For the Dame

The Gamedame stopped by and left a note about macros. She also had a request, here it is. I'm going to add the request to a marco that you can use during a fight.

/castsequence reset=5 Lightning Shield, Frost Shock

So this COULD be a second macro. The first you drop your totems with, this one would get you ready for the fight and also slow the opponent down while you melee or wait for the GCD to do some lightning damage.

Hope this is what you were looking for Dame!

The (rest of the) Restoration Tree

So I’m back to make the bread and butter of this blog. Lord knows it took me forever to get off my hooves and give you this last bit that I kept promising you FOREVER ago. Procrastination is the enemy but it feels so good when you’re down in the dumps. Regardless of the reasons I’m going to go ahead and finish the tree of life (Pun).

Improved Reincarnation is really something every single Shaman should strive to get. We are only one of two classes that can regenerate after a wipe. Warlocks are the only other class that can make sure someone can come back from the dead without having to run from the graveyard with Soul Stone. Reincarnation has a one hour cool down, with two points into this talent that wait time goes down to forty minutes and I can’t even begin to tell you just how important something like that is. While grinding alone, you may not notice it; in a group setting it can make a reset for a boss fight that much quicker. If you look at most builds used by Shamans in the game now, each one ‘minors’ in Restoration.

Ancestral Healing is a talent that gives an extra boost to a player that you’ve given a critical heal to. Giving the three talent points into this one will grant the healed player an additional 25% armor for fifteen seconds. While that doesn’t sound like a big thing, you get a critical heal on a player that’s tanking and it gives them a little more unsquishability.

Totemic Focus is a cost reducer. Obviously by now you’ve realized that your totems aren’t spawning for free, there’s a tax on your mana pool. This talent, if maxed out with five points will reduce the cost of all of your totems by twenty five percent. As a healer, you’re going to have totems that you put down not only for yourself but also for your group as it’s REALLY important that everyone feel that the proper totems are being dropped for bosses during instances. It’s a good talent to think about using as with a healer, mana is what you’re going to be using the most of at any given time.

Nature’s Guidance, to me, is a throwaway talent really. Reading the description: “Increases your chance to hit with melee attacks and spells by 1% (Up to 3%)”. First off, you’re not going to be doing much melee with this build. You’re not going to be in striking distance of ANYTHING because you’ll be behind your group, praying to God they keep agro. The other thing is that your spells are going to be mostly heals and I don’t know about you but I’ve never gone to heal anyone and seen ‘Miss’. Pass on this one….

Healing Focus is nice for interruption. If you manage to get agro, and you will cause you shine like a lighthouse, this talent will make sure that you have less of a chance to get interrupted by the mob, up to a seventy percent chance to not get interrupted, this is a talent you seriously want to consider, no heals, no loot.

Totemic Mastery is a one point talent that almost feels like it’s not worth it but it very well is. It increases the radius of totems for friendly targets by thirty yards. This means that you can be further back from the action, drop a totem and the desired effect will still reach your tank and dps. Stoneskin, Mana Spring, Wrath of Air, they would all get a bigger boost in size. Great pick up for one point.

Healing Grace is a three point talent and one that any healer should have if they hate being a big agro magnet that needs to be coddled during runs. It’s a three point talent and for every point that you put in, you get an additional five percent threat reduction. So in total you’ll have lessened your threat by 15%. Nothing to sneeze at and your group/raid members will gladly tell you that. A healer himself is only as dangerous as the player that works him. If you can control your agro, then you’re golden.

Controlling agro is about learning to not use your big flashy heal but to use the more consistent and slightly less notable smaller and chain heals. The smaller the heal, the better off you’re going to be on the Agro chart. That’s why it’s so important to work on your plus healing any time you get a chance. In my low 60s on Luciel I was plus 373 healing. While it’s not a lot when compared to end game healing, it does make the job easier when you’re running through Ramparts and Blood Furnace. With plus healing, even the small heals, will heal a tank well. That’s all you need, you don’t need it to be flashy.

Restorative Totems is five points for max. It makes your healing and mana totems better. When I say better, I mean they give more healing or mana for the time that they are around. That’s something that, again, your group will thank you for as you won’t waste as much time with consumables. It also helps in fights. I always try to maintain and Mana totem up and running when I’m in a group, it helps ensure that it will take longer for me to run out of mana and ensure that the heals will keep on coming.

Tidal Master. I’ve talked with a handful of Resto Shamans and they all say the same, this is an absolute must for us. It’s a five point talent that ‘Increases the critical effect chance of your healing and lightning spells by 1% (up to five)’. Think of the moonkin aura, gives you a five percent chance to get a critical strike on every spell, this is doing the same for the Shaman but ONLY for the Shaman. Remember that many of the talents that we’ve seen in all three trees count on critical strikes, be it spells or melee. This one is spells and healing. Pass this up at your peril.

Healing Wave (3 pts) max it out and it gives a 100% chance of making the next heal that you toss at a target will heal them even more, or better using the wording given. It also stacks up to three times. So you heal the player three times, you have three chances to heal him more each time, and those heals also continue to stack. So the least you’ll have on a player you’re healing is one, the most will ALWAYS be three. Very nice.

Nature’s Swiftness is a pass for me. It’s a one pointer but there are too many drawbacks to it. First off it’s a spell that you have to initiate. When I’m in the middle of a fight and I’m healing I don’t want to think about any other spells other than healing and I’m not looking at anything else beside health bars of my group mates. Second, it has a three minute cool down. Three minutes?! And it’s only for one spell, one time. No. This just isn’t right.

Focused Mind is supposed to help stop interruption and silence effects. However you many have already sunk the points into Healing Focus and this talent is stating that it doesn’t stack with any other talents. So do you really want two different spells affecting you that don’t stack and don’t really help you visibly? Yea it’s a pass to me, unless someone can convince me otherwise.

Purification gives you effectiveness of healing by up to 10%. This is good, it means that your heals are going to be stronger and affect the player being healed more. You should have this maxed out if you want to be a worthwhile healer without having to suffer with low mana or high agro.

Restoration Totems leads to Mana Tide Totem. The Beast of all Mana totems as it has a short life span but gives HIGH amounts of mana in that time frame. It’s a great loving totem and every group that has a Resto Shaman wants you to break it out every chance you get. It’s one point, definitely worth the pick up.

Nature’s Guardian is a talent that’s built in to help you when you’re getting agro and being attacked. It helps you in two ways. First it has the possibility of healing you for 10% of your full health AND reducing your agro. Good to have really since at some point you’re not going to be able to count on anyone but yourself in a group, hey it happens!

Nature’s Blessing is a three pointer. It’s an interesting one as it increases heals and spell damage by 30% of your intellect. So if you have 10 intellect, it increases your heals and damage by 3. That’s at three points. While it’s not HIGHLY Impressive, it does help you get up there as far as plus healing. Remember that at this point in the tree you’re in your fifties. So you’re not needing I right away but later on, as you prepare for higher content, something like this is going to be very useful It also leads into my favorite talent of this tree.

Before that talent though you have Improved Chain Heal, like I said this is a low level heal and one that you’ll end up using often. Shamans are one of the few that have something like this and it comes in handy if you’ve got three group members taking damage at the same time. Imp Chain Heal gives a boost to the size of heals that you’re giving out. Very good stuff as it’s one that I enjoy to use myself all the time.

The last talent on this Tree and the one that makes everything else worth it is Earth Shield. It’s a one point talent. Think of Lightning Shield and Mana Shield and it’s the same principle. The difference is that this is a Shield that you can throw onto another person in party with you. So you can have the Tank covered with Earth Shield and use Lightning or Mana shield on yourself. It’s great for off healing the tank while you spam heal to make sure he’s near topped off at all times.

The one down fall to Earth Shield since 2.3 is that for some reason you can’t recast it before it’s completely gone. So if your tank has Earth Shield and you’ve cleared out all the mobs before a boss and he’s only got one charge left on the Shield (There’s 10 charges to the Shield). You can’t go over and just recast it. You have to WAIT until that last charge is spent before you can cast it again on the same character. Time consuming and illogical as you now not only have to watch health bars but watch to see when that Shield has expired on your tank at all times. =/

Alright, there you have it, the restoration Tree in all its beauty. This was a long endeavor and I thank you for the patience that you had waiting for me to finish this bit of information on Shamans.

I’m going to chill on the builds for a bit, I’m working on Bosque at the moment and he’s at 42. I will however continue to blog and let you know how things are going on my realm and my life.

I had no idea that this article would be so long….oh noes!

Building a Better Shaman: Restoration Tree part 1

There is no easy way to really go about and decide you’re going to be a healer. Yes there is an exception to this rule; the odd ball people that WANT to start their toons as healers. The rest of us however realize we’re going to be healers in one of two ways. The first is that the easiest way to get into a group nine times out of ten is to be a healer. 5 man instances are just about always begging for a healer. Sometimes they have to resort to using a shadow priest to heal them if they’re in a pinch. The other is that the guild you run with NEEDS a healer in their ranks and are willing to work with you to get you experienced and geared for your new assignment.

Still even when we decide to become a healer we have this moment of complete blankness when we stare at the restoration tree and try to work out what exactly would be best for you in the long run to put talent points into.

I just made Luciel into a Restoration Shaman and while I know the mechanics well, having specced Resto in the past with both Gam and Luciel for short amounts of time in the past.

I know that images have been requested by at least one reader and I’ll try my best. Just hang with me. I usually go from left to right on the tree, from the very top of the tree to the bottom. I will try to go back in the future and add some images for those that request.

On a side note let me say this. Having now both a healer and a tank available to play with, I steer more towards trying to tank an instance than wanting to heal it. Part of the reasoning is that I can set the pace that I feel that I’m comfortable with. The other aspect of it, it’s harder to get tanks right now in my realm than healers. So while Luciel still has a place for me, I’ve been gearing out my tank and doing multiple runs with him in the past two weeks.

Let me say that it takes a special person to want to heal. I currently have a ad hoc healer set with me at all times. It’s made up of cloth, leather and mail pieces that I felt could get my healing up to a respectable area. (My healing currently sits at plus 743 with this set on) However, I know that I’m going to have to make sure that I have a better set for when the time comes to do Kara and other instances because no one wants a Shaman squishy. While Paladins are considered the best at the moment because they’re plate, Shamans have a unique healing style that really benefits the groups you are in.

Also let me say this, I have never known a player that has leveled a Shaman in restoration spec. Ever. I’ve been playing for over a year and a half and every Shaman that I’ve run into has specced Restoration after hitting the level plateau, be it 60 or 70. The thought behind this is that it’s HARD to grind with Restoration spec. So be warned of that.

With that said, let’s tackle this last tree available to Shamans at the moment.

Improved Healing Wave is a very nice talent. It shortens the length of time that it would take for any of your healing spells to be cast. It might not seem like such a big thing to begin with but when you’re in a five man and your tank is about to go down because there are three mobs on him and they’re tearing into him that shortened cast time comes in REAL handy.

Tidal Focus is incredible, at least to me. This talent has the ability to give you up to an additional five percent mana pool. Shamans are incredibly mana dependent. Be it for attacks or healing, there isn’t one spell that doesn’t just suck the mana out of you. As a Restoration healer I’ve found myself having to stop after every encounter to mana up. A weekend ago I went to Shadow Labs with Luciel and while the Tank and I were the only ones left up during the second boss fight, I was out of mana almost immediately.

(Point of fact: I went to Shadow Labs twice with Luciel and didn’t get past the second boss. Going with McGregor as tank, we killed him with one shot…twice.)

To the matter at hand though, Tidal focus is a must in any of the branches. Remember those points I told you about, the ones that you would have left over after completing your tree? Five of those points could easily go into Tidal Focus, regardless of the build that you’re going to be working on. I could almost suggest that you put in these five points as soon as you have points to use.

With that I’m going to stop here, I’ve been working on this all day but I’m training a new worker this week. So bare with me.

Introductions and Guild

So if you’re a reader you’ll notice that in my character list there is a new name added. After talking with my guild, we decided it would be a nice idea to go ahead and make a new Horde chapter of our guild in the Nordassil realm, DHF. I went ahead and brought over my 70 Shaman from the depths of hell and made him the guild leader.

If you click on old Gamgam you’ll notice that he’s got pretty decent gear, probably the best geared toon that I have. He’s my first shaman and I love him for it. He’s gotten to see some stuff that none of the others have ever experienced. Still, I’m not bringing him over to do more end game content. I’m bringing him over to help my other guildies who have alts in Horde, level up faster and get the things that THEY need to keep progressing forward.

I’m going to keep him Enhancement since I know that I’ll be running instances for the low levels. It’ll be fun for me to give something back to the community that has shown me a lot of respect in my time with them.

Luciel, however, has been switched over to Restoration. My thinking behind this is as follows. While I highly enjoy the DPS angle of Shamans I know that my guild has other high caliber players that are equal to the task or better. Healers are a different story. Not only are we short on healers, many of our druids being tanks and priests being shadow, but also it takes a special dedication to stand back in a group and just watch health bars and heal on command. Many feel like nothing more than a glorified monkey with one trick to pull off. I’m comfortable healing, heck I was healing on some of the instance runs we did since level 65. It’s easier to just say, “We’ve got a healer” because then everything else just quickly falls into place.

The unfortunate thing is that I have a piecemeal healing set. So I’ve taken things that I know will help my healing stats but aren’t exceptional when it comes to armor. With my healing set on I have about 766 plus healing. A shaman going into Kara trying to heal should have at LEAST 1100 healing. That’s a big chore. So now the question is two fold. First, where do I get gear that is befit for a shaman healer, and not just a cloth wearer and the second is, how do I make sure that the gear that I get for that is going to amount to plus 1100 healing. Yes there are some enchants and of course there’s some drops from bosses as well as some quest rewards that may help along the way but…it’s tough.

While Gam’s got purple pixels, he isn’t geared to do anything but dps, so while having purples in some sense could basically put me in an end game guild, nine times out of ten they want the Shamans to hang back and heal, not something that I’m inclined to do really, at least not with Gam.

This is day three stuck at 69. Part of that is my own fault since I was REALLY excited about getting Gam over and starting up DHF. I spent a lot of time on the WoW website finalizing the transfer and whatnot.

The next post that I’m going to do is going to deal with the Restoration Tree. It’s a pretty clear cut tree that will obviously make you a trained monkey and while we’re not as versatile as a druid healer, we are the next best thing when it comes to group heals and over time heals. You’ll see what I mean.

See you then.

Building a Better Shaman: Down the Elemental Tree

I know it’s been a bit since I’ve continued on this series. I’ve been so focused on getting my tank up and running that I’ve put this on the back burner and for people that are actually reading this, I’m sorry.

Today we get back on track and we’re going to focus on the Elemental Tree. Now if Enhancement was the melee build then Elemental is the Caster build. It’s built for high output dps through casting. With ranged weapons being the main focus for this build, the talents that are available to you will reflect that.

Please keep in mind that I’m breaking this down with the assistance of some Elemental Shamans and have very little interaction with this tree in my Shaman playing days. So, take what I say as you will.

Convection and Concussion are the first two talents that are available to you on this tree. Both give an advantage to you with your ranged spells, just in different manners. Convection is the talent that reduces the cost of your spells (Shock spells and Lightning spells). So the mana pool that you have will not suffer as much as it could. Concussion is just like it sounds; it’s about increasing the damage of those same spells. Now it can be said that you can go ahead and spend ten points on these two talents right away as they are pretty much useful both ways but I urge you to look at the rest of the tree before you make that determination. Keep in mind that these trees are built for characters that were only going to reach sixty and we now have a level 70 cap. So you will have more points to put in other places later on.

Let’s move on.

Earth’s Grasp is the next talent and what it does is that it gives more health to you Earth totems, more precisely your Stoneclaw and Earthbind totems. Stoneclaw is useful to get a mob off of you, it distracts a mob off of you but is only good for that as long as its health. So if you’re going to become dependent on this totem then giving it more health is probably a good idea. I do know there’s a cooldown for Stoneclaw but I can’t recall what that is at the time. Earthbind is great because it slows down your mob. You can use it to slow the mob down coming toward you, giving you more time to range attack or keep the mob from running away and getting more mobs to pay attention to you.

Elemental Warding reduces the damage taken from Frost, Fire and Nature effects. So those mages that blast you with a frost spell will not slow you down as long. While this is good, I don’t really consider it something that’s incredibly important. However, that’s just me.

Call of Thunder, this is something that I consider important. It’s a five point talent but it increases the chance for a critical strike with your lightning spells. Since lightning is your bread and butter, it’s a must to have this talent filled. This also leads to a later talent that you’re going to want to fill up as well but that would be jumping ahead.

Improved Fire Nova Totem, I’m going to be honest and say that I used Fire Nova A LOT when I was in about level 50 to 59. It’s a cheap and easy little totem that gives a concentrated blast of damage to a mob. It’s on a delay, so there’s a chance to have a mob destroy it before it has the chance to go off, so there’s a bit of a set back to it. This talent will shorten that delay by a second per point put into it. So instead of a five second wait, it can go down to a three second wait. While that sound great, you have to read the rest of the talent, it increases the threat of your Magma totem. Magma is also handy as it ticks off damage for a certain amount of time. However, it’s already libel to get attacked and what this talent will do is increase that possibility, which will really just set you back. So you have to consider the good and bad of it and then decide if you want to sacrifice one totem for another.

Eye of the Storm is an incredible little talent. It’s a defensive bonus, so if you get attacked and receive a critical strike, it produces giving you Focused Casting. That means that no matter how many attacks you have on you, it will not lengthen your casting time. So you get a critical strike on you, you can cast a healing spell without having to worry about it getting lengthened because of another attack.

Elemental Devastation is weird. I say that in the sense that it gives you a higher percentage range to get a critical strike on a melee strike, after you get a critical strike with a spell. So it could be any spell, Shock or lightning, as long as it’s offensive. I don’t really know that an Elemental Shaman would really benefit from this…. It’s like they ran out of space on the Enhancement spec and just stuffed it where they could.

Storm Reach is a great talent. It gives more range to your lightning spells. They can increase as far as six yards. That’s a good clip longer.

Elemental Fury increases the critical strike possibilities for your Shock spells and Fire totems. This could work well with Elemental Devastation. It’s a 100% increase, that’s disgustingly good. This also leads into another talent later on in the tree.

Unrelenting Storm is a good way to keep your mana pool up and heavy. It’s five talent points deep. It will regenerate Mana, but it looks at your Intellect total. So depending on your intellect total, it will give you back 10% of that. Good way to keep a flush pool.

Elemental Precision gives you the better chance to hit a target with a shock spell and it brings down the threat level as well. This is something that you want if you’re running an instance and you’re dps. The last thing that you want is to pass the threat level of the tank, bringing the mob right to your doorstep.

Lightning Mastery is the talent that Call of Thunder leads into. This talent helps bring down the cast time of your lightning spells. Remember that I already explained to you that this spell was going to be your bread and butter, bringing down the casting time is something that you should really look into.

Elemental Mastery, if you took Elemental Fury, then you have the ability to take this talent. This is a spell that you activate and it has a 3 minute cooldown attached to it. If you use it, it’s a free attack basically and the attack has a 100% increase chance to become a critical strike. This far into the tree you can see that things are beginning to stack up. It’s all about getting a critical strike at the right moment for everything else to fall into place. This is a spell that can make everything else that you’ve given points to come together.

Elemental Shields gives you a bit of a break by bringing down the possibility of an attack against you being a critical one. Of course if you put points into Elemental Devastation then it’s counterproductive to even put a point on this one as you’re wasting your points on the other.

Lightning Overload is a free attack. It gives you up to a 20% chance to get a second attack that will not give you any additional threat but only causes half the damage of your original spell. So if you crit for 3000 on a lightning spell, then this talent will give you a second attack against the same mob for 1500.

That talent leads into Totem of Wrath and let me first say that Warlock and Mages will LOVE you if you have this totem and drop it for them when you’re in group. It increases the chance to have a critical hit by 3% and the casters love this totem for that.

This takes you through the entire tree but only up to level 60. The rest of the point available to you, those are up to you where to put them.

This concludes the Elemental Tree. I’m taking a couple of days off, spending time with the Hooved Missus and the little hoovies in my house. I hope you guys have a happy holiday and I’ll see you later this week!

Building a Better Shaman: Enhancement Spec Part 2

Alright so last time we did this I only worked on the first part of the Enhancement tree.

(Note: A reader let me know that what I called the ‘Grounding Totem’ is really the “Earthbind Totem”. Thank you for the correction, I forget that they have actual names and not just what I call them)

This time I’m going to try and finish up this tree so that I can make way for the other two builds. I’m going through the tree to give you an idea of what each talent is going to give you. I’m mostly familiar with Enhancement and Restoration; however I have some Elemental Shaman friends that have been willing to give their input on that build as well.

So we’re going down to the third section of the Enhancement tree, from left to right, the first one we’re going to talk about it Enhancing Totems. Keep in mind that several of the talents that you can find in this tree are Totem focused. This talent gives more effectiveness to your Strength of Earth and Grace of Air totems. Strength of Earth is another one that’s good for when you want to put more muscle behind your hits, this is especially good to put down for a tank if the need arises. Grace of Air is the love of a lot of dps classes out there. It grants an additional amount of agility to the party radius. When you look at these two totems they’re more suitable for when you’re in a five man group than when you are alone. These are built for battles that may last a while, like the 4 and 5 mob pulls from Shadow Labs.

The next Talent is Shamanistic Focus, a newer talent that was put in place of the two handed weapon specialty that had lived in this tree for so long before. This is an awesome talent to take up if you do a lot of melee, which you will if you’re enhancement; this is almost a free hit…almost. This spell is dependent on a Critical strike, so once you have a critical strike this will automatically appear on your shaman. The basis of the spell is that after a critical strike this will lower the price of a shock spell by 60% (so, Flame Shock, Earth Shock and Frost Shock). So it’s basically rewarding you for having a good strike in against your opponent by not forcing you to pay full price for an additional attack, very nice. I took this up the moment it became available after 2.3 and never once regretted it.

Anticipation is great for mitigating damage being dealt to you. It’s really just a fancy word for ‘better dodge’ and for someone who does a lot of melee it’s almost a must. At the end of you stacking five points it gives you an extra five percent to dodge. I know that some might giggle at this but keep in mind that most tanks have at least 10 percent dodge rating and you’ll realize that it’s something that you don’t have to go out looking for gear to try and get. You’re getting a good basis for dodging right there. I know that long ago Shaman were also used to tanking, that’s no longer the case, however this would be one of the reasons that they did back in the day. Five points into this talent without a second thought.

Flurry is another Critical Strike reward. This one works well with Windfury and basically stacks with Shamanistic Focus, so that they both go off during a critical strike. That gives you additional speed to your attacks (Up to 30% if you put in five points) and you get a low cost shock to cause more damage. This is a GREAT talent, it went off for me more than you realize. Be forewarned that you must have put in five points to Thundering Strikes before you’re able to take on this talent. They work in combination.

Toughness is good as it adds more armor to you without you having to do anything except exist. If you’re this far into the tree and don’t pick it up, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

The next three talents: Improved Weapon Totems, Spirit Weapons and Elemental Weapons are bigger buffs to the spells that you have to make your melee weapons better. It needs to be pointed out that you can do all three, just one or just two. It all depends on which spells and totems you rely on more in your game. As you’re reaching this you’ve put in twenty points, so you should be level thirty and have an idea which ones help you find your groove better. The two that are the start to a more advanced talent are Spirit Weapons and Elemental Weapons. So if you want a talent that’s connected to one of those, then you need to max these out first.

Mental Quickness is good to try and bring down the cost of an instant spell (Like a shock) and bring up the effectiveness of your other spells (Healing and otherwise). So if you’re keeping track, you can put a point in Shamanistic Focus, get it to produce (Bringing down your shock value by 60%) and max out this talent, that would make it a 66% reduction for a shock spell at any given time. That’s great mana conservation right there.

Weapon Master helps you deal more damage. Straight up, there’s nothing more to this. Max it out and you’ve got an additional 10% damage done with each strike that you land on a mob.

If you maxed out Spirit Weapons then congratulations, you now have the choice to Dual Wield. Some people laugh at the thought but it’s not a bad thing to have. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, even if the off hand weapon doesn’t strike as often as you might like, most weapons come with great stats that would work nicely. Add to that the fact that you’re also going to be getting some great weapons from Outlands that are one handed and not main handed and you’ve got yourself some dual hand goodness.

Dual Wield Specialization tries to circumvent some of those off hand misses by giving you the ability to have a percentage of how well you can dual wield, leaving that solely on your shoulders.

Put points in Elemental Weapons? Stormstrike is your present. It’s a free strike at any given time (Please take the GCD into equation). This has no type of rule to it, so this free strike may be critical and set off all of the other talents that you’ve thrown points into.

I had all of these maxed out. It made for some great grinding.

The last two that you have are Unleashed Rage and Shamanistic Rage. The first is more for your group than for you. It’s a reason for them to keep you around, if the totem buffs weren’t enough that is. If you get a critical hit, this talent increases the percentage of the groups attack power, within twenty yards of your character. So if you look at this tree, many of the aspects and talents at your disposal are incumbent on you getting a Critical Strike, something that I did quiet often with this build.

Shamanistic Rage, in theory, sounds really good. It’s a spell that you initiate. It reduces all damage taken by 30% and also gives you the chance to generate mana back to you equal to 15% of your attack power. Honestly though, this talent pretty much sucks. How much attack power do you really think you’re going to have? If you have 300 attack power, that’s not much mana back if your pool is about 6k. The damage reduction is nice but it only lasts thirty seconds and then it’s on a two minute cool down so you can only really use it once every three or four mobs. It’s a point that could very well be used in someplace better like Restoration or Elemental with the points that you’re going to have left over. (Keep in mind that the trees were built for a character that would only reach sixty.)

So there you have it. The Enhancement tree in all of its glory: I will say this again, this is a melee tree. If you don’t like getting your hands dirty and would rather have ranged attacks, this really isn’t for you.

Questions? Comments? What was your favorite talent in this tree?

Next time we’ll go Elemental and peek at what that tree holds.

Building a better Shaman: Enhancement Spec (1 of ?)

Each class has a particular build that they feel is better suited for leveling up. A build that they think is better suited for the grind of getting from 10 to 70. For most players that play a Shaman, Enhancement is that spec. It has been for as long as I’ve been playing WoW and it doesn’t seem to want to change anytime soon.

One of the main reasons that players choose Enhancement for so long is because if a player wanted to use a two handed mace or axe, pre 2.3, they had to put points into that tree until they reached that talent, then they had to train up that skill to the point where it was viable for the player to use in combat. Not the most fun thing in the world but since we know that a two handed weapon can deal out more damage than a one hand and a shield, well then that works.

Right before the release of the Burning Crusade, Blizzard tossed Shamans another bone. They allowed us the ability to dual weld. This, of course, was a great idea but you couldn’t learn that ability until level 40, no matter how you placed your points on your talent tree. The dual weld aspect of this tree is still there but the two hand specialization is no longer a problem. Since 2.3 we Shaman have had the ability to train in two handed weapons at a weapons trainer (Yay!).

What I’m going to do is talk about where those points that you’re dying to spend would be best suited to help you gain the levels that you desire and also make you more of a melee machine than you already are or are trying to be. (My thought process with the help of a couple of other Shaman. This in no way means that the way I’m showing is the ONLY way or the BEST way out there, just the way that I feel is best for me.)

The first choice is always the hardest and let me say that I’ve put points in both in the past. The choices that you get are Ancestral Knowledge and Shield Specialization. If you think about it both of these choices are very good.

Shield Specialization is great for a low level that’s going to rely on that extra armor on them because it boosts the blocks that you’re going to have with your shield. So, yes it will draw out the fight but honestly, in the long run it’ll save your hide more than you know.

Ancestral Knowledge, for when you’re higher level and are relying more on your long range spells is awesome. It boosts you overall mana. By the time you’re done putting five points in, you’ve increased your mana pool by five percent. I know it sounds like small potatoes but trust, that five percent goes a long way.

At the moment I’m down for five with Ancestral Knowledge.

The second set of choices is a little trickier. It’s almost as if they built trees to be redone after hitting level forty.

Guardian Totems is good for a low level. It gives you the added buffer against attacks coming to you. It gives you a ten percent reduction of damage. Put that with Shield Specialization and you’ll be taking on same and higher level mobs with more ease than some other classes at your same level. Add to that the fact that it also decreased the time you have to wait to use grounding and it’s a joy because it helps with running mobs. So it’s giving you two advantages.

Thundering Strikes is good for those who like to melee up close and personal, like me. Each point that you put into this talent gives you another percent at a critical strike. I know that sounds like no big whoop but trust me; it’s a nice boost to a stat that you don’t really get to work on until later on in the game plus it’ll help with one of the talents that you can pick up further down the tree.

Improved Ghost Wolf, I consider this a MUST for any low level Shaman players. Why? Simple, unlike Druids who have some limitations on when they can use travel form, Ghost Wolf does not. You get into a pinch that you don’t think you can survive? Use Ghost Wolf and RUN. Of course you don’t get that until level 20 but still, IGH brings down the cast time pretty good and allows for you to have a little more health when running away. I don’t have it now, epic mount and all, but I used this up until level fifty or so, I thought it was THAT vital.

Improved Lightning Shield. I’m using this at the moment. You put three points in and you get an additional fifteen percent damage done to a mob. For, what is basically, a defensive ability, this is HUGE! Think about it. Lightning Shield and you’ve got Windfury prots on your weapon. Suddenly that full health mob is down to half, with just one swing. It’s truly an amazing thing to see and it’s a lot of fun to see that happen. Trust me, you’ll love this at a higher level.

It occurs to me as I write this, I’m begin REALLY retentive on how I do this so this is going to be a multi part series. This concludes the first part of the tree for now. Tomorrow I’ll try to finish out the rest if I can.

Aloha!

Building a Better Shaman: Corrections

I want to thank the people that have stopped by and made a couple of comments.

First:
Urthona of Cenarion Circle was nice enough to point out that there is indeed a Shaman trainer in Ironforge. Seems that the trainer is on the opposite side of the gryphons inside a house. So you actually have to look for him, just go in and out of the houses until you find him.

Second:
Girl meets WoW stopped by for a second, even in her sick condition (thank you!) and reminded me that the totems go up to level thirty. So for you that are reading this, here is a list of the totems you’re going to receive and the level in which you get them:
Earth Totem – Level 4
Fire Totem – Level 10
Water Totem – Level 20
Air Totem – Level 30

The last two totems are very good for when you’re grouping, the first two are INCREDIBLE for when you’re mostly working solo up until 20. Sorry for the gaffs. But I like to correct my mistakes. Hopefully my next entry will be up to par. Thanks again!

Building a Better Shaman: Low level Crap

Last time we talked about survival; more importantly the way to survive the first levels of a new Shaman without the benefit of a large mana pool. When you start hitting the mid teen levels you should have enough money to start spending on some upgrades or you should start getting some green drops.

Let me make it clear that when you’re a low level, don’t be picky. If a cloth or leather green drop, use it. If it’s got better stats than the whites that you are wearing you shouldn’t pass it up. When I say stats I’m not talking overall armor. At a low level it’s impossible to get high armor anyway, you should be looking at the plus stats that it gives you that will hold you over until you’re able to properly set yourself up.

Ashenvale has plenty of green drops in both ruins areas and the quest givers also give some nice green rewards for a shaman. However, since this is the only race that will have Shaman your best bet really is to stay on the isles until you complete all the quests. No, you’re not grounded, the rewards given out for the quests on those two isles are built specifically to fit into the classes that the race has. So you’re not going to find yourself completing a nice quest and finding out that you can’t use ANY of the greens offered to you. The other thing is that the isles are pretty deserted at this point since the new has worn off, so you won’t find yourself having competition with other people to find the mobs to complete a particular quest.

Still, let’s say that you’re strong headed and don’t want to level in the isles or have friends that rolled a human, dwarf or gnome (Why?) and you want to level with them doing the same quests. That’s fine. You should STILL wait until at least level 10 to run out of your starting zone and switching to the various other leveling areas.

If Elf country isn’t for you that means you’re headed to the human starting zone. Let me be the first to say, good luck to you. The biggest obstacle that you’re going to face, beside people looking at you funny and high levels wanting to duel you, is the Wetlands itself. Built for early level 20 players, you have to brave that run yourself at a mere level 10. Let me give you this piece of advice, when you get agro (Because you will) and you die, take the resurrection at the graveyard. Reason being is two fold. Firstly, you will probably be further into the Wetlands that you were when you died and secondly, it’s not really going to cost you anything. At level ten resurrection sickness is just a joke. Take the minimal damage that comes with it and trudge on. You’re going to run into huge spiders, angry orcs and the occasional dwarf as you run from the Wetlands to the homelands of the dwarfs.

When you see snow, you’re safe. At least for the time being. The other thing that I want to remind you of is this, get the flight points. It takes two extra seconds to veer off course and get the flight paths. You should get three heading from the Wetlands to Ironforge

Outside of the Exodar there is only one place that has a Shaman trainer and that’s Stormwind. He seems like a bit of an unwanted guest as he sits underneath the trees that sit below the bridge leading to the main gates. Kinda sad but then I think that perhaps as a Shaman he just doesn’t want to deal with the crap that the human world brings him. In either case that’s the gent you need to go to in order to train up. Sad thing is, if you’ve decided to leave the isles to level up, you still have to go back in order to get all your totems. (See, I told you to STAY in the isles!)

You should have all of your totems at level 20. You may not have all the spells that they can do but your four best friends for the rest of your time playing a shaman will be with you.

You should not really have to go out and buy stuff from the AH, unless it’s DIRTY cheap, nothing over 50s is worth it honestly and even then it’s pushing it.

Lowbie crap over. Next time we talk specs.

Shaman Building part I

So yesterday I touched base on what I think is the best class to use as a shaman on Horde (Tauren!) and talked about some of the aspects of the Alliance race that can carry the mantle of a Shaman.

The difficulty in having a Shaman at a low level is that there are no totems, at least not until level 6 or so when you get the Earth Totem and you get the Stoneskin spell totem. I know that many Shaman don’t use it after a certain level, they feel they can get better use out of the Strength totem but honestly, when you are a low level, you should be popping this out every time you’re in a fight. Let me tell you why.

You’re health is low at this point, you get five six good shots on you and you’ll be running back to your body in no time. The other part of this equation is also that your mana pool isn’t very big either. You don’t have intellect buffs on your armor, you don’t carry around Scrolls of Intellect, you’re still too low to even garner something like this and even if you do, it’s not going to amount to much. So that means that the resources that you do have you’re going to be using to heal yourself, which will take a big chunk of your mana with it.

The Stoneskin totem gives you durability. It allows you to really deal with the melee crap that you have to throw out until you start getting higher level. You look at any shaman starting area and you’ll notice that they are all doing melee damage and little casting.

So recommendation: Even before you get into it with a mob, drop a Stoneskin totem. Yes I know that it’s obnoxious, and that you have to recast every time that you move however, it’s going to help last longer in a fight, especially if you accidentally agro more than one mob at a time. You’re going to be tempted to drop the strength totem when you get it, don’t. It’s not going to give you survivability in the least. Yes it’ll help you with mobs but bottom line; it’s not going to make your health any higher. While Stonekin won’t either, it’ll help you’re survival rate.

If you can try to stick to the Mace and Shield combo as your weapons, the reason being is that at a low level, you’re dps is going to be low in any event. The shield will also help you in the living longer area of your gaming. I used a mace and shield until about level 50 and then went dual weld and eventually switched to a two handed mace. I can’t tell you the amount of times I was grateful for the hateful looking shields that would drop for me as a low level. Shaman can also use staves but with the exception of a stat that one might carry as a low level this is a waste. You can’t do any damage and it doesn’t help you when you’re trying to save yourself.

At about level 10 you’ll get the grounding totem. This is when you’re going to be alternating but you also have to really start paying attention. Many of the mobs that you’re going to be facing at this stage are going to be hostile and runners. The grounding totem will help you in making sure that they don’t run around and bring more friends with them when they do. It’s excellent for when you’re attacking a humanoid mob, I’m thinking of the Moonkins in Darkshore and of the pirates over in Rachet. They’re usually grouped close together and easily brought into the fight.

As you start, at least until level 20 or so, these three are your bread and butter. You NEED these in order to effectively make it that far without having to Rez a billion times during the time that you’re going to be working your way up.

While this should give you some of the tools needed to start up. Next time I’ll break down some zones for you that would best work with your new Shaman.

Shaman Business: Rolling...

I've been playing WoW for a year and a half. I've had two Shamans. One is a seventy and the other is getting there. One in each faction.

I know that there are many players who complain about the Shaman and the abilities that it is able to use in a manner which either a group or a pvp fiend can truly enjoy. Let me first say that I am not the end all be all of Shamans. I enjoy the class, alot, probably more than other people do but it's the versatility which I find both endearing and welcoming when playing the character.

On the Horde side Shaman race choice are a bit trickier as you have three different races to chose from, Orc, Troll or Tauren. Personally I have always been partial to Taurens for a couple of reasons.

First, Warstomp. It is without a doubt one of the best racials in the game. An additional stun, that costs no mana and has a decent cooldown. I can't even begin to tell you how many times it saved my hide when I was a low level and I was battling multiple mobs. It's something that I miss to this day because Dreanei don't get to have it.

The other thing that attracted me to a Tauren is really, that they made the most sense to be a shaman. When you look at the other two races that can be Shamans, they aren't very well known for loving and caring for the land. The Tauren MUST take care of the land as they thrive on it and realistically, they're a cow! What cow do you know what to destroy the world? None.

Taurens are great for herbalism as they get a 5 point boost to that talent just for being who they are. Course mine was always a skinner because I needed money for the way that I wanted to gear out my toons.

Still, Horde is not something that I play much anymore so I'm going to focus mainly on Alliance Shaman and leveling. I think it's important to note that while I might have good notes, the leveling increase in patch 2.3 has bascially made anything I have to impart either irrelevant or mundane, as I've had friends tell me that they are leveling faster than they can complete some of the ares.

Dreanei's are an interesting race. First looking at the fact that they crashed landed into our world, mutated everything around their vessel, they have somehow managed to create a trust with the land and have been able to go ahead and become Shamans. Their racial trait is the Gift of the Naaru. Another nifty little trick if you think about it. It's a self heal that continues to grow as you level. So it increases the healing done upon yourself in appropriate balance with the baseline health that you recieve when you level. Furthermore, it's also a trait that you can share with a party member by casting it on them. Automatically that makes you a great healer if you think about it. You're in a five man and run outta mana? Cast Gift on your tank and then drop a Mana Spring Totem and regain some mana.

One of the biggest things that I continually hear is that Shamans are broken because the totem set isn't working properly, that you have to drop totems all the time, to me that's what makes it appealing honestly. You have to think out what you want to drop, what you think is going to give you the most help. It's about stratergy and that is what appealed to me the most.

So the first thing I'm going to tell you, regardless of what spec you're going to turn into at level 10, 40, 60 or 70 is gather Intellect. You need it more than anything else in your life. We are completely mana hungry (not as bad as Belfs though) and you need to make sure you have a big enough pool. I have a 41 Warlock (Voltz) who has a 9000 mana pool. So I know we can get up there. Just remember that the other thing you need is Stamina.

There's some background/groundwork on the Shaman class. Tomorrow we'll talk about the best way to level (Spec) and the skillz you might need to help you along the way.