1. #1

    Resto Shaman Mythic + - best covenant and legendaries for PUG's/non organised groups

    So sort of following on from my thread on the enraged spirit, I wanted to start a discussion as per the title, for people like myself who only PUG keys (for me its due to time, I cant raid or anything because I cant commit to sitting down for 3 hour guaranteed any more).

    So I know if you look at Raider.io and check all the top shamans, they are virtually all Kyrian and all running the earthquake lego (with unity of course), and I have been doing that myself. There's no doubt the damage can be very good, and I'm typically contributing 6-10m damage in a 15-18 key at the moment. I've been in plenty of situations where that has actually mattered and we wouldnt have timed the same key on my priest for example.

    But equally, (even though pre-key I try to prep teammates to use tricks, misdirection etc), I've gone in to keys many times where you pop your Elemental, it immediately takes threat and dies (even though I have a focus macro for it so I can heal it if its possible). So thats a 5 minute CD down the drain. Also, because its a 5 minute CD you find yourself holding it, and the way some keys run, (just the flow of it, the pack size, having to deal with stragglers etc) you dont get it out there as much as you should.

    Equally with vesper, yes, damage great, and situationally it can also be great for healing depending on your group. Certain mechanics I hold it for, make sure I have a cloudburst down and pop the healing charges and it can be excellent. But sometimes, you have a mage or hunter standing in narnia, who cant benefit from the range and on balance with the soulbind its more an offensive tool.

    So I just switched to Venthyr, and have been experimenting with Chain harvest and I really like it. The damage is nearly up there with Kyrian (its harder to tell because big packs a lot of the damage is in flame shock rather than the ability itself) but its a great "oh shit" heal button too. I'm wondering on balance is it a better option for PUG's than Kyrian?

    Equally, just wondering if anyone out there has experimented with legendaries other than the Earthquake? I have no tier but will have 4 pieces next week and it looks like the 4 piece bonus might work well with chains of devastation. And has anyone tried Venthyr with the Elemental Skybreakers Legendary? I would have thought that the 50% crit bonus for flame shock would have Chain Harvest back on CD really quick?

    Any ideas for people pushing 20-'s would be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2
    Free Food!?!?! Tziva's Avatar
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    A little late to this thread and unfortunately I don't have anything super useful to add.

    I currently play Kyrian in keys, including with PuGs, and I run the earthquake legendary with my unity. Although I wasn't in S1 and S2, right now I'm pretty cookiecutter.

    I love Venthyr, played it in season 1 and a good chunk of season 2, and it's what I still play in raid. However, while evil chain heal can give some really nice burst healing when you need it, Vesper is up for almost every pull so it is much more reliable both for healing and DPS. And because Vesper is such a short cooldown, there's a lot less harm in using it when you won't get max value out of it. As Venth, I would find myself holding the ability for when I might want a bunch burst of healing, or a big burst of dps (depending), which also meant I probably wasn't getting optimal use out of it. I will say the one value of Venthyr is that there are a lot less of them than Kyrian. I still offer to swap in SD and HoA if needed.

    As far as legendaries go, yeah Earth Ele is a mixed bag as resto. If he gets aggro, he dies really fast. He's also dangerous to use on pulls that need specific positioning or have frontals. I don't use him as often as I should for that reason. However, the legendary just does a fuckton of damage. Even if he dies early, you're still likely getting your cooldown's worth of dps with him if you're putting him out on a big pull.

    If I was going to play with another legendary, I'd probably try Chains of Devastation over Skybreakers, since it seems like it might play really well with our Tier set bonuses. I occasionally spy on high level shaman to see if any are using it and they aren't, so maybe it's actually terrible, but it does seem interesting to try.

    [highest key I've done this season is a 21 though so take whatever I say with a grain of salt]


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  3. #3
    My main is a resto shaman but my highest key done is a +21 too so take this with a grain of salt:

    - Earth elemental is a sketchy cooldown. I've been delaying it for a few minutes some times, because it can chase shades on Spiteful weeks or murlocs on Tazavesh gambit and bodypull packs you wanted to skip, or fuck up mobs positioning. I've preferred using it on bosses this week, even if I don't get the full theoretical value out of it. You don't really need extra damage on trashes this week anyway.

    - Vesper totem is a dps cooldown and should be treated as such. With the 4p set, you don't really need an extra healing cooldown except on some bosses maybe (like Tarvold in Sanguine Depths). And it does so much damage (around 30% of my overall damage) that I don't consider switching to venthyr. Moreover, Mikanikos conduits are vastly superior. Playing Venthyr looks like a lot of headache or efforts for the same optimal value than putting down a Vesper totem on cooldown.
    Last edited by Barzotti; 2022-05-16 at 11:53 AM.

  4. #4
    I am Murloc! KOUNTERPARTS's Avatar
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    When it comes down to a healer's role in M+ versus raiding, more often than not damage output is a prioritized factor. This will always be a constant thing. You do have people who chime away and say "healer's damage shouldn't matter" and "healer's should not focus on damage over healing" in M+ and while there is some merit to those thought processes, as it stands currently with M+, healer damage absolutely matters.


    It's timed content, after all. And nowadays healing specializations can pump out respectable numbers.


    That being said... for PUG/non-organized groups any Covenant choice and any legendary power can work.
    There are always going to be the "best" combination(s), and there will always be "competitive" or "just as good" combinations going against the "best" combination(s).


    Kyrian for Vesper Totem will generally be the best option if you want to do more damage. You can definitely get good healing from Vesper Totem, but, Kyrian Resto Shaman don't use Vesper Totem for healing. The damage output from it is way too good to pass up, and the low cooldown keeps your damage consistent.

    With double legendary powers in the mix now, Kyrian legendary and perma-Earthquake Earth Elemental is an amazing combination... for damage. You also got to make sure you are using Earth Elemental properly with this legendary; big triple pack pulls or bosses generally.


    But you can literally do any other combo. Necrolord Resto Shaman + Primal Tide Core legendary (every 4 Riptides cast will cast an additional Riptide to a nearby ally) makes Resto Sham easier to heal with.
    Last edited by KOUNTERPARTS; 2022-05-17 at 07:36 PM.

  5. #5
    As already said, anything works and none is that gamebreaking (unless you're really doing cutting edge content) that it would corner you towards that particular choice only. In general, Kyrian is the preferred one due to vesper totem just being so crazy strong on damage.
    None of the legendaries offer much of an impact to your healing, which is the reason the vast majority seems to be running the earth elemental lego. This can be delicate beast to use, but the normal approach of "if in doubt, just send it on bosses" works pretty far. This is less of the earth elemental being overly strong, but the rest of the bunch being quite bland and not that impactful on your typical play. Can't say I've tried chains of devastation, but the potential use cases of chain heal are quite limited. If there's quite heavy group-wide damage being dished out, these odd chain heals aren't likely that impactful. There likely is potential cases where this might shine, but feels very situational.

    Overall there's more room to try and adjust to your personal or group preferences as healer damage is less significant than it was last season(s). Playing Venthyr especially now that there's so few of them around is surely not a bad choice.
    My experience reaches only in the low 20s so take it for what it's worth.

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