Hey there!
So I decided to try a shaman heal. I see that as a healer we can use a staff, one hand with a shield.
Which of those weapons are good? I guess with staff I will have more status like int, and with shield I will have more armor, but I’m not sure if it makes a difference.
Thank you
I would assume you would almost never be in a situation where you have 3 competing weapons to a degree that would make that a concern. Just go for bigger/better stat priority in PvE, but for PvP, a shield is absolutely required- along with a suitable 1h. But again, stat priority takes precedence just based on self-fulfillment.
Totemic Shaman has a hero talent that allows you to enchant your shield (like you enchant your weapon with Earthliving or Flametongue or whatever). There is another choice on that node, so you’re not out of luck if you have a staff instead, but last I knew the shield was considered a little better.
If you PvP a lot, the shield is also probably better for the armor value. But in PvE you’re probably not getting directly clobbered enough for it to matter much.
All in all, I think the 1-hand with shield is considered slightly preferable to using a staff. But if you get a good staff, use it! It’s close enough that iLevel will probably matter more than weapon difference. Probably saves a lot of resources to craft/upgrade a single staff, too, compared to 1-hand and shield.
A 1h wep and shield will have the same quantity of stats as a staff with the same ilvl. Shield and wep is always superior to staff unless the staff has some kind of special “on use” or “on equip” special ability that outweighs the secondary stats you’d normally get. Also as mentioned if you roll Totemic there is a special shield imbue that requires you to have a shield if you take it.