Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: Shaman Wowwiki Starter/PVE/PVP


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 488
Date:
Shaman Wowwiki Starter/PVE/PVP
Permalink   


So, you're thinking of playing a Shaman? This page is intended to give a short overview of what to do over the first 10 levels or so, just to get you started on the right path. If you're looking for more of an overview of the class's abilities, see the main Shaman page. For more advanced topics, see the Shaman Tactics.

For a more general overview on starting out playing WoW, see the Newbie Guide.

Shamans are jack-of-all-trades, meaning that they are a hybrid of several abilities rather than a class with one specialized role. They can heal, fight, do direct damage, do damage over time, and buff groups. They can do it all. Unfortunately, they cannot do it all very well. Their versatility spreads wide, but not deep. They will not typically heal as well as a Priest, fight as well as a Warrior, smite the enemy from afar as well as a Warlock, or crowd control at all.

Being versatile, they can handle most situations themselves, so they make good solo characters.

A defining characteristic of Shamans is their totems, which can be a serious advantage to groups when used correctly. One challenge in using Shaman totems is that they are stationary, and only affect the Shaman, party members, or enemies who are within range. However, in exchange for this limitation, Shaman Totems include one of the most varied set of skills in the game. Further, four totems may be active at once, typically two or three of which are improving every member of the group. As a result, a single Shaman brings skills that would take several other classes to provide to a group.

Whether your Shaman specializes in healing, melee dps, or caster dps, you will have the opportunity to play a utility role through totems. In lower level groups, this utility function will often go unnoticed. For example, Stoneskin Totem reduces the damage taken by party members, and a resistance totem can reduce the magic damage in a particular school of magic. In certain encounters, these group bonuses will make a dramatic difference. At lower levels, other players may not realize your appropriate use of totems is playing such an important role, and as a result they will go under-appreciated. However, at higher levels, and especially at maximum-level where players are more experienced, your totems will not only be appreciated, but sought out, talked about, negotiated for, revered, and sometimes even demanded.

If you're considering playing a shaman, you'll have to ask yourself a few questions, first:

  • Do I want the challenge of a class with multiple simultaneous roles?
  • Can I easily switch modes between a caster role in the back of the fight to being in the thick of battle?
  • Can I think quickly, and handle a large set of hotkeys in the process of getting my job done?
  • Can I quickly sort through a vast range of choices and choose the best tool for the job at that exact instant?

These are all things a shaman will deal with. It's an unorthodox hybrid role, and sometimes under-appreciated. Shaman are not as popular healers as priests when people need to set up a group, but will get just as much blame if the whole party is killed. It will take more to gain the respect of other players, but that fact will make the respect all the greater.

Contents

[show]

edit Race selection

If you're a power-player, you'll want to consider the various Racial Traits when choosing what race to play. You might also consider the racial Attributes, but after the first 20 levels or so these become largely irrelevant, as the items you've gained will outstrip any racial bonuses.

Shamans can be only three of the Horde races, and the Draenei if you have the Burning Crusade expansion, and the Dwarves will gain the class in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, each of which has an ability that lends itself to the class:

  • The war-stomp of the Tauren can greatly enhance a Shaman's survivability, as it allows a pause to self-heal or run. It helps control multiple foes, which shamans sometimes have a problem with, and it allows them to stun enemies in PvP.
  • Orcs have Blood Fury, which is useful to a hybrid class since it increases both attack power and spell power. They also have Hardiness, which makes them recover from stuns a bit more quickly.
  • Both the berserking and regeneration of the Troll are useful to the shaman, and the Beast Slaying bonus tends to be useful for leveling and Skinning. The Troll specializations in Thrown Weapons and Bows are useless to shaman, who are unable to use ranged weapons.
  • The Draenei have Gift of the Naaru, which can save healing mana while soloing, and Heroic Presence, which increases the group's chance to hit.

For more casual gamers, there's really no major difference between the races - choose the race that you want to play, whether for its looks, its voice, or because it's simply good fun!

Stats

Starting stats
STRAGISTAINTSPI
RACE:2122211621
CLASS:+1+0+1+1+2
TRO-SHA:2222221723
Base stats at level 70
STRAGISTAINTSPI
10366115104121

 

Equipment

Again, shamans are a balanced class, so you should balance your gear as well, with emphasis on maximizing the effectiveness of your desired role(s).

Elementalists will want burst damage caster stats, so look for hit rating, crit rating, intellect, MP5, and spellpower.

Enhancement shamans will want light melee stats with a lesser emphasis on caster stats. Look for hit rating, crit rating, attack power (especially via agility, though raw AP tends to come in larger quantities), and intellect. Thanks to Mental Quickness, spellpower is basically ignorable, but you shouldn't necessarily refuse it.

Restoration shamans naturally want healing stats. Look for intellect, spellpower, MP5, and crit rating.

Professions

  • Leatherworking lets you make leather and later mail armor, which is what shaman wear.
  • Equipment from Jewelcrafting tends to be more caster oriented, and a hybrid class would likely appreciate it most.
  • Alchemy is useful to all classes.
  • Engineering offers the shaman more abilities, and the various bombs and grenades in particular expand AoE options.
  • Inscription lets you make your own glyphs, and the off-hand tomes may be useful to an elemental or restoration shaman.
  • Enchanting lets you perform your own enchantments or make money from enchanting others.
  • Blacksmithing produces mail armor and melee weapons and may appeal to an enhancement shaman.
  • Or you might decide to just take two of Mining, Skinning or Herbalism and sell the materials you gather for gold.

Combat

Totems: Drop em like they are HOT! (Totemic Focus is really a must, i think)

Don't stand next to em, get behind your opponent! Put them between you and your totems.

edit Early leveling

The easiest way to progress through the early levels is to simply do any and all of the quests you can find. Not only will you breeze through the first 5 to 10 levels, but you'll get useful gear and precious money. Money is particularly important so you can purchase your spells.

You will spend levels 1 to 5 in your starting town. Make sure you get all the spells you can from your trainer. Between level 5 and 6 you'll find yourself heading off to your second town and a new trainer who can teach you various things. At the second town, repeat the process - do each and every quest you can find. It's important to keep up with your abilities and your gear. Now is also an appropriate time to start training in your chosen professions.

Levels 1 - 3

Initially, you're equipped with a ranged attack, Lightning Bolt, and a healing spell, Healing Wave. At maximum range, open combat by casting Lightning Bolt, spamming it until the mob is dead. Cast Healing Wave if necessary.

Levels 4 - 5

At level 4, you can learn Earth Shock and Rockbiter Weapon. If you are soloing or actively assuming the role of a tank, keep Rockbiter active at all times, and continually spam Earth Shock as often as possible. Continue to open combat with Lightning Bolt at maximum range. Also use Earth Shock to snipe runners.

Levels 6 - 7

At level 6, you can learn Earthbind Totem and soon acquire Stoneskin Totem. Cast Stoneskin Totem to buff your defenses before combat. Switch to Earthbind Totem if the enemy starts to run or if you're trying to run away.

edit Notable early quests

The following lists are not intended to be comprehensive, but cover a selection of the best quests in the starting areas from levels 1 to 10.

Horde Crest Orcs & Trolls

  • Call of the Earth, available from Canaga Earthcaller in the Valley of the Trials, will get you started on the path of the shaman by gaining your earth totem.

Horde Crest Tauren

  • Call of the Earth, available from Seer Ravenfeather on Red Cloud Mesa, will get you started on the path of the shaman by gaining your earth totem.

Alliance Crest Draenei

  • Call of the Earth is available from the shaman trainer in Ammen Vale. You earn your Earth Totem by performing a very simple task for a very large Earth Elemental.

edit On soloing and grouping

Soloing

At early levels, the shaman is usually more than a match for any single opponent of their own level or less, but can almost never defeat two such opponents at once. When approaching groups of opponents, try to pick out one on the edge and draw it away with Earth Shock. At low levels, the mob should obediently run over to you without alerting its comrades. Exchange blows with your opponent, keeping an Earth Shock in reserve in case they try to run.

Make sure you have a weapon buff like Rockbiter Weapon on at all times. Once you get it, keep your Lightning Shield active all of the time (you may need to reactivate it repeatedly during combat). Most of the time, you should have a Stoneskin Totem active, preferably cast before the combat (this totem lasts long enough that you can often cast it, then regenerate your mana before starting your attack).

Since you can only cast one totem of each element at a time, the Earthbind Totem tends not to be used often. Use it only when fighting fast opponents, or those likely to run. (Plainstriders are both of these.) Similarly, the Stoneclaw Totem is of limited utility, as generally you will quickly generate more threat than it. It can be useful as a decoy, however, if you are being chased or are trying to slip by a mob. Also, if you accidentally get 2 (or more) mobs on a pull or an add runs up while you are busy, you can drop a stoneclaw totem to keep the extra(s) busy for a while as you bash the first one into submission, because, if you don't attack them they will stay interested in the totem and not you.

Shamans are one of the few casting classes that can wear leather armor, so push this advantage as much as possible. Make sure you have the best armor you can afford, and either make or buy armor kits to pump your armor.

Grouping

The shaman is a jack-of-all-trades class, 2nd to only the druids, which make them both a blessing and a curse for groups. They can fulfill multiple roles in a group (not effective tanks), but never fill any one role as well as a more specialized class. Additionally, most skills that make shamans useful to a group come after reaching level 10.

Still, low-level shamans can help most groups significantly. Their totem spells are some of the only spells in the game that affect entire groups. At low levels, the Stoneskin Totem improves the survivability of the party significantly, as does Healing Wave. The combination makes low-level shamans best at being a group's secondary healer, though they can be primary healers if necessary. If acting as primary healer, refrain from activating your Lightning Shield in order to avoid drawing aggro that might interrupt your heals. Shamans can also both deal and take damage, so often will act as a buffer between front line fighters and the direct damage dealers.

If your group dynamic allows it, try to focus less on fighting and more on monitoring the battlefield. Heal when needed. Always group buff with Stoneskin. Watch for mobs harassing spell casters, particularly the primary healer. If you are the primary healer, resist the urge to pummel opponents. Playing a group shaman is something of an art. You have a wide range of tricks at your disposal and using the right one at the right time makes all the difference.

Most classes are given advice to "assist" the Warrior if you have one in your group, to ensure you focus your party's firepower on one mob. You can do this by selecting the tank (use the F1-F5 keys to target group members) and then pressing "F". This way, mobs will die faster. If you don't have a tank in the group, agree amongst yourselves who to assist. Although it's not all that important now, it's an important habit to get used to for later levels.

While good advice, shamans should take it with a grain of salt. If tank support is your role in the group, then do it; however, more often your job will be to assist the other players who are assisting the tank.

edit Useful professions

Being a jack-of-all-trade's class, it should come as no surprise that a number of professions are useful to the Shaman.

Primary professions

As shaman can wear leather armor, the benefits of being able to gather and make it should be obvious. Note, however, that shaman gain the ability to wear mail at level 40. As a skilled Leatherworker, you will be able to make mail armor at that level. However, this profession combination is not nearly as profitable later on.
The spells of a shaman are not as mana-efficient as those of other classes, so being able to make your own mana potions is a big help. Note also that Tauren get bonuses to herbalism.
Given their eventual ability to wear mail, this combination is more of a long term choice, but can be very lucrative and allows the ability to make your own weapons. Note that some of the blacksmithing recipes cost money better spent elsewhere (on spells, for example), so pick designs for a reason. For example, if you don't use swords, you may be able to pass on the lower level sword patterns.
With a variety of weapon-buffing spells, enchanting isn't as useful for shaman as it is for some other classes; it is, however, a good moneymaker at higher levels.
Although expensive and time-consuming to level up, jewelcrafting has its payoffs later on when you can obtain higher level recipes and begin to take orders for gem cuts. If you become the guild jewelcrafter you can quickly become the recipient of hard-to-find recipes that are time consuming to farm and expensive on the Auction House with tremendous payoffs for your guildmates and yourself.
One school of thought is to gather two types of resources, sell them on the Auction House and buy what you need. Many people who go the Mining / Skinning route have enough gold to buy their mount at 20 as soon as they level although Mining / Herbalism tends to be more profitable over level 65.

Start your profession early! It's usually not too expensive, and you want to ensure that anything you create with your skills is applicable to your shaman's level.

Secondary professions

With their abundant healing abilities, cooking doesn't help shaman as much as others. Still, some of the early quests in the game give rewards of recipes that boost spirit, which can be useful. At low levels, being able to cook some of the critter parts you are collecting anyway into more profitable forms can be useful. Since it is cheap to pick up, it doesn't hurt to be a low-level cook.
Fishing is mostly useful as additional income, though is not as lucrative as it once was. Fishing is also useful to provide ingredients for Cooking and Alchemy if you have taken those professions.
Because Shamans are healers, First Aid may not be quite as important as in other classes but there are definite benefits. For starters, learning First Aid is (virtually) free and doesn't take up a skill slot. First Aid can greatly reduce the down-time after a battle by letting you avoid expending mana to heal you and your party back up. You will also be able to make anti-venoms to remove poisons, although a Shaman is able to train Cure Poison at level 16.

edit Long-term goals

The most important goal for a low-level shaman is to get the earth and (at level 10) fire totems whilst also learning all available spells.

As you approach level ten, you should develop a strategy for your talents and be building up the skills and professions for them. For example, will you use a fast weapon and a shield or a heavy hitting two-hander? Which of these you favor may color your choices of talents.



__________________
I game, therefore I am.


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 488
Date:
Permalink   

Things Shamans want Non-Shamans to know

Shamans and groups

Elemental and/or Enhancement shamans typically come in guns blazing at the beginning of a fight.

Shamans are capable healers for large groups of people taking damage in raids. This is thanks to Chain Heal. Chain Heal is extremely mana efficient, and arguably the Resto shaman's most powerful spell.

Shamans can make capable off-tanks at lower levels.

Enhancement shamans will greatly increase your group's melee DPS, because of Unleashed Rage.

Much like Druids, shamans should bring multiple gear sets, and use Dual Talent Specialization to quickly toggle between specs. A versatile shaman should not hesitate to go between roles if he wishes the best for the group.

If a shaman drops totems, whether in combat or just outside aggro range of the next group to kill in an instance, it's probably a pretty good idea to do what you can to fight within the limited range of those totems rather than outside of them. They do cost mana and time, but with Call of the Elements shamans can drop there totems fast; taking away from the frustration of tank running out of their range.

If you want a shaman to drop a specific totem such as Windfury Totem or Wrath of Air, just ask politely. Also, Tremor Totem doesn't cancel all fears, so don't yell at us if we don't have one down.

edit Things Non-Shamans want Shamans to know

Be wary of Crowd Control when casting Chain Lightning or AoE totems.

Cloth wearers (Mages, Priests, and to a lesser extent Warlocks) might like a Frost Shock to get their mob's attention if they get aggro. This is especially true when Crowd Control breaks and a mob as it will run right at them when the CC wears off. Frost shock is best for this, because it is instant, doesn't have a DoT, it slows target and generates extra threat towards the higher-armour player to boot.

When you're in an instancing group, watch the puller's target and get ready to Wind Shear. There are times where the puller aggros a caster, who starts casting and ruining the pull.

When in doubt, use Grounding Totem in boss encounters.

edit General tips

Death Knight

  • Since Death Knights have Horn of Winter, Strength of Earth Totem is not as useful. Instead, swap out to Stoneskin or Tremor Totem. Otherwise, same totems as a Rogue or Hunter.
  • If healing, you can usually ignore Death Kinghts with aggro due to their high armor. Just don't forget them and let them die!

Druid

  • When in a group with a restoration druid or a balance druid, the best totems to use are Wrath of Air Totem, Mana Spring Totem and if you have them Totem of Wrath and Mana Tide Totem.
  • Healing druids can only lose aggro with Cower, and that stops them from healing. Help protect them from adds like any other healer.
  • Druid tanks have high armor but no block or parry. When healing one, expect a steadier stream of damage and be charging up Healing Wave instead of reacting with Lesser Healing Wave.
  • Druids gain a large amount of dodge per points of agility, so putting down your Strength of Earth totem while a druid is tanking in bear form will make a good impact on his ability to mitigate damage. Druids in cat form also gain attack power from agility as rogues do and will also benefit from Strength of Earth.

Hunter

  • Remember, with a Hunter, there's another member of your party you need to keep track of, their pet! If you are the healer, throw a heal on their pet every now and then. They will be grateful for it.
  • Strength of Earth Totem helps Hunters greatly.

Mage

Paladin

Priest

Rogue

Shaman

  • Organize with them beforehand to make sure you're not dropping the same totems they are, since most effects don't stack.
  • With 2 shamans in a group, you could have Strength of Earth and Stoneskin, Wrath of Air and Windfury Totem, Healing Spring and Mana Spring, etc. Your party will be MUCH harder to kill.

Warlock

  • When in a group with a warlock, the best totems to use are Wrath of Air Totem, Flametongue Totem and Totem of Wrath if you have it.
  • A warlock will usually use Life Tap immediately after combat to regain mana. This will cost them their health and while you do not have to worry that they are getting hit by an invisible enemy, they will be thankful if you heal them up. A Riptide is the most efficient way to deal with Life Tap.
  • If you see a mob on a Warlock (or any caster), Frost Shock will likely get them to attack you instead - better that they're attacking the Mail-user than the Cloth-user. Then find a way to get the tank's attention.
  • When healing, try to keep their pet alive as well. They are like an extra, minor party member.

Warrior

  • Strength of Earth and Windfury Totem are great for warriors as they help then give/take more damage. When you are in a group with 1 or more protection warriors, you might want to use Stoneskin Totem to reduce their damage taken.

Healers

edit The Raiding Shaman

Elemental

As with all PvE casters, it's expected that a raiding Elemental Shaman be spell hit capped against raid bosses.

Spell hit required for raid bosses: 17% (446 hit rating at 80).

Spell hit required for raid bosses, with Elemental Precision: 14% (368 hit rating at 80).

Spell hit required for raid bosses, with Elemental Precision and Draenei Heroic Presence: 13% (341 hit rating at 80).

Enhancement

Current convention dictates that a raiding enhancement shaman needs to be spell hit capped. Therefore they require the same amount of hit as an elemental shaman for raiding. However, in addition to this, an enhancement shaman needs to consider Expertise, and unlike the elemental talent tree, enhancement has no talents to increase spell hit.

Below, there are three milestones that each enhancement shaman needs to hit to excel in a PvE raid environment. While these are in a somewhat chronological order as to when an enhancement shaman will hit each of these milestones, keep in mind that it's most effective to work on gaining hit in tandem with expertise instead of completely capping one, then the other.

First hit milestone for reaching the hit "soft-cap" for special attacks like Stormstrike and Windfury Weapon hits:

Melee hit required for raid bosses: 8% (263 hit rating at 80).

Melee hit required for raid bosses, with Dual Wield Specialization: 2% (66 hit rating at 80).

Melee hit required for raid bosses, with Dual Wield Specialization and Draenei Heroic Presence: 1% (33 hit rating at 80).

Second hit milestone for reaching the expertise cap to reduce/eliminate the chance all melee attacks are dodged from behind bosses:

Expertise required for raid bosses when attaching from behind: 26 (214 rating at 80).

Expertise required for raid bosses when attaching from behind, with Unleashed Rage (in 3.1): 17 (140 rating at 80).

Expertise required for raid bosses when attaching from behind, with Unleashed Rage (in 3.1) and Axe Specialization (for Orcs using axes in both hands): 12 (99 rating at 80).

Third hit milestone for reaching the hit cap for spells like Earth Shock and Lightning Bolt hits:

Spell hit required for raid bosses: 17% (446 hit rating at 80).

Spell hit required for raid bosses, with Draenei Heroic Presence: 16% (420 hit rating at 80).

Thoughts on obtaining more hit than the spell hit cap:

Once an enhancement shaman caps their spell hit, additional hit is not nearly as useful. This is because most of a shaman's damage comes from their special melee attacks (like Stormstrike and Windfury) and their spell attacks (like Earth Shock and Lightning Bolt). It would be more important to focus on obtaining enough critical strike chance to to proc more Flurry and Elemental Devastation, or to focus on Agility or Attack Power so that attacks do more damage.

Summary:

An alliance enhancement shaman requires 420 hit rating and 140 expertise rating against raid bosses.

A horde enhancement shaman requires 446 hit rating and 140 expertise rating against raid bosses.

A Orc enhancement shaman with an axe in both hands requires 446 hit rating and 99 expertise rating against raid bosses.

Disclaimer: The above section is largely a generalization. The mechanics behind the enhancement shaman is very complex, and no single formula works for every shaman. If possible, it's recommended each shaman use simulation programs to determine with stat will give the best benefit at any given time. However, it should be considered that whichever path a shaman takes with respect to stats, in a raiding PvE environment, the above numbers (as well as satisfactory critical strike chance and attack power) will likely be expected from raid leaders looking for well-geared players who can do competitive DPS in boss encounters.



__________________
I game, therefore I am.


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 488
Date:
Permalink   

PVP

General

  • Wind Shear is off the GCD, and Earth Shock no longer interrupts.
  • Use Chain Lightning (CL) after using Lava Burst (LvB). CL is instant while LvB has a travel time, causing them to hit at the same time for extra burst.
  • If Enhancement / Elemental, always try to heal yourself up above 40%, even if this means consuming 2-3 MSW stacks.
  • When using your buff totems, always use the totem bar. If you're only casting one totem, save mana and just cast the single totem.
  • Purge is extremely useful. Against Priests and Mages (who use a lot of magic shields), spam it to remove them. However, it will trigger Lifebloom's end heal.
  • You can cast your trinkets and buff yourself with Earth Shield/Lightning Shield, and your shield will get a +healing/+spell damage bonus from your trinkets.
  • Grounding Totem can consume more than one spell if timed right. Using range and timing, it can completely negate a caster's attempt to kill you.
  • When using totems such as Mana Tide, use Stoneclaw Totem to shield it.
  • Use the Glyph of Stoneclaw Totem. It's the only PvP glyph every Shaman should have.

edit Suggested Specs and Arena Teams

Enhancement

For Enhancement, your role is usually pressure, burst, anti-caster, or support. This can vary according to your team. Your burst relies on your Wolves, so a pressure or support role is usually used. Some suggested builds:


Tips:

  • Don't use a 2H. While it may be fun in BGs for big-crit videos, it lacks consistency. Quite often, dual wielding will have big crits as well.
  • Don't spec into Anticipation. You should be dual wielding, so your offhand should have a Weapon Chain on it.
  • Toughness isn't that great. The stamina bonus is not essential, and thanks to Earthbind and Ghost Wolf, there's little need for reducing movement-impairing effects.
  • Avoid using Lava Burst. Your base abilities should do more and don't require setting up with Flame Shock.

Common Teams

2v2

  • Ret Paladin / You: works well with the cross healing and excessive burst.
  • Destro Lock / You: timely CC and burst can work well in this team.
  • Disc Priest / You: works well when geared, although suffers from lack of real burst out of wolves. Also, Pain Suppression helps against Rogues.
  • Resto Druid / You: much like the Disc Priest, although lacks Pain Suppression.

3v3

  • BM Hunter / Healer / You: known as a "Beast-Cleave". Set up the Hunter with your support, and target the casters/healer. The RMP (Rogue/Mage/Priest) killer used at the MLG Competition.
  • Melee DPS / Healer / You: provides a melee with fewer snares and protection against casters. Works better with a damage-focused spec.
  • DPS / DPS / You: not as common, though the control, CC, and burst can work well together.

5v5

Most any team will work with a Shaman. You will commonly be brought for Bloodlust/Heroism. These teams are most common:

  • DPS / DPS / DPS /DPS /You: simply for the burst provided and the excessive damage.
  • Healer x2 / DPS / 3: you are brought for damage and for Bloodlust/Heroism, with the heals providing extra support.

edit Rogue

Rogues specialize in doing heavy melee damage and controlling a fight.

There are two basic types of Rogues: Stun-Lock and Ambush.

A Stun-Lock Rogue will try to keep you stunned for the entire fight. While they cannot actually achieve a perfect stun-lock, they can come very close. Wait for the gap in the stun, and then break the stun-lock sequence. Make sure Searing Totem and Lightning Shield are up, to deal damage even while you are stunned. Get and use the Insignia of the Horde/Alliance to break out of stuns. It's better to use it when you are hit with Kidney Shot rather than Cheap Shot, because they can always Kidney Shot outside of Stealth while they cannot Cheap Shot outside of stealth. (Saving your trinket for a Blind may be a better decision depending on the situation.)

An Ambush rogue will start with Ambush, and will eventually use Gouge, Backstab, and Eviscerate or Kidney Shot. You will be only be incapacitated during the Gouge.

Stealth

Rogues can Stealth while not in combat, with a 5-10 second cooldown. During combat they can Vanish, but on a 5-minute cooldown timer. A Rogue with Preparation can Vanish three times in 5 minutes.

Flame Shock will keep a Rogue from Stealthing. However, the DoT duration is 12 seconds and the Rogue's Blind is 10 seconds. If timed right, the Rogue can wait until the DoT timer is 8 seconds (unless the Rogue uses Cloak of Shadows), Blind, wait for the DoT to fade, then Stealth. (Blind is no longer a poison, so Cleansing Totem will not counter this.)

Magma Totem is mana expensive, has a medium duration (20 secs) and only an 8-yard radius, but will un-Stealth a rogue within its radius on each pulse (2 seconds). If possible, judge the Rogue's fire resistance first.

Contrary to popular belief (and pre-patch 2.2.0 behavior), Earthbind Totem will NOT un-Stealth a rogue.

Tips

  • Searing Totem and Lightning Shield are nice to increase your damage output on the rogue.
  • Use a 1H-weapon and shield to reduce the damage taken.
  • Nature's Swiftness + Healing Wave may be the first thing to do as you will most likely be at half life or less.
  • Use Cure Poison and Poison Cleansing Totem. Rogues rely on poisons on both weapons, especially Crippling Poison. This is the best water-based totem for PvP combat.
  • Use Searing Totem to keep the Rogue in combat when he Blinds, Gouges, Saps, or does anything to attempt to get out of combat.
  • Be wary of Kick when casting. If the Rogue gets that Kick off while you're casting, you're dead. It's generally safer to start healing once you notice his Energy is dropping rapidly or is below 40%.
  • Rogues can't purge. If you're Restoration, make sure your Earth Shield is always up, and try to outlast the rogue. For Resto Shamans, a 1v1 is usually a draw: the Rogue can't kill the Shaman but the Shaman has a very hard time killing the Rogue.
  • If Enhancement, engage in melee fight relying on a Windfury proc, and dpsing w/ shocks.
  • Rogues can now Sap beasts, so Ghost Wolf is not a defence against it.

It is possible to kite a Rogue. Use Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem to slow the Rogue, and Flame Shock and Searing Totem to prevent him from Stealthing. Spam shocks and Lightning Bolts. Make sure to remove Crippling Poison if you get it. If you're Enhancement, consider jousting with the Rogue by running through the rogue, hoping for a Windfury proc.

A Shaman can almost always beat a Rogue in a duel, if the Shaman attacks first. If the Rogue applies poisons or stuns, the Shaman will probably be defeated. Do everything you can to break the Rogue's Stealth.

  • EZ kill/Summary: if they jump you, you're in deep trouble. Snare them, chug a heal potion, remove any poisons, run away while dropping an Earthbind Totem, and Lightning Bolt them to death.

Quick Summary

AirWaterFireEarthShock(s)
Windfury Totem
Cleansing Totem
Searing Totem
Magma Totem
Earthbind Totem
Flame Shock
Frost Shock

Difficulty Rating: Hard to Impossible

edit Warrior

  • Heal. The key to fighting a warrior is timing heals right. The biggest problems Shamans will encounter with a Warrior are Mortal Strike, which reduces heal effectiveness; and Hamstring, which limits mobility.
  • Use a 1H-weapon and shield. If the server isn't mature, fire resistances are usually low. This means that Flametongue Weapon is a useful weapon buff since the added fire damage ignores the armor rating of the warrior.
  • Use Strength of Earth Totem to increase your dodge, but be mindful of Overpower.
  • Use Searing Totem for supplementary damage.
  • Use Fire Nova Totem for burst damage.
  • Don't melee a warrior unless you have to. More often than not, they will close the distance with Intercept.
  • Use your PvP Insignia, Earthbind Totem, and Frost Shock to get away from a Warrior who Charges you. Since patch 1.8, Grounding Totem does not absorb the stun effect of Charge anymore.
  • Use Frost Shock for the damage and to kite the Warrior from you. Make sure you don't go too far or they will Intercept you.
  • Try to get them down to half health before you attempt melee combat.
  • If you have Elemental Mastery or Nature's Swiftness, use it!
  • The problem with Warriors with Mortal Strike is that it makes your heals useless. The fight comes down to who can kill whom faster. As Elemental, try to kite with Frost Shock (which is kind of difficult with Intercept and Hamstring) and use Fire Nova, and Llightning Bolts followed by Chain Lightnings. If you have good Resilience (300-400), Warriors become a little easier.
  • If you are a tauren Shaman, you can time your War Stomp and heals to when Mortal Strike is at 1 or 2 seconds. By the time you get your heal off, the debuff is gone and you will get the full benefit of your heal.
  • With luck, 2H or dual-wielded weapons with Windfury Weapon and Strength of Earth Totem may be good enough to out-damage a Warrior in melee. However, against a well-geared Warrior, you will take damage very rapidly without a shield.
  • Heal early, not when you're dipping below 50%, with the occasional shock and try to get out of range.
  • Summary: Kiting is the key to victory (if you're Elemental). Good luck if you're Enhancement.

Quick Summary

AirWaterFireEarthShock(s)
Windfury Totem
Mana Spring Totem
Searing Totem
Earthbind Totem
Frost Shock

Difficulty Rating: Medium-hard depending on gear and spec. Pretty darn easy if they're Prot. Hard to impossible if they're a full Merciless with Stormherald Warrior.

edit Priest

Non-Shadow

  • Use 2H weapon. (Actually, keep a backup weapon in your backpack because if they are Disc-specced (with Reflective Shield), they'll throw up a Power Word: Shield, and all that damage you make with that fat 2H will be absorbed, and some will be reflected back to you. Make sure you switch at this point.)
  • A Priest will probably use Psychic Scream to scare you away. So, try to drop a Tremor Totem at just the right moment to stay in control.
  • The battle basically comes down to a healing match. Do as much melee damage as you can, and whenever you see them channeling a spell, Wind Shear them to interrupt. Bear in mind that Wind Shear does no damage.
  • Purge! A lot of Priests will raise a Power Word: Shield and start healing when the situation becomes too dangerous. Dispelling the shield, followed by Wind Shear can effectively prevent this. Furthermore, Priests will most likely have Power Word: Fortitude. Purge will remove that stamina buff and its HP. A neat trick for an Elemental Shaman is to cast Lightning Bolt, and while the bolt is in transit, Purge their shield before it hits.
  • Be wary of smart Priests that feign a heal by first casting some other spell (which a Shaman might shear out of a reflex).
  • EZ Kill: First, Purge their shield and any other buffs. Drop a Tremor Totem. Then feel free to tank and use Wind Shear for spell interrupts.

Difficulty Rating: Easy - Medium depending on spec. Most Priests will try to outlast you by spamming mana burns and buffs for you to Purge. Your best bet is to DPS them down ASAP or else you will go OOM and lose.

Shadow Priest

  • Against a Shadow-specced Priest, the battle changes drastically depending on who gets the first jump.
  • If you jump the Priest first, make sure to drop a Tremor Totem, then as you run to the Priest you should Purge to get rid of any buffs. Now the Priest should Psychic Scream out of reflex. Well, that Tremor Totem you placed should only make the fear run for about 3 sec and the Priest will probably cast Power Word: Shield, Inner Fire, and Power Word: Fortitude. All that probably took 3 seconds, so now is your chance to get into melee range and tank him until he is dead.
  • As an Elemental Shaman, a good trick is to use Earthbind instead of Tremor Totem. Why? Because by Earthbinding and kiting the Priest, the Priest is at your mercy. But what about Dispel Magic? If the Priest were to Dispel, the EB would just reapply itself to the Priest. If the priest continues to Dispel, he will be playing defensive and giving you time to destroy him. It's even better if a Shadow Priest tries to kite you, because then he is giving everything to you for free. If the Priest gets the jump on you, hope you have Tremor down. When he fears you, you will gain range on him and you will have the advantage yet again.
  • If they jump you, you're in some deep trouble. You will no doubt have to wait out the Psychic Scream for 8 seconds, and by then you have Shadow Word: Pain, have gotten hit with Mind Blast or Mind Flay, and have about 75-50% health left. Now that Psychic Scream is over, try to get out of Silence range and heal. Heal early because if you heal when you're below 50% he can use Silence, and you're done for. Drop a Grounding Totem, Purge him, then get into melee range and tank him until he is dead.
  • As Elemental, try to kite him and stay at max range. You will be out of Silence and Psychic Scream range. Purge any of his buffs and DPS him down quickly. If you don't think you can kite him well enough, make sure you have Tremor Totem down. Don't cast it right before you think he will fear you; it's better to have it up a little bit earlier.

Quick Summary

AirWaterFireEarthShock(s)
Grounding Totem
Mana Spring Totem
Searing Totem
Tremor Totem
Flame Shock
Frost Shock

Difficulty Rating: Medium-Hard. Very hard if they have 900+ spell damage

edit Warlock

These will be your toughest fights, not only because Warlocks have multiple means of crowd controlling you, and they have the all-powerful Death Coil, a 500-dmg life steal that also sends you running horrified (doesn't count as fear, so Tremor doesn't help) for 2-3 seconds. A good Warlock will wand your Grounding Totem, Death Coil you, begin casting Fear, kill your Tremor Totem, DoT you up, cast Shadow Bolt once or twice, and then depending on how long the fear lasts, recast Fear, etc., etc. In addition to usually being able to keep you powerless, Warlocks can also silence you with their Felhunter for approximately 4 seconds (locking down the nature school if they time it on a heal spell) with a 30-second cooldown, and purge buffs, such as the insanely-beneficial Earth Shield for us Resto Shamans. Of course, this also means that Felhunters can purge Nature's Swiftness, Elemental Mastery, etc., so you should use your buffs gained from talents as quickly as possible to avoid them being wasted. So, how do you beat Warlocks? This section focuses first on duels, but most of this will apply to world PvP as well, with the major exception of the beginning.

Throw down your Grounding, Tremor, Searing, and Fire Resistance Totems, and challenge a Warlock to a duel. (Or, if you/or your opponent prefers, wait until the 'duel starting...3...2...1...' flutters across your interface before throwing down totems.) You should Purge immediately to remove Demonic Armor or any other buffs he has on. Tremor Totems and Grounding Totems should be thrown down as often as you have them off cooldown, so that your opponent has to either stop what he's casting in order to wand it, or else watch as your Grounding Totem eats his Fear (yes it can eat Fear), Shadow Bolt, Conflagrate, Soul Fire, Immolate, Death Coil, etc.; or you break his Fear after 1 second thanks to the Tremor Totem. The main key to beating the Warlock is to prevent him from getting his Death Coil/Fear/Spell Lock (the Felhunter silence) combo rolling, and to keep beating on him with melee and shocks. Keep Flametongue Weapon on your 1H or Windfury on your 2H to do maximum burst damage, and pound on him at melee range while you can. Use Frost Shock to help close the distance if necessary, and don't worry about spell interruption: Grounding Totem works just as well as Wind Shear.

Resto Shammies, if the Warlock is not using the Felhunter, keep that Earth Shield up; you'll regen health faster than he can kill you if his Felguard, Succubus, or Voidwalker is beating on you. Don't bother casting it if he has his Felhunter out since he'll just purge it.

Elemental Shammies, use that instant crit power right at the beginning to hit the Warlock hard and perhaps damage his pet as well, and chances are it'll be off cooldown by close to the end of the fight. Since you should have just as much, if not more, range than him on your spellcasting, focus on killing the 'lock from far away with lightning, rotating Grounding Totem and Earth Shock to interrupt his casting.

Enhance Shammies, if you are dual-wielding, double Windfury can do significant damage to a cloth-wearing Warlock in a short amount of time. Just remember to rotate Earth Shocks and Grounding/Tremor totems to keep the Warlock effectively silenced as you pound on him.

A lot of Warlocks will save their Death Coil until either you or they are low on HP (typically around 20-30%). Learning to roughly time your Grounding Totem so that it eats Death Coil dramatically increases your chances of surviving a fight with a Warlock.

For hybrid classes and Resto Shammies, even if the Felhunter is out AND you are caught within the 'lock's chain Fear/Shadow Bolt combo, you should be able to get a Nature's Swiftness and then a Healing Wave (should heal you for minimum of about 1900, even non-Resto). Just put the two buttons next to each other on your bar for maximum proximity. As a final note: you can out-heal anything short of a tier-2.5-or-greater 'lock spamming DoTs, Shadowburn, and Shadow Bolts on you just with Lesser Healing Wave. If you think you're getting low, throw down some appropriate totems to prevent Fear/Shadow Bolts and start healing away. Best of luck killing your Warlock friends!

A good tip when facing a Felhunter and 'lock is to cast Lightning Shield, Water Shield, or Water Breathing so that the Felhunter will absorb that. You can then follow up w/ a Nature's Swiftness or Elemental Mastery w/o any worries of having it dispelled.

Difficulty Rating: depends on spec and gear and skill, but generally medium. Very hard if they have 800 to 900+ spell damage

edit Mage

Update: As of Patch 2.4.3 (2008-07-15) Frost Armor, Ice Armor, Mage Armor, and Molten Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled (Purged).

What you should do:

  • Use 2H-weapon.
  • Purge! Mages will have Ice Armor and Arcane Intellect cast on themselves as a standard buff.
  • Drop a Grounding Totem when the "hands light up" (which usually is the first thing you will see happen in case of a Fire Mage).
  • Earth Shock whenever you see them channeling a spell.
  • Try to figure out which type of Mage you're fighting quickly, and drop the appropriate totem - Fire Resistance Totem for Fire Mages. If they're an Arcane Mage, hope you've got some Arcane resistance built into your armor. It's better to use Searing Totem than Frost Resist against Frost Mages.
  • Use Searing Totem to slow down the Mage's casting speed and add some extra damage. (For an Elemental Shaman, it will also crit with your +spell crit value.)

What the Mage will do:

  • A Mage may try to Polymorph you. Don't panic though - you'll revert to your normal self if you take any damage, and while you're sheeped you'll quickly regain your health. You can also stop being a sheep with your Faction Insignia. Since the Mage will most likely try a heavy-damage spell while you're sheeped (Pyroblast especially for Fire Mages), you can hold your sheep form until they have 1-2 seconds left in the cast time, using the time to regenerate your health, then trinket out with enough time for a Grounding Totem or Earth Shock.
  • As Elemental, your biggest fear is Counterspell. Whenever you're fighting a mage remember when they've used counterspell. Never heal w/o grounding totem up while their counterspell is up. That's like asking to be silenced. Play it smart and use shocks as dps. Only cast when you know it is safe to cast. Nature's swiftness helps with heals and instant damage. Also, look out for Presence of Mind and be ready to purge buffs.
  • EZ kill/Summary: The best tactic is to drop a Grounding Totem and a Fire Resist totem and/or a searing totem (searing if they're frost, fire resist AND searing if they're fire). Use DD shocks for spell interrupts and purge any shield they bring up. Tank them, use the snare totem or DD snare to keep them from gaining distance. Mages can be a pain, since they'll typically root you. At this point you have a few options: the Grounding Totem would be the best choice, followed by casting your fastest heal, or chugging a health potion as soon as you take damage. If possible, shock them to interrupt, but more than likely you won't have range for it. Once free from the root, close the distance and snare/interrupt or you're dead. Mages have a big advantage because they have sheep (CC), counterspell (your dps and healing are both stopped) and they out-dps you as well.

Difficulty Rating: Medium-Hard (if they get the jump)

edit Druid

  • Purge! But, careful! If the druid's level 64 or above he may use Lifebloom, which your "purge" will trigger. Watch out, since this spell is so cheap and efficient they won't even care if you dispel it. Many shammies have fully healed their opponents by purging too much before understanding what was going on. It makes the match last so much longer than it should and it can run your mana pool dry. Get a druid friend to show you what lifebloom looks like so you know not to purge it. Or you can get an addon telling what buffs the opponent just buffed himself with.
  • The druid is a very versatile class to battle. They can switch forms quite rapidly during combat, switching from a caster class to a warrior class, to a rogue class. The key adaptation is to treat every form as the associated class (i.e., Cat Form as a rogue, Bear Form as a warrior and Druid form as a caster).
  • Should the druid start to run in Travel Form, slow him down with Frost Shock and Earthbind Totems.
  • Get in their face early, make them use their mana for healing.
  • For low-level druids (40 and below) the best tactic is to make them come out of their forms and immediately silence them as they proceed to heal. At this point, most inexperienced druids will not know what to do, and the fight is yours.
  • Don't waste your mana! Most of your mana in this battle should be for healing yourself and keeping the druid as close as possible.
  • Grounding totem absorbs feral charge which is very useful when combating a Druid.
  • Tired of those darn trees slowing your cast time? You can use stoneclaw totem to take aggro off of you and have the trees attack it. It takes a while for the trees to take down the stoneclaw as well.
  • Don't cast if hes in bear form and hes walking backwards. He'll charge you and you'll get silienced.
  • EZ kill/Summary: Drop a snare totem, strip any buffs they may have with purge, then tank them. Follow this up with insta DD snare and use insta DD shock to interrupt their casts. The Druid offers a unique fighting style since they can root and heal. This can be problematic. Rooted:1 if you are weak heal yourself.2 If you are high on health and the Druid isn't if you have range use Earth Shock if not use your strongest Lightning Bolt.
  • Can be a tough battle if a cat druid gets in your face first, their quick attack speed devours totems and they have a limited degree of stun-lock any many bleeds that can sneak up on you, putting you on the defensive. Not so bad if you are enhancement, but if you are resto or elemental you will try to kite him and keep him from melee range if hes in the melee forms.

Difficulty Rating: Medium

edit Hunter

  • Place Stoneclaw totem to distract the pet (note that this only works if their pet is set on aggressive)
  • Use Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem to keep them in melee range.
  • Use Poison Cleansing Totem or Cure Poison. If you are doing things right, you'll be moving within a small area.
  • Use Grounding Totem to absorb potential traps such as a Freezing Trap.
  • Hunter stings are considered Poison. The most important one to remove is Viper Sting.
  • If you need to heal, be sure you're in melee range first. Slow him with Frost Shock and try to get in a quick heal with Lesser Healing Wave. Even if the pet is on your back you should be able to heal no problem with Lesser Healing Wave. Regular Healing Wave will give them too much time. (Hopefully you have the talents that improve your Lesser Healing Wave.)
  • It's much better however if you kill him before you have to heal. Hunters are one of the few classes against which it's good to use almost all your mana on trying for a quick kill.
  • Cast Water Shield if the pet is on you. Depending on the spec, the pet's dps will not affect you much, while at the same time you are getting fast mana back. This a highly desirable tactic if ever you find yourself mana-drained by the Hunter.
  • The longer the fight, the harder it gets.
  • Had enough with those snakes on a plain? Use magma totem to kill those pesky snakes in one pulse.
  • EZ Kill/Summary: Hunters are mediumy if you manage to reverse-Kite. Make sure you are always in melee range. (The Dead Zone was removed in 2.3 so that's not an option.). Ignore the pet and force the hunter to melee you. You will most likely have more DPS at close range. Watch out for Wing Clip, with the deadzone removed they now have more than one way to slow you down.

Difficulty Rating: Medium - Hard depending on how hard they hit you and how they time their shots and abilities.

edit Paladin

  • Paladins are a force to be reckoned with but they can be beaten. Spells are the better idea as Paladins will win in melee combat. The best trick is kite them.
  • Use 1H and shield. 2H is a debatable choice, but 1H and shield is usually better.
  • Flametongue Weapon is a viable alternative to Windfury Weapon. If you opt for 2H weapon, choose Windfury because a lucky hit could kill the paladin while he still has mana.
  • Purge! (Again and again when you see him cast a seal.)
  • Don't waste your mana! Paladins are the Shaman's polar opposite: their spells are extremely efficient, but tend to be low on the massive burst damage that a Shaman can pump out. Since your burst damage is sketchy, however, you need to be able to beat the Paladin at their own efficiency game.
  • Use Wind Shear to interrupt any heals that the Paladin is doing.
  • Kite and harass until half of YOUR mana is gone. You will need the rest for healing.
  • Remember that Paladins can cast Divine Shield or the similar Divine Protection and then heal while invulnerable two to three times during the battle, while you watch helplessly. During that time heal yourself (if he heals under his magic shield, bandage yourself). Normal cooldown for Divine Shield and Divine Protection is 3 minutes. If the Paladin has spent talent points on reducing the cooldown, it can be as short as 4 minutes for Divine Shield. After using one of these two spells to become invulnerable or casting Blessing of Protection to become immune to melee damage, the Paladin will be unable to cast any other invulnerability spell for 60 seconds; they cannot, for example, cast Divine Shield first and then cast Blessing of Protection 20 seconds later.
  • This battle may last a while. Remember to let your naturally high spirit do its job. Also remember that--unless you have special gear--you CAN'T gain more mana while you're casting spells. So make sure you have some time between your casts. Mana regeneration only starts 5 seconds after your last cast.
  • Most of the time, whoever runs out of mana first loses. The best thing you can do is get them to use their mana. And watch out for Lay on Hands; it can be cast with 1 mana.
  • Divine Shield and Divine Protection cannot be purged, but Blessing of Protection can be. Blessing of Protection looks like a lot of whitish hoops traveling around them. If the Paladin is using this, Divine Shield is most likely on cooldown. Blessing of Protection ONLY stops melee damage, but they can't melee with it. Thus, only Purge it if you're using melee as your primary damage output.
  • If they're holy, attempt to insta-gib him. If you go oom, and he has at least 30% mana, you will probably lose and you will lose slowly.
  • EZ Kill/Summary Paladins can easily outlast a Shaman if they're Holy or Protection. If you're Elemental, try and keep them out of range with Frost Shock and Earthbind, which will force them to use Cleanse or Blessing of Freedom (which you can Purge) to catch up to you. If you're Enhancement, get in their face and use your powerful mana-free melee DPS to force them to heal. Restoration has a much easier time thanks to their powerful, more efficient heals, as Paladins have very few ways of interrupting opposing casters.

Difficulty Rating: Medium to hard

edit Shaman

  • It often comes down to who has Nature's Swiftness or not, and who's the better/luckier player.
  • If you are at least partially enhancement-specced, use your mana only for removing lightning shield from the other player, and to heal yourself. If not, you're probably screwed.
  • Proper Grounding Totem timing and paying attention your opponent is absolutely key to this battle. Unobservant players who don't notice when their opponents drops their Grounding Totem to heal and instead mash Earth Shock to try and interrupt will lose to their opponent easily.
  • Generally you are going to have to change tactics quickly. Observe what spells they cast so you know what spec they are. If they are closing to melee range with a 2 hander out/dual wielding, you know he is enhancement, if you see him using a 1 hand w/ an offhand or shield he's elemental, if you see he's using an offhand or shield w/ an earthshield on, he's obviously resto.
  • Elemental Mastery and Nature's Swiftness can all be dispelled using purge.
  • If you have time, Totem. But remember, only do the ones that will help you most in that situation.
  • BE CAREFUL OF GROUNDING TOTEM. You can end up wasting mana by spamming purge because grounding totem absorbs purge.

 

  • Spec vs Spec guides below (You vs Him)
  • Enhance vs Resto - Same thing as a priest or a paladin. Conserve your mana and wait for him (he will use it) to use Nature's Swiftness. If you're quick you can purge his Nature's Swiftness right off him. Go straight for dps close range and you will have him. Remember, go two-hander since he will most likely be using his spells rather than melee. Earth Shock any of his heals. Searing Totem is preferable for slowing down his heals.
  • Enhance vs Elemental - Same thing as a Mage. Earth Shock every move he does. Purge any of his buffs and stay at very close range. Earthbind Totem soon as you're next to him.
  • Enhance vs Enhance - Interesting Fight. Depending on gear, keep him kited while using most of your mana. Once it's close to gone, just go straight to melee. If you pile on a Stormstrike with a few Earth shocks as soon as you see a Windfury pop he won't have time to do a quick heal.
  • Elemental vs Enhance - Use Earthbind totems and shocks. You have the bigger mana pool so you can afford to use shocks. Elemental Mastery devastates if you can stop him getting close range for you to cast. Pile on the DPS and make it a quick fight. Be sure to keep grounding totem up when you go for heals. Earthbind and frost shock kiting helps a lot.
  • Elemental vs Resto - Earth shock fight. This will most likely turn into who can Earth shock the other's lightning bolts/heals. Purge his Nature's Swiftness and use your Lightning Overload fast. Be sure to cast grounding totem before heals and keep searing totem up to slow down the enemy's casting.
  • Elemental vs Elemental - Should be quick and simple. Earth shock most of his attacks and again Purge his top talent ability. Grounding totem before heals and searing totem to slwo down their casting.
  • Resto vs Resto - Purge his Nature's Swiftness and Earth shock his heals. Brace yourself, this one will be a long fight. Be sure to take down any totems and keep your totems up. Get your timing with mana tide down right (which you should have as resto). Use water shield because its mana efficient and most shaman will either purge it (wasting mana), hit it and purge it (giving you mana and taking their mana) or leave it (giving you mana for this enduranc fight)
  • Resto vs Enhance - I must tell you now. If you're attacking a enhance shammy as a resto, don't count much on your survival rate. Do not! let him in melee range. Purge any buffs. Kite with Frost Shock and Earthbind. Nature's Swiftness + Heal when close to death. If you mimic paladin tactics then you can kill him, but remember that you don't have a bubble so running away won't be easy. Pray that you're lucky and they don't get insane windfury crits on you.
  • Resto vs Elemental - Earth shock fight. Earth shock every bolt he casts. Purge his Lightning mastery and use Nature's Swiftness fast. Grounding totem for heals or when your shocks are on cooldown. As a resto shaman, you should have more mana and mp5 giving you an edge in this fight.
  • Water shield is your friend.


__________________
I game, therefore I am.


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 488
Date:
Permalink   

http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-shaman/elemental-shammy-wotlk-faq-%28updated-for-3-1%29/

__________________
I game, therefore I am.


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 145
Date:
Permalink   

Rogue: Difficulty Rating: Hard to Impossible

QFT, motha****a.



__________________




Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 488
Date:
Permalink   

haw!

__________________
I game, therefore I am.


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 145
Date:
Permalink   

Nothing about Death Knights in there.   They're probably easier for a shaman than they are for some other classes.  I wouldn't call them easy, they're still DK's after all.  But our ability to cleanse diseases and purge buffs helps out.   Drop a cleansing totem, don't be afraid to cast cure disease, as well,  grounding totem to eat death coils. 
They're hard, but not impossible.  Though, they might be harder for elemental: as enhancement, I don't care about death grip.

I held fel reaver ruins in EOTS against 4 successive DK's (well, 2, but they each came back twice, and one at a time, thank god).  I was feeling badass until a rogue showed up and drank my milkshake.



__________________




Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 488
Date:
Permalink   

hehe. drank your milkshake.

__________________
I game, therefore I am.
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.



Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard