Shaman Tank guide - Tanking Shaman Classic WoW

[Mercadi]

Even in Wrath shamans could tank some of the easier raids (like VOA), so I don't doubt that they can in Classic.

[Raugnaut]

Oh boy... all this effort...

Let me tl;dr this for you guys:
Shaman can tank everything. But so can Priests, Mages, Hunter, Warlocks, Paladins and Rogues. They are not the optimal choice, but they can tank.

In Basketball: Nah, we can win this without Lebron.
In Baseball: Why would we need a 1B man, when we can also run to the bag?
In NHL: Hey guys, let's try to win this game without sticks for once.
In Football: We should try a field goal with 1st and 10.

You get the point.

Oh look, a completely fallacious post.

Warriors have the most tanking tools and are the best at it, yes.

Druids have a good number of tanking tools and are solid at it.

Paladins/Shamans have some tanking tools and can do it.

Warlocks have a bit of defensive and aggro generation and can also do it.

Priests, Mages, and Rogues do NOT have tanking tools. Counterspell's threat generation is not a tanking tool. Neither is Mind Blast. Rogues have no aggro generation period and actually have built-in threat reduction - Rogues generate, what was it, 20% less threat per damage then every other class there is? Not to mention several threat-reduction tools in their kit.

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Classic is completed. By Burning Crusade.

Nah, Classic+ is already ongoing. Sure, there aren't many changes now, but until we see them start to merge servers they'll likely continue to provide bug fixed and maybe even balance changes. Though I doubt there will be any "new" content.

[Grimreaper]

Priests, Mages, and Rogues do NOT have tanking tools. Counterspell's threat generation is not a tanking tool. Neither is Mind Blast. Rogues have no aggro generation period and actually have built-in threat reduction - Rogues generate, what was it, 20% less threat per damage then every other class there is? Not to mention several threat-reduction tools in their kit.

Actually... Priests can gear and spec for tanking, as can hunters, rogues, warlocks... Just mages that dont really have any toolkit at all for it, but they can kite everything instead.

Even back in the way back days we had priests and warlocks main-tanking Onyxia, and hunters and rogues main-tanking Nefarian. They just have to commit to it fully, all manner of tanky gear and consumes and whatnot.

[Gorged]

Just watched the video of the Shaman tanking Onyxia all i'm gonna say yeah he did it but it was a 40 man raid and look how much his low threat generation gimped the raid dps...

[Huzzaa]

Oh look, a completely fallacious post.

Warriors have the most tanking tools and are the best at it, yes.

Druids have a good number of tanking tools and are solid at it.

Paladins/Shamans have some tanking tools and can do it.

Warlocks have a bit of defensive and aggro generation and can also do it.

Priests, Mages, and Rogues do NOT have tanking tools. Counterspell's threat generation is not a tanking tool. Neither is Mind Blast. Rogues have no aggro generation period and actually have built-in threat reduction - Rogues generate, what was it, 20% less threat per damage then every other class there is? Not to mention several threat-reduction tools in their kit.

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Nah, Classic+ is already ongoing. Sure, there aren't many changes now, but until we see them start to merge servers they'll likely continue to provide bug fixed and maybe even balance changes. Though I doubt there will be any "new" content.

I meant my comment in that.

Historically we know that some areas of the game were, lacking, during 2004.
And what I meant, was that with the release of BC, they actually finally released the game in a near full feature state where nothing was left out and everything worked in its own niche.

I'm so looking forward to it. Going to roll a shaman meself.


Also, I really hope someone snatches the server code from them and makes it available so that we can continue the thing in the future.
Because for some reason I don't really trust the company in maintaining it in its state after the game has been played through its lifecycle.
As in, as you said, the classic+ stuff. I seriously hope they don't mess with any of it but I fear they will. Bug fixes are fine, but functional changes or god forbid, "new" content.

Here's to hoping to the ultimate discipline of "no content" from Blizzard.


Also give us RP servers!

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Just watched the video of the Shaman tanking Onyxia all i'm gonna say yeah he did it but it was a 40 man raid and look how much his low threat generation gimped the raid dps...

Do you really care though, when it's just a bit of innocent fun? ... for the shaman. xD
But hey, let everyone have their moment.

[tikcol]

Just watched the video of the Shaman tanking Onyxia all i'm gonna say yeah he did it but it was a 40 man raid and look how much his low threat generation gimped the raid dps...

There's videos of hunter pets tanking onyxia..

[czarek]

Classic is completed. By Burning Crusade.

Yes but i do like of clunkyness of vanilla

[deenman]

aggros is the only truly realistic issue with it,it can be done ofc but you arent just strugling yourself you are also hugely gimping the overall dps

i forget when it was,maybe mop or wod that shamans got a taunt in their unleash with one of the weapon enchants

[Facefive]

Oh look, a completely fallacious post.

Warriors have the most tanking tools and are the best at it, yes.

Druids have a good number of tanking tools and are solid at it.

Paladins/Shamans have some tanking tools and can do it.

Warlocks have a bit of defensive and aggro generation and can also do it.

Priests, Mages, and Rogues do NOT have tanking tools. Counterspell's threat generation is not a tanking tool. Neither is Mind Blast. Rogues have no aggro generation period and actually have built-in threat reduction - Rogues generate, what was it, 20% less threat per damage then every other class there is? Not to mention several threat-reduction tools in their kit.

Well, you Sir, are wrong. If you generate more threat than your designated tank, than you are the tank. By default. That is literally the definition of a tank. I (and I am sure a few thousands of players aswell) have seen every class pulling aggro from the "Tank" making them the tank at this specific moment. So yeah, all classes can tank - but only a few are good at it. It can't be hard to understand that making a class more viable to tanking is still worse than just picking a druid or warrior who are meant to be tanks in the game. Everything else is fun to exist, but that is about it. Shamans are not supposed to be tanks.

[AeneasBK]

Well, you Sir, are wrong. If you generate more threat than your designated tank, than you are the tank. By default. That is literally the definition of a tank.

It's not overaggro it's "on-the-fly-role-reassignment"

[Facefive]

It's not overaggro it's "on-the-fly-role-reassignment"

^
Haha pretty much this

[Segus1992]

There's videos of hunter pets tanking onyxia..

There's videos of Prot Paladins tanking Four Horsemen while literally clicking spells from his spellbook, dying halfway through the fight, killing the boss, and using it as an example for why Prot Paladins are actually great.

Vanilla is way too easy to have threads like this. If you have a spell that does increased threat, you can tank. Fuck, you don't even need that. Just make sure whatever you're tanking doesn't oneshot you and put the rest on healers and DPS. Your raid/group will have to fully accommodate you though, and they'd be extremely better off with a proper tank.

In TBC, I reckon we'll see a lot more stupid shit like this simply because everyone has tank gear because of arena gear. If you can reach a point where you can't be literally oneshot, you can tank.

[Kaver]

Can Shamans tank?

Why are your videos not showing any actual gameplay of the rotations etc.?

[Rngmonster The God]

Even in Wrath shamans could tank some of the easier raids (like VOA), so I don't doubt that they can in Classic.

Tell that to my Shaman who tanked most of ICC 25 HC back in the days.

[Facefive]

Tell that to my Shaman who tanked most of ICC 25 HC back in the days.

Is today Groundhog Day?

And by "most of ICC" which fights exactly did you tank? Let me take a guess: Ship, Lady Deathwhisper and Valithria? Oh and obviously after the 30% nerf, right?
Or by "back in the days" do you mean when Pandaria hit? There is absolutely NO WAY you tanked "most of" ICC 25 HC as a Shaman.

[anon5123]

Tell that to my Shaman who tanked most of ICC 25 HC back in the days.

Yeah, and I solo tanked algalon on my mage

[Nak88]

I've tanked with my shaman main from lvl 15 to lvl 50 in Classic as enhancement. In TBC I think it is more difficult to tank but still viable. Check Warden Shaman on Youtube, he has already tanked Nightbane as MT.

[Caperfin]

Oh boy... all this effort...

Let me tl;dr this for you guys:
Shaman can tank everything. But so can Priests, Mages, Hunter, Warlocks, Paladins and Rogues. They are not the optimal choice, but they can tank.

Shamans can tank raids with a much lower barrier of entry.
Priest, mage, hunter, Warlock and rogue have much stricter restrictions of what (and how soon) they can tank compared to a Shaman. An ocean separates the tanking potential of a shaman to what you mentioned.

[Caperfin]

Nice work OP, keep it up.

Thanks for the support

[Caperfin]

For dungeons yes. As aoe raid off tanker probably. As raid main tank? Not really.

You'll be happy to hear that Shamans can tank raids. In fact, it's been perfected so much over the past few years the potential for progression tanking as a shaman is becoming more feasible.

Happy to answer questions!