My thoughts and advice on shaman

[Utakata]

NEW - 9/13/08: Some of this guide is outdated due to changed in patch 4.1. Will revise eventually.

Well I have played my shaman up to rank 22 so I'm mostly qualified to make a pretty decent guide. I have not participated in endgame but I have done a bit of everything from solo PvE to group PvE to solo PvP to group PvP to keep sieges to skirmish and everything in between.

So here's my thoughts.

Specs.

Path of Da Green is pretty much useless IMO. It basically focuses on taking away some stats for a limited amount of time. The amount that they take away really won't do much good on the overall battle. If the length of the debuffs were longer, like 5 minutes, then this would be a good tree to spec in. For now, the only good abilities that get buffed are Mork's Buffer which increases resistances by a LOT, and 'Ere We Go which is good if you're in a group all the time. Unfortunately, it's not good enough to overcome the other trees.

Path of Gork is pretty good, but it just doesn't cut it for your overall damage effect on a battle. Even specced completely into Gork you're not going to be doing amazing amounts of damage. Although speccing partially into Gork is a very good idea if you want any solo capabilities at all.

Path of Mork is amazing. The things you get from it are hands down jaw dropping. The rank 4 morale ability isn't all that good though.

Personal build: http://www.wardb.com/career.aspx?id=...0240:9:512:0:0

Mastery ability/tactic choices.

Shrug It Off is pretty much necessary in my opinion. The numbers on that spell when you're a higher level are just insane.

Pass It On is a really good tactic for healing as well.

Da Waaagh! Is Coming is important for RvR. If you're a PvE player you can probably skip that and spend your points somewhere better like Lookit What I Did.

General solo PvE/PvP role.

At rank 22 my fights basically go like this. First I put Don' Feel Nuthin on myself. I then immediately cast Bunch o' Waaagh. The bubble stops my casting from getting pushed back, and I can get all 4 hits off.

Bunch o' Waaagh works like this, it's a 6 second channel, when you first cast it, it does it's initial damage. Two seconds later it hits again, two seconds later it hits again, and then two seconds later it hits a final time. If you take damage while channeling, it pushes back your cast by approximately 1 second, so for every 2 hits you lose 1 of your hits with it, so it behooves you to put a shield on yourself before you cast it.

Then I throw Life Leaka and Bleed Fer Me on the enemy. Then I throw 'Ey, Quit Bleedin on myself. If the mob takes longer to kill I will cast another Bunch o' Waaagh, this time without the shield since you'll be running out of AP and you usually don't need it to finish off the mob. If that isn't enough put your DOTs back on the mob and your HOT on yourself and continue fighting without your shield. If you're taking too much damage, pop your shield and use Gork'll Fix It on yourself. I personally didn't even buy Bigger, Better, An' Greener because it's not very AP efficient.

Oh and as for AP efficiencies, don't use Brain Bursta or Big Waaagh!, why you ask?

Let's look at some numbers.

AP efficiency.

(As of my rank 22 shaman)

Bunch o' Waaagh 768 damage for 78 AP. That's approximately 1 AP = 10 damage

Brain Bursta 166 damage for 30 AP. That's approximately 1 AP = 5 damage

Big Waaagh! 249 damage for 50 AP. That's approximately 1 AP = 5 damage

As far as the DOTs go...

Life Leaka is 280 damage for 30 AP. That's approximately 1 AP = 9 damage and it's an instant cast so you get back to your AP regen quicker, as well as don't suffer from setbacks from getting hit. Only downside is it takes 15 seconds to fully complete.

Bleed Fer Me is 352 damage for 40 AP. That's approximately 1 AP = 9 damage as well AND it's an instant cast AND you give that 352 HP to your defensive target as well. Only downside is that it takes 24 seconds to fully complete.

Also don't use Bigger, Better, An' Greener for similar reasons.

Numbers.

'Ey Quit Bleeding is 900 healed for 30 AP. That's exactly 1 AP = 30 healed, and it's an instant cast. Downside is it takes 15 seconds to fully complete.

Gork'll Fix It is 132 healed instantly + 354 healed over 9 seconds for 60 AP. That's altogether about 500 healed for 60 AP. That's 1 AP = 10 healed, but it's a pretty quick cast time and if you get the tactic Lookit What I Did then it also restores 40 AP to your target. That means if you use it on yourself it's about 500 healed for 20 AP. That's 1 AP = 25 healed, and over a much shorter time span than 'Ey Quit Bleeding.

Meanwhile you look at Bigger, Better, An' Greener and it's 600 healed for 50 AP. That's 1 AP = 12 healed BUT it takes 3 times as long to cast than Gork'll Fix It AND it's a fragile spell so if you get hit you're resetting back to 3 more seconds to cast. It's only good if you're healbotting a single person (like a tank for a PQ / dungeon) and you don't have the Lookit What I Did tactic.

NEW 8/20/08 - In addition, since Gork'll Fix It is a 1s cast, and Bigger, Better, An' Greener is a 3s cast, and you gain 25 AP/s while not casting or on the GCD (1.5s), then that means if two shamans cast an ability simultaneously (one Gork'll Fix It, one Bigger, Better, An' Greener) then the shaman who casts Gork'll Fix It will have 1.5s of regen time or theoretically 37 AP regen while the other shaman is still casting and not regening any AP. So technically speaking, Gork'll Fix It only costs 23 AP for 500 healed in relation to Bigger, Better, An' Greener which still costs 50 AP for 600 healed. That makes Gork'll Fix It do 1 AP = 22 healed. And if you combine that with Lookit What I Did and cast it on yourself... that's a whopping -17 AP for 500 healed in direct comparison to Bigger, Better, An' Greener.

If that was a little too complex for you, let me explain it in a more tangible way.

Let's say Shaman 1 starts with 100 AP and 100/1000 HP. Shaman 2 starts with the same. Shaman 1 casts Gork'll Fix It on himself and has the tactic Lookit What I Did. Shaman 2 casts Bigger, Better, An' Greener on himself. 3 seconds later, Shaman 1 has 117 AP and 350/1000 HP, and has a HOT on him that will heal an additional 240 over 6 seconds. Shaman 2 has 50 AP and 700/1000 HP. If we assume there will be no basic HP regen, then 6 seconds later Shaman 1 has 590/1000 HP and 242 AP, while Shaman 2 has 700/1000 HP and 175 AP. Even our least effective healing spell is 1 AP = 10 HP, so to even the HP for comparison purposes, Shaman 1 has 700/1000 HP and AT LEAST 231 AP, while Shaman 2 has the same amount of HP but only 175 AP. (For those who are curious, without Lookit What I Did, the numbers would be Shaman 1 has 700/1000 HP and at least 191 AP while Shaman 2 has the same amount of HP but only 175 AP)

So yeah, moral of the story is this: Bigger, Better, An' Greener is good for spamming when your target is dying faster than you can heal, but it's a big waste of AP.

General group PvE/PvP role.

Basically your group role is a bit more of a healer. You can of course choose not to heal but you simply won't have as big of an effect on the overall battle. Most of my group battles consist of me throwing 'Ey, Quit Bleeding on anyone taking damage. I will then toss Bleed Fer Me on something with a lot of health (since it takes 24 seconds to fully execute and it's a waste of AP to use it on something that's about to die) and have my defensive target be whoever is taking the most damage. If someone's really dying fast I will resort to using Gork'll Fix It and Don' Feel Nuthin. 'Ere We Go is good as well if everyone in your group is right in the fray doing damage. Currently my 'Ere We Go is 70 bonus damage to everyone's next attack for 25 AP. If everyone in my group utilizes that, that's 420 damage for 25 AP or about 1 AP = 17 damage, that's more than my direct damage spells. Also while healing, be sure to use your Gork waaagh! whenever you hit 5. If you don't, you're wasting efficiency. I usually use my Gork waaagh! for either Bleed Fer Me or Bunch o' Waaagh. Make sure you have someone who's taking damage be your defensive target for Bleed Fer Me.

Last thing is rezzing. Rezzing is very important for the overall battle. When someone dies try to get a rez off ASAP before they release. The most frustrating thing is either a) healers who don't rez or b) people who assume healers won't rez and release just before my cast finishes. The shaman is really useful in rezzing because every point of Mork waaagh! decreases the rez cast time by 1.2 seconds, all the way down to instant if you have 5 points.

General Tips.

Whenever possible hold off on healing or damage to get extra waaagh! points. It'll really help the overall battle. If you use Gork then Mork then Gork you get no bonuses, but if you use 5 Gork then 6 Mork then 6 Gork (6 because the first cast doesn't give a waaagh!) then your effect on the battle will be much greater. Unfortunately you usually don't have the liberty to take that long using only one god, because using Gork to get 5 points for Mork can put your allies in danger since you failed to heal for the past however many seconds. So the basic premise is, try to get really high waaagh! points whenever possible.

So yeah I hope I helped you make some good decisions on your build as well as your skill choices and overall effectiveness on the battlefield. Go out there and WAAAGH! for me. Destruction shall prevail.

NEW: 8/25/08

Good thoughts in the thread:

http://www.warhammeralliance.com/for...4&postcount=14
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/for...5&postcount=18
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/for...3&postcount=52

Read the thread for possible additional input.

[MrBoo]

So, utaakata. Can shamans outheal a shadow warrior /bright wizards dps? They sound hard becuase of their heal debuffs.

[Utakata]

The only class I've had a problem with thus far is the Swordmaster. The others I can't say have been too hard or too easy.

[AxeMaverick]

You, sir, have converted me from Witchcraft Zealot.

I am SO friending you.

[tyrint]

I might even convert myself. Zealot is making me cry.

[MrBoo]

lol noobs if utakata isnt on your friendlists already your a noob anyways



*friends him *

[IceBlade]

Group heal is insane. At rank 27 with all points in Mork it was healing for 700 when Bigger, Better n' Greener was healing for just over 1000 (sorry I didnt take exact numbers, this was with around 450 willpower). It doesn't suffer from the same fragility as the aforementioned heal, and with 10% crit heal tactic + 40 AP/3 seconds tactic it is almost guaranteed to get you 40 AP back over 3 seconds. The range on it is around 150ft.
Also note that Gork'll Fix It is in fact a 2 second cast and sometimes incorrectly gets reported on the client as a 1 second cast.
Bunch o' Waagh does not allow you to regenerate AP while channeling, does not get you as nearly as much WAAGH as brain bursta spam for the AP you get. You pretty much rely on AP steal to get enough AP to run its full course.
Later on you get items which affect AP regeneration rate so this is an important factor to consider when it comes to AP efficiency.

[Utakata]

Added an additional analysis of Gork'll Fix It vs Bigger, Better, An' Greener.

EDIT - Gork'll Fix It is a 2s cast? It says 1s on my tooltip in-game, and seems to only take about a second... I'll have to check again in preview weekend. That'd throw off some of my recent numbers.

And yeah group heal is really good if you got a lot of people hurt. And the animation is THE BEST spell animation in the game IMO. Except that one that's like the crazy black tentacle things that remind me of Shadow of the Colossus.

[IceBlade]

It's quite possibly the second coolest thing for a Shaman to have, next to a wolf mount. They are awesome.

[Myling]

Very nice guide there Utakata.

But something confuses me. You start out by saying that Shrug it off is pretty much necessary, but later when you talk about your group battles you never mention using that spell.

Other then that, helpful guide.

EDIT: I also noticed that in your Mastery build you skiped ''Do Sumfin Useful'' and ''I'll take That!''. Care to explain why? Seem like useful spells to me. (I'm not in beta so i'm just guessing here. )

[Utakata]

Because you need to be at least rank 29 to use Shrug It Off

As for Do Sumfin Useful, it's pretty good. I don't remember how long the buff lasts, but I don't think it's really that long.

As for I'll Take That, it's also good.

I simply didn't include those 2 because I didn't have room in my mastery build for them. I felt that getting Da Waaagh Is Coming and Shrug It Off were more important, and left me no room to get those abilities. Thus, I didn't talk about them.

I talked about Big Waaagh because it was a warning NOT to get it if you're temped to, since it sucks. The others are good so I won't tell you not to get them.

[Doomulus]

Don't feel nuthin' says it's only usuable on groupmates. But you can actually use it on yourself?

[Utakata]

Yes you count as a groupmate.

[Fengo]

I enjoyed your write up and had a few comments from my own experience.

Path of Green, I agree, Hopefully they will do more work on the Shaman trees in the next few weeks before launch. This tree is pretty limited and the only thing that currently has me interested is Gork's Barbs. This ability seems like it uses a mechanic like Gork sez Stop to help us against our biggest threat, melee dpsers. (If they don't stop attacking you they take more damage) At the moment though with the 2 second cast timer, and the short debuff timer, it's not that great yet.

I might be more of a defensive player but I haven't found much in the Gork tree to really get me excited. More damage is nice, but nothing in the tree really looks that appealing to me at this stage. Da Waaagh is Coming seems nice to have if you like doing damage, but I tend to have problems with most abilities that have cast timers longer then 2 seconds. On top of that it seems like a weak aoe.

Two abilities which I find I use very often are Yer not so bad, and Gettin Smarter.
YNSB is really nice because you always have that extra ap trickling and in pvp you're stealing it from the enemy, which means they have less ap to use against you. Gettin' Smarter for me is similar. Instant cast ability that gives me a nice dps boost for all of my offensive dots.

I feel Do Somfin Useful, is one that you might want to reconsider picking up as it is yet another instant cast no cooldown HoT. The buff on it isn't always needed, but it is a nice addition to the HoT.

I also tend to pick up Nuthin but the Waagh for shielding a pbaoer right when they move in. An extra 15% damage can be really helpful for zerg fights, and could also be used in pve to help a tank get extra aggro.

Again I account most of this to having a different mindset when I play. Its nice to have a class that has multiple ways of speccing in the same tree.

Fengo

[vagabond]

you take the tactic pass it on , how does it scale?