I have said since day 1 that shamans got the best runes so far. Enh was OP, Ele not so much until the spread FS part of Burn (200 sp is a bit over the top too… I would’ve been happy with 75-100). Everyone that was playing Enh switched to Ele and now they are super oppressive in group pvp… They have ALWAYS been oppressive in group battles. “never let an ele free cast” should always be said.
So, yes… Ele’s are extremely oppressive in group pvp when there are 3+ (they being FOTM class hasnt help). If alliance arent getting shamans maybe blizzard should make it where you cant have more then 2 of each classes in a bg. Outside of gutting them into the ground. But I swear alliance will cry about racials , ud rogues, orc… orc… orcs everything very soon after.
You are being disingenuous… Why arent you guys instantly going after shaman’s that stick out their head to spread that FL out? and yes, every time I have gone to BS and move in to get a FS out (with decoy totem up) alliance switch and I do die hella fast.
We’re in agreement about their oppressiveness in group battles. But, there is no need to make stuff up. =P Shamans die very easily when focused.
I guess its hard to spread out and focus someone for alliance. I’m trying to help you guys and brainstorm some strategies. I so hope alliance get shamans…
Couple things I’ll throw out in this thread, kinda of shot gunning replies to a number of comments:
Elemental shaman have to get almost comically short range to flame shock you, and further, but still short range to lava burst you.
As a warlock main, who literally explodes anytime I’m ever closer than 31 yards away, I cannot possibly fathom how your faction sucks so much to struggle this much vs a caster who is intentionally and repeatedly exposing themselves to getting trained constantly. A hunter can literally shoot the ele for 21 yards before the ele can flame shock. If ya’ll where whinging about ele blasting people from 36 yards with lightning bolt + chain lightning with their rune overload procs I’d be far more inclined to believe you, because that doesn’t really have a counter, but don’t tell me a caster dps with no cc is terrifying because they run up to 20 yards without getting focused down, then are somehow able to not only survive but also cast anything beyond proc instants. It just tells me your faction’s/team’s ranged dps are potatoes and your melee are blind.
Horde do primarily “just grab 5 people”, HOWEVER, it’s also pretty disingenuous for Horde to pretend they won’t “try and have 1 healer”, or won’t “filter obviously sub par players from their groups”. I’ve gotten groups over other people for open slots specifically because I’ve built a reputation as being a good player.
Even beyond filtering players, people in groups will simply TRY harder than 15 Randoms surrounded by people they’ll never see again.
Now then, regarding some comments about warlocks
Warlocks aren’t weak, they’re actually really damn strong. They just have a much higher skill floor required for success than most classes. Controlling range to target is absolutely essential
Any warlock using metamorphosis or soul link for bgs is bad. Full stop. Even to a lesser extent master channeler rune (the instant drain life rune that let’s them run around with drain life up), usually means the warlock is bad, and needs crutches to compensate for a gratuitous lack of being able to properly position themselves. There is no situation as a warlock where you ever want to be close enough for drain life to be a potential thing.
There was a comment along why alliance don’t use more locks… Wotf and shaman is the answer there. Fear is an essential part of the toolkit, but much more limited when half the faction can fear break, and especially with buffed pvp trinkets giving every class a fear break (normal vanilla trinkets only broke 3 kinda of cc). Shaman on the other hand, have tremor and grounding totems, with the ability to range interrupt via earth shock… They can also in sod, teleport their totems to range snare (making them a major threat to screw a warlock out of their ability to position well)… In comparison, the ONLY THING threatening about a paladin to a warlock is that some of them spec into eye for an eye and we can actually kill ourselves critting them too hard. The shaman toolkit also hurts destruction significantly, since it needs specific perfect/clean cast windows for burst, and grounding alone can completely negate that, but so can the bits. Basically alliance warlocks are much worse in general than horde ones (I’d personally NEVER play alliance as a lock in vanilla), hence why you don’t see them as often. Fwiw they’re also more heavily incentivized to a heavy dot playstyle than a nuke/combo playstyle, which is more viable an option as horde.
Finally a general few statements
Frost mage has been Rancid dogwater all of SoD and should be buffed
Arcane has also been dogwater… A 30 yard healer isn’t viable, and the only good thing about arcane at all in sod was their meme 1 shot build.
Fire has the most obnoxiously zug playstyle in existence, and plays with everything people cry about ele for (apply dots and only cast procs), but it’s doing it at 42 yards, and still sucks right now.
Shadow is still the strongest single spec in the game for bgs, and it’s not close
Hunter is the second strongest bg class in the game, and has the single most broken overpowered ability in all of SoD : trap launcher when combined with entrapment.
Ele is at best, 3rd behind those, but I’d still personally put boomkings and affliction locks above both them. Both can absolutely truck people, and have fewer counters.
25 yards from a couple BMs. melee trains shaman who is literally tankier than every melee DPS in the game with mail and a shield lmao. while shaman is getting healed and running to back line after pressing his 5 target cleave DoT, if they continue to chase, they’re likely dead before the sham is. good thing they have decoy and grounding to help them make it back to safety. now imagine 3 get in 25 yard range. are all 3 getting focused down? say one does go down before he’s able to get in range even though in the current DR, TTK is a bit slower. still 10 possible application of flame shock going out from 2 dudes pressing one global as soon as they get in range. come on man.
that’s an awful lot of words to say “I don’t think only one faction having access to 5 target cleave DoT on 6 sec CD is game changing” when it absolutely is.
very true, feel bad for the frosty boys in SoD
well maybe because living bomb sucks now while flame shock hits near as much as earth shock on initial impact and makes their instant cast proc chance go up per target, and is faction specific. that’s probably why.
There isn’t a single class in the game that is “tanky” in pvp… They have to run well within charge/intercept range (and like 20 yards inside every other caster’s/hunter’s range) to apply flame shock… You guys should be dumpstering them whilst they’re incoming.
Perhaps I’m just not understanding because I play warlock, and literally nothing in the game survives for 6 seconds closer than 36 yards vs locks if the lock is freecasting nukes, which he would be if the shaman was busy running up to get flame shock off instead of casting from a backline 36.
And that’s just me nuking it… You guys keep claiming the shaman is running in and cleaving flameshock to 5x targets, how exactly are 5x people not instantly deleting the shaman from existence when he’s standing in range of literally every single spec in the game other than ret (lolret). Why is your team’s hunter not trap launchering a frost trap directly behind the shaman? Hell, 24 yards is silence AND counterspell range… Why is every alliance dps utterly incapable of noticing a shaman closing range?
imagine, if you will, that ele sham don’t run ahead of the melee on their team and let their melee go in ahead of them, setting up totems first and then make their way to 25 yard range to blast the melee on the other team who have already been engaged.
you’re framing this like they’re the front line lmao
Ele shaman with grounding, a range / melee hit absorb, freedom and not to mention talents and shield are one of the harder classes to kill. Alliance dont have the pressure / burst going out that horde do with ele shamans.
Ok so they flameshock 25 yards away, unless alliance casters are sitting closer than 25 yards to melee they arent in range of the ele shamans. You said it yourself, all casters get globalled if they go into melee range. Eles dont but
Im in BIS possible gear and if I get focus down I will die in less than 6 secs. Recently a decked-out Warrior gave me a run for my money. He was trucking… =)
Lightwithu - did you post a video of a paladin chasing (was it a healer?) and leaving the ele shaman right NEXT to him alone free to cast. No repentance, no hammer and the Shaman didnt have any totems down. So, the “but, but totems” didnt apply here. The point is I am willing to bet its a low percentage the amount of good pvpers alliance have. Sorry, I have experience that first hand for many years. Not saying horde don’t have the meme talent neither. lol just less of them.
I have played hundreds of BGs where I get focus (I must be lucky and go up against the best of the alliance). This isnt phase 2 where shamans were tanking as hell. Focus them they will die I promise. lol
