Shaman resto pvp

[Lunabaduna]

sup!

im considering rerolling a resto shaman to heal in pvp (the occasional pve encounter may drop in)
is it worth it?

im currently playing a priest (also healing). hows the healing compared to that? what spells do you use? how do you manage totems?
im concerned about the fact that shaman healers only has one instant cast healing spell. how well do you survive getting trained/interupted all the time?
and hows your mana conservation?

thanks!

edit: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hZ0xg...uIxsxkbhRt:qLi - how is that spec/glyps? keep in mind that i havent played a shaman above level 20.

[Ushra]

Stick with Priests, they're a lot better than Resto Shamans in PvP.

[Lunabaduna]

Stick with Priests, they're a lot better than Resto Shamans in PvP.

thanks, but no thanks. i've been a priest for far to long.

any answers to my questions would be very much appreicated

[nietmakkir]

i mainly pve, but do bg/ arena occasionally with a pvp spec/ gear, so here's my amateur 2cents;

in an arena setting (2v2 & 3v3, not sure about 5v5s :s ) i have no problems with interupts, and pretty much just use lesser healing wave & riptide (with the occasional healing wave chucked in for good luck). mana isn't really an issue, although purging does tend to drain it abit (same with priest i imagine thou). one of the plus-points of using a shammy is that you can put out quite a decent bit of bursty damage, which (combined with hero) definately helps to burn down the last of your opponent's health

although only having riptide is abit sucky sometimes (especially if you're against someone who can dispel the hot), earthshield is *very* underestimated, and can no longer have all charges dispelled at once, so you get a reasonably huge chunk of healing for not much mana, and it is a pain to get it off you

in bgs, i tend to go with my pvp *gear*, but my pve *spec*, simply because i tend to chuck around alot of chain heals & healing waves, although mana is definately a problem in prolonged fights

lastly, totems. generally, i'd say they rock; they're powerful, useful for many situations, and look nice but, they're often target, so can become abit've a mana sponge, and i guarantee some of the pulse-timing's get your goat more than afew times : /

gl shammying ^.^

[Lafleur]

-Our heals are shit.
-Our mana conservation is shit,we need to spend 3 talent points to get mana tide,which is a 4 minute cooldown skill that barely restores 25% mana and can get one shoted by a caster's melee swing.Additionaly,when we are getting trained we cannot possibly survive without es but as you probably already know we cant have 2 shields active on one person at the same time,so since we cant use water shield while getting trained our mana runs out in 5 sec.
-Our survivability is shit.Our main survival ability which is stoneclaw totem,cannot be used while stunned and only absorbs 4k unlike pain supression and barkskin that absorb alot more during their duration.
-Managing totems is not that hard,but you need some practice in order to learn how to use them properly.You also need to make sure that they are always in range.
-Purge is shit compared to mass dispell.
-We aint got fears.
-We aint got overpowered shapeshifting.
-We aint got mana burns.
-We aint got cyclone.We got a 45 sec,dispellable lolcc with a ridicolously short cast range instead.
-We got bloodlust,yay!

You want to play a different healing class?Roll a druid.

[Tombstone]

-Our heals are shit.
-Our mana conservation is shit,we need to spend 3 talent points to get mana tide,which is a 4 minute cooldown skill that barely restores 25% mana and can get one shoted by a caster's melee swing.Additionaly,when we are getting trained we cannot possibly survive without es but as you probably already know we cant have 2 shields active on one person at the same time,so since we cant use water shield while getting trained our mana runs out in 5 sec.
-Our survivability is shit.Our main survival ability which is stoneclaw totem,cannot be used while stunned and only absorbs 4k unlike pain supression and barkskin that absorb alot more during their duration.
-Managing totems is not that hard,but you need some practice in order to learn how to use them properly.You also need to make sure that they are always in range.
-Purge is shit compared to mass dispell.
-We aint got fears.
-We aint got overpowered shapeshifting.
-We aint got mana burns.
-We aint got cyclone.We got a 45 sec,dispellable lolcc with a ridicolously short cast range instead.
-We got bloodlust,yay!

You want to play a different healing class?Roll a druid.

What he said, but with a little less QQ. I play a Shaman and all above is pretty much correct, all you can do when being trained is watch your totem cooldowns and hope they are up and spam the crap out of Grounding and Stoneclaw. I love how they changed Ghost Wolf and Nature's Guardian, though.

[Andyclan]

What he said, but with a little less QQ. I play a Shaman and all above is pretty much correct, all you can do when being trained is watch your totem cooldowns and hope they are up and spam the crap out of Grounding and Stoneclaw. I love how they changed Ghost Wolf and Nature's Guardian, though.

i agree with the 2 above. i play resto shaman and honestly i wouldnt play any other class even though we are the weakest, i love shaman, their mechanics and just everything about them, i enjoy the frustrating challenging play style but thats just me =)... if ur dedicated and ready to get frustrated by people steamrolling u half the time play ur sham, if u wanna be guaranteed a 2k+ rating in arena roll any other healer.

[barrsftw]

Shamans are easily the worst healer in bgs. Probable the worst class overall in bgs as well. However Bloodlust is very nice.

[Lunabaduna]

haha. loving the optimism.
im taking it with a grain of salt because of the fact that no matter what class you want some information about, there will be QQ about it sucking.

im playing a shaman on the ptr atm. i think it's awesome. a little hard to rate it's survivability compared to other class though.
i do love the fact that i can be offensive with shocks, totems and the occasional lavaburst and purges, just like on my priest.

im a little concerned about not being able to dispel cc's like on my priest though (mainly in arena's).
but didn't blizzard state somewhere that they wanted to add dispels to all the healer classes for cata?

im really looking for a healer class that has a viable dps spec also (shadow sucks imo).
haven't tried enha yet. but ele is awesome.


(plus female draenei is HAWT! /waggle)

[Metak]

Lose Water Mastery glyph for Stoneclaw glyph, imo, we can't have enough defensive CD's. Next to that you'd want Water Shield and Ghost Wolf minor glyphs.

As for the spec, it greatly depends on your taste; playstyle, setup and gear obviously. However, (Enhancement tree) I would never spec into Elemental Weapons for PvP, and I would always get Imp. Shields. If you want to go down to Thoughness, don't skip Shamanistic Focus (actually, if you go offensive which you should, I'd never skip it in any build).

(Resto tree) Ancestral Awakening is a 'free' heal you shouldn't ever skip. Nature's Guardian is pretty ok for PvP. (Could lose 1 or 2/5 points if you need them somewhere else though). Healing Grace is also a decent PvP talent. If you take Imp. Healing Wave, (I don't, but it's possible) I wouldn't want to miss out on Healing Way.

This is my current favorite;
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#hZ0gr...0sEkbIRt:qLjVc

[Clarkis2001]

As a Warlock I find Shaman healers the hardest to blow up... if that makes the OP feel any better. Druids are easiest, then Paladins, followed by Priests and lastly Shamans.

It seems even with a timer and roll-over macro for totems I'll lose a big hit to Grounding or a CC to Tremor! >.<

[Profix]

I generally have to agree with the previous posts considering shamans make a great addition to a group but are marginal at best compared to other classes soloing capabilties. Stand-alone classes work well in arenas because they dont require the help of others to stay alive/dps/CC. Shamans requre a group built around them in order to be successful at a high rating. This style is unlike a resto druid which could be put into countless group combinations and still do well.

WoW is generally an elaborate rock paper scissors game and after having played every class at or above 70, most of which at 80, I've found its best to describe shamans (my main) in terms of how they relate to other classes in arenas. You'll have problems with most of the dominant pvp classes (rogue, DK, war) unless you build a group that can protect you from being locked down. Your powerful heals and dps burst require a window of opportunity to get them off and can be burdensome in an arena situation. The best teams will be the ones that allow you to focus on purging, shocking, dispelling, and hexing instead of spam healing. I would only reccomend playing a shaman if you have a group already in mind or can easily find a good group on your server.

On the upside, shamans can be quite powerful against other casters. Stopping mana burns, escaping fears, preventing a massive frost nova burst, all are definately strengths you'll enjoy.

If your only goal is a high arena rating, I'd pick a different healer. If you enjoy a challenge and would rather sacrifice easy wins for the additional benefit of being able to play other fun and valuable specs then by all means enjoy rolling a shaman. =)

[Lunabaduna]

i play arena's with my 2 brothers, and we've just rerolled alliance. and i am infact looking for a challenge, so i guess starting up my shaman was a wise choice from the looks of the answers im getting in here
we're not über arenajunkies, nor very serious hardcore raiders. We have however been playing since release, so we do know the game and honestly, we outskill most of our opponents.
with this in mind, how well would a Hunter - Deathknight support a resto/ele shaman in 3s? (since thats what my brothers are rolling).
i dont care about it not being a glad title comp, since i couldn't care less about such stuff :3
but will we get stomped by every other comp we encounter?
does it have any strong sides to it?
whats the most common setups with a shaman as resto or ele?

i really appreciate all the answers guys.
thanks!

[Ascendant]

whats the most common setups with a shaman as resto or ele?

Casters, wizard cleave is probably the best setup to run as a shaman. This includes but is not limited to frost mages, ele shamans, destro locks, resto shamans, mm/prep rogues. Resto druids and holy palas if you are ele. These are mostly for the strong CC because of the poor survivability and strong burst (with BL).

[Mirzawy]

Resto shaman are the best healers among all others in almost all aspects ,,
we are not so good in 2s but u can work u way to the top , and i consider us the best healers in 3s

the reason why ppl c shamans the worst healing class are of 2 things :
1- the skill cap for resto shamans are rly high and complicated and we demand very fast reflexes opposite to other healers who got immunties or defensive skills to use when they are stunned or getting a quick switch

2- most ppl who are playing resto shamans are undergeared including my self qq , bcz shamans cant use all their potentials unless they get gg gear and obtain certain stats ( eg : 3k sp 1k resil or more and 500 mp5 )

we do have some certain classes that shits on us though :
1- arm wars are by far the worst class to meet as a shaman , and ull be suprised how fast he can gib u
2- hunters and rogues are pain in the ass 2 and can gib u fast 2

but with practice and continous playing and ofc good gear ull find u can outlast most classes

[Metak]

with this in mind, how well would a Hunter - Deathknight support a resto/ele shaman in 3s? (since thats what my brothers are rolling).
i dont care about it not being a glad title comp, since i couldn't care less about such stuff :3

Works fine. Would stick with Resto though.

but will we get stomped by every other comp we encounter?

Not at all.

does it have any strong sides to it?

Yeah, steady nuke and quite decent CC/peel options.

whats the most common setups with a shaman as resto or ele?

Not that much of a 'common' list but it might give you an idea.
http://www.sk-gaming.com/arena/team/...ll/shaman/////

[Profix]

I agree with the Wiz cleave idea. You'll want classes that have CC and that bloodlust will benefit. Even a rogue could help with the RPM style of play that your probably familiar with coming from a priest. The CC you get from the other casters makes the diminishing returns an almost non-factor and increases the effectiveness of your hex.

If you play with your brothers, you'll probably have more fun (at least I do,) but a hunter/DK seems to be too offensive of a team. It certainly will work as it does have some basic elements (heals, 1 ranged dps, 1 melee, MS effect) that make a solid team, it just isn't the ideal composition that you'd be looking for.

Good classes with resto shams
+Destro Lock
+Frost Mage
+Hunter (with Aimed Shot)
+Rogue
+Moonkin
+Shadow Priest with Affliction Lock
+Sometimes a good Ret in the mix can boost your team

As for your dps spec, it's very simple, if you want big numbers and burst - go ele. If you want something more interesting like a tank spamming - go enhance.
Both dps specs are very valuable and can be fun to play. (I still can't decide between them.)