I drop earth shield on the tank, drop totems at a portal and I stand back lobbing lightning for the entire fight of every non-boss portal. No other healer can do something like this.
With 1400 healing (over geared, I know) in Black Morass, I drop earth shield on the tank, drop totems at a portal and I stand back lobbing lightning for the entire fight of every non-boss portal. No other healer can do something like this.
Good point about Earth Shield...I think no one mentioned it because the OP is too low to have it yet.
I would not drop the healing totem. Instead, drop your mana spring totem. More mana = more heals.
You said that you were going to level up as enhancement. If you are going to do any enchanting on your healing set, you might want to get +STR or +AP put on it. Once you get Mental Quickness, 10/20/30% of your AP is added to your spell damange and healing spells. I remember when my Shaman was around lvl 40, I had maybe +20 total spell damage/healing from gear, but had an over all +120 to spell damage/healing because my AP was pretty high.
You said that you were going to level up as enhancement. If you are going to do any enchanting on your healing set, you might want to get +STR or +AP put on it. Once you get Mental Quickness, 10/20/30% of your AP is added to your spell damange and healing spells. I remember when my Shaman was around lvl 40, I had maybe +20 total spell damage/healing from gear, but had an over all +120 to spell damage/healing because my AP was pretty high.
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I would not drop the healing totem. Instead, drop your mana spring totem. More mana = more heals.
I'll have to crunch numbers on this again I suppose.
Last I checked (early in BC) it was almost always preferable to drop Healing Stream for a given pull. The big reasons behind this were: (a) you immediately gained healing rather than waiting for the totem to turn into mana that you could turn into healing, and (b) +healing affected healing stream but nothing (except set bonuses) increased mana spring.
To be clear, I often do use Mana Spring while healing (particularly when pulls are controlled and nobody but the tank is taking damage) but the numbers crunches I did a long while back indicated that if multiple teammates were damaged it wasn't the wisest course of action.
Edited, Jan 25th 2008 3:26pm by Axehilt
ummmm......
SkibumOnShiva wrote:
because of this:
Alastaironsiren wrote:
SkibumOnShiva wrote:
Quote:
Why do I see no mention of Earth Shield in this thread? You can pre-cast it on the tank before battle, it receives 10 charges of 30% of your healing at the time of cast. Drop that wrath of air, pop a trinket and then drop earth shield.
With 1400 healing (over geared, I know) in Black Morass, I drop earth shield on the tank, drop totems at a portal and I stand back lobbing lightning for the entire fight of every non-boss portal. No other healer can do something like this.
With 1400 healing (over geared, I know) in Black Morass, I drop earth shield on the tank, drop totems at a portal and I stand back lobbing lightning for the entire fight of every non-boss portal. No other healer can do something like this.
because of this:
Alastaironsiren wrote:
Quote:
Now while I will take the lazy road and continue down enhancement for several levels, chances are that I could get called to join an instance as a healer. I actually look forward to that.
If 3+ people are taking damage, healing stream is worth dropping. Otherwise, mana spring will be of more benefit. Healing stream does benefit from your +healing, but it is 100% of your +healing spread over the entire duration of the totem. Because of this, the actual gain per tick isn't that significant.
Another thing to consider is how long the fight is going to be. For shorter fights, you may not want to drop either healing stream or mana spring. For longer fights there is an additional variable to consider.
In a longer fight where there are 3+ mana users in your party, mana spring is almost certainly going to be more beneficial to the party than healing stream. Longer fights generally mean boss fights, which usually means only the tank taking direct damage, with melee DPS possibly taking splash damage from AOEs.
To break it down, it looks like this:
3+ mana user in party ~~> Mana Spring
3+ people taking damage ~~> Healing Stream
Long fights ~~> Mana spring
Short fights ~~> Your choice, but if you insist on dropping 1 healing stream is probably better
Remember, if it is just your melee DPS taking splash or AOE damage, subsitute in a chain heal instead of healing wave. You will still heal the tank and probably give the melee DPS enough of a heal to last them til you can throw out another chain heal.
If your ranged DPS starts taking damage, throw lesser healing waves on them whenever the tank is at a safe level.
Another thing to consider is how long the fight is going to be. For shorter fights, you may not want to drop either healing stream or mana spring. For longer fights there is an additional variable to consider.
In a longer fight where there are 3+ mana users in your party, mana spring is almost certainly going to be more beneficial to the party than healing stream. Longer fights generally mean boss fights, which usually means only the tank taking direct damage, with melee DPS possibly taking splash damage from AOEs.
To break it down, it looks like this:
3+ mana user in party ~~> Mana Spring
3+ people taking damage ~~> Healing Stream
Long fights ~~> Mana spring
Short fights ~~> Your choice, but if you insist on dropping 1 healing stream is probably better
Remember, if it is just your melee DPS taking splash or AOE damage, subsitute in a chain heal instead of healing wave. You will still heal the tank and probably give the melee DPS enough of a heal to last them til you can throw out another chain heal.
If your ranged DPS starts taking damage, throw lesser healing waves on them whenever the tank is at a safe level.
Until you get Water Shield, you should drop Mana Spring every time or you're going to have longevity issues.
Up until TBC content at ~60, if your party isn't retarded then no one should be taking regular damage other than the tank anyways unless some mobs (usually bosses) do AoE damage, and Chain Heal can fix that right up.
Healing Stream really doesn't make any notable difference until the end of the game when you've got a retarded amount of +healing stacked and the improved talent. I didn't even start using it at all until I started healing heroics, where you need every ounce of survival you can squeeze out. Don't think of Healing Stream as a tool to keep your party members passively healed any more than Stoneskin is a tool to keep you party members from taking damage completely. They're both there to simply buy you a little more time and perhaps decrease the amount you need to actively heal by a small amount, but they're no replacements.
As for Healing Wave vs. Lesser Healing wave, Shaman healing is not like Paladin healing. LHW heals half as much as HW, but costs 2/3 as much mana. It's very inefficient and should be used only for emergencies. Once you get Earth Shield at 50, it will buy you more than enough time before HW's, though on heroics and Kara, should you heal them, you should always pre-empt your HW's and simply cancel if necessary.
Up until TBC content at ~60, if your party isn't retarded then no one should be taking regular damage other than the tank anyways unless some mobs (usually bosses) do AoE damage, and Chain Heal can fix that right up.
Healing Stream really doesn't make any notable difference until the end of the game when you've got a retarded amount of +healing stacked and the improved talent. I didn't even start using it at all until I started healing heroics, where you need every ounce of survival you can squeeze out. Don't think of Healing Stream as a tool to keep your party members passively healed any more than Stoneskin is a tool to keep you party members from taking damage completely. They're both there to simply buy you a little more time and perhaps decrease the amount you need to actively heal by a small amount, but they're no replacements.
As for Healing Wave vs. Lesser Healing wave, Shaman healing is not like Paladin healing. LHW heals half as much as HW, but costs 2/3 as much mana. It's very inefficient and should be used only for emergencies. Once you get Earth Shield at 50, it will buy you more than enough time before HW's, though on heroics and Kara, should you heal them, you should always pre-empt your HW's and simply cancel if necessary.
At least for low level totems (level ~32 versions of each spell; assuming zero +healing), it comes out that:
30 Seconds:
1. Healing Stream heals 120 per player.
2. Mana Spring provides 50 mana. (90 minus the spell cost)
3. 50 mana spent on Healing Wave at that level provides 109 healing. (2.18 HPM)
Full duration:
4. Healing Stream heals 480 per player.
5. Mana Spring provides 320 mana.
6. 320 mana spent on Healing Wave at that level provides 697 healing.
So in short pulls, Healing Stream provides a larger benefit. For longer pulls where everything is 100% controlled and only one player is taking damage (which tbh is very rare in a level ~32 group) Mana Spring is better, particularly since it adds longevity to other classes.
However for pure healing purposes, if a 2nd player is damaged for only half the totem's duration, the totem breaks even with Mana Spring. If lots of players are damaged (or two players for the full duration) then Healing Stream starts to become significantly better.
Like I said, I'm guilty of using Mana Spring an awful lot while healing, but often it's just not the best totem for the job if it's raw healing you want to provide.
Some would argue the rate of healing of Healing Stream is too low to be of use ("Healing Stream really doesn't make any notable difference"), but this math essentially shows the rate of Mana Spring is only 45% better when one player is damaged, and Healing Stream is 38% better if two players are damaged. So if you're going to put down a low-rate totem to augment your healing, may as well toss out the better one.
Does it make me overly cynical to see "pre-60 group that isn't retarded" as an oxymoron? Probably.
But really it's less that they're "retarded" and more than things don't proceed flawlessly. There are less AOEing mobs in lowbie instances, but far more bad players. Even in level 70 instances there's enough bad players around that players frequently end up taking damage from non-AOEing mobs.
Edited, Jan 25th 2008 7:01pm by Axehilt
30 Seconds:
1. Healing Stream heals 120 per player.
2. Mana Spring provides 50 mana. (90 minus the spell cost)
3. 50 mana spent on Healing Wave at that level provides 109 healing. (2.18 HPM)
Full duration:
4. Healing Stream heals 480 per player.
5. Mana Spring provides 320 mana.
6. 320 mana spent on Healing Wave at that level provides 697 healing.
So in short pulls, Healing Stream provides a larger benefit. For longer pulls where everything is 100% controlled and only one player is taking damage (which tbh is very rare in a level ~32 group) Mana Spring is better, particularly since it adds longevity to other classes.
However for pure healing purposes, if a 2nd player is damaged for only half the totem's duration, the totem breaks even with Mana Spring. If lots of players are damaged (or two players for the full duration) then Healing Stream starts to become significantly better.
Like I said, I'm guilty of using Mana Spring an awful lot while healing, but often it's just not the best totem for the job if it's raw healing you want to provide.
Some would argue the rate of healing of Healing Stream is too low to be of use ("Healing Stream really doesn't make any notable difference"), but this math essentially shows the rate of Mana Spring is only 45% better when one player is damaged, and Healing Stream is 38% better if two players are damaged. So if you're going to put down a low-rate totem to augment your healing, may as well toss out the better one.
Quote:
Up until TBC content at ~60, if your party isn't retarded then no one should be taking regular damage other than the tank
Does it make me overly cynical to see "pre-60 group that isn't retarded" as an oxymoron? Probably.
But really it's less that they're "retarded" and more than things don't proceed flawlessly. There are less AOEing mobs in lowbie instances, but far more bad players. Even in level 70 instances there's enough bad players around that players frequently end up taking damage from non-AOEing mobs.
Edited, Jan 25th 2008 7:01pm by Axehilt
Axehilt wrote:
Quote:
Up until TBC content at ~60, if your party isn't retarded then no one should be taking regular damage other than the tank
Does it make me overly cynical to see "pre-60 group that isn't retarded" as an oxymoron? Probably.
Lol... Not as cynical as me, I'm afraid. It's been my experience that, "Retarded at 30, retarded at 70."
Quote:
But really it's less that they're "retarded" and more than things don't proceed flawlessly. There are less AOEing mobs in lowbie instances, but far more bad players. Even in level 70 instances there's enough bad players around that players frequently end up taking damage from non-AOEing mobs.
Yeah, but at 70, things are so much harder (and the repair bills so much higher) that it's really no longer possible or practicle to carry the retarded players limping through the instances.
Draeneipally wrote:
COrrect me if im wrong (gwynand).
at that level spam rank 1 heal 3x for healing grace and use healing wave to main heal or lesser in sticky situations.
at that level spam rank 1 heal 3x for healing grace and use healing wave to main heal or lesser in sticky situations.
Pretty much, except you meant "Ancestral Healing" proc, not "Healing Grace"; and a stack of Healing Way to inc. your HW healing. Also, Chain Heal is pretty effective, even at that level; although, Healing Wave will be your main spam button.
dreddz wrote:
This has been covered nicely here
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t19181...l_like_pro/
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t19181...l_like_pro/
The problem with this link is that it was made with a 70 raiding shaman, who is pretty much past Karazhan, in mind -- not a lvl 40.
To answer the OP's question, I would say that HS totem is nice, but not a "foundation" by any means. Use it in melee-heavy groups where you aren't going to run out of mana any time soon; Mana Spring in most other situations.
HW, yes, is your bread and butter heal; unless 2 people (say, the tank and one of the melee-ers) are taking damage at the same time -- then use Chain Heal.
Quote:
Pretty much, except you meant "Ancestral Healing" proc, not "Healing Grace"; and a stack of Healing Way to inc. your HW healing. Also, Chain Heal is pretty effective, even at that level; although, Healing Wave will be your main spam button.
If he's stacking something 3x, he means Healing Way (not healing grace or Ancestral Healing).
Axehilt wrote:
Quote:
Pretty much, except you meant "Ancestral Healing" proc, not "Healing Grace"; and a stack of Healing Way to inc. your HW healing. Also, Chain Heal is pretty effective, even at that level; although, Healing Wave will be your main spam button.
If he's stacking something 3x, he means Healing Way (not healing grace or Ancestral Healing).
I said that: "and a stack of Healing Way to inc. your HW healing."
Well it was mostly that he didn't mean Ancestral Healing at all when he said Healing Grace...
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