Shamans Viable for pvp?

[Deleted]

I'm curious, do you play enh? You seem to know exactly whats wrong with the spec which is "nothing" apparently.

Im curious, what is it about this statement with the fact that enha shaman has potential?
I said that there is nothing wrong with it? No
I've said shaman enha is viable in arena and this class have good potential in right hand

[Duilliath]

Viable means you'll actually get teams to take you other than pity teams or friend teams that you're blackmailing.

There is not one team in which an Enh shaman would be the superior choice.

[mercutiouk]

I can't speak for arena but certainly in the upper scales of RBG elementals aren't to be messed with. If you leave them to their own devices you can expect to see your teamsheet turn grey pretty damn quick. Enhance also does ok but elemental is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Considering the fact they can SERIOUSLY swing the chances of: Capping Lumbermill or Killing the flag carrier they definitely get a good spot on teams.

Had a few too many VERY annoying RBG teams with elemental guarding flag carrier, you can't get close enough to do anything useful till the ele is dealt with which gives lots of times for healers to get back, get ressed and keep the FC safe.
Attempting to cap LM with any ele that knows what they're doing is futile you WILL eventually get blown off the edge to your inevitable death.

While it's crap that they are such a 1 trick pony they do it so well that it's hard not to find room for one.

---------- Post added 2011-10-08 at 12:09 AM ----------

Viable means you'll actually get teams to take you other than pity teams or friend teams that you're blackmailing.

There is not one team in which an Enh shaman would be the superior choice.

We'll see next season on this, the buffs/fixes look interesting to say the least. I stabled my enhance for pvp after hitting the wall in arena around 1700 (as suggested) but considering it's basically full 371 geared i'll likely be dusting it off for S12.

[Duilliath]

While the fixes look interesting, they do not remedy things completely.

Pretty much all burst is still tied to the main defensive mechanism as well. With Wolves gone, Shamans don't really have much left. And while they're lowering the reliance on Searing Totem, it's still there. It is most definitely looking a lot better though. Additionally, Resto Shaman nerfs may well make the other specs more appealing by default, as a second Shaman does not bring nearly as much to a team as the first one.

[Deleted]

Shamans will always be viable in pvp.

[Deleted]

More coordination in teams instead of randomly mashing buttons and zerging whatever you see first. Two melee connecting on an Enh shaman with a bit of CC on the healer = the Enh goes splat.

Similarly, at 1700, people might actually notice the elemental shaman turreting damage into them.

It's not so much a literal cut-off (like, Enh is fine @ 1695 but blows chunks at 1700) as a skill indicator that happens gradually.

That can pretty much happen to anyone though, if the point being is that enhancement shamans are squishy nothing could be further from the truth imo they are much more durable than a DK for example, that's not saying they aren't bad at higher arena rating for other reasons though.

[Thallidomaniac]

Ret heals far more.

Sure they can on others if specced for Selfless Healer, but doing so will cut their damage output significantly.

Ret has far more burst (even if everyone can easily dispell Wings)
And yet that burst is all they have, outside out those 2 minutes they hit like cats and do laughable damage.

Rets have more mobility and it isn't tied to a long ass cooldown that just also happens to be their sole offensive CD (that doesn't properly scale).
HoF is easily dispellable as pie, and spamming cleanse to remove snares will OOM you if say, a Warrior is spamming hamstring on you. Plus there's the complete lack of a gap closer, LAotL can be dealt with to be a non-issue.

Rets don't suffer that their holy power does not proc on shielded targets (e.g. Disc Priest bubble or even Stoneclaw). Maelstrom doesn't proc till 4.3
Getting an unlucky string of misses/dodges/parries on CS is exactly like the MSW not proccing on absorbed targets. Getting disarmed means you can't even CS at all, so no HP for the next 4/10 seconds.

Rets aren't tied to a stupidly short ranged retarded AI fire totem to do remotely decent burst.
A reasonable comment.

Rets' burst can't be feared away or hibernated.
True, but Rets' burst can be dealt with in so many ways via many various forms of crowd control, dispelling those wings, and disarm/using defensive CDs.

Don't get me wrong, I love Enh shamans and I used to do arenas as one. But the current mechanics are clunky as is in PvE and downright awful in PvP.
Rets are in a very similar situation as Enhance too.

[Deleted]

Is there alot of people in here that actually think enhancement shammys have poor burst? that is shocking to me as I find enhancement to have the biggest burst of all regardless if you have fire totem or not that only makes the burst insane.

[Duilliath]

We're talking about controlled burst.

You have very little control over WF procs. You have very little control over Lava Lash as the debuff can
1) never land on the right target
2) get dispelled
3) outranged
4) not be relied on, seeing how the totem is one-shotted.

There's the wolves (who are more of a nuisance in how much they heal than how much damage they do) and your PvP trinket. That's it.

[hmmlol]

Yeah Ele and Enh are both viable for 2k + if you have a clue