Fun as a shaman healer

[X1Holy]

Hello Shamans!

My current shaman is level 70 atm and has never experienced any dungeons/raiding so far. I've switched alot between enhancement and elemental when leveling, but never tried restoration (seemed pointless for leveling), although I have healed as a paladin.

My question is how does a shaman healer compare to a paladin in both fun and style, and is it worth leveling as restoration between 70-80?

Thanks in advance,
X.

[Takedown]

...i wouldn't say its ...any good tbh(take a long time to kill stuff i guess),unless you want to do a HELL of alot of ins(woot gogo healers xD)
Fun?Sure...for leveling?wouldnt say so,You can always try but i wouldn't expect much

[jealouspirate]

My main is a restoration Shaman and I enjoy it quite a lot.

I've never healed as a Paladin, so I can't really comment on their similarities/differences. As are as the 'fun' difference between them... fun is in the eye of the beholder.

I just know that I love my resto shammy, and when played correctly they're great healers. I find the mechanics interesting. Also, good healing + BL/Heroism = you're wanted in groups.

As for leveling, I'd suggest picking up a dual-spec and go ele/resto, but take only resto gear. Your resto gear in ele spec will be fine for questing through Northrend and you have still heal through every dungeon. Questing as resto is not very nice.

...Finally, these days you can throw a rock in any direction and hit 5 Paladins. Shamans remain one of the least-played classes, so you get to feel special! In VoA I rarely have other resto shamans rolling against me for gear.

[Azyoulike]

Shaman healer is similar to pally really - they both have small spell selections and strong utility.
As a pally you'd be keeping up SS & Beacon on the tank while spamming heals over the party, as a shammy you'd be keeping up ES on the tank and spamming CHs on the tank.
Pally picks up Holy Shock as a nice instant heal, shaman picks up riptide.

If you're not gonna dual-spec then I wouldn't level as resto though - you can adequately heal normal instances in elemental spec.

Personally I find shaman the least fun healer. Priests & druids can bounce around like rubber balls while spamming heals from a big toolbox, paladins get stupidly powerful spells that give an insanely high HPS cap. Shaman have the relative immobility of a paladin healer without the stupid OPness.

Druids get barkskin, priests get fade, pallies get bubble - shaman get to die and ankh when they get threat.

[Deleted]

You could just level in battlegrounds and stay in lfg in case anyone needs a healer for some instance. The exp is quite awesome and pvp takes the healing to a whole new level. But just for questing/grinding and whatnot I suggest you stay enhancement/elemental, because you don't really do any decent damage as resto and (ofc depending on the server) there aren't really many normal instance groups to join seeing as the leveling from 70 to 80 takes so little time, especially with the +20% exp.

[Hrethel]

...Finally, these days you can throw a rock in any direction and hit 5 Paladins.

And you probably should.

[exploìt]

Shaman healer is similar to pally really - they both have small spell selections and strong utility.
As a pally you'd be keeping up SS & Beacon on the tank while spamming heals over the party, as a shammy you'd be keeping up ES on the tank and spamming CHs on the tank.
Pally picks up Holy Shock as a nice instant heal, shaman picks up riptide.

If you're not gonna dual-spec then I wouldn't level as resto though - you can adequately heal normal instances in elemental spec.

Personally I find shaman the least fun healer. Priests & druids can bounce around like rubber balls while spamming heals from a big toolbox, paladins get stupidly powerful spells that give an insanely high HPS cap. Shaman have the relative immobility of a paladin healer without the stupid OPness.

Druids get barkskin, priests get fade, pallies get bubble - shaman get to die and ankh when they get threat.

Very much dependant on the fight and your gear selection imo.

Even on fights where melee take large amounts of dmg i'd still most likely go with LHW spam.

[Azyoulike]

Very much dependant on the fight and your gear selection imo.

Even on fights where melee take large amounts of dmg i'd still most likely go with LHW spam.

I meant for 5 mans since that's likely to be his main experience on an alt. I find CH tends to be superior there.

[X1Holy]

Thanks for replies guys, I've been torn between going for a pure dps or a restoration shaman (yeah I know, very different roles) for a while now, but your responses about enjoying it and a shamans rarity has made up my mind.

Time to reach level 80

[Executia]

Small spell selection?

Earth shield , Lesser wave , healing wave , chainheal , riptide.

In addition for decent support : Manatide , Heroism , improved mana totem.


I say healing as a shaman is the most fun of all heal classes.
You have alot of gear and heal variations. You bring alot of support.
That's why you are ALWAYS wanted. I would take a shamy healer over any other healer if he plays good.

[Azyoulike]

Small spell selection?

Earth shield , Lesser wave , healing wave , chainheal , riptide.

Erm yes that's a small selection compared to druids or priests, and about the same size as pallies. Do I need to list all the other specs heals & shields to demonstrate that?

I say healing as a shaman is the most fun of all heal classes.

I have to ask, have you played all the other 4 healing specs in raids? Fun is a matter of opinion of course, but it helps to have experience to base it from.

[Jÿnks]

My main is a resto shaman. I also have an 80 holy/shadow priest and a 78 feral/resto druid. I've never played a pally past level 10, so I can't speak for that class, but shaman is by far my favorite healer.

The management of totems can be a bit of a pain. With a glyph, CH can bounce to 4 players and when they all crit, it's a beautiful thing. With Riptide/CH you get a buff that gives you 30% haste on 2 HWs, which really helps out when a tank is taking a ton of damage.

While I wouldn't suggest leveling as resto for questing, I would definitely at least give it a try for instances. Worst case scenario: you don't like it and respec.

[Imaginerium]

I currently have both a paladin healer and a resto shaman at 80.
All I can say; It depends a lot on personal perferrances.
However, the two classes does not differ as much as a pala does compared to druid/priest.
I cant tell you which one is the most fun to play, you have to figure that by yourself. (Personally, I play shaman as my main.)

As for the question wether it's worth leveling from 70-80 as resto: Get dual spec, you'll end up getting it at 80 anyways. This was you will be able to heal in dungeons and steamroll through quests as enh or ele

[Executia]

I can't imagine permanently spamming the same spell on a Tank like a pally does.
I can't imagine spamming 90% of the time instants throughout the raid like a druid does.

Priest healing would seem interesting too , but just the look at the resto talents is like "wow thats one hell of proccs to react on and a balance between instants and casts which build on each other"

Just my opinion , try it out

[power-akama]

In all honesty, all healers have their pros and cons.

I personnaly find shamans the easiest healer class to play, and mostly to enjoy playing.

If you know how to manage your haste, shamans can be as mobile as priest and druid healers. But personnaly I absolute love it.

[Eyetotem]

Very much dependant on the fight and your gear selection imo.

Even on fights where melee take large amounts of dmg i'd still most likely go with LHW spam.

One thing about Shamans that I like is the fact that they have the flexability to change with your healing style.

I prefer to use Chain Heal and use Healing Wave (with Tidal Waves it is as fast as my LHW) so that I can be sure to get that big heal. It all depends on your gear and the makeup of your group. If you are in a 5 man with no replenishment my style may cause mana issues for a new shaman. However as your gear progresses you can change to a "big heal" type of style.

I would say that even though compared to other classes they have a small bag of tricks, they are very fun. I would discourage the leveling resto bit though.........believe me it is no fun (leveled from 78-80 as resto because I was needed to heal and got tired of respecing.)

[kolenovrt]

I have leveled a paladin to 80 as well as a shaman. To be honest it is MUCH better to be a resto shaman 70-80 than a holy paladin. As a resto shaman you just collect some caster gear with lots of spellpower and mp5 and this turns to be an awesome choice for leveling as elemental. All it needs is 1000g to buy dual spec.

As a paladin, you are screwed. You have to make choices whether you take melee gear or holy gear all the time. And once you get a good gear for healing, it does not help your leveling at all.

The shaman is my main now and I love him. When you are comparing the mobility of the class, it depends if you talk about PvE or PvP. In PvE, shamans are a somewhat better than paladins but far from what druids and disc priests can do.

However in PvP, the situation is different. Paladins have no mobility at all. They have a strong defense, that's true, but that's the only weapon they have. A Paladin stands his ground and throws heal by heal until he goes out of mana, which can take a very long time if he has a good gear and can keep himself alive with just Flash of Light. He can withold one, sometimes two opponents just because of his damage mitigation, but if one more comes, he has no other choice but die (ok, he can still bubble and heart .

Shaman on the other side, although having more than 50% mitigation from armor, cannot just stand there and let others spank him. But he has more options how to defend, e.g. when there are more opponents, or he is interrupted, slowed, etc, it's MUCH easier to flee and/or cast instants.

[Elementium]

I like resto healing. It's very simple in a sense that there aren't many fluff spells. This is a fast weak heal, this is a slow strong heal, this is a heal that hits multiple targets, this is an instant heal that heals over time.

[Deralte]

Shaman healing is much like Paladin Healing.

Both have one fast/small heal.
Both have one slow/big heal.
Both have an instant heal.
Both have one spell to keep on the main tank (SS/earth shield)

Now, Paladin got Beacon, while shaman got chain heal. They aren't really comparable, but both heal multiple targets.

I have both a shaman and a paly, and i have to say... shaman healing is way more fun.

[Enfeeble]

personally, i never get tired of seeing chain heal spam, peppered across my screen. glorious. n_n
i have a holy/disc priest, holy paladin, and of course a resto shaman. [druids.. cows. /sigh]
my shaman is always my first choice..
i only bring in the priest/paladin when my shaman is already saved. lol