 Basics---Shaman guide
Basics---Shaman guide It's very important to know which races and what types of Shamans exist during your leveling and at the end-game, so let's get started with the basics to the Shaman Class.Shamans are similar to Druids in that they have a rather high nature affinity. Instead of constant shape shifting, they use totems to increase their damage. Shamans can heal and buff allies, use totems to support allies and attack enemies, and they can also do some mighty potent damage in melee. Chain Lightning is a very powerful magical damage spell and many of the totems are heavily desired by parties. Shamans use totems to both support their allies and attack their enemies. Totems are placed on the ground and pulse an effect. Ranging from healing allies hit points and mana, slowing down enemies, giving everyone more defense, and many more things like directly attacking enemies. Shamans have a ghost wolf form that allows for faster travel. This is desired by many. Shamans also have the ability to buff weapons. Very useful to boost their melee fighting power. Shamans can do everything with the correct spec at the end-game.Shamans rely on something known as Mana to cast their spells. It can be replenished by drinking, potions, or just waiting. It regenerates based on spirit and does not regenerate during casting.Learning to best use your Mana will be key in defeating enemies as a Shaman. If you use too much then you'll spend more time regenerating. If you try to use too little then you may find you are sacrificing more health to use less mana. Remember though, it's easier to sit down and drink then walk back to your corpse!Certain totems can be used to regenerate mana. Rely on these when you need to regenerate mana in combat.As a Shaman, depending on your build you will need to focus more on certain stats and effects than others. For instance, if you're going caster (elemental) shaman, it's not unusual to seek out caster gear such as cloth armor in order to improve your lightning bolt effects, and int becomes your most sought-out stat, not strength. If you're going enhancement, you should focus on the best mail melee DPS sets you can find since you're going face-to-face with monsters. Strength and Agility become your primary stats here.If you're going restoration, seek out either healing cloth gear or your own mail healing gear, which is a bit rarer, anything helps however. Spirit and Intellect become your primary stats here.There's lots of ways to play Shaman, you can be melee DPS, healer, or caster DPS, however, don't be fooled into thinking you can tank - you cannot - as Blizzard's level 70 game isn't designed to have a Shaman tanking with mail armor. | 
10-05-2009, 04:29 PM
