After recently griping that many Paladins in World of Warcraft (WoW) don’t know their class, I’m constantly reminded that their siblings, Shamans, are even worse at understanding their roles. In part, this misconception about class duties is a direct result of how different classes ought be played when soloing versus playing in groups. For example, when soloing, tanks do not need to use their taunt abilities, and healers can forgo offensive spells. In these scenarios, playing in a group means using abilities normally ignored, or ignoring abilities usually employed. Things are slightly different for classes that need to substitute abilities in a group for abilities usually used when soloed.
After running the Maraudon instance in WoW last night, it occurred to me that the dual-nature of Shamans is a prime example of how ability substitutions are more necessary than with other classes, because it’s when grouping that a Shaman’s support abilities are required. When soloing, for example, a Shaman’s lack of plate armour requires that he kill an opponent quickly, which is why the Shaman’s damage output is so much higher than a Paladin or defensive Warrior. To maximize his damage-per-second (DPS), a Shaman relies on offensive totems that supplement his weapon enchantments, as well as high-damage shocks. While effective for soloing, this maximization of damage is only workable in a group environment when the Shaman begins to substitute support abilities for the token abilities he regularly employs.
In my recent Maraudon run, for example, my Paladin worked with two Enhancement-specced Shamans. Both were dual-wielding, and had very high melee DPS. Unfortunately, this DPS mentality needs to be silenced in group play, since it de-concentrates aggro, making the healer’s and tank’s jobs tougher. With this in mind, Shamans need to alter their play-style in a couple ways.
- Firstly, don’t pull. Let the tank or Hunter pull. And, if for some reason you’re asked to pull, don’t pull with Chain Lightning; you don’t need three mobs on you, and the healer doesn’t need to waste her time on a mail-wearing-idiot. Don’t be an idiot in the first place, and wait for the tank to gain aggro before committing to combat.
- Secondly, attack the tank’s main target. Don’t go all out on a secondary mob, unless it’s going after a caster and the tank hasn’t managed to pull it back onto himself. When it comes to secondary-target mobs, only engage them if absolutely necessary.
- Thirdly, start out using a less-damaging shock if you feel that you have to use shocks at all. That is to say, if you love your shocks, start with Flame Shock. If it isn’t pulling aggro off the tank, move up to Frost Shock. If that’s proven safe, then finally move to Earth Shock. Mix and match if you have to, but make sure that whatever you do, you don’t gain aggro after a shock has been cast. If that’s happening, it’s time to ramp it down some. It doesn’t matter if you think you can take a couple hits; you’re not a plate-wearer, and if you’re not carrying a shield, you shouldn’t be taking hits unless the shit has hit the fan.
- Fourthly, we all know that you’re in love with Wind Fury, and dropping a Grace of Air Totem to compliment your weapon enhancement is nice, but also poor form. If Windfury crits, or double-crits, you risk pulling aggro off the tank. This is why you need to drop a Windfury Totem for your tank, so he has the opportunity to do similar burst damage and raise his aggro bar. The DPS you lose from dropping a totem that’s redundant for you is negligible given the survivability, and ultimate success rate, for your group. This is especially true if your tank is a Paladin using Seal of Light or Seal of Wisdom, since his Windfury procs will give him a better chance to regenerate health or mana, respectively.
- Fifthly, you have a Poison Cleansing Totem and a Disease Cleansing Totem, so in encounters where your tank and/or other teammates will succumb to such attacks, you should use the respective totem, even if someone else in the group has the ability to cure these effects. Spot-cleansing poisons/diseases/curses is mana inefficient when such effects are constantly being applied, so use one of the core abilities Shamans have that no other class has.
- Sixthly, we all know that your health and mana totems are generally considered weak. Yet, when multiple people in your party are down on either health or mana, these totems are very welcome. So use them.
The gist of these points is that in a group setting, a Shaman invariably stops being a DPS machine, and becomes a true support class. Sorry about this, but that’s the role the Shaman class is designed for, and excels at. Unlike the other two hybrid classes in WoW, the Shaman is arguably the most versatile hybrid in the game, defined particularly by the fact that a Shaman cannot tank, has no way to reduce his aggro, and doesn’t have the mana efficiency to maintain spell-based DPS or long-term spot healing. A Shaman should be switching roles constantly, which the Druid is not designed to do repeatedly, and which talent concentrations for Paladins tend to restrict.
Interestingly, this reflection upon the Shaman class tends to make me think that the core role of the Shaman has not been ignored by Blizzard after all. Rather, players are simply unaware of the Shaman’s true versatility, because switching roles mid-combat numerous times is fairly unique among WoW’s classes.
In the end, the flexibility of the Shaman makes me somewhat more interested in picking my aging Shaman up again. More importantly, while I was almost at the point of refusing to group with Shamans ever again, I’m actually looking forward to it so long as the Shaman understands his group-role. In fact, I’m inclined to say that a Paladin/Shaman duo is a true powerhouse, both in PvP and when running PvE content. In fact, nothing compliments a Protection Paladin better than a Windfury-dropping Shaman who takes the time to cleanse and drop the occasional heal. Heck, I don’t even care what spec the Shaman is; Shaman support abilities are arguably the best in the game when it comes to groups.
As I said before, “rolling a hybrid class means you don’t care if you’re not top healer, or top DPS character in a group.” Like the mighty Paladin, the Shaman has a direct role rooted in WoW’s lore: he is the spiritual leader of a group, serving as the glue that holds each member together. He is concerned with the well-being of his people, is steady in his decisions, and is capable of taking the appropriate action when situation dictates it a necessity. Shamans put their allies ahead of themselves, to ensure success of the whole. Ironically, ensuring this success, also brings glory to the Shaman himself.
Similar Posts:
- Look ma, I found a n3wb! – It’s a Wednesday afternoon and a bunch of humanoid pigs need killin’. Again. In WoW-speak, this mean…
- The Shaman mini-guide. – v 2.0 The spiritual holy-warrior for the Horde, the Shaman is a hybrid class akin to the Druid and P…
- The five-man dream team. – When I get a chance to play World of Warcraft (WoW) these days, I find that running an instance as a…
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }