First timer

[Deleted]

So basically I've created a shaman because they look fun to play anyway just wondering do they top any dps charts are they good at soloing and how are they on timeless island will I struggle?

[Deleted]

Any class that can heal and DPS is always a good bet, Shammies have plenty of tools for soloing. Players top charts not Classes, read some guides (like icy viens and noxxic), learn what you can and you will do fine.

[Systemic]

So basically I've created a shaman because they look fun to play anyway just wondering do they top any dps charts are they good at soloing and how are they on timeless island will I struggle?

I’m going to break my response down to deal with each individual question:
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“Do Shaman top any dps charts?”
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You can, but it will be difficult and rely on a number of factors which are usually outside of your control (RNG, the ability of the rest of the raid, raid composition, mechanics of the fight etc). Topping charts doesn’t come as easily to Shaman as it does to other, more dps focused classes. I would say, however, that topping dps charts shouldn’t be the sole focus on your desire to play a Shaman – simply a by-product of it. In terms of sheer dps, I would say Shaman are ‘dependable’ rather than ‘amazing’.
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“Are they fun to play?”
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I love my shaman. My warrior is my main but I find my shaman much more fun the play, particularly nowadays since I’ve given up tanking.
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As you know, Shaman have two dps specs: the melee orientated Enhancement spec and the ranged nuker Elemental spec. Which does more dps can change fight by fight, raid by raid, patch by patch, so really you need to decide what you want to play more. Do you want to melee, or do you want to be ranged? It really is as simple as that. Personally I prefer melee, so I’m enhance. I often toy with the idea of going elemental but I tend to panic when things get too close to me when I play ranged. From a purely aesthetic point of view, enhance is quite boring. There aren’t many flashy effects going off and sometimes you can find yourself with nothing to press as you wait for things to come off cooldown but it is a very energetic spec and feels really primal and barbaric. Elemental, on the other hand, gets to spit lighting and lava at people which is extremely cool. Nothing like hurling a great blob of lava into someone’s face to brighten your day! You’ll see big crits as elemental which is always nice and, if the RNG gods see fit, you can do some insane burst. If I HAD to play a ranged magic-using class, it’d be an elemental shaman (and this is coming from someone who also has a 90 priest and warlock).
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Overall, I love the lore, the aesthetics (some of the tier sets are awesome) and the way they play. Plus totems! Gotta love totems!
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“Are they good at soloing?”
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Depends on what you mean by soloing. General questing? Old raids? I think they’re great at both – having heals means you have ways to keep yourself alive and both dps specs have abilities that make healing yourself mid-fight a lot easier than just standing there hard casting. Both specs also have a lot of utility, too, meaning they can do a lot of stuff other classes would struggle with. In terms of old content, they’re not as good as DKs, Warriors, Hunters or Druids, but they’re no slouches, either.
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For questing they’re fine. As with all classes, the better your gear, the easier it becomes.
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“Will I struggle with the Timeless Isle?”
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This is the only one I can’t truly answer as I only returned to the game yesterday after a couple of months off, so haven’t spent much time on the isle. I didn’t have much trouble when I went there other than taking on things meant for groups (top tip: see how much health that big giant has before you go smack it!). Things like earthbind totem and ghost wolf means you can escape easier than most other classes in a pinch and as I mentioned before, the ability to heal helps loads. Reincarnation is also massively helpful, too, in times when you’ve bitten off more than you can chew or even to save a wipe. Yesterday, for instance, I reincarnated and got the last couple of hits on sha of pride in lfr just as the last person up died, saving us from a wipe. It was pretty epic, although I didn’t get any loot! L

[Dorac]

I've played my shaman for about 6 or 7 years or so and I love it. The specs may not be the best in terms of HPS/DPS for certain situations but I love playing each spec. My elemental set is about 560 so I have no issues in terms of timeless isle or anything like that. The off healing is good with AG/Healing Tide Tot, Stormlash, Hero so we do have decent utility I just wouldn't say we are meter toppers. GL and have fun!

[Deleted]

Well I choosen enhancement and now wondering what heirloom I should be using should I use a shield aswell?

[Nebria]

Well I choosen enhancement and now wondering what heirloom I should be using should I use a shield aswell?

no
shield is for healers/ele (would use the staff here) and tanks

use 2 agility weapons

[Systemic]

Well I choosen enhancement and now wondering what heirloom I should be using should I use a shield aswell?

You want 2 x venerable mass of McGowans and you will just annihilate stuff.

[jayinjersey]

You want 2 x venerable mass of McGowans and you will just annihilate stuff.

Mass of McGowans is for sissy Alliances

You want Brawler's Razor Claws

[Embermoon]

So basically I've created a shaman because they look fun to play anyway just wondering do they top any dps charts are they good at soloing and how are they on timeless island will I struggle?

- What charts are you looking to top? As enhancement, I'm leading our guild, on most fights. But we're a casual guild. In a hardcore heroic guild, I wouldn't look to shaman to be the #1 dps on most fights. Decent, for sure, though.

- Enhancement is excellent at soloing. I couldn't speak for Ele.

- If you use your stun/root/snare/self-heal abilities, you won't have too much trouble on the timeless isle. At 544 ilevel, I have zero problems, unless I aggro too many of the goat boys up on the mesa.

[Drogotaar]

As long as you don't go cutting edge heroic progression (if you want to go ele), shaman is a damn nice class to play.

[Volitar]

As long as you don't go cutting edge heroic progression (if you want to go ele), shaman is a damn nice class to play.

Most WF guilds run with at least 1 Ele now a days. No longer are we dead weight noobs!

[KCguy]

So basically I've created a shaman because they look fun to play anyway just wondering do they top any dps charts are they good at soloing and how are they on timeless island will I struggle?

DPS shamans are fine up until heroic raiding. As for the Timeless Isle, like most classes, it's all about gear. With the new token thingies, if you have a main, you can send any tokens to your shaman as long as they're on the same realm.

[Volitar]

(DPS SHAMAN ARE FINE IN HEROIC RAIDING) not sorry for caps.

[Aleksej89]

While Shaman DPS is good, they also bring good utility and off-healing.

They are a very fun class to play, especially the dps specs.