Shaman tank cataclysm

[Ardourdan]

A lot of people saying here that they don't think Shaman tanking is possible... I personally have tanked heroics before in tank off-spec gear and PvP gear. It is possible and if you check this guy who has been tanking for some time now you will be truly amazed as I first was:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...mi&gn=Masquers

I believe he gets hunters MD'ing him and tricks throughout fights. Also to people saying there are not enough defensive abilities for a Shaman to tank is not valid (Stoneclaw totem, trinkets, wolves, shamanastic rage etc.)

[Naxcis]

Defence is in the talent trees now not gear so, no.

[Jynks]

This novel and very interesting idea is novel and very interesting. It has not:

a) been beaten to death
b) been proven that it is, at best, a gimmick

Please, tell me more becuase I have not been able to find enough threads that explain how original someones idea is on this issue.

[op3l]

Stop with the shaman tanks -_-

It won't happen...

[EntropyJim]

Perhaps a lot of people reading this thread are unaware that there is a crazy bunch of Shammies who like to think outside the box and try tanking. The official forum thread is here.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...fficial-thread

I don't believe that anyone who knows the game well would suggest that a Shaman is a 'proper tank'. Sure, there are people who've tanked all of Naxx, Ulduar and some of ICC but this is only possible with a guild (or bunch of players) who are willing to lend a really big hand. Shammies in Wrath can be crit immune and have a reasonable health pool but struggle with threat.

Come cata I believe tanking for shammies will be impossible. Whilst Resilience currently provides crit immunity Shammy tanks also use tanking rings, necks, enchants and gems. Defense is going away in Cata, so all of these will be lost. Also there is a blue post stating that Resi will only effect damage dealt by players:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-in-cataclysm/

So, with no Resi, no Def and no tanking talent shammies will not be crit immune: therefore no tanking in Cata.

It was a fun challenge to try tanking instances, thinking outside of the box. Those people who call us idiots for even trying: Well done you won. Perhaps, one day you'll want to move off the beaten path and try something a bit different but I doubt it.

[TaciturnBob]

Perhaps a lot of people reading this thread are unaware that there is a crazy bunch of Shammies who like to think outside the box and try tanking. The official forum thread is here.

It was a fun challenge to try tanking instances, thinking outside of the box. Those people who call us idiots for even trying: Well done you won. Perhaps, one day you'll want to move off the beaten path and try something a bit different but I doubt it.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to try out stuff that is unorthodox or even normally impossible. Shamans tanking is fine and dandy as something to do for fun or just to see if it can be done. It's just the ones that run around spouting stuff about making shamans into viable tanks that really gets to most everyone.

I do agree with you though on cata making tanking for shamans impossible. With the changes incoming you won't be able to become crit immune and I'm sure that if a boss strings a few crits on you, not even the increased health pools will let you survive it.

[niteline]

in a "tank" viable spec you might be able to hold aggro and be able to do some easy dungeons (UKhc) but you wont get far with that spec anythin other then that!
Wont be viable for PVP or tanking raids. so get over it and level a paladin/warrior/druid/dk

[KnivezXIII]

Omg... Shaman tanking... Seriously why bother it's just a waste of time. If you have ever seen a video of a shaman tank the heals and the dps carry him to make his childhood fantasies true. Rogues trix, Hunters MD and Healers heal them like mofo's. I find this pointless and yes I am a shaman and have been since Vanilla.

[TheTieThatBinds]

For you people who say shaman won't tank, and haven't ever been meant to tank, obviously haven't been around since Vanilla. We had a skill called Shield Specialization that worked like the following:

Rank 1 = Chance to block +1% and amount blocked +5%
Rank 2 = Chance to block +2% and amount blocked +10%
Rank 3 = Chance to block +3% and amount blocked +15%
Rank 4 = Chance to block +4% and amount blocked +20%
Rank 5 = Chance to block +5% and amount blocked +25%.

Back then, that was huge as a shaman. Blizzard was wanting to make us hybrid tanks via the Enhancement tree, but pretty much just let the tree fall apart until they revamped it in BC.

Blizzard wanted us to be another tanking option, since we wear mail and use a shield, but pretty much let us self-destruct before rebuilding the enhancement tree. I think blizzard really has no idea what they want the shaman to be, regardless of what spec you talk about. We'll just see how everything rolls down hill from here.

[BigGann]

No. Just, no.

Man I hate it when people do this shit. It is absolutely a possibility, Res can make you crit immune. It's been done. He laid out a very good idea of how it would work, and all you can come up with is to say no? Come up with a better response, or don't respond.

[TaciturnBob]

Man I hate it when people do this shit. It is absolutely a possibility, Res can make you crit immune. It's been done. He laid out a very good idea of how it would work, and all you can come up with is to say no? Come up with a better response, or don't respond.

I did, I had other posts in here. This is a dead horse subject.

[Eliot123]

As much as I'd like to see shaman tanks, I don't think Blizzard will ever make it so. 8(

[Aedros]

No crit immune talent: is it still possible to get the 6% reduction from defense?

Interesting concept OP; however, as I recall defense will no longer be available in Cataclysm and crit reduction only accessible via talents in the tanking classes' respective trees.

[bateman]

shamans never really were tanks even in vanilla.I dont think shamans were ever able to do anything other than offtank adds.

[evan_s]

For you people who say shaman won't tank, and haven't ever been meant to tank, obviously haven't been around since Vanilla. We had a skill called Shield Specialization that worked like the following:

Rank 1 = Chance to block +1% and amount blocked +5%
Rank 2 = Chance to block +2% and amount blocked +10%
Rank 3 = Chance to block +3% and amount blocked +15%
Rank 4 = Chance to block +4% and amount blocked +20%
Rank 5 = Chance to block +5% and amount blocked +25%.

Back then, that was huge as a shaman. Blizzard was wanting to make us hybrid tanks via the Enhancement tree, but pretty much just let the tree fall apart until they revamped it in BC.

Blizzard wanted us to be another tanking option, since we wear mail and use a shield, but pretty much let us self-destruct before rebuilding the enhancement tree. I think blizzard really has no idea what they want the shaman to be, regardless of what spec you talk about. We'll just see how everything rolls down hill from here.

Shaman were never tanks, even in vanilla WoW. Yeah we had some talents for it but it was a half idea that never really happened. Heck, back then warriors were really the only tanks. Even prot pallys and feral druids didn't really work as tanks.

Shaman could tank pretty much in the same way any class can tank, by soaking up enough healing to not die, but we were never a tank class and I don't expect it to ever change so please just let it die and reroll one of the 4 tanking classes if you really want to tank.

[Omanley]

Judgement of Justice (AGAIN) does not do the same as frost shock.
Frostshock slows the target, judgement does not.
I labeled you a troll because you have either no sense of what each skill does, or because you deny to accept the truth, not because I am restricted at anything.

Yeah, we all know paladins are the "defensive" hybrids and shamans are the "offensive", so what's the argue here? In same logic one could say "all that's left is to give shamans a defensive dispell..." ? what's the point? it ain't gonna happen and we know it.

judgement puts down a mounted player to 100% speed. a frost shock slows a mounted player down to 100%
hmmmmmm not the same? as i said judgment is a slow with restriction. it works only against targets above 100% speed, but still a slow.

you labeled me as a troll is because you have no clue what you´re talking about

the point was that the original concept was thrown out of balance by giving paladins offensive stuff, but anything asked for by shamans is automatically out of question.


back to topic: shaman has:
-3 aoe taunts (feral spirits, earth elemental, stoneclaw totem)
-1 taunt
-1+aggro shock
-2 dmg absorbs
-1 shield that does dmg to attackers
-able to wield shield ( outside of shamans, every class able to wield shields has a tanking spec )
-parry talent, extra dodge talent, extra stamina talent
-maelstrom could be used for selfheal

some changed numbers, applying the aoe taunts not to totems/wolves but oneself, add some talents for parry/evade, probably also dodge and a crit immunity talent and shaman could tank.

i dont really want us to be tanks, the only thing i want is that blizzard either gives us the ability to tank OR removes all that tanking crap and gives us real stuff we can use.

[custos]

Usualy do random hcs with a ret pala using RF. is he a tank, no. is it doable. yes. is it optimal. no.

Basicaly, you can do it when your bored/overgear content and cba to look for tanks

[evan_s]

I dont really want us to be tanks, the only thing i want is that blizzard either gives us the ability to tank OR removes all that tanking crap and gives us real stuff we can use.

The only thing even remotely tank specific on that list is the taunts and even that is a stretch. Some of the things you list aren't even talents but glyphs.
Hunters have a taunt. Does that mean they are a tank?
Warlocks have a nuke that has extra aggro. Does that mean they are a tank?
Priests have bubbles. Does that mean they are a tank?
Mages have an armor that does damage to anyone that attacks them. Does that mean they are a tank?
Hunters have talents to for parry and dodge. Does that make them a tank.
Etc etc.

Even if you want to argue that we have more than other classes it doesn't mean that they need to be removed or we have to be made into a tank class. Similar talents and abilities can be useful for other things. The taunts on the wolf/earth elemental are actually useful. The earth elemental would be completely useless with out the taunt. For wielding shields there are currently 2 classes that want tanking shields and 2 classes that want caster shields. I see no need for that to be changed. You have to look at the class/spec as a whole and not just a select group of talents/abilities. Any class could says if they just added stuff to let us tank we could tank.

[Spl4sh3r]

It would be fun to try it as a Shaman (if I play the Shaman) but I wouldn't join a group where there is a Shaman tanking

[Abazaba]

Usualy do random hcs with a ret pala using RF. is he a tank, no. is it doable. yes. is it optimal. no.

Basicaly, you can do it when your bored/overgear content and cba to look for tanks

I have healed my buddy doing this multiple times. It great when the "tank" pulls twice as much dps as the rest of the group, and things just melt. But, would I suggest this happen outside of a 5 man that he out gears 100 times over. No. I think the same could be said for Enhancement shamans in Cata.