Shaman Soloing Guides - Tactics / Specs / Talents / Discussion

[phai]

Hey guys, I thought of writing a guide for all you Shamans out there who like to solo stuff.
I'll write this from an Enhancement Shaman PoV, but if anyone is willing to give me a shot about other "Spec Tactics", I'll be happy to add them :)

Enhancement Shaman
Talent specs

Here are some ideas of how your talent tree may look like if you're in serious soloing.
Most important talents to take as an enhancement shaman are the deep ones as [Maelstrom Weapon], not going to take them would be suicide on the easiest boss. Use it to heal yourself up when it reaches five Stacks. If you're still good with your HP, use it for a Lightning Bolt.

Must have talents:

• [Maelstrom Weapon]
• [Shamanistic Rage]
• [Mental Quickness]

Notes:

• It's your choice if you take [Anticipation] over [Guardian Totems], but Guardian Totems make no sense if you already chose [Enhancing Totems]. You will rarely use the Stoneskin Totem over the Strength of Earth Totem, except for very heavy physical damage incoming fights.
• The Spirit Wolves are awesome, but in some fights like Hakkar or Ayamiss you just can't use them, unless you want a nice repair bill. I suggest you to pick them anyway, there are only very few fights where you can't use them.

Talent Suggestions:
Version 1: Good Avoidance, high effective Healing, superior Mana regen, good Damage
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#hZhbxcsEdIhuoRuVoV0xzh

Version 2: Superior Avoidance, average Healing, average Mana regen, superior Damage
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#hVchmZhbxcsEdIhuokuVo

Version 3: Good Avoidance, superior Healing, superior Mana regen, average Damage
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#hZ0gxcsEzIhuoRuVoV0xzh

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Equipment

Equipment is very crucial as Enhancement Shaman. As your equipp improves, you will be able to kill harder and harder bosses. It does not guarantee your kill, but it makes it easier.

It doesn't really matter if you're going to kill bosses in your PvP Equip or in your PvE, but the most important part is to survive long enough. PvP and PvE Equip balances out:

• In PvP Equip you do less damage, but have lots of survivability, therefore you will be having less critical moments and less healing is needed.
• In PvE Equip you do a lot more damage, therefore the boss goes down faster, but he will hit you hard each time, you will eventually have some critical moments and more healing is needed.

If you want to take a step to the secure side you can also equip some PvP Equip to achieve 460 Resilience Rating to gain crit immunity against raid bosses.

It's also good to take a Shield with you. It can save your life! Equip it when you have to defend yourself for some time.

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Dungeons


Classic - World of Warcraft

I think I don't have to mention that the classic World of Warcraft dungeons are soloable, right?
Well ... let's skip this part.



The Burning Crusade


Auchindoun
Caverns of Time
Coilfang Reservoir
Hellfire Citadel
Tempest Keep


Auchenai Crypts
Old Hillsbrad Foothills
The Slave Pens
Hellfire Ramparts
The Arcatraz


Mana-Tombs
The Black Morass
The Steamvault
The Blood Furnace
The Botanica


Sethekk Halls

The Underbog
The Shattered Halls
The Mechanar


Shadow Labyrinth
Magisters' Terrace








The Burning Crusade (Heroic)


Auchindoun
Caverns of Time
Coilfang Reservoir
Hellfire Citadel
Tempest Keep


Auchenai Crypts
Old Hillsbrad Foothills
The Slave Pens
Hellfire Ramparts
The Arcatraz


Mana-Tombs
The Black Morass
The Steamvault
The Blood Furnace
The Botanica


Sethekk Halls

The Underbog
The Shattered Halls
The Mechanar


Shadow Labyrinth
Magisters' Terrace








Wrath of the Lich King


Azjol-Nerub

Icecrown Citadel
The Nexus
Ulduar


Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom

Halls of Reflection
The Nexus
Halls of Lightning


Azjol-Nerub

Pit of Saron
The Oculus
Halls of Stone



Drak'Tharon
The Forge of Souls




Caverns of Time
Drak'Tharon Keep

Dalaran
Utgarde


The Culling of Stratholme
Gundrak

The Violet Hold
Utgarde Keep






Utgarde Pinnacle





Wrath of the Lich King (Heroic)

I'm quite sure that they aren't soloable for now ... prove me wrong ;)

[phai]

Raids


Classic - World of Warcraft



20 Player
40 Player


Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj
Molten Core


Zul'Gurub






The Burning Crusade



10 Player


Karazhan



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How to contribute


This list far from being complete. It contains dungeons or raids who aren't solo'd yet. Atleast I don't know. It's just a list of dungeons you could try out.
If you know that it's possible to solo something, post it, explain how hard it is and help out with hard parts of the dungeon / raid, so others can compete aswell in soloing.
Also post if you think that something is impossible to solo, like, for example, the normal version of Halls of Stone (just an example!)

Posted guides (youtube videos aswell) will be linked. If you post a guide from another site, please give credits to the author/s!

[Jenerena]

I'd love to know how to solo the tiger and raptor bosses in ZG as elemental/resto. Had to go with people just so I don't die from being stun locked...

[phai]

I'd love to know how to solo the tiger and raptor bosses in ZG as elemental/resto. Had to go with people just so I don't die from being stun locked...

Thekal (Tiger) by lynxos:

[...] can also be soloed as a resto shammy. Just gave it a shot and succeeded. Before that I tried to solo it with an enhancement spec, which ended in a couple of wipes and might be much more difficult to do.

My gear is currently mostly epic around iLvl ~220.

Following strat worked for me:
-) my resto spec was far from ideal for soloing this - I was truly healing resto specced and my dps blew.
-) I maxed my armor value
-) put focus on the healing guy
-) make a macro button to wind shear the focused target
-) pull the bunch of 5 (2x tigers, thekal + his 2x friends) and start ganking them
-) you may kill 1x tiger but keep at least one other tiger up
-) take down one tiger to a low health value, but do NOT kill him
-) every time the healing guy tries to heal the tiger (you should see that via the focus frame, along with the target of the focused mob) you try to interrupt him. If you do not manage to interrupt the heal, pull out a magma totem and take down the tiger's HP again.
-) evenly take down all of the 3 trolls - once they are all at a low HP level, pull out the fire elemental and bloodlust and burn them down
-) phase 2 is pretty easy, although in the end I was low on mana

Goog luck

and on Mandokir from furikan

Soloed as a resto shaman in all Wotlk epics. 16469 Health/ 18k Mana, 2256 Spell power, self buffed.

Continualy drop Flametongue, *Tremor*, Mana, WoA and use the flametongue weapon enchant.

Killed raptor first with the help of my fire elemental and bloodlust. Keep yourself topped of with riptide and LHW. The Stuns will hurt the most so be prepared to spam that heal button or NS+HW. Use typical Elemental shaman dps rotations but remember to heal your self even if it messes up the lava burst. For the first minute of the fight, or while the sunder armor stacks are few, use water shield. Around 7 stacks start using Earth Shield. That's about the time they can start bursting you down between the stuns. If you want to be pro, run out of the whirlwinds and save yourself the extra heal.

After the raptor goes down Earth Shield yourself since the boss will enrage for 2 min. Light dps, again just keep yourself up.

When the enrage dies off its smooth sailing. You can again use water shield for nearly endless mana and he doesn't hit hard at all.

*Keeping a constant Tremor totem down is crucial to winning the fight

[Deleted]

Did you ever consider the

http://www.wowhead.com/item=45778/gl...toneclaw-totem


for soloing? Or is it complete waste?

[phai]

It's pretty useful for Elemental and Restoration Shamans, but rather useless for Enhancement, as there are better Glyphs around
Still - Damage absorption is NEVER bad.

[Deleted]

It's pretty useful for Elemental and Restoration Shamans, but rather useless for Enhancement, as there are better Glyphs around
Still - Damage absorption is NEVER bad.

Of course its never bad. I can imagine it being quite awesome to enhancement too. Since it provides with a shield that absorbs ~4k damage. You can also use it and actually cast a Lesser/Healing wave without pushback.
I guess its a bit situational. Some would perhaps one-shot the shield anyway. :-[

[caboose1984]

If you want to take a step to the secure side you can also equip some PvP Equip to achieve 460 Resilience Rating to gain crit immunity against raid bosses.

Correct me if im wrong, but didnt they change that so that resilience doesnt effect pve combat anymore?

[phai]

Of course its never bad. I can imagine it being quite awesome to enhancement too. Since it provides with a shield that absorbs ~4k damage. You can also use it and actually cast a Lesser/Healing wave without pushback.
I guess its a bit situational. Some would perhaps one-shot the shield anyway. :-[

Okay, "rather useless" was a bit too harsh. It's not that bad, yep, but depends on the boss. Didn't try it out, but could give it a try.

If you want to take a step to the secure side you can also equip some PvP Equip to achieve 460 Resilience Rating to gain crit immunity against raid bosses.

Correct me if im wrong, but didnt they change that so that resilience doesnt effect pve combat anymore?

It still does.

[storeposer]

As ele i use grounding totem ón the Tiger boss so i dont get silenced. the raptor boss i just burn Down and heal if i get low and use tremor for the fear the rest if the bosses in zg Can be burned Down realy fast. I cant make the pot for the mad one so havent tryed him but a full clear Can take 33 min if ur lucky

[phai]

Okay, so yesterday I solo'd Heroic Mana Tombs, Heroic Sethekk Halls, Heroic Shadowlabyrinth, Heroic Old Hillsbrand, Heroic Black Morass and Heroic Blood Furnance.

Everything seems doable, Blood Furnance is rather difficult, the mobs hit VERY hard.
Especially the 3 groups of deamons just before the end boss hit instantly for 10-12k, so keep your wolves up!

Screenshots:
CoT1 is really easy. Just be sure Thrall tanks for you, pick the mobs out you need and voila.
CoT2 is even easier. The mobs go down like butter in a hot pan.
Shadow Labyrinth is a real challenge. Remember the fat ogre boss and the room full of trash just before him? Try to pull him without killing his "adds" ... :P
Sethekk Halls is easy, but there is one thing that is an awful pain: Sethekk Ravenguards. They hit brutal fast and brutal hard, so be prepared.
Mana Tombs is also easy, just be sure to clear the end boss' room before pulling him.
And as I said ... Blood Furnance. Some tricky parts, Melees hit very hard and can the engineers juts want to see you dead with their silence.

Good luck!

[Archimedes]

You can solo AQ40. (Paraphrased)

Please do not post false information. Twin Emperors are un-soloable by any class that does not have a perma-pet. Meaning that Locks, Hunters, and Unholy DKs are the only classes even capable of completing the fight, as dictated by game mechanics.

If you're implying that you successfully completed AQ40 solo, I'm calling bullshit.

[phai]

Please do not post false information. Twin Emperors are un-soloable by any class that does not have a perma-pet. Meaning that Locks, Hunters, and Unholy DKs are the only classes even capable of completing the fight, as dictated by game mechanics.

If you're implying that you successfully completed AQ40 solo, I'm calling bullshit.

You could at least try to read my posts.

This list far from being complete. It contains dungeons or raids who aren't solo'd yet. Atleast I don't know. It's just a list of dungeons you could try out.

[Miggy]

I guess i'm stating the obvious by saying Tiger and Raptor bosses are a piece of cake as enhancement spec. I use pvp gear for both. The way I do them:

Raptor - clear the trash on the left of the room (2 raptor packs and 1 troll pack). Pull the boss, use tremor totem, and burn raptor down first. When boss enrages, drop earth elemental and keep him healed up until enrage finishes. Then drop tremor again, blow wolves/heroism, and nuke the crap out of him. Tremor isn't strictly needed although I find he can sometimes get a couple of nasty hits on you if you are running around feared.

Tiger - skip all the trash. Grounding totem makes this fight really easy, it will absorb the silences, without its a pain in the arse. Keep it down as much as you can. I start on my own and wear them down a bit first, then fire up wolves and heroism. Interrupt the heals and they go down easy enough. Phase 2 is just tank and spank.

[Ruargh]

Thekal (Tiger) by lynxos:

and on Mandokir from furikan

Thanks for that! I've been bending my mind around soloing tiger as resto to no avail. Should have known to check wowhead
The tiger thingy sounds nifty :P

[phai]

Raptor - clear the trash on the left of the room (2 raptor packs and 1 troll pack). Pull the boss, use tremor totem, and burn raptor down first. When boss enrages, drop earth elemental and keep him healed up until enrage finishes. Then drop tremor again, blow wolves/heroism, and nuke the crap out of him. Tremor isn't strictly needed although I find he can sometimes get a couple of nasty hits on you if you are running around feared.

I use a faster tactic. Ignore all the trash. Just head to Mandokir.

I pull the speaker with a Wind Shear and kite him up the temple, just behind Mandokir on his Raptor.
Drop Tremor Totem / Windfury Totem / Magma Totem and Mana Spring Totem and kill the speaker.

Mandokir will run down the stairs, dismount and run back up to engage you. Be sure to pop Wolves and Shamanistic Rage, focus on Mandokir, pop Bloodlust / Heroism and burn him down. It's pretty easy. Use Taunt on your wolves whenever they are off CD. If he isn't dead after your Wolves disappear, drop the Stone Elemental.

Usually takes about 1 Minute to kill him.

[Zarghol]

Are you ever in danger of dying on him? I'm pretty keen to start soloing'em both on my enh shaman, but my gear is pretty bad. Full honor PvP and 2x 226 maces, not sure if I can do enough DPS to nuke him. Great topic btw!

[phai]

Are you ever in danger of dying on him? I'm pretty keen to start soloing'em both on my enh shaman, but my gear is pretty bad. Full honor PvP and 2x 226 maces, not sure if I can do enough DPS to nuke him. Great topic btw!

I never died to him. If you aren't sure, just drop Fire and Stone Elemental as soon as your Wolves disappear.
Otherwise you could try to kite him ... thats what I did when I was in T7.5 gear:

Clear the whole area. Kill all the trash. You'll need it.

Pull Mandokir down the stairs, pop Wolves and kill the raptor as fast as possible. Mandokir enrages. Taunt him with your wolves, use Spirit Walk (Sprint) and run around the temple. Make sure he doesn't reach you and kite him until his 1min enrage expires.
As soon as his enrage is gone, engage him, drop Elementals and Wolves as soon as they're ready - bloodlust / heroism if you need a boost.

good luck

[Itegos]

With good gear you really dont need any tactics as Enhancement.
I solo'd every TBC heroic with ease, with most gear around ilvl260. Farmed all of em to get rep with all the TBC factions. ^^

I solo ZG as well every now and then. Got the Raptor and Tiger 2 resets from each other lol. >_< Just doing it now for the rep to get Exalted with em. I clear all trah as well for Bijou's and coins. Its about 8 - 10k rep for a full run (except the Mmd one).
Only 'hard' one is Bloodlord, just heal when you drop under 70% and keep nuking him, and keep Tremor up. Shamanistic Rage when off CD.

Armory:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...emaul&cn=Terga
check Feats of Strength for the mounts. :P

[Miggy]

I use a faster tactic. Ignore all the trash. Just head to Mandokir.

I pull the speaker with a Wind Shear and kite him up the temple, just behind Mandokir on his Raptor.
Drop Tremor Totem / Windfury Totem / Magma Totem and Mana Spring Totem and kill the speaker.

Interesting - I assume you do it in full pve gear? Might give that a try next time, see how it goes.