How to Resto better (PeVePe)

Love my shaman. Love the water heals.
What I dont love is getting CC’d for a solid 30 seconds to almost a minute. We have no good get away.
If we do, then clearly I need to L2P.
Now, I dont do alot of PvE, even though i should for gear. I’m a 444, and can pump out alot of healing. The moment a DH or any other melee class gets in range I have no clue what to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Looking to push arena.

My shaman is around the same Ilvl, you’re right there’s no like trinket getaway. But I spec into earthshield and ascendance for pvp. Earthshield for when they come at me. Otherwise it’s on a teammate. I will blow my earthen wall totem and spirit link totem to save myself if needed, maybe not at the same time, in arena mostly. And finally I will use my totems earthbind and capicator to kite my enemy around pillars like on cooldown, and use spirit wolf to get some distance. Use astral shift I often forget to use it and I believe it’s a fairly short CD. If they burst me I try to save ascendance for the very last min as you could generally get you and your team back up if they fail to kill you and move on to bursting them. Ascendance last, I go thru my totems first.

  • also talent into spirit walkers grace and use it often like astral shift, it becomes a 1 min cd. I never change this talent pve or pvp.
    You may not be able to get out of stuns instantly, but you’ll be alot more mobile, and being able to see things coming is huge for using your totems/healing rain as they come to burst you.
  • spirit wolf is OP for getting away btw.

For avoiding CC I can think of a few things you can try.

  1. Outrange the CC. For example if you are in a BG, then stand in the back of your group so you outrange a lot of the CCers, and it forces them to push into your group to get to you and then they get focused. And when they run towards you, then ghostwolf and run even farther back.
  2. LoS the CC. Find a pillar, a stump for example in WSG or a house wall or something and stand right next to it, and when you see incoming CC being cast on you, then you just move behind the pillar for a moment so you don’t get hit with it.
  3. You can also wind shear the CC cast, or grounding totem. Those are great when you’re not near a pillar.

As for melee getting on you, the simplest thing is get more gear to start with. Try to get Versa on all pieces and get versa corruptions. Also get 3 x pack spirit, and run “Spirit Wolf” talent and “Spectral Recovery” talent. Then when melee train you, just pop into ghostwolf and you can survive extremely well. It is almost silly how tanky you get. I am pretty geared, so when my “surging vitality” corruption procs I can drop “earthen shield totem” go into ghostwolf and stand within the totem and get focused by 5 players and barely lose health.

Anyway just some thoughts.

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I’m not a pvp legend, but I stay plugged into the PVP scene and listen to people way better than me, and this is some of the stuff I hear them say.

  1. In general (and not just for resto shaman) positioning is vital. Watch some of the healers in the Arena World Championships from this weekend. They aren’t just running around like a chicken with their head cut off. They’re often staying at max range unless they need to move in for CC, and when at range, they’re around something they can LOS with. Just practice and bone up on positioning. I’m on this step, personally.

  2. Be proactive. Pressure you can apply to the enemy team can put them on the defensive, which takes some pressure off you as a healer. Be watching and anticipate the enemy hard swapping to you, and have a plan ready. That may be a preemptive earth bind, or earthen shield and ghost wolf, or a hex.

  3. Versatility is king.

Im not amazing at PVP, but I started playing resto in 2s about 2 weeks ago and got 1900. Here are some things that I have learned

  1. against melee, ghoast wolf kiting is your best friend. Hug a pillar. Drop a slow totem and run round and around.
  • On the same note, as resto your best azurite trait is actually pack spirit. The tier 1 traits are a bit lackluster in pvp.
  1. Grounding absorbs DH and DK kicks. So if you want to cast and a DH is on you, just drop grounding first and you are guaranteed a cast
  2. If you are being focused try to use your instants before you start to cast. Like someone will swap to me and I immediately earth shield, unleash life, into riptide. Then I run a lap in ghost wolf form and that is usually enough.
  3. Your cooldowns cant help you if they aren’t used. Earthen wall and astral shift prevent damage so use them before you take damage not after. This takes getting used to and is a learned thing. (On the flip side healing tide totem is very weak and should not be used as a major defensive, but as something to help top your team)
  4. Vitality major is amazing. I usually run crucible in 2s for the offensive but if your having trouble staying alive vitality can do wonders.

Yeah bro I’m sorry to break it to you but literally the ONLY two redeeming qualities about Rshaman in arena are what you just said you’re struggling with. Kick and grounding plus mobility make you better equipped to avoid CC than any other healer in the game and surviving being trained is what shaman excels at (granted this requires you have 3 pack spirit azerite traits and revitalizing voodoo totem is almost a must have).

If you don’t have 3 pack spirits you’re just going to die. It’s the sad reality of the class at the moment but literally the only thing you can do when you are getting trained by melee cleaves is to shift wolf, drop earthbind and kite. Come out to unleash life into riptide and keep earth shield up on yourself, and drop earthen wall and just sit in it. If you’re dropping low and need to come out to top yourself with surge or whatever you need to create some space around a pillar by either dropping earthgrab or getting some kind of peel from your partner so you can top and go back ghost wolf. Revitalizing Voodoo Totem is so huge for shaman because you can use it on yourself while in ghost wolf and it basically just tops you…or save it for if you get kicked and someone is low and you need to top them.

Keep in mind grounding can make you kick immune for the duration of the totem against Demon Hunters, Death Knights, Shaman, Mages, and Warlocks. In 2s a common play to create space against DH is to drop grounding and hex them or just top yourself. A lot of them will kick into grounding because they’re bad and don’t realize grounding has been dropped or don’t realize they can’t kick through it.

More complex plays are knowing when classes want to have a go on you and you can pre wall stuns, either pre astral shifting or pre earthen walling yourself. Knowing when shadow priests want to come for CC chains on you and you can pre ground the silence / psychic horror stun, and pre -tremor the fear if you see a priest just running right at you.

I play Rsham at a moderately high level so if you ever have any questions just PM me #Amnonongus1447

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